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everybodyscupoftea · 4 years

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rockin around the christmas tree

pike jj x reader

you and jj decorate your first apartment together

this is in the future when you and jj are in nashville :)

(warnings: cursing, implied drinking, very very little editing)

At the words, “I’ve never really decorated a tree before,” you knew immediately that you were going to go all out for JJ. You knew his childhood wasn’t great and that he didn’t really experience it in college either with living in the dorm and then the frat house, but you didn’t consider that meant he’d never really done the tree and lights shebang.

Over the month of November you started gathering up random decorations, here and there, that you thought could fit in your apartment without being a nuisance. One afternoon you convinced your mom to drive over from your hometown with some of your favorite ornaments and decorations from childhood.

She loved JJ and was plenty happy to part with them for his sake. You made sure all the bags and boxes were put away in the second bedroom and made a promise with yourself to not tell him until after Thanksgiving.

Then you got slammed with paper after paper and quiz after quiz which led you to truly forget about everything until you went in there to make sure things were all clean for guests and tripped over a box full of lights.

“Ow, fuck!” you yelped, looking down to see what you’d hit, stomach dropping when you saw it all and heard JJ coming to see what was wrong. Before he could quite get to the door, you waved him away, “All good, just stubbed my toe.”

He backed away, hesitantly, toward the kitchen where he’d been cutting the turkey for dinner. Cody and Tyler were coming into town, and you were doubly excited that they were staying the night so that you could rope them into putting up the once forgotten decorations.

Just as you finished pushing everything out of the way and clearing off the bed, there was a knock at the door. JJ called from the kitchen, “Can you grab that, sweetheart, I’m almost done with the turkey?”

“Got it,” you yelled back, practically skipping to throw the door open for your friends you hadn’t seen outside of FaceTime in months. As soon as you threw the door open, Cody, who was closest, was pulling you into a tight hug, face pressed firmly into your hair. He sighed, “Damn, smell the same, kinda nice.”

You snorted, squeezing back, “That was soft.”

“Forgive me,” he answered sarcastically, “I just missed you is all.”

“Move,” Tyler interrupted before you could respond, elbowing Cody out of the way to hug you. You hugged back just as tight before grabbing both of them by the arms to pull them inside.

“JJ is finishing up the food, so I’ll give you guys a tour real quick and you can drop your stuff in the guest bedroom.”

“Sweet,” Cody nodded, “though I’m not sure how I feel about JJ being in control of the food.”

“Let him have it, I need to tell you guys something.”

They followed you around the whole place and ended in the second bedroom where you shut the door, Tyler smirked, “Getting us alone to pitch a foursome?”

You blinked, not prepared at all, “I-” after a few seconds gathered your thoughts, “no, I just wanted to know if you guys needed to be anywhere early tomorrow or if you could help us decorate for Christmas. JJ never has before, so I thought it could be a fun family activity.”

Before you even finished, Cody, who loved Christmas and decorating for it was nodding eagerly, “Oh fuck yeah. I’m so down. Is that why this room is so messy? Christmas decorations.”

You snorted, “Please, I haven’t forgotten how messy y’all are, I spent so much time in that disaster of a dorm room.”

Tyler waved you off, “We’re much better now.”

“I’m sure,” you answered sarcastically.

“I am, my girlfriend whipped me into shape,” Cody told you, “our apartment looks so dope.”

“Yeah, because your girlfriend has her shit together and a Pinterest board.”

Tyler snorted, “True, you have no eye for interior design.”

Cody rolled his eyes as JJ yelled for everyone to come eat. The four of you sat around the small table you and JJ found on sale with plates heaped full of food. Before anyone could take a bite, you cleared your throat, “Okay, everyone share their lists.”

A tradition the four of you started in college was to share at least three things each person was thankful for before eating whatever you’d managed to put together for dinner, usually takeout because no one was thankful for cafeteria food and the shitty dorm kitchen.

“I’ll go first,” Tyler started, “I’m thankful for the Sixers finally playing well, my girlfriend for getting me a new job, and for you guys having a nice enough apartment to play host.”

“Wait wait wait,” JJ held his hand up, “your girlfriend got you a job?”

Tyler shrugged, “I figure if I play my cards right and don’t fuck anything up, when she finishes law school and has a nice job, I can become a trophy husband. I’ll be supportive as fuck and the best arm candy on the planet.”

You snorted and said, “Okay, poor Emma first of all. It’s my turn though. I’m thankful for my therapist, she’s really done a lot of heavy lifting this fall, I’m thankful for JJ not burning the building down while cooking, and I’m thankful for you guys driving to see us because my separation anxiety was getting pretty bad and my poor therapist needs a break.”

Cody gave you a thumbs up, “Live to serve. My turn, I’m thankful for Liverpool sucking ass this season, I’m thankful that my girlfriend is good at everything I’m bad at because I’m pretty sure I’d have died by this point, and I’m thankful that you guys live somewhere interesting enough that I want to come visit.”

“Okay, me last,” JJ started, “I’m thankful for you guys being here even though it was kind of an inconvenient trip, I’m thankful for my boss for giving me a holiday bonus, and I’m thankful to finally get to spend a holiday in my own space. A safe space.”

Cody and Tyler, both great with emotion, held out fists for him to bump and then started eating.

“Okay,” you clapped your hands, startling JJ awake the next morning, “it’s noon, we’ve slept off most of the hangover, and now we have shit to do.”

“What?” he asked, voice cracking, as he rubbed his eyes.

“It’s Christmas season, we have to decorate.”

JJ groaned, “Shopping? While I feel like this? No.”

“No need to shop, I have it all. Now get up, get dressed, and let’s do this.”

Tyler was already up when you walked out of the bedroom, and he waved, “I ordered breakfast but couldn’t find your coffee pot. Cody is sorting through the decorations, did you have a tree?”

“Yeah, I have one in the closet, we always did a real tree at home, but I figured we should start small and see how it goes.”

“Good plan. I think Cody has a Christmas playlist ready. He’s so excited, could barely sleep.”

He followed you to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame while you made coffee. You chuckled, “Yeah, I know how much he loves Christmas. I’m honestly kind of surprised we never did a group decorating thing like this before.”

“Well,” Tyler crossed his arms, “we did the small trees in the dorm, but JJ didn’t want to buy one for himself so it didn’t really count. And then decorating the frat house was just not worth the effort.”

You passed him a mug and he took a sip while you answered, “JJ never really seemed super interested either. I mean I was going to keep it chill this year too but he brought it up.”

“Cody said you had a whole bunch of homemade stuff.”

“Yeah, my mom brought it to me. I was thinking of making JJ do some of the ornaments to make it even but I’m not sure he’d go for that.”

Tyler snorted, “Man’s a simp, he’d do it for you.”

“Who’s a simp?” Cody asked, walking into the kitchen to take the second mug.

“All three of you,” you told him, grabbing the creamer out of the fridge for him.

He took a sip and shrugged, “Yeah, true. But who are we discussing in particular now?”

“JJ. Whether he’d made homemade ornaments,” Tyler responded.

“He definitely would,” Cody nodded, “I would too. Is that on today’s agenda?”

“It is not. But I mean, if you guys want to make us some in the future and mail them, I’ll gladly hang them on the tree.”

“Deal.”

“What’s the deal?” JJ asked, finally joining the rest of you.

“Nothing, drink some coffee and we’ll decorate.”

After the food arrived and everyone ate, Cody did in fact have a Christmas playlist queued, and he hooked it up to the speaker to blast in the living room. Tyler strung lights around, and JJ told you, “We should just keep these up after Christmas.”

By the time the two of you had struggled to get the tree put together and in a good spot, you added, “Maybe we don’t take the tree down either. We can just decorate it for every holiday.”

Tyler laughed, “Don’t be those guys.”

“We will,” JJ vowed, “we will absolutely be those guys. I just broke a sweat.”

“I will come back for New Years and start a riot if the tree is still up. You laugh like I’m joking, but I will,” Tyler told the two of you.

Cody was barely paying attention, reaching up to put an ornament on the tree when you stopped him, “JJ has to put the first one up.”

JJ gave you a weird look, “What? Why?”

“Bro,” Tyler told you, “lowkey this is a foursome.”

“No, it’s so not.”

“But, it kinda is. We’re taking JJ’s Christmas tree decorating virginity.”

“That’s so-” JJ paused, “okay the logic works a little but I don’t like it.”

“I hate you all,” you groaned, handing JJ an ornament and gently shoving him toward the tree.

“You don’t,” Cody singsonged from his spot across the room.

When everything was done, Cody turned all the lights off in the room and JJ plugged the tree in. Tyler flipped all the lights he’d put out on and the four of you stood in the doorway to take it all in.

JJ sighed, “Kinda love it. It’s going to be such a pain to take down, but it feels good.”

“A good family decorating day,” Cody added, “next year we’ll make ornaments.”

You laughed, “Sure.”

Wrapping his arms around your waist from behind, JJ hummed, “Gonna miss our Christmas this year.”

Tyler looked a little teary eyed, “Yeah, we can FaceTime though.”

“Are you crying?” Cody asked incredulously.

“It’s the hangover,” Tyler denied, wiping his eyes.

Cody rolled his eyes, “Sure it is. I’m gonna miss you guys too.”

“Group hug,” you said, holding your arms out. For the first time in a while and the last time for an even longer while, you hugged your boys close. You sniffled, pulling back, “Bring your girlfriends next time. They’re always welcome too.”

They nodded and left after one more hug. JJ and you sat on the couch, soaking in the sudden silence. You leaned into his side and he wrapped an arm around your shoulder, “Movie, sweetheart?”

“Please,” you answered, “Home Alone.”

day four of @obxmermaid‘s holiday challenge: decorating the tree

#pike!jj #jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x you #jj maybank fic #outer banks #outer banks fic #obxmermaidholiday #frat!jj

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bangtae-sohotddaeng · 4 years

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we’ll be counting stars | k.th. | 1

(^ gif cred: ON THE VOYAGE | pinterest)

pairing: idol!Taehyung x publisher!Reader

rating: nc-17 (for language and themes)

summary: You’d sworn off love and relationships forever. You were here to do your job - work with the biggest boyband of the world. Not forge friendships and...and whatever it was that you and Taehyung were building up with these sneaky glances. It was, to be very fair, your Chief Editor’s fault that you’d landed in this mess. Maybe you should quit your job? Maybe you should quit life -

Oh, he was staring again, and did he freaking lick his lips?

warnings: swearing (reader’s got a potty mouth) + this is set like 5 years in the future + reader has emotional issues, she's a relationship phobe + mentions of weed

genre: so much ANGST ugh + fluff + comedy + some crack

words: 2.1 k

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gimme feedback, much much appreciated!

SIX MONTHS AGO

“Wait a second, really?” You blinked up at the Chief Editor, your boss, in wonder. “Heading this?”

The chocolate skinned, tall woman smiled at you. “Yes, heading this. I’d been looking to hand you something from a really long time, to be honest. This is just the right fit."

You grinned at her, hugging the contract file to your chest. In your thirteen months of employment at the publishing company, through the departmental transfer from HR to Editorial and then the promotion to the Associate Editor position, this was the best thing to happen to you, so far. You finally had a project you were gonna head. You would finally, finally get to handle things on your own—curate your own team, work on an individual project where you made all the decisions.

You breathed out, happily. “I’ll read this thoroughly and report back within an hour, boss. With my sign on it, in all likelihood.”

“I’m counting on it.” Your boss smiled at you.

You looked down at the file. You were going to work with a K-pop group on their auto-biography. You were gonna fly to fucking Korea, for six full months. This was huge. This was awesome. This was what you fucking needed, right now. Your best friend that you had been rooming with for a year was starting to get too comfortable. You were so not up for that kinda shit again.

You looked at the bottom of the front page. Athena had drawn up this contract. Your eyebrows arched. It was no secret that she was your boss’s favourite Acquisition Editor. Some even suspected they were having an affair, despite the gleaming diamond you could see—even right now—on the woman’s finger.

This project had to mean a lot to your boss. And she’d picked you to head it.

“This sounds big, boss,” you mumbled, leafing through the hefty files. You were gonna need a couple hours, maybe, to go through this properly. “And looks big, too.”

“It is big, Y/N. In all the ways. This idea had been brewing in my head for a really long time. I had Athena make the proposal to this K-pop group’s management company, a few months back, and they said yes. She and I had been brainstorming how to approach this. Those guys are pretty tight about their privacy and, um, well. Fraternising policies. It’s all in there, you’ll see.” She pointed a finger at the file in your hands. “We were finally able to draw up the contract with the company’s CEO and Manager. And you were the only one I had in mind when we thought up of building a team and having someone head it so that we don’t have to leave.”

You gave a small, delighted giggle. “Thank you so much, boss. I won’t disappoint you.”

“I know you won’t.”

You got back to your desk and flipped to the first page of the file.

BTS

Your eyes bulged. You had been a busy—and irritable because of all the stupid shit that just constantly kept on happening in your personal life—woman during the past couple of years and really uninvested in anything and everything that had to do with entertainment. This past year had been especially rough ever since your move to the States. You freaking smoked pot when you needed to unwind, what could be worse than that.

But. But—before, when you were a normal, happy woman with a soul, BTS had been kind of a really humongous deal. Did that somehow change in the past couple of years? You strongly doubted it, recalling how huge they’d been growing worldwide, the last time you kept a check. Which you did like crazy.

You momentarily wondered if your boss would still have you as the first consideration if she knew about your crazy ARMY days…

You blinked, coming back from the mental journey, and turned the page. BigHit’s owner was still the same, obviously, but the group members now apparently had individual managers. You blinked, uncomfortable at the knowledge. Reading further, you found something that disturbed you even more.

All the BTS members were done with their Military Service, with Jungkook, Jimin and Namjoon having returned from it just this year.

You swallowed, thickly. A lot had changed in the world outside of the one you’d been living in, too, apparently.

You read through the terms and conditions and your duties, thoroughly. Few points were pretty obvious and things you’d been expecting, but some of them made you frown.

You brought one such issue to your boss’s acknowledgement when you were done reading the entire booklet of a contract, nearly two hours later. You were ready to sign the thing, otherwise.

“And? What about it?” Your boss blinked at you, unfazed.

You sighed, and lifted your left hand up, pointing at your empty ring finger. “No ring, no fiance, boss. They want the team members to be at least engaged. I’m as single as it gets.”

She chuckled at that. “Tell me honestly, are you unprofessional enough to fraternise on your job? Such a high profile one, at that?”

You worried your bottom lip between your teeth. “I don’t think they’d care about what I think, boss, or that they’d even ask.”

Your boss gave an exasperated sigh. “Okay, let me put it in a different way.” You tilted your head to show your interest. “What’s your opinion on relationships, in general?”

You grimaced, unable to help your knee-jerk response. But then you shrugged, trying not to scowl while you said the words you’d started to believe in since the past couple of years. “Well, as I’d informed you through my quite less-than-professional letter at the time of my joining, boss, I think relationships are pointless. Humans keeping relationships beyond professionalism with each other is pointless, actually, because with a personal attachment comes a buckload of expectations, and then it’s just a rabbit hole down the middle of the earth. At the end of which, we burn.”

Your boss seemed to be suppressing laughter. Did the moral of your life amuse her? “You actually quoted the letter word by word, there, Y/N.”

You sighed. “That wasn’t something I’d thought through when I mailed it, boss. The voice input tool turned my rants into a letter. And my frustration over your concerns about fraternising in the office made me mail it.”

Your boss nodded. “Well, I talked to BigHit’s manager over the phone. The company’s not the group’s,” she added when you frowned in confusion at the singular term. “I explained to him about where you stood—taking references from this letter—and explained to him why I needed my most valuable Associate on the team.”

Your cheeks heated up, both due to the huge praise and embarrassment over the exposure of your letter. “Oh, um. Thank you. I guess?”

“Ugh, sign the damn piece of paper and start collecting the damn team, Y/N!”

You’d resorted to staying back at the office till late hours just to avoid your roommate.

When you’d moved to the country, thirteen months back, and decided to share your decade old friend’s flat—feeling lucky as shit that he worked in the same city as you—you and him had been on the same page. You’d both been fed up with the concepts of relationships and entanglements, even the strictly-physical ones, and wanted to just burn away your youth on the grind and pot-smoking weekends.

But then, gradually, you noticed the shift in him. He was trying to get into your pants. It could not end well.

It wasn’t to say you weren’t attracted to him. You’d jump the gorgeous guy’s bones in a heartbeat, in an alternate universe. But in this one, you’d had a first hand experience of ruining multiple friendships, and you so did not wanna risk another.

That idiot didn’t get it, though.

Hence why you were brainstorming your project’s team at ten oclock of the night in your nearly empty office building.

“Any luck?” Your okay-ish colleague—the least clingy out of the lot—peered at your spreadsheet over your shoulder.

“Why the heck are you so against it, Sana?” you groaned into your palm, frustrated.

“Because I’m ARMY!” she said in an aghast tone.

“So? Dude, that’s nearly 70% of the earth’s population, at this point, I’m guessing.”

“Um, maybe, but. I don’t trust myself to be professional, Y/N,” she morosely mumbled, dropping into an empty chair on the table next to you.

You looked at her from above your glasses. “Why the heck not?”

She ducked her head, her honey blonde hair covering almost all of her face. But you still spotted the red that bloomed across her face. “Because I have a crush on Yoongi, the size of freaking America, Y/N!”

“What? What? That’s your reason?" You covered your mouth with a hand to hold back your laughter. "Lame fucking reason, Sana!” You glared at her when she nervously looked back at you. “Get your shit together, and pack your bags. And give me your husband’s number, I wanna tell him something.”

You hadn’t imagined that picking out five people from a group of thirty would be this hard. You had spent an entire week literally running after these people to convince them. They were all married or engaged save for one, who had plans of proposing to his boyfriend a few months later, during Valentine’s before you convinced him to do it now so that he’d be able to join the team.

You’d come up with a total of four women and two men, including Sana, that were all fluent in Korean. That was kinda one of the biggest prerequisites, other than being in a committed relationship. You’d briefed the lot of them about what was to be done on this trip, who you were dealing with, and how long you’d be off for. They were all on board, now, and the only thing required was your boss’ approval.

And now you were all standing in the Chief Editor’s cabin, waiting for her to finish reviewing the team members’ profiles you’d collected and presented to her.

Your brain was nearly short circuited, at this point. If she said she wasn’t happy with any of your selections you were prepared to tell her to make the new selection herself, because there were only three more married people in this office, and none of them spoke Korean. There were only two more Korean speakers, but they were both female interns who’d be the worst nightmares to put on this project.

You looked at the six people standing next to you, all looking a varied degree of nervous.

But your boss looked impressed as she perused the file. She beamed at all of you, and then nodded. “Prepare for a six months’ stay, people, and prepare to do your best there. The only two real rules to remember are to keep it all a secret until the BigHit people are ready to disclose the news, and not fall in love.”

You all grunted in barely concealed annoyance at the last part, excluding Sana who bit her lip. You rolled your eyes. “It’d be a bigger concern for their partners than it would be to you, if that happens, boss. Don’t worry. We’re all a bunch of professionals, here.” You reassured your boss, shooting a glare at a fidgety Sana.

“I have complete faith in y’all. Now, off you go. Brush up your Korean, spend time with your partners.” She looked at you. “Or just, you know, catch up on lost sleep. You fly to Seoul this Friday.”

