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J. Jaehyun | Coming Home

After hitting a dead end in your job search, you reluctantly return home to stay with your mom. However, fate has other plans as you unexpectedly cross paths with an old flame. Sparks fly as you navigate the complexities of past feelings and present circumstances, reigniting a passionate connection that refuses to be ignored.

Jaehyun x reader (Exes to lovers)

6k words

Fluff, Angst, Suggestive.

Playlist

As a little girl, you had this idyllic vision of what your adult life would be like. You thought by the time you entered your 20s, you would have graduated from college and easily walked into your dream career. But now, as an adult, you're confronted with the harsh realities of life. You only have $300 to your name, a coupon for a free pizza from your go-to pizza place, and a tech degree that seems to be of no use. To make matters worse, you've ruined your credit during your college years, and you've just ended a three-year relationship. It feels like everything is against you, and the only choice you have is to go back to your hometown to stay with your mom until you get back on your feet.

Leaving Los Angeles was hard enough, but landing in Connecticut felt like a blow to your pride. Everything looks the same as when you left, and the people haven't changed much either. You want to drop down to your knees and cry when you realize that this is where you're going to be for the next few months of your life. But you still have some dignity left in you, so you grab your luggage and try to compose yourself as you walk towards the pickup section to wait for your mom.

Blinking back tears, you inhale a deep breath and pull out your phone. You wait patiently as your phone searches for service in the area. When the service finally sets in, your phone blows up with 70 different alerts: two calls from your best friend, Joy, and three text messages from her telling you to have a safe trip and to keep your head up.

Six missed calls from your ex-boyfriend and seven text messages from him begging you to talk to him.

51 emails from the various job search sites that you signed up with and one singular text message from your mom.

Mom: Hey! I won't be able to make it. But don't worry, I'll have Jaehyun come pick you up. Can't wait to see you!

As if on cue, a familiar black 2015 Toyota Corolla pulls up right in front of you, and none other than Jung Jaehyun gets out of the car.

"This has to be a joke." You breathe, your shoulders raising as you do so.

He smirks the second he lays eyes on you, "Wow you haven't aged a bit."

You wish you could say the same about him, he'd grown a lot more mature since you last saw him. He wasn't the 18-year-old boy you were once head over heels for. He was way taller; he grew his hair out, and you could tell that he started hitting the gym.

"Why are you here?" You look up at him with folded arms.

He doesn't take you seriously. He never did. "Sorry, I'm late." He chuckles and takes your suitcase from beside you to load it in the back of his car.

Once he finishes his first task, he walks back around to open the door for you, gesturing to the passenger seat with both arms and a smile that you wish you could hate.

"I'm not getting in the car, Jaehyun." You remain in your spot, arms still folded over your chest.

"No?" He asks condescendingly.

You repeat, "No." Firm on your feet.

"Well, I guess. I'll see you there then." You watch him close the door and walk to the driver's side without sparing you a look. He starts the car and drives away, leaving you with two options.

You could chase after him and embarrass yourself, or you could remain stubborn and just call an Uber.

You choose to chase the car after realizing that the phone that you would use to call an Uber was sitting in the back of his trunk.

He watches you run after him from his rearview mirror; he slows down but refuses to stop until you were banging on the side of the window, begging him to stop. He got a thrill out of this, and you could tell.

"Did you change your mind?" He teases

Physically, Jaehyun was a completely different person; he grew up, well, you'll admit that. But personality-wise? He hadn't changed at all. He was still the same sarcastic asshole you met in high school.

You mutter, "I don't have my phone." As you slide into the passenger seat, out of breath. You subtly look around, taking notice that the car still smells the same way you remembered it; it was just cleaner now. Sooner or later, your eyes dart to the back seat, and Jaehyun chuckles when you do.

"So what's L. A like?" He asks suddenly, one hand on the steering wheel and the other draped over his thigh.

"It's fun and different. My boyfriend helped to introduce me to a lot of new things." You purposely mention your (ex) boyfriend just to see his reaction.

To your dismay, his reaction is as simple as none. He only asks, "How will long-distance work out for you? It didn't seem to work with us."

"We'll do fine." You say, trying to sound confident.

The car falls silent for a few moments before he starts up a new conversation. "I'm glad you're back."

The statement seems taunting, even if you know that's not how he means it. You always dreamt of moving away to a big city where no one knew who you were, and now that you're back home, it just feels like you are a failure.

"I'm not staying for long." You gaze out of the window.

"Since you're back in town, we should hang out sometime," he suggests, sneaking glances at you.

"I didn't come back to see you."

"Suit yourself, but remember I'm always just a phone call away."

As you step into the familiar house, you can't help but notice that everything looks the same. Though your mom has rearranged some things, the overall feel is still the same. She's standing at the counter, wearing her favorite white robe and sipping on a glass of wine. Even she looks the same, and you can't help but wonder if the past five years have been stuck in time.

Your thoughts are interrupted when Jaehyun speaks up from behind you, offering to take the bags upstairs. You're about to protest when your mom pulls you into a warm hug, rocking you back and forth. "Oh, my baby, I missed you so much," she coos, holding your face in her hands. "Have you been skipping meals?" She asks, eyeing you closely. When you shake your head, she mutters disapprovingly, "I hope you didn't start one of those stupid L.A diets." You hear Jaehyun snicker from behind you, but you can't break free from your mom's grip to glare at him.

"No, mom." You mutter shamefully like a middle schooler who just got through a scolding.

"We've got to fatten you up." She pinches your cheeks before she lets you go. Oh, you and Jaehyun should go try out the taco place down the street." Your mom swings her index finger between you and your ex-boyfriend. "They opened it up after you left. It's amazing, and the staff there is amazing, too."

You open your mouth to speak, but Jaehyun beats you to it. "I think she'd rather the tacos in L.A" he says as he stands beside your mom, looking down on you in a way that feels degrading. The only thing you can do is wonder when they got so close.

Your mom has always liked Jaehyun, but it seemed like she adopted him after you left. If you look close enough, you might find similarities in their facial features.

"Jaehyun probably has other things to do. Why don't we just go instead? It's been a while since it was just you and me." You waltz over and loop your arm around your mom's right arm. Opposite side of where Jaehyun was standing

"Or we could all go out together." Suggests, Jaehyun with a grin so big you could see his dimples.

Your mom's face glows at the thought as she pushes you aside. "That sounds like a wonderful Idea."

"How was your flight?" Joy's voice comes through the speaker of your phone while you prop it up against your old desk. You slide back in your seat to start your face care while simultaneously talking to her.

"Long, it should be illegal for infants to fly on a plane." You mutter, slapping the moisturizer on your face and rubbing it in circles along your cheeks.

Joy gets closer to the camera just to say, "That's harsh," but she doesn't bother to try to hide her laugh.

"Okay maybe not illegal, but there should at least be a secluded area for parents flying with newborns, or you know… just kids who still cry." You drag out the last part when you get closer to the mirror and run your index finger along the new pimple you have growing in.

"Like a daycare?" Joy asks

"That wasn't what I was thinking, but that works too."

"Okay enough about that, have you seen him yet?" Joy whispers against the speaker of her own phone and thankfully so because just as soon as she mentions him Jaehyun comes walking into your room without a notice or a knock.

"Dinners ready." He stops at the entrance of your room but gets closer when he sees that you're on the phone. Close enough for him to show up on your camera screen and wave his hand around. "Hi, Joy." He smiles tauntingly.

"I have to go," you mutter and hang up the call before either of them can get another word in. Turning in your seat to ask "Why are you here?" for the second time today.

His smile doesn't falter, and he doesn't back away, either. "What? You don't want to see me?" he teases.

"I don't," you murmur, pushing him away with the palm of your hand and rolling your eyes. You stand up when he backs up, but his eyes remain on you. You hate that you didn't hate it, and you hate that you don't hate him.

You always thought you would be angry if you ever saw him again, you expected that you'd shed a few tears even. But all of that was furthest from the truth because now that you saw him again you were only reminded of the love you kept harbored away for him.

You were gonna be fine, as long as you kept your distance.

"You invited him over for dinner?" You quietly mutter to your mom, hoping that Jaehyun won't hear you.

"Don't be like that, he came over all the time while you were gone. That's not gonna change because of a little breakup."

"But Mom." You whine.

She hears none of it as she continues setting the table and praising Jaehyun for how helpful he was compared to her own child. You grimace at the statement before plopping down at the table with your arms crossed.

Jaehyun takes the seat across from you, and your mom takes the one adjacent. "Isn't this wonderful? It's been so long since I've seen the two of you together." She smiles and clamps her hands together.

"Is he going to come over every night?" You ask, wiping the smile off of your mom's face. You've always been a fan of your mom's cooking, but now you were picking at the rice and mixing it around. Your spoon clinks against the bottom of the glass plate before you go to take a spoonful.

Sucking in a hiss when your mom smacks your arm, "Why don't you be nice?"

"I was just asking." You whine once more but pull your lips into a thin line when you realize that no matter what, she's going to take his side and Jaehyun's enjoying it.

"You know the carnival is opening tomorrow." Your mom starts again, "You guys should go out and have fun. It's summer, and you're still young."

