#I know we all talk about how bad the customers are in food retail but sometimes the customers are good actually | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

diagonal-queen · 1 year

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If the BSD boys were my coworkers

♡ characters: Atsushi Nakajima, Dazai Osamu, Chuuya Nakahara, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Kunikida Doppo, Ranpo Edogawa, John Steinbeck, Edgar Allan Poe

♡ synopsis: How would these boys be if they were my coworkers?

♡ cw: Swearing, knives, mentions of sexual harassment

note: For clarification I'm a retail assistant at a grocery store. So basically how good are these boys at stocking vegetables and being nice to people? This is extremely self indulgent, which I apologise for. Also apologies for errors and I hope you enjoy x

Atsushi:

Would be so good with helping customers. I'd always be calling after him to get me out of trouble with mean old customers lol

Like me would also be bad with the wrapping machine T-T

Pretty good at his job, not totally brilliant but also not bad. I think it'd be fine if I were left alone with him for a little bit

The kindest coworker I could ask for honestly he'd always be there to help me if I needed his help

Would bring me back a snack or cake from a nearby bakery or cafe from his lunch break <3

Like me, would find it very hard to not just start eating all the fresh fruit while he's stocking it (I kin him a lot guys lmao)

Actually like super duper efficient and we'd be able to get our work done pretty quickly. The last half hour or so of our shifts would be so slow

Would always ask me to be careful if I were using a knife to do something because he's just a sweetie

Dazai:

This dude would be so damn slow when restocking food honestly and it would be infuriating lmao

Wouldn't be very thorough when checking stock so I'd probably be finding a bit of rotten fruit while working :'(

He'd be fun to hang out with in the back though, would definitely flirt on company time and hold the both of us up lol

Would do that thing where you stand behind someone who's trying to reach something in a high shelf and you'd get it for them but also lowkey lean against them. All the time

Would be good at remembering which stock we have and what we don't have though

He would be so good and charismatic with customers, especially old women they'd call him a charming young gentleman and all that stuff

Always forgets to bring his shit (nametag, pen, apron etc.) to work and would probably have to continuously borrow things

The thing with him is that he's legitimately good at all of it but he just chooses to be incompetent just because T-T

Chuuya:

Would be so. fucking. GOOD at this job holy shit.

Super good at wrapping stock and would get the hang of all the machinery and stuff immediately

Would be civil to customers unless they give him shit then he'd give it right back lmaoo

He would definitely also defend me if I was being bullied by Karens or being harassed by male patrons (during the daytime there's my adult male coworkers and then there's me, a small girl who looks like fifteen or some shit. Y'all know I be gettin called 'sweetie' by men four times my age)

Would always be very salty about having to use the step to reach stock on high shelves lol

But he'd also be super good at heaving and lifting heavy stuff like potato sacks which I'd have to get him to do for me because I'm weak

Would look so hot in the work uniform highkey

Like the number one coworker I won't lie

Akutagawa:

Akutagawa has a serious case of resting bitch face, so customers would be too worried to approach him lmao and I'd have to help everyone

He makes up for this by being super duper good at presentation and so I'd never have to go around and organise things because they'd always look pretty lol

Probably uses his ability to help him carry things (but only in the back because that would scare customers)

Despite his fighting talent he would not be able to cut vegetables. He would be so confused with it. Same with the wrapping he wouldn't be able to get it right

Would prefer to wear gloves while working

If Gin ever came in to grab some groceries he'd talk to her for a little (and treat her better than all the other customers T-T)

Actually wouldn't be so bad to talk to while working but he would literally never initiate any conversations or small talk

Focuses so hard while he's working and it's honestly so cute

Kunikida:

He would be both good to work with but also crappy to work with hear me out

He would be great at remembering stock, helping me with customers, and helping me reach stuff on high shelves because at work I'm considered short

But he'd also hound me for being too slow or not stacking stuff correctly

That being said, he would always answer any questions that I'd have and explain things to me in a way that I'd understand :)

Works like a machine. I'd never be able to catch up to him at all (and he would hate that)

Would not want me bringing snacks or drinks to work but like what's he gonna do? Waste perfectly good food? Didn't think so Kunikida >:)

Even if he had a super long shift he'd just never tire and always be buzzing (even if he were tired he'd be great at concealing it)

Let's just be glad that he's not working alongside Dazai

Ranpo:

WOULDN'T GET ANY GODDAMN WORK DONE

I love Ranpo to the moon and back but he'd be the most useless fucking coworker of all time

He wouldn't make lists, he wouldn't grab stock and if I'm LUCKY he'd work out the front of the store. He'd use any excuse to stay in the back and just use the label maker and maybe cut vegetables because of how low effort it is

Would be super fun to hang out with if we have nothing to do though. We would talk so much shit about mean customers we encounter and stuff

He'd also bring sweets to work and let me have some sometimes, but only if I nag him about not doing any work

Would stay in the fridge just to breathe out and see mist come out of his mouth (and would also forget to close the fridge door)

Knows the layout of the whole damn store after walking through it ONE time

In conclusion I'm snitching to Fukuzawa

Steinbeck:

Absolute fucking BEAST. This dude is a farmer so he's able to rotate and complete quality checks at lightning speed

Honestly probably wouldn't need much training if any at all. He'd be the employee of the month on the first day

I feel like I'd have tons of free time at the end of my shifts because he'd just finish all the work so fast

Could use his ability to replenish stock. He could, but he won't. Just because he's a bit of a bitch (and people might not want to eat literal flesh vegetables but y'know)

Hums along to the songs that he knows on the radio while he works

Is good at being civil with customers but if they give him lip he's not gonna be as civil for much longer

Always bantering with our other coworkers and DEFINITELY talking shit about annoying customers in our free time

I mean if I want to not have to do very much work on a certain day I'd hope that I'd be working with John lol

Poe:

Would take a little while to get used to it all, because I feel like he's not the type to memorise a bunch of stuff super fast

Would be overwhelmed by customers and might freeze up on them; I'd have to come in and save him

Otherwise, he might just default to 'I'll go to the back and check for you' so he can escape the situation (same)

Would take pretty long while restocking food because he'd want to make it all look nice lol

He'd be scared of the wrapping machine (it has a hot plate to seal wrapping and he'd be scared of burning himself on it)

Might actually always be miserable because he's not allowed to bring Karl to work and so he'd feel lonely :(

He and I would talk about our niche interests when we're finished and have nothing else to do

I mean he could most definitely be worse. No matter how bad he'd be I'd love him anyway

i will do a girls version of this btw

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd headcanons #bsd fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #bsd atsushi #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bsd akutagawa #bsd kunikida #bsd ranpo #bsd steinbeck #bsd poe #bsd hcs #headcanons

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nickgerlich · 7 months

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Surging Forward

When it comes to the Four Ps of Marketing, there is one that affects us the most. It raises eyebrows. It may cause mental anguish. And it hits where it hurts the most, the pocketbook. I can only be talking about one thing: Price.

As I was telling my undergrads yesterday, they have now lived through—and survived—a period of inflation. This hasn’t happened for 40 years, which I remember all too well from my university days. It’s the kind of thing you tend to remember forever.

While inflation is now more or less within a reasonable range (about 3.1% last month), our grocery bills are up about 25% in the last four years. You can thank the compounding effect for that. Some manufacturers have responded by reducing the size of the package, so they can try to maintain price points. Labeled as “shrinkflation” by President Biden and others, it gives the illusion that prices haven’t gone up, even though the unit price definitely has.

Given that we have all now become hyper-sensitized to price since COVID, it should come as no surprise that Wendy’s plans to test surge pricing for its hamburgers is drawing the ire of many. It’s bad enough that the price of fast food has skyrocketed, but now they want to charge even more during hours of peak demand, as well as at locations that are typically busier than others.

Surge pricing, which also goes by the moniker dynamic pricing, has been in use for decades. It’s what explains the matinee price at movie theatres, a time of day in which far fewer people are likely to see a movie. Airlines have done it for years, with peak demand times seeing fares much higher than off-peak. Add hotels to the mix, too. Business hotels are often weekend bargains for families, because all the people with expense accounts have gone home. And we all know how expensive food and beverages are at airports and stadiums, while not far away they are much lower.

Uber is another company leaning on this model, with the price of a ride reflecting the demand. If a stadium is emptying out, the price just went up. Many other retailers, from Amazon to Target, Kroger, Best Buy, and others have done it. The advent of digital price tags makes it all too easy to reset prices within a store, or even systemwide. Heck, I even saw it in Germany some years ago, with gas stations raising prices at peak commuting times, and lowering them during others. Shame on you for not refueling at a better time!

One of the more interesting aspects of dynamic, or surge, pricing is that used on Dallas-area toll roads and express lanes. Essentially, the price is set based on traffic volume. As congestion increases, the price for diverting to the express lane goes up. The thinking is that it might just be worth your added dollars to be able to zoom by the unlucky proletariat stuck in traffic. Be sure to wave as you go by. These lanes are the sky boxes of the highway system. At peak times, a person driving solo can pay up to $0.90 per mile for the privilege.

The weeks ahead will be interesting to see how the market reacts to Wendy’s move, and whether they stick to their guns or back down. If customers swallow surge pricing, it opens the flood gates for all fast food restaurants to do the same. It could then spill over into all restaurants, and everywhere else. Consumers will be left at wit’s end trying to keep up with what amounts to a wide array of possible prices for the things they buy. I suspect that apps and websites will arrive that allow for crowdsourced updates on all of it.

It’s the price we pay for being alive today. Inflation is one thing, but having to endure exorbitant temporary price hikes is quite another. Even staying home and being a hermit does not make you immune, because you still have to buy things. As for me, I’m staying in the slow lane just as a matter of principle, and because I’m still waiting for my salary to go up commensurately to account for the last four years.

Dr “Not Getting Inflated Expectations” Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #surge pricing #Wendys

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scrapcheese · 11 months

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MKDM headcanons!

Headcanon: Takiya and Kobayashi knew each other from college

At the time they’re just in the same classes and end up on a lot of group projects together. One night they go out drinking and one of them slips up and mentions maids, freaks out a bit but then the other one ALSO starts talking about maids and ever since then they started to hang out more. They are both giant nerds in slightly different directions and i think even in college they were like that.

Also I am 100% certain that in canon, Takiya is considered attractive by his coworkers and he finds it annoying when they try to ask him out!! (chapter 8 of the manga, he joins Kobayashi for christmas as an excuse because people keep asking him out around that time)

SO IN COLLEGE THEY START TO FAKE DATE to get people off of Takiya’s back and because kobayashi’s parents keep bothering her about getting a boyfriend.

The thing is they are super bad at it and their dynamic doesn’t change whatsoever, they still act very much like bros, just that when people ask they’re just like “oh yeah we’re dating totally” and it somehow.. works??

also the trope of “we fake date but actually fall in love for real”? Never happens. That’s because I feel like at this point Kobayashi probably realizes she’s not quite into guys and prefers girls more and Takiya realizes he’s not quite into girls (or anyone for that matter.)

They stopped fake dating after college. Maybe they don’t talk as often while looking for jobs and going about life, but reconnect after they start working at the same company

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Headcanon(?): All the kids go to the same school

This one isn’t much of a headcanon but more of I just never see it being discussed. I’m pretty sure Kanna, Saikawa and Shouta all go to the same school, just in different grades. Come on there’s so much potential there!!!!!

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Headcanon: Takiya used to work at a bookstore or some sort of customer service/retail job in that year before joining the company

because HOLY SHIT HE HAS THE PATIENCE OF A SAINT. I don’t think he’s ever gotten genuinely mad at someone in like the whole series. And I feel like you need a lot of patience (or some level of "too tired to deal with this”) to be roomates with Fafnir, at least initially.

(Context: In canon, Ch 35, Kobayashi gets accepted first into the company that they work at, then Takiya in the following year)

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Headcanon: Fafnir has a hair routine

Like its probably not a very long one, but he definitely takes care of his hair. Like its super long and stuff and at one point in the anime Takiya gets him some sort of shampoo/conditioner. I like to think that he really gets into it after a while. (Probably takes better care of his hair than Kobayashi does honestly)

the other dragons probably bought him a dyson airwrap for christmas, either as a joke or as a serious gift (he would definitely use it for real though)

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Headcanon: Takiya has a Fafnir fund.

OK so we know Fafnir is freeloading in Takiya’s apartment. I like to think that after Fafnir’s been there for like a month or something, a part of Takiya’s “otaku expenses fund” got transferred into a “Fafnir expenses fund” to cover for the amount that the electrical bill must be. Like bro is gaming for 21+ hours a day, and there are 2 computers running in that household, can you imagine how much that would cost in the long run?

His friends probably donate to the Fafnir fund as a joke sometimes, like I can see Kobayashi and Lucoa doing that.

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Headcanon: Tohru and Fafnir meet up once a week so she can teach him about cooking human food.

I literally wrote a whole fanfic about this. I think Fafnir knows how to cook but only after he goes to Tohru to ask about human food and how to make it. He doesn’t ask her directly about how to cook (he doesn’t know how to ask for help) but I think they’re good enough friends that Tohru can pick up on the request without him even saying it.

Also Elma is there sometimes to learn how to cook but she usually ends up eating her share of the ingredients before it’s done.

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Headcanon: Kanna is oddly good at playing shiritori

Ok this one is a headcanon that I just like because it’s fun to think about + it came from memories of my childhood. Shiritori is that word game where you use the last letter (or syllable in japanese0 as the start of a new word.

I think that she plays that with her classmates and they find our that she’s just really good at it, like “hasn’t lost once” levels of good at it. They challenge her a few times a week, and after she gets tired of doing it so often, they set a rule where you have to bet something in the game in order to play. This becomes a trend in her school, and they even have shiritori tournaments sometimes. I think the teachers would encourage this because it gets the kids reading and learning more words.

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Headcanon: Elma has a hydroponic garden in her apartment

You know those gardens that don’t use soil and just water? Yeah Elma has one of those, she’s literally the holy sea priestess, she can control water well enough. She just keeps it somewhere in her (in canon very empty) apartment and grows a bunch of vegetables. And melons, I think she would like melons.

But also she’d probably eat them before they are fully ripe, I don’t think she has the patience to actually wait for it to fully grow

#kobayashi san chi no maid dragon #Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid #dragon maid #headcanon #headcanon stuff #mkdm headcanon #apollo's dragon maid #takiya makoto #fafnir dragon maid

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moonlight-at-dawn · 11 months

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Kiddo overheard part of a conversation Mika and I were having, idr how we were on the topic, but I was talking about how annoying it had been back when I worked at hellmart to have ppl sent to my dept that didn't do shit, and how when i'd been a cashier, i was specifically asked for BECAUSE i did everything assigned to me to make their life easier

(Holiday season, cashiers get sent to departments that MUST do their own transactions, like electronics and jewelry, so the cashier can be dedicated to ringing ppl up and the dept associate is dedicated to customer service. Usually the dept associate would be so busy running around that they wouldn't have time to do things like clean up displays, so that would be something the cashier would be asked to do if they weren't ringing someone up)

Anyway, that conversation had been a week or two ago. Kiddo last night, as if asking for a bedtime story, says "Mommy, tell me about the time everyone wanted you to work for them at (Hell)mart"

So I told him about it, and he asked questions, and we got on the topic of how I worked my ass off and when something happened and I couldn't, it was noticed and I was punished, but the ppl who didn't do shit just got to coast through without issue. He got somewhat distressed and, in a playfully upset voice, was like "Do I HAVE to work!?"

Then we talked about the difference between a career you care about and a job that will never care about you, and how at a retail job, you don't have to give it your all, and that was a lesson I'd learned the hard way, but if it's a job with a close team, where every moment matters, that you really believe in, etc, then it's worth the work.