Three days from now, oh God.

You all trickled out of your boss’ cabin with furrowed foreheads. You had the most workload out of them all, though, because in addition to preparing to spend six months in a foreign land, you also were to prepare a formal itinerary for said six months. You, of course, were clear on the details because they were mentioned in the contract, but writing them out for your team would definitely take a lot of time.

You briefly wondered if you should employ Sana’s help, before quickly deciding against it. It wouldn’t do you any good to do anything to sway your professional relationship by asking for personal favours.

“Hey, Y/N, all okay?” Simon, the guy that was proposing to his boyfriend early because of you, asked you when you dropped into your office chair with a huge thump.

You turned to scowl at him. “You guys have got to stop asking me that all the time! When have you ever gotten a good answer?”

Simon’s eyes widened, and he quickly shook his head. “My bad.”

You kept squinting at his retreating figure. Another member of your team met your eye, before quickly scrambling away.

You hummed in thought. Did they all think you were a bitch? Maybe you were.

Good. It’d do you some good in Korea.

gimme feedback, much much appreciated!

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Tags: @tangledsparkles

#taehyung angst #bts angst #taehyung fluff #bts fluff #bts imagine #bts au #reposting bc it wasn't showing up in the tags #*mine #f: wbcs

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kickingitwithkirk · 4 years

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The Coupon Book Of Love

Summary: Dean and Y/N have a falling out during a hunt and return not speaking. This upsets Jack who decides to help fix their relationship.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader, Confused Jack Kline, Mentions of Sam and Cas

A/N: for @winchester-fantasies #winchesterfantasies1000followerschallenge.

Word Count: 2623

Warnings: fluff, some arguments, ogling of m/f body, necking, mild language, implied sex

Prompt: 10. “I’ve had a rough day and honestly all I want right now is a drink and someone to cuddle with.”

A/N: This is my first attempt at writing fluff so hopefully it doesn’t suck and there was to be coupon photos included but I couldn’t get them the right size and had to delete.

*No beta, all mistakes are mine

*****

Jack Kline was sad.

Dean and Y/N had returned from a hunt not speaking to each other. This was not completely abnormal for them. Their relationship is one of extreme passions, running hot or cold depending on the day.

It was when Y/N moved back into her old room and Dean started drinking all the whiskey in the bunker they all knew something very bad had happened. Sam tried to find out what had happened but all he could get out of either of them was ask Dean or ask Y/N.

After Sam retired for the night, Jack went to his father Castiel and asked why do people who are in love like Y/N and Dean hurt each other?

He said that human love is complicated and had no definitive answer.

Jack could not let them go on like this. Y/N was perfect for Dean, she could help with his highs and lows, make him smile when he was in one of his dark moods and had an off kilter sense of humor that matched his.

So Jack turned to the internet looking for the answer.

He found all sorts of sites with recommendations how to: repair relationships, muddle through misunderstandings, blogs from magazines like Cosmo on how to fix things with your significant other, spice up your love life, even watching Dr. Phil on YouTube.

But most of the advice given was about vocalizing thoughts and feelings and Dean doesn’t do those things.

Jack starts thinking when they return from a hunt Y/N will say to Dean, “I’ve had a rough day and honestly all I want right now is a drink and someone to cuddle with.” Dean’s eyes always lit up like the displays at Christmas when Y/N asks him for a cuddle. Which is weird because Dean is vocal that he doesn’t cuddle.

Sam teases Dean that Y/N’s secret code for nookie didn’t fool anyone. Dean tells him to shut up while smiling.

Jack shakes his head, is cuddle and nookie the same or are they different things...humans are very confusing.

He’s about ready to quit when he notices a tab for Pinterest that wasn’t closed yesterday and clicks on it. There were a few boards; cooking, pies, vintage cars, pinup girls.

Unlike what Sam is always saying, Dean does use the internet for more than watching porn.

Jack scrolls around for a while looking at other pins when he sees something. Tapping on the photo he reads the description. He likes the idea presented but it’s not quite right for Dean and Y/N...

...so he comes up with his own plan.

******

The Next Morning

Dean staggers into the kitchen looking for coffee. Lots of coffee after another night spent with Jack, Jim and some wild turkey. Going over to the pot he wonders why Sam hadn't made it after his morning run like usual. Dean sees a piece of paper taped to it with a typed message.

Please go to the library ASAP.

Dean ponders the note while the coffee is brewing and grudgingly heads there after pouring a mug. He is surprised to see Y/N standing by the table looking as tired as he felt. Then he notices a paper in her hand. “Got one too?” He asks, slowly moving to the other side, the table separating them.

She nods once in acknowledgment.

On the table between them is a letter and two small boxes with their names written on them. Dean slides the letter towards him and reads it out loud.

Dear Dean and Y/N,

I don’t like it when you fight, it makes me sad. You're treating your love as something disposable. I want you to be happy like before and since both of you are stubborn so I’ve come up with a way to help.

Each box possesses a specifically tailored coupon for each of you with extra, individual instructions accompanying it and must be completed together once a day in order.

Sam, Cas and I are on a hunt so you have the bunker to yourselves. Have fun.

PS: No peeking ahead-this means you Dean.

*****

CAR WASH

I can't believe I agreed to do this repeatedly going through Dean's head as he entered the garage after they had opened the boxes and shared their first coupons.

He’s grabbing the paraphernalia kept there for bathing his Baby when Y/N walks in wearing...oh crap...that button down plaid shirt tied up under her bust and those cutoffs made from an old pair of jeans of his that hug her curves just right.

Okay, if that’s how she want to play…game on baby.

Dean hands her a sudsy bucket giving her the look. Y/N blinks perplexed as he walks over turning on the faucet and starts wetting down the Impala.

She pulls out the sponge and starts soaping down the passenger side as Dean works on the drivers side. They watch each other, quickly looking away when caught.

By the time they meet at the trunk they're both wet, Dean’s t-shirts clinging, accentuating his torso and his jeans have molded to his bowed legs and scrumptious bum. Y/N abruptly hurries to the front of the car.

Dean, smirking to himself, makes the mistake of looking up through the windows. He can see Y/N stretching over the hood as far as she can reach, water and bubbles sliding over the slope of her breasts, nipples pebbled up under the material.

She bends down in front and he quietly steps to his right looking down the side of the car and can see her pert rear swaying in the air as she's scrubbing the grill. Dean reaches over the top of his jeans, pushing down his harding length.

“Okay, she's clean enough, I'll finish up here.” Dean gruffly states. Y/N pops up confused, “Um, are you sure, we haven't waxed yet.”

Dean feels himself flushing, that’s the last thing he needs right now is Y/N’s breasts bouncing as she's vigorously buffing his...car. “I forgot to get a new can, we’ll do it later.”

“I’ll go get cleaned up and meet you back here in an hour for the next part.” Y/N says as she leaves the garage hips swaying as she walks up the steps.

“Good thing were not leaving right away.” Dean mutters to himself grimacing at how his wet jeans have become way too constricting.

~~~~

Y/N slid the prepacked basket onto the trunk and shut it, hearing Dean come to a sudden halt and peered over the roof at him, taking in his flushed expression.

“Something wrong?” She inquires.

“I.. uh..I haven't seen you in that in a long time.” Dean stammers out awestruck waving his hand at Y/N’s appearance. Her hairs pinned up in loose waves and dressed in the tea length, off the shoulder summer dress he loves on her.

“Not the most practical thing to wear when chopping off a vamps head.” She quips.

“So, where are we going?” Dean asks, pulling the key out of his pocket.

“I’m to drive us...” she starts, “Nope, not happening sweetheart.” Dean steely interrupts.

Sighing Y/N walks over, “My instructions say I'm to drive to a predetermined location and I can't tell you where it is so I need the keys,” holding her hand out, “Please.”

Dean clenched his jaw reluctantly handing her the keys and got in the passenger side.

They drove for about an half hour, Dean glaring out the front window the entire time. Y/N turned onto a tree lined gravel road going a quarter mile before stopping. They sit in silence gazing out the front window astounded.

In front of them is an abundantly flowering meadow surrounding a small, private lake.

Jack couldn't have picked out a more perfect place.

“Sooo...what are we supposed to be doing?”

Y/N hands him the coupon reading…

ROMANTIC PICNIC

*****

MOVIE NIGHT

Y/N enters the Dean Cave not surprised Dean’s already settled in one of the recliners with pizza, popcorn and various other snacks spread out and a twelve pack Margiekugel cooling in the iced tub between the chairs.

They had spent the day doing various choirs separately around the bunker to give each other some space after yesterday. Y/N admitted to intentionally teasing Dean while washing the Impala and vice versa. During their picnic, something neither of them would ever normally do, they had fun together.

Dean seemed to be enjoying spending time together like they haven’t had much of lately but when they got back he decided to go out for a few cold ones instead of spending the evening in and pissing off Y/N.

“Ready for a marathon of The Man with No Name sweetheart?” Dean smugly asks trying to get a rise out of her. Y/N’s grabs some pizza and settling in the other chair takes a big bite of the meat lovers slice and chews slowly. Dean stares wondering why she hasn’t reacted, well aware Eastwood is not a favorite of hers.

Y/N finishes chewing, fishes a beer out of the tub opening it and after taking a long draw finally glances at Dean and flashes her coupon.

CONTROL OF THE REMOTE

“Sonovabitch,” Dean spits out, sinking in the chair cause knowing Y/N she’ll pick some long-ass, drawn out British dramedy that Sam’s the only one willing to watch with her, “I'm gonna get that Nephilim for this,” he pouts but will never admit he’s actually pouts.

A saccharin smile crosses Y/N’s lips as she takes the remote from him and brings up the menu to select a movie. Dean kills the beer in his hand and grabs another as she continues searching, occasionally clicking on one before going back undecided.

“Will you just pick something so we can get it over with.” Dean surly growls out, opening his fifth beer. Y/N gives him an annoyed huff pressing start.

Dean jerks upright in surprise at her choice, “Seriously, we're watching...”

“...I don't like spaghetti westerns but seems you forgot I do like slasher films,” Y/N interrupts, “and don't you dare tell Sam, he already thinks I'm off my beam since we got together as it is.”

“Alright and I'll not take that last part as an insult.” Dean happily agrees, snagging the popcorn/M&M’s bowl shoveling in a mouthful as Y/N rolls her eyes, settling in to enjoy an evening of some slice and dice together.

*****

HOME COOKED MEAL

‘’Argh! This is ridiculous, what made Jack think I could cook anything?” Y/N yells at the tablet sitting innocuous on the counter in front of her with the recipe Jack had picked out, taunting her.

Dean stopped in the doorway observing the mess Y/N is making of his kitchen. The flour bag is tipped over one counter spilling on the floor, the cutting board has something green cut into so many different shapes it's unidentifiable, other various items scattered about as the skillet on the stove is starting to smoke.

Then the alarm goes off screeching throughout the kitchen.

“Turn the stove off!” He yells over the alarm rushing over switching the stove off and grabbing a lid to smother the fire. Once it's out he turns on Y/N, “Are you trying to burn the place down? Don't you know not to set the heat on high under oil?”

“Yes Dean, I'm trying to burn the bunker down so I can get out of doing this!” Y/N screeches loudly waving the coupon in Dean’s shocked face.

He's never heard her like this, Y/N is one of those people that nothing outside of hunting makes her lose her cool, it’s one of the reasons he fell for her.

Dean approaches cautiously, reaches out placing his hands on her shoulders and slowly running his hands up and down her arms. “Baby, it’ll be fine but you need to calm down,” softly speaking in the soothing voice he used to use to calm Sam down when he was little and having a nightmare. “Now, what are we fixing for dinner?”

“Salmon Croquettes with wild rice and steamed asparagus.” Y/N glances over at the tablet, “I can’t understand why Jack would give me this, he knows I can’t even boil water outside of a tea kettle and...what do you mean we?”

“You really think Jack would intentionally let you cook anything outside of a bowl of cereal after the Cajun waffle incident?”

“They weren’t that bad.”

“Sweetheart, we had to buy a new waffle iron.”

“Alright Guy Fieri, what does yours say?” Dean pulls the coupon out of his pocket.

DESERT NIGHT

“I got your favorites and if you're a good girl,” Dean pauses, licking his lips teasingly, “I’ll let you decide how to devour them.”

*****

Dean grabs his jacket off the chair back and heads to the library looking forward to tonight's activities. Well, he’s part of it anyways since Y/N hinted hers was something he never ever did.

Dean steps up into the room and stops dead in his tracks when he sees Y/N sitting at the table in her outfit for evening.

“Damn sweetheart.”

“You don’t clean up to bad yourself Winchester,” Y/N remarks as she gets up walking around him, seeming to be mentally undressing him, “and since I don’t know where we’re doing tonight I was thinking that if you play your cards right,” she leans up, her voice husky next to his ear, “you might get lucky.”

Dean takes his plump lower lip between his teeth and slowly lets it slide out making Y/N’s breath hitch as they stare into each other's eyes.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Y/N inquiries in a slightly breather voice than normal.

DATE NIGHT

Dean slides his arms around her waist, “I was thinking of taking you somewhere you haven’t been in a while,” he leans down kissing along her collarbone, moving up the side of her neck, “depends on what your half of the evening entails.”

Y/N retrieves the coupon from her jeans back pocket and Dean groans, dropping his head onto her shoulder.

SLOW DANCE

“I was thinking we can do what this coupon literally says or we could interpret it a different way.”

“Okay, I'm listening.” Dean mumbles.

“Well, there was no specific instruction from Jack as to what type of slow dance...” Dean’s head snaps up, his pupils dilating to the point the mossy green color has all but disappeared as Y/N keeps talking about the different types of slow dancing they could try.

“What are you asking?” Dean interrupts, his whisky roughened voice is even more gravelly sounding as his aching with desire.

Y/N walks backwards till her hips bump against the library's table, hops up on it leaning back onto her elbows, “I’ve had a rough day and honestly all I want right now is a drink and someone to cuddle with.”

~~~~

Later that night

“So we agree we're not gonna tell them the real reason for our fight?” Y/N asks as she finishes braiding her shower damp hair, sitting at the foot of the bed. Deans leaning against the headboard with their last two coupons sitting upside down next to his sweat pant clad hip.

“They’ll think it’s stupid, especially Sam,” Dean remarks, “so, you ready to admit that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.”

“Nope, you're never gonna convince me,” Y/N pronounces as she climbs onto Dean's lap leaning forward to softly brush her lips over Dean's before sitting back and picking up the coupons turns them over...

YOU WIN THE FIGHT

“I think we better hang on to these, ya know, just in case.”

#winchesterfantasies1000followerschallenge #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #supernatural #deanxreader #sam winchester #castiel #jack kline #spn #dean winchester x you

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all1e23 · 5 years

Text

Astrophile [Pt.9]

Chapter: Stardust

Summary: Bucky & Y/n spend the day apart, but find themselves struggling to make it through the day.

Warnings: Flirting. Fluff. Sweet Tony. Sweet Bucky. Slightly sad Bucky but only for a second!

A/N: Bucko is a little sad at the start, but I don’t consider it angsty at all. Progress babies. Progress. 😉Send me love because I’m needy, okay?! Plus all your comments make my day. Beta’d by the beautiful and talented @lokissoul I love you 3000.

***My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission. Reblogs are welcomed! Thanks!**

“What’s been going on with you lately?”

Bucky rolls the glass bottle between his palms and shrugs in answer, glancing up at whatever game was on behind the bar to avoid Steve’s probing glare. They have been in this pub for over an hour now, and Bucky has no idea what game he’s been pretending to watch, and he hasn’t heard a word Steve has said. As much as he wants to throw himself wholeheartedly into tonight, he can’t. Bucky hasn’t seen Y/n in over a week, he had to take an extra shift, so he’s had less time with Comet and with everything going today, neither he nor Y/n have had a minute to talk to each other. The last message he got from her was a quick good morning text, but he had a feeling she only sent it because he sent her a message first.

Today is not Bucky’s day.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Bucky answers, distracted and withdrawn.

“We haven’t talked in weeks. I don't even know what’s going with you. Clint knows more about you than I do. You’re always glued to your phone waiting for a certain bookstore owner to call, and if you’re not on the phone with Y/n, you’re talking about her.”

“Nothing to talk about there, Stevie,” He sighs and tips his empty beer towards the bartender, slightly asking for another round. “We are friends. She’s been dating Tony for about a month. I don’t know. Seems to be going good. I guess their first date was amazing, and all that sappy love at first sight shit.”

“Not what I heard,” Steve mumbles against the lip of the bottle in his hands. “I heard she hated the restaurant and talked about you the whole date.”

“It wasn’t the whole date, and I don’t think she hated it.”

Bucky shifts restlessly in his seat, forcing himself to not look at Steve, using the bartender returning with their beers as his excuse – Steve isn’t buying it.

“Did – did she say that she did?”

Steve snorts at the stutter in the brunette’s voice and the painfully transparent way he’s been dodging Steve’s glances from the moment Y/n was mentioned. He nods his thanks to the bartender and spins around on his stool to face his friend. “Buck, come on. I’ve never seen you like this. Tell me what’s going on with her?”

“There’s nothing to say, man.”

“Okay,” Steve sighs, drumming his fingers against the bottle in his hands. “What if – Don’t give me that pissed off face. Just hear me out. What if the reason Y/n jumps up when you call or smiles every time you’re around, or I don’t know, spends all day talking to you and about you is that maybe, just maybe there’s something there for her, too.”

“Steve–”

“Hear me out, Buck.” Steve cuts him off before Bucky has time to tell him to shut up. “You have to know she is different. You’ve been different since she came along.”

Bucky hangs his head in defeat or annoyance he’s not even sure, and if he tightens his grip in the slightest there are going to be shards of broken glass all over the place.

“Can we please talk about something else?” Bucky asks, forcing as much annoyance into his voice as he can – he needs to be done with this conversation.

“Anything else besides her?”

“Alright,” Steve spins back around towards the bar, his leg bouncing nervously, and suddenly he blurts out, “Sam, and I are going to adopt a little boy, I think.”

Bucky chokes on his beer, spilling damn near half the bottle on the bartop making Steve grin.

“What?!” Bucky Shrieks. “You can’t just drop that shit on me.”

Steve shrugs looking complacent and not sorry in the least.

“When the hell did this happen?” Bucky asks, wiping himself and the bartop off.

“Remember Zoey from the gym?”

Bucky rolls his eyes but nods anyway.

“Well, it’s kind of her fault. We ran into her, and she was out with her nephew, and I don’t know honestly. Sam was talking to him and playing and…” Steve smiles and shakes his head.

“We are finally ready, I think.”

“That’s awesome, Stevie.” Bucky pats Steve on his back, drying his beer-soaked hand on his shirt. “You’re gonna be amazing parents. Ori might get a little jealous when she realizes she has to share her uncles, but I think it’s about damn time, to be honest.”

“She doesn’t have to share. I can make time for both of them. Babies sleep a lot, right?”

“Yeah,” Bucky chuckles. “You don’t remember much from when Ori was a baby, do ya?”

“You’re a jerk,” Steve murmurs.

“Uh-huh. You gonna tell me why you didn’t tell me sooner, punk?”

“We started the process a few months ago, but I didn’t want to say anything until we were sure it was happening.”

“You’re sure now?” Bucky asks, not judging, purely out of curiosity.