"I can't. I have to…" You look around for any excuse that won't get you slapped for a second time. "Unpack."

Your efforts count for nothing as your mom slaps you again on the arm. "Oh, don't be stubborn." She laughs. "Jaehyun, you aren't busy, right?"

"No, mam." He smiles, specifically at you.

"And neither are you," she says when she looks at you. "So it's settled; you can pick her up tomorrow." Your mom claps her hands together with a bright smile.

"No, I really can't." You wave your hand around.

"Well, you don't have a job, do you?" is all your mom has to say to make you lower your chin and shake your head. "Then I don't see why not."

"Besides, you could use a picker-upper since you broke up with that little boyfriend of yours." She adds unsolicited. You want to hide, curl up into a ball, and just vanish, disappear, and go anywhere but here.

"You broke up?" Jaehyun pipes up with a smirk.

You scramble to defend yourself, but the best you can come up with is, "We're just taking a little break."and that's all you get to say before your mom interrupts.

"Say, Jaehyun, don't you have that pan I let you borrow? I think I might need it for tomorrow night's dinner."

He nods, "Yeah, I can bring it tomorrow if you'd like."

"No, you might forget. Y/n, why don't you ride with him and bring the pan back."

The mention of your name makes you choke on your food, "What?"

"That'll give you guys some time to catch up." If you didn't know any better, you would think she was doing this on purpose. But you did know better and knew she was doing this on purpose.

"But it's late, and he has bad eyesight." You point, searching for any way that you could to get her to change her mind. Retracting when you see the way he's looking at you. "I mean, it's never safe to drive at night."

"That's more of a reason for you to go. I wouldn't want him stranded on the side of the road." says your mom.

"What about me?"

"If you're ready, we can go now." She ignores you when Jaehyun stands up in his chair.

"Yes, you two get going. I'll clean this up." Your mother hurries you out of your seat, pushing you along with Jaehyun to the door. You don't even get to say anything before she's waving and slamming the door in your face, locking you out of the house with your pajamas, bunny slippers, and your ex.

"You coming?" Jaehyun yells, standing on the passenger side of his black car.

You look at the door once and let out a long, deep sigh as you stomp to his car, sliding past him and into the passenger seat, but not without rolling your eyes.

"If you keep rolling your eyes, they're going to get stuck in the back of your head," Jaehyun teases before closing the car door.

He gets into the car shortly after and starts it immediately. You hope to keep the car ride quiet, but Jaehyun has other plans as he starts returning to his place. "I see long distance isn't your strong suit."

Naturally, you want to roll your eyes. You notice it's just a common occurrence when you are around him. "I already told you were working things out; I just didn't wanna hold him back."

You turn to him when you hear a small laugh. "Working things out," he repeats. "How come I didn't get that option?"

"You didn't deserve it."

"So you really love him, huh?" He glances over to see your reaction, and based on your facial expressions alone, he knows he's right.

He knows the answer, but you're not as sure. Is it possible for you to love two men at once?

"I don't wanna talk about this tonight, Jaehyun." You sigh and gaze out of the window. Per your request, he remains quiet for the rest of the ride. But now that you're sitting in complete silence, all you have to do is think. Think about the feelings and emotions you thought you had left in the past.

What would things be like if you had never ended things with Jaehyun? Would you have met your ex? Would you be conflicted right now sitting in the passenger seat of your ex's car while thinking about your other ex?

"Are you coming in?" Jaehyun asks, holding his apartment door open for you.

You prop up against the wall behind you and fold your arms. "No, I'll stand right here," you say, but swiftly run behind him when you hear someone else leave their apartment. The last thing you needed was someone else to see you standing outside his door, whether they knew you or not.

"Hi, Johnny." Jaehyun turns to wave at the neighbor against your wishes, smiling at you when you glare at him. "Don't worry, he's not gonna bite you."

Your only response is another glare; he simply smiles while you walk past him and into his apartment.

This seems to be the nature of your relationship: You're hot-headed and easily irritated, while Jaehyun is sarcastic and loves to get under your skin. It's always been like this, and there was just no telling how the two of you ever managed to fall in love.

Jaehyun stands behind you when you scan his living area. It's exactly what you'd expect from a man, and especially Jaehyun. There's a couch and some small decor here and there, but it feels cold and bare for the most part.

It's almost hard to believe that this is where he spends most of his time.

You keep your thoughts to yourself and follow him into the kitchen, where you continue to look around.

"Seems like you and my mom got close," you speak, hoping to distract him from how you are inspecting everything in his apartment.

Jaehyun answers, "Yeah, I guess you could say that." His head dips into the cabinets under the counter, searching for the pan that brought him here in the first place.

You raise your hands to each arm and sigh, "So was that on purpose… or?"

"She was the closest thing I could get to you." He says casually, as if everyone's heard that before.

You, on the other hand, aren't as casual about the subject as he is. You drop your arms to your side and start looking around again for a sudden change of conversation, which Jaehyun misses with his head still tucked under the cabinets.

"I like what you've done with the place; it's cozy." You lie, and you're glad he isn't looking at you because you know he can tell that you are with just a glance.

You forgot that he could also tell when you were nervous. He's always been able to read you like a children's book, and he always used that against you.

"It wasn't as easy for me to jump into another relationship as fast as you did." He stands up with the pan in his hand. The look he gives you makes your face feel hot; you begin choking over words.

"I- I don't wanna talk about this."

"I do." He slides the pan back when you reach for it but closes the distance between you. He gets so close that you have to crane your neck to look up at him. He's so close that you're scared he might hear the beat of your heart. He's so close that you could just kiss him. "I missed you, Y/n. More than you could ever imagine."

You admit you still have feelings for Jaehyun but won't act on them. After all, you're a firm believer in "Control your actions, not your emotions," but he's only getting closer and closer.

You start to rethink your philosophies when you breathe in the scent of his cologne. Your skin feels hot and you don't know how long you plan on holding back from him.

It's going to happen sooner or later, so why not sooner? You think as you allow him to take the last step needed to close the space between you.

When his lips connect with yours, you wrap your arms around his neck to pull him closer, and suddenly, he lifts you up by the back of your thighs to carry you back to his bedroom.

The bright yellow light beaming over your closed eyelids wakes you up from your deep slumber. The arm wrapped tightly around your abdomen causes your eyes to nearly bulge out of your head.

Your clothes sprawled on the floor is enough evidence to prove that last night wasn't just a dream. Being pretty much naked in nothing but one of his T-shirts is just the icing on top.

You really slept with your ex.

"Jaehyun," you whisper, gently tapping his arm, which is more than enough to wake him up.

He groans, "Good Morning" as he starts to lay kisses all over the back of your shoulders. And if possible, his hold on you just gets tighter as he pulls you back towards him.

"I have to go home."

"Sure thing, baby." He says, laying one kiss on the back of your head and another on your cheek. With that, he rolls off the bed and begins getting dressed, smiling like an idiot while he does so.

You choose to ignore it; for once, he wasn't acting like an asshole, and you just need some quietness while you take the time to collect your clothes from around the floor.

However, when you reach the car, your thoughts spew like a waterfall. "We can't do that again." You don't give him time to respond, to neither agree nor disagree, before you go on a tangent that lasts the entire 12-minute car ride.

"Okay," Jaehyun responds after pulling into the driveway of your childhood home.

He's never really been much of a talker; if anything, he just liked to say simple things that he knew would piss you off. You're certain this has to be one of them. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop your blood from growing hot.

"okay?" You repeat with squinted eyes. "I just told you I never wanted to see or talk to you again and just go 'okay?"

"What do you want me to say?" He almost laughs, and that just riles you up more.

"Anything else? Did you even mean everything you said yesterday, or were you just looking for sex?" He doesn't say anything at first. He looks away and gazes out the window for what feels like half an hour but is only 8 seconds.

"I don't know." He shrugs

"You don't know?" You repeat him yet again.

"Well, do you want me to tell you the truth?" He asks calm as ever, completely opposite to you.

"No, I don't." You murmur, stomping out of his car and slamming the door behind you.

Jaehyun lets you get to your porch before he rolls his passenger seat window down and shouts, "I'll pick you up at two." When you turn around, you're met with a dimpled smile and his crescent eyes.

If you weren't already so angry, you would've matched his smile, and for a second, you almost do.

He always knew how to make you mad and how to make you laugh. That's why you fell in love with each other, and it only took a special set of dimples to remind you of that.

The sun is still young at 2 p.m., well, 1:51 p.m., to be exact. You were coming to terms with the fact that you had slept with your ex and that you'd been counting the seconds, waiting for two o'clock to come.

The knock at the door sends you rushing down the steps, nearly tripping over your own feet. You barely contain your smile when you see Jaehyun standing on the other side of the door.

"You're early," you scoff, walking past him and closing the door behind you. Jaehyun does nothing but smile at you, reaching for your hand to pull you closer to him as he guides you to his car.

He leaves a kiss on your cheek and mumbles, "I couldn't wait to see you." To which you roll your eyes in an attempt to hide the way your lips turn up into a subtle smile.

The wind from outside seeps into the car as he drives through the highway, one hand interlocked with yours and the other on the steering wheel. He glances at you a few times and, after the third time, says, "You know this is a date, right?"

