#and i have to call or send emails to her secretary so she can send me more prescription but still i have to do this like 2/3times at least

[quemirabobo]

Most stupid part of having chronic illness are prescriptions, like "hi Dr, I'm here again because guess what? I still need my chronic meds, shocking I know, please can you give me prescriptions with different months so instead of bothering you and losing my time coming here or writing you I just go and buy more?" And they look you in the eye and said some shit like "next appointment it's in 6 months!" while giving you a prescription with one month worth of meds

[lovelyiida]

KATSUKI BAKUGO X SECRETARY READER • A 500 FOLLOWERS SERIES!

❥ SYNOPSIS: as the years passed, Bakugo came to the realization that he was the last among his class to tie the knot. As the days grew colder, and the nights became lonelier. Bakugo finds the desire to get married, but he doesn't really feel like falling in love. At least he has his trustee secretary!

implied fem reader, aged-up! Pro-hero MHA characters over the age of 27, vulgar language, suggestive wording and content

❥: CHAPTERS

❥ MASTERLIST

❥ JOIN TAG LIST!

WORDS: 4.3K

PS: Please let me know if you have filled out the tag form since the last update so I can keep up to date!!

CHAPTER 8: VULNERABILITY

PHASE 2: CONSOLE

“Beady-eyed, dog-mannered, dimwad!”

Headline, headline, headline!

PRO-HERO DYNAMIGHT EXPLODES IN ANGER DURING INTERVIEW

[unreleased footage from Pop! Magazine spreads like wildfire!]

Over 3 million views, and 10 thousand shares.

Since the dawn of the moon, you have been repeatedly refreshing the page. Each and every comment was scanned with frantic-fast movements. Relishing in this whole interview fiasco from the comfort of your queen-sized bed, you moaned in anguish.

Your face became increasingly hot as you read the comments with your third glass of wine in hand. As much as you thought the comments would be demeaning to the pro-hero, the exact opposite happened!

[COMMENT] Did you see how he took up for his secretary? Omg, that was so hot.

• 45k likes • 216 shares

[COMMENT] The way he took her hand going off the set!!!!

• 78k likes • 12k shares

[COMMENT] Oh god, send me a man like Dynamight…

• 57k likes • 2k shares

[COMMENT] Bro there’s no way they aren’t fucking

• 180k likes • 3.8k shares

Of course, that’s the top comment.

Staring at your computer, you tried hard to fathom the situation you were now slapped into. The video of you and Dynamight has gone viral, and everyone now suspects that you two are in a relationship.

And they're not entirely wrong...

Despite your late-night attempts to contact the fiery hero, your calls went straight to voicemail and your texts went unanswered. Letting out a large sigh that was once trapped in your chest, you had no choice but to sit there and let the bomb explode. And await the absolute nuke that was urging to be dropped at the office.

Staring at the messages you sent Dynamight, you scowled. “Flashy piece of carbon fiber pants thinks he’s the shit and can just ignore my messages? Leaving me to the wolves once again!” you shouted in anger. You threw your phone to the end of your bed and buried yourself in your plush duvet. Your throat becomes tight as your eyes are welled with tears.

“I’m gonna teach you, Dynamight, to never fuck with me or any other secretary again.”

The pattern of clicking heels and bustling conversations filled the office today. Usually, the bleak energy of Dynamight's office could be caught with little to no attention. But the sight you’ve seen today was out of the ordinary.

“The printers are down; just send emails!”

“Has anyone been in contact with Pop Magazine? They’re completely blocking our calls!”

“God damn it, I need a raise!”

The chitter-chatter amongst your coworkers is at an all-time high. As you started to quicken the pace of your steps around the office, scowls and stares were slapped across your face. Stepping foot by foot, you reach the bathroom and hide in the nearest stall.

The door bursts open before you can even think about taking another breath. “Can you believe Dynamight fired Hitomi and Sakura for telling the truth? I mean, the whole floor has seen the video! Even Red was speechless.” A woman says her friend snickers at her remark before chiming in.

 “I’d like to see little miss Secretary say something now; she’s not beating the slut-cretary allegations at this point–”

You didn’t know what came over you at the moment, but your feet began to move before your mind could comprehend what the actual fuck was going on. Slamming the stall open, you watch the two women flinched at your action. Eyes going wide, they stare into your soulless eyes, filled with an incomprehensible anger that you didn’t know was held within you.

“First off, let’s get one thing straight right now.”

You said it flatly, closing the stall behind you. You walked up towards the duo and closed in on them. “Me and Dynamight are not a thing; have you ever taken into consideration that I’m the only person who’s in charge of this man's reputation and career, as we both fucking know it?”

"So, of course, I’ll be hip-and-hip with the brute. Do you think I want that man in that play-pen he calls a fucking office? Oh please, Dynamight needs my ass because he can barely keep his head on every second of the day. So just maybe, we should all realize how valuable I am to all of your lives!”

“Because I know that if I wasn’t here, this building would be in flames, man-made or not.”

You spoke sternly with each huff of your breath, and the two women in front of you were left speechless. Your frown soon curled into a small twitch of a smirk before you spoke once more. “So excuse me for needing to be spoken up for. You bitches, have a nice day.”

Without looking back, your feet trailed confidently out of the boss battle that was the ladies' room and straight toward Dynamight's office. With each harsh click of your heels, you stepped closer to the office, your frown stuck and growing deeper by the second. Your coworkers took into account the drastic shift in your demeanor. From shy and outspoken to confident and ten cans of bitchy.

Without thinking twice, you throw the door open with a small huff and walk into the domain of the pro-hero. Closing the door softly, you turn at your heel and scowl at Dynamight. His amber eyes burn back at you with an almost unamused look, unphased by the absolute chaos ensuing beyond the Acia wood door.

“So what? Are we just going to ignore what the press is saying about us?” You said flatly.

“I ignored your annoying ass text messages pretty much the same way,” he snapped back slyly.

This asshat.

As you stormed towards his desk, you slammed your hands against it with a loud slap that made your palms sting. “Is it possible for you to actually talk about the issue and not be a fucking brat?” You spat with anger.

Dynamight's laidback/unbothered exterior soon crumbles in slow motion. From sitting back in his seat, he approaches you with a smooth motion, his eyes glowing amber-red as his elbows land on said desk. Looking straight into your eyes, a devilish smirk etches across his face.

“Say that again for me, Y/N; go ahead.”

Faces close to one another, you could feel the heat radiating off of the hero. You frown at his attempt at intimidation, snapping your eyes away for a single millisecond before you feel a strong, warm grip on your face.

“No, don’t look away now, pretty. Say what you just said to me again. Since you have all the audacity in the world today,” he said with amusement oozing from his tone. You groaned at the sensation of his hand gripping your face, swallowing down your fear. You spoke once more.

“I said, Man up, brat.”

A long-standing pause settles over the room as his gaze burns into your eyes. Suddenly, Dynamight stands up with one swift move. The blonde removes his hand from your face, you moan in anguish at the fade of his unsettling grip and stare into the blonde's eyes once more.

You watch as the hero points his finger at himself with a mischievous smirk,

“You wanna see a brat? I’ll show you a fucking brat!”

He brushes past you and storms out of the room. Shouting your name for you to follow, you quickly turn to follow in blood-curdling anger. You knew he was a pro and all, but there’s a statistic that for every 1 out of 5 chances, a villain can take a perfect hit at a hero of his caliber.

So you might take a chance and strike him at his weak point…

Preferably somewhere in the lower region.

You watch as Dynamight calls for an emergency meeting, calling for all staff to be in attendance. All staff from each agency scurry behind his steps, and even Red Riot follows suit. He tries to calm the hero down, but his efforts fail.

As the workers sat swiftly to hear the beloved hero's comments, your heart began to beat a new rhythm as the truth dawned on you about what you dreaded would happen next.

"So, I believe we all understand why we're in here. So let's address some rumors and set them to fuckin’ rest."

A sudden pang of fear hits your chest and seeps into your body as you hear the words fall off Dynamight's tongue and through the audience of your coworkers. Eyes scan the room until your eyes fall upon a certain red-headed main in the back towards the exit.

Letting out a soft exhale of relief, you speed your way toward Red Riot.

“Red!” You spoke aloud as you gained the attention of the other pro hero. His eyes snap towards you and he points towards his beloved partner in utter confusion. “What the hell is happening now?” He exasperates in exhaustion.

“He’s having a hissy fit because he can’t handle when the public negatively views him–”

“Negative?” He interrupted. You roll your eyes and raise your hands, completely giving up on the situation playing in front of you. “Dude bumped up 10 ranks in public favor, what the hell could he be upset for?” Red Riot spoke in confusion.

Holding your briefcase towards your chest, you sigh at the current baby of the hero stabbing daggers into your form.

“I…I’m not sure.”

As the assembly room filled up, every person in their seat watched attentively as they awaited the hero's urgent message. The blonde clears his throat before groggily shoving them in his pants. Silently pacing back and forth the head of the room with slow steps, eyes still trained onto you.

“I know what everyone is thinking to themselves, why the fuck are we here? Well, I need to address some petty rumors that are going on in the concrete hellscape.”

“All Might save us…” Red Riot groaned quietly as he watched in secondhand embarrassment at the Blondes' stunts.