And then we got to "And if you don't want to work retail, then you need to start deciding what sort of thing you DO want, so you can start on that path. Do you want to be a zookeeper of some kind? Pursue science. Do you want to work with video games? Well what role? Do you want to work quality? Practice giving feedback. Art? Do art! Script? Do writing! Programming? Well, buddy, that's math!" etc

All of a sudden he was fired up and wanted to write up a list of possible jobs he could be interested in. It's a very eclectic list, which is fine, he's 11, I just want him THINKING about it, not making "final" decisions lol

And today we were doing math and he was groaning over it (I know buddy, I know, but exponents aren't all bad) and after he finished up the lesson I was like "You want a real world application for math? Lets say you want to work with sea otters!" (his current obsession) "Look up their weight, now, lets pretend they need to eat this much food compared to their body weight, you need to do this math to figure out how much to feed them to keep them healthy! Vaccine time? Well, the vaccine is dosed out by (fraction milligrams per pound of critter) so you need to be able to multiply that fraction by their weight to know how much medicine to give them!"

He's... starting to get it. It's been a very long, very rough journey to get him to apply himself to school. But he's starting to get it. And I'm starting to learn how to talk to him about it. It's been hard for both of us. I was a huge nerd who liked learning for learning's sake so I didn't have the motivation issues he does. And trying to figure out how to put it in words to make him care about it is hard.

....But if terrible stories from my days in retail will motivate him, I've got a bunch XDDD

#misha rambles

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voner99 · 1 year

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Found out that the assistant manager is making me look bad

so today talking to a coworker who is planning on leaving the place again by summer told me this. That Wednesday the assistant manager made claims that after I finished doing the garbages outside that I counted out my drawer and signed out and went to the back room and watched the clock. No we all know that this is not what happened. Like I’ve said in my previous posts on here I finished the garbages outside and washed my hands and used the bathroom. Then I went to my register to see that it was already counted out and I was already signed out of my drawer. Then like I said before I left the assistant manager snapped at me for no reason (the one making me look bad) and I punched out and quickly walked home and cried at home for this unfair treatment I Received. This is why I say there is always two different stories one is true and one is false in this case I’m telling you guys my side which is true, but I don’t know why the assistant manager would lie to others at work about that day and to make me look bad. What could have she gained by making up a false story about me when she knew that she quickly counted my drawer and signed me off my register while I was doing garbages outside? I think and this is a huntch only that she wanted me to be written up since I tried to get a job at their competitor so she planned this set up so she could get me in trouble for something else that way she could yell at me . Like I have told you all I have been trained for supervisor in retail by other managers in the past so I do know how they are sapose to talk to the employees, act , and what they can and can’t do. I hope she knows that she can get in really big trouble for making up this story to make me look bad cause there is physical evidence of my story on their security cameras that take video if corporate and the store manager would watch the video. But even with proof the assistant manager would change her story again to make me look bad yet. So what do I do well I keep on looking for a different job and keep on pushing myself to keep on working there to pay bills and buy food. Like the store manager of Shopko Hometown taught me as a supervisor you have to watch what you do to your employees and how you talk to your employees and you can’t always be fair ether, you do or say the wrong thing to your employees they can quit without a notice and go run to Ashley furniture for a job. A supervisor is one that does not favor any employee and tries to keep turnover down and making sure that the store is profitable for the company. A supervisor cannot retaliate against any employee for anything and cannot chew out the employee in front of customers on the sales floor and any chewing out has to be done in the back room or managers office.

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dycefic · 3 years

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Have An Evil Day

No prompt this time, just a sequel to ‘Welcome To Evil-Mart’

Working at Evil-Mart is usually… well, it’s retail. It’s physically exhausting, you have to deal with a lot of idiots without being overtly rude, and your feet hurt. Even though the hours and pay are very good, the benefits are great, and our bosses treat us well compared to most retail employees, it’s still not what I’d call a fun job.

But it’s not what I’d call dull, either. Especially not on days like today.

I was promoted to supervisor after the Food Poisoning Incident, so I have a little more authority and a little less obligation to be pleasant and I got issued a weighted cosh because sometimes Evil-Mart customers get… feisty. I’d never had to use it, though, because those who hadn’t seen what I did to Majority Rules, either in person or on one of the cell-phone videos that circulated afterwards, had at least heard about it. They didn’t give me any trouble.

I was halfway through my shift, and the worst things that’d happened had been running out of croissants and a machine oil spill in Aisle Seven, when our greeter pressed the alarm button, which sent an alert to my handset. As front-end supervisor, that meant me, so I went over. Sam, who is unusual in the henching community for having actually aged out rather than ‘being retired’ jerked his chin in the direction of a tall, swaggering figure. “He just came in,” he whispered.

I did a full double-take before I took it in. Superdyne. Fucking Superdyne.

We’d all heard about his dramatic heel-turn a couple of months ago. The whole world had heard about it. Superdyne, who’d skated closer and closer to the line for years, had decided to cross it in a blaze of bloodshed. He was a villain now, he said. There’d been a whole speech about how ingratitude had driven him to it blah blah blah.

I work at Evil-Mart. I’m from a hench family. If someone becomes a supervillain because they hate Mondays or want to turn us all into dinosaurs or whatever, I don’t judge. I will sell depth-charges and laser guns to anyone who can prove they’re over eighteen without hesitation. But even we get kind of grossed out by the ‘I am forced to turn evil because I haven’t been given enough love’ thing. People who are actually so fucked up by emotional abuse or neglect or some superhero killing their family, we’re fine with them. But they don’t say that’s why they do it, and most of them need a lot of therapy to even realize it. People who actually say that’s why are entitled dickwads.

And now the dickwad had walked into Evil-Mart like he was entitled. Like he thought he was one of us.

“Lockdown protocols,” I told Sam quietly. “On my authorisation.” That takes a minute or two, though, so I went over to talk to Superdyne. “Sir, I have to ask how you even knew where to find this place.”

He smirked at me. “I have my ways,” he said smugly. He’d either bribed or beaten someone, that was my guess. “So this is where the villains shop? We all thought you went to Wal-Mart.” He laughed, like he thought it was clever.

“Yes, so you all say,” I said dryly. I didn’t feel like pretending he was the first person to make the bad joke. “My next question, sir, is what made you think it was a good idea to come in here.”

He spread his hands. “I’m one of you now!” he said happily. “I’m a bad guy! So now I guess I shop where the bad guys shop!” He looked around, frowning a little. “Although I was expecting more weapons and explosives. A… more villainous atmosphere. I didn’t know Evil-Mart had fresh produce.”

“I don’t advise buying herbs here unless you’re a magical practitioner. Some of them have… unusual effects.” A lot of our produce is normal stuff, but some of it not only isn’t legal, it doesn’t exist anywhere else.

“Oh. Well, that makes sense. But the bright lights and the bakery?”

“We have excellent gluten-free breads. In many ways, Superdyne, this is just another store. We have sales, we mark down the breads in the afternoon, we even have a PA system.” I pulled out my handset, and thumbed the button that tied it to the PA. “Attention, shoppers,” I said in my most soothing Customer Service voice, which made him grin. “Evil-Mart wishes to inform you – “ The countdown on my handset reached zero, and I turned to look at the entrance as a huge blast door thudded down. That was the last part of the sequence – staff outside the area were already in lockdown and security were on their way. I smiled, and continued almost without a pause. “- That we are in lockdown at this time, due to the presence of Superdyne in the store. Please remain calm, and be advised that security are on their way to deal with the problem. If you have a personal grudge that you wish to address with Superdyne at this time, he is standing near Register Six with a stupid expression on his face.”

He was staring at me, stunned. “But… but…” he stammered, and damned if he didn’t look puzzled. “But I’m one of you now!”

“No,” I said flatly. “You were always evil, that’s true, but you’ll never be one of us. And for the record, I’m one of the people with a personal grudge. All those henchmen you’ve killed and maimed had families, asshole… and they all shop here.”

He swung at me, then, but I spent years in hench training. Even someone super-strong can be dodged, and once I slammed my cosh into his groin a few times his punches got a lot more aimless. Around then, Tiger Ty came over the register, claws out and snarling, and I figured I should stand out of the way.

About ten minutes later, I turned on the PA again. “Clean-up to Register Six,” I called, in the same special voice. “Category 7, class three. Shoppers, please be advised that lockdown is now lifted but Register Six will be closed until clean-up is completed.”

Hunter, who’d been working Register Six, came out from underneath it. He looked a little green. Well, he was still in his teens, this was probably his first fatal mobbing. “What’s Category 7?” he asked in a shaky voice. “I haven’t heard that before.”

“Biohazard.”

“Oh. Class three?”

“Send three people. He was a juicy one.” I stepped away from a spreading puddle of blood. “Run and get a couple of caution signs we can put around this mess.” I eyed it measuringly. “And one of those fifteen-gallon plastic tubs with a lid, I’ll damage it out.”

He eyed the mess. “Are you sure that’s big enough?”

“Yeah, the average human is only about seventeen gallons by volume, and I’m not going to put all the blood and mush in there, just the big pieces.”

He gulped. “Ah. Yes, ma’am.”

I called after him when he ran off. “One of the black tubs, not a clear one!” Which honestly should only be common sense, but you can’t count on a flustered teenager to have common sense.

We frown on killing customers at Evil-Mart, up to a point… but when a particularly murderous super-hero walks into our store, well, that’s something else. I’d have to fill out a ton of paperwork, though.

I had to chase off one of Doctor Malign’s minons and two members of the Genetic Reign before the clean-up crew arrived, both of whom urgently wanted samples. In the end I scraped a few pieces of liver and unidentified organ into two of the bags we use for possibly-contaminated money just to make them go away. (They’re good customers, and it was just going to go in the trash anyway.)

By the time the clean-up was done, all the big pieces were boxed up, and I’d finished the paperwork, my shift had been over for twenty minutes, and I’d been asked to come up to the boss’s office.

“Listen, I have no issues with how you handled the situation, I want you to know that.” Mr Trent leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingertips together. “It was quick, it was efficient, and… given your personal history with Superdyne, not to mention mine and that of half of our customer base… richly deserved.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. It came out too meek, and I cleared my throat and straightened up. It’s hard not to be intimidated by Mr Trent, when you’re in the same room with him. It’s not his fault, and he does his best, but even under the strictest control his fear-inducing powers tend to unsettle anyone who gets too close. We all know he’s not doing it on purpose and we try not to show our reactions. “Do you have any orders regarding the remains?”

“Doctor Order wants them.” He rubbed his chin. “Get someone from the pharmacy to prepare samples for him, please, including brain tissue. He’s our primary supplier, and we can’t offend him. As for the rest… as you know, I’m retired, and I don’t usually participate in the Endless War.” One of his hands dropped to his left thigh. His prosthetic leg is some of Doctor Order’s best work, but the injury that led to his retirement had been brutal even by our standards. “But this is different. Superdyne came here. To our place of safety. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

I nodded. “Do you want the remains dumped somewhere public? Some kind of dramatic display?”

“No. Something more direct.” He rubbed his chin again, then tapped the intercom on his desk. “Iris, please send up Miss Fedorova from Marketing and Mr Levy from the warehouse.”

“Yes, sir,” Iris responded, and he clicked off the intercom again.

“The three of you worked together very well, during the food poisoning incident,” he explained. “And I believe they can assist us in a satisfactory conclusion.” He hesitated, then smiled ruefully. “Perhaps you should wait outside until they get here. I can tell I’m unsettling you.”

“Sir, I know you’re not – “

“Not doing it on purpose.” He sighed. “I do appreciate how hard you all work to make me feel… accepted, I really do. But I’m very annoyed right now, which makes control more difficult for me, so I think we’d both be more relaxed if you waited outside while I do my meditation exercises.”

I waited outside. When the three of us went into his office again, the miasma of low-level fear was definitely a bit lighter, and he smiled. “All right. Now, this conversation is going to be very confidential, and I will remind you all of the agreements you signed when you were employed.” We all chorused agreement, and he nodded. “Good. Now, this is very much a secret, even among Evil-Mart staff, but we do have a few online clients who are… ah… on the other side of the fence.”

Ms Fedorova blinked. “What?”

Knuckles sighed. “We ship to a few heroes,” he explained. “The ones who are… less homo than sapiens, if you get my drift.”

I didn’t, and from her expression Ms Fedorova didn’t either. Mr Trent spread his hands, drawing our eyes to his fingers. Which as a rule nobody looks at, because there’s fourteen of them, with four joints in each finger, and we know he’s self-conscious about it. “The less… purely human ones,” he said quietly. “One of the reasons I created Evil-Mart was to give those who can’t pass for human, like me, a place to be… people. To have dignity. So that the obligate carnivores weren’t reduced to living on pet-food or scavenging for scraps, so that those with complex metabolisms could get the supplements they need so that people who are still people, for all their outward differences, could shop in safety. There are a great many more monsters, demigods, abominations of science and other non-standard persons among our set than among the heroes, and I wanted to meet their needs, as well as selling weapons and Lair-away-from-home sets and so on.��

“And there are a few heroes who order from us for that reason,” Knuckles added. “The ones who can’t get medications to suit their metabolism, or need to eat things that you can’t get easily anywhere else.”

I nodded, because that much I understood. We have some very esoteric ‘dietary supplies’ that start with fresh, healthy, well-treated and disease-free prey animals frozen whole (from mouse up to calf and goat kept in stock, larger sizes by pre-order, halal and kosher certified where possible) and end with human blood (rejected blood bank stock mostly, we have an arrangement), and human flesh and organs (sourced from hospitals, morgues and crematoriums, guaranteed no murder, at least not by us). “Well, I suppose that makes sense. I’m surprised we ship to them, though.”

“Oh, they don’t know we know. It’s all assumed names and secret bank accounts.” Knuckles grinned. “But Mr Trent has all our online customers identified before we ship. And for the ones who don’t have any other options, well… we let it slide.”

“I can see why you don’t want that to get out.” Ms Fedorova tapped her chin. “What does this have to do with disposing of the body? I was planning to set up a really ghoulish display in a public place somewhere, I already have some sketches.” Marketing for Evil-Mart is… well, it includes more than designing our sale flyers.

“No. We’re going to deliver them to a hero… one of the ones who owes us… and make it very clear that just because someone decides to admit he’s a villain, that doesn’t make him one of us and it doesn’t entitle him to union services,” Mr Trent said flatly. “I want to make it crystal clear to all of them that a heel turn does not mean their sins are forgiven, or that we will accept them as anything other than a very brief amusement.”

Late that night – we were all on overtime, but it couldn’t be done in daylight – we wheeled a cart down the run-down hallway of a shoddy apartment building. “This is a terrible address for a hero,” Ms Fedorova muttered. “Are we sure he lives here?”

“I deliver here a couple of times a month.” Knuckles was pushing the cart. “I’m sure.”

“Okay.” Ms Fedorova cleared her throat, coughed once or twice, and suddenly her voice was deeper and her very faint Russian accent was as thick as pea soup. “This is intimidation tactic,” she said, grinning toothily. “Do not act surprised.”

I knocked on the door, but let Knuckles do the talking. “Delivery, Mr West,” he called, using the fake name the guy had been giving.

It worked… the door was unlocked and opened almost immediately. “I scheduled the order for next – “ the mark said, and then we were pushing inside, slamming the door behind us.

“Do not be alarmed, Mr… Dinoid, is it?” Ms Fedorova said, folding her arms. “Evil-Mart is knowing all along your real identity. But you are needing to eat, and we are not turning down regular business, so we make no trouble.”

Knuckles rolled his eyes behind her back at how much she was hamming it up, but I waved a hand. Let her have her fun. So Knuckles started unloading the boxes onto the table while she talked. “First, your Budget Bunny Box. Your favourite, da?” The next box, smaller, plunked down. “Two fresh chickens, halal certified, healthy and having lived good life, gift for good customer.” Knuckles dumped the plastic tub on the floor. “And mortal remains of Superdyne, with note.”