You turn your head towards the window and pretend like you can't hear him. Only for him to roll both windows up and repeat, "You know this is a date, right?"

"I didn't agree to a date." You retort, "I'm only here cause my mom forced me to."

"Is that why you're still holding my hand?" He asks, his eyes focused on the road ahead.

You shift in your seat, but you don't dare to let go of his hand. If anything, your grasp on him just gets tighter, and you go back to looking out the window. "My hand is cold, and yours is warm," you murmur.

Your answer warrants him to bring your hand up to his lips and leave a chaste kiss or a few. He does that often throughout the evening, randomly pulling you closer to him just to leave kisses on your cheek or forehead.

It feels like high school all over again. Jaehyun's still staring at you like a lovesick fool, and you still get butterflies in the pit of your stomach when you make eye contact. "This isn't a date," you state suddenly.

The warm breeze, carrying the scent of summer, gently tousles your hair as you gaze up at your ex. "And I meant what I said. After this, I don't wanna see you again." The air is filled with the sounds of young teens cheering and laughing, their voices blending into a joyful cacophony.

Jaehyun uses his index finger to move the hair out of your face and push it behind your ear. "Okay," he says softly, with his hand still lingering on your cheek. His thumb softly grazes your lower lip.

You breathe, "I'm serious, Jae." But the use of his nickname and the way you look at him tells him you're anything but serious.

"I know." He says, switching his focus between your eyes and your lips. He kisses you, but you take the initiative to pull him closer by the nape of his neck, feeling the heat of his body transform onto yours.

The feeling is all too familiar,‌ like euphoric bliss or, rather, a certain type of high you don't ever want to come down from. "I missed you." You slur against his lips, arms still tied around him so he can't go anywhere.

"I know." is all he says before he leans in to kiss you again.

The car is pretty silent other than the small taps of the raindrops on the windows and the music playing on his car radio at the lowest volume. Occasionally, you can hear vibrations from your phone.

Jaehyun's hand is firmly wrapped around yours, and it's been like that for the past hour. He pulls you right back every time you try to slip away. "So what about Sicheng? How is he?" you ask, resting your head against the back of the seat.

"He's married now," Jaehyun answers. The tips of his lips turn upwards into a smile when he sees your widened eyes.

"To whom?"

"I don't know her name." He looks off to the side as if to think. "They got married a year ago."

"I would've never thought." The car falls silent again, and just as soon as it does, your phone buzzes for probably the hundredth time of the night.

Jaehyun lets your hand go just long enough for you to check your messages.

There are over 20 missed calls from Joy and one text from her telling you to call her ASAP.

Then, there are three messages from your ex begging you to call him. His contact is still saved as "my love." It's been like that since you first got together, and you hadn't thought of changing it after you broke up.

Well, it's more like you couldn't bring yourself to do it. If you were to change his name and block him, things would be real for you. And you were desperately clinging on to hope. Maybe things will work out; you'll go back to L.A and be with him again.

"Are you okay?" Jaehyun pulls you out of your thoughts, sliding his hand into yours and interlocking your fingers.

"Yeah," you shake your head and lock your phone.

You have no idea what tomorrow might bring, but for tonight, you just want to sit with Jaehyun, even if it is just for tonight.

"Hello." It's probably 6 am if you had to guess. Birds are singing right outside of your window, and the sun isn't all the way up yet.

You sit up in your bed with one hand holding your phone to your ear and the other moving your hair out of your face. "Why didn't you call me back?" Joy's voice echoes through the speaker of your phone.

"Maybe because I was asleep?" You snap back, eyes barely open.

"I got you a job." That's enough to have you leaping off your bed with your eyes jumping out of the socket.

"Say, sike." You chirp. "Please don't say sike."

"I'm serious; I told them you were out of town, but you can start next month." She explains, calm as ever.

"Joy, you are amazing." You exclaim into the phone. "Have I ever told you you're the bestest best friend in the entire world?"

"You've mentioned it a few times." You don't have to see her to know that she's smirking. "I have to go now. I just wanted to tell you about the job. I'll call you back later."

She doesn't give you time to say anything else before the call is dropped. You throw your phone down and plop down on your bed. You can't help but smile, thinking about how things are gonna go back to normal.

However, when you feel your phone vibrate against your side and you read Jaehyun's name ‌off your screen, your smile fades. You were so excited about going back to L.A that you forgot about him.

For the next few days, you do your best to forget about everything and just spend time with Jaehyun, whether it be chatting in his car or even helping him redecorate his sad and cold jail ce- apartment.

"What's the catch?" Jaehyun asks suddenly, his index finger twirling in your hair. You shift your ‌ head against his chest to look at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"You've been acting really weird lately," he explains, "You're all clingy now. Which I like, but it also feels too good to be true." You can see a shift in the way he looks at you and in the tone of his voice. "It feels like you might try to leave me again."

"I'm just trying to make up for lost time." You're too afraid to tell him that your time with him is limited. Too afraid of his reaction and of your own emotions.

"You don't have to lie to me." He sits up against the headboard of his bed, and you do the same thing. "I knew this was only temporary, and I know I shouldn't have let my feelings get involved again." Jaehyun takes a deep breath before continuing, "But I love you. I think I always will."

When you don't say anything, he keeps going. "Let's try again." He says.

"Jaehyun-" He cuts you off with a kiss, not wanting to hear ‌your rejection.

"We can move to L.A together." He speaks against your lips, "And we can find an apartment. I'll get a job, I'll sell my car if I have to."

His determination makes you giggle, and soon enough, he starts laughing with you."I thought you hated the city."

"I do. But you love the city, and I love you,"

"I didn't know you were such a romantic." You beam, butterflies erupting as he reaches to move the hair out of your face and behind your ear.

"But we'll have to move my son out too. I'm not asking you to play stepmom, but I do want to be in his life." Jaehyun speaks casually, but your jaw is growing heavy, and the butterflies are starting to feel like poison or mini daggers hitting your gut all at once.

You only manage to squeak "What?" Even though there are so many questions, you want to ask.

"I'm kidding." He breaks into a laugh, but you're still left confused and slightly heartbroken.

"That's not funny, Jae." You whine when he pulls you in to leave a kiss on your forehead.

"It's hilarious, baby."

You jump up off the bed the second your phone begins to vibrate, running to the door and checking the doorway to make sure Jaehyun is occupied before you slowly and softly close the door to answer the call.

"Hello?" You breathe into your phone speaker as you tiptoe back to the bed.

"Hello? Girl, why are you whispering." Joy asks, "Where are you?"

You don't have to answer that question because Jaehyun answers that question for you when he busts through the door to ask "Do you want take out or should we cook tonight?"

"Take out." You answer, covering your phone mic.

Still, your best friend hears everything, "Who is that?" She questions.

"Okay, do you want Pizza or Chinese food?" Jaehyun asks, leaning in between the doorway.

"Y/n, that better not be who I think it is." Joy scolds from her end of the line.

You answer Jaehyun to ignore Joy. "I don't know, you choose," you say urgently, anything to get him out of the room.

"I know how you are, baby. I don't want to get you something that you don't feel like eating," Jaehyun explains, walking further into the room.

The closer he gets, the louder your heart beats and the more your best friend yells at you. "Baby?" She barks through the speaker and right into your ear.

You rush to hit the mute button, but with your eyes focused on Jaehyun, you slip up and accidentally put your best friend on speaker phone. "Y/n, you better answer me right now."

When her voice rings through the room, your heart stops beating altogether. For the second time this month, you want to vanish, disappear into thin air, and cease to exist.

"Hi, Joy." Jaehyun greets with a large grin that shows his dimples on full display.

Joy only responds in a monotone, "Jaehyun." You rush to say, "I'll do a plain cheese pizza." Once again, you are just trying to get him out of the room.

"Sure thing, baby." He cooes, with a kiss to your cheek. Soon enough he's out of the room and you're alone again. With a deafening silence.

"Things happened." You hesitantly speak.

"Things like what?" Your clothes slipped off, and you fell into his bed?" You hear a sigh immediately after she snaps, and you're too afraid to say anything else. "What about—"" I don't wanna talk about him," you interject.

"Okay, but does he know you're coming back?" Joy asks, referring to Jaehyun. When you don't answer, she gets worried. "You are coming back, right?"

"Of course I'm coming back. I just haven't told him yet." You trail off on the last part.

She doesn't say anything for a long while, and neither do you. You sit in your own disappointment, you didn't need her to tell you that you messed up because you already knew that.

"Y/n, I'm only saying this because I love you…" It doesn't take a genius to know that what's coming next is about to hurt. "You're being really stupid right now."

That hurt a lot more than you thought it would. "Wow, thanks, Joy."

"Listen, I don't want you to get hurt again."

"I'm not, he's changed, and things are different now." You explain although you're not even sure you believe it yourself.

"Then why haven't you told him yet?" She asks, but you don't answer. "You're going to give him the chance to break you again?"

"He's not," you cry, pulling against the ends of Jaehyun's oversized shirt, which you stole out of his drawer to wear.

Joy can hear the tone of your voice soften, so she softens hers as well, but it doesn't change the gravity of her words. "Do you remember how long it took for-" "Please don't mention him." You interrupt her, already knowing who she's about to bring up.