"If you think me and my secretary have a romantic relationship, I'm afraid you're damn wrong.”

“Don’t listen to what I might’ve said in the past, or what I’ve said in the present. It ain’t true.”

Blah blah blah, blop blop blop.

You swore you could’ve seen physical bullshit fly out of his mouth.

“To prove this…I’m happily engaged!” The hero boasts confidently to the crowd of his workers. Shoving his right hand out of his pocket and out towards the expecting crowd. A diamond-banded ring shone brightly in the bright haze of corporate lighting.

Then, in a moment both shocking and surreal, Dynamight seizes the attention of the room with a declaration that sends ripples of astonishment through the assembled crowd. With a brashness that borders on audacity, he confronts the swirling rumors head-on, his words cutting through the murmurs like a lightning bolt.

In the sudden hush that follows, the truth is laid bare, raw, and unfiltered. The bombshell revelation of your engagement sends shockwaves through the room, leaving jaws agape and minds reeling. Eyes widen in disbelief as whispers erupt, spreading like wildfire among the stunned onlookers.

Yet, amidst the chaos, Dynamight stands undaunted, his demeanor unwavering despite the tempest of reaction he has incited. His confidence radiates as he confronts the storm of speculation with a rare candor, unapologetic in the face of scrutiny.

Calm within the midst of the business casual storm.

As for you, on the other hand, you could only think of one thing to do in this situation. Your feet rush towards the blonde with a speed never before seen, and your hand flies back as far as possible before landing a seething slap on the hero’s cheek.

Dynamight lets out a gasp of shock (and so does everyone else in the room) at your hit. You stood in front of the hero for only a moment before rushing out of the room and straight out of the office.

And now what was left of you was your body sulking under your covers once more. Leaving you to pick up the pieces of your self-worth once more.

You should consider just giving up, calling off the engagement, and leaving the industry for the rest of your life. A soulless desk job would be better than whatever the fuck this reality is right now.

So much for that speech in the ladies' room...

You tried hard to care for and take up for the hero you worked for, but at times like this, your vendetta only grew stronger. And the more your sister became right. But there's a voice in the back of your head that is somewhat empathetic for the hero.

Look at his family, for All Might’s sake!

An overprotective bitch for a mother, and an emotional father with no backbone.

(it’s okay for men to show their emotions!!!)

Of course, that would create a man with a lack of emotions and a soul-crushing ego to overcompensate for it.

Of fucking course!

Sighing into your pillow, you could only fantasize about the words you’d want to say to that man right now. 

“Tight pants, brazen-boned, bastard.” You grit your teeth together, as the words only make you angrier. “Beady-eyed, dog-mannered, dimwad!” You throw your blankets off your body and jump out of bed. Rushing towards the kitchen, you grab the fridge handle and swing the door open.

“Fuck!”

No beer.

Huffing out a defeated sigh, you eye the clock on the counter. It read 11:45.

Licking your lips, you ponder as you stare at the fridge and back at the clock. You might as well go out for a walk to cool some steam off. Shuffling over to your coat rack, you lazily threw on a hoodie and some slides. Grabbing your purse and your keys, you open the door to your apartment.

Rummaging in your purse for some convenience store coupons, you continued on your slew of words. “I bet he’s not even a real blonde, just a poser of a man-baby–”

“Hah?”

Eyes snapping wide from the voice, you jump back in shock as you see the man of the hour.

“What the hell are you doing here, Dynamight? Do you know what time it is?” You exclaimed in shock, mouth twisted down into a frown. You stared down at the blonde in anger and in utter embarrassment. Looking down further, you noticed he had a couple of bags in his hands.

Beer and chicken?

“Let me in, we need to talk.”

You scoff at the man's words as you throw your purse over your shoulder. “As if, do you know how you embarrassed me and you today?” You spoke with venom at the hero. Dynamight rolls his eyes before he speaks once more, “If it makes you feel any damn better, I made them all sign NDAs.”

You stare at the hero once more in confusion, and he stares back…unwavering in his actions.

“Okay, sure, do whatever you think will place a bandaid over this whole shit show for all I care.” Placing your hands on your hips, you watch the pro hero step towards you. “Yeah? Well, it's a pretty strong bandaid.”

You hum back in response before the both of you fall into silence. The both of you gazed at each other awkwardly, before tearing your gaze away. A light blush warms your face which makes you look down once more. Looking at the bags of fried chicken and beer, you look at Dynamights hand…

His engagement ring is still on!

“You idiot!”

Frantically looking around the outside of your apartment, you turn back and quickly open the door. You then hold the hero by the collar before shoving him inside. He follows suit with a grunt before shutting the door behind him.

“What the hell is your problem?” He cursed at you.

“My problem? My problem is that you come out to my doorstep late at night bearing a peace offering with your ring on, shining brighter than ever! Fuck-face!” You cursed back. This makes the blonde smirk at your complaint.

“If you think someone is watching us, then you’re pretty late to the party,” he chuckles.

“W-what?” you stuttered in anxiety, breaking from his gaze. You locked the doors and shut the blinds to your home. “Calm down; I paid them off a long time ago,” Dynamight rummages through the bags before setting the food and beer out on the dining table.

“Paid them off?” you asked.

“Yeah, they started watching you as soon as you pulled that stunt at the children's interview a while back. They were going to trample your door down just for a couple of gabs about me.” He spoke, cracking open a can of beer. The hero takes a couple of gulps before placing the can down.

Pulling out a chair, the hero sat down and began to speak. “You think you do all of the protecting when it's me.” He takes another swig of his beer as he stares into your eyes. You swallow a lump in your throat before you grab a seat as well.

“But you can’t say I haven’t.” You trailed off.

“Haven’t what?” He asked.

“Took care of you; everyone thinks you're this strong force to never be reckoned with, but you’re the complete opposite,” you rambled as you grabbed a can of beer and cracked it open. Taking a refreshing, much-needed swig.

Katsuki never responded.

“Y’know, it’s crazy how much this position has changed me. For the good or worse… I’m not so sure.” You spoke softly towards the hero.

“And why do you think that, Y/n?” He asked.

You bit the inside of your cheek at the question. “Before I came to this agency, I never knew what it was like to take care of someone besides myself. And even then, I was doing a shit job at it. My life was teetering on by a thin string.”

The room was silent, the only noises being the taping of Katsuki’s foot, the ticking of the clock, and the hum of your refrigerator.

“So what? You’ve never helped someone out before? Beating someone’s ass with your quirk? Nothin’?” Katsuki spoke, trying to understand where you’re coming from. But you could only let out a big sigh.

"Well, technically, I’m kinda quirkless.”

Katsuki’s tapping stopped.

He gave you a look you’ve never seen before; his eyes were growing soft and his chest began to fall. Like he’s loosening up or something. The blonde stared intensely at you, waiting for you to speak once more. Biting your lip, you continued once more.

“It's like it comes in little spurts, no matter how hard I try to concentrate and force it out. It’ll only come out at the randomest of times. I’ve never seen myself at full power before.”

“One moment I was just like you, young and so excited about my quirk. I grew up thinking that I was going to save the world and that I’d work hard and conquer my way to the top. But the thing is, as yours grew stronger, I was only getting weaker. And the next thing I knew, I woke up, and it was gone.”

“So I went through life with the mentality that I needed to give myself a bit more attention; I couldn’t just wing through life knowing that my quirk could save me. But I knew that if I could have a position of power, that would make me feel like I was making a difference out there for you of all people…”

You suddenly laughed at yourself, taking another swig of your beer.

“Sorry, I don’t even know what I’m saying, I’m already buzzed.”

“No.”

You looked at Katsuki as he spoke, a frown on his lips as he shook his head. You couldn't help but laugh at his demeanor. “All I’m saying is that maybe I wasn’t as cut out for this as I thought I would be. Maybe I’m meant to be a walking target that villains can smell. I’m a walking damsel in distress, honestly. If we didn’t meet through the agency, we could’ve met that way most likely–”

“Shut up.”

Katsuki deadpanned at your words.

“I knew someone who was quirkless, and that loser is stronger than me for all might’s sake!” He exclaimed.

“All I’m saying is that you have a good life, so be proud of it. You work hard, harder than I’ve seen most of the chicken heads that I’ve hired. So bask in that glory.” He says softly, you roll your eyes before you start up again.

“I have a good life? Says the multi-acclaimed pro hero Dynamight! Ranked number two out of the whole country, he drives a red sports car, lives in a nice childhood home, goes to a great school, gets to roll around in money, and gets to tell people how they should dress for five days out of the week? Right, my life is really good.”

You snorted at yourself, reveling in the truth you spoke. But all Katsuki could do was shake his head.

“That same person who you were talking about has almost died countless times, kidnapped in their first year of high school, and has lost too many friends and mentors to count. So yeah, I consider you to have a good life.”

You let out a bittersweet chuckle at his words, “There’s one more thing too.” You added on, Katsuki raised his eyebrows in amusement, “like?”

“You’re also the last to get married.”

Katsuki rolls his eyes and lets out an amused smirk. “Right, that’s checkmate for me–”

“How come you’re the last? I would think that you’d be the first! You’re not a bad-looking guy; you might need to work in the emotional availability department but. You’re crystal clear.”

“I uh…  I tried to do the whole young love thing but it didn’t work out in my favor.” He responded softly towards the touchy subject, but you decided to persist.