“Yeah, I know we are,” Steve assured him, firm and sincere. “And, this isn’t because we are missing anything because we absolutely are not missing anything. Sam is all I could ever need, but – I don’t know to explain it. It was like once we met him everything kind of clicked, and it made everything brighter, more meaningful. Now that we know him-- Now that we know Oliver, I don’t think we could go back to a time without him.”

Bucky stares at the amber glass in his hand swallowing the knot in his throat, Steve nudges his elbow grinning widely, and Bucky forces the best smile he can muster.

“You know what I mean?” Steve asks, hope and excitement filling his voice. Bucky wants to be excited for them, and he is, but his mind is somewhere else tonight – somewhere wrapped in story pages and stardust.

“Yeah,” He sighs, “I know what you mean, man.”

-------

Today has been a complete nightmare.

Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s just been a stressful, long day and the nightmare started last night. It began with her neighbors flooding her bedroom the night before and being forced to stay in Manhattan with Tony. She would have asked Natasha or… someone else who lived closer but Tony was dropping her off when they discovered the mess that was her apartment.

Thankfully Tony was there to save the day.

The incident, however, meant the bookstore was closed for the day while they cleaned up her apartment and Y/n had to plan Ori’s party from Tony’s penthouse, which wasn’t winning any prizes for the coziest spot. It’s not that Tony didn’t have a beautiful place, he did. He was in the middle of Manhattan with the perfect view in every direction. High windows, marble floors and beautiful artwork on the walls. There were some questionable paintings hanging that she wanted to question but didn’t. He had a preposterously fancy couch, and the view off the balcony was breathtaking first thing in the morning. Sure, the view is nice, a chef is on-site, and Tony is always sweet, but it feels wrong.

The couch, with as much money as Tony spent on the thing, it should actually be comfortable! It’s hard, the back has awkward cushions and they doesn’t squish down like Bucky’s does. The arms are skinny and unyielding - there is no way she could curl up on that thing and watch a movie. The entire place is so clean she felt bad laying all party planning books and idea boards out on the table this morning. Tony had insisted it was fine, but it still felt strange to muck up his astonishingly tidy living room.

Tony left her be for most of the day, he had work to do, and she was busy planning a starry birthday bash. He had stopped in to check on her throughout and asked more than once, why don’t you just use that Pinterest website everyone uses? Or at least make all those lists on your phone?

She always replied the same, I prefer handwritten notes, Tony. Then I can doodle in the corners.

Out of everything? The thing she hates most about today? Bucky hasn’t sent her a text all day, except for the quick good morning he sent her which she is almost certain was Ori’s doing. Bucky wouldn’t think to send her a message like that first thing in the morning. It had bothered her quite a bit, and she wasn’t the only one who noticed her sour mood. Tony watches Y/n chewing on the end of her pen from his seat across his living room. She’s been staring at her notepad for nearly an hour now, occasionally glancing over at her phone (that hasn’t gone off since this morning).

Something is cooking in that pretty head of hers, and he is going to figure out what. He drops his iPad to the table and strolls over to the couch. Her focus is solely on what’s laying on her lap, he runs his hand up her bare leg stopping mid-thigh right below her shorts and sits down on the coffee table in front of her – she doesn’t seem to notice he is even there. She’s lost in star-shaped Rice Krispies Treats, recipes for the perfect moon rocks and what appears to be every space themed decoration she can think of.

“You’re doing all this for Bucky’s kid?” Tony inquires, giving a gentle but firm squeeze to her thigh. The mix of his voice and the tickle to her inner thigh seems to grab her attention, but there is still a little something indifferent in her eyes.

“Yes, I’m doing all of this for Ori and for Bucky. Bucky and I are friends,” Y/n explained, credulously and matter-of-factly.

Tony can’t help but smile at her. He leans forward and kisses her forehead, whispering against her skin, "You’re adorably naive sometimes.”

The edges of her mouth curl down into a deep frown, and her brows draw together. “What does that mean?”

“Listen,” Tony begged, ignoring her question. They can talk about that after Ori’s party. “I’ve got an idea for baby Barnes’s birthday if you’re okay letting me help?”

“Depends on what it is?”

“You said her favorite place is your bookstore, right?”

“Yeah, I mean that’s what she said, but I can’t have the party there. I would have to move all the shelves, my apartment is still a mess, and I have no room to cook anything there. I think Bucky just wants to cook burgers or something and,” She hesitates, nervously drumming the end of her pen against her knee until Tony snatches it out of her hand.

“And… what? You’re killing me with the suspense.”

“I’m not family,” she whispers, so soft that Tony has to strain to hear it. “I think they were going to do it at Steve’s because they have the deck out back and well, he’s her uncle. I’m just some girl that owns a bookstore.”

This is something Tony can’t let go. Tony grabs the notepad from her hands, tossing it and the pen onto the couch and pulls Y/n forward by her hands.

“Your apartment will be fine. I’ll make sure it gets done, and the shelves are not a big deal. Her dad and uncles have muscles coming out of their ass–” They both wince at his choice of words. “– Sorry. That was vivid even for me. Point is we can move them, and I can pay for a caterer. Don’t even try to fight me on that one. It can be my present, and as for the rest, you are far more than just a girl that owns a bookstore to that little girl and particularly to Bucky.”

A wide grin slowly stretches across Y/n’s face, and Tony does not like the smugness of that smirk.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

He doesn’t like one bit.

“You’re pretty sweet when you want to be,” She says, still beaming.

Tony reaches forward and covers her mouth with his hand whispering dramatically as he does, “Shh, don’t say that so loud. There are spies everywhere!”

A muffled giggle slips through his fingers, and she places a soft kiss to the palm of his hand.

“Thank you,” She manages once he drops his hand.

“I like the idea as long as Bucky is okay with it.” Her eyes wander back to her phone on the table next to Tony’s thigh, and it doesn’t have to be said – he can see it written all over her face.

“You wanna call him right now, don’t you?”

She gives Tony an apologetic smile with a small shrug. It’s supposed to be their date night, but she is not going to relax till she talks to Bucky and gets this party sorted – they both know it. Tony rolls his eyes affectionately and waves his hand towards the balcony as he stands.

“I have to change before we go out anyway. Go, make your call.”

Y/n slips out onto the terrace as Tony disappears into his bedroom. There is a moment of hesitation before she makes herself to dial Bucky’s number. They hadn’t talked all day, Y/n thought it was because he was busy, but maybe he didn’t want to talk? They aren’t family, they are brarey friends and she could be bothering him--

“Hey, Beck,” Bucky’s soft greeting makes her skin prickle and her worry fades away when instantly.

“Hi,” Y/n sighs, content and somehow lighter from two simple words.

“Hi,” Bucky breathes into the phone with a huge grin on his face, his nerves finally settling for the first time all day. He’s not sure how she does that when they are a good twenty miles apart.

“So,” she mutters quietly.

“So,” Bucky repeats with a soft chuckle.

Y/n knows why she called. They need to talk about Ori’s party but now that she has him on the line, for the first time in what feels like forever she doesn’t want to rush him off the phone. She admires the soft orange glow and the pink clouds peeking out over the Manhattan skyline, and she’s never wanted to be back in Brooklyn more than she does right now.

“I’m not sure what all the fuss is about the sunset from Manhattan,” She scoffs. “Personally, I like a good old Brooklyn sunset.”

Dammit. Why does she have to be so perfect? Bucky thinks as he sneaks through Steve’s living room and out the front door– no witnesses needed for this conversation. He spins around to find the sunset peeking through all the buildings. It’s harder to do the deeper you got into Brooklyn, but he was able to spot the peach colored sky. He can’t explain why, he just needs to know they are both looking at the same thing.

“You called me to talk about sunsets, Beck?”

Y/n chuckles and shakes her head as if he can see her but quickly remembers he can’t and answers him with a nervous squeak, “Um, no? I don’t know.”

“You don’t know,” Bucky echoes her words once again.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure you are about to have dinner with Ori. I just…” I haven’t talked to you all day, and I hate it. She closes her eyes and turns around the block out the nightfall that’s overtaking the orange and slowly fading to plum. “I actually called about Ori’s party. If it’s okay with you, I would like to have it at my shop. I can handle everything. If you just bring the birthday girl.”

“That sounds good,” Bucky whispers, clearing his throat as he turns back around and drops his forehead against the front door – shutting out the dark falling around him, the one that seems to take over when she’s not with him.

“Ori would really love that. Tell me what to buy or set up. I can come early and help move things around.”

“Why are you whispering?” She asks in a hushed tone making him chuckle. “I’m hiding on the front porch at Steve’s. Why are you whispering?” He counters, grinning, foolish, and unabashed.

Y/n giggle softly, and the line goes inexplicably quiet. Bucky slowly lifts his head from the door and turns back around to find the sun was mostly set, he was about to apologize for teasing her when her soft voice drifts through the line, “Let’s not go all day without talking again, okay? I really hated it.”

Sweetest words he’s heard all day.

“God, me too,” He sighs. “Never again. I pinky promise.”

“Buck, you can’t pinky promise. We can’t lock pinkies,” She scolds with total seriousness because that’s just the kind of woman she is. “I’m in Manhattan, and you’re in Brooklyn. It only counts if you hook your pinkies together.”

“Who says we gotta lock, pinkies?” Bucky scoffs, amusement and sincerity filling his words. He may find her entirely adorable, but Bucky needs her to know he means every word – without a doubt.

“Maybe that will be our thing. Pinky promise without the pinky.”

Y/n finds herself unable to stop the ear to ear grin that forms. She drops her head back and looks up to the sky in hopes of catching a glimpse of the stars.

“No more days like today, Y/n. Pinky promise.”

There’s her glimpse. Perfect timing.

“Pinky promise, Buck.”

Previous // Next

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #single dad bucky #fireman!bucky #daddy!bucky #firefighter au #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #alternate universe

2K notes · View notes

collecting-stories · 4 years

Text

I’m Pine-ing for You

A/N: The second chapter of my Christmas fic.

Christmas Mingle Masterlist

_* ◦ ❅ . ❄︎ * ∙ ◦ . _

Ariana Grande crooned over the tinny radio in the gift shop as Audrey browsed, trying to maximize her day off and finish the last of her Christmas shopping. It was futile, she knew that much, but she had bundled up for the cold weather and headed out to walk around Main Street, hoping some kind of good would come from searching. Even if all it yielded was a new candle for her apartment. Most of her family was generic enough to settle for giftcards from Target but she still went out, as if she would find something that anyone would appreciate more than the basic $25 card.

Just like every year though, she was browsing more for herself than anyone else, halfway through the display of handmade ceramic mugs, when she heard Jeff's familiar timbre. She'd only gone on one date with him so far but it didn't matter, she could probably pick out his voice in a line up. It was deep and not to raspy and she could've listened to him talk forever. But now that she thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to "run into" him here. And when she looked over toward the door she realized he was with his son. She hadn't seen any pictures of Charlie but if that tall-for-his-age kid beside Jeff wasn't his son she'd be shocked.

Audrey was in the back of the store, not poised to sneak out without having to walk right passed him. If there was one thing she truly hated it was running into people, something that happened a lot more frequently in her life now that she worked retail. There was nothing that compared to being trapped by an old school acquaintance as she rang up their groceries. She thought about turning and heading further into the store but there was no pretending that she hadn't seen Jeff, especially as her hand paused mid-grabbing a mug off the shelf, when he called her name.

"Christmas shopping?" Jeff asked, stepping up beside her in the narrow aisle of the shop.

"Well," Audrey looked over at him, "I tell myself that but honestly, I'm just shopping for me."

"Nothing wrong with that," he replied and Audrey cracked a smile.

"You're very agreeable, you know that?" She pointed out. He'd been the same on their date, agreeable on all fronts. About her divorce, her disinterest in her current job, her lack of enthusiasm for the Christmas season.

"Maybe we just agree on things?" He suggested.

"Well then, I know who to call for a second opinion." Audrey replied, glancing over to the small section of kids toys, Jeff's spitting image crouched on the ground looking over a puzzle, "Is that Charlie?" She didn't know if day-after-the-first-date was too soon to meet his son but it wasn't like he was formally introducing them so she didn't feel too bad about asking.

"Yeah that's Charlie," Jeff nodded, looking over, "kiddo's supposed to be helping me shop for other people's presents but it looks like he's picking out a few things to add to his list."

"Kid after my own heart," Audrey teased. "I'm not sure I could be of any actual help, Charlie and I seem to share a shopping gene, but I could lend a hand picking out some things if you want?" She wasn't sure that inviting herself to spend the afternoon with him was really an appropriate, normal thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. The words had come tumbling out of her mouth faster than she could think them. Something about Jeff just seemed to make the temptation of spending her day off completely by herself pale in comparison to spending the day with him. She couldn't remember a time when she felt this way about someone, even with Chris, even in the beginning when everything was new and supposedly exciting, she sought out moments when she could be alone.

"Alright, but I have two stipulations," Jeff replied, picking up one of the mugs to look it over, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I take the credit for all the gifts, and you provide the coffee."

"I provide the coffee? How is that fair? What are you providing?" Audrey said.

"The company." He shrugged as if it was totally obvious, Audrey laughing out loud, turning more toward him when the shopkeeper looked over at the sudden sound of them disturbing the ambiance of the store.

"It's a deal." She kept her voice down as she moved further down the aisle, pointing out a sun-catcher that was hanging on display. "Anyone?"

"Not even close." He replied. "I'm gonna rethink this deal if you can't hold up your end of the bargain."

"To be fair, you haven't given me any information to go on." Audrey pointed out, still holding onto the sun-catcher, contemplating a place for it in her own apartment.

Before Jeff could say anything else Charlie had found him, clutching a puzzle box to his chest he came over, stepping in front of his dad to show off his find. "Look, it's 1000 pieces...I've never done 1000 pieces before."

Audrey smiled, mouthing '1000 pieces' when Jeff caught her eye passed his son. He grinned and nodded, giving in to Charlie's request.

"Alright, we'll put it aside for break." He offered, taking the box from Charlie, "but you're supposed to be looking for something for something for your grandma."

"I am!" Charlie insisted.

"In the toy area?"

When Audrey snickered at Jeff's comment Charlie turned to look at her, a wide smile on his face at the sight of the stranger. "Hi."

"Hey." She greeted, smiling at the young boy.

"I'm Charlie," He introduced himself, holding his hand out to shake hers.

Audrey took the seven year old's hand, shaking as she introduced herself, "Audrey."

Never one to miss anything, Charlie had noticed the look that his dad had given Audrey immediately, even as he was talking about the puzzle that he wanted.

"How do you know my dad?" He asked blatantly.

"I, uh..."

"Audrey's a friend of mine," Jeff supplied, putting his hand on his son's shoulder to get his attention.

Charlie leaned his head back, looking up at Jeff and giving him a toothy grin. "Can she shop with us?" He asked.

"Well, don't ask me." Jeff replied.

"Can you shop with us?" Charlie asked, looking back at Audrey, "I need help picking a gift for my nana."

"I would love to help you."

Charlie stepped away from his dad, grabbing Audrey's hand to lead her away from Jeff and toward the back of the store. Audrey glanced back over her shoulder at Jeff, biting her lip as she smiled at him. Charlie was a well adjusted kid for his age, comfortable talking to adults happy to spend time hanging out with Jeff. He knew there were enough people in his son's life, family included, that pressured him about the way Charlie behaved. They wanted a kid that was less used to spending the majority of his week with his dad and they wanted Jeff to be more interested in dating and less interested in fathering his kid.

His mom had been thrilled, the night before, to babysit her grandson when she heard that Jeff had a date. It had been since his late wife passed away that he had gone out and before then she was the only one he had dated in years.

"It's just been so long," she had lamented, following her son into the kitchen, attempting a whisper as she spoke. "You deserve to be happy-"

"I am happy ma," Jeff promised, writing out any information she might need while he was gone. Phone numbers, the name of the restaurant he was going to, Charlie's pre-bed schedule.

"Happy with someone in your life. Someone who can help you raise Charlie. I know you don't agree but, he needs a mother figure."

"Charlie doesn't need a 'mother figure' and it's one date ma, I'm not gonna marry this woman."

"You don't know that." Jeff's mom replied, adamant on her stance about the date. She had been trying to convince Jeff to get back into dating for a few years now. She knew it was hard, losing his wife so quickly after Charlie was born, and she felt like she had waited an appropriate amount of time but, around two years ago, she had started dropping hints. Mentions here and there about women that she knew from church or even just 'eligible singles' that she saw at the grocery store. She had very little in the way of requirements.

"Please just watch him for the night and don't read too much into this?"

"Is it so wrong to be optimistic?" She asked, "it's been a long time since you've even considered dating."

"I'll call you on my way home, I'll just be down the street at the brewhouse."

Audrey crouched down so she could get a better look at the bottom shelf of the display where Charlie was checking out a few different glass blown ornaments. She reached for one, a red teardrop shaped ornament that was crackled and, when she held it up to the light, glistened.

"That's really pretty!" Charlie exclaimed, taking it from her when she handed it over to him.

"I think so too," Audrey replied, "what do you think about it as a gift?"

"I don't know," he pouted, nose scrunching as he inspected the ornament in greater detail, "dad, would nana like this?"

"Is there a pink one in there?" Jeff asked, looking over from the display of candles he'd been going through. He liked everything about Christmas aside from having to buy gifts for people. Charlie was easy, he always knew what his son wanted. It was everyone else that gave him a headache. "She'll probably love that."

Charlie dug through the box of ornaments, careful that nothing broke, successfully pulling out a pink one, "I found a pink one!"

Audrey took the red one back, turning it over in her hand once more before putting it back in the box.

"You should get that one." Charlie pointed out, "you could put it on your tree."

"Oh gosh," Audrey laughed, "I actually don't have a tree." She confessed.

Putting up a tree had been the least of her worries this year, not even a table top had made it's way into her house though she'd spent plenty of time on pinterest and instagram scrolling through the holiday decorations of influencers who's lives appeared much more together than her own.

"No tree?" Charlie looked absolutely offended at the thought of anyone not having a tree for Christmas, "dad! Dad!"

"Yeah bud?" Jeff asked, tearing his attention away from a case of handmade necklaces that he shouldn't have been looking through so early on in knowing Audrey when it was clearly her he had in mind.

"Audrey doesn't have a tree," the disbelief, even as he repeated what he already knew, was on par with the discovery of Santa's fraudulence. "We can get you a tree?" He reasoned, turning back to look at her, wide, eager eyes.

"I really don't have a lot of ornaments." Audrey admitted.

The first time she had told Chris that she needed space they had both assumed that she would be back within the month. But then two months passed and three months and she drove passed the house but it felt foreign to her. So she said it again, she needed space, mountains of it, years of it, more space than he could ever give her. And when she set foot inside the house for the last time to take what she deemed hers from a short lifetime of theirs, she left all but a shoebox of decorations.

"Oh well," Jeff was smiling at her like whatever he said she'd be hanging on, "you happen to be in the presence of the best ornament chooser in the entire world." He pointed to Charlie as he spoke, indicating it was the seven year old who possessed all the expertise of Christmas decoration.

"Really?" She attempted her best look of skepticism as Charlie nodded his head in agreement with his father.

"Dad buys me a new ornament every year that I pick out all on my own." He replied as proof of his skill.