"Look I'll figure things out, but for now I just wanna be happy." You continue, "I think I deserve that."

"You do, Y/n. You deserve nothing but happiness, and if he makes you happy, then don't let me get in your way. but don't forget who you have waiting for you in California with open arms." Joy attests

"I know you're just looking out for me, but I don't know if I can go back to him knowing what I did while I was here."

"You know better than I do that he'd never judge you." And you did. You knew that very well. Your ex never made you feel insignificant or anything of the sort. He never shamed you or made you feel guilty for anything. But that didn't change the fact that you would judge yourself.

"I just need time to think about everything." You say, almost in a whisper.

"I trust that you'll do the right thing." Joy reassures, "I'm gonna go now. I love you."

"I love you too." You say before hanging up the phone and throwing it on the other side of the bed. The call leaves you feeling nothing but confused, and Jaehyun notices it the second he walks into the room.

Your subtle pout and the way you're holding the pillow to your chest tell him exactly how you're feeling. "What's wrong?" He takes the seat beside you, tugging at your waist so you can scoot closer to him.

"Did you mean what you said about moving to L.A.?" You ask first. Your hand rests over his when he reaches to stroke your cheek.

"I wouldn't play about that Y/n"

You take a deep breath when you get the answer you want. "Joy got me a job, and they want me to start next month."

"What? That's amazing, baby." He cooes, grabbing each of your hands. "We're going to L.A"

He reacted way differently than you imagined he would; the look on his face tells you he's sincere, and the flutter in your heart makes you hope that he really is. You don't think you can take another heartbreak, not from him.

As you stand in your old room, the brown paper box at your feet, you can't help but feel a strong sense of nostalgia wash over you. You take in every detail: the way the sunlight filters through the window, casting a warm glow on everything in the room; the creaking sound of the wooden floorboards under your feet, each one carrying a memory of its own; and the scent of your old perfume that still lingers in the air, like a faint echo of a bygone era.

This time, as you prepare to leave, it feels different. It feels like you're saying goodbye for good, and the thought of leaving this place forever fills you with a deep sense of loss. When you first arrived in Connecticut, you couldn't wait to leave, but now you find yourself wishing you could stay just a little bit longer so you could relive the memories of your past, which you hold so dear.

However, you know that the real reason you're dreading going back is that you don't want to face your ex. The thought of telling him that you're now in a relationship with the man you used to cry to him about fills you with anxiety. You're unsure of how he'll react, and the mere prospect of facing him makes your heart race with fear.

The more you think about it, the more you realize that things are not looking good for you. You're caught between your love for your new partner and your fear of the unknown.

Suddenly, your mom yells from downstairs, "Y/n, someone is here for you." You don't pay much attention to the hesitation in her voice, too lost in thought. You wish you had because when you reach the bottom of the stairs and look up, Doyoung, your ex, is standing right across from you with a saddened smile and a black duffle bag. Your heart skips a beat as you see him. You hadn't expected him to be here, but now that he is, you don't know how to react. You mutter, "What are you doing here?" As you wrap your arms around yourself, unsure of what to do next.

Part 2

[the-californicationist]

What if Price got migraines, so he came to your piercing shop to get a Daith put in to help (because he hates taking meds). But then, he decides to get more done....

"Sweet Relief" (AO3 Link)

The shop had been quiet all winter. It started with No Ink November, an inside joke you and your business partners laughed about every year. Money was tight, that was for sure, and no amount of Instagram deals or tell-a-friend coupons were going to dig you out. So, you’d been practicing with your piercing skills. Your shop had plenty of tattooists, and one girl was even a specialist in scarification, but no one did piercings. You decided to work hard and fill a niche. 

It was a cold January morning, and you rolled into the shop around noon, setting up your station for your three o’clock appointment, a daith piercing. The guy had booked online with some generic disciple name like Mark or Luke or something. You checked the sheet. 

“John…” 

Based on his questionnaire, it was his first piercing, but he’d been tattooed by your shop partner, Caitlyn.

“Hey, Cait!” You called into the back of the shop. 

She shouted back,

“Sup?”

“You know a John Price?”

She poked her head around the door and came over to your station,

“Sure do. He’s a total hunk. Some army guy. Comes in about two or three times a year for work. Is he cheating on me?” She laughed, ribbing you. 

“He wants a daith,” you showed her the sheet. 

“Huh,” she shrugged, “Cool. Enjoy it, babe.”

Winking and laughing to herself, Cait ducked back into her station and you waited for the man to show up. 

Then, like he had been summoned, the shop’s door bell tinkled and an enormous, bearded man stepped through. He was in casual clothes, and he wore a wool beanie to keep out the cold. He looked around the space calmly, giving a polite nod and a wave to Cait. When his eyes found you, he smiled, 

“Hey.” 

Goddamn if his voice wasn’t like a warm fire on a snow day. It rumbled, low and deep through the room, hitting you right in your chest, surprising you. 

“Hey!” You recovered, “You must be John. Come around.”

“Yeah,” he made his way over to you and sat in your chair, “I’m here for the daith piercing.”

“Gotcha. I’m all ready for you. I’ll clean the site, mark it, and I’ll show it to you before we commit.”

You got to work, studying his face as you worked. There were little scars here and there, and a big one near his temple, ragged and rough. You rubbed cleanser on his ear and asked him,

“So, why this one? You get headaches?”

“Sure do. Don’t always have meds out in the field, so I needed something a bit more permanent.” 

You gave him a curious look,

“The field?”

“Army. Special Forces. That’s where I got this beauty you were admirin’.” He thumbed the large scar on his brow.

You blushed a bit. He sure was observant. 

“Ouch,” you said, “I promise this won’t hurt half as bad. Here, have a look.”

You held up the mirror to let him see the mark you’d made. He shrugged,

“You know best, love. I trust you.”

His words stirred something in your belly. You liked the pet name, and his ease with trusting you went right to your head. 

“Alright, hold still, John. You wanna count?”

“No,” he smiled and turned his eyes on you, watching you work on him. 

You shoved the needle into his skin and watched his eyes close as the pain washed over him. He took it in stride, smiling when you finished with the hard part. He opened them again to watch you, and he almost seemed to look at you with some level of desire. So, you tried out a pet name of your own.

“There you go, handsome. All set.”

“Cait should’ve warned me. Had no idea my pain would come at the hands of such a pretty artist.”

“Careful, soldier. Gonna get yourself a tongue ring on the house if you keep buttering me up like that,” you showed him the barbell you’d installed, and he took a cursory glance at it. 

“Maybe that’ll be my next one. I heard they work wonders.”

“On migraines?” You laughed, confused by his tone. 

“No,” he leaned forward, putting himself in your space, “On pretty artists.”

[docholligay]

Let's Get Physical: DocDoc's Run Draw

Hi everyone! Since @keyofjetwolf was brave enough to run a 5k, and we all know I really and truly support getting into running and racing and race walking and basically physical activity in general.

I am giving away AN EIGHT DAYS OF CONTENT DAY. This will be done during Eight Days (obviously) and because it's an eight days day, it's 6 hours, and VERY freeform. So, do you want 4 hours of liveblogging, and then a two hour stream? No problem! As always, I have veto power but I'm pretty reasonable I think and I'll work with you to make you happy.

WOW HOLLIGAY, HOW DO I WIN THIS?

You run! You run. If you run a chipped race of 5k or better between June 1st and October 1st, you get an entry. Let's drill down what that means!

A 'chipped race' is a race with an official timekeeping method, that generally uses a chip on the back of your bib for an official time. (For those of you in the Uk and SOME parts of the US but definitely the Uk, parkrun is chipped!! Chipped and fucking free. Bless)

In the US, I really recommend using runsignup to find races near you. In The UK I would use findarace. I haven't found a site I like for Canada.

The entries scale in approximately 5k increments. A 5k is one entry, a 10k is two, half marathon is four, etc.

SUBMISSION PAY ATTENTION HERE:

Once you finish, you will, through most sites, get an email or link that looks very much like this:

There will be the above chip, and then I want anywhere from two lines to as long as you want to go about how the race was. So, for this race chip above: I raced this to get a coupon, and it turned out that I was ineligible anyhow. Annoying, but I was proud of myself for doing better at making like Kate Bush and running up that hill than I ever have. That would be a totally fine entry. Does NOT have to be elaborate.

You will put this IN THE HOLLIGAY'S DUDE RANCH COMMUNITY. If you need to join, just ask me either on this post or in an ask to add you. I would love to have you anyhow! I doubt I will need to but if I need to further verify your participation, I will contact you.

Bonus entries!

No bonuses for speed, that's the EXACT opposite of the environment I am trying to create here. Walk the motherfucker if you want, it's about getting out there! If you're faster than me, i will simply hate you privately.

But! There will be a bonus entry for:

Funniest race summation/review

Best cheerleader (Posting comments on other people's race entries)

Most hilarious/miserable looking race picture (pictures are not required for an entry but very very welcomed)

I reserve the right to give out multiples of these extra entries.

I think that's it! Ask me any questions you'd like, and get out there!

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam! Recently diagnosed midlife ADHDer here. First, thanks for talking about your ADHD & sharing what you’re figuring out. It’s super helpful to someone on a similar trajectory.