“And why do you think that, Katsuki?”

Back when Bakugo was a younger, newly emerged pro, there was someone of his caliber that he found perfect. They had the spunk, the quirk, the personality, the looks, even the barons. He believed they were perfect for each other.

He had his sights set on them since he had been working in the force. At first, they were a nice distraction. Clever banter turned into hot makeout sessions. Training days turned into blanket-covered nights where the both of them would talk about their future.

And back then, he believed it. He believed that he had a future with them.

Sometimes he would envy Kirishima; he didn’t understand why he wasn’t chosen to bear the burden of love. A warmth beyond his comprehension, a family that he could selfishly call his own.

Sometimes his mind would trail back to that night. A night that he wished he could forget. A thought that he wished could be locked away forever. He remembers the sight as he looked into their eyes—the utter betrayal.

The smirk of mischief and evil as the one and only person he ever could love has turned against him. The moment when he got stabbed in the chest, too close to his heart. And in that moment, he had to choose selfishly in a way he never wanted to.

And that choice was his life over theirs.

You didn’t know what to say at the moment, Katuski just dropped the biggest bomb you had the burden of holding. Stammering with your thoughts, you say the first thing that comes to mind. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Katsuki…”

“I would’ve never known–”

“It wasn’t for you to know; I don’t even know why I told you that,” he said to himself. You softly smile at his harsh words.

“Well, not to toot my own horn but I’m your fiance,” you chuckled. Katsuki gives you a smirk before he looks at your hand. "Then, where’s your ring?” He asked.

“In my room, placed somewhere safe and out of harm's way!” you smiled.

"Well, I’m gonna need you to start wearin’ it more,” he retorted.

“I figured that after your little speech, you gave us away like you weren’t even trying.” You spat out sarcastically. “I didn’t even mention your name!” He raised his voice in protest. “Yeah? Well, I’m sure everyone connected the dots to a perfect fuckin T.” You spoke with a smirk.

"Well then if they decide to connect those lines to the press, that NDA will be there waiting for them to get bit in the ass,” he snapped back.

You laugh at his words before taking a final sip of your beer.

“Why did you choose to give yourself a chance with me?”

Oh, you were buzzed.

“You are a hero that’s supposed to date other heroes, top models, and superstars of your caliber. Why date some small-town secretary that doesn’t even fully have a quirk?” you spoke, just above a whisper. Scared of his next response. Feeling that as if you got the wrong response, you just might hurl all over him.

Katsuki lets out a sigh before he silently panders to himself. He was eyeing you up and down before he finally spoke with a smirk.

“I’m not sure, wishful thinking?”

“asshole”

YAAAAAAAAASSSSUHU IM BACK IM BACK

I saw all your comments begging me to come back, next chapter when? next chapter when? NEXT CHAPTER NOW HOE

As you all might know now, I am a busy college student who finally has time to fantasize and write to my heart's content. SO YOU WILL BE GETTING MORE CHAPTERS OUT OF ME VERY SOON!!

Thank you all so much for the support, I love you all and hope you guys have an amazing read! Please let me know how I did in the comments. Comments and reposts are very much appreciated!!

— lovelyiida 

❥: @xo-evangeline, @inlovewithteo217, @im-better-than-your-newborn, @nar00, @king-dynamight, @gold24fish, @xasilex, @the-queen-of-sorrows , @itgetzweird08 , @yoyosocks165 , @pebblepoop , @lovra974 , @bakugospartner , @gaby-11 , @akqsa-xxi , @jolynegf , @goldenglow149 , @aliruuiz , @zukowantshishonourback , @ilovedenk-i , @atsushiki , @smolbeanzzz , @lem-hhn , @stevenknightmarc , @katsu-shi , @ryumiii , @idontevenknowlolls , @lyn07 , @kennshifts , @ackerman-suck-3-r , @alicen23 , @xasilex , @elegantvoids , @lowkeyremi , @plutounderbridges , @k0z3me , @thecurlyhairedgoddess , @sunyrose , @winterv-black , @chuugarettes , @kiarathace , @thisbicc , @thekookiecorner , @hyu-hl , @katsukisxslut , @optimisticprime3 , @cosmicbreathe , @yessimo , @sanemishina , @snxwycloud , @cosmic-rainstorm , @vinivave , @venus-xxoo , @lavender99 , @iluv-ace , @artfulthoughtsblog , @thatcreepycat , @prettylittleshady , @lavalampfullofsoup, @melodykittya , @bakugoiidaswaifu, @queendynamite2001, @starxsage, @mikestuffffs, @queendynamite2001, @kazuumii, @Minori-taiga1, @Liveurlifetothefullest

[justagalwhowrites]

Halcyon - Ch. 3: Why don’t we try to actually get our shit together?

You and Joel come up with a plan. A continuation of Halcyon from the prologue through Ch. 2, a modern no outbreak AU TLOU fic found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Some mild diet talk, no explicit mention of reader's weight or size (beyond she is smaller than Joel but my Joels are all giant, OK? Joel is like 6'5" Joel is a big big man, big big man). Modern No Outbreak AU, No use of Y/N, Slow burn, 18+ only, Minors DNI

Length: 5K

AO3 | Main Master List | Prologue | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“Sir, I can’t just… Well, I understand that you say that but…” 

Amanda, the sophomore girl who worked the front desk of the English department offices, frowned, phone clutched against her head. 

“I understand that,” she said again. “But she’s a special case, Professor…” She flinched and glanced up to see you coming in, looking relieved. “Sir? Give me just one second and I can check…” She pressed the hold button and lowered the receiver. “Professor, I am so so sorry, I know we’re not supposed to send unexpected calls or emails through to you but do you know a Joel Miller? He’s insisting he’s a friend of yours and…” 

You raised your eyebrows before answering. 

“Yeah, I know Joel. Go ahead and transfer him back to my office. And if he ever gives you a hard time again, tell him to fuck off.” 

Amanda looked relieved and took Joel off hold as you went to the end of the hall and unlocked your door. You didn’t have to share an office like a few other people in your department. One of the perks, you imagined, of being a big name that got the university some attention. But you hadn’t done much with the space yet, the only thing on the wall a framed poster that the dean had waiting for you when you started there. 

Your phone rang just as you set down your bag and you picked it up, tucking it against your shoulder. 

“Yes, what do you want, I’m busy being very famous and important,” you said with a slight English accent. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize best selling authors were such a hot commodity,” Joel said. “Should I make an appointment?” 

“Probably,” you replied. He snorted. “What’s up?” 

“Did you know that you tried to put your number in my phone the other night?” Joel asked. “Note that I say ‘tried’ because what you actually did was put something in my notes that has four numbers and then seven symbols which, if you’re counting, ain’t even the right number of digits.” 

You scoffed. 

“You’re lucky I didn’t change your passcode or set an alarm for 4:30 in the morning,” you said. “Sounds like you got off easy.” 

“You’re a menace.” 

“I know,” you said, smiling a little to yourself. “So why were you looking for my number on a Monday morning?” 

“Because I was looking for your number on a Sunday morning and ended up shit outta luck,” he replied. “Figured I could catch you at work. They got you all locked down over there, huh?” 

“Trying to discourage random readers from contacting me here is all,” you said. “There was a problem with that at Brown right when the book first got popular. I don’t think it’d be as much of a problem now but still, administration thought it was smart. Speaking of which, don’t be a shit to my office aide.” 

“Makes sense, I guess,” he said, ignoring your last comment. “Think you can put me on the list of people who are allowed to talk to you? And on the list of people who are allowed to bring you food?” 

“Bring me food?” You frowned. 

“Well, yeah,” he said. “I was hoping I could do that. Like… today. In an hour or so. If you’re not shaping young minds or whatever.” 

“Don’t you have work?” You laughed. 

“New job starts tomorrow,” he said. “And I don’t exactly have a lot of time without Sarah where I’m not at work.” 

“And you want to see me?” 

“No, I figured I’d just call and annoy your secretary as a new hobby…” 

“Office aide.” 

“You free for lunch or not, Goldie?” He said, exasperated. You resisted the urge to laugh. 

“Yeah,” you said. “Yeah, I’m free. I have a class gap from 11:30 to 2. I can meet you somewhere…” 

“I’ll just come to you,” he said. “Assuming that a fancy schmancy professor will still eat tamale lady tamales…” 

“OK you could have opened with tamale lady tamales,” you said. “Buried the lead there, Miller.” 

Joel laughed. 

“I’ll give you my number and you can text me where your office is,” he said. “Then I’ll have a way to contact you that isn’t fucking gibberish. See you in two hours.” 

You put his number into your phone and texted him. He responded with a screenshot of your note with the message literally none of those numbers are right which made you laugh. 

It was hard to focus as you taught your next class, checking your watch every few minutes to see just how much time had passed. You were keyed up, stomach tight, and you tried to talk yourself down as you walked half way across campus back to your office. 

It was Joel. Just Joel. Sure, before Friday, you hadn’t seen or talked to him in years but falling back into friendship with him had felt so easy so far. He was safe and comfortable. You’d spent every day with Joel once upon a time. 