Audrey agreed, unable to say no to Charlie. He was too sweet and she was enjoying spending time with him and Jeff too much. It was arguably some sort of honeymooning phase, she reasoned, that had her this invested in a guy that she had only been on one date with but she couldn't help it. This was just a for the holidays thing, a see where this goes, nothing special, thing that didn't have too mean too much. She didn't have to read too much into every look and every touch, didn't have to take everything so seriously, and still she was eagerly agreeing to spending the rest of her afternoon with Jeff and Charlie.

"I gotta tell you Charlie," Audrey said as she walked through the Christmas tree lot with him, "I am no tree expert. I haven't had a real tree since I was a kid."

"That's okay," he promised, "I'm the best tree chooser there is."

Jeff walked just behind the pair, listening to his son discuss the important parts of the tree and how to pick the best one, talking with such authority that his bullshitting was almost believable. Once Charlie got started on a topic it was nearly impossible for him to stop and he loved showing off whatever knowledge he might have, be it minimum or not.

"Expert ornament chooser and expert tree chooser?" Audrey asked, glancing back at Jeff with amusement. Jeff grinned back at her.

"What can I say?" Charlie replied, "Christmas is the best time of the year."

"I can't argue with that."

"Besides, if you don't get a tree then how is Santa going to bring you presents?" Charlie asked, a look of distress washing over his features as his eyes met hers. The thought had just occurred to him and yet it was a troubling one.

"That explains the lack of gifts the last few years...I think Santa is still delivering all my presents to my parents' house." She teased.

"Do you live by yourself?" Charlie asked, intrigued by the new development.

If Jeff was eager to learn more about Audrey than Charlie was tenfold. He asked questions about her job and her house and what her favorite Christmas activity was. Jeff wasn't sure if it was just her being too polite to ignore Charlie's questions or if she was truly interested in what he had to say but she listened and chatted. Dating hadn't been something that Jeff had kept at the top of his to-do list and he definitely hadn't introduced too many people to his son. A few close friends, those that knew him before his wife passed away, but no one that he seriously considered spending his life with. Not that he was thinking that far in advance now but getting to know Audrey was definitely something he wanted to continue doing.

The three of them circled the tree lot more times then Jeff felt necessary, scouring rows of evergreens that he was sure they had already examined until Charlie finally spotted the spruce that he wanted. He let out a shout of exclamation at the sight and broke out in a dash as if someone else might discover the tree before he could reach it. "This one!" He announced, standing in front of the tree and waving his arms to draw their attention to it.

"That one is..." Audrey looked at the tree on display, imagining the trip up the stairs and sheer mass of it sitting in her small apartment, "big." It seemed like the only logical adjective to describe the tree she was staring at.

"Big trees are the best trees." Charlie insisted, "you can get the most ornaments on."

"Maybe you can, I'm still lacking in the ornament department." Audrey replied. A shoebox full was not enough for a tree that was threatening six feet tall. She'd been hoping that the seven year old would settle on something more akin to a tabletop but he seemed determined that the green giant was going to be part of Audrey's Christmas.

"We can get you more ornaments."

"Don't fight it," Jeff teased, coming up beside her. His hand fell to the small of her back, turning just slightly toward her so that he could whisper in her ear, away from Charlie's heightened hearing, "he's never gonna give in."

"I think I've already figured that one out." Audrey replied, looking at Jeff, unable to stop herself from smiling.

Tree decided on, Charlie was as determined as ever to find ornaments that would go perfectly. He insisted that they not be too uniform, complaining, at seven, about the odd need for trees on television shows to have a ribbon woven through them. The strong opinions he had about Christmas were entertaining, to say the least, and Audrey didn't fight them. She had been content without all the fuss, happy to let Christmas happen the same way that it did every year but now she found herself letting Jeff haul a tree up her steps and into her apartment.

Charlie seemed as enamored by her tiny house as he did by her, rushing to the window to look out on the street that he'd walked around on a hundred times. "Dad!" He called, face close to the window pane, unbothered by the hint of cold that seeped in through the the old wood and glass.

Jeff let the tree slide off his shoulder, leaning the tree that was as tall as he was against his chest as he looked over at his son, "what's up Charlie?"

Audrey locked the door behind them, bags in one hand as she kicked her shoes off. She had stopped for some ornaments along the way, practically clearing out her Target's Christmas section. Marci had eyed her suspiciously as she checked out, fully aware of Audrey's disdain for the holiday season. She had ignored her co-worker though, rushing through self-checkout as quickly as possible so that she could avoid making Jeff and Charlie wait too long outside of her apartment.

"Look!" Charlie called, waving Jeff over as if the tree wasn't heavy and unstable. "You can see Main Street."

"You should stay for dinner and see it at night with all the lights." Audrey replied, setting the bags down on the couch as she went over to help Jeff, "I can't believe you guys stopped and got a tree stand too."

"You can't have a tree without a tree stand." Jeff shrugged, "that seemed pretty obvious. Tree, tree stand, ornaments..."

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Audrey laughed, setting up the stand.

While Jeff did most of the assembly in getting the tree in the stand and cutting it loose from the netting, Charlie rummaged through the bags of ornaments, sorting them into groups that he decided went together. The tree didn't take as long as Audrey thought it would but it did look a lot better in her apartment then she had first suspected when Charlie had spied it in the lot. Though it blocked a decent amount of her window view, the ornaments looked pretty with the lights and she had even brought out the shoebox of special ones that she kept in her bedroom.

"Some of these are pretty old, they belonged to my great grandma." Audrey explained, setting the box on the coffee table and opening it up for Charlie to see.

"This one is so cool!" He held up a blue bobble, handpainted with a horse and carriage in the snow. "My grandma got me an ornament decorating kit and I painted one with a Christmas tree."

"I bet it looks really awesome," Audrey replied, taking the ornament from him so she could hang it up a little higher.

"You should come over to see it!" Charlie looked thrilled at his idea, turning to his father in excitement, "what do you think dad? Could Audrey come over soon?"

Jeff looked over Charlie's head to Audrey, their eyes meeting as Audrey smiled. It seemed a natural occurrence when she was around Jeff though she didn't want to let herself think too hard on the matter.

"I don't see why not." Jeff finally said.

"Well, since you're here now, what should we get for dinner tonight?" Audrey asked, taking another ornament from Charlie to hang up.

"Pizza!" He replied without hesitation.

"Pizza it is," She agreed, stepping away from the tree to grab her phone, "any toppings?"

Dinner was served on the coffee table, the three of them sitting on the couch to watch TV, Charlie choosing It Happened on 5th Avenue as his Christmas movie of choice. He sat between them, enthralled in the film, announcing favorite scenes just before they happened. Audrey had steered clear of cliche Christmas films like It's a Wonderful Life or Love Actually for a while, longer that she had been single. She never cared for them and always found them cheesy and ridiculous. The leads falling in love all within a week, enamored with each other as if there was no one else in the world. As if falling in love at Christmas solved all their problems. But here she was, watching this old black and white film and actually enjoying it.

It was nearly three quarters of the way through when Jeff felt Charlie slump against him more that he glanced down, realizing that his son had fallen asleep. Audrey seemed to pick up on Charlie's sleeping around the same time, pausing the film and asking if wanted to let Charlie nap in her bed. "Unless you two need to get home?"

"We can stay a little while longer," Jeff replied, reluctant to go as it was.

While he carried Charlie into the bedroom, laying him on the bed and covering him with a blanket, Audrey cleared away the pizza and closed the front window. She grabbed a bottle of wine from the cabinet and two glasses, meeting Jeff back in the living room.

"Wine?"

"What've you got?" Jeff asked, taking the bottle from her.

"Just a red, it's from a subscription I get every month." She replied, "I could be paying for a gym but-"

"Wine is better than a gym," Jeff concluded, heading back to the couch with her. She let him pour the glasses, a little heavy handed though so was she. "I was thinking about what you said, about looking for something that wasn't working at Target."

"My glamorous part time job...what about it?" Audrey asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"The art teacher at Charlie's school is going on maternity leave and I heard they posted the job online. I'm not trying to overstep or anything, just saw it and thought of you."

"Well, I'm flattered that you thought of me. I'll look into it." She replied, "part of me would love it, honestly, and the other part is terrified to actually do something like that. I feel everything has moved really slowly but quickly at the same time for me."

"I know the feeling well. Don't feel like you need to consider anything just cause I mentioned it." Jeff replied, "take everything at your own pace."

"I'll never move forward if I do that." Audrey admitted.

"Well hey, nothing needs to be decided now...I mean, Christmas break is right around the corner."

"That's right, you have finals for your semester don't you?" Audrey asked. She wasn't sure why it hadn't occurred to her the entire time that they were out shopping or looking for a tree but it was as if she suddenly remembered that Jeff had actual work when class hours ended.

"Coming up, yeah." He nodded. "I'll be spending the next four days prepping and grading essays."

"I'll trade you bitchy, impatient customers who think I'm secretly stashing all the stuff they want so they can't find it?" Audrey offered.

"Now that you mention it, the papers are fine." He replied, smiling at her as he took a sip of wine, "so this party coming up? It's your co-worker's?"

"Co-worker/best friend."

"How did that come about...if you don't mind my asking?"

"I guess, all my other friends are friends with Chris too you know? They knew us when we were dating, as our relationship progressed, they went to our wedding. When I left him and it wasn't for any "good" reason, I think they felt like I was overreacting." Audrey admitted. Even more than leaving and telling Chris she was never coming home, she could remember the distinct heartache that had followed her falling out with her best friend. The way Leah had accused her of being dramatic and foolish and told her that she was blowing things out of proportion. "I mean, he didn't cheat on me, he wasn't some awful guy...a little controlling sometimes but not to the magnitude of telling me what I could and couldn't do."

"If you don't love someone, you don't love someone. You can't stay in a relationship just because they're 'not a bad guy'." Jeff replied.

"I feel bad telling you about all this honestly," she confessed, "I'm trying to divorce my husband, you lost your wife, that's...I feel silly having such superficial problems."

"It's not superficial." He reassured. "I met Hannah in my early 30's after I had broken up with a woman who wanted me to propose to her."

"Oh no," Audrey laughed, "you were one of those!"

Jeff nodded, "thought I didn't want commitment, I think I just, didn't feel like I knew what I wanted. But, I met Hannah through friends and we took things slow until she basically told me to propose or get out-"

"I like her."

"She was great. You know, it's hard...she passed away around the holidays. It would've been our first Christmas with Charlie." He replied, "I thought about not celebrating...took me weeks to put up a tree. He won't remember any of that but, it felt like something I had to do."

"For Charlie or for yourself?"

"Both of us, I guess. I didn't want him to feel like Christmas had this awful connotation, you know? I didn't want him to grow up feeling like he couldn't celebrate and he had to be sad."

"When I moved out of my house with Chris it was just, easier not to celebrate. It was just me and it felt ridiculous to decorate this little apartment." Audrey admitted, looking over at the tree in front of the window, "seeing the tree up though, I kinda missed that."

"If you let Charlie come back again he'll probably put gifts under it for you just to make sure it looks official."

"Charlie is awesome, you have an amazing kid."

"Thank you, I think so most of the time." Jeff laughed.

9 Days Until Christmas

"I gotta say, the cowboy boots are a touch I wasn't expecting." Jeff laughed as Audrey stepped out the front door of her apartment. She did a twirl, showing off the outfit she was wearing beneath her plaid coat.

"Would you believe me if I told you they were a Footloose impulse buy after high school graduation?" Audrey asked.

Not everything feels like something else, but holding on to a pair of red cowboy boots that went with nothing in her wardrobe simply because of the sentimentality felt a lot like being stuck in place. When she came back for her things, letting herself into the old house with two suitcases that her mom had been reluctant to give away ("can't you just work it out? Have you even tried?"), she had almost left them. Sitting there on the bottom of her shoe rack, accumulating the dust that was inevitable for something so rarely worn, she had thought of letting them go too. Was it symbolic? To leave both the boots and Chris behind? But she could bring herself to leave them the way she had left her marriage so she carried them out to the car and put them in the front seat and then, three years and five months later she wore them to a Kacey Musgraves concert with Cady.

"Can't say I'm a fan of the film." Jeff admitted.

"Is that your way of telling me that you don't recognize Ariel's iconic red cowboy boots?" And now she wore them again. Red cowboy boots paired with black stockings, a jean skirt that fit the persona of Midwest Christmas she was trying to pull off, and a sweater that was cuter then it was ugly. Pink with white pompoms and a sequined Jolly Old Saint Nick. Cady's holiday party would inevitably be as country as she wished she was and Audrey had every intention oof dressing for it.

"It is." Jeff replied, "but you look beautiful." Audrey had mentioned her best friend's proclivity for all things Tennessee Christmas but that had done little to influence Jeff's outfit. Dark jeans and a cable knit sweater with boots. Nothing entirely special in the outfit, and Audrey had never been one to give men's fashion too much thought, but he certainly looked good. "I feel like I should've dressed the part more." He took Audrey's hand in his as they made the short trek across the street and down to the small parking lot a block away.

"That's okay, when we inevitably sneak away from the party because, god love her but Cady's 'Yeehaw Christmas' is a little more than I think I can bear, you'll look like a normal person and I'll look-"

"Like you're in middle school?" Jeff teased.

"Exactly like that," Audrey replied.

Comical as it was, Yeehaw Christmas was the perfect describer for the party that they walked into. Cady had outfitted her shared apartment with decorations that looked as if they had been purchased at Cabellas or maybe just a Dollar General. Cady's wasn't the only party a friend had invited Audrey to this season but it was the only one she committed to, at least, making an appearance at. Her other friends were friends with Chris and she knew he would be there too, as if it was all some elaborate plot to convince her that maybe she had made a mistake when she decided that they no longer fit in each other's lives.

"You made it!" Cady shouted across the room, rushing over to wrap Audrey in a hug. Ten years made little difference to either of them. The idea of meeting your best friend at a retail job seemed like something that truly only happened on TV but Cady had been the lifeboat back to normalcy after the heartache. "Oh god, I'm so glad you came!"

"I said I was." Audrey insisted, pulling away from Cady. She was standing slightly in front of Jeff and when her eyes met Cady's she shifted her gaze subtly to the side, a look that screamed, 'I brought him'.

Cady's eyes shifted over to Jeff, brushing her blond hair back as she looked up at him. He was taller than her. Like a tower. He was taller than Audrey and she was relatively tall, or so everyone always felt the need to say when she wore heels. Before she could say anything Audrey continued, introducing them. "Cady, this is Jeff. Jeff, my best friend Cady.

"Thanks for letting me tag along." Jeff replied, handing over the bag that contained a small hostess invitation. "Audrey said you don't do wine."

Cady took the bag from him, pulling out a bottle of grey goose. "Thank you! This is the best Christmas present ever!" She joked.

More partygoers came, allowing Audrey and Jeff a break from Cady as they made their way over to the kitchen and the counter space that was doubling as a bar for the evening. There were cheap flavored vodkas, tequila, whiskey, gin, and some bottles of red wine stuffed into the small space between the sink and the fridge.

"Guess we have our pick?" Audrey asked, looking over her shoulder at Jeff.

"I'll stick with the whiskey, seems like a safe option." He replied, "only cause I've heard of the brand."

"What? No peppermint mocha vodka?" Audrey said, trying and failing not to sound completely grossed out by the suggestion of the flavor.

Jeff laughed, "tell you what, if you do a shot I will do a shot."

Audrey grabbed two shot glass sized red solo cups, never one to back down from a challenge, and poured the vodka in them. Truthfully, she just wanted to see him drink something as ridiculous as Christmas themed vodka simply because he struck her entirely as a classy kind of drinker, even his beer on their first date had felt superior to all those cheap brands she'd snuck in high school. He was game for just about anything though, proving it as he kicked back a shot of the sweet liquor, feeling the faint burn of it down the back of his throat.

"Can't say I love feeling like I just tossed a whole pack of spearmint gum in my mouth and lit it on fire." Jeff commented, sticking his tongue out for a second as if that would get rid of the taste. Audrey coughed around her shot, almost losing it but swallowing at the last second. She gagged and shook her head furiously at the tiny cup in her hand.

"No." She finally said. "No, that was terrible."

"It was bad."

"It was...oh god, I need something after that." She replied.

Jeff shifted bottles around until he found a decent red nestled in the back. "How's this?" He grabbed two cups from the stack, filling them a little more than he would a wine glass.

"Works for me."

She took his arm, pulling him passed the fridge and a little further into the kitchen as people came in to grab drinks. Jeff moved with her, turning so his back was to the other couple and the two of them were in their own little corner. Audrey looked passed him, watching as a few more people came and went from the kitchen.

"I really didn't feel like I was going to feel old being here but I totally do." Audrey muttered.

"You feel old?" Jeff scoffed, "how do you think I'm feeling right now?" He brushed his hand through his hair to draw attention to the strands of gray there among the black.

"Well, don't worry, I have no plans to stay the whole time," Audrey whispered as if someone would overhear her, "I love Cady but she can go forever if she's drunk enough and I definitely think she's on her way there."

Jeff opened the door to Charlie's room, the dinosaur nightlight in the corner glowing and painting the room a dim yellow. The party had been a short lived experience followed by a quick meal at a diner down the street from Cady's apartment. He and Audrey had sat there in the booth against the window, the conversation easy over burgers and fries.

It had been fun, good even, to go out with Audrey and go to a stupid holiday party. Everything was fine until he walked in the front door. His mom was in the living room watching an old Christmas special, a million questions on the tip of her tongue when he came inside. He'd managed to dodge most of them, skirting around details and specifics as he rushed her out the door and promised that he'd see her soon. He wasn't completely sure that he was ready to divulge details about Audrey to his mother.

Back in his own room, Jeff sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling off his sweater and undershirt and tossing them over to the hamper. His eyes landed on the picture that sat on the dresser, the same picture he'd looked at a million times in the last seven years. It was a picture of him and Hannah on their wedding day, close enough that the bottom of her dress was cut off but it didn't matter, he could remember everything about that moment. That day had felt like a godsend, the moment in his life when everything felt like it was going right and he was finally on the right path. Jeff stood up, crossing the room and taking the picture off the dresser to look at it closer.

Audrey popped into his unprompted as he stared down at the picture of his late wife. Was moving on something that he really wanted? He'd thought about it before but it never felt like the right time. He never felt ready to let go of Hannah's memory or the love he had for her. But he knew there was something different about Audrey. He didn't feel so much like loving her would be giving up Hannah. Something he hadn't felt once in the last seven years. Something he felt like he had to hold onto.

#christmas mingle series

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eves-library · 5 years

Text

Day One - Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: The box of Christmas decorations traveled to a new family every year.

Word Count: 3048

Warnings: Family loss, pregnancy, fluff.

A/N: Okay... So I said this was going to be short in length but it just got out of control (oops). I honestly didn’t know what I was gonna write with this first prompt but I gotta say I love this concept, hence the length. Days two and three will be posted in a few hours just so I get on time. Day four will be posted on Wednesday 4 at around 9 p.m. along with (hopefully) one of those Sweat Pea fics I promised over a week ago. (Sorry for that, again)

Also, if anyone knows how to put the keep reading thing and would be so kind as to tell me how, I will highly appreciate it!! Now, enjoy it!