I just saw a reference to your photo books for the first time & it seems like a great way to help with memory issues that come with ADHD (like I know I did [x thing] but when?). Could you talk a little about the process of collecting photos & such all year & then how you create one?

Thank you!

Ey, happy to have helped! Congrats and sympathies on your diagnosis. And honestly it's good for me too, talking all this out, it helps me get my thoughts in order. I often namedrop you guys to Therapist, you are "my readers" :D

The process of putting the photobooks together is...well, it's a lot, so this is going to be a super high-level overview, but basically yeah I wanted to have records of where I'd been and what I'd been doing that were more concrete than just digital photos on a hard drive or a cloud. But I didn't really want to just print the digital photos and put them in a box, either, so I started making photobooks. Usually I go through Walgreens or Shutterfly for printing, whichever has the good coupons when I'm working on it.

So, here's the weird, kind of obsessive part: a huge help in making a yearly photobook, for me, is the fact that I take my photos off my phone at the end of every month. I have some that live on the phone -- my growing collection of photos of my niece, a selection of photos from my Europe trip, some memes -- but those live in their own folders. The main camera roll gets downloaded every month, and I put them all in a file labeled with the month and year (2023-01, 2023-02, etc). It's a recurring task in my to-do list, that I offload the photos on the last Saturday of each month. You don't necessarily have to do it this way, though -- it's just what works best for me, and I encourage people to find a way to do things that will actually be functional for them.

Across the course of the year, although really moreso in October and November, I go through the photos and remove any I absolutely know I don't want to keep. Once I've done that, I save a copy of the whole year's worth of photos to my digital archive, and I take another copy and label it "FOR PHOTOBOOK" which allows me to do more culling of them than I otherwise would, because I know anything I delete is still in my archive. And this all has the advantage of me knowing that the photos in my archive are at least SOMEWHAT organized.

So I go through all the year's photos in the For Photobook file, month by month, sort them into folders by event (so there's, like, 01-Polar Vortex, or 04-Europe, or 09-Birthday) and clear out all but the photos I know I want most. My photobooks are generally longer than the default length they give you at most sites, so I usually do have to add a few pages (they're like $1/page or something) but not too many. Often these days I have some stuff that's events, like the Europe trip, and then some stuff that's just like....a folder of funny shit I saw in Chicago, or a folder of all the food I photographed that I want to save. The cats generally get their own four-page spread at the back. :D

In 2020, I will say, there were only two themes: CATS and COVID. I alternated pages.

Anyway, once I've got the photos sorted, and deleted any I don't want to include, I get on Shutterfly or Walgreens Photo and start up a new photobook project. I upload the first folder of photos, place them on the page with suitable captions, then upload the second folder of photos, etc etc, until all the photos are uploaded and placed in the book. I don't caption extensively -- often it'll just be a page that'll say like "TEXAS IN JULY!" and all the photos from that trip. But it definitely does help me keep track of what I was up to. And it's kind of soothing to review the year and see all the stuff I accomplished.

So that's the bare bones -- by all means feel free to ask questions, although if you guys wouldn't mind asking in comments or reblogs if possible, that should keep the discussion contained as necessary. :)

[transmasculineswag]

Hello! This will probably be the only time I say this, but since it’s both aromantic awareness week and on a more important sense the strike week for Palestine, I will not be answering any more asks until the 25th.

I know that I’m just a silly blog but it just wouldn’t feel right with everything going on right now. Before I dip, here’s a few resources on where you can spend your time or money to help out:

Operation Olive Branch:

The above spreadsheet is for Operation Olive Branch, all of which are known go fund me's for Palestinians trying to get out.

Esims:

I’m making this explanation very brief, but Gaza has been experiencing rolling blackouts. By donating towards esims, this lets a person reach out to friends and family members, as well as the rest of the outside world. Linked below are different kinds of esims, which work for different kinds of carriers. Please consult with https://gazaesims.com/ for more instructions.

Nomad (NOMADCNG as a coupon)

Holafly (5% off when you use HOLACNG)

Click to help Palestine (Once every 24 Hours)

I personally don’t have a lot I can give besides my time so this website was a very easy addition to my daily routine. By interacting (clicking a button once a day on the site), the website is able to get more ad revenue and therefore donate more.

[trivialbob]

Yesterday I had my annual physical. In preparation for the blood draw I'm supposed to fast for 12 hours. Stupidly, I scheduled my exam for the afternoon. That meant I could eat until 3:30 AM the night (early morning) before. I dined at 6:30 PM and didn't set an alarm for a post-midnight snack.

What was I doing in the hour before going to my appointment? Looking at fast food coupons that came in the mail. Not a bright move after 18 hours food free.

I did not get hangry, but I realized I swore a few times throughout the day. At work (for real), at my wife (kidding) and at the dogs (because Ella is the best fucking Aussie ever).

By the time I got to my appointment I was really hungry. Sadly, there is no extra credit awarded for adding seven hours to my fasting.

The nurse used an automatic sphygmomanometer to measure my blood pressure and didn't need a stethoscope. That was good because the rumbling of my stomach would have interfered with her hearing. (My BP numbers were excellent!)

In the week leading up to the testing and exam I'm extra careful about what I eat and drink.

Oh Bob! Why not do that for the preceding 51 weeks?

Have you never had pizza and beer?

Actually I do watch what I eat most of the time. I take meds for blood pressure and cholesterol and fully understand they don't give me carte blanche to over indulge. Despite what you may gather from my brewery stories, I'm generally careful about what and how much I drink.

When my blood was drawn for testing I (as always) flinched, starting from when the technician cleaned the site for the needle (AKA the crime scene). She smiled and correctly noted that this is not my favorite thing to do.

Then she tried to take my mind off it by asking for my dogs' names. Haha lady, I've heard that one before. I know all the tricks to distract young children and me. However, I barely felt the little jab. My anxiety is always wasted.

After my appointment I picked up a large pizza and met Sheila at the brewery. The evening after my annual physical is always Fat Tuesday.

[concretepuppy]

where did the donor material for your phalloplasty come from? how is that area healing?

i got RFF, which stands for radial forearm flap, so it came from my left forearm (they prefer to use your non-dominant arm)

it’s healed just fine, i got stage 1 in 2019 so it’s been a long time. i have some atrophic scarring around the edges & on the leash scar (the main scar is a big rectangle with a long, skinny “leash” that goes up toward your elbow, which you can kind of see on my fursona in my icon) because i have hEDS, and my scar is a lot darker (compared to my skintone) than most peoples bc i didnt do any scar care or really diligently cover it.

i had some moderate nerve pain & nerve-related issues in my donor arm for about a year post-op, but the pain was well controlled on Lyrica (which my ins didnt cover bc at the time there was no generic but it was only $24/mo w a goodrx coupon, which was manageable for me) and it eventually went away on its own, and the other issues were minimal enough that they didnt rly impact my day to day life and they also went away on their own.

there are other donor site options. RFF is the most common. ALT is the second most common, and uses thigh tissue. most people are not candidates for ALT, you have to have a pretty low body fat % and thin thighs. typical ALT candidates are cyclists, weight lifters, runners, swimmers, etc. Abdominal pulls tissue from your lower stomach area and forms your penis. MLD uses a long, thin strip of muscle tissue from your back. these are not common. each has its pros and cons. RFF and ALT are the best options for people who heavily prioritize sensation, especially erotic sensation, as they allow for harvest of sensory nerves (2 for RFF, 1 for ALT, though RFF and ALT patients tend to report similar sensation levels) which can be hooked up to the main genital nerve. MLD only allows for harvest of a motor nerve, which isnt as sensitive, and abdominal doesnt allow for any nerve harvest so your penis will have whatever sensation your lower abdomen currently does (+ added sensation in the base if you get clitoral burial)

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, March 2024

Welcome to my roundup of SEO and marketing news and useful resources for ecommerce businesses, March edition. There is a lot going on with Google, and some really strong marketing pieces this time around, so let's get right to it.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google launched both a core algorithm update and spam updates on March 5, with the spam update ending on the 20th. Core updates now include the Helpful Content algorithm. In early observations, Etsy and Reddit both picked up visibility in the UK. 

The Helpful Content algorithm updates late last year destroyed a lot of sites’ Google traffic. Avoid the things they had in common.  You can read the full study here. 

Ecommerce sites were some of the biggest losers in Google visibility in 2023, with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Target and Best Buy in the top 10 of sites whose Google appearances slipped. 

New to Google SEO? They’ve revamped their SEO starter guide for people like you. And if you are more advanced and want to learn how to optimize your website product pages, this is a good overview. 

This lengthy article on backlinks for ecommerce websites covers pretty much all the angles, including the really difficult ones. 

Reminder that if you want to rank on Google for a search term, you need to look at what is already ranking, and make decisions based on that content. [video and transcript] This works for most search engines, not just Google. 

Yes, Google crawls “high quality” content more often. I used to refer to this as Google thinking the page is “interesting”, so I guess I will need to change my wording...

While Google sends the most traffic to websites, people spend a lot more of their online time elsewhere. Market where people are, not just where your stats say they came from. 