But that felt so long ago now. You were different people then. Joel was a jock who pretty much just hung out with you and tried to speed run his way through every hot girl in school. You were a geek who spent her entire life either trailing along behind Joel or with her nose in a book. A lot had changed in the last decade and a half. Joel had a kid. You’d gotten married and divorced. Well, almost divorced. Nothing was finalized yet but you’d stopped wearing your wedding band when you moved to Texas even though it still sat on the ring stand on your bedside table. 

After Friday and Saturday, you weren’t entirely sure if you were going to see Joel again. You hadn’t gotten his number and you remembered nothing of trying to put your number in his phone while you were drunk. You weren’t sure if it was going to be a fluke, just a blip on the radar of your lives that had gone on totally disconnected paths for more than a decade, or if this was something that would continue. 

You weren’t sure what you wanted. Losing him the first time had hurt. It might have been the worst thing that had ever happened to you, even worse than losing your mother, than watching your sister sister fall apart in slow motion over the last decade, than your father entirely. Was it something you could survive again? Was it something you’d need to dig back up and talk through with Joel now that you were speaking again? If that was what he needed, was that something you could handle doing? You weren’t sure about any of it. 

But you were already starting to think that you’d go along with anything Joel wanted as long as you got to keep him around this time, just like high school. He’d been the sun and you’d been caught in the gravity of him. You wondered if you’d ever escaped it at all. 

You straightened up your office a bit, not that you’d had much time for things to get too messy. Most things were submitted virtually now, though you insisted on poetry being printed to make sure formatting was maintained, and most of your personal notes were contained to planners and notebooks that were in orderly piles on your desk. You were absently checking your email when there was a knock on the frame of your door and you looked up to see Joel standing there, a foil covered plate in one hand, two glass bottles of Dr. Pepper in the other. 

“Oh my God, is that Dublin Dr. Pepper?” You gaped at him. 

“Technically no,” he said, coming in and setting a bottle down in front of you. “Stopped making it at the Dublin plant years ago but basically the same thing. Hi, by the way.” 

“Hi. And I’ll take basically the same thing,” you said, leaning forward to peer into the hall. “Do me a favor and close the door?” 

He nudged it shut with his foot and you took the bottle, popping it open on the edge of your desk. Joel sat in the chair on the other side of your desk before he followed suit, smirking as he did. 

“I didn’t want witnesses if I broke the desk I’ve had all of a month, OK?” You said. 

“Goldie, I don’t think you could break the desk if you tried,” he said, taking a sip of his drink. You did the same, humming a little in appreciation. You rolled the liquid on your tongue like you would a wine, the bubbles crackling and dancing there before you swallowed it. 

“God, that’s good,” you said. “I can’t remember the last time I had a soda that wasn’t diet…” 

“Christ you sound like a Yankee,” Joel laughed, sitting back in the chair. “That’s a Coke in your hand, darlin’, not a fuckin’ soda.” 

“Oh God,” you groaned and laughed, too. “That was such a hard habit to break! I’d ask my roommate if we had any Cokes, she said no, I’d go in the fridge later and see Diet Pepsi and have a what the fuck moment.” 

“Strange world out there,” Joel smiled slightly, turning the glass bottle that looked so small in his large hands. 

“Are these the tamales?” You asked, nodding at the plate. 

“Oh, shit, yeah,” he said, taking the foil off the plate. The corn husks glistened and you groaned a little. Joel pulled two sets of plastic wrapped silverware out of his pocket and handed you one. “How long’s it been since you had one of these?” 

“I don’t even want to own up to it,” you said, unwrapping the fork and knife. “I’ve basically been on a diet for the last decade of my life, these look incredible.” 

You wheeled your office chair around the desk and sat next to Joel before peeling back a husk and cutting the end off with your fork and taking a bite. Your eyes rolled back in your head and you slumped back in the chair with a satisfied moan. 

“Jesus Christ.” 

“That good, huh?” Joel laughed.You just nodded, mouth full, and sat up to cut off another bite before you even swallowed the first one. “Diet for 10 years?” 

“Yeah,” you nodded, covering your mouth with your hand until you could swallow. “There was the book tour, they wanted me to look a certain way. And… well, my husband has a type so…” 

“Fuck that guy,” Joel said, opening another tamale and taking a bite of it. You rolled your eyes a little. “Mean it, fuck that and fuck him.” 

“Oh, so you don’t have a type?” You asked, brows raised. “Because I seem to remember a very distinctive type in high school…” 

“Oh lord,” he rolled his eyes. 

“Pretty, for sure,” you said, teasing a little. “You definitely seemed to be a bit of a boobs man…” 

“If I were with someone I sure as shit wouldn’t make them fucking diet to be my type,” he cut you off. “He’s a fucking idiot, Goldie.” 

“You’re making a bigger deal out of this than it really is,” you waved him off. 

“No, I’m really not,” he replied. “If we’d been talkin’ I’d have fuckin’ come to Rhode Island and kicked his sorry ass.” 

“Joel,” you rolled your eyes. 

“What?” He asked. “I would’ve. And he’d fuckin’ deserve it.” 

“Anyway,” you said, cutting off another chunk of tamale. “You’ve got a new job starting tomorrow?” 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s one that I’m actually lookin’ forward to, too. Get to be a little more creative…” 

“You don’t normally get to be creative?” You frowned. 

He scoffed. 

“Not on any of the big shit,” he said. “Owners and managers get to do that. They toss me the smaller projects here and there to plan and run, this one is some owner’s suite remodel. Doin’ the bathroom, fancy fucking closet, that kind of shit. They’re letting me run it so I’ll shut up about never getting to do the fun stuff.” 

“How long have you been working there?” You asked. 

“Since I was 20,” he said. “So… fuck, 13 years? Jesus, I’m getting old…” 

“And they’re not letting you do the creative stuff?” You asked, brows raised. 

“I’m apparently ‘too valuable’ runnin’ the crew,” he used air quotes. “They throw a few of these little jobs to me every year but mostly I just make sure shit goes right on site for bigger jobs. Get it all done on time, all that.” 

“Do you like doing that?” You asked. 

“Not really.” 

“OK,” you frowned. “So why are you still there?” 

“Well, mostly because I tried paying my mortgage once with dreams and they told me to fuck off,” he said dryly and you glared at him. 

“You know what I mean,” you said, cutting off a chunk of his tamale. 

“Hey!” 

“Shove it,” you popped it in your mouth before he could take it back. He rolled his eyes. “You’ve been doing that work for a while is what I mean, I’m sure somewhere else would hire you and you could do the parts of it you liked.” 

“What I really want is to start my own company,” he said. “Well, what I really want is to play music but that ship’s sailed. Realistically, I’d like to start my own company. I think I could make some really cool shit if I had the chance.” 

“So do it,” you shrugged. 

“Oh yeah, easy for you to say,” he scoffed. “What, you just write your fuckin’ book?” 

“No,” you said. “It took a lot of work and editing and rewriting and I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again but I did it. You can do it.” 

“What do you mean you’re not sure you’ll ever do it again?” He frowned. “Thought I saw somethin’ about you writing another one.” 

You looked at him for a moment, frowning a little, fork frozen over the plate. You were contracted for another book but that wasn’t something that had made national news, just an item in some industry publications after the press release from the publisher. 

Why would Joel know that?

“What?” He asked. “Why are you starin’ at me?” 

“Oh,” you said. “Just got something on your face…” You dipped your fork into some of the drippings on the plate before smearing it on Joel’s cheek. “Just there, nothing crazy.” 

He pursed his lips and looked like he was struggling not to laugh. 

“You’re the worst person I know,” he said, wiping his face with a tissue from the box on your desk.

You smirked, sitting back in your chair and putting your legging-clad legs in his lap, the way you used to sit with him on the couch back when you were teenagers. 

“I know.” 

“I’m serious though,” he said, the hand not holding the fork going around your calf just like it always had. “What do you mean you might never do it again?” 

“I don’t know,” you sighed, peeling the husk off another tamale and cutting off a bite of it. “I don’t know that I have another story to tell. I’ve been trying to tell another one and I just… haven’t found one. I think I had one good story in me and I told it. That’s the end.” 

“That’s bullshit,” Joel said. 

“It’s really not,” you shrugged. “When I wrote the first one it just kind of flowed. At least the first draft did. I wrote it in about six months after my mom died and Gale…” 

“Brad.” 

You glared at him. 

“Gale,” you repeated. “Edited it and workshopped it with me.” 

“Oh I’m sure he was a fuckin’ natural at that,” Joel said, voice dripping in sarcasm. You glared at him. “What, you’re telling me I’m wrong? I don’t think I am…”

“He was well equipped for the job,” you allowed. “And yeah, it took a lot of edits and rewrites before it was ready to even start trying to show to agents, it was years of work… Who would I do that with now? I don’t know that I can do it by myself…” 

“Do it with your publisher and shit,” Joel said. “Come on, don’t tell me that jackass is what’s holding you back…” 

“It’s not just that. I really don’t know that I have anything else to say. And even if I did…” you took a deep breath. You’d never said this aloud, not even to your agent. “If I did, what if it’s not as good?” 

Joel waved you off. 

“Of course it’d be as good, the fuck are you talking about?” 