You've been waiting for this day for months, ever since you dragged Bucky with you to the community center near your childhood home. You had explained to him that you spent a lot of time there with your parents before they died. You also told him about a certain tradition the community center has. Every year members pay for raffle tickets to take home, on December 1st, several boxes with Christmas decorations. These decorations consisted of Christmas lights, some had ribbons, others had mistletoe and other types of decorations, but the one thing every box had were cardboard spheres with pictures on it from members of the community center with their families and loved ones. The tradition started many years back when the community center couldn't afford decorations for Christmas. They had decided to ask for the members to bring pictures of their families and they would make the cardboard spheres as frames. Over the years the tradition stayed and soon the community center had more spheres than they needed, so instead of rejecting the pictures and spheres they started making packages to raffle and give to the winners.

When you were a kid, you and your parents had honored the tradition and made your own cardboard sphere. Christmas after Christmas you guys would buy raffle tickets and although not every year you got to take a box home with you, you remembered your last Christmas together decorating the Christmas tree with pictures of lots of different happy families along with other decorations. You were fond of this memory and you yearned to make a new one with Bucky.

You ran down the stairs to receive the package that came from the very well known address for you. You thank the delivery boy and made your way upstairs once again. Bucky had gone out to the tower to a short meeting he had with Steve, and promise to be back on time to help you start decorating. You knew it wouldn't take much as his meeting was at around 10 in the morning and it was just 11:30. You started unpacking the decorations you had just received by mail and the others you and Bucky had bought a week ago. You were completely excited about the decoration task as you also have a small surprise for Bucky. Just as you finished taking everything out and laying it down the door opened and two super soldiers came through the door. "Y/N, Babe, I'm home! And I brought company!"

You could clearly saw Bucky and Steve from your spot in the living room, "You don't have to shout Buck, I can see you both from right here." You said fake annoyment on your voice and a teasing smile on your face. You moved closer to Bucky as he made his way towards you. Once at arms reach he pulled you close and pressed his lips to yours. Even though the kiss was short and sweet, you felt your whole body melting and a content sigh escaped you.

You then move to greet Steve with a kiss on his cheek and a complicity look. "Hey Y/N, I hope I'm not intruding, I just had nothing to do and Buck said instead of doing nothing I could come help decorate." You moved to face your decorations again and smile, "Of course you are not bothering at all Steve! The more the merrier! Now," you turned to look back at the boys, "let's get to work!"

Steve and Bucky started hanging garlands on the windows and door frames, even on the frame of the countertop between the kitchen and the dining room had now a garland and white Christmas lights. You started working on making some centerpieces for the counter and table you had seen on Pinterest. You guys worked for a few hours, a break here and there. Between stories from when Steve and Bucky were younger and jokes filling the space as much as the festive mood, the little apartment you shared with Bucky felt cozier and a warm and fuzzy feeling crept up your chest.

It was nearing 4 o’clock and you guys decided to go grab some food and return to finish. Thanks to the three of you working in tandem, the only thing left was to put the tree up and you were almost vibrating with excitement. You excused yourself to the bathroom before leaving to grab takeout. Once you were out of earshot Bucky turned to Steve and in a hushed whisper said, “Okay, give me the gift. I can go hide it in the room while you guys head out and I’ll stay with the excuse I forgot my phone.” Steve chuckled and took a box from the pocket inside his coat and gave it to Bucky. “I still don’t get what why didn’t you kept it, it’s not like Y/N would check your pockets, she’s not even expecting something for today, is she?” Steve asked Bucky a little amused by the nervousness clear on his demeanor.

“Of course she’s not, but she could of feel it when I hugged her, I didn’t want to risk it,” Bucky said as Steve had said the dumbest thing, which for him he had. You walked out of the bathroom and grabbed your coat and wallet. “Okay, let’s go get some good burgers and pie, please!” Both guys chuckled Bucky helped you get your coat on, then you guys were heading out of the apartment when Bucky suddenly excused himself. “Wait! I forgot my phone, you guys head out I’ll see you downstairs.” You and Steve nodded and head out. You needed to speak with Steve urgently and you will take your chance. Walking a little faster than needed you dragged Steve one floor of stairs before you started to speak, not without checking if Bucky wasn’t following yet. Steve was giggling and shaking his head, he was sure of one thing, you and Bucky are mad for one another. “Okay, so I have the camera ready, it is hidden on the top shelf next to the counter in the kitchen. When we are done setting the tree up I will excuse my self to our room and I need you t go grab the camera with the excuse you want a beer or something, stay on the counter, you’ll know when to take the picture, I’m counting on you, Steve.” Your tone was stern but there was a big smile across your face. He didn’t know what was it you were going to give Bucky but he could see you were excited and just how important this was, not only to you but for his best friend too. “I won’t let you down Y/N, I cross my heart.” He said and made the motion of crossing his heart.

While you were plotting with Steve a floor down, Bucky was looking for the perfect place to hide the gift he had gotten you. It needed to be somewhere you wouldn’t accidentally found it while you guys finished decorating but somewhere he could reach easily for when the time came to give it to you. Bucky was nervous as hell, he didn’t know if you will like his gift. He had been searching for it for at least two weeks, knowing he needed to have it ready by December 1st, wether you guys won the raffle at the community center or not, it was a deal you and him had made, December 1st was going to be decoration day. He knew his gift would be either the cherry on top of winning the raffle or the perfect way to distract you from losing. Once Bucky decided to hide your gift inside the drawer he kept the videogames Sam keep on buying him he let out a breath and head to the door a smile on his face. He couldn’t wait to finish decorating and give you his gift.

You guys ate in record time, especially because you had ordered an extra portion of fries and when dessert time came, you asked two spoons of ice cream on top of your extra-large portion of pie. Once you reached your floor you were dragging your feet, Bucky almost carrying up the last couple of steps. Steve and Bucky were laughing at you and your antics, “Oh god, why did you let me eat so much Bucky!” that made Bucky laugh harder. “In Bucky’s defense Y/N, you did threaten him when he tried to eat part of that big slice of pie, I think your exact words were ‘You are gonna spend the rest of the day in Tony’s lab if you dare take a bite, cause I’ll cut your hand with this spoon if you do!’” You just groaned and stuck your tongue out on Steve’s direction, which just caused the two supersoldiers to laugh harder. Once inside the apartment, Bucky spoke, “Okay, so we just got the tree left, you already untangled the lights, so this should be fairly quick.” You agreed and just like that the excitement flooded your body once again.

It took you and the guys around forty minutes to finish setting the tree, you were just missing the star at the top of the tree. You were sitting on Steve’s shoulders while Bucky was holding the tree from the base so it wouldn’t fall. “ You gotta get a little closer, Steve,” you directed, “Now to your left, no my left!” “Y/N is the same left!” Steve exclaimed as he moved right, “Either way you got the idea didn’t you?” you said as you leaned closer to the tree holding the top branch and finally inserting the garment at the top. “Done! Now get me down, I wanna see it!” You said as Bucky stood straight up and helped you off Steve’s shoulders. Steve took a seat on the couch and Bucky hugged you from behind, his arms circling your waist and his head on your shoulder, “Do you like it, doll?” Suddenly your eyes starting watering a little and your throat seemed to have a knot so you just nodded, after a few seconds you composed yourself and speak, “I love it, thank you, Buck, for letting me do this, it means a lot.” you turned your face towards his and you find him already looking at you. “It means a lot that you want to share this with me Y/N. I love you.” you both smiled at each other and you closed the minimal distance between your faces and kissed him. It was a strange angle to kiss but it was perfect. After a few seconds, you broke apart and you snuggled further into Bucky’s embrace, Steve had disappeared into the kitchen you assumed, maybe stealing one of the cookies you had bought on your way home to eat later in the afternoon. “Steve Grant Rogers, if you so much as eat one cookie you won’t be getting the cinnamon rolls you like so much tomorrow!” Steve’s head popped from behind the counter eyes big as one of a deer caught in headlights. You chuckled and gave him permission to eat one of the cookies. Bucky had left and when you turned around you found him with his hands hidden behind his back and a cheeky grin. You look at him suspiciously and a smile threatens to brake in your face. “What is it, Buck?” You asked stepping closer. “Y/N, I know how much this tradition means to you. The moment you told how the last Christmas with your parents was spent this way I knew I wanted this Christmas to as closer to that was.” Bucky took one step closer to you and from brought his hands in front of him, a rectangular box wrapped in brown paper and a golden ribbon. “It took me a while to have this ready, but after asking for some help I had I found it, they say you can keep it if you can, as a Christmas gift.” Your brows furrowed as you took the gift in your hands. You took a seat on the couch and started unwrapping it. when you took the wrapping paper you found a box, you opened it, your eyes grew to double their normal size, and you had gasped. Once the initial shock from the surprise wore off your eyes started watering, this time there was no chasing the tears away or hiding them. Two tears, one from each eye run down your cheeks and you brought your hand to your mouth. Bucky was kneeling in front of you and you looked up, a sob scaping you at the same time a big smile broke on your face. You threw yourself to him and he caught you easily. You spent a few minutes like that until you composed yourself and seat back, this time on the floor Bucky by your side. You leaned into him and held the object up still with watery eyes.

When you had gotten the box that morning you had taken out all the cardboard made spheres and carefully examined each one of them. You knew it was a long shot to find the one your parents and you had made all those years ago, but you still hoped to find it. Sadly, you hadn’t and even though you felt a weight in your heart you stayed happy because nothing was going to ruin your Decoration Day with Bucky. What you didn’t know was that the moment Bucky heard the story of this tradition he knew he had to find that sphere for you. He had gone to the community center the next day after you guys bought the raffle tickets and spoke to the person in charge and explaining his plans to them. They had easily accepted to help Bucky as they remembered your parents fondly. He spent several days looking through all the boxes at the community center until he found it, now those late nights at the compound going through reports with Steve made a lot more sense.

The click of a camera brought you back to your living room. and you looked up to find Steve holding the camera in his hands and smiling at you both. Bucky spoke as he knew words may still be hard for you at the moment. “Where did you even got the camera, punk?” He said with a laugh at the end of his sentence, and it was as if a light had gone off in your head. You bolted to your share bedroom and Bucky looked confused as you ran off. not five minutes later you came back with a gift bag in your hands. “I got you a little something too, Bucky.” You said taking your spot next to him once again, a shy smile on your face. Bucky took the bag from your hands, “I thought gifts were meant to be given on Christmas, baby.” He said as he took out the three objects out of the bag and you shrugged. “I thought this one couldn’t wait until then.” You said and watched him carefully, now a little nervous at his reaction. Bucky looked at the three objects a little confused, the biggest one was a sphere similar to the one he had gifted you but this one was made of wood and at the top, the words “Our Little Family” were painted with golden paint. The next was a piece of paper, black and white and he couldn’t really make out what it was about until he finally looked carefully at the third object, it was a white stick, a pregnancy test he realized. His eyes went from the test to the ultrasound, he now realized and finally to you. You were biting your lip and holding your breath waiting to hear him speak. “Y/N, are you pregnant?” he asked and you slowly nodded, “I’m going to be a father?” His lips turned into a giant smile and now his eyes were the ones watering. “We are going to have a baby, Buck.” You said softly and he was the one throwing himself at you know, hugging you tightly to his body as he cries tears of happiness.

In the background, you hear the soft clicks of the camera but you could care less. Last week you had noticed you hadn’t had your period in a couple of months, you then had a suspicion but before panicking, you went to the pharmacy to buy a test. You wanted to tell Bucky right away but thought better of it. The next day you went to the doctor just make a final test and she made you an ultrasound. You had already sent the sphere to be made in wood to gift it to Bucky as a mean to tell him he was now your family and will be for as long as he has you. When you got the message from the guy at the store that your sphere was done and ready to be picked you came up with the idea of telling him today.

Once Bucky composed himself and separated from you, did Steve came closer with tears brimming on his eyes. He congratulated you both, “The extra food and threats have more sense now,” he said jokingly and you punched his arm and he started chuckling.

You had lost your parents years ago, right before you became a legal adult and life had treated you roughly, but you wouldn’t change a thing. It was what had led you to this moment with the love of your life and your future family.

One year later…

Bucky had an arm wrapped around your waist as you guys walk to the community center with your baby on asleep on your arms. Today was the day the community center opened the cardboard spheres workshop and the sale for raffle tickets started. On his other hand, Bucky had a folder with some pictures you guys had taken just a week ago, for this specific reason. Your little family is going to follow the tradition and make your own cardboard sphere to be donated to the community center.

#31 days of christmas #day 1 #bucky barnes x reader #james buchanan barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x y/n #james barnes x y/n #james buchanan barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #james buchanan barnes x you

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radstronaut · 5 years

Text

Take a Breath | Teuvo Teräväinen

warnings: n/a word count: 1730 note: hi yes i more or less created this blog to post this fic specifically so here we are, this is pretty much for @lulucanwrite who i love dearly, and also technically beta’ed this fic so ♡

Why you agreed to stand in the heat and watch a group of unruly boys in their twenties swing pieces of metal at plastic-covered rubber balls would be completely beyond you if you weren’t completely smitten with Teuvo Teravainen. It’s nearly ninety degrees--this is North Carolina after all--and despite your magical sweat-wicking shorts and tank top, you’re definitely sweating through your clothes. If Petr weren’t the sweatiest human you knew, this would probably embarrass you. Coupled with Martin bouncily seeking approval for everything he did and Teuvo and Sebastian’s banter with each other, you were okay with just about anything-- your complete inability to play golf included.

It was hard to say why the group had invited you along. Maybe because you took great photos they could share on Instagram, or because you were known as “the person who always brought bomb food to parties”, or maybe just because you were easy to get along with. You’d spent so much of your life feeling like you were weird and unlikeable, but somehow you’d found solace in a group of professional hockey players from Europe.

Ha. Just thinking that sentence makes you snort a little to yourself.

“Are you laughing at Sebastian?” Teuvo asks, peering over your shoulder. You’ve got your phone clutched in hand, a boomerang of Sebastian swinging back and forth looping on your screen.

“Nah, just thinking about how weird I am,” you reply, hitting ‘post’ and clicking your phone off.

“Why won’t you take one of me?” he asks, a pout on his face.

“Because,” you answer, voice breezy and light, “You’re not my favorite.”

Your response sends Teuvo into a spiral of “whats” and “buts” that secretly gives you life force. You float away, sashaying up to Martin and Petr, who are talking about clothes of all things, and look at you like you’ve just interrupted the single most important conversation in the entire world.

“Please tell me you don’t think this is cute, too,” Petr says, shoving his phone in your face.

It’s a non-offensive, baby-blue suit, and you’re not sure what to say, other than, “I think it’s fine?” To which Martin grins gleefully, waving his arms around to show off his little victory.

“You cannot be serious,” says Petr, like it’s the most obvious thing. “It’s ugly! Who wears suits this color?”

“I would!” Martin exclaims, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. “Light blue is totally cool.”

“Maybe for a springtime pinterest Easter wedding in Alabama,” Petr says.

There are a lot of references here to popular American culture going on here that you weren’t even sure he knew, but you laugh nonetheless.

These dorky, soft boys always made you laugh. You look up, watching Teuvo as he winds up and swings his club. It makes the satisfying sound that metal swung fast makes, and you watch as the golf ball flies through the air for what seems like forever. Even for somebody who knows nothing about golf, you can tell he’s got an amazing swing. Every muscle in his body moves with intent; his follow through is gorgeous. He even has the cute little golf foot thing at the end, something you are sure has a proper name, but you’re ignorant of it.

“Careful, you’re drooling,” Petr says, squeezing your shoulder.

You all but jump where you’re standing, and raise a hand as if you’re about to play-swat him. You’re flustered, and it shows on your face as you try to play it off. “Come on,” you hiss, making a face. “I’m not drooling.”

Petr shrugs as Teuvo makes his way back to his bag to retire his driver. You watch, crossing your arms over your chest almost in defense.

“Your turn!” Teuvo calls, and Sebastian snickers from where he’s sat in the one square foot of shade that the golf cart provides. He turns and points at him, frowning, “You better stop laughing!”

Sebastian rolls his eyes, and hands you the driver that he’s been holding since his turn. You don’t own a set of clubs, so Sebastian graciously agreed to share his with you. “You know how to do this, right?” he asks you with a cheeky smile.

“Shut up.”

All eyes are on you as you stroll up to the tee and set down the golf ball. They’re hungry for your failure. You can feel it. It’s like the four of them have gathered here exclusively to watch you wind up and whiff so they can have a laugh and get back to actually playing golf after their comedy break. You take the club in hand, holding it just like you were shown one time forever ago, with your thumb and fingers interlocked, and steady your position.

It’s not that hard, you remind yourself, trying to calm yourself down. You know that making it out to be a big deal will only make you more nervous, so you take a deep breath in as you wind up, and exhale as you swing--

And stop right before you hit the ball. Ugh. Getting nervous is honestly worse than whiffing, you think, and so you decide to set yourself up again. You spread your feel the right distance apart and try and settle in place. You’re just about to hype yourself up again when you feel a hand rest warmly on your shoulder, and you let out the breath you’d been holding.

It’s Teuvo, who looks at you with gentle eyes and a calm smile. “Let me help you.”

Normally you’d be way too prideful to admit you needed help from any of these clowns, but it’s Teuvo, and he looks so genuine that you don’t really mind. “Okay,” you breathe as he stands behind you, resting his hands over yours.

Your heart jumps into your throat as he steadies your grip. His chin hovers right above your shoulder, his face so close you can feel the breath on your neck.

“You’re so tense,” he says, voice light and private. “Relax your shoulders.”

How you’re supposed to relax with his body practically pressed flush against yours evades you. You let out a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“Good,” Teuvo says gently, but with authority. “Swing your arms back and forth and let the club’s weight lead.”

You listen.

“Now,” he says, “When you feel ready, wind that back a bit more, keep your eyes on the ball, and swing.”

You’re having a hard time focusing on feeling ready when his hands leave your hands and he takes a step back, making the air touching your arms feel even more empty than it had before he was there. Your skin misses his immediately. You sigh softly to yourself.

Then, you wind up and swing.

The driver hits the golf ball with a satisfying sound and you watch as it seems to float through the air and land across the course-- much further back than your friends, but still, further than you thought it would go.

You turn back, seeking Teuvo’s approval, but he’s already clapping his hands and grinning from ear to ear. “That’s really good!” He cheers. “That’s really really good!”

You beam with pride.

“It’s going to be your turn again,” Sebastian teases from his seat, “Since you barely hit it at all.”

“Come on, Sepe, let it go!” Teuvo defends, waving his hand in front of Sebastian’s face.

“You just want an excuse to get all up in Y/N’s space again.”

He doesn’t protest, but rather hands you a club from Sebastian’s bag and, with a hand on the small of your back, ushers you out to where your ball has just landed.

This is very forward of Teuvo-- very, very forward. He typically wasn’t so outwardly flirtatious, but maybe it’s Sebastian’s comments that embolden him as you make your way down the green.

“Is this okay?” He asks after a moment, dropping his hand from your back to make eye contact with you. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

You smile simply, grabbing his hand and placing it on your back again. “It’s perfectly fine,” you say.

Once you arrive, Teuvo hands you the club and looks at you. “Do you want my help again?”

“Please?” You ask coyly, practically batting your eyes at him. Whoah. Maybe you’re feeling emboldened by his flirtatious energy as well.

With a grin, Teuvo steps behind you, chest against your back, and rests his hands atop yours again. This time, you relax into it-- you feel less nervous, more loose this time, feeling much more confident than before. His lips brush your ear as he leans forward, and reminds you to keep your eye on the ball, and not to worry how far it goes. The hairs on your arm stand up.

You’re about to pull back and swing when you hear the golf cart whir past you, and from the driver’s seat, Petr yells with a shit eating grin: “kiss her!”