Dinoid was staring at us, but that made him shift into a combat stance, his long claws spread. “The… Superdyne’s dead? And in there?”

“Well. Most of him. The big pieces.” Ms Fedorova shrugged an impressively Russian shrug. I hadn’t even known that was a thing, but when she did it, it was obvious. “You must understand, when a mob tears a man apart, it is hard to find every little piece.”

“I’m pretty sure Doctor Malign and the Genetic Reign took off with doggy bags,” I said, as if I hadn’t handed them over myself. “And Doctor Order probably has some of him too, by now. So looking out for clones would be a good idea, I don’t know if that’s in the note.”

Insofar as that reptilian face could show readable expressions, he looked shocked. “Why on earth would… why? He changed sides? And why did you bring him to me?”

“We know your address, we know you don’t want to turn us in because we’re the only ones who can supply your meals, and our boss wanted us to make this very clear.” I indicated the note. Since Ms Fedorova was hamming up her Sexy Russian Supervillain act, and Knuckles was very obvious Muscle, I figured it was on me to be the Reasonable One. “He might have stopped being a hero, but that didn’t make him one of us. That didn’t make him acceptable to us. Our boss wants it made very clear that your failures shouldn’t expect to be accepted by us… or even spared by us.”

He shifted slowly, the tip of his tail twitching. “I… see. I understand why you would reject Superdyne. He was notorious for killing and maiming people on… your side. But I know other defectors have been accepted. Philomel, for example.”

“Philomel was child of villains. She is young, she is rebellious, she sides with heroes for a while.” Ms Fedorova shrugged. “Is understandable, da? The young do foolish things. She comes home, all is forgiven.”

He nodded slowly. “Tenebrous?”

“That story I don’t know.” Ms Fedorova glanced at me.

I nodded. “Tenebrous was just a kid. He was twelve when Varide recruited him. Nineteen when he broke with the guy. Varide put a kid into combat, left him with massive PTSD, then ditched him when he had a breakdown and went too far. Mx Frantique at least made sure he had a safe place to stay and some therapy.”

“It’s happened a few times.” Knuckles rested his elbows on the cart’s handles, his inhumanly big, strong hands dangling. “But there’s a process. A system. If someone’s sponsored by a villain in good standing, like Frantique sponsoring Tenbrous, they can be accepted. Nobody gets to just choose to join. Especially not a smug, entitled prick like Superdyne.”

Ms Fedorova suddenly leaned forward, scowling. “And why are you called Dinoid? You are not dinosaur. You are clearly monitor lizard. Golden monitor, I think.” She reached out and prodded his arm. “And not healthy, either. Look at colouration! You do not keep environment humid enough. Are having trouble with shedding, da?”

Now we were all staring at her. “You’re a lizard expert now?” Knuckles asked.

She shrugged. “What? Is hobby. Mamma’s little Varanus Acanthurus are pride and joy. Sadly, cannot keep larger monitors in city. Is unkind.”

Dinoid ran a hand over his head slowly. “Not many people realize,” he said slowly. “That’s why I order from you guys. I used to get frozen… food… from a pet supplier, but then I got contacted by someone who told me there was another option.”

“Is good thing. Those pet suppliers, they are rogues. They do not keep animals healthy, can get diseases or mites from those things.” Ms Fedorova sniffed. “I would never buy from them. My babies would get sick.”

He actually chuckled, then, seeming to relax a bit. “You’re not wrong. After… this happened… I got really sick a couple of times before I figured out what to eat, and where to get it. And even the reputable suppliers don’t always have the healthiest stock.” He opened his mouth wide, making a gagging noise. “You have no idea how bad that ‘reptile food’ is. Eating whole animals may be a little disgusting, but it’s nothing to some of that stuff.”

“I believe it,” I said emphatically. “There’s a reason Evil-Mart has such an extensive pet-food line. The horror stories we hear from some of our customers… well, you’d believe it, I bet, but most humans just look confused.”

Knuckles nodded, and spread his hands. “People who can’t pass for regular humans… or even for people, the way most normies see it… are a lot more common on our side of the fence than yours. That’s why we delivered to you. We figured you really needed it.”

“Does he order from the pharmacy?” Ms Fedorova was around behind him now, examining his back. “He is having calcium deficiency, am betting. He needs nutritional supplement.”

“I take a nutritional supplement,” he said defensively.

“The one for normal-sized lizards is not enough for man-sized monitor/human hybrid,” she said firmly. “Check pharmacy section next time. We are having excellent selection of supplements for hybrids, and chart to tell you how much to take for body-mass.”

He looked back and forth between the three of us. “You people are… not what I would have expected from an evil supermarket.”

“We may be… morally challenged,” I said, shrugging, “but we’re not heartless.” I looked around his tiny, shabby apartment. “Unlike some of your lot. I thought you were on a team. Why are you living here?”

He ducked his head. “I couldn’t live at the base,” he said, his tail drooping. “My… I made people uncomfortable. And the stipend isn’t much.”

“Isn’t much? With the merchandising deals they have?” Ms Fedorova sounded shocked, and the accent had dropped back a lot. “I know for a fact that if the accountants ever got hold of their books they’d owe more in back taxes than… well, than Evil-Mart would if our illegal product arm ever got discovered. And we pay our taxes on the legitimate stuff scrupulously.”

Dinoid blinked rapidly, though I couldn’t tell whether he was more surprised by her suddenly dropping her act or the idea that Evil-Mart pays taxes. “You do?”

“Of course. Not under that name, of course, there’s a shell company.” She sniffed. “All villains do. Al Capone, you know. We’re not getting caught that way again.”

Knuckles and I both nodded when he looked at us, and he shook his head. “Huh. Makes sense, I guess.”

“It does.” I looked around again. The place really was crappy. “I know it’s a personal question, Mr… West, but under the circumstances I’d like to know… how much is that stipend?”

He looked down at the floor for a while, then cleared his throat. “Uh. $1100 a month.”

We all stared at him. Ms Fedorova’s mouth fell open. Knuckles looked shocked, and I was horrified. “$1100 a month?!” I asked, my voice coming out louder than I’d intended. “For risking your life on a superhero team?! I have teenaged cashiers working part-time who make more than that!”

He looked almost as startled as we did. “For working a cash register?!”

“Evil-Mart pays pretty good.” Knuckles shrugged. “But that stipend is disgusting.”

“You are being exploited,” Ms Fedorova said, sounding really aghast. “That is terrible. Why, baseline henchman pay is twice that, and there are danger bonuses and…” Her voice dropped suddenly. “You don’t have a union, do you?”

“A union? Of course we don’t have a…” He trailed off. “You mean you do?”

“Of course we do. An extremely well-armed one.” Ms Fedorova folded her arms. “Henchmen And Allied Industries has represented us for generations. The last time a supervillain executed a union henchman for failure, he was boiled in oil… literally. On camera. Oh, of course some of the less reputable villains just pick up small-time trash from the streets, untrained rabble from the gangs and so on, so they can treat them as disposable, but we union members are skilled workers, with rights and protections. I bet you don’t even get overtime.”

“Of course not. Crime happens when it happens, and we have to…” He trailed off. “You guys get overtime?”

“We’re getting double time and a half for this conversation. And an extra day off.”

His eyes widened again. “Really? Wow, that’s… even when I was working a regular job, before this, I didn’t get pay like that.” He looked down at his hands and bared his teeth in what looked like an unhappy expression. “And now I can’t work anything but this kind of job. People don’t like having a scary dinosaur in their restaurant.”

There was a long pause.

“You can cook?” Ms Fedorova asked carefully.

“Yeah. I worked in my parents’ restaurant before… this.” He gestured at himself. “They were killed when we were attacked, and I was… changed.”

We all looked at each other. “After you’ve returned Superdyne’s remains to whoever you consider appropriate,” I said, grabbing a notepad and scribbling down my number, “I’d like you to give me a call. Evil-Mart is always hiring in the bakery and deli, and I mean always. Most bad guys aren’t great cooks. We don’t know why, it just seems to be one of those things.”

“You want me to join the bad guys?”

“I want you to work in a bakery. Villains and henchmen need to eat, and so do their families. Nobody’s going to ask you to rip superheroes in half, just maybe make a sandwich that won’t give anyone food poisoning.”

“That’s a regular concern?”

“Six months ago the three of us ran Evil-Mart’s physical store completely unassisted for most of a day because the only people who weren’t down with food poisoning were the ones who’d had the vegetarian and kosher meals.” I shuddered at the recollection. “Trust me. Someone who can cater staff functions without a major disaster would never have to live in an apartment like this working for us.”

“And we get full benefits, including dental.” Knuckles was shaking his head. “I bet you don’t even get hospital.”

“What hospital would take me? I always figured I’d go to the zoo and talk to the vet if – “

Ms Fedorova actually put her arms around him. “You,” she told him firmly, “are going to resign your terrible exploitative job, and then I will personally sponsor you to the union immediately. I have a spare room. You will like it. Humidity and temperature can be set just how you like, and Mamma Yelena will take you to real doctor expert in health of hybrids.”

“Those exist?” he asked, sounding a bit overwhelmed.

“Yeah, the Genetic Reign has like three of them,” I said sympathetically. “Listen, you can take some time to think it over, but you don’t have to put up with this kind of exploitation just because you don’t look human. Nearly a third of Evil-Mart’s staff can’t pass, and they’re treated just like everyone else.”

Superdyne’s dramatic demise got a lot of news coverage. Apparently it came as a real shock to the ‘good guys’ that there were some monsters even the superest villains wouldn’t embrace.

Dinoid no longer exists. Ismail Jameel works at Evil-Mart, and has expanded our fresh food lines a lot already. He’s a nice guy, and after Ms Fedorova told everyone how disgustingly he’d been exploited by those so-called ‘heroes’, he was welcomed with open arms. Literally, in at least one case – he’s dating someone from the warehouse, I’ve heard, though I don’t know who. He says we should rename the store, because we suck at being evil.

But evil is a really relative term. It can mean the blackest depravity, or a moment of viciousness, or even just ‘people on the other side’. Evil-Mart is called that because everyone, at least everyone on our side, is welcome. Plus, we all think it’s funny that the least-evil megacorporation is called ‘Evil-Mart’. What can we say? Bad guys have a sense of humour too.

Have an evil day!

#welcome to Evil Mart #good is not just good #evil is not just evil #people are complicated #and so is retail #tw graphic #tw gore #tw violence #tw murder #it's a supervillain story #supervillain shit happens #you are now warned

7K notes · View notes

sprinklesofktrash · 2 years

Text

Just not ready -l.jeno

Pairing: coworker! Jeno x fem! Reader

Warning: smut, fluff, slow burn (?), Jeno receiving, cursing, moaning, dirty talks, passionate sex, kissing.

Word counts: 6.9k

Summary: You’re known to be playful and sometimes can be a flirt but to only guys that you think it’s easy to get. Jeno is your coworker, ever since you laid eyes on him, you want to playfully flirt with him without getting out of hand.

Sorry guys, I was horny for Jeno and wanted to write this 🌚

“I’m training the new employee,” Your manager said through the earpiece. She rolls her eyes and carried on to show you the whole store.

“When it comes to clothing, the colors of the clothes matters when customers enter our store. This is why we have a certain way to put our clothes. Here, you see light to dark colors” she pointed at the racks of clothes.

“As a customer walks in, they tend to come left to right. The colors are lighter to darker. It flows with where the customers come from” she explains. You nodded and take notes.

It’s your first retail job, and so far it’s better than working in a fast food chain. You don’t have to worry about smelling bad after coming home from work.

Though, you miss the sneaky breaks you get when there are no customers. You’d get to eat and sit for a little bit or just sit down in general. With retail jobs, you would always be on your feet.

The number of managers here is insane. There are 3 managers, 3 acting managers, and 2 general managers, it’s hard to keep up. One day you have a regular employee, the next they’re your acting manager.

It’s only been two days. Two different managers had trained you already. Today was just wrapping things up and they will let you do regular work.

They stuck you in the back room with the other new hires. You would unbox all the new clothes from the boxes and hang them or leave them to fold.

It gets tiring after doing it for 4 hours straight. You would talk to the other new hires but other than that it’s boring.

“Yeah! That would be nice!” Your coworker agreed. There should be music playing while doing this but all you get to hear is the faint music playing outside the room.

The door opens revealing a tall, blonde, fair skin man. Wearing loose cargo pants with a white T-shirt. He made eye contact with you before looking at your other coworker.

“Oh! Are you guys the new hires?” He asked casually as he set up his station and begin stacking boxes to unbox. You both nodded.

“I’m Rachael” your coworker waved at him.

“Y/n” you smile. He smile and nodded.

“I’m Jeno, nice meeting you both” his voice was sweet like honey.

Delicious.

“Do you guys like the job so far?” He asks, you glance at him from time to time to just look at his handsome face. You just know he has a good body underneath that loose shirt.

“Yeah, it’s a little boring back here. Y/n insist we should have music back here” Rachael chuckles. He chuckles with her, “hey, you’re not the only one” he shrugs.

“How long have you been working here?” Rachael asks him.

Damn, this girl does talk a lot.

“For about 4 years. I’ve been working here since they first opened” he nodded. You and Rachael's mouths wow.

“You’re a veteran” you salute him. He ended up laughing at your joke. Your cheeks turn red. His eyes met yours before you quickly look away.

“Respect your elders” he jokes. You chuckle. Your cheeks turns red when he made eye contact with you.

Your manager walked in after hearing laughter and talking. “How many boxes did you finish?” She asks the both of you.

“3,” you both said, looking back at her wondering what she will say next.

“Well you have 5 more, less talking please,” she said in a monotone but there was sassiness in her tone.

Well damn.

The door slammed shut after hearing her leave. “Irene can be an ass sometimes but she’s very nice. She was trained to be the cold and hard person so don’t take her words to the heart” Jeno reassure the both of you. You nodded and kept quiet so you could finish your tasks.

A/N: It’s not Irene from Red Velvet, just a person name Irene 😂

A few weeks went by, and you became used to the system around and they even promote you to be the store Visual. They pay you to hire and you get vacation time. The last visual person quit so you took her place since your general manager saw potential in you.

You became friends with everyone and they all like you. You would talk sometimes during your shifts for just a few seconds of conversation because all the managers would be on everyone’s asses.

You even became friends with the managers. You had lunch with them once on your break. Including Irene. Jeno was right, Irene is so nice outside of work.

She became friends with your coworker who got hired the same day as you. Though, you have a feeling Irene doesn’t like you. You say that because everyone likes you, especially all the male employees.

Maybe she likes being the center of attention.

You try your best to be nice and pretend that she likes you. You barely see Jeno sometimes, he only works two days a week and sometimes doesn’t even have a schedule with you.

“Are you going to Irene’s party?” Rachael asks. You shrug, “I’m not sure, I don’t think I got invited” or she doesn’t like me and chooses not to invite me.

“Nonsense, she’s inviting everyone including the new hires. Just watch out for her text” She rubs your shoulder before walking away.

We’ll see.

One of the managers ended up being your friend back in high school. “Oh my god, Jaemin?!” You called his name. He looks up from the register.

“Y/n?” He remembers you. You went up and hug him.

“I didn’t know you were working here!” He chuckles. “I’ve been here for weeks! I didn’t know you work here!” You told him as you search his face to see if it was him.

“I’ve been on a month's vacation. That’s why You didn’t see me on the schedule” he explains. You’re still in awe. He was a good friend of yours. Well, you both talked back when you were on the softball team and he was on the baseball.

During game day, the boys and girls team share buses so you became friends with him. That was three years ago so you haven’t been keeping in touch with him.

“It’s so great to see you again. Ugh, it’ll be like old times again!” You squeeze his arm. “Yes it will” he laughs.