“I’m talking about the fact that everyone freaked the fuck out about the fact that my ‘debut novel,’” you put the words in air quotes, “was so brilliant and shit, what if I never write anything better? What if everything I ever make after this is a let down? What if I never do anything good again? Everyone who took a risk on me, everyone who read my first book, everyone who ever thought I could do something will be let down by it. Jesus, one reviewer said it was the best debut novel since To Kill a Mockingbird, how the fuck am I supposed to live up to that? Starting to understand why Harper Lee didn’t publish anything else for decades…” 

 “Goldie,” Joel said gently. “I’m sure you’d write something great.”

You poked at your tamale, staring at it as you did. 

“What if the only great thing I ever made was great because of him?” You asked quietly, eyes darting to Joel for a second before looking back at the plate. “What if it was just fine when it came from me and it only became what it became because of him?” 

“Anything you’d write would be great, got nothing to do with fuckin’ Brad,” he said. “Not sure you can write something that’s not great.” 

You rolled your eyes. 

“Joel, you read the articles I wrote for the school paper,” you said. “I don’t think you’re a fair judge.” 

“And your lit mag stuff,” he said defensively. “Look, I’m not a genius or anything but I’m smart enough to know when something’s great and you’re great, alright?” 

“Yeah, well…” you nudged his leg with your knee. “So are you.” 

He just looked at you for a moment until you frowned. 

“What?” 

He leaned forward with his fork, smearing some tamale drippings on the tip of your nose.

“Got something right… there.” 

You laughed and he squeezed your calf and you cleaned your face before you went back to focusing on the food and life outside of your broader ambitions. Before what felt like too long there was a knock on your door and Alyssa poked her head in. 

“Sorry, didn’t realize you had company,” she smiled, her eyes drifting to where your legs were still in Joel’s lap. “I was just going to put a note on your desk, I figured you’d be at your next class already. Have you written your midterm yet?” 

“Not yet,” you said, looking at your watch and you realized it was far later than you realized and you had less than 10 minutes to walk to your next class. “Shit, I have to go!” 

Joel released your leg from his hold and you scrambled to collect your things as Joel cleaned up the remains of lunch. 

“If you wanted to write midterms together,” Alyssa said as you slung your bag over your shoulder. “Maybe next week?” 

“Sure,” you said, looking around at your desk and grabbing your gold notebook before standing next to Joel. “Email me?” 

“Yup,” she smiled, looking Joel up and down. “Absolutely will. Hi.” 

“Hi,” he said, smiling a little. You looked between them and fought the urge to groan. She was just Joel’s type. 

“Alright, some of us have to go teach,” you said. “Out of my office so I can lock up.” 

You ushered them both into the hall. 

“Have fun teaching,” Alyssa waved, giving Joel a last look before heading to her office a few doors down from yours. 

“Oh I’m sure I will,” you said, taking Joel’s hand and pulling him along behind you before he could start gawking at her and then you were really late for school. “See you later…” 

“What was that about?” Joel laughed as you spilled out into the hall that was tight with the press of students. 

“I know your type,” you said. “And I don’t have time to wait for you to be done doing your thing…” 

“My ‘thing?’ And you know my type?” He asked, brows raised. “Really? Well, in that case…” 

“Oh shut up,” you rolled your eyes and he laughed. 

“I came by to see you, for the record,” he said. “And apparently feed you properly since you aren’t gonna do it yourself…” 

“Thank you,” you said, sincerely. “That was really good. And it was really nice, hanging out with you.” 

“It was good to hang out with you, too,” he said, smiling a little, his hands shoved in his pockets. “Should let you get to class though. Those minds aren’t gonna shape themselves. And I have your actual number now, not the fuckin’ hieroglyphics you tried to leave me Friday…” 

“And I have yours,” you smiled back. “But I do have to go…” 

“Right,” he said, leaning in and pulling you into a hug and holding you close for a second. He was warm and his chest was firm and there was something about the way his arms fit around you that was so all encompassing you were certain that you belonged there with him. That, somewhere in the universe, the root of you both had grown together and separated just to find each other again. He pulled back. “Don’t let those college kids give you too much trouble.” 

“I won’t,” you said. “Don’t let Sarah give you shit.” 

“Oh, I will,” he said. “Can’t help it. Bye, Goldie.” 

You smiled.

“Bye, Joel.” 

You were three minutes late to class. You didn’t care. 

When you got home, you went to one of the boxes you hadn’t unpacked yet, one that sat in the  extra bedroom that you hadn’t found a use for yet. You knew exactly which box, the one filled with things you only looked at when you were feeling especially strong or particularly weak. You sifted through old notebooks, past one of Joel’s faded band t-shirts that you’d swiped at his house when Tommy had knocked a cup of Kool-aid over when you were wearing a white shirt and Mrs. Miller and scrambled to get your top in the wash to get the stain out and then you’d never given it back, down to the shoebox of photos. You pulled it out and looked through them. Joel at 16, a confused look on his face as he lay on the wheeled contraption he used for sliding easily under his truck and you surprised him with camera, a splotch of grease on his cheek. You, 17, in Joel’s letterman that was big on him so it was massive on you, sleeves shoved up around your forearms as you stuck your tongue out at the camera. The two of you, 16, sitting on opposite sides of a restaurant booth, your legs stretched out on the benches, a basket of fries and a milkshake between you. You were flashing a peace sign at the camera and Joel was looking at you, a soft smile on his face. 

It was easy to remember what friendship with Joel had been. It would be so easy to fall back into it. It felt like you were always supposed to be this way, lives so intertwined they were built on the same foundation. It had seemed an impossible thing, to blow it all apart. You’d loved it then. You missed it now. But it had blown apart and you weren’t sure you could survive losing it again. 

You sighed, flipping to the back of the box to the photos from prom night. Your mom had sent them to you after you’d moved to Rhode Island and they’d languished at the photo lab for weeks. There was a simple note: “Thought you might want these,” a little heart drawn at the end. 

You found the picture of the two of you together, your hand on his chest, his arm around your waist. You were looking up into his eyes and he was looking into yours, a small smile on his face, just enough for the beginnings of his dimple to show. You looked at it for a while before you signed, packing everything else away and moving to your office, propping the photo against your computer as you sat down to write. 

***

Sarah had been in rare form that night. Very skeptical about why she needed to do homework at all and trying to logic her way out of needing to do it for as long as she possibly could. 

“Kiddo, if you just sat down and did it, you’d be done by now,” Joel had groaned at one point. 

“But if I just didn’t do it, I’d be done by now, too,” she replied. 

He took a deep breath. Sometimes, this girl… 

“Not on the table, Baby Girl,” he said. “You can either do your homework now and have time to watch TV before bed or you can not do your homework and fight me on it, not watch TV and get up early tomorrow to finish your homework. Up to you.” 

She groaned, picking up her pencil, bouncing her leg impatiently under the dinner table. Joel wasn’t sure who was happier when the damn worksheets were done, him or his daughter.

Once Joel was certain Sarah was asleep, he went to the back of his closet and found the box that he kept stashed away. He didn’t have to look far, the two copies of your book right on top. One was signed. He didn’t open that one, just looked at it now and then, held it when he wanted to touch something you’d touched once. 

The other had a worn spot on the spine, where the structure of the book had cracked and bent enough times because he’d tried to read it dozens of times but could never bring himself to go past the first page. 

He liked the cover of it, certain that you’d had a hand in picking it. It was simple, an orange sun with a gilded flower in front of it, the title, Halcyon, in bold letters below the abstract image. Joel flipped past the pages of praise, the title page, the table of contents, the forward written by fucking Brad. He turned until he got to the words that were yours. He knew they were yours, he recognized the voice of you, even on paper. No matter what you said, there wasn’t an ounce of Brad there. At least, not on that page.

“The sun in Texas was hot in summer,” you’d written, “melting ice cream and asphalt in equal measure. But it was the heat of his palm that made my cheeks burn…” 

He closed the book, looking at the back cover with your picture on it. Your arms were folded so that one was in front of you, the other vertical alongside your face. Your gaze was intense, a knowing smile on your lips, as though you were staring at him, teasing him, tempting him. “The answers are all here, Joel,” your picture said. “If you could just make yourself read it, you’d know.” 

He put the book down and got his phone out of his pocket, finding your number in his contacts. 

You answered on the second ring. 

“Oh my God, you’re so demanding,” you sighed in faux exasperation. 

Joel laughed. 

“I know, I’m so fucking needy, don’t know how you stand me.” 

You laughed back. 

“What’s up?” 

“Been thinking,” he began. 

“You?” You said. “Really?” 

“Shut up.”

You giggled. 

“Anyway,” he continued. “Feel free to tell me to kick rocks but… Sounds like neither of our lives have exactly gone the way we’ve wanted them to.” 

“You mean you didn’t plan on being a single dad and I didn’t plan on being divorced at 32?” You gasped. “Color me shocked!” 

“We were always good at holding each other accountable,” he said, ignoring you. “Hell, you’re the only reason I graduated high school…” 

“And you’re the only reason I started at the school paper,” you said. Joel smiled at that, the memory of standing outside the newspaper office while you talked to the teacher so you couldn’t back out. 

“Right,” he said. “Well… what if we did that now?” 

“Now?” He could hear you frowning through the phone. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean,” he said. “Why don’t we try to actually get our shit together? You make me better, always have…” 

“You, too,” you said quietly but you at least sounded serious now. 