Sebastian and Martin echo the sentiment with a chorus of “kiss her! kiss her!”

Pink creeps across your cheeks, and you tilt your head to look at Teuvo over your shoulder. Time completely stops. The humid air hangs still and heavy between you with heat and energy, and you feel his lips inches away from yours. You aren’t sure how long you stand there, moments away from each other, thinking about what it would feel like to close that distance and feel his lips against yours.

And then it happens. Teuvo’s arms wrap around your waist, and he twirls you around, pulling your chest flush against his and kissing you, hard, all in one fell swoop. You feel your entire body tense up and then relax, your heart racing as you melt into him, kissing him back with the same fervor. His arms wrap around your waist, and yours twist around his neck, fingers grazing the sweat-damp hair on the nape of his neck.

The boys are cheering behind you. Cries of “yes!” and “finally!” fill the air as Martin whoops and hollers, and Sebastian even gives the little golf cart horn a celebratory toot as you both smile into your kiss, toothy and wide-grinned.

“Finally,” Teuvo breathes against your lips, and you can’t help yourself from bursting into laughter, leaning your forehead against his. “Finally,” you agree, giggly smile splayed across your face.

He leans in and kisses you again.

#teuvo teravainen #teuvo teräväinen #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #teuvo teravainen imagine #teuvo teravainen imagines #reader x teuvo teravainen #hockey fic #hockey imagine #carolina hurricanes imagine #carolina hurricanes imagines #welp here it is #i whole entire wrote this #so what's good #aaaaa

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flowerspecial · 5 years

Text

“It’s midnight where the hell are you” with Johnny - Part 2

You never knew if you were going to meet Johnny again. When you broke things off with him, you decided the best thing to do would be to dedicate some time to focus on yourself. Healing starts from within, as they say. As part of your self-healing, you decided that it was finally time to go travelling. You had always wanted to see the world, and although you would man ever admit it, there was always that part of you that was jealous every time Johnny got to go somewhere magical. So you thought to yourself that enough was enough. You were going to see the world, and every wonderful thing that it has to offer.

Christmas time rolled around quicker than you had anticipated. You hadn't really made any solo plans for Christmas. You didn't think that you and Johnny would be broken up for this long. Sure that was partly your doing, you had ignored all his messages and phone calls. And sure you had blocked him on all social media. But something inside you thought that the universe would have found a way for you two to be together again. But clearly, you were wrong. You looked on Pinterest for some travelling inspiration, and all the photos were pointing to one place. New York. Now you had never been to New York, it was just that little bit too expensive; and you always thought that New York was one of those places that couples go. But that's exactly why you made up your mind that New York was where you were going to go. You had done so well already finding happiness in being single, you couldn't let this time of the year ruin that for you.

As it's been said, you blocked Johnny and all things NCT related out of your life shortly after you closed that door on him. Therefore you weren't aware of what promotions or anything like that NCT was doing. Maybe if you had known, you wouldn’t have chosen New York. Or maybe you would have?

You arrived at the airport with plenty of time. You was honestly excited, Christmas in New York always looked like a scene from a winter wonderland. As you stood in the queue for check in, you couldn't help but notice that there was an awful lot of young adults/teenagers around you. However you didn't dwell on it too much, it was around the time of Christmas break after all. Maybe they were just celebrating the winter time the same way you was?

The flight over was nothing to tell home about. There was a slightly awkward encounter however. Next to you there was a young boy and girl who was engrossed in their phones. You took a quick glance to have a nosey at what they were looking at. Your heart thudded against your rib cage as you saw that they were ogling over the latest photos of your EX boyfriend. From what you could see, NCT were pictured at the airport, so you only guessed that they were on their way to promote their latest comeback. The young couple then proceeded to talk rather loudly about their adoration for the boys. You sighed uncomfortably and grabbed your headphones so you could block them out. Other than that, it was a rather uneventful flight.

After you grab your suitcase from the conveyor belt, you headed outdoors and hailed a cab to take you to your hotel. The young couple you had sat next to on the flight seemed to be heading in the same direction you was. But you couldn't bear sharing a whole cab ride with those two so made the taxi driver drive away rather suddenly. As the cab pulled outside of the hotel, you thought to yourself ‘wow this must be a very popular hotel’. There was a swarm of people all stood outside the front entrance. You was beginning to panic that maybe the hotel had some sort of administrative issue where they had double booked rooms? You needed to find out what was happening so you paid the taxi driver and lugged your suitcases to the large hoard of people.

Trying to bustle your way through proved almost impossible. The crowd was very resistant in letting anyone past. Eventually you made it to the doors, not without a few scratches and bruises forming on your skin. There was a security guard at the front of the doors.

“No fans.” He said, not even looking at you.

“Excuse me? I’m booked into this hotel!” You exclaimed at him. Still getting jolted around by the people around you.

“Yeah, nice try. You need to leave.” He says while keeping one arm out in order to stop you from entering.

“No seriously, it's here.” You dropped your backpack onto the floor and scavenged through. You found the confirmation details for the hotel and you thrusted the document in the security guard’s face. “Look, see? I have had this hotel booked for weeks now! Check the date!” The security guard scanned over the document and rolled his eyes slightly when he realised that you were telling the truth. He took a small step to the side and you practically ran into the lobby before he could change his mind.

Just before you entered your room, you overheard a couple of teenagers talking in the room next to you.

“I can't believe they are staying in the same hotel as us? This is absolutely amazing!” You heard one of the teenagers say.

“I know right? This is the best news ever. NCT are my favourite group ever, and we could meet them! I’m so excited to see Johnny, he’s so beautiful.” The other person replied.

You looked at the two teenagers and drop your bags outside of the door and walked over to them. “I’m sorry to interrupt. But who did you say was staying here?”

“NCT! Have you ever heard of them? They are only the best K-pop group ever! Just to be in the same hotel as them is amazing!”

Your heart sank. “No, I haven’t heard of them. I hope you get to meet them though.” You said sincerely to the helpful teenagers.

You grabbed your bags and entered your room. You flopped on the bed into defeat and rubbed your face. You wouldn't believe your luck. Of all the places in the whole world. Of all the bloody hotels in New York. You happened to end up in the same one as the one person you were trying to move on from. But surely you wouldn’t see him? You knew from past experience that those boys always have a really tight schedule when they travel abroad. So the likelihood of walking into him was slim. Of course though, it wasn't slim enough.

It was already late into the evening so you decided that it was best to go get some food before the night drew to a close. You waited outside the lift, absentmindedly checking your phone. As the doors opened, you didn't look up from your phone and you entered the lift. You pressed the button you needed and stood facing the door. You heard someone shuffle their feet behind you. Your eyes darted to the floor and you looked over to the shuffling feet. You let your eyes wander up to the figure. Oh how you wished you hadn't done that.

“Johnny?” You was shocked. Of course fate had it that he was the one that you saw in the lift.

“Fancy seeing you here.” He smiled at you warmly, and you felt your heart tighten. You took a shaky breath and tried to stop yourself from letting the tears fall. Thankfully, before you had done anything embarrassing, the door opened and you ran out leaving Johnny in the lift. He tried to shout after you but you ignored him. Trying to escape not only him, but also your feelings.

You let your feet make the decision for you as you ran away. You always found peace in nature, and where was better than Central Park? You found the closet bench at sat there, alone. It was then you could finally let the tears flow. These tears were harboured inside of you since the breakup, so once you started, you struggled to stop. The only thing that caused a small pause in your emotions was when you noticed a figure sitting next to you.

“You always did like nature. I loved buying you flowers. Your smile was always so bright when I brought you some roses.” The voice said. You wiped away your tears momentarily and looked up at him.

“What are you doing here Johnny?”

“I let you walk out once. Do you really think that I’m going to let you walk away from me again?”

“I broke us apart Johnny. I don’t deserve a second chance.”

“You walked away because I wasn't treating you the way you deserve to be treated. I know that now. If you give me a chance, I will spend the rest of my living days showing you that I know how to treat someone as amazing as you.” Johnny grabbed your hand in his and he began to stroke the back of your hand.

“But why do you want me back? I left you Johnny! I’m not as strong as you need me to be!”

“Because I wasn't showing you any reason to be strong! I let you give up on us, because I wasn't showing any reason to keep trying. This is my fault, baby, and I need to fix it!”

You was shaking so violently as you let out uncontrollable sobs. You didn't understand why Johnny was being so sweet to you. You left him. It should be the other way around. You should be crawling back to him.

“Please look at me sweetheart.” He whispered. You looked at him tenitavely. “I know we can't go back to what we were straight away. Heck I don’t want to go back to what we were, I want us to be better than that. But I want us to try. I’m not in New York for a long time, and I don’t know about you, but it seems like fate brought us together. Can we not at least try? Just one date, one date is all I’m asking for. If that spark is gone then I’ll let you go. But I can't let you leave without at least trying.”

You nodded your head in affirmation to his proposal. You wanted to try this once more. You knew in your heart that Johnny deserved a second chance. He pulled you up and you spent the evening in a nearby restaurant, talking about everything that each other had missed. You walked back to the hotel in the small hours of the morning, hand in hand. Snow was falling around you gently. You felt like you were inside the perfect Christmas romcom.

Snuggling next to Johnny in your hotel room gave you time to reflect. It turns out, you had both been right. The night proved that New York truly was a magical place, and the spark had never left

💕Wow I got a bit carried away. I hope you enjoy it!💕

#nct #nct 127 #nct 127 imagines #nct johnny

19 notes · View notes

modesty-blaise · 6 years

Note

Since I'm curious, what caused you to become very possessive of your gifs? Not out of rudeness but curious, since no matter what you do a lot of them show up in the gif function on Tumblr which automatically credits you at the bottom of the gif.

Hey. Tbh, at first I didn’t wanna bother with yet another anon but since I see no ill intent behind this, I decided to go and answer it. Unfortunately, half-way through I realised my reply is turning into incredibly long semi-bitter rant and expands well beyond calling out just one person in Psychonauts fandom (and yes, this is related to Psychonauts fandom – you do know that these anons are not really that anonymous, right?) so… buckle up! All that beneath “read more”.

I’ve been on this hellsite for like…7-8 years? Maybe more? Can’t really tell cause I moved blogs and my old blog now consists of only 4 posts I’ve made close to leaving so I honestly have no idea how much time I’ve spend here before moving. Anyway, during those few years I’ve spent on my first blog I’ve met a lot of creative gifmakers who enjoyed sharing their love for fandoms they were in. I’d like to point out that this was waaaaay before tumblr created that insert-gif option so, back in the day, the only way to add gifs to your post was to: 1. make them yourself 2. take them from someone else. And a lot of people were taking them from someone else which resulted in many gifmakers giving up on making gifs and leaving fandoms and/or even leaving tumblr – and I’ve had many of my friends give up on what they love and have their games/shows/movies/whatnot ruined for them cause people would not stop stealing from them. And many of my friends eventually left tumblr cause they couldn’t deal with it anymore.

Tumblr adding insert-gif option, in my opinion, honestly, just made it worse for gifmakers. Cause now people had the opportunity to use gifs for their posts, with or without creators’ permission/knowledge, but it was alright and it was perfectly fine cause creators were credited. There’s their name at the bottom. It’s alright. Like… it doesn’t matter if they’re actually okay with people using something they’ve put hours into making or if they’re not – tumblr gives them credit so they SHOULD be okay with it. Simple as that.

Well, we’re all different and some people are not okay with that. I’m not okay with that. It took me weeks to figure out how to use photoshop correctly. Took me countless hours of looking through different tutorials and basically trial-and-error-ing my way through the process. Whenever I make gifs, it takes me hours to record videos and then hours trying to achieve that 3mb limit on gifs (thank lord these days we’re beyond 1mb limit). After all that effort I put into creating gifs for games that I love and enjoy, someone is going to make 2 clicks and have that same gif added to their post, without even asking. So how is that okay?

Back to your question. Yes, “no matter what you do a lot of them show up in the gif function on Tumblr”, that is true and that is something I was aware of when I saw you-know-who announcing they would be starting 30 days Psychonauts challenge. So, hating to see my gifs used against my will, and not wanting to start any unnecessary drama and threaten people in advance with reporting them if they do use them, I’ve made my blog as private as I could. It was only accessible through the dashboard, it was not showing in ANY search engines inside and outside tumblr, and my gifs were impossible to find through insert-gif function – I’ve made sure. I did all that cause I just knew that during those 30 days, someone would use my gifs and I would get mad and I desperately wanted to avoid that (hence going extreme). And you know what happened? You know what creator of this challenge (who prevously already reposted my gifs) did? *drums* They used my shit anyway. :3 They just uploaded it from their computer, where they’ve saved it earlier.

And like… a lot of people see pretty pic and decide to save it - I mean, we all do that. Heck, even I have a folder full of shit I saw online and liked it – but i’m not uploading it online cause I haven’t made it. It’s not mine to share.

But some people are not like that.

Some people see fanart of something they like and they want to share their opinion on it – and instead of making their own post, maybe drawing the fanart themselves, they decide to use someone else’s art for their post. Do they know who made it? Do they have creator’s permission to share it? If the answer is NO, then they should be a decent human being and not do that to creators. Oh, they shared it anyway but now people in fandom are calling them out BUT this actually happened on accident? They know who the creator is but, somehow, they accidentally forgot to credit them? OK, well, it’s possible, shit happens, but they better make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Then sometime later these same people decide they want to make a post appreciating their fav character and they want to include pics cause duh, you can’t have character appreciation post without pics, right? Now they have several options: they can get their own screenshots, make their own gifs, maybe draw something… or they can just take someone else’s creation. Do they know who made it? Well there’s my fuckin name on it, and since they’ve stretched it from 245 to 500px, it’s really hard to miss, plus it’s not like there are that many people making Psychonauts gifs. Do they have permission to share it? Hmmm, nope, didn’t ask me. Is this also an accident? Could be. I mean, I’ve seen stranger things happen, so accidentally forgetting to credit content creators twice… kinda suspicious but still possible. Who am I to say?

Now if these people then decide to make a post appreciating their fav ship and they want to add a cute pic of the loving couple – yup, you guessed it! They can either create something or take something. Again: they know who did? They asked for permission? Got the permission? No?!?! But they posted it anyway?!?! :o Could it really be, that after being called out publicly, after being told that reposting is bad (something that’s very easy to understand), after even having tumblr staff intervene and remove stolen shit from their blog, after all that - could it really still be an accident?

Nah, man.

They just don’t give a shit.

Cause if they did, they’d stop with that crap first time they were called out.

(and if you think Psychonauts fandom is their only fandom and that they’re not doing this crap in other fandoms too - hoooo, boy, do I have some bad news for you! Do you know how many stolen and butchered HP fanart is on their blog? Hobbit stuff? They seem to be one of the most accident-prone users on tumblr. And honestly - it’s a real miracle their blog’s not been terminated.)

Back to what I was talking about - I’m not okay with people using my gifs and I’ve made it very clear. I literally do not give a shit if I’m credited or not, I’ve made it very clear that I don’t want my gifs used without my permission. If you like them and want them on your blog, there’s a fuckin reblog button. It’s sole purpose is to allow you to share other people’s creations. Or shitposts, cause lord knows we all love those.

So that’s why when someone spends hours going through my Psychonauts tag and goes as far as to send me “I love your gifs” anonymous message, but the very next day makes stim moodboard post including one of my gifs, now cut and resized to fit 3x3 format they’re going with, I get mad. And that’s why when someone uses one of my gifs to promote their RP blog, butchering it to fit their aesthetics, and later when confronted going as far as blaming their good friend on it cause god! they’ve had no idea it wasn’t theirs, I get mad. (makes you wonder though: if they friend has such skills, why not making them gifs themselves?)

Like…. I’ve had my gifs stolen plenty of times. I’ve had them stolen for roleplaying, for headers, for imagines, just for notes… I’ve had them stolen by people claiming to run official fan sites (that’s a real wild story but I won’t get into that now)… I’ve seen them on pinterest, weheartit, FB, all those random gif sites… and I’ve seen EVERY. POSSIBLE. EXCUSE. ranging from: “well i found it on google so why should i credit you” “lol dunno who made this but its pretty so im posting it” “ive had it on my computer for years so i don’t remember where i got it from” “i dont know how to make gifs so im using weheartit as a source” “credit to whoever made this” (that’s my fav) to “its just a gif so who gives a shit” (it’s not – it’s hours of creator’s time and lots of love that you’re now shitting on so thanks) and “i have an /illness/ and getting notes makes me feel better so dont u dare blame me for stealing” (I don’t remember exact excuse but it was something along those lines and like… how do you even respond to something that without looking like an asshole?).

And sometimes it really is just an accident. Sometimes people really do forget to credit you and/or ask you for permission. And I’ve had my fair share of those accidents. People in Psychonauts fandom have been using my gifs for various crap but, when approached, they’ve removed it and apologised. And it’s something I really appreciate. (if they actually bother reading this and they recognise themselves: i’m really grateful and thank you for not being an ass)

But you know what I don’t appreciate? People making a call out posts about me, asking about my gifs when they know very well they’re the main reasons why I’m not making those gifs anymore, at the same time failing to address any of the issues I have with them and instead rather explaining to others what happened BUT explaining only the parts that make me look like a villain cause how I even dare be mad about them stealing? How I even dare call them out on it? That is so ridiculous and criminal of me, and it’s so so sooooo bad that they need to call me out. I deserve to be called out by the very same person who’s been stealing my shit.

And their explanation is…well… it’s something.

They were sympathetic and polite? When did this happen? Did I completely missed that part? Please someone fuckin enlighten me with such post/message where they expressed their sympathy and politeness and I’ll apologise right this second.

I told them to “literally fuck off”? Yeah, that did happen, I admit that. Did they bother explaining why I told them to fuck off in the first place? Did they say they were caught stealing from me and had tumblr stuff remove my shit from their blog? Did they get into details of how they demanded the proof of my so very wild and obviously false claims but then when I showed it, they just deleted that “how dare u call me out cause I would never do such thing” post? No, they didn’t and geee, I really wonder why.

Instead, what did they choose to address? Out of all the things I’ve said. Hm? What did they choose? Me telling them to fuck off. Me dropping the F-bomb on them, rudely rejecting their obvious kindness and politeness. Nothing else.

Back to what I was talking about before I got derailed again: no, I’m not mad cause this person used my gifs without crediting me. I mean – I am, but that’s not my main issue with them (and they know it). My main issue is that this is someone who will continuously lie and steal and still deny any of it, even when there’s plenty of proof (and you can always count on me to show up with proof tbh), and then go as far as to publicly ask about my gifs and try to call me out. Like me getting mad that something I’ve put hours of work into, and something I’ve made cause I love the game and I want to share my love and appreciation for it, is now being shared against my will and my knowledge - like me getting mad over something like that is so unreasonable that they need to make an entire post about it while pretending they have absolutely no idea why I’m even mad and why we have issues.

And I have every fucking right to be mad. 3 times is not an accident. 2 times to the same person is not an accident. They know it. But yeah, playing stupid is their defense so it’s not like I expected them to actually address their actions this time either.

And you know what? Just because I swear a lot doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Doesn’t mean there’s no solid ground for my claims. People on tumblr have always been and always will be stealing shit. Sometimes they will credit you, often they will not, and that’s just how it is, doesn’t matter if you’re okay with it or not. But that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna sit quiet and accept someone’s shitty behaviour. Especially when it’s directed at me.