You would talk to him, whenever you passed each other, he even offered to drink after work sometimes. You are both caught up in each other’s lives. Jaemin is a tattoo artist on the side, you remembered how great of a drawer she was.

1 new message.

You sit up from your bed and pick up your phone. You got a text from a group chat.

Irene: hey guys! I’m hosting a party on September 5th! It’s that Saturday night. I hope you guys could make it. The address and details will be below so like this message if you can come!

A smile escapes your lips. You didn’t know this was the text you’d been waiting for. The party is a few weeks away so you don’t know what time it’ll be.

You waited for another day to see who was going and who liked the message. Jeno still hasn’t liked it but Jaemin did. So you also liked it. At least you won’t be alone.

* * *

Day of the party, luckily you were off from work at 6:00 pm. That’s usually how your shift is. 10 am-6:00 pm is your shift. Ever since you became a visual, they have a set time for you.

You still have two hours to get ready and eat beforehand. The party is at Ruth’s house, she’s the other acting manager. It’s nearby which is great.

You picked up some wings and fries for the party. You also brought Soju there. You didn’t want to come empty-handed. You arrive with the other new hire, Daniel. He greeted you with a high five as you both went into the house.

It was dark with colored lights around. Everyone greeted you both as Rachael came in for a hug. You drop the food on the counter.

“You brought food?” A guy asked, and you didn’t know who it was. You didn’t know what to say. “I was starving!” He smiles as he rips the bag open and begins to munch on the wings.

It’s his now.

Irene came up to you, “you met my boyfriend, that’s Mark” she rolls her eyes at her dorky boyfriend. She hugged you, “thanks though” she mention the food. You nodded.

“Come! Let’s take shots!” She yelled as everyone gather to take a shot.

You chase it down with a mango-mixed alcohol cocktail. Your eyes wander to find Jaemin, once you found him, he was playing pool with others.

“Jae!” You smile as you pull him for a hug. “You came!” He smiles. You nodded.

“Did you take a shot yet?” You asked. He shook his head no. “Come, I’ll take one with you” he takes him. You took another shot as he down his first one. He flinch at the taste, which made you smile.

“You don’t like liquor” you tease him. Jaemin chuckles and shakes his head no.

You both carried on talking until you heard your coworkers cheer. You look at the noise to see Jeno coming in with a bag of drinks.

Your eyes wander down to his outfit. Loose-fitted pants with a graphic shirt and a jacket over. He looks handsome as he always has. Jeno greeted everyone as he made his way to put the drinks down.

“What’s up Jae!” Jeno smiled as if he didn’t expect to see his friend here. Jaemin laughs as he hugs him.

“Hey y/n” he smiles at you, giving you a side hug, which you didn’t expect. You shyly hug him back.

“Did you both take a shot already?” He asks. You both nodded. “Damn, I missed a good sight” Jeno groan.

Jaemin rolls his eyes, “haha” Jeno was making fun of Jaemin.

“I’ll take one with you” you offered. Jeno's eyes met yours. He didn’t say anything at first but then nodded.

“Hey, are you sure?” Jaemin asks as you reach for the glass of tequila. Your shoe slipped off the chair ledge, making you hit the counter.

Jaemin and Jeno quickly hold you to help you out. “I’m okay!” You chuckle. You’re getting a little tipsier at the moment.

Pour Jeno a shot, spilling some on the floor as you pour yours too. Jaemin cleaned up the spill as he watches the both of you take the shot.

You barely tasted the alcohol at this point. Jeno raises his eyebrows, “you didn’t flinch. See Jae, she could teach you some things” Jeno joke. You ended up laughing.

Jeno and Jaemin begin catching up as you excused yourself to the bathroom. You stumble inside the bathroom, from wall to wall.

You laugh at yourself at how stupid you are right now. You peed and washed your hands. As you exit the bathroom. Irene’s boyfriend was dancing at the table as everyone try to bring him down. You laugh at the sight.

You stumble around as you talk to Ruth for a bit. You and she danced around for a bit until you were grabbed by someone else. “Y/n! Please tell them that Descendants of the sun is better than crash landing on you?” Your coworker Logan asks. They all stare at you for answers.

“It is” you purse your lips. They all groan except for Logan. “This is why you are my favorite” he smiles.

“They both are good but Descendants if the sun has better soundtracks” you explain. Logan ague with them all. You laugh and find yourself outside. You pull out your phone to check the time. It’s only 12:30 am.

Time went by quickly ever since you came.

The music muffled you in the background, you close your eyes to feel the night breeze hit your face. You started to feel hot in there.

“It’s nice” you breathe in before letting it out.

You ended up drifting asleep when you heard the door open and close. Someone wrap your body with a warm cloth over you.

Your eyes flutter open to see Jeno looking down at you. You look down at his hands and you caught him putting his jacket over your body.

“I thought you were cold” he smiles nervously. You shake your head no.

He took a sit next to you. “What are you doing alone out here,” he asks as he looks up at the sky.

“I needed air. Plus, it’s nice out” you smile. He handed you water, “to sober you up” he explains. You chuckle and took it. You ended up drinking half of the bottle.

“Are you and Jaemin a thing?” He asks, his voice quiet. You glance at him but he didn’t look at you.

You laugh, “no. I’ve known him since high school. We became friends during baseball and softball season” you smile. You didn’t expect Jeno to ask that.

He nodded.

“Does that bother you?” You tease, looking at him. You watch his eyes widen as he glances at you.

“N-no,” he said defensively. You smile.

“Do you have someone?” It was your turn to ask. Jeno shakes his head no.

“No, I don’t like relationships nor do I want to be in one” he put his hands up and made it into an X.

You laugh, “why not?” You ask.

Jeno shrugged, “it’s not important right now” he look at the sky back.

“You and Rachael were getting comfortable back there” you smirk, you caught them laying on the couch with his arm around her.

Jeno’s cheeks got red, “it’s nothing like that” he defend. “She’s drunk and she came into me,” he said. You smirk.

“Hmm” you tease him.

“Seriously!” He raises his voice trying to prove his innocence. You chuckle.

“You’re cute Jeno,” you told him, taking his jacket off from your body.

Jeno gulped, he look at the side of your face as you stare at the dark sky.

“Very cute. Just let me know if you need a girlfriend” you look at him in the eyes. “I’ll be waiting” you wink at him before standing up. You place his jacket around his shoulder.

What you said stunned Jeno. He didn’t know how to feel after you said that. He doesn’t know if it was a joke or if you were being serious.

The day after the party was hell. You had a hangover and the biggest headache. You sit up from the couch, not sure what you were laying on. You struggled to open your eyes, only one open. “Jaemin?” You called him. You were laying on his lap as his face was laying on the pillow beside him.

Jaemin groans and sit up. The look from the way he was laying was uncomfortable. “Hey, morning,” He said in his groggy voice. He wipes the sleepiness out of his eyes as you look around at the aftermath of last night.

“Look who finally woke up” Irene's familiar voice spoke up. You followed her voice behind you to see she was holding a black plastic bag, picking up trash.

“If it isn’t the love birds” Her boyfriend, Mark, smirks as he helps out his girlfriend.

It was too early to argue, you stand up and stretched. “Well, hate it break it to you. Whoever crashed here, needs to help out with the clean up” Irene smirked. She told you where the trash bags are to begin throwing away empty bottles.

As you head up towards the counter, the sight of the alcohol bottles everywhere made you feel nauseous. You felt a pressure build up in your stomach so you ran upstairs to find the bathroom. Anything to hide the sound of you throwing up.

The door flew open, revealing Jeno fixing his hair. “Good for “ You push him out of the way as the liquid is ready to escape. As soon as your hand touches the toilet seat, you begin throwing up the liquid you drank last night.

Jeno’s nose crinkle as he leans down to help you out. He holds your hair up so it won’t be in the way as you throw up everything you drank last night. “Should’ve limited yourself” Jeno said in an ‘I told you so’ voice.

You glare at him. Not him trying to make you feel better as you die.

After a while, you didn’t have the urge to throw up anymore. Jeno flushed the toilet and help you up. You walk up to the sink to wash your face and clean your mouth. “Here,” He handed you mouthwash. You thank him before finishing the bottle.

“You came prepared” you chuckle, noticing the small toiletries bag on the counter.

“I was like you at my first party, I learned about it and prepare a small bag for when I go to parties” He chuckles and zips up the bag.

“Thanks, Jen” You gave him a nickname. Jeno smile slightly after hearing the nickname you gave him. You walked out of the bathroom to help clean up downstairs.

After an hour, everything was cleaned and Ruth was satisfied. “Do you guys want to get a hotpot?” Irene suggests.

You look at Jaemin as he looks at you, “I’m free, let's go” you smile. Your stomach churned, you could picture the nice hot soup that could be devoured at any second. Jaemin agreed to go too.

Irene looks at Jeno, who hasn’t said anything. Your head turns to look at him, “come with us Jeno” you beg him. With all eyes on Jeno, it seems that yours was more important to him. You called him Jeno now, what happened to the nickname? He wondered. At the same time, he thinks you only call him Jen when no one’s around.

“Let’s go, man, we need it” Jaemin pat his back. Jeno smirked and nodded.

“Yay! Let’s go, I’ll make a reservation” Ruth cheered. All of us left her house and take our separate cars. Jaemin rode with you since he came without a car. As if he knows he’s going to get shit-faced last night.

“This is much needed” you groan after you take your first taste of the broth. Jaemin chuckles.

“You should push yourself last night,” he tells you. You sigh, “Someone told me already” you groan.

Jaemin chuckles and wipes your lip with a napkin. You blush and thank him. You felt embarrassed by the stares and giggles from your coworkers.

“So Jaemin, do you have a girlfriend?” Irene asks. You turn to look at him.

His cheeks turn into the shade of pink, “n-no” he chuckles.

“Why not? Is there someone you’re waiting on?” Mark asks casually as he ate the noodles.

You watch Jaemin wipe his hands across his thighs. “You can say that,” he said. You all nodded. You were wondering who’s he waiting on.

“I’m going to make my sauce, I’ll be back” you excuse yourself from the table. You head towards the sauce bar and begin to make your concoction.

“What are you doing?” You heard Jeno laugh as you filled the small bowl with sauces and greens.

“My sauce. It’s really good” you smile. Jeno pick up some chili sauce and green onions.

“Whoa! They have ice cream!” The machine caught your eye. “They have vanilla!” You were getting excited.

“You know, Jaemin likes you,” Jeno said as he watch you create your sauce. You pause and look up at him.

“No, he’s just a friend. He’s probably talking about this girl he’s been liking since high school days” You explain. Jeno purse his lips, he didn’t know you could be this gullible.

“You both been friends since high school? And you guys are always this close?” He asks again. You drop the ladle and nodded.

“Yeah, he’s a great guy. He would hang out with me after practice” you explain. Jeno nodded. You never thought anything of it. Jaemin is a good friend.

“Jen, you worry too much. I’m not even yours” you rolled your eyes, landing your eyes on him. “Unless you want me to be yours” you tease.

Jeno gulped. You see his cheeks turn pink. “Come on, my soup is waiting for me” you pull his arm behind you.

“What took you so long?” Jaemin pulls your chair out.

“I was helping Jeno” You explain. Jaemin nodded but the smile on his face disappear when he saw Jeno behind you. He took a seat next to you as you all ate the soup.

* * *

“Morning, Jen” you smile as you get out of the back room to release Jeno from his station.

“Morning! Are you releasing me?” He asks as he closes the cash register after counting the money.

“Yeah, how is the morning? Was it busy?” You asked. He shakes his head no.

“It’s a Monday, it’s not that busy” he put away the register slip into the drawer.

You nodded. Jeno walks out to let you take over. You notice there’s a bouquet made out of receipt papers.

“Hey, did you do this?” You asked, holding it up.

“Oh yeah, I got bored” he rub his arm. You nodded. “It’s cute” it was. Perfectly made.

“Really?” He asked. You nodded.

“Here,” you handed to him. He shakes his head, “you keep it since you liked it” he smiles.

“Awh really?” Jeno nodded.

“First you gave me your jacket and now you’re giving me flowers? What's next? You?” You joked. Jeno choked on his saliva. He watches your lips turn into a smile.

She’s joking.

Why does she always make my heart flutter?

And she’s joking about it too!

Before Jeno was going to say something back, but you greeted a customer and that was his cue to his next station.

“Greeter, I have to go backs for you,” you said through the earpiece. You meet him at the stairs where you would give him the lower level go-backs.

“Is this all?” Jeno asks. You nodded. He wraps his arm underneath the stack of clothes. His hand ended up grabbing yours.

“Nope, that’s my hand” you mention. Jeno blushes and fixes himself. He holds the stack of clothes in his arms.

“Your hands are big, let me see,” you told him. He put his hand out as you measure your small hand against his.

You smirk and entwined your fingers with his, “my hand looks perfect with yours” You smile, eyes looking into his.

Jeno didn’t know what to say. He retracts his hand from yours. “Y/n, someone at the register” Rachael said through the earpiece. Jeno mentions you should go. You smile and skip back to the register.

Why does she flirt so casually?

“I can’t believe she’s making us stay here just to put out new shirts” you hiss as Jeno and Jaemin chuckle.

The store closes you stayed behind to help out closing. Your general manager came to make sure the new shirts are out.

“These shirts are sick! It’s very nice” Jaemin admire the new clothes. “I can’t wait to go home” you groan. Your legs are giving out.

Finally, your general manager releases all three of you after your tasks are completed. All three of you walk out the back door.

“Where did you guys park?” Jaemin asks, halting at the stop sign.

“The employee lot” You pointed to your left. Jeno mentions the same.

“I park in the garage, I came late” Jaemin pouted. “I could drop you both off” he insists.

You shake your head no, “I-“ Jeno cut you off.

“I’ll drop y/n off. I parked my car there too” Jeno insist. Jaemin looks at Jeno and then back at you.

“Alright,” he gave in. You smile and wave good night to him. You both begin to walk in different ways.

“I told you he likes you” Jeno whispered to you. You scoff as you both walk down the empty street.

“Even if he does, I only see him as a friend” you stretch out your tense arms.

“I’ll tell him once I see it” you cross your arms. The way to the employee lot got darker. The street doesn’t even have lights, which always scares you.

“Are you going to tell him? I mean, right now, he’s going to take every opportunity to have time with you” Jeno pressed the button for the crosswalk.

Even the parking lot is dark and it’s hard to see if anyone is following you. You would hold your pepper spray in your hands just in case something happens.

Jeno notices how tense you got and walks closer to you. “Jen, I hope I’m not making you feel uncomfortable. I tend to tease a lot and sometimes I don’t even know if I go too far” you break the silence.

Jeno gulped, he stops walking. So did you. You could barely make out the expression he has right now. “Are you teasing for fun or are you teasing because you like me?” He asks.

That’s a question you never thought you would have to answer.

“I-I,” you begin. Trying to find the right words. “I’m teasing because I like you” You confessed.

Jeno's fist tightens. He had a feeling you like him. No one would just tease you the way you do without having some feeling behind it.

“Is it wrong?“ your voice got smaller. Jeno looks down at his feet.

“Yes,” that simple word made you feel small.

“Why?” You asked.

“Because I told you. I’m not looking for love. I’m not looking for someone” He explains. You remembered he told you that he’s not looking for anything.

“Do I make you feel something when I flirt with you?” You ask, closing the space between the two of you.

Jeno could feel your breath against his neck. He tightens his fist tighter. “No” he looks away. Lie. He wasn’t trying to look at you. He doesn’t want to look at your sad expression.

You nodded and continued walking. “Let’s stay as friends” you cheered as you head out to your car. Jeno knows you’re trying to hide your disappointment. After he watches you drive off he got in his car and sigh.