“When are you supposed to have your next book done?” He asked. “Assuming there’s a contract with a deadline for that shit, right?” 

“End of next year,” you sighed. 

“Great,” Joel said. “Alright, let’s give ourselves to the end of next year to set ourselves straight. You finish your book, whatever else you want to get done…” 

“Finalize my divorce,” you said. 

“That’s a good one,” Joel said. “I’ll see about starting my own business…” 

“And having a stable relationship?” You asked. 

“Sounds like a good goal,” he answered, his stomach twisting a bit at that. “What do you say? We come up with a list of shit and go from there? You know we’re better when we’re on a team than when we’re not.” 

You were quiet for a moment. 

“Yeah,” you said eventually. “Yeah, let’s do it.” 

Joel smiled a little, looking down at the box, the cover of your book looking back at him. 

“It’s a deal,” he said. “We’ve got this, Goldie.” 

You laughed a little. 

“Hell yeah we do.”

Next Chapter

A/N: So sorry for the long wait on this! Should be weekly updates from here out for a while, promise <3

Thank you thank you thank you for reading! I'm so excited for what's coming up for these two, I just love how they love each other and yes. I can't wait to explore it all with you.

Thank you for being here! Love you!

[noonaishere]

Music of the Heart [J.YH] - sixty-one | scandal??

You sat back as you watched the views and likes on your new mashup climb. You were glad the initial response looked good.

You got a bit bored since rendering was taking so long for some reason and decided to scroll the home page for a bit. As you dragged the page down absentmindedly, the title of a video caught your eye. It was one of those ‘kpop tea’ channels and it read ‘Lee Doyun of Wonderland Ent. SCANDAL??’

Click baitey…

You clicked on it.

“Lee Doyun has been no stranger to rumors over the years, and it seems like this time they might be more than rumors. According to an informant who calls themself ‘A’ - who claims to work at Wonderland Entertainment - the actor is being internally investigated by the company for various offenses. These offenses include things such as: lateness, rudeness to many staff, and even reports of Doyun hitting on female staff.”

Your mouth fell open at the last accusation.

“This report comes to us from the anonymous employee community called Blind; the only way to sign up is if you have a work email. This means that any comments left have a certain level of credibility. ‘A’ commented: I had heard among the staff that Lee Doyun was a problem for years now, but I didn’t think it was this bad. It’s an open secret within the company that he’s difficult to work with and rude to stylists and makeup and hair artists; if you ask anyone who’s worked with him - and they knew he wouldn’t have them fired for answering - they would tell you how mean he really is and that his chic personality is the closest he can get to seeming nice.”

You never really saw him as ‘chic’ but maybe that was just how he acted during interviews or something.

“‘A’ continued: But I overheard recently that the rumors of him hitting on staff weren’t just true, that there had been a few official complaints; that he had not only hit on staff, but a cast member as well!”

You wondered who ‘A’ could possibly be. A secretary maybe? Someone who had to be close enough to the CEO to know that Hongjoong spoke to him about Doyun?

“An employee from Korean Air commented: Adding to the first comment, he doesn’t just hit on Wonderland staff, but hits on flight staff as well. I’ve worked many flights he’s been on and have personally seen him hit on almost every female flight attendant he could.”

EW.

“The post ballooned out of control after that, with staff of various other places - other airlines, hotels, restaurants, and other places - coming forward to share stories of his rudeness or the uncomfortable situations he put female staff in with his attentions.”

Wow, you had no idea he was such a prolific… flirt wasn’t the right word... Sex pest? That seemed too extreme since you didn’t know if he ever put his hands on anyone--

“One commenter even said that he had touched her, and grew angry when she told him to leave her alone.”

Okay, nevermind. Sex pest fit him perfectly. The thought crossed your mind that maybe he would have tried something similar with you if Yunho hadn’t gotten in his way.

“‘A’ replied a few hours later with an update: Lee Doyun was being internally investigated by Wonderland. At least some companies take accusations seriously. And now we have dating news heading our way: a picture of Fakt’s Jihoon was shared on social media. In the picture, Jihoon was pictured standing on the street with his arms around an unknown woman--”

Clearly the woman wasn’t ‘unknown’ to him if he had his arms around her. Stupid. You shut it off.

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[sysakiddo]

I can't stop thinking about Max and his maps. This drabble is completely self-indulgent and a love letter to Håkan's secretary, the baddest bitch.

Max is in the middle of writing an email when his assistant calls. Max doesn't like how the light from the window reflects on his computer screen and thinks about moving his table again. His office is way too big for him to have problems like this. The tall leafy plant in the corner seems to be thriving, even though he has never watered it. His assistant probably deserves a raise. 

“You have the Australian Ambassador on line two, sir.” 

He subconsciously sighs and rubs his right ear, a habit he has never gotten rid of. “Thank you, Kristy. I have a package to send as well; please come pick it up.” He changes the line. 

“Your excellency?” he sneers, picking up the pain au chocolate Kristy left for him on the table this morning. 

“Why don't I have a direct line to your office?” 

Daniel's voice is distorted through the phone. Max can hear cars honking in the background. Kristy opens the door to his office, picking up the green Ladurée bag from the corner of his table. She eyes the post-it note he stuck on the top, Daniel scribbled in his neat handwriting. She doesn't react, just picks it up and closes the door quietly. Definitely deserves a raise. 

“Only the king has one.” 

Daniel snorts, like Max is being funny just by being rude. “Pick up your phone next time, okay? Even though I quite like making small talk with your assistant.” 

Max doesn't react. He can feel a headache growing behind his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see how the number of his emails in the red circle grows on the computer screen.

“What's this I hear about you having lunch with the Hungarians on Thursday?” 

Daniel gets right to the point and Max hums. He doesn't question how Daniel found out about that. On a bad day, he still manages to charm his way to confidential information regarding state security. 

“Take me with youu,” Dan sing-songs. 

“Nee,” he replies. Daniel is well acquainted with the word. Either way, Max opens his diary and flips the pages quietly until he reaches Thursday. He opens the drawer with his stationery and pulls out the small honey badger-shaped sticker. Sticks it to the slot right next to the 'La Rotonde with HU'. It was Daniel who bought him the stickers after noisily going through his diary. He did not like the way +D looked in the time slots. It just looks like you have a dick appointment.

The negotiations begin with Daniel clicking his tongue. He mainly does it because he knows it drives Max insane. 

“Come on, baby. I'll take you to Monaco if you do.” 

Max takes another bite of the pastry, reclining in his chair. “Snorting coke on a yacht was cute back when I was twenty.” 

Daniel doesn't back off, unaffected. “What are you eating?” 

“Pain au choc.” 

“From Mozart?” 

Max looks at the tissue covered by the crumbs, Mozart engraved on it in golden fond. “Yeah, I guess.” 

Daniel makes a silly gasping noise. “How could you?” 

Paris has more bakeries than residents, yet Daniel is weirdly obsessed with the one on the same street as the Dutch embassy. 

Before he can respond, there is a knock on his door. One of the interns come in without waiting for him to invite them in. “Your excellency-” she starts and he holds up his pointer finger to interrupt her, pointing to the phone in his other hand. He subtly looks at his Rolex while doing so, wondering what she could possibly want at 9 am. She nods but doesn't exit the room. 

“I have to hang up now, schatje.” 

“No, no- listen. We can even hold hands at the dinner, watch them have an aneurysm about it.” 

Max chuckles, shaking his head even though Daniel can't see. “Yeah, not good enough. I spent weeks persuading them to meet me.” As I know you did too. Did not really work, huh? he wants to add but doesn't want to look like an asshole in front of the intern who is still watching him with her big green eyes. His and Daniel's diplomatic styles are so different he learned a long time ago it's futile to compare them. 

“I'm having dinner with Amanda in two weeks.”

The number of unread emails reaches two hundred on Max's computer. “Getting warmer but no can do. You know how annoying I find the ENA graduates.” 

Dan himself has done his post-grad at ENA. He hears Daniel swear and he doesn't know if the reason is him or just the general despair of trying to walk down the street in Paris. “'kay, have a nice-” 

“Wait! Drinks with Håkan!” Max is silent for a second, that's how Daniel knows he lucked out. Sweden is hot shit right now.

“Make him bring the assistant, not his wife.” 

Everyone knows that the only opinion that matters to the Swedish ambassador is the one of his secretary. Daniel doesn't answer immediately, but Max knows him well enough to know he's smiling. 

“That goes without saying, Maxy.” 

Max, despite his best efforts, smiles. “Lovely. See you tonight.” 

“Rinaldi's at nine! Don't be late!” Daniel says before hanging up, even though it's usually him who is late for their little rendez-vous. 

He straightens up, raising his chin the intern's way. She has been watching him like a hawk this whole time. “Husband checking in on you?” 

She looks scared of him and not for the first time, he wonders what kind of stories about him are told to the newcomers. He doesn't have the heart to berate her for breaking the protocol.

“Yes. He doesn't want me to forget about him. Of course, I do not want him to worry.” he says. His mother tongue tastes sweet in his mouth. 

Second part!

[quordleona03]

Hi, if you have time, I'd love to ask a couple of things:

How do you and your beta/proofreader share texts? Do you use email, Google Docs, or a different app? Just curious as someone who is starting to write and trying to get a feel for things. I'd also love to hear any advice you might be willing to pass on about posting and writing.