Sadly, Google has stopped providing caches of website pages in its search results. While you can still see the caches of some pages by using the Google search Cache:[page link] as in cache:https://cindylouwho-2.tumblr.com that will eventually stop working as well. Bing still provides caches, but unfortunately both it and the Wayback Machine do not crawl often enough to give really recent results most of the time. 

Missed Google news in February? Here’s your update. And just in case you are really behind, here is January. 

Not Google

Unsure if your website has enough good backlinks? Bing Webmaster Tools will now tell you if you don’t. 

Yandex - the top search engine in Russia - was sold by its Dutch ownership group to a consortium in Russia. 

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

A US study of social media use found that the most popular site was YouTube, with 83% of adults using it. Two-thirds of American adults use Facebook, while TikTok is up to ⅓ of the US population. 

Because they do change periodically, here are the latest image and video sizes recommended for the top social media platforms. [infographic]

Bluesky is now open to everyone - it was previously invite-only. 

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta has introduced several changes to its Ad options, applying to Facebook and Instagram. 

Meta had a great 4th quarter in 2023, with revenue, users, and earnings per share up. “Fast-growing upstarts Temu and Shein, which originated in China, have been pouring money into ads on Facebook and Instagram. Li said on Thursday that revenue from China-based advertisers accounted for 10% of sales for the year and 5 percentage points of growth.”

Instagram

An updated post on Instagram's algorithm and how it works. 

Instagram is still beta testing longer Reels for some users. 

If your account is a brand account, you can now run ads on Instagram with coupon codes right in them. (Some Facebook users can already do this.)

LinkedIn

Among other recent changes on LinkedIn, the algorithm is now looking to boost important content longer than just the first day or two after publication. 

Pinterest

Pinterest has its own stats package, called Pinterest Analytics, but only for “Business” accounts. They show how many people clicked on the outgoing links, how many people saw your pin on their screen, and much more. Here’s everything you need to know. 

Reddit

Reddit successfully launched on the stock market this past week, but questions remain about how this will change the site. 

Google is paying Reddit to scrape its content through the API instead of from the web. 

Snapchat

Snap was a little later than most tech companies doing layoffs recently, waiting until February 5 to let 10% off staff go. 

Threads

Threads is so new that the algorithm is bound to change a lot in the next year, but for right now, here is how it works. 

TikTok

There is an overwhelming amount of info out there on the US attempt to either ban TikTok or force its sale, and much of it is incomplete, so I will let you Google to your heart’s content if you want to learn more. If you are relying on TikTok to drive sales, this would be a good time to make sure you diversify your promotional strategy. 

You can now track trending terms on TikTok through the Creator Search Insights section. “Creator Search Insights will highlight frequently searched topics, which creators can organize by category (for example, tourism, sports, science) or tailor to their content type with the “For You” option. Additionally, creators can filter for “content gap” topics, which are highly searched but have relatively few videos on TikTok covering them.��

TikTok may be testing a photo app, which would obviously compete with Instagram. 

Twitter

What? Twitter may have lied about its Super Bowl ad performance? I’m so not shocked. 

Tumblr

Tumblr will be selling data access to AI companies. 

YouTube

This is a pretty decent article on YouTube SEO. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Small and micro-businesses need an email list. An email list is:  

portable (unlike most social media followers or marketplace buyers) 

is available to almost everyone, as we all need at least one email address if we are online

less susceptible to the whims of algorithms (unlike SEO, marketplaces, social etc.)  

I keep seeing people argue that no one opens emails, but the chart in the article above is proof that is still wrong. (My blog email list averages close to a 70% open rate, depending on the topic and the time I send it. My jewellery email list - which I hardly ever send to - still has an over 30% open rate. My click rates are well above the industry averages, usually 30 to 40% of all recipients for the blog list. These are much better numbers than social, and astronomically better than my clickthrough rate on Google and other search engines.)

Gmail and Yahoo both changed how they handle bulk emails such as newsletters in February. Here’s what you need to know on the basics, including authenticating yourself so your email gets through. 

Find out how to get people to read all the way to the end of your content. 

Get ready for April marketing with 5 topical ideas. National Handmade Day is April 6. 

We should all think twice before deciding to use AI to create content. “Circa 2024, generative AI does not produce new ideas or even develop its own conclusions. Rather, it regurgitates information that it has indexed.” Not convinced? Here’s another article. “AI-generated content represents the literal “average of everything online.”

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES) 

Google Ads can now be tracked in Google Analytics 4. 

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising were up in the 4th quarter of 2023. 

STATS, DATA, TRACKING 

Google Analytics 4 tracks organic traffic differently than the previous version. Here’s how to figure it out. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

I’ve probably posted this specific article before, but it is worth another read: how to communicate with customers.  For example, “Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you’re on their side. If a customer is formal, for example, hold back on the LOLs. If they’re more casual, relax your tone.”

According to a US study, Generation Z is skewing the traditional marketing funnel. “Per Archrival’s data, 77 per cent of Gen Zs and 79 per cent of millennials in the US are actively seeking style inspiration at least monthly, with almost half of those looking for style inspiration on social media. When asked where they learn about new brands, products and experiences, video reigns supreme: YouTube is the most popular platform with Gen Zs, followed by TikTok, then Instagram.”

Trend alert: bag charms are back. 

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Almost all of these 12 video tools are free, and some can be used on your phone. 

MISCELLANEOUS

This is an older piece, but it checks out: IKEA Hacks for Craft Show Displays. A few of these could be done with non-IKEA items. 

Want to stay up-to-date on a nearly daily basis? Follow me on Bluesky or on LinkedIn, or become a member of my Patreon.

[dealwala]

The Ashfield Veggies & Grocery Store - Find Best Deals | Save 5% to 20% with DealWala.com.au

Discover the best discount deals for The Ashfield Veggies & Grocery Store at Dealwala.com.au. Get daily discounts Save Money Every Time! Get upto 5% to 20% Off Discount Deals for The Ashfield Veggies & Grocery Store 10 charlotte St Ashfield NSW 2131, ASHFIELD, NSW 2131

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Do you have any tips you'd be willing to share on getting starting with quilting? I want to try but there seems to be a lot and I don't know where to begin. Or how. If not, I understand. Either way, I hope you're well

First, do you know how to sew? If you don't, a lot of quilt shops and fabric stores (like Joann Fabrics) offer classes, often for free.

Second, do you have a sewing machine? If not, I recommend a thrift/secondhand store and taking the machine to a place that repairs them. I found a local place via the NextDoor app. The licensed retailers often charge outrageous prices, so I opt for independent folks. They aren't licensed to sell machines, but they can repair them. Quilt shops will also know people who perform maintenance and repairs, and they may do so in-store, so ask. I pay $90/machine (for both computerized and manual), and the licensed retailer in my area charges $150/machine, even the manual ones.

For fabric, speak to quilt shop owners about their scrap collections. Many of them will have bins and bins of the stuff. That was the first place I got good quality fabric for pennies. One of my local quilt shops (all quilt shops are independent, Joann Fabrics is not) sells scrap fabric for $6/large zipper freezer bag. The bag had to be able to close, that was the only rule.

For thread, there's a lot of debate on what's the best. I started with cheap cotton thread. It makes a lot of lint, but it was extremely inexpensive, just $5/1200 yards. You want size 50 for sewing and piecing. I favor size 30 for handquilting because it's thicker, stronger, and makes for some visual interest when I use contrasting colors.

For quilt batting, get it on sale. I buy mine at Joann Fabrics, and opt for cotton because I like the way it feels. Polyester and poly-cotton blends are less expensive, often half the price of cotton. They're good options for limited budgets.

Other notions: pins, rotary cutter (I use one with a 60mm blade), rotary ruler (clear plastic with a grid, at least 4 inches wide), cutting/craft mat with a grid, scissors, iron and ironing board (I got mine at a department store for super cheap), and bobbins, all of which are available at craft stores. Remember to do your shopping during sales and with coupons because those discounts make a HUGE difference.

For patterns, I have a pinned post on my blog with links to free pattern sites. If you want to support your local library, go check out quilt books there. Some libraries also offer classes and will direct you to places that offer supplies for free or nearly free. There's a local program in my area that offers a boxed kit with nearly everything you need to learn a new craft without spending a lot of money. They may have staff members who will teach you. Video tutorials by @teresadownunder have worked really well for me; I'm autistic with ADHD, which makes learning some things really difficult. She explains things really well, with lots of visuals and written text. It was was her videos that taught me how to do foundation paper piecing.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I highly recommend going to a local quilt shop. They will be absolutely thrilled to teach you. A new member to the cult of quilting? This is wonderful news! One of my blog followers here was really shy about approaching anyone in person because they're a guy and quilting is traditionally a woman's art. He wanted to surprise his grandmother with a quilt because she always made quilts for the rest of the family, but no one had bothered to learn how to make quilts. He's now the family quilter and has thrilled his grandmother with two quilts now. Sure, his sisters tease him, but he no longer cares because quilting is very satisfying work. It only looks complicated, and some of the more advanced patterns are, but that's why I share WIP pics. Y'all can see that it's really quite simple...and it makes my ADHD brain very happy because there's so much immediate gratification. The first time I made corners meet, I did a squealing happy dance.

Good luck, and remember to be patient, take breaks, and have fun. Oh, and set an alarm for every 90 minutes because you may get really into the work.