TLDR: giving credit =/= having permission

but my previous posts leading to this ask were not about that

you knew that already

#psychonauts #this is a lot longer than i expected #meh #also: all those posts are now under one tag #so you don't have to check my blog 4 times per day #that hobbit reposter #my psychonauts stuff

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shelbywanders · 6 years

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Less than $100/wk on groceries?!

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like wasting your money. You have to get your money’s worth, or it’s not worth it at all. One of my biggest struggles was grocery shopping. I HATED spending so much money on food that would just be gone in a couple of days! Dropping $200 on food a week was NOT my cup of tea, but hey, you have to eat! And grocery stores are just so tempting...

Right now, it’s just me & my fiance that eat the food. We have a four-month-old who is exclusively breastfed, and we also use cloth diapers, so we literally don’t spend any money on her when it comes to groceries! I know, love it while it lasts, right?! Even though it’s just the two of us, we were still spending way too much for my liking on groceries. But now I’ve gone from paying almost $200 a week on groceries to less than $100. And when I mean groceries, that includes all household items and toiletries. So really, I spend about $50-$60 on just food a week! How do I do it? Well honestly, there’s not a lot of tricks to it!

First things first, what are we eating this week? That’s the first question I ask myself when I go to make my grocery shopping list. Wait, back up. You don’t make a list? There’s your first problem!

Lists are VITAL to spending less money at the grocery store. Lists aren’t just great to remember things that you need to get. They serve other purposes too! I easily spend 50 bucks over my budget if I go into the store without a list prepared so now I won’t be caught dead without one. You might think that it’s silly to need such a thing, I mean come on. You’re an adult. Lists are for children. No! Listen, lists help keep my life together! When we go to the store, our eyes wander everywhere. They land on things that tempt us. You really didn’t plan on buying donuts at the store, but you spotted some, and they look soooo good..now you want them! When you write down only the things that you need, it’s easier to bypass the things that tempt you in the store. When you’re shopping from a list, your attention is focusing on the things on the paper. Therefore, you spend money on only the things you need this week and less on random items that just catch your attention when you don’t know exactly what you need. It might seem crazy that just a simple task like making a list can save you money, but you would be surprised! If you currently don’t make a list before you shop, I highly suggest to try it out and see how it goes for you!

So now we know we need to make a list. But what goes on it? It’s time to make a menu! It’s easy to forget things when we just make a list out of thin air. This is where Pinterest comes in so handy. Pinterest is a social media platform where people share recipes, home decoration ideas, inspiration for crafts and so much more. The first thing I do is get on over to Pinterest to help come up with new and easy recipes for dinners. I plan out my days and decide on what we’re going to have each day.

I am a sucker for cheap and easy meals. I mean, I have a baby, and I don’t have time to cook a dinner that takes an hour to prep and then another hour to cook. I have come up with so many dinners that are less than $10, and pretty much all of them take less than 30 minutes to make from start to finish. Some dishes take an hour to cook, but only a few minutes to prep. Those types of meals are my favorites! The only reason why I suggest Pinterest is because if you’re like me, I am not creative in the kitchen. I can cook just about anything, but if I don’t have a recipe, I have no idea where to start! I also hate having the same things over and over again, it just gets boring! It’s so easy for me to go onto Pinterest, search cheap dinner recipes and find so many different recipes to try out that don’t break the bank and help switch it up a bit to keep things fun and exciting in the kitchen!

Once I find my 7 dinner meals, I go to each one of them, and that’s how I form my list. I figure out what I need for each meal, take out what I already have at home and configure a shopping list from that. This way, I’m not just buying random things that I think I might or might not use this week. After I make my list from the recipes, I go back and add the rest of the foods I know we’ll need and then all the rest like household items and toiletries. Things that I usually add for example would be like eggs, milk, and bread. Cereal for breakfasts and lunch meat for lunches. You know, things that we use every week and that I know I need to buy no matter what the menu is.

I do realize that many people do this with their shopping lists. They know what they want to make, so people make a list of things that they need to get so that they can make it. It’s not unheard of! I used to do this too, but I would never make an actual menu for the whole week and plan my entire day out foodwise. Until I started to do that, I was still spending more money than what I wanted.

Making your menu

It doesn’t stop there! When I make my menu for the week, not only do I try to find cheap and easy recipes to follow, I try to find things that the items that I buy for one recipe will be used in another recipe too. For example, if I plan on making chili one night and I need to buy say, tomatoes, onions, and ground beef for it, I know I want to also make tacos another night so that I can use half of the tomatoes, onions and ground beef that I bought for chili for tacos too! I can buy one bigger can of tomatoes for .89 cents and split it and use it for two different meals. It’s all about looking at different recipes and seeing how you can save yourself a couple of bucks by buying bigger packages of items but using them for multiple meals.

Doing your shopping

Stores are different around the world. In my city, the biggest grocery stores that we have are Walmart, Kroger, Meijer and Aldi’s. I have shopped at all of them to compare them, and I always come back to Kroger and Aldi’s. When I do my shopping, I buy everything except protein (all the meats) at Kroger and I buy my protein at Aldi’s. Why? Because have you been to Aldi’s before?! Their protein is super cheap! Sure, it might sound annoying having to go to two different places for groceries, but I save $50 bucks easily by getting my protein at Aldi’s rather than just getting them at Kroger. So don’t be afraid to check out other grocery stores in your area and compare and contrast the prices! It might be worth it to go to two different places if you’re saving money! It is to me.

When I shop, I always buy the generic version as they are pretty much always the cheaper option. I know, the word generic sounds ugly. But honestly, most of the generic versions are still basically the same as the fancy name brand stuff! Besides, I just can’t get myself to buy something that is X amount of money when I know there’s a cheaper option available. But that’s just me! I mentioned earlier that I don’t do any couponing. Every now and then, I’ll have a coupon that I’ll use but other than that I don’t use any. Should I? Probably! But what I do pay attention to is sales. Sales! Sales! Sales! Kroger has a lot of great deals which helps my budget a lot. Never ignore the sales!

Getting home

Wait, you mean there’s more to saving money after the shopping is done? Yes! You’ve done your shopping, you’re tired, you’re ready for a bath & some wine, but you have more money saving things to do! When I used to grocery shop, I would buy one of those big things of chicken breasts (you know, the ones that look like this)

And I would just keep it like that. It wasn’t until I started portioning out my meats (therefore portioning all my meals out) that I started saving a lot of money. Not only do I portion all my meats out, but I also cut them in half. I mean those chicken breasts are HUGE! I buy the big thing of chicken, take each chicken breast and slice em in half and make twice as many meals as leaving them whole! And trust me, they are still big enough for a meal! I portion them out for two in a freezer bag. When we need to buy pork, we always buy a pork loin and then I cut them into chops if I need them or just leave it as a loin. I do the same thing when I portion them. Each meal gets its own bag. With a pork loin that costs 5-10 bucks (depending on the sale that week), you can make 3-4 meals out of it! When I need to buy ground beef, I buy the big 5 lb rolls and cut them in thirds or in half, depending on what I am using the beef for. These are just some examples of what I do with the meats I buy!

The last time I went to Aldi’s, I spent $11 on a pack of chicken breasts. They are huge, so we cut them in half, and after portioning them out, we had 11 meals! 11 meals for $11?! Yes, please! Not only does portioning the meals out help save you money, but it also makes thawing and preparing meals a lot easier too because all you have to do is take a bag out the freezer and into the fridge to thaw. No sorting out your meals or having to think about how much of what you’ll need.

So there it is! How I spend less than $100 a week on groceries! No tricks or couponing. Just planning and organizing your week makes such a difference in the money that you’re spending! To end this blog off, I wanted to include an example menu & list that I would use at my house to give you all a visual.

Mon- Oven Baked Meatball Sandwiches

Tues- Creamy Swiss Chicken Bake w Buttered Noddles

Wed- Garlic Rosemary Pork Loin w Green Beans & Mashed Potatoes

Thurs- Chili

Fri- Chicken Enchiladas w White Sour Cream Sauce

Sat- Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Sun- Lemon Buttered Tilapia over Rice

List

Bread for subs, pasta sauce, mozzarella, ground beef. Noodles, butter, mayo, parm cheese, sour cream, swiss cheese, chicken. Garlic, rosemary leaves, green beans, mashed potatoes (instant), pork loin. Tomatoes, onion, tomato sauce, ground beef, cheddar cheese, chili seasoning packet. Chicken broth, green chilies, tortillas, butter, mozzarella, sour cream, chicken. Hamburger buns, bbq, Worcestershire sauce, onion, chicken broth, garlic, brown sugar, pork. Lemon juice, butter, rice, tilapia.

As you can see, there are several items for each recipe that repeats itself. I’ll use the big ground beef for both meatball sandwiches and chili. I’ll use sour cream in the swiss chicken and chicken enchiladas, also use the mozzarella with the meatball sandwiches and enchiladas, also the butter in a ton of dishes... you get the picture! All these recipes are very different from each other yet contain a lot of the same ingredients that you can use for multiple purposes.

I’ll add on any extras like cereal, milk, eggs, bread, and other drinks. Add the household things that I might need like laundry or dish detergent and then toiletries, like shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant. And then there’s my list! This was actually my grocery shopping list a few weeks ago. I spent less than $100 on it all!

Other comments & tips!

I realize that many people have bigger families to feed, but that’s okay! All of this can still help you. Most of the meals that I make, while there are only 2 of us, they could definitely feed more like 4 people. I make a lot so that I have leftovers that I can quickly heat up for lunch the next day!

The thing I like the most about making lists from menus is that it is super customizable. If your budget is $200 a week, you can make a more extravagant list. If you have time in your life to make more time-consuming recipes, you can change up your menu with more ingredients too! Just because I personally like to stick with simple but tasty and fast recipes, doesn’t mean you have to!

While I tend to buy generic items, there are plenty of ways to spice them up! I almost always buy instant mashed potatoes (I know some will cringe at this) but just add some salt & pepper, butter, garlic & sour cream & a tiny bit of cream cheese, you would think it was homemade! I buy the $1 jars of pasta sauce, add some garlic, Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese & bam! So much tastier and it’s so easy to do!

If you’re interested in the recipes that I love to make (All under $10 and 30 minutes or less to cook!) make sure to follow me on my Pinterest to see what I pin!

https://www.pinterest.com/shelbywanders

Thank you so much for reading! I love saving money and love to help other people do it too! After all, saving money = happy life!

#saving money #grocery savings #grocery shopping #mommy hacks #food recipes #easy food recipes #cheap food recipes #mommyblogger #mommy blog #money #money savings #savings #organization #happy #happy life #frugal living #pinterest

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kizardofkoz · 6 years

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I’m giving up Zillow for Lent. And other thoughts on bravery.

I felt a nag. The thought seeped into the back of my mind like sunlight slowly stretching in the narrow cracks of a pulled shade in the early morning.

Haunting me. Taunting me. It’s been on my heart for weeks. And It’s time I face the reality.

I feel like I am supposed to give up Zillow for lent.

Please God, anything but Zillow. This is possibly the biggest sacrifice I could possibly make.

Sure, my actual realtor will send me notifications of a home that fits the exact credentials that I need as a mother of three growing boys who teaches piano lessons out of our home and would love a great backyard, four bedrooms, two full baths, and if that puppy had a circle drive, then sweet baby Jesus, I have been gifted my real estate unicorn.

But in reality, Zillow has actually probably robbed me hours of my life, and there is a direct correlation between the accumulating time I have spent searching the same two zip codes over and over, and the pulsating anxiety that grows over finding the perfect home (Spoiler alert: doesn’t exist). Anxiety over lusting over homes both in and out of our budget (what would $50,000 more look like? Spoiler alert: Bitterness over not being able afford homes in that price range ). And anxiety over calculating and re-calculating the mortgage calculator as if starving children in Africa would be fed if I could only find the perfect balance of listing price, down payment percentage, and monthly payment.

I need released from my Zillow prison.

My big house, big house.

Shit.

SO!!!

Let’s Re-cap!

I’ve been busy!!

It is amazing what I like to think about and do when I’m not pregnant and new-babying! In January I decided I was really going to go after some dreams.

Business Concept A.), which I found a partner for at a funeral. Where all of the best business partnerships are formed.

B.) A Podcast, which basically feels like a funeral right now as it is taking a back seat to taxes and Business concept A.

And C.) I signed to an agency a few days before Christmas last year and have been working on getting some print and commercial work. “Commercial Modeling” is different from “Runway Modeling” because the commercial world is composed of women under 5’8” who can still love and eat pizza. Which is perfect because those are two of my most qualifying credentials.

But I have been very intentional recently with what I am seeking, putting my energy toward, and I have not ceased to be floored at the opportunities that have been opened up because I quit thinking “Maybe someday?” and I started asking “If not now then when?”. Literally. It’s a mantra.

It’s even applicable when I’m in the parking lot of a place and I just can’t bring myself to go inside and run another stupid errand. The number of times I’m literally in the parking lot of any store and the idea of going inside seems about as hard as running 5 miles, or emptying the dishwasher. But dammit! Probiotics, razors and pancake mix aren’t just going to go buy themselves! I’m a trailblazer. For myself. Doing crappy things that I don’t want to do.

And awesome things that I do want to do…

I was randomly sitting eating my lunch this week at a local restaurant and decided to eat in their lower level as I know it’s less crowded and I wouldn’t be taking up a full table by myself, because I am an insanely selfless patron.

The owner was downstairs having a meeting with two other women about an event they are putting together. I was very focused on my work - I had a 10:00am appointment with my C.P.A. the following day to go over my 2018 taxes. The 72 hours leading up to my CPA executions appointments, are a very weird time where I am in this dreamlike oblivion where I don’t know if we are going to feel the sweet and exotic relief of a tax refund, or the more familiar dread of needing to scrounge up a lotta coinage to begrudgingly give to Ceasar on the 15th of April, this Christian Calendar year. I am in a self-employment purgatory, warded by an all-powerful tariff sheriff. Basically I’m picturing Jafar as the evil genie at the end of Aladdin demanding my quarterly payments, receipts, write-offs and then laughing as he says I owe 10% more as if *I* was the crazy one even though he’s the one who chose to be a serpent. Dumbass.

Anyways.

So I was sitting, eating my lunch, refiguring for the 57th time what my income was last year (where did it go?! Tar-get…) and these lovely ladies were talking about their event. The theme, intention, needs, location, keynote speakers, ideas, *record scratch*, heart race, look up, “What kind of keynote speakers are you looking for?” Sometimes, before Head-Kiley even has a chance to filter the way a normal person would, Heart-Kiley is already on the fearless train. Bags packed. Talking to strangers.

After a brief exchange of information, niceties, and the 3 seconds of courage that any scary situation requires, I offered myself up as a keynote speaker.

WHAT?!

HAHAHHAHAHHAHHAahhahahahhaaHAHAHAHAHA

But.

It’s something I always wanted to do. Ever since church camp when I was younger, I always pictured myself some day speaking in front of a crowd. Sharing personal stories. Combining some of my favorite things: vulnerability, authentic real talk, inviting people to laugh at the hilarity of life, and being the center of attention.

In my mind, if I ever became a keynote speaker, it would eventually come from writing in my semi-annual blog (eat that Victoria Secret Sale), or from growing my other entrepreneurial endeavors, or maybe even a really bitchin viral video of me breathing fire (Yes. Yes I can.) while folding a fitted sheet.

Just kidding, no one knows how to fold a fitted sheet.

But there was an opportunity. And I saw it and I spoke up.

Because this is the year.

I’m almost 35, and “If not now, then when?”.

This component of my personality completely baffles and frustrates my husband. The Emperor of Excel, planning, editing, and thinking things through until he talks himself out of any given action, he is completely mystified, and even annoyed, that I can sashay into any situation, and operate with the most potent and confusing cocktail of unabashed unselfconsciousness, unnecessary confidence that is pretty much entirely fueled by complete obliviousness to how society typically operates.

I think of it more as this very real and visceral feeling that on a daily basis, I subconsciously keep a baseline awareness that this is the one chance I have at life, and I don’t really care too much about taking risks and failing.

It’s not that things work out for me because I have a weird magic, good luck, and opportunities that others don’t, it’s that when I see a possible opportunity for good luck, my only weird magic is that I could kind of give two shits if I fail.

The worst case scenario in any situation is that I don’t try. If I don’t succeed, I end up in the exact same place as I would if I didn’t try in the first place, only with the core-cleansing content exhale that I was true to myself. I took a risk. And at the very least, I probably have a really funny story that came from all of it.

I don’t know if anything will come from my weird self-proposing-speech giving. Honestly, I don’t even care (a ton) because I’m really just proud of myself for speaking up for something that I’ve always wanted, when the opportunity presented itself. How lame would it be to write about when I wanted to do something and I didn’t. Instead, I get to do stuff and laugh at how ridiculous it is. And it gets remarkably easier the more I do it. Heart-Kiley: 1

A practice of tenacity, spunk and fearlessness.

To me, that’s kind of what life is. A chance to practice being our most fearless, spunky, wild selves. And day after day, we have chances big and small to practice ceasing opportunities, and making choices. From the breakfast we eat (I actually choose the same one every morning - sautéed greens, two fried eggs with a slice of melted American cheese on top and black coffee. It makes me so happy. Ambrosia.). To even being fearless in choosing what we will wear. Plaid? Florals? Sequins? Only if it’s all together!

And bigger choices of fearlessness, like choosing (or not choosing) our partner. Choosing the number of children to have (and may I recommend all boys?). Or choosing whether to buy the $6.99 bottle of champagne because it’s on sale from $9.99, or do we buy the $9.99 bottle because it’s on sale from $17.99? Spoiler alert: They are both going to do the job so just pick the cheaper bottle because this year we are also focusing on our finances and the extra $3 bottle isn’t going to change your life.

It’s not like when you are sitting eating your lunch and doing your taxes and eaves-dropping and then insert yourself into a meeting and suggest that you are what the people are looking for.

But I do think champagne would be very helpful in that scenario as well.

Maybe to celebrate.;)

And if that opportunity doesn’t pan out, another one will.

And it will still require courage.

Spunk.

Tenacity.

Either the courage to speak up for yourself and say “Yes. I should be the person for this opportunity.” Or perhaps, the even braver courage to say “No, Zillow. I know I’ve had two glasses of wine and at this point you are whispering sweet nothings like “Fireplaces”, “Finished basement”, and “padded kids playroom you can lock from the outside” but I see through you and I am not giving you an undeserving 23 minutes of my life and then 6 more during the next commercial break, because you will leave me feeling both indulgent, deprived, and with an unscratchable itch to try out a new down payment percentage whilst simultaneously looking up mid-century color pallets on Pinterest, because ‘It’s good to be prepared.’ BUT NOT ANY MORE!!!!” (Or respectively, March 6th-April 18th, Happy Early-Lent, everybody.)

Plus, I’ve got keynote speeches to not give.

And Jafar-Ceasars to revolt against.

Nor will that $6.99 bottle of champagne drink itself.

Now.

Time to get back to Business Prop. A.

Because If not now, then when?

Taxes

This is just a great photo of Blair in his chameleon costume climbing off of the couch.

Did you know when you apply at a modeling agency, you have to have photos of you with no make-up and natural hair? Yeah, neither did I and thank God my endlessly talented and selfless friend Heidi Drexler met me in my driveway and took pictures of me while I wore a black tank top that I bought and returned to Target the same day. Because when you see an opportunity, sometimes you ask favors and hope the people along the way know how endlessly grateful you are.