When I finish a section in All We Know, I send the latest version of the entire document (though once we got into dealing with March, and all the sections up til the end of January had been published, I split the manuscript into All We Know 1962 and All We Know 1963 - all of 1962 was now on AO3 if Jakrar wanted to check back with an earlier section.

On posting and writing, well: my advice is to sit down and write for an hour every day for ten years, and at the end of that time, you are a writer. (I use the site 750words to get my hour-a-day in, no matter what.) When trying to write a story: unless it is a very short story, plan it out ahead of time, chapter by chapter - what has to happen when. Let yourself be flexible, of course: sometimes the characters will tell you things about themselves as you write that mean the story changes direction. And then write: get the shitty first draft down, and then pause for at least a day - sleep on it, definitely - re-read, make what changes seem good to you, repeate - and finally, find someone to edit/proofread, and, hopefully, to beta-read. A beta-reader tells you their emotional responses to the story. Pay attention to their reactions. A sensitive reader picks up on what you meant, and what you want, and what they feel. The beta-reader's changes may be more difficult to introduce, more painful, but the work in doing so will generally make the story better.

I use LibreOffice, and save as a .doc file, and email that .doc file. For convenience, the .doc file is indexed with a table of contents and each section has a comprehensible heading, so that sections can be easily found.

Jakrar sends me back a .doc file with sections from my manuscript quoted, and her proofreading notes and comments underneath, identified by page number in the file.

What this can look like is (my original text in green, hers indented):

Mulcahy could have told Mrs Hunt he was going to see his sister - that was true: but he didn't think he could explain to anyone who knew what his salary was as a teacher, that he planned to fly to California tonight, and home on Monday. That hardly seemed real to him either, though their flight was at seven. He was looking forward to it with a wincing kind of anticipation, but beyond the flight, he had to meet BJ Hunnicut, who he needed to talk to, and Kathy, Maria Angelica, whom he both wanted and did not want to talk to.

In the first sentence: you might consider changing “that” in “that was true” to “it” I’d suggest changing the colon after “true” to a dash I’d suggest putting “(at least,” right after “anyone” in “could explain to anyone” I’d suggest changing “who knew what his salary was as a teacher” to something like “familiar with his teacher’s salary” I’d suggest changing the comma immediately following the word before “that he planned to fly” to “)”

Jakrar will also note contradictions in the text:

Page 368

Hawkeye got up when Mulcahy came in - paused a moment - presumably for Mrs Jamieson to close the door - and then came round the desk and took Mulcahy briefly into his arms. He let go, moved back, looked down.

At the end of the first sentence, delete the extra blank space following “briefly into his arms.”

Page 368

"Okay, wait," Hawkeye said, still holding on to him. "It did not escape my notice that when we flew up to Boston back in October, your ears hurt."

First, three paragraphs up, Hawkeye takes Mulcahy briefly into his arms and then lets him go and moves back, but here Hawkeye is still holding on to him. You need to change one or the other or have something in between where Hawkeye takes hold of him again. Second, they flew to Boston and had their interactions with Charles and Martine in November.

Sometimes, she'll also include comments on the text itself.

Page 431

"Fantastic," Hawkeye said, very cheerfully. "Lucky chance you knew that guy." "Never saw him before in my life," BJ said. "You knew him, didn't you?"

beats head on desk How have these guys survived this long?

Page 431

Hawkeye stopped short, turned, and looked at BJ. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows raised. "BJ? He's on the convention staff. I handed my dress bag in at the desk this morning, and asked them to find me at the mezzanine after my seminar, and take me to a room I could change in. He showed up with the bag and a key to that room, and I told him to come find me after the banquet. That is the sum total of our long-standing unacquaintance. When you called him 'Jack' I thought you knew him."

Near the end of the fifth sentence, delete the extra blank space after “take” in “the mezzanine after my seminar, and take” In the eighth/last sentence: put a comma after “Jack” (before the closing single quotation mark) I’d undo the italics on “him” (but leave the italics on “you”)

I used to be a stellar proofreader myself. But, since my glaucoma diagnosis, I've had to accept that I will no longer be able to notice if I've missed small issues in the text. Leading to comments such as these:

Page 432

BJ gave Hawkeye a beat of silence Hawkeye looked amused "Okay - "

Put a period after “silence” Put a period after “amused”

Sometimes, I disagree with Jakrar's suggestions (my comment text in red italics) and I often add notes on the decisions made in guiding the plot of the story.

Page 98 (from the AWK 193 doc)

"Hey," BJ said, calmly. "We couldn't invite all four kids, one of them a boy about Erin's age. We're not inviting any kids." And they had heard from Erin about that, at the top of her voice. "We just couldn't make an exception for Lorraine Blake. Anyway - "

In the fifth sentence, you might rearrange “We just couldn’t make an exception for” to “We couldn’t make an exception just for” The reunion just became a thousand percent better.

To me, the suggested placement of "just" sounds dismissive of Lorraine - "just couldn't" sets the emphasis on "couldn't for anyone". Does that make sense?

When I was discussing with Ajay65 how to plan the reunion at the end of the story, Ajay65 pointed out that if the party included children, the hotel had to be bigger, events had to be organised for parents-with-children, a sitter-service had tbe available for the banquet or the entire event had to be child-friendly - and I conceded the point and abandoned any ideas about a family reunion.

Page 398

Hawkeye was sitting bold upright and plainly indignant. "Beej, everyone there would know the circumstances."

In the first sentence, change “bold” in “sitting bold upright” to “bolt”

Page 398

"I didn't," BJ said. "And a lot of people who only remember Colonel Potter wouldn't either. Anyway, Hawk, if you'll cool down and listen to me, I heard back from Lorraine Blake, and she's now Lorraine Reynolds."

In the second sentence: you might consider rearranging “people who only remember Colonel Potter” to “people who remember only Colonel Potter” put a comma after “wouldn’t” in “Colonel Potter wouldn’t”

"And a lot of people who only remember Colonel Potter wouldn't either."

To me this (the above) sounds a more natural way of saying what BJ is trying to say than

"And a lot of people who remember only Colonel Potter wouldn't either."

The above comments are all editing or proofreading. Anyone experienced enough to know what correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation are, and with a good enough memory to catch glitches, can proofread your story. It is always easier to have someone else read your manuscript and catch errors than for you do it. This is because - unless you set the story aside for a few weeks - you yourself know what you meant to write, and your mind's eye will produce that for you on the page, even if that's not what you actually typed. A proofreader is only responsible for picking out the typos, punctuation errors, grammatical errors, and so forth: an editor will track things like "Hawkeye and Mulcahy actually flew to Boston in November". But in fandom, if you are fortunate enough to have someone who will be both proofreader and editor, they can and should do both.

But - when your editor/proofreader loves your story enough to read it with fannish appreciation, they will also notice things like this:

Page 471

"When did you tell him to go back?" Kathy said. She was beyond astonishment. That Ben might have been a voice urging Francis to return to the priesthood was not something that had ever occurred to her. She was bewildered, but she could not disbelieve him.

"A couple of times in Crabapple Cove. In New York...." Ben shrugged. "A few times. I don't remember. He told me to stop, last year. He told me he wasn't ever going back, they wouldn't let him be a priest, and I had to stop saying it, or he'd be angry."

"So you could get him to go," Sister Maria Angelica said, with delicate care, "if you weren't afraid of making him angry?"

It could be just me, but it feels like Maria Angelica's switch here, from the shock of realization back to manipulation, is a hair too quick and smooth.  Maybe if there's a hint of pause at the start of the third paragraph, before she's all composed again, and delicately trying to get Hawkeye to see things her way...?

Jakrar was right. A beta reader notices emotional mistakes in the text. So I amended my text (new text in bold):

"A couple of times in Crabapple Cove. In New York...." Ben shrugged. "A few times. I don't remember. He told me to stop, last year. He told me he wasn't ever going back, they wouldn't let him be a priest, and I had to stop saying it, or he'd be angry."

Kathy stared at Ben. She wasn't sure what to say. She moved her hands togeher under her scapular, and summoned herself to go on.

"So you could get him to go," Sister Maria Angelica said, with delicate care, "if you weren't afraid of making him angry?"

And sometimes, a good editor can save your life. On Page 516 of the total WIP so far (Page 210 of the 1963 version), there's this:

But it wasn't even seven in the morning in New York: the call rang out, with no one there to answer in the empty offices. Hawkeye stared at the San Francisco telephone directory, and thought of making prank calls.

It’s going to be three hours later in New York than it is in California.  But if it’s about nine in the morning in San Francisco, it’s about noon in NYC, so maybe there’s a lunch break and no one is answering the phones at the office because of that?

I said "OH SHIT!!" out loud when I read your email, and M, who was passing, said "What?" sounding very worried.

I said, "no no, nothing important," and then correcting myself "nothing in the real world - I got the time difference between New York and San Francisco exactly BACKWARDS"

"Oh," said M, sounding very relieved, "oh well shame on you, tut tut" and went on downstairs to make more tea.

I don't have the red cloak and magical comic book powers to reverse the direction of the Earth and besides people might notice if I did, so i guess I have to rewrite that bit.

Thank you.

*sobs with relief*

Thank you.