You kept your distance from Jeno for the next few weeks. You kept your flirt at a minimum. You’re trying to pretend everything is fine but Jeno senses the distance between you both.

“Fuck! I’m stressing!” You groan at Rachael. “I’m scared, what if my costume doesn’t come on time?” You but your lip.

“Relax the party is for two days. You used to prime. It should be here today or tomorrow” she reassures you.

Irene is doing a Halloween party and you’re going as Chun Li from Street Fighter. You ordered your costumes two days ago. You could’ve ordered earlier but you were broke.

You’ve got everything. You’re just excited to see everything all together. It was expensive too it’s a waste to get it after the party.

Rachael is going as Misaki Ayuzawa from Maid Sama. She’s lucky she ordered her customs weeks advanced. You’re excited to see everyone’s costumes.

Luckily the party is on a Friday night and you were off. The costume came in the morning the day of the party. You woke up early just in case you had to go out to buy a backup costume but seeing the brown Amazon box put a smile on your face.

The party doesn’t start until 8 pm. You have a whole day to do nothing. You decided to go to the gym and eat lunch and read for the rest of the hours.

It got cold at night time. It’s October, of course, and the weather would go down a few degrees. The costume is for you perfectly. The costume is a little bit revealing.

Sadly, the costume doesn’t come with a short. It’s only the dress and accessories. You paired the costume with a black stocking and black shorts so whenever you’re bending down they can’t see up the dress.

“CHUN LI?!” You heard Mark’s voice yell as you entered the house. You blush.

“Amazing costume!” Mark smiles and gives you two thumbs up. Irene rolled her eyes and mention you to the counter to take your first shot.

You look around to find someone you’ve been looking for.

Jeno.

He was dressed in a Spider-Man costume. It was tight. You could tell he’s very athletic built from wearing that costume.

His toned legs and his muscular abs that’s poking through the thin material. His eyes landed on yours as he walk up to you.

“Nice costume!” He smiles as he leans down to hug you. You could feel his muscles as you hug him.

“I like yours, very basic but it looks good” you chuckle. Jeno groaned, “that hurts” he touch his chest.

“Have you seen Jaemin?” You asked, looking around. The smile on his face disappear.

“Oh, uh, he’s playing pool” Jeno mentioned. You nodded. “I’m going to say hi” you smile and leave him. Jeno watches you brush part him as you made your way to hug Jaemin.

Jaemin dressed as Son from Tottenham. Jeno watches you laugh with Jaemin as he tried to help you play pool.

You cheered when you got one ball in, your eyes landed on Jeno as Rachael ran into him and hug him. The smile slowly disappeared when you see him laugh with her.

You hated how you lead him on, ended up confessing to him and now he doesn’t like you. Everything got messed up.

You chug on the alcoholic drink that Jaemin brought to you. “Hey, can we talk?” Jaemin asks. Your attention went back to Jaemin. He took you outside to talk.

Jeno didn’t hear you anymore even with the loud music you’re still loud. He could hear you. His eyes wander around trying to find you but then he saw you talking to Jaemin outside.

“What?” You breathe out.

“I like you, I was thinking of asking you out” His voice was shaky as if he was very nervous to tell you this.

“Jae- I-“ you couldn’t find out words to say. “I like you too” you smile, taking his hand into yours.

Jaemin eyes sparkle. “But as friends. I’ve always seen you as a friend” you know it’s what he needed to hear. You didn’t want to lie to him and who knows what could happen in the future.

“I see” you could tell he was sad. His eyes left yours as he look down at his feet.

“I don’t want to ruin us. Especially after I got you back” you smile, squeezing his hands. Jaemin chuckles and nods.

“You’re amazing! You’ll find someone and that someone isn’t me” you pout. Jaemin nodded, he understands.

“Thank you for not lying to me” Jaemin squeeze your hands. You nodded and pull him into a hug.

“Let’s party yeah?” You look at his face. Jaemin sniffle and nodded. You both head back into the house as you went straight to get your drink.

You talk for a few times and went to search for the bathroom. It was an Airbnb house so you don’t know where the bathroom was. All you know is that this house is huge and has over 4 bedrooms.

How the fuck Irene could afford this?

After doing your business, you exited the bathroom Jeno’s presence caught you by surprise. You jump a little after seeing him.

“You scared me” you hold your chest.

“Are you limiting yourself?” He asks with a drink in his hand. You rolled your eyes and nodded.

“Are you?” You look at the cup in his hand.

“I can handle my liquor” he smirks. “Hey what did you and Jaemin talk about? Did you finally say yes to him?” He wondered.

“Well, you’re right. He does like me and he asked me out. But I said no” you summarize the conversation you had with Jaemin.

A warm feeling in Jeno’s stomach slowly burn. Suddenly, he’s back to his normal self. “Why would it matter to you if I said yes or no?” You cross your arms.

Jeno didn’t respond.

“You said it yourself, you’re not looking for anyone or anything. So why would it matter Jen?” You called him by the nickname you gave him.

You watch his Adam’s apple move. He swallowed his saliva. He drops his cup and slams his lips against yours. You gasp against his lips.

Your eyes flutter :shut as you kiss him back. Your arms fall around his neck as you slide your tongue into his mouth.

He picks you up and leads you into one of the bedrooms. He drops you down as you lock the door behind you. He lets go of your lips as your eyes open.

The shadow of the moon lit the side of his face as he stare into yours. “What happened to not wanting anything?” You whispered. Jeno’s breathing hitched.

“You’re making me go crazy. You joke around and make my heart flutter with your teasing. You don’t know what your jokes do to me, y/n” he breathes out. You bit the bottom of your lip.

You rest your hand on his chest and lead him towards the bed. “What do you want to do now?” You whispered, searching the flame in his eyes.

“Anything with you” his hand rested on your waist. You lean in to place a gentle kiss on his lips as your hand wrap around his neck.

You found the zipper to open his suit. You zip down the suit as Jeno slides his arms out of suit. The thin costume rests perfectly around his tiny waist.

The shadow of the moon made his fit abs look 10x Bette than it already is. Your eyes look down at his abs as your hand traces along his six-pack.

Jeno’s breath shuddered. You look back up at Jeno who had his eyes closed. “Look at me” you whispered. Jeno’s eyes flutter open as his brown orbs stare at yours.

“I don’t do one-night stands or a ‘things’” you begin. Jeno nodded. It’s like he already thought about everything.

“I’m okay with whatever you’re okay with” he reassures you. You furrowed your eyebrows.

“Don’t say that just because you want me” you told him. Jeno takes your hand into his and places a gentle kiss on your palm.

“As long as nobody else touches you or have you, I’m all yours” The way that made your heart flutter.

“Okay then, Lee Jeno. You are mine and I am yours” you whispered. You bit your lips and lean in to kiss his lips. You felt Jeno smile against your lips.

Your hand trails down to touch his abs again. You tug on the suit for him to take off. You could feel his bulge hitting your stomach as you kiss him.

You let go of the kiss and lean down to kiss his chest. You leave a trail of kisses down to his abs as you finally kneel in front of him.

You pull down his brief as his hard cock springs out, hitting you on the face. Jeno shudder as the cooled air hit his cock. A smile escapes your lips as you wrap your small hand around his delicate cock.

Jeno hiss as you brought up your lips on his tip. You place a gentle kiss before you lick the base of his cock and made your way up to his tip.

“Fuck” Jeno moan. He’s never felt this way before. Let alone, having a hot girl giving him head in the middle of a Halloween party.

As you take his cock whole into your mouth, Jeno groans at the euphoric feeling. Hopefully, no one could hear you both upstairs, and the music filled the entire house to muffle out any sounds.

“Fuck y/n” Jeno breathes out as you take his cock in again. Jeno moves his waist as he fuck your pretty mouth. Saliva drooling out from your mouth is such a pretty sight to him.

“Does it feel good, fucking my mouth?“ you smirk as you tease him by stroking his throbbing cock. Jeno nodded tiredly.

“I want you to fuck this pussy” you stand up, wiping the drool up from your chin. Jeno nodded as he pick you up and drops you on the bed.

You took off the shorts you had under and toss away. You spread your legs open so Jeno could have access. Jeno hiss when he found out you are not wearing underwear.

He rips your stocking and spat on your cunt. He rubs his fingers around your cunt. You let out a moan, feeling his long fingers rubbing against your clit.

Jeno position himself in between your legs as he hovers over you. Jeno slowly slides his cock inside of your tight cunt, earning long moans from you both.

Jeno stares into your eyes as he slowly picks up his pace. His hand reaches your breast as he tucks it out of the dress. He watches your breasts bounce with every thrust he takes.

“Fuck me, Jen” you moan. Jeno leans down to kiss your lips before sitting up to watch the view of you below him.

“You look so fucking hot” Jeno groaned. You wrap your arms under your thighs as you bring them up against your chest.

You could feel Jeno deeper inside of you. “Fuck baby” Jeno hissed as he felt your walls tighter.

“Fuck this pussy baby, I want to feel you deep inside of me” you moan. Jeno groans as he holds your legs and begins pouncing every inch inside of you.

“You’re so fucking deep” you cried. Jeno smirked, “you beg me to go deep, didn’t you?” He slaps the side of your thigh.

“Argh” you groan. “You feel so great inside of me” You moan. Jeno's hand wraps around your chin aggressively as he lowers his body against your legs.

You rest your legs on his shoulder as he stares deeply into your eyes while he fucks you. “Your pussy feels amazing” Jeno whispered as he rest his head against yours.

“You like it?” You smile as your hand roams around his face. Jeno nodded, leaning down to kiss your forehead. Your heart flutters at his sudden show of affection.

* * *

For what seemed hours, the party still happened downstairs. You heard more voices and shouting. More people showed up, you assume. You don’t know what time it is, your phone is downstairs along with other things.

“You know I didn’t expect myself to hook up tonight” your index finger traces around his abs.

“Really? You come here as Chun Li and didn’t expect to get laid?” Jeno looks down at you. You shake your head no.

“I’m not the type to go to parties and find prey for the night” you rolled your eyes. Jeno chuckles. “Neither was I but seeing you with Jaemin made me jealous” Jeno rub your arm, placing a gentle kiss on your temple.

You look up at him from your position, “you got jealous?” You laugh. Jeno nodded, “I’m scared that he’s going to take you away” he defend himself.

“You didn’t want a relationship anyways” you sit up laughing at him. Jeno rolls his eyes, “but that doesn’t mean you should get into one” he sits up too, resting his back against the headboard.

You pout, you straddle over his lap, and lean your head closer to his. “You’re cute Lee Jeno” you squeeze his squeeze. Jeno wraps his arms around your waist.

“Hey, if don’t want a relationship too, I won’t rush you. I’ll respect your words” As much as you want him, you know what’s right to do. That is to respect what he wants in the beginning.

Jeno sigh, he takes your hands into his and kisses them. “Maybe it’s time for me to give it a try. I’m willing to try this with you” A smile escape his lips.

Your heart flutter a thousand times, and your cheeks got red from how much those words meant to you. “You won’t regret it” you wink. Jeno chuckles and pulls you into a hug.

“Don’t make me regret it” he jokes as he places a kiss on your forehead. You both stayed in each other’s arms.

Your stomach started growling, your cheeks turned red from embarrassment. Jeno burst out laughing, “are you hungry?” He asks. You nodded shyly.

“Let’s get out of here, I’ll take you on our first date to the convince store” Jeno kisses your cheek and help you off the bed.

“How romantic” you wiggle your eyebrow. You both got dressed you told Jeno that you’ll go downstairs first and you’ll meet him outside.

You bid everyone goodbye like they all care that you’re leaving. They’re having a good time and high on their feelings.

You meet Jeno in his car where he drove you on your first date with him. A convenience store. Where he got you a four-course meal. Which includes, two ramen, kimbap, banana milk, and ice cream as dessert.

It’s not much but it was the best first date you’ve had.

#lee jeno smut #lee jeno x reader #lee jeno #jeno x reader #jeno oneshot #jeno fluff #jeno imagines #NCT Jeno #nct dream smut #nct dream x reader #NCT dream #nct dream imagines

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libraford · 4 years

Text

The short version: We had a serial thief at the flower shop. She’s retired recently and I think that due to Covid she really means it this time.

The long version? hoooo boy, here we go.

This story, and others, are viewable on Tablo

There are rules and there are rules.

In dealing with shoplifting in retail, there are rules on how one engages with a thief. The handbook, if there were one, would consist of a single word.

Don't.

Don't pursue, don't interrogate, don't accuse. Let them take the merchandise, let them get away. Let them return the Cricut machine for an equivalent amount on a gift card to be exchanged once again for drugs.

Let them.

There is no handbook on how to handle Flower Thieves. Prior to working in a flower shop, I never thought that this was a problem.

Life is surprising.

I'm sure some of you have figured that out by now.

The Flower Thief is notorious, and she has a system. There are days when you simply know that she's going to be in.

"Break the heads off the flowers before you throw them away," Grandpa will say. "She's going to be here tonight, I think."

And sure enough, she would be. At 6:45, a quarter til we close- the Thief would announce her arrival. Loudly.

"Heeeeey, baaaaaaby!"

The very first time I encountered the Flower Thief, she came in through the back door.

"Oh Hiiiii, Darlin'- ain't seen your face around here: you must be NEW! I'm Wren, you know- like the bird? Well, Kyle and I have an agreement that I come and work for y'all sometimes. You should take out this trash, it stinks to high heaven. Anyways, nice talkin' to ya, see ya later."

I may only be a little bit psychic, but I've spent enough time around liars to know insincerity when I see it. Kyle, at the time, was the manager of our store and I have it on record that he's tried to throw her out of the building once or twice.

While I was taking out the trash, her pile of purchase became so tall it towered over her. I watched Clark massively undercharge her for the sake of getting her to go away.

She has a pattern.

She comes in during the design classes because she knows that when there's twenty people in the store, there's not enough people to watch her and make sure she's not stealing. "There's a class today," she asks as if it's not literally every Tuesday. "Don't worry I know you all wanna get out of here on time."

The Flower Thief announces her presence in a grand way and then makes her way to the back to grab a trash bag or an empty box and then proceeds to bury any spare parts she finds in the cooler in the trash bag, hiding them under the things that she's actually buying.

After that, she checks the garbage cans for things we might have thrown away that will last another three days and stuffs them underneath her other ill-gotten goods.

Just when you think she's finished, she'll go through her pile of flowers and say: "You know what? I don't need this eucalyptus." And she'll go back into the cooler with it, stuff it in her purse, and walk back to the register.

And when she's all done being sneaky, she asks one of us to come ring her out.

This is the part that no one wants to do. Because ringing out the Flower Thief means haggling with the Flower Thief.

"Oh baaby, you know I don't pay those prices."

"Oh baaaby, I only pay $19 for roses."

"Oh baaaaaaaaaby, those carnations were on special."

She'll talk you down to under $100 with a sob story:

"Oh baaaaby, you know I'm donating this spray to the family. It's for that woman you know- you know the one. She got herself murdered a couple nights ago? Two children and she was pregnant too! Pregnant! Can you believe it? Who murders someone with child? What's the world coming to? So I need a good discount to make sure we treat this family right because they got a looooong road ahead of them."

"Oh baaaaaaby, you know this one's for that car crash over on Cleveland Avenue? I hear he was taking care of his dying father himself, so it's such a shame for him to go first like that."

"Oh baaaaaaaaaaaaaaby, this is for that little boy that shot himself, isn't that sad?"

Thank you, Sister Mary Loquacious.

And you nod because you don't want to come off as an uncaring sociopath. And while you're nodding and adjusting the price for her sad, sad consequence and mulling over how good she is for donating to these people in their time of need, she steals some greens from the trash can and sticks them in her bag.

She hands you crisp $100 bills. You check them and she makes jokes about how she printed them this morning. They're legit. Counterfeiting isn't why she went to prison.