And you BRING IT.

LATER!

#zillow #lent #modelling #opportunity #keynotespeaker #champagne

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charllieeldridge · 4 years

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Why We Started a New Website During Lockdown

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Sitting here in Lisbon Portugal on lockdown during a worldwide pandemic definitely isn’t how I thought things would turn out in 2020.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that Dariece and I were travelling around Europe and enjoying some of the continent’s most romantic cities, drinking wine, eating delicious food, and basically enjoying the amazing things that travel can offer.

But that all changed around March 17th when we were told that it was a state of Emergency in Lisbon, Portugal and we’d be locked down here for an undetermined amount of time.

We went through a few different stages of emotions at first. Panic, fear, uncertainty, and finally… focus and determination.

The focus came in the form of new projects and new hope.

Why Did We Start a New Website?

Dariece and I had both been wanting to start a new website outside of the travel niche, but when things were booming in travel and we were doing well financially, we didn’t have the push we needed to get started.

But now that we are stuck in our apartment in Lisbon and we’re only really allowed to go for a couple of short walks per day (we’re grateful for those walks), I knew that I had enough time to start a new website.

Dariece and I were back and forth on who would start the new site and who would run it.

We already have two websites running full-time, so there wasn’t enough time in the day for us both to start a new site from scratch.

We decided that I would start the site and Dariece would continue to work on our other two websites. We decided this for 2 main reasons:

I already had a topic in mind. Something that I’m passionate about and excited to write about.

We decided to use the new website as a case study to show students of our Blogger Courses that it’s possible to build a profitable website in 6 months.

So after much deliberation, we decided that I would be the one to start the new site and it’s been running for the last couple of weeks!

I know what you’re thinking.

What is The New Website?

I’m sorry but I can’t tell you!

Not because I want to keep it a secret, but because if we’re using it as a case study to show new bloggers that you can build a new website/blog to earn money after a few months, we don’t want to give it an unfair boost by sending Goats On The Road’s audience there.

New bloggers and website owners wouldn’t have access to an audience like GOTR, so it would completely skew all of the analytics and profits if we were to just open it up to our other online communities.

So for now, you’ll have to wait.

We will be announcing the new website sometime down the road.

Want To Follow Along And Build Your Own Blog or Website?

I’ve been keeping a detailed timeline of everything I’m doing with the new website and I’ll be sharing all of my data with the students in our WordPress Beginner Blogger & Website Design Course.

I’ve started nearly a dozen websites over the past few years, but never really with the intention of writing blog posts, promoting them, optimizing them, working on their SEO, and making a serious profit for them.

That level of work was always reserved for Goats On The Road.

But now that we have a few writers on Goats On The Road and some teams in the back end helping us to keep it running (and now that we’re on lockdown), I finally have time to build a new website and show new bloggers just how quickly you can grow them.

It was one thing for me to say “We did it with Goats, so you can too”, but now I’m starting another site from scratch, following along with the formula in our SEO course and I’m happy to say that it’s already working!

I started the website on March 20th and by April 18th, less than a month later, my DA already went from a rating of 1 up to 8 (DA is a measurement used to check the strength of an overall domain), and I started getting my first traffic from Google and Pinterest!

I’m literally just doing exactly what is in our Beginner Course and I’m so happy to see it working so well.

However, upon building this website and a couple of others recently, I noticed that a lot has changed in how easy it is to build and design a professional-looking website.

There have always been hundreds of good WordPress themes and plugins to help you design a site and build an audience exactly how you want.

It’s not like the old days when you needed a coding background. These days, there are drag and drop interfaces that make building a site a breeze.

So I decided it was time to update the WordPress Beginner Blogger & Website Design Course, and now it’s better than ever.

We Updated The Course!

I can’t believe it’s already been a couple of years since we first created our WordPress Beginner Course.

It seems like just yesterday I was locking myself in a room (voluntarily) and recording hours and hours of video tutorials to help new bloggers.

We first started the course by popular demand.

For years I had given a free 200-page blogging ebook to everyone who started a blog or website through links on Goats On The Road, but after receiving awesome feedback from our readers, I knew that I needed to take the teaching a step further.

The WordPress Beginner Course was a culmination of nearly a decade of blogging, years of research and testing, and of months and months of work spent creating it.

Since creating the course, we’ve had over 1,000 people start new websites and blogs and the response we’ve had from the course has been incredible.

And that’s only a fraction of the positive comments we’ve had in our Facebook group for bloggers.

Our main goal with Goats On The Road has always been to basically help people to follow what we do.

When we started this whole blogging thing, we had no idea what we were doing, and yet we managed to turn it into a thriving business.

More than ever, readers have been emailing and messaging us lately and asking if we’d still recommend starting a blog today.

Currently, with the global situation, a lot of people are hesitant as to what to invest their time and money into.

I totally get it.

We’ve also been hit massively by the loss of tourism traffic to our main website (Goats On The Road) and so we’re cautious about what we invest time and money into now as well.

I guess, when it comes down to it, you have to think about what you’re knowledgable and passionate about, and what you enjoy doing.

Do you enjoy the work you do now? Do you enjoy going into your office and working closely with colleagues? Do you enjoy having a boss give you a clear outline of your work? Do you enjoy having a steady, exact income that gets deposited to your account every payday? Do you have enough free time already? Do you see your loved ones, friends and family enough? Do you want to earn money while you’re traveling when the world re-opens?

If you said yes to most or all of the above questions, then starting a new website may not be your best choice of time and money spent.

On the other hand…

Do you enjoy writing? Do you enjoy taking photos? Do you enjoy sharing knowledge? Do you enjoy learning a new skill? Do you want to work for yourself? Do you hate the commute to work? Do you hate office politics? Do you want to be able to work from home? Do you want to be able to work even during a global lockdown?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then maybe creating a website is a good idea for you.

For me, answering our reader’s questions about whether or not starting a website is a good idea was easy.

The first thing I did when we got locked down here in Lisbon was to start a new website.

Why Did I Update Our Blogging Course?

Well, as I mentioned a couple of times in the post already, the main goal has always been to help people to build something lucrative online. And, while I had already updated the course at the beginning of 2020, so much has changed even since then.

New Technology

There are so many different plugins, apps, page builders, technologies, and themes that help make building a website so much easier.

The updated course helps you to design a professional-looking website within a day, and then after you have the design all set up, the growth and monetization modules are the same, helping you to turn your passion project into a full-time income.

Build Blogs AND Websites

When I first created the WordPress Beginner Blogger Course, it was aimed at mostly helping travel bloggers.

A lot of people were emailing and saying that they didn’t want to run a travel blog, or maybe they didn’t want to blog at all, they just wanted to build a website for their business.

While there really isn’t a difference between a website and a blog (a blog is just a part of the website where you write blog posts), I thought it was important to cover all types of web properties in the course.

The new modules in the course still show you how to build a blog (because every business should have a blog, no matter what), but it also has instructions for creating websites about anything you can think of.

If you want to create a website to host your yoga classes, or to show off the menu at your new restaurant, or to explain to your customers what kind of consulting you can offer… the course will show you how to build it now.

Now’s The Time To Start a Website

The main reason I went back and decided to update the course is that I honestly think that there’s never been a better time to start a new website project.

Think about it. When have you ever had this much spare time?

This lockdown isn’t looking like it’s going to end any time soon, and within the next month or so you could build a solid website, with all of the pages you need and enough blog posts to start growing an audience.

I’ve had my new website for just a little over 3 weeks and I’ve already started to see some traffic coming in from Google and Pinterest.

It’s so exciting!

If you follow the steps from the course, it’s really not hard to build up a useful and professional website as long as you stick with it.

I personally wanted to utilize this extra time the best way I know how, and the best way I know is by starting up new online businesses.

I Was Reminded That it Still Works

Having built another website in the past month, getting it to an 8 DA (domain authority) and seeing traffic coming in, I was reminded of how actionable and still relevant the content in our course is.

I was simply following along with the steps in that course and in our SEO Course and I’ve been able to grow it quickly.

I used the exact methods that I teach in the WordPress Beginners Course to design the website, write blog posts and make the website look super-professional, and then using the strategies from the SEO course to help the website appear in Google Search Results.

I did all this, while still making YouTube videos for Goats On The Road, still helping run our other site and still only working around 5-6 hours per day (which is much more than we’ve ever worked since quitting our jobs in Canada).

After seeing early success, I knew that the course worked, but I also knew that I could make it better.

So, even though I updated a few of the modules at the beginning of 2020, I went back and redid the entire design module to include the new technology so that new bloggers could build a beautiful website within a few hours.

What To Expect From The Course

The course is a framework and a guideline that you can follow, step-by-step in order to start, build, design, and grow a successful website or blog.

I walk you through the design steps with the newest technology so that even if you’re not tech-savvy at all, you’ll be able to follow along.

Note: You should at least have the technical know-how to be able to email your friends and family and send photos to people online. Without at least that, even with my help, building anything online will be difficult for you.

After designing the website to look exactly how you want it, you move on to creating essential pages and writing blog posts.

I walk you through every step of writing a blog post that people will actually want to read, including how to add photos and videos, how to format the post, how to write it so that Google will send you traffic and how to actually publish it on your blog.

Then we get into the basics of what you need to do moving forward, in order to grow a successful website.

The 200-Page Blogging ebook walks you through the steps of basic growth with your website, while the Private Blogger Facebook Group has over 500 people who have started websites and blogs through the course and all help each other grow (plus I’m in there answering questions almost daily).

Lastly, with our Bluehost special you get 60% off the cost of hosting and you get 24/7 WordPress chatroom support with WordPress experts — that is priceless.

If you get stuck on any technical side of the site, Bluehost can log-in to your website and help your fix it.

Lastly, something that I also think is super valuable right now when everyone is worried about spending money and investing in new projects, Bluehost is offering an extended 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee.

So if you start this thing and realize it’s not for you, you can cancel at any time and get your money back.

Why is The Course Free?

Well, it’s actually not free.

It’s normally $120 USD for the course.

But, as always, our WordPress Beginner Course is free for anyone who starts a new website or blog by following along with the video on this page.

I offer the WordPress Beginner Course for free because when you start a blog using our links, we get a commission from Bluehost.

What is Bluehost?

Bluehost is a website hosting service and in our opinion, it’s the best one available today.

A lot of people will promote a lot of different hosts and claim they’re the best, but you may often find that they don’t even host their sites with those hosts.

In reality, they just promote them because they offer the biggest affiliate commission.

We host all of our sites (5 currently) on Bluehost and their 24/7 instant customer service, fast servers, and their easy website set-up technology put them ahead of the pack in our opinion.

Basically, you can start a blog for free quite easily, but if you ever want to earn money from your website or blog, you need to own the domain (ie: YourWebsiteName.com) and host it online.

That’s where Bluehost comes in.

If you start a free blog, you won’t be able to design it exactly how you want and you’ll never fully own it.

Trust me!

We had a free blog for years before we realized what we were missing out on.

So, because Bluehost gives us a bit of commission for every blog that starts through our links, we’re able to offer our $120 WordPress Course for free.

If you already have a website, but you still want to learn how to build a new website the right way, you can buy the course here.

FAQs

Over the years we’ve been coaching new bloggers (over 1,000 students), we’ve had plenty of questions in our inbox and in the Private Facebook Group, so I figure this is probably a good place to answer a few of those.

For me, starting a new blog was a no-brainer, but I’ve been there before, I know it works and I know what I’m doing.

But what about new bloggers?

Is it still possible?

Question: What’s the difference between a blog and a website.

Nothing at all.

A blog is a part of a website.

Just like you have a website with a shop on it, a blog is just a part of your website.

Starting a website and a blog is the same thing. The course shows you how to build a website, and then build up the blog part of the website in order to attract an audience and earn money.

If you’re starting a website, you should always have a blog with it anyways.

That’s where you’ll write some posts and engage with your readers. That’s where they’ll get to know you. Even the biggest companies in the world have a blog section of their website.

As you can see from this post, I use the words interchangeably because these days, they are basically one and the same.

Question: I’m not tech-savvy. Should I even bother starting a blog for myself?

As I mentioned earlier in this post, you should at least have enough technical understanding to be able to send emails, open your web browser, message on Facebook etc.

If you’ve never looked at a computer screen, or you need your grandchildren to show you how to open your emails for you, I’m going to be brutally honest, starting a blog isn’t for you.

On the other hand, you don’t have to be tech-savvy to start a website. There is so much learning material available online today, and the course will show you step-by-step exactly how to build, design, and grow a blog… the right way.

Question: How much will it cost to start a site and grow it. Are there hidden costs after I start?

The cost of starting the website is the only thing you have to pay ($36 / year + tax, paying for 3 years. Or, $59 for one year).

I’ve purposely made the course using all free plugins, tools and tricks.

You won’t be forced to pay anything else after you’ve started.

There are some upgrades you can look at once your site is earning money, but the cost of hosting is all you’ll have to pay to get started.

Question: How do I get access to the course and how long do I get access to the materials?

When you start your blog through our links, you’ll automatically receive an email with full access to the course, ebook and Facebook Group.

From that point on, you will have unlimited lifetime access to the course, the course material, the Facebook Group, and all future updates.

Question: Will I really get help along the way?

100% yes.

You have help from myself and 500+ other bloggers in the Facebook group and you have the incredible 24/7 WordPress Chat Support with Bluehost.

The former will help you with blogging and growing a business that can earn money, while the latter will help you with any technical difficulties you may have along the way.

I still contact Bluehost all the time for help with technical things with Goats On The Road and I’ve never waited longer than 2 minutes for an answer. Their customer support is the main reason I recommend them.

Conclusion

Basically, our WordPress Course is better than ever and we’re excited to help more people to use this time in lockdown wisely and start their own websites or blogs.

I’m not saying it just because we get a bit of commission from Bluehost, I’m doing it myself. As I said, the first thing I did when we got locked down was to start another website and that’s because I believe in it.

Once you finish the free WordPress Course, we also have some advanced courses you can take to help you grow even further.

I’ll be building my new website alongside you and I’ll be sharing the successes and failures of that site in the Private Facebook Group as well.

So join me and the 1,000+ students already in the course.

I can’t wait to see you there!

Sincerely,

Nick

The post Why We Started a New Website During Lockdown appeared first on Goats On The Road.

Why We Started a New Website During Lockdown published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

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forextrendyscanner · 6 years

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Snowball Profits Review by Mike Prevatt

Hello, and welcome to my Snowball Profits review! In the event that you weren’t aware, this is Mike Prevatt from www.michaelprevatt.com. I’m thrilled that you’re here today.

If you’re someone who is looking to experience grand new heights by making money online, then you should continue reading every word that follows.

It’s now time to scrutinize the heck out of Michel Sirois and Reed Floren’s Snowball Profits. We’re about to find out if this particular training is worthy of your consideration. And I promise to let you know if it’s not!

And so we begin……

Snowball Profits Overview:

Snowball Profits, as I’ve already mentioned, is a membership site “to making money online course created by Michel Sirois and Reed Floren. The ability to possibly earn a MINIMUM Of $8,435 Per Month In Recurring Income Per Site… Month After Month After Month is the big claim made on Snowball Profits’s sales page. We’ll soon see if this is feasible. But I digress…

This particular course consists of 7 modules, which cover topics ranging from How to Multiply Your Product Creation Efforts to Never Run Out of Content For Your Passive Income Machine to How to Setup Your Passive Income Machines and how to Make Your Passive Income Machines Easy to Navigate to, How to Setup Payment Processing So You Can Collect Payments Month After Month, How to Get Others to Spread The Word About Your Passive Income Machines, How to Track Your Results. How to get Traffic that Converts to Passive Income Machine Sales.How to Scale Up Your Passive Income Machines.

A number of bonuses are also included, such as Legal Pages, Refund Request Crusher, and Skeleton Cheat Sheet. I find these bonuses to be quite relevant, and they really seem to sweeten the pot.

Buy Snowball Profits through my link today, and I’ll include some pretty life-changing bonuses of my own. We’ll talk more about those at the end of the review. Snowball Profits itself is what we’ll discuss first…

What Is the Price of Snowball Profits?

This question is, in my opinion, the best starting point. I don’t believe in prices being kept a mystery until the very end. As this review is being written, Michel is charging $11.33 to $197.00 for this training. Well, at least that’s how much it costs at the time of this writing. You can expect a price hike in the near future.

Honestly, Snowball Profits OUGHT to generate some success straight out of the gate. What we want to know is… WILL it really?

Snowball Profits Review… Will It Honestly Do What It Says?

Time for brass tacks. Will Snowball Profits actually make you any money? As annoying as this answer always is, I’ve simply gotta say… it’s probably up to you. I am pretty compelled by the proof that Michel Sirois and Reed Floren shares on the sales page.

In all seriousness, the vast majority of programs can make you money, but you’ve gotta be willing to actually employ what’s being taught long enough to actually make money.

Unfortunately, too many products take much too long to make you any money. And to make matters worse, they may also require you to work your butt off for very little (if any) initial reward. It’s just so easy to walk away in the search for something “faster” and “easier” when so much is expected of you without any guarantee of a payoff.

When it comes to speed and ease, Snowball Profits seems to do pretty well. Snowball Profits is the ultimate system to a true passive income by creating easy to do membership sites that bring value and lots of affiliate traffic, while you live THE LIFE style you want to live. I highly recommend this to anyone who’s looking to get started online easily!.

In all honesty, as long as you manage your expectations and keep your nose to the grindstone for a little while, I bet you’ll be pulling in an income sooner than later. You really just need to trust yourself and the process for long enough to start getting results.

The question is, how long will positive results take to achieve? As stated on the official product page, it may be able to happen in as little as a 6-month time frame. Seems about right to me, having gone through the course firsthand. If you’re okay with that, then you may be wise to consider making this investment.

No income guarantees have been made here, just to be clear. There are as many potential outcomes with this program as there are people. And these results can vary wildly. With that said, good results are always the result of taking action, so give Snowball Profits all you’ve got and I believe you’ll do great!

Even with this course, though, there are bad points to accompany the good. Before we do anything else, we should make sure you’re getting the full story by covering both the pros AND the cons. Afterward, I’ll reveal my Snowball Profits bonuses, which really erase the cons and add even more pros to the equation.

Snowball Profits – What I Like:

1 on 1 training

recurring income.

Once this program has been set up, it is basically on autopilot

Snowball Profits WHAT I DON’T LIKE

No money back guarantee

Truth be told, I 100% want for you to make your dreams come true using Snowball Profits! That’s the purpose that these bonuses are meant to serve. I would never try to insult your intelligence by offering you some bogus “$25,000 value” bonus package on a product that the selling price starts at under $12 and the highest price is below $200.

These types of unrealistically priced bonuses made up primarily of ineffective, outdated private label rights (PLR) trash. These are generally not actually intended to help you make more money online. My bonuses, however, are.

In all, I’d say that Snowball Profits is worth the small investment, and then some. If you agree, then you can grab it from the official site today. Be aware, you really need to cease this opportunity now, so take action now.

Between Snowball Profits and my bonuses, you’re really being given a fantastic opportunity to make serious money online. I hope you take this and run with it, my friend.

Your attention has been wonderful. Hopefully, you believe that this has been time well-spent. I hope this has been helpful!

– Mike Prevatt