Will send you corrected and updated version ASAP.

Love and huge appreciation

Result: But he ate, and asked the waitress where he could make a long-distance phone call. He might as well call Shirley Mason and get it over with. A man answered the phone. He said Miss Mason was at lunch. He did not offer to take a message. Hawkeye stared at the San Francisco telephone directory, and thought of making prank calls. He called Charles's office. The hospital switchboard passed him through without comment: Charles's secretary, who always reminded Hawkeye of a very well-bred robot but with less warmth, said that she would inquire if Doctor Winchester wished to speak with him. Finally, Charles's clipped Boston voice said, "Afternoon. What is it, Pierce?" "Good morning, Charles," Hawkeye said. "Pierce. What is it?" Charles paused. "Are you in California? What do you want?"

Ah, that's a question...

[tkworks80]

Chapter 3

MOMO POV

Momo had always got what she wanted since she was a child. Coming from a very affluent family, she was treated like a Princess in her family’s eyes. And, when Endeavor the #1 hero from all of Japan came to visit and discuss Shoto’s arranged marriage to their daughter. They were so happy, to say the least. Financial arrangements were discussed and documents were signed. When Momo found out about this arranged marriage it didn’t surprise her. Because Shoto and her were very good friends, one could even say that they were practically dating each other in UA. Rumors even spread around UA Highschool that they were very exclusive.

The wedding was glamorous, to say the least. Shoto was ecstatic about the marital union. But, in the back of his mind, he had y/n too. And, he wasn’t going to give both of them up; he loved both of them but in different ways. He was in love with Momo and he loved y/n. Two different things were true. He wouldn’t dare tell y/n about his marriage to Momo because that would probably give y/n enough motivation to fight him fiercely and he couldn’t have that.

Walking in her house after having a very long day of hero work she dropped her gym bag by the door entrance. Her jacket drenched from the rain that day she took it off and hung it dry. Taking off her shoes she walked barefooted towards the living room. Heading to the sofa she pulled out her phone. Checking her phone 5 missed calls and 4 unread texts.

1st text message:

9:30 am Mom: Momo, did you look at the wedding invite design? I need you to agree on a design so I can order them. Call me.

Momo closed her eyes and sighed. How could I possibly be thinking of the wedding when I’m just so damn busy. She thought to herself while reading the next.

2nd text message:

10:45 am Ms. Yuri (Her assistant): Ms. Yaoyorozu, just a reminder you have a dinner date with your fiance at 7:30 pm.

She opened her eyes quickly. Oh yeah, that right...dinner with Shoto...shit...I don't want to go...I’m tired. She thought while looking at the clock it is 5:04 pm she sighs getting up off the sofa and walking into her bedroom. She went into her closet to figure out what she would wear. She was about to enter her master bathroom when her phone rang. She answered.

“Hey, babe..what’s up?” Momo answered.

“You left the office early...is there something wrong?” Shoto asked, concerned.

“I just wanted to beat the traffic,” Momo replied.

“Oh...well about dinner tonight I’m not feeling well and was hoping we could reschedule?” Shoto explained.

“Yes, sure, I’m exhausted anyway...oh by the way my mom texted me about the wedding invitation designs,” Momo said.

“Baby whatever design you like I will agree to it” Shouta answered.

Oh okay well...I gotta take a shower to see you tomorrow at the office” Momo said before she hung up.

Right, when she put the phone back down the phone rang again she sighed and answered.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“She’s back,” the unknown caller said.

“Really?” Momo said in an amused tone.

“Yes, she moved back a couple of months ago, and here’s the killer part...Shoto had lunch with her this afternoon,” the unknown caller explained.

“You don’t say?” Momo said.

“Yup, they were laughing and shit,” the unknown caller said.

“Okay...keep me updated” Momo hung up and sat on the side of her bed.

“His first love is back...I wonder what he is going to do?” Momo said while smirking.

Shoto walked into his private office and poured himself his coffee and sat at his desk. Looking at his schedule for the day he noticed that the 3 pm-5 pm was open. Turning on his desktop was waiting for it to load. He was checking his messages. He then checked his emails to see if he had appointments he forgot to write down. No, nothing. He smirks. I think I’ll be paying a visit to my Flame, he thought. Sipping his coffee he heard a knock on his door.

“Enter” he answered

“Good morning Mr. Shoto, Ms. Yaotorozu would like to see you” his secretary stated.

“Send her in,” he replied.

Momo walked in and sat down on the sofa. “Good morning Shoto,” she said.

“Good morning, what can I do for you?” Shoto looked up from his computer.

“Are you going to be busy today? I was wondering if we can maybe go to my parent's estate and have dinner there” Momo asked.

He was kind of annoyed because he had planned to visit his Flame to check up on her. But, he had to acquiesce to Momo’s request.

“Sure I’m available, but Snowflake what’s the occasion?” Shoto asked Momo.

“Wedding planning is silly, we have to come up with the guest list...I know you want this to be discreet so no news media and-” Momo was interrupted by Shoto.

“I’m available from 3 pm till night” he answered.

Momo disliked being interrupted but, yet kept a cheerful facade so that she wouldn’t have Shoto notice.

“Good, I’ll be waiting in the lobby around 3:30 pm” she stated and got up and left his office.

Fuck. How is he going to check on his Flame? I know...I’ll spend a couple of days around here to make up for today. He just had to develop a plan to be “conveniently” in her neighborhood, and work. He quickly got on his phone and canceled all his appointments for that week he had pressing business to attend to. Momo got wind of that and called the unknown number to keep an eye on her fiance.

2:55 pm and Shoto walked in the elevator going down to the lobby. Momo saw him and smiled while standing up to greet him. She insisted on taking a car and not having a driver. Shoto was driving. It was an hour's drive to get to her parent's estate. A conversation commenced.

“So...when we're going to tell me?” she questioned.

Heart pounding fast he still kept his composure.

“What are you talking about?” he answered a question with a question.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about...did you think that was naive to not know that y/n is here...living and breathing in the flesh...the one that got away,” she said amused.

Silence.

“Look...let’s make a deal...the love that we have is still there...I don’t mind if you have some tail on the side...even if it’s your first love” she said while looking through the window.

“What are you trying to say?” he asked.

“What I’m saying is we will proceed to get married and I will allow you to have her...but, and I mean but leave me out of it...do whatever floats your boat with her...but, never and I mean never treat me like your father treated your mother” she explained.

Shocked, he quickly looked at Momo then back to the road still in silence.

“You didn’t think that I knew that you had his temper...come on now Shoto I am not stupid please don’t peg me as one...I see into your eyes and all I saw was your father” she stated.

That day they had a silent agreement.

Y/n finally completed the big project and got a big raise. Celebrating at a top-notch restaurant with her project team having a good time. She didn’t know but, there was a pair of eyes observing her and taking pictures of her outside of the establishment. She smiled click, picking up her glass click, talking click, male co-worker talking to her click, leaving the table with a said male click. Shoto was receiving the via text and all he did was tighten his fists. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he excused himself from the dinner meeting and called the unknown number.

“Who is that male she just left the table with?” Shoto questioned.

“I think it was one of her project leads...oh wait a minute they just returned with a birthday cake” the unknown caller responded.

“A birthday cake?” Shoto questioned.

“Yeah, I guess one of her co-workers' birthday is today,” the unknown caller responded.

A small sigh of relief washed over Shoto. “Keep me posted,” Shouta said before hanging up. Returning to his table he apologized and resumed the meeting. Shoto couldn’t wait for this blasted dinner meeting to be over with but, he was a patient man and waited. Once the dinner meeting came to a conclusion he excused himself and went to his car. Momo was at the meeting and she did to observe her fiance’s every movement she knew he was keeping a tab on y/n but brushed it off because of the agreement. Walking to her car she got in and drove off. Shoto saw her drive off and he quickly got in his car and drove to the place where y/n was celebrating and texted the unknown caller that he could leave. He nonchalantly walked into the restaurant acting like he was going for dinner and proceeded to sit down at a table party of one.

Y/n saw him and smiled. You then went to his table.

“What brings you here so late?” y/n smiled at him.

“I’m having a late dinner,” Shoto lied.

“Well nice to see you...I’m almost finished with my project completion celebration and I will join you for a drink...does that sound like a plan?” she asked.

“Yeah that sounds good to me” Shoto smiled up at her.

The dinner party was finished and she said her goodbyes to her co-workers. She then joined Shoto. Y/n sat down facing Shoto and smiled.

“So...it’s been a while Shoto...how are things going?” y/n asked

“I’m doing good, just been busy with my hero work” Shoto replied.

“Hey, Shoto...I have to use the restroom. Can you order me a jack and coke?” y/n asked.

“Sure,” Shoto answered

You left the table and went to the restroom. When the waiter set the drinks at the table Shoto proceeded to take a small vial out and pour it into your drink. He swiftly put the empty vial back in his pocket and waited for you to return. You returned to the table and thanked Shoto for ordering a drink for you and started to chat.

“I’m so glad that I finished the project on time...I almost didn't make the deadline” you said while taking a sip. Shoto observed.

“Well, congratulations on completing your project my Flame” Shoto smiled.

“What? What did you just-'' confused and dizzy you said.

“Check please,” Shoto said quickly

Shoto helped you out of the restaurant apologizing for you