What she went to prison for was drug trafficking.

"Do you need some help," you ask, trying to be a good citizen.

"Oh no, I got it," she insists. "I'll make it in two trips. I'm stronger than I look!"

And don't you dare get caught looking to see what she put in the bag or she will give you one hell of a lecture.

By the time all of this has passed, the class will be over and there will two minutes left in the work day. She's spent thirty-seven minutes in the store. Your register is unbalanced because now you don't have enough small bills to balance it and only have one $100 bill to get you through tomorrow.

And that's why there are rules.

On occasion, a new person will break the rules not knowing that there's rules. One such occasion was when Clair decided to be helpful.

"You know what? I don't need this eucalyptus," Wren said.

"Oh! I'll put it back for you," Clair suggested. And before Wren could protest, it was out of Wren's hands and nowhere near her purse.

It was mentioned to Sage, who only worked for us one summer, that Wren had failed to pay for something and she immediately chased her out into the street.

Wren drives very fast.

If you cross her too many times, she'll make sure you never forget it. One day, she stomped her way in through the front door, angry.

"You ain't treated me better than a damn THIEF," screamed the Flower Thief.

Grandpa, who was helping Blue make a wedding bouquet at the time, departed from the desk. "Beg pardon?"

"A thief! You been treating me like a thief ever since they made you manager and I'm sick of it! I see you bringing in your henchmen, following me in the cooler, chasing me down the street. Treat me with some damn respect."

Words were exchanged. They were not kind. We thought we'd seen the end of her.

But she was back one week later, doing the same damn thing.

So now there are rules.

If you make something and there's an excess of flowers left over from the pack, you have to make something out of the leftovers or she'll pick through them and stuff them in her bag.

If you cannot make something out of them, you must throw them out.

If you throw them out, you must break the heads off first.

The trash cans must be emptied every night before 5:00.

We do not keep trash bags in plain sight.

Break down all empty boxes, or she will use them in place of trash bags.

Do not leave any food or drink where she can find it.

Do not leave any half-used rolls of floral tape where she can find it.

Do not let her know anything about you- lest she use it against you.

If you speak of a Thief, you summon a Thief- speak quietly, and never her name or you invite trouble.

The basic rules one makes when dealing with pests. Or fairy-folk.

There are rules and there are rules and there are rules.

If you want to keep a pest away, you make these sorts of rules. But if you want to get rid of a pest indefinitely, you have to remove their food source. And Wren's food source was her discount.

You start exercising your right to say 'no' to a customer in small ways.

She saw a bunch of carnations in the trash and said:

"Oh baby, these are still good! I'll take them off your hands for you!"

"They've been sitting without water for hours."

"They're still good!"

"They were out in the sun."

"Oh baby, I've been working with flowers for 40 years and I know that these will still be fine for a couple of days!" She picks a bunch of them out of the trash and shoves it in my face. "See, it's still stiff- it's still good!"

"Okay," I said. And before I could stop myself: "Full price."

Her eyes just about popped out of her skull. If it were just a little bit colder, I would have been able to see steam coming out of her ears.

We stared at each other for about a minute, waiting for the other to flinch. She took the bunch away from my face and threw them back into the trash. While she was in the cooler, I took the liberty of snapping the heads off of them and burying them further into the garbage.

And so began a war between the flower shop and the Flower Thief.

She came in: every single night. And each night, she got me.

Again.

"Oh no, baby! These carns are supposed to be 39 cents a stem. I can bring up the email."

"Sure." She brings up the email. "I see that they are 39 cents but... this was for Saturday."

"Yea, and I bought those carns on Saturday and you charged me full price!"

"Saturday."

"Yeah."

"You didn't buy these on Saturday. You bought them Friday."

"Well I didn't know that they'd be on sale, so I need them for that price because I didn't know they'd be on sale."

"The sales are one-day only. I can't adjust a sale from Friday to reflect Saturday's sale... on Sunday."

She made a noise that reminds me somewhat of a cement mixer.

And again.

"I got a bad banner last time, can you print me a new one?" She shows me the banner in question. It's white. The 't' and the 'h' in 'mother' ran together.

"Sure."

"Okay, I need it to say 'Beloved Mother' and I want it in pink."

"Sure."

I print it. I ring her up $5.

"Oh baaaaaaby, no, that one should be free."

"Grandpa said- banners start at $5."

"Oh, but you sold me a bad one last time."

"We haven't sold you a banner in three weeks. How long have y'all had that body sitting in your cooler?"

She grumbled, and paid.

And again.

"I swear you been workin' every night this week! You must be tired," she said, nerves plain in her voice. "When do you get a day off?"

"When the work is done."

"That ain't what I'm askin'. When's your next day off, baby?"

"I stop working when the work is done, Wren."

She narrows her eyes, which is a fun change from them bugging out of her skull like a fruit fly. "You don't ever get any days off?"

"When the work stops, I rest."

And again.

"I'll be in and out, I know y'all want to get out of here on time," she said- announcing her presence to the entire class. She piled her stuff across the register counter and Grandpa began ringing her up.

"Oh baby..."

"No. We're doing away with the discounts."

There are twenty people in the workshop for the class and Grandpa doesn't want to make a scene. She pulls her into the back, and I choose to make my instructions louder to mask the sound of them yelling.

"So you're going to take your hypericum berries and you're going to cut the stem to about ten inches-"

"How can you do this to me?"

"And you're going to slowly fill the vase with these berries to kind of set the shape of the arrangement."

"After all these years and this is how you treat me?"

"Fun fact- you might know hypericum berries as their more common name: St John's Wort! St. John's Wort has been used as a medication for depression prior to modern medicine." You see- I, too, have taken notes from the Chattering Order.

"You can't do this to me," Wren said, stamping her feet like a toddler.

"But I wouldn't recommend eating them. However, they do smell somewhat like baked brown sugar."

Stamp, stamp, stamp.

Wren threw herself into the cooler and began putting a bulk of her flowers back.

"This is robbery," I heard her say to Grandpa at the register.

"Is it now?"

And again.

She came in and immediately reached for a half-empty box of oasis bricks (the green sponge material that we use to hold flowers.) She said few words to me, few at all. She talked to Carrie about how she was going out to the country for awhile, to take care of her nephew's property. She needed to stock up. And oh- don't worry about it, she knows what she's doing. She's part of The Family.

She is in no manner of speaking, a member of The Family that owns this shop. Not even a third cousin.

I saw her beeline for a rose I'd set in the trash. I picked it up, opened my mouth, and bit the head off of it. She stood in the middle of the workshop, absolutely stunned.

Rose petals have the vague texture of arugula, by the way. Slightly sweeter, though. Tough to swallow in one go.

She ran back into the cooler and didn't talk to me.

I began taking down numbers.

27 bricks of oasis. One pack of roses. Ten calla lilies. 1/2 pack of assorted greens.

I punched the numbers in to the register. As if sensing something was amiss, she emerged from the cooler.

"$54? What do I have that's $54?"

"The oasis. They're $2 each."

"Oh no baaaaaby, they're $1."

"I can text Grandpa and ask her."

"... that won't be necessary. Why are you charging me $22.50 for roses? You know my prices by now!"

"22.50 is the price for a pack of roses."

"22.50 is everybody prices."

"Welcome to 'everybody.'"

"I ain't paid a price increase in 7 years!"

"The price of milk went up, Wren. So does everything else."

She was seeing red, I knew it. There's a vein in her forehead that pops out when she's angry and it's the same shape as the river that runs through my home town. She sized me up, as if wondering if she could take me.

I'm 256 pounds of 4H beef, and I have a knife. Try me.

"I'm gonna call Kyle on this."

"Do it." A lifetime of retail has made me immune to 'I'd like to speak to the manager.'

She grumbled and put things back. Carrie offered to watch her, I held up my hand.

"Can you do something for me on these carns? They're the last pack in there and they're lookin' kinda ratty."

"9.50."

"9.50's the regular price."

"Regular price is $14."

"No it ain't."

"Is today. You're taking our last pack and we need those for funerals."

She put them back.

She gave me a credit card. It seemed fake, but it ran. Every time I see here, she's got a different card. Did she print this one this morning, too? At least she stopped trying to sell me on Bitcoin. As you can see, it made her incredibly wealthy.

She gathered her things and left. "Guess I'm getting the rest of my flowers from KROGER!"

There are things you want to say. Like... I hope they enjoy your company just as much as we do. Or: Haven't graced them with your presence in awhile, huh? But at the time, it was better just to watch her leave with her minuscule bunch of flowers. I get a choice in where I loan my voice.

Not here.

Is it over? Nah. She'll be back for another round. But one day she'll finally retire in the way that she's always threatened to. And then? Then it can be as over as it ever will be.

It is shocking to come from a history of retail, where you're not allowed to even hint at the idea of a customer being wrong, where you have to override every single price change to get the scores up, where you have to just let them steal your things and pull the wool over your eyes...

... to flat-out telling someone 'no.'

"No."

It's such a great word.

There are rules and there are rules.

And there are thieves that the rules are made for.

And there are words like 'no.'

And all those things are magic in very human ways.

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nickgerlich · 1 day

Text

Machine Language

It is one of the most contentious of debates hitting retailers and restaurateurs these days. In their attempt to modernize and incorporate technology at every turn, they invariably wind up offending some customers’ sensibilities, as well as confusing those who no have tech savvy.

And then there are people like me who embrace all the change and have no problem using technology to make my life easier, which I am sure also benefits the business. Bring it, please, and hurry.

I could only be talking about self-serve kiosks, the touch screens and self-scanners that cause people to lose their minds over on social media. They fear jobs being lost and all manner of hypothetical ills. Maybe that’s just a cover for their inability to navigate the onscreen menus, but either way, there has been a line drawn in the sand between those who love and those who hate these things.

But a recent report yields a surprising conclusion: They’ve not been nearly as bad as some speculated, and all those fears of job losses simply did not materialize. In fact, by letting customers do the mundane part of the transaction—the ordering—it frees up employees to perform other essential tasks that help improve the customer experience.

The benefits of self-serve kiosks, especially in restaurants, are significant. The service level is consistent, removing the human element. Variability both within and between employees is removed by machines that always pitch the upsell at the precise same moment, and customized for each customer. In fact, with AI, it can be better than humans, because the order can be analyzed up to that point and relevant add-ons proposed that fit what the customer ordered.

It’s much better than just “Would you like fries with that shake?” No, now the machine-driven order taker can notice that you ordered a specific type of sauce to go on your taco, and would you like more?

Although fast food is not my thing, I confess to occasionally stopping at a Taco Bell while on long road trips, because I know that I can get bespoke burritos all courtesy of their kiosks. I can add this, delete that, to a far greater degree than you can do just standing there talking to a human, because the majority of the add-ons aren’t even on the menu. Well, not the one hanging on the wall behind the clerk. I am in and out of there in 10 minutes, and back on the road. Avocado and black beans? Yes, please.

Of course, there are downsides to kiosks. If you replace the human interaction aspect completely, thereby forcing customers to use the machines, there may be pushback. Some people are simply intimidated by them, and require assistance. This slows down the process. And, a study has shown that if there is a line at the machines, the same thing happens as when there’s a line to order with a human: We get cranky and order less. Or walk out.

As for supermarkets and other retailers with self-check kiosks, there is the increased risk of theft. It’s just too easy, especially with savvy thieves who tap the screen such that it thinks you are weighing bananas, but in fact laying a T-Bone steak on the scale, it’s easy to see how stores can wind up losing money.

As for me, I am a huge advocate of the self-serve kiosks. I don’t go shopping for chit-chat. I want to expedite everything. I also like packing my own groceries into my reusable shopping bags. Since I have Walmart+, I can simply scan a QR code when I’m ready to leave, and it charges the card I have on file within the app. Easy peasy. Call me a control freak, but I have this down. You can thank COVID for this. I cut my teeth on the system back then, and am now pro level.

I suspect that line in the sand is also a demarcation between younger and older shoppers, those most open to, and resistant to, change. Ooooh. There’s that word again. I use it a lot in every one of my classes. It’s a generational thing, digital natives versus the geezers who have spent their entire lives trying to keep up with all the changes around them.

It’s understandable, and to be honest, my students, you may very well just be geezers in training. I won’t be around, but please do a self-check—the personal reflection kind—when you hit 65. You may find yourself resisting technology that hasn’t even been invented yet.

Meanwhile, I have to make a Walmart run soon, probably later today. And you know where I will be when it’s time to wrap it up.

Dr “In And Out” Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #self-check #kiosk

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wastelesscrafts · 3 years

Text

INDEX: fast fashion and climate change

Documentaries:

The clothes we wear (Deutsche Welle)

Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (IPCC)

The true cost (Andrew Morgan)

The truth behind fast fashion - Are fashion retailers honest with their customers? (Deutsche Welle)

Fast fashion - The shady world of cheap clothing (DW Documentary)

Burnout: The truth about overwork and what we can do about it (DW Documentary)

Why Big Oil loves to talk about your carbon footprint (DW Planet A)

Why recycled ocean plastic is (often) a lie (DW Planet A)

Planned Obsolescence Sucks. Here's Why It Still Exists. (Our Changing Climate)

H&M and Zara: can fast fashion be eco-friendly? (DW Planet A)

Shipping Emissions: An invisible industry's impact on the climate (DW Planet A)

Your plastic waste might be traded by criminals (DW Planet A)

Video essays:

Tiktok is kind of bad for fashion (Mina Le) (by Sioltach)

These fast fashion brands are greenwashing (Justine Leconte)

A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow (Kate Raworth)

Lies about clothes to unlearn in your twenties (Leena Norms)

Good news and bad news from the IPCC report (Simon Clark)

5 ways to combat eco-anxiety (Going Zero Waste)

Why sustainable brands HATE people like me (Shelbizleee)

The problem with “it’s all been done before” in fashion (Karolina Żebrowska)

Remembering climate change ... a message from the year 2071 (Kim Stanley Robinson)

The ugly truth of fast fashion (Hasan Minhaj)

Lies you're told about climate anxiety in your twenties (Leena Norms)

Why are COP26 climate talks so hyped? (Climate Adam)

Why don't clothes fit??? (Mina Le)

POV: mend my clothes with me (Leena Norms)

Which brands are “fast fashion”? How to tell (in 4 points) (Justine Leconte)

The History of Standardized Sizes in Womens Fashion and Why They FAILED (Nicole Rudolph)

Poor clothes sizing & why your online returns are in landfills (Ash Tanya)

You Don't NEED $300 Worth of SHEIN | Haul Videos and Hyperconsumerism (Ash Tanya)

You're Thinking about Climate Change WRONG! (ClimateAdam)

Why your 'Carbon Footprint' Is A Lie (Climate Town)

Dear Fashion Influencers... Please Stop (The Sustainable Fashion Guru)

Why No One Wins the Fast Fashion Debate (Broey Deschanel)

Fast Fashion Is Hot Garbage (Climate Town)

How to spot greenwashing and why it matters (Ash Tanya)

How to Find Sustainable Clothes/How To Tell If A Brand Is Sustainable (The Sustainable Fashion Guru)

Corporations Don't Care About You (Or The Planet) (Our Changing Climate)

How Old is Fast Fashion? The Truth about the History of Disposable Clothing (Nicole Rudolph)

Why Circle Skirt when you can Circle OUTFIT? (Morgan Donner)

Lies you're told about spending in your twenties (Leena Norms)

You deserve the right to repair your stuff (TED Talk)

FASHION NOVA, ZARA + many more EXPOSED FOR STEALING DESIGNS (Ash Tanya)

Can shipping go green? (ClimateAdam)

Why I low-key hate the "zero waste" movement... (Shelbizleee)

The horrible aftermath of the SHEIN-pocalypse (Salem Tovar)

Your money is cheating on you with the fossil fuel industry (Climate Town)

Brands that you had NO idea owned other brands (Leena Norms)

QUIT fast fashion in your twenties: here's how (Leena Norms)

The evolution of the clothing haul (Amandamaryanna)

Why are Modern High Heels so Bad? (Nicole Rudolph)

Lies to unlearn about making your own wardrobe (Leena Norms)

Podcasts:

Getting in the Loop (Katie Whalen)

South of 2 Degrees (Brian Barnes)

The Climate Question (BBC)

Clotheshorse (Amanda Lee McCarthy)

Fast fashion and standardised sizing (Clotheshorse podcast)

Outrage + Optimism (Christiana Figueres)

Community, sustainability, and politics:

Repair cafés

European Citizens' Initiative

Fit for 55

Fast Fashion Facts: What you need to know (by forgettingfastfashion-blog and solarpunkfairy)

Climate anxiety (by Hope-for-the-planet)

Too Good To Go (food waste app)

Global climate strike (September 2021)

Climate anxiety and hope

Give-away shops

International Repair Day

Planting trees with Ecosia

Big Oil hearing (28/10/2021)

UN Climate Change Conference (COP26)

Fashion Transparency Index 2021

Ban fossil fuel advertising and sponsorships (ECI)

My Climate Future

COP26 results

The "the average american throws away 81 pounds of clothes a year" myth (by Jihaad, Calmanemone, and others)

Shein's labour law violations

Regeneration.org

IPCC sixth assessment report: part 2

World Meteorological Organisation update (9 May 2022)

Earth Overshoot Day 2022

New IPCC report (March 20, 2023)

(If a link has a Tumblr username in brackets behind it, the link leads to a post I reblogged from someone else instead of a post I wrote myself.)

#wasteless crafts #index #masterpost

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dreamwritesimagines · 4 years

Text

Burn The Witch 3 - Ensnared [Bucky Barnes x Reader]

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support and feedback my loves ! ❤ Here’s the next chapter, I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think! ❤ Thank you! ❤❤❤

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, fake dating, mentions of blood, sex, violence, death, manipulation, language, guns.

Summary: Things aren’t always what they seem to be.

Series Masterlist

Finding out that the target you had been assigned to seduce and manipulate for information was actually a good person had its advantages and disadvantages.

For starters, the biggest advantage was that now you could prepare a strategy based on his personality. After all, good people were easier to trick, it was the people like you that would’ve given you a hard time if the roles were reversed. You had been taught to approach everyone with suspicion and pinpoint their weak spots to use against them and as it turned out, Bucky didn’t adapt the same strategy when it came to other people.

The disadvantage? You had no idea how to deal with that.

For years and years you had been trained to kill, lie, manipulate and not look back or feel guilty about any of it because you were told that all your targets were the kind of people that would’ve harmed you or others if they had the chance; so Bucky not being evil was surprising at the very least.

The infamous Winter Soldier hadn’t tried to hurt you when he was under attack, hadn’t tried to use you as a leverage to get out of there unlike what you would’ve done if the roles were reversed.

Needless to say, you were confused as hell.

“I mean when you think about it, it’s not surprising that he’s a good guy,” Chloe said, resting her feet on the table in the empty conference room, “Didn’t he fight against Thanos with Steve Rogers and everyone else?”

“I would’ve fought in that war if I could as well, it doesn’t mean that I’m a good person.”

She pouted, “That’s debatable. I think you’re a great person.”

“No I’m not. I swear to you I’m not.”

“Come on, you don’t give yourself enough credit.”

“If it were me, I would’ve pushed him into the line of fire without a second thought.”

“Exactly. We’re terrible people and we acknowledge that, Chloe.” Keith said as you tapped your pencil on the file,

“Back to the first impression strategy, guys. How do I meet Barnes?”

“Hold on, before we continue with the strategy you need to give me an answer about your cover job,” Chloe said, “We can’t have him suspect you’re hiding anything from him. Jobs are a huge part of someone’s life, it’ll come up.”

Keith raised his head, “What are the options?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Sales assistant, retail—“

“The last time you put me in retail for an undercover job, I ended up punching a customer.” he cut her off, “I vote no to the retail.”

“I’m sure they had it coming,” you deadpanned and Chloe hmmed.

“Fast food?”

“No, it makes my hair smell bad.”

“There’s a milkshake shop I can put you in, it doesn’t smell bad. It’s close to the coffee shop he and Wilson get their coffee from.”

“What’s the catch?”

A small grin pulled at her lips, “It’ll be good for the mission.”

You frowned as Keith sat up straighter, curiosity written all over his face. “Chloe? Share your devious plans with the class please?”

“It’s a retro milkshake shop and the uniforms are like….1940s pin up meets 1950s diner waitress.”

Keith started laughing and you stared at Chloe before letting out a groan, burying your face into your palms.

“I hate you so much.”

“Come on, it’s going to be Bucky Barnes’ wet dream, you know that!” Keith said, “On a completely unrelated note, can I see those uniforms?”

“No!” you snatched the phone from Chloe’s hand before Keith could take a look, “No you can’t!”

“I’m so going to take pictures, and when you become a handler I will use them to humble you.”

“I will shoot you if you do that, and can you please focus?” you insisted, “I have a meeting with General soon, and he will ask me about the strategy and I can’t go there with no ideas.”

“Just find something you and Barnes are interested in both, that never failed me,” Keith paused, “Well that, and my good looks.”

Chloe turned to look at him, “I gave her a huge file containing everything there is to know about him,” she said, “It will help her to make him fall in love, but meeting him is something else.”

“Guys,” he rolled his eyes “What are you, fifteen? It’s incredibly easy to meet people.”

“No, it’s incredibly easy to meet civilians,” you corrected him, “Or the bad guys. It’s not like Barnes goes to bars or anything, he’s not very social.”

“Yeah I get that but he has to do something.” he insisted, “Just hand me the file, are you sure you didn’t miss anything?”

“We didn’t—he does the same thing every superhero does,” Chloe threw her hands up, “He saves people if they’re in need, but how are we going to use that?”

You opened your mouth to answer but when the thought struck you, you took a sharp breath, narrowing your eyes. A smile lit up your face, the plan slowly forming in your mind and Keith frowned at you over the file.

“Y/N you’re smiling,” he reminded you, “It’s creepy when you do it genuinely.”

“He does, doesn’t he?” you asked as you turned to Chloe, “You’re right. Superheroes save people, and—and Barnes is not only a superhero, but he’s also a good guy right? He didn’t use me as a leverage while getting out of there, so he cares about people’s wellbeing, so to speak.”

“Yeah?”

You snapped your fingers, “I need to find someone to shoot me.”

“Same, you’re not special.”

Chloe gasped, “Keith!”

“Relax, she’s not serious.”

“No I’m very serious.”

He scowled, “Did you forget what happened when I accidentally shot you on a mission three years ago? It was just one time and you bitched at me for a whole month. You found me when I was working undercover in Brazil to show up at my apartment so that you could complain about it more, I don’t even know how you found my address, it was classified info.”

“I gave her your address.” Chloe held up a hand and Keith heaved a sigh.

“Thank you Brutus.”

“You had it coming,” you pointed out, “But forget about that for a second, okay? I think I just found our strategy. We’re going to use me as a bait.”

“What?”

“That’s how I’ll meet him. We will put me in a dangerous position and he will…” you tried to ignore the bitter taste at the back of your throat, “He will have to save me.”

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, “He will help you and you will use that to lure him, did I get that right?”

“Exactly,” you grinned, “What better way to manipulate a hero than to give him somebody to save?”

She blinked a couple of times, then turned to Keith.

“Honestly, in times like these I wonder why I’m friends with you guys,” she commented, “Do you have any idea why on earth I’m friends with you?”

He shrugged his shoulders,

“I don’t know,” he said, “Because we’re fun when we’re not diabolical?”

***

The plan was pretty simple, it would look like a robbery gone wrong. You would be accompanied by one of the lower ranking agents who would pose as a robber so that if he got caught while getting away, it would pose no threat to your cover afterwards, not to mention it couldn’t be traced back to you or the operation.

Of course, you had to make sure that Bucky would stay behind and meet you while Wilson chased the bad guy off. Based on your observations on Wilson, saving people always came first rather than punishing the other person, he put the safety of innocents before anything else, so you had to find a way for them to think Wilson was more suitable for the chase.

Motorcycle. The rookie agent would get away on a motorcycle, which would require Wilson to use his wings to gain speed on him.

But God, you just hated playing the damsel in distress.

“I just want to say I’m honored that you picked me for this mission,” the agent was almost buzzing with excitement in the back alley while you waited until Wilson and Barnes was anywhere within hearing distance. “I heard- I heard so much about you Shrike. Ma’am.”

You leaned your back to the wall, crossing your arms.

“Is it true that you once killed a target using just a pencil?” he asked, “Or that you took down five armed people with a dagger?”

You turned your head to look at him better, amusement making you smile.

“Or- or that you can get information out of someone in just five minutes?” he held his breath, “Or that your father-“

“Don’t talk about my father.” You cut him off, the harsh command leaving your lips almost too fast and you felt the slight guilt pulling at your heartstrings before you shook your head.

“You’re a good shot, right?” you asked, “I don’t want to get the bullet stuck in my arm, you’ll just graze me.”

“I’m a great shot ma’am, top of my class.”

“And you need to make it look believable. Remember, if Wilson catches you—“

“He will take me to the nearest police station, and I will stay there until an agent is sent to pick me up. But do you want me to get caught?”

“Try not to,” you shrugged your shoulders “But if he does, don’t worry about it. He has no reason to believe it’s anything more than some mugging.”

His phone beeped and he checked it, then took a deep breath, “Barnes and Wilson are within hearing distance. Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this,” you said and he grabbed his gun, then pointed it at your arm. You cleared your throat, looking over your shoulder before you turned to him and let out a very high scream, probably enough to reach the people nearby. He pulled the trigger and the gunshot echoed through the alley, a burning spreading all over your arm and making you fall to your knees.

“Are you okay?” he stepped closer to you and you tried to catch your breath.

“Go!” you hissed and he ran to the motorcycle before he rode away and as soon as he was out of your sight, Barnes and Wilson ran to the alley and you started sobbing, holding onto your arm which throbbed in pain.

Good news was he was a good shot, and he had managed to only graze you. But considering that your cover was a civilian, you doubted civilians were used to gunshot wounds, so you had to make it dramatic.

“Ma’am?” Wilson rushed to you with Barnes following him and you tried to breathe through sobs.

“Thank God, please help me—“ you sniffled and looked at the other side of the alley, breathing fast, “He took my wallet, and-and he had a motorcycle…”

“On it. Buck, stay with her.” Wilson said and ran out of the alley as Barnes crouched down to your level while you kept panting, your knees pulled to your chest, leaning back to the wall.

“Hi,” he smiled at you softly and you took a trembling breath, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“Hello,” you managed to say as he stole a look at your arm before his eyes snapped back to yours.

“I’m Bucky,” he said, “What’s your name?”

“Y/N.”

“Can I look at your arm, Y/N?”

You pursed your lips together, pretending to consider it before you raised your hand so that he could see the graze on your upper arm. He furrowed his brows for a moment, and carefully lifted your arm to see it better under the street lights while you sniffled again.

“Am I—am I going to die?” you stammered and he let out a small chuckle.

“No,” he said, “No you won’t. It’s just a graze, it doesn’t even look like it’ll need stitches. I promise.”

“But how do you know?”

“Let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of arm injuries.”

You tried to keep the look of confusion on your face before you slowly averted your gaze from him to his metal wrist and you gasped, your jaw dropping as if you were distracted from the pain.

“Bucky? As in Bucky Barnes?” you asked, “Wait, no. Right? Can’t be.”

A look of regret flashed over his face, apparently he thought that would scare you but lucky for you, you had seen it coming while coming up with a strategy.

“I heard about you!” you said, “You fought against Thanos!”

He was taken aback at the fact that you didn’t accuse him of anything his head was obviously swarming with, and that would be the one thing you could base your whole plan on.

In order to make him fall in love with you and trust you, you had to act like you trusted him, act like you had little to no knowledge of the dark side of his past. Naïve civilian girl with a soft heart was the perfect cover because as far as you could tell from his file, Bucky Barnes just wanted to come back home from war.

He had been looking for something he could call his home for decades now and you’d let him believe you were his home until your orders told you otherwise.

“That’s it?” he asked when you didn’t continue and you pulled your brows together.

“Hm?”

“That’s all you…all you wanted to say?”

“Right—” you took a deep breath, “Right, I’m sorry. Thank you for all you’ve done, for saving the world.”

“No no, I didn’t mean—“ he stopped himself, “That wasn’t what I meant. Trust me, you shouldn’t be thanking me.”

“Well I am though,” you winced when you moved your arm before turning your head to check the dark alley “Bucky? Do you… do you think that robber would come back?”

“Sam’s got it covered.” he assured you, “Don’t worry. He’s not getting away, and he’s definitely not coming back here.”

“Okay.” You murmured and wiped at your eye again with the back of your free hand before you clutched at your arm again, a sob tearing itself from your chest. “God, it just—it hurts so bad...”

He shushed you gently, “I know it does sweetheart. Let’s get you to the hospital so that it will stop hurting, alright?”

Ah.

Even by 40s standards, sweetheart was a good sign.

You shook your head, “But I can’t go to the hospital.”

“Why not?”

“I’m on a budget.”

He blinked a couple of times, “Come again?”

“I don’t have enough money for the hospital. I’m sure if I put a band aid on it or something it’d work, you said it wouldn’t need stitches and there’s a pharmacy right around the corner you see—”

“That’s not how bullet wounds work, let’s go.” He helped you up but you stumbled into him, letting him catch you as you looked up at him.

“I apologize, I just feel dizzy…” you said and he smiled softly.

“Don’t worry about it,” his voice was soothing, “You think you can walk? I can carry you.”

“No I can—I can walk,” you stammered and let him lead you out of the alley, his arm wrapped around your waist tight before he looked down at you.

“You’re shaking,” he murmured to himself, then he took off his jacket to put it over your shoulders. You pulled the oversized jacket tighter around you, brushing the sleeve over your forehead to push back your hair and only when he turned to stop a taxi you let a tiny smirk pull at your lips despite the throbbing on your arm.

Well, your superiors were going to be pleased. The first part of the mission was done.

Now all you had to do was make him fall in love with you.

Chapter 4

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #marvel #the falcon and the winter soldier #falcon and the winter soldier #bucky barnes imagines #marvel imagine #marvel imagines #the winter soldier #the winter soldier x reader #tfatws #fatws

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deleteddewewted · 3 years

Note

Hello! How are you, and I have a request if you wish to do it. So I was thinking of a College AU with Shinsou working there as a part-time employee, then one day fem! reader comes in and at first he is like “Pfft whatever” but then he brings dropping his tsunade behavior and beings growing soft for her while he got to know her and he has seen her rescue a kitten in which he asked to help co-parent their child. He is doing it to get to know her more because he fell for her, but she is a bit oblivious when it comes to ✨feelings✨. I thought this would make a cute HC/ Drabble, however you wish to do it, of how their relationship began to bloom at the local coffee shop.

AAAAHHHH!!!! YES!

Happy Birthday to Shinsou Hitoshi!💜

The most adorable, handsome, and overall best purple headed boy on the show (Fuck off Mineta).

To Take Care of a Stray: Shinsou Headcanons

Barista! Shinsou x F! Reader

FLUFF

As any college student would tell you, cheap caffeinated drinks were a must.

Coffee specifically was a must.

Shinsou was honestly debating if he needed his 3rd cup of coffee that morning or if he could just wing it and go on with an empty tank.

He procrastinated when it came to his assigned project, plus his project partner ditched him, so he was practically all alone figuring his shit out.