[promise-you-doie]

Coming Home | J. Jaehyun TEASER

After hitting a dead end in your job search, you reluctantly return home to stay with your mom. However, fate has other plans as you unexpectedly cross paths with an old flame. Sparks fly as you navigate the complexities of past feelings and present circumstances, reigniting a passionate connection that refuses to be ignored.

Jaehyun x reader (Exes to lovers)

Fluff, Angst, Suggestive.

As a little girl life seemed so easy, you expected that by the time you entered your 20’s you would have graduated and walked right into your new career. If little girl you could see adult you right now she’d run away from you screaming and crying. 

You had 300 dollars, a coupon for a free medium two-topping pizza from that pizza place you order from too often, and a (useless) tech degree to your name. No one wants to hire you, you’ve ruined your credit during your college years and you just decided to end your three-year relationship. 

With all the odds turned against you, there was only one thing you could do; go back to your hometown to stay with your mom just until you got back on your feet. 

Leaving Los Angeles was already gut-wrenching but landing in Connecticut ripped away any dignity you had left. The air smelled the same as when you left, and the people hadn’t changed a bit. 

You wanted to drop down to your knees and bawl when the realization set in that this was where you were going to be for the next few months of your life. However you still had at least an ounce of dignity left in you, so you grabbed your luggage and collected your emotions to walk towards the pickup section and wait for your mom. 

Blinking back tears, you inhaled a deep breath and pulled out your phone. Waiting patiently as your phone searched for service in the area. When the service finally sets in, your phone blows up with 70 different alerts. Two calls from your best friend, Yeri, and three text messages from her telling you to have a safe trip and to keep your head up. 

Six missed calls from your ex boyfriend, and seven text messages from him begging you to talk to him. 

 51 emails from the various job search sites that you signed up with, and one singular text message from your mom. 

Mom: Hey! I won’t be able to make it. But don’t worry, I’ll have Jaehyun come pick you up. Can’t wait to see you! 

As if on cue, a familiar black 2015 Toyota Corolla pulls up right in front of you, and none other than Jung Jaehyun gets out of the car. 

“This has to be a joke.” You breathe, your shoulders raising as you do so. 

He smirks the second he lays eyes on you, “Wow you haven’t aged a bit.” 

You wished you could say the same about him, he’d grown a lot more mature since you last saw him. He wasn’t the 18-year-old boy you were once head over heels for. He was way taller, he grew his hair out and you could tell that he started using the gym. 

“Why are you here?” you look up at him with folded arms. 

He doesn’t take you seriously, he never did. “Sorry I’m late.” he chuckles and takes your suitcase from beside you to load it in the back of his car. 

Once he finishes his first task, he walks back around to open the door for you. Gesturing to the passenger seat with both arms and a smile that you wished you could hate. 

“I’m not getting in the car, Jaehyun.” You remain in your spot, arms still folded over your chest. 

“No?” he asks condescendingly.

 You repeat, “No.” firm on your feet. 

“Well I guess, I’ll see you there then.” You watch him close the door and walk to the driver's side, all without sparing you a single look. He starts the car and drives away, leaving you with two options. 

You could chase after him and embarrass yourself, or you could remain stubborn and just call an Uber. 

You choose to chase the car after realizing that the phone that you would use to call an Uber was sitting in the back of his trunk.  

He watched you run after him from his rearview mirror, he slowed down but refused to stop until you were banging on the side of the window begging him to stop. He got a thrill out of this, and you could tell. 

“Did you change your mind?” He teases.

Physically Jaehyun was a completely different person, he grew up well you’ll admit that. But personality-wise? He hadn’t changed at all. He was still the same sarcastic asshole you met in high school. 

You mutter “I don’t have my phone.” as you slide into the passenger seat. You subtly look around, taking notice that the car still smelled the same way you remembered it was just cleaner now. Sooner or later your eyes dart to the back seat, and Jaehyun chuckles when you do. 

“So what’s L. A like?” He asks suddenly, one hand on the steering wheel and the other draped over his thigh. 

“It’s fun and different. My boyfriend helped to introduce me to a lot of new things.” You purposely mention your (ex) boyfriend just to see his reaction. 

To your dismay, his reaction is as simple as none. He only asks “How’s long-distance gonna work out for you? It didn’t seem to work with us.” 

“We’ll do fine.” 

The car falls quiet for a few moments before he starts up a new conversation. 

“I’m glad you're back.” The statement seemed taunting even if you knew that’s not how he meant it. You always dreamed of moving away to a big city where no one knew who you were, and now that you're back home it just felt like you were a failure. 

“I’m not staying for long.” you gaze out of the window. 

“Since you’re back in town we should hang out sometime.” He suggests, sneaking glances at you. 

“I didn’t come back to see you.” 

“Suit yourself, but remember I'm always just a phone call away.”

Read here

[worldheadcanons]

☆ miscellaneous stalker au canada headcanons!

starring. . . gender neutral reader and canada. warning for stalking (in general), general violence/murder mentioned, + nsfw in the last four headcanons.

author notes; live laugh love this little freak. he’s literally wild about reader and i ADORE that about him. he’s the type of guy to go “me and my partner don’t argue they bash my head in with a rock and i walk it off like a man.” he’s crazy.

matthew williams!

— matthew spends about an hour every day scrolling on his favorite shopping sites in search of things he thinks you’d like. he’s a smart shopper, if nothing else. he seems to know every secret coupon in the world. he really enjoys buying you cute clothing and trinkets he finds online. plushes, slippers, new satin pajama sets, sexy underwear, cat themed mugs, kitchen supplies to replace your old ones— god, not to mention the glorious food he delivers! it’s never more food than you need. it’s just enough so that you can eat your fill and still have a bit extra for later. it’s like having a sugar daddy, honestly. you occasionally feel bad for him and try to convince him to stop spending so much money on you, but williams manages to dismisse your concerns with ease. he lives and loves to serve you, he says. 

— if you identify with one of the binary genders then he’ll eventually start calling you a ‘good girl’ or ‘good boy’ over the phone. it’s not something he’s stubborn about, so if you ask him to stop he will. it’s nothing really sexual as he mostly uses the pet name to tease you, enjoying the way you roll your eyes or huff at his words. matthew never dishes out something he can’t take, so you deciding to mirror him isn’t an issue. in fact, he takes pleasure in it, grinning to himself in the bushes of your front yard. you’ll tell him to be a ‘good boy’ and turn himself in to the cops and he’ll simply laugh into the phone. “y/n,” he’d coo, “i can’t turn myself in. you know you’d miss your good boy too much if i went to jail.”

— he’ll occasionally show up at your place of work depending on whether or not your job deals with the public. if you’re something like a fast food worker or a cashier, then you’ll definitely be seeing him from time to time. he’s clever enough to not let you hear his voice off the phone. he’ll either avoid speaking entirely or put on a completely different voice to the best of his ability. williams likely won’t even do anything related to your work, mostly sitting or standing around and pretending to be busy on his phone or, if he’s in a store, pretending to browse for something. he watches you, occasionally taking pictures when he can. when he gets home, matthew prints them out, adding them to a physical scrapbook of semi-blurry photos taken of you. pictures from your front yard.. from your back door.. in the store.. in the parking lot.. in your own bedroom…

— one day he actually sends you a text. when you block the first number, williams texts you again through a different one. the text message comes after he sees you going out the house with another person. he takes offense to the mere sight of you with someone else and it’s here where he starts to show his more violent side. it's a jarring wake up call for you. you couldn’t help but begin to think of him as someone different.. someone romantic instead of creepy. someone almost cute instead of murderous. how silly of you. you slid your phone into your pocket but his message continued to echoe softly in the back of your mind. ‘have fun tonight. if i catch their hands anywhere near you, they'll end up in your mailbox by morning ❤️’

— he stalks you on any and every open social media account you have. instagram, twitter (you tweet the strangest things, matthew loves giggling at your musings), tiktok, tumblr, facebook— hell, he’d look through myspace if he had to. whenever he’s bored at work he starts browsing through everything he can. he just wants to feel connected to you. it’s not enough to have a small picture of you taped to the inside of his briefcase. besides, williams wants to stay updated on your life and scrolling through your social media definitely helps with that. 

— on the more sexual side of things, god does he love to masturbate. the mere sound of your voice is enough to make him hump into a pillow like a dog, whining and groaning softly to himself while still trying to seem present on the phone. not to mention the countless blurry pictures of you that are now covered in his cum. he doesn’t want to waste his clear shots of you, matthew would much rather keep those clean. he just wishes he could get his hands on you and show you how much of a degenerate you’ve made him into. it’s a real shame you don’t get to hear the way he groans your name as he cums all over the place. it’s always a messy finish with him, even though he finds the clean up process to be embarrassing. williams never learns his lesson.

— just let him into your house, just once, and he can make your dreams come true. he wouldn’t mind being dominant or submissive, most of the time he just wants to see you get off. he’s the type to kiss the ground you walk on and then fuck you like an animal all in the same night. matthew would be rough with you but still clearly worship you and your body. williams adores giving and receiving praise during sex. he dreams of the day you’ll tell him he’s doing a good job, really, it would mean everything to him to hear that he’s pleasing you. in return, he’d coo into your ear that you’re the only one in the world for him. the only one he’d ever want or need. every inch of your skin would be covered in gentle kisses after he fucks you. he’s a god at aftercare and would make sure you feel like royalty before even thinking of settling into bed beside you. 