And thats how he found himself working at his local coffee shop.

He hated every single customer that would come in at any hour of the day that he work on.

They all demanded his attention and honestly, some days he wished he could just scream in their faces that "No, i don't give a fuck about your pet bird speaking back to you. I'm only here to make you your coffee and take your money."

The cheap coffee was worth it though, so he keeps the complaining to a minimum.

Retail is honestly a "no reward" type of job. The amount of entitlement that some people have baffles him at times.

Around his second year in college he ends up working the late shift to make some extra cash. It also meant less people coming in and demanding an overly complicated drink. Score!

The sound of the rain pouring down helped calm his nerves and allowed him to relax for moment before the door of the shop swung open.

"Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to do that." The first time you walked into the shop you accidentally pulled the door with too much force that it ended up slamming into the wall.

Shinsou immediately didn't like you.

Who the fuck was this woman?

You went up the counter and told him your order taking out your money and handing it to him.

Clean and simple. Nothing special.

Then you came back again a few days later. That really fucked with him.

Most customers came in and never bothered to talk to him. He wanted their money while they wanted the shitty coffee they sold. Easy, right?

Nope, not with you apparently. You came in and asked about his day, how his studies were going, and if anything interesting happened in the shop.

He would respond with brief answers and immediately ignored you afterwards.

You were just so annoying.

..Ok, maybe not.

You were funny, the way you fumbled and played it off as you being intentional.

The way your mouth would widen into a smile anytime he spoke back to you.

You weren't overly energetic, nor overly happy. You were just nice, nice to him.

He wasn't use to that.

You fascinated him just because you existed and he wanted to learn more about you.

He got his chance on the 5th time you came in.

You usually came in at a specific time, always when there was barely any customers, but today you didnt' show up at all.

He wont admit it but he got concerned and would keep looking at the clock on the wall and back to the door of the coffee shop.

When you finally came in, you had scratches on your hand and on your cheek.

"What the fuck happened to you?" He leaned onto his hand that was placed on the counter top. His body relaxed and only showed boredom.

In reality he was terrified, you had scratches on your hands and red streaks too. Why?

"Oh, i was just- i fell into a bush." You gave him a smile that made his heart flutter and legs go weak.

He was so happy he was leaning on the counter because he hadn't he would have fallen onto the floor.

Your smile just had that affect on him.

"How stupid can you be? Look were your going next time."

"Aww, thanks sir!"

Good mood was gone. He told you not to treat him like your friend, thats not what you both are.

...But he really hated that you took that very literally and didn't bother to at least call him by his last name.

"Hmm." He gave you your usual and answered the questions you had for him that day.

You started to come in 4 times a week and every time you did he would notice new scratches on you.

The scratches weren't that bad, he thought maybe you were one those "adventures" types, but the red marks were concerning him.

When he would ask you about them you always had a different excuse for them.

"My backpacks straps are bit rough."

"I placed my arm wrong on the table"

It was this or that but never a concrete answer.

It was happening every time you came in so something had to be wrong.

He gathered up the little cuarage he had and decided to ask you what you were doing.

"Why do have so many scratches on you?" You werent expecting him to be so blunt but you happily told him to meet you after his shift at the nearby alleyway.

He was suspicious of you but he was also curious, he desperately needed answers because the concern for your wellbeing was getting to be too much for him.

He followed your instructions and walked towards the alleyway you directed him to.

When he turned the corner he saw the most beautiful scene in the world.

You were surrounded by cats...and you were giving them food.

He could die happily then and there.

"W- this is why you show us with scratches all over you!?" You nodded but got up and walked over to a cardboard box that was tucked under a bigger box.

You told him to follow and when he crouched down to see what was in it he saw two huge eyes staring back at him.

"You've been- this little thing is the reason for your scratches?"

"Yep!"

He laughed at you and helped you feed all of the cats.

When the two of you finished up, you picked up the box that the small kitten was tucked in and gave it a pat on the head.

"What are you going to do with the kitten?" Shinsou asked you.

"Well, i wish i could take it with me but i don't think i'd be able to take care of it since i work early in the morning and have classes late at night."

Shinsou's mind started planning.

He really liked you and wanted to be around you more often.

Shit, if he was brutally honest he had a crush on you.

"Well, i have classes early morning while i work at night. So...why don't we co-pa-... i mean co-care for the little guy?" He knows his ears were red, he knows his face was starting to turn red as well.

But he wasn't about to admit that he really wanted you to say "yes".

"Uh, ok. Sure!"

Shinsou was over the moon with this and it was all going so perfectly as well.

The kitten would spend the mornings with you and in the afternoons the two of you would meet up to take care of it together.

You both decided to name the kitten Mieko.

""Beautiful blessing child", thats a cute name! Why do you want to call him that?"

"Because...i want to- y-you idiot. Stop asking so many questions!" You just laughed at him and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Shinsou melts.

Shinsou would bring the kitten with him to work since his boss had a soft spot for animals.

Imagine how exited he was when you first invited him into your own apartment.

"You have your own place? Color me impressed."

"Thanks Shin." Shinsou blushed a little at the nickname. It had been over a month that you both agreed to take care of the kitten together.

The more time he spent with you the more he fell.

"I hope you like the umm...book." This was another thing that started after the two of you began to co-parent the kitten. He would bring you gifts and act like it meant nothing.

Reality is that he was courting you.

He expected you to make a comment on his gifts but you glossed over them like nothing.

It was getting on his nerves.

"Aah, hey. Do you want to take Mieko out for a walk...again."

"Was that a question or a demand?" You laughed at him

You made it look easy with how much you make him blush.

The more time you both spent with each other, the more Shinsou realized he was truly in love with you and wanted you to be by his side.

But he was facing a problem. You.

You wouldn't pick up on the hints he was dropping on you. His interest on you.

So one day he decides to just tell up upfront if you would like to go on a date with him.

"Hey Shin, do you want to go on a date with me?"

Shinsou. exe has stopped operations

"W-wha-"

"I'm joking buddy! But seriously do you want to go out to eat? I think Mieko would-"

"W-WHaT!? F-fuck no!" That upset you because you thought he might like free lunch.

"You could've just said no." He was losing you, again.

Fuuuuuuuck!!!!!

"N-no wait! What i wanted to say was umm, would you like to go out with me? Like a date! N-not like friends."

You both just stared at each other for a moment, the silence only making the situation worse.

"...Sure."

Mieko, your child, just blinked at the two of you.

"These two ridiculous humans are my parents, great." At least this lead to Shinsou moving in with you and Mieko having a permanent home now.

Double the pats for the two new people in your home, double the purring sounds, double the angry and grouchy cats begging for your attention.

Who wold trade this? You got to cuddle with the two most adorable people in this world.

"I'm not fucking adorable Y/n!"

"Shush Toshi or you're not getting cuddles and kisses."

"....fine."

#shinsou x y/n #shinsou hitoshi #shinsou x reader #shinsou x female reader #bnha shinso x reader #mha shinso x reader #shinso x you #shinsou hcs #mha shinsou #bnha shinsou #mha shinsou hitoshi #bnha shinsou hitoshi #shinsou hitoshi x reader #mha #bnha #mha headcanons #asks

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atlafan · 3 years

Text

Juvenile and Family Law, is it something that a kid dreams of practicing? No, not really. Is that where the big bucks are if you’re not interested in taxes and wills? Yes, it is. College is expensive, and so is law school; gotta pay it off somehow. It takes a while to build your clientele, a lot of it is word of mouth. You work your way up, and slowly but surely, build a good reputation for yourself. And if you’re lucky, you’ll make partner.

Harry Styles is good at his job, and is on the brink of making partner at his firm. Gallagher, Hilson & Associates Family Law is a great place to work. Isaiah Gallagher and Maria Hilson are two incredible lawyers, and the other associates Harry works with aren’t too bad either. He doesn’t always love working nearly sixty hours a week, and some of the cases he handles have caused him to see the bottom of one too many bottles, but other than that, he’s happy.

Family Law means working all kinds of cases. Custody, spousal support, paternity, and divorce. All of those cases are messy, rarely are they clean cut. Harry happens to specialize in divorce, which in turn can lead to all of the other things listed above. What’s worse is that a lot of his clients will often flirt with him, so he’s started to wear a fake wedding band to ward off any and all inappropriate behavior. It doesn’t happen every time, but it was often enough that he decided to find a way to just avoid the unwanted attention.

Due to how many hours he works a week, Harry’s social life is a little lackluster. By the time he gets home work, all he wants to do is kick his shoes off, plop down on the couch with some greasy Chinese food, and catch up on some television. He lives in a nice enough building in the city. His apartment has one bedroom, and one and half baths. On Friday nights, he’ll go out with some of the other associates for a drink, so he gets a bitof social time in. He’s not lonely, he actually quite enjoys the quiet and solitude. He’s got a cat, Gerry, short for Geraldine that he takes care of. He has what he needs, and he’s perfectly content.

Whenever he dates, people always want to talk about his work. The last thing Harry wants to talk about after a long day at work, is more work. So, he sticks to meaningless hookups, and his own hand, when he needs that type of release.

He doesn’t have too much to complain about. He’s thirty, and massively successful. Some of his friends still live at home while working retail jobs, not that he’s judging. He was twenty-six when he moved out, and he’s grateful his parents let him stay rent free so he could save up for his own place. He doesn’t like to compare himself to others, but it makes him feel good to know he’s all set. He works hard, yes, but it’s all worth it.

With how quiet his personal life is, it’s hard to imagine Harry being a shark in the courtroom, but he is. He’s a master in the art of persuasion and rhetoric. Having been a communication major in his undergrad career, and all. He knows how to read a room, and how to read people. The jury is just an audience waiting to watch a live performance. His theater minor also comes in handy here. Being a lawyer is an act, a role he plays. He knows how to play the part when it’s in a large courtroom, or when it’s just a small meeting in a conference room to divide up assets. It’s not always easy, but he makes it look that way. Harry typically wins most of his cases, and when it’s something small, he’s usually able to get his client the majority of what they asked for. Every customer leaves happy.

These skills can’t all be taught and learned. Some people are born with natural talent, skills they learn to hone in on and perfect. It’s a craft that Harry has worked on for years. Again, he’s only thirty, but because he has such precision and talent, it makes him the hot commodity. The office is constantly getting calls for him. It’s why they want him to become the next partner. Having his name on the plaque as you enter would surely put people at ease. Isaiah and Maria saw potential in Harry from the beginning, and they feel lucky that he’s one of their associates.

There other very qualified associates as well, like Niall – who specializes in custody cases – he’s well on his way up. There’s Candice – who specializes in prenuptial agreements – she got into the lawyer game a little later in life, but she’s as sharp as a whip, and shouldn’t be underestimated. And lastly, there’s Byron – who specializes in paternity cases – he thinks he’s going to be the next partner because he’s a bit full of himself.

Harry and Niall are the closest in age, so they hang out more often. They both really like baseball, and will go to a game or two during the season. Candice is the surrogate mother figure. She has no children of her own, she’s the fun aunt to her nieces and nephews, but she feels oddly maternal towards Harry and Niall. The boys often call her “Ma”, instead of her actual name, and she loves it. She looks out for them, and there when they need someone to listen. She’s fifty-seven, and enjoys baking in her free time. She often brings the boys homemade muffins on Monday mornings, and they adore her for it.

Byron…well…Byron is a forty-year-old womanizer who totally clashes with Harry. Does Harry have one-night stands? Yes. Does he ever lie to his partners? No. Byron enjoys playing the game in all facets, and Harry never takes part in it. Needless to say, Harry hates when he has to partner with him on a case, and avoids it when he can.

Isaiah and Maria each have their own executive assistant, or para: Michele and Kyla. They’re both in their late twenties, and rocking it. Harry only interacts with them over email. He, Candice, Niall, and Byron all share the same administrator: Ronnie. Ronnie is twenty-six, friendly, and organized. She doesn’t have time to help everyone on their briefs, but that’s what interns are for, and there’s an abundance of them circling throughout the office.

Harry has a nice office. Plenty of natural light from the windows, he has a desk riser so he can stand up periodically, and he even has his own mini fridge. (He’s often paranoid about people taking his Bubbly, so he just brought in his own fridge.) He’s got a decent enough view of the city; he likes it best at night when the twinkling lights come through. It reminds him of how lucky he is to be where he is in life. He knows he’s more fortunate than others, so he tries to be grateful. He gives back when he’s able, donate to different scholarship funds and whatnot.

Harry is a good man.

On a particularly cloudy morning, Ronnie lets Harry know his 10AM consult has arrived. He didn’t know much about his new potential client, but he was always willing to hear someone out. He stands up from his desk, and waits for the woman to enter.

In walks a young woman wearing an expensive, red pantsuit, black heels, and a dark red lipstick. She gives a soft smile to Ronnie before she closes the door. Harry walks over to her, extending his hand.

“Hi, I’m Harry.”

“Mira.” She shakes his hand.

“Please, have a seat.” He gestures to the two seats on the other side of his desk and they both sit. “What brings you to my office today?”

“I heard you’re a pretty good divorce lawyer, and I need a divorce.”

“Is your spouse aware that you’re seeking counsel?”

“No.” She shakes her head and swallows. “I…I’d be putting myself in danger if he knew I wanted to leave him.”

“What kind of danger? If he’s physically abusive, then you need to- “

“He doesn’t put his hands on me like that. It’s…I don’t love him, and I never have. I was essentially…I was sold to him; it was an arranged marriage. I thought maybe I could learn to like him, to love him, but it’s been three years, and I can’t stand him. I need legal help.”

“What do you mean you were sold to him? Were you a child bride? Were you sex trafficked?”

“No.” She chews on her bottom lip. “He made a deal with my father. Thomas got me in exchange for…something. I can’t get into what exactly with you just yet.”

“Does he think you’re happy?”

“Yes.” She nods. “Well, for the most part. I do my thing, and he does his. His job keeps him pretty busy, and I often pretend to be asleep when he gets home. He doesn’t satisfy my needs, so to speak, and I’ve given up on trying. I want to be freed from him.” She pulls out a packet of paper from her purse, and gives it to Harry. “That’s a copy of the contract he and my father signed when they made the deal. I’m not great with legal jargon. I thought maybe if you decide to take me on you could look that over and tell me if there’s any way, I can get out of this.”

“Are you over eighteen?”

“Yes, well over.”

“And were you over eighteen when you were married?”

“Yes.”

“Then how could your father barter you?”

“Where I come from…it can just be like that. The goods we get in exchange for my hand outweighed my happiness.”

“I’m so sorry.” Harry frowns. “My services aren’t exactly cheap.”

“I wouldn’t expect them to be. I can pay top dollar, if that’s what you require. I have money of my own.”

“Alright.” Harry sets the packet of papers onto his desk. “I’ll take a look at that soon, and give you a call.”

“Does that mean you’re taking me on?”

“I hate to see such a nice person be so unhappy.” Harry frowns. “I got into this business to help people, so I’ll help you, Mira.”

“Oh, thank you so much.” She smiles. “There are going to be some things in that contract that may shock you, so please don’t hesitate to call me directly with your questions.” She takes out a business card from her purse. “There’s all of my contact information. If anyone other than myself contacts you regarding all of this, don’t say a word.”

“Don’t worry, I’m good at keeping things confidential.”

“I heard you’re a very trustworthy attorney.” She nods, and stands to her feet. Harry does the same. “Thank you for taking the time to listen.” She extends her hand, and he takes it to shake.

“Of course, it’s what I’m here for.” He smiles and opens the door. He watches her leave, maybe for a little too long.

[DARK SIDED, COMING TO PATREON ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2ND @ 8AM EST] [Ask]

#dark sided #teaser #harry styles #harry styles au #harry styles imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfic #harry styles x oc #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst #sub!Harry #lawyer!Harry

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