— he really wants to see you covered in his cum one day soon. positioning doesn’t matter to him, he just wants to see you completely wrecked. williams wants to see your legs shake and your tight little hole quiver. he wants to see you beg for more even though you’re so fucked out already. god, the things you do to him. you’ve made him into such a sick man.

— matthew enjoys giving and receiving oral sex. he’s great at it and even if you’re not the best he would help you get better. he’d have you cum into his mouth over and over until you’re twitching with ecstasy and he’d never even lift a finger. all williams needs is his mouth. his eyes would look up at you with a mischievous glimmer, almost as if he was wordlessly teasing you for enjoying this so much.

[chouhatsumimi]

How to Get (Free) Manga in Japanese from Honto.jp*

(*If you already have an account!)

I hope to get out a post about setting up an account sooner or later, but we'll give this a go for now!

Go to honto.jp There's an option to use the site in English, but we're skipping that for now. We're also only buying digital at the moment, so we're going to skip worrying about shipping. Close the pop-up.

2. Type the name of the book/series you're looking for into the search bar. This time we're looking for とつくにの少女, The Girl From the Other Side. (Note that I tried searching for 外国の少女 and didn't get the correct results, so do be careful how you type in what you're looking for.) Unselect the green option (紙) from next to the search bar, since right now we're only looking for digital (電子). Then click 検索.

3. You can see various volumes of the series appearing below. Right now it's showing up with the most recent at the top, so we'll scroll down until we see とつくにの少女（１）. Alternatively, they often sell sets up to the most recent volume released, so if you want to go all in, you can look for the option [全1−11 セット] とつくにの少女. In this case we need to scroll to the bottom and go on to the next page. Just a note that they do sell "complete" series even if the series is still publishing new volumes, and you'll have to buy future volumes as a new purchase. Also, it will not allow you to purchase both the full set and a single volume of the same series at the same time. Buying as a set vs. buying individually does not affect how the volumes appear in your library, but it can affect how coupons apply sometimes, if there's a deal on sets.

4. Here we are! とつくにの少女（１）! If you don't want to buy it right now, you can click 欲しい本に追加, but we're purchasing, so we're going to click the big orange (電子書籍を)カートに入れる.

5. Now you can see it's changed to カートを見る, and there's one item in our cart up top! Before we check out, though, let's take advantage of some of the perks of using honto.jp.

6. By hovering over Myメニュー at the top right, we can get to あしあと抽選ポイント and クーポン一覧.

7. Let's visit あしあと抽選ポイント first. You earn points by buying things on the website (1 point for 100 yen, I think?), but you can also enter the point lottery for a chance to win free points every day! Usually you only get one point, but it's still fun and a penny saved is a penny earned, right? Click the big blue button that says あしあと抽選にチャレンジ！

8. Next go to クーポン一覧. Go through and collect 取得する on the right side of all of them, we don't care. They're free. Most of them are for smaller publishers and only apply to specific books we're not interested in, but the ones at the top are going to help us get 20%~25% off if we're lucky! 25% is about the best deal you get on honto.jp, every once in a while you may get 30% or perhaps 40%. There are better sales, but they won't apply to the popular items.

9. All our coupons now having turned from blue to gray and saying 取得済み, we go to our bonus round... the free manga area! Click the logo in the top left to go back to the main page, and then look for 無料の電子書籍 right underneath the search bar.

There are hundreds and hundreds of free options, usually the first or first few volumes of a series. (They're to get you to buy the rest of the series, but they can save you some money!!) A lot are kind of whatever, but there's usually a few really good ones there, case in point Blue Giant (first 4 volumes) and Shadow House (first 3 volumes) are free right now! Sometimes they're only free for a limited amount of time after which they'll still appear in your digital library but you can no longer open them, but we don't care about that right now, go get your free stuff!

You can add the first volumes to your cart very quickly by clicking the orange button underneath the covers, but if you want all the free volumes, click on the cover to open in a new tab, which will take you to the page for the first volume. Click on シリーズ一覧 under the title and author, and that'll take you to a list of the volumes like we saw before, if you scroll down.

Now that we're here, go crazy hitting the orange button, but make sure you're doing it on the volumes that say 0円. They like to mix the paid volumes in with the free ones. If you look at the title you can see the free ones are only going to be available to read until March 16th, but whatever! Free stuff, even if it's temporary!

Something weird is going on with Shadow House, I don't know why there are two different free ones, I think that's an error on the part of the site. We'll just pick one for each volume. This one says 期間限定無料配信, so I think that means you get to keep it as long as you get it for free during the free availability period!

10. Now that we've rounded up what we want, click on your cart (電子書籍のカートを見る) in the top right. This'll pop up when you hover over the cart icon.

Look over your list, make sure your free books are free, and your total off to the right is what you're expecting, then enter your password on the right to continue, then hit the orange button that says 購入の手続きへ進む.

11. Now it pretty much looks the same, except we're logged in. It saves your payment information, so you won't have to enter anything (danger!! if you like buying books, there's no step of having to get out your credit card to make you think about your life choices!)

BUT we do want to save money, so we'll use our coupons and points! Click on the white box with the blue outline that says クーポン/ポイントの利用

12. Apply your coupon!! (One per purchase). But see, this is why we collect all the coupons, because apparently とつくにの少女 happens to be from one of the publishers that has a good sale on now! I think it automatically applies the best one, but it's good to check, especially if you have more than one item in your cart that costs actual money. You can see how it reduced from 605円 on the previous screen to 363円 here. By clicking 全て利用する on the right, I can also apply all my points to bring it down that much further! (Or click the lower options to use some or none of your points.) If points expire, I buy things off this site too frequently to have noticed... Then click 変更する in blue at the bottom to save your changes.

13. STOP, think about if you're ready to pay!! Then to finish, click the orange ご注文を確定 on the right! You can see I'll earn 2 pts to save on future purchases from this order. (It looks like it's less than 1 per 100円...)

14. DONE! You can open up the app on your preferred device, download your new purchase(s), and start reading! You can also read in-browser by clicking ブラウサで読む.

You'll see your purchases on My 本棚

Hover over the cover to bring you to this screen, then select シリーズの本棚を見る to go to the mini-bookshelf for all the volumes in that series (I only have one of とつくにの少女, but that's what shows up anyway).

It shows me the volumes that are missing in gray, but if I hover over the one I have, I again see ブラウザーで読む. Click on that to finally read!

Ta-da! I think it also pops up with instructions about using the arrow keys to move the pages, or your can click on the sides of the pages to get them to advance in that direction.

Happy Reading!!!

[soul-of-the-sanada]

obey me brothers and picking up a new hobby

a/n: I can't sleep so have this

starting a new hobby because you're bored with the regular day to day, or someone's feeling inspired? who knows why anyone does anything.

lucifer 

lucifer would want to do something classy. maybe he'd offer to learn an instrument with you, or teach you something he knows. 

i think he'd enjoy some kinda craft where he can use his hands. maybe throwing clay, sitting there shaping it in his hands gives him a good sense of control and that's important to him. downside is he'd throw out anything with the slightest imperfection. 

mammon

whatever you want to do, mammon is with you every step of the way. and vice versa which makes picking out a new hobby for the two of you just plain exhausting.

i bet you could get this guy into hardcore couponing. he'd be the type to whip out that huge binder. everything is color coded by store/purpose/intended recipient/etc. 

he'd be really interested in antiquing. who knows what kind of treasure he might find, that would undoubtedly make him a quick grimm on the auction sites. 

levi

pls just let him go back to his room and play games

but not really. he's willing to go out, he just doesn't want to do anything physical. 

i think he'd like to take up something arty. he already does his own sewing and designing so maybe some kind of drawing class where he can design his own manga. you could easily sweet talk simeon into letting him do a special edition graphic novel of tsl. 

satan

idk I just get birdwatching vibes from him. he'd love tracking migration patterns and learning about native species. Satan would also learn birdcalls so he and belphie can signal each other for anti-lucifer club shenanigans. probably tries to set dangerous birds lose in the house because it makes lucifer a little crazy. he quickly stops when someone mentions that mc might get hurt. 

asmo

asmo would be all over designing and building miniatures. you want a tiny house, decorated in the best styles? they've got you. a tiny little hol, built to scale, where asmo pretends their brothers care about their fashion and design advice. there's little minis of the entire family and when someone misbehaves (mammon), their little figure gets put in time out in the crypt. 

beel

beekeeping. it's a pretty chill hobby, and he's generally a pretty chill person. he's a bit in tune, thanks to his demon form being insectoid. it's also good for him in the way of the bees making him honey. they love him so much, he gets so much honey. everything is sticky. send help.

belphie

photography. another pretty relaxed hobby. his biggest problem is getting sleepy if he has to wait for a while to get his shot. he would prefer to stick to nature sources because less people to deal with. his favorite shot is one he got of mc and beel silhouetted against a setting sun on their way home from RAD. he'd also learn how to develop his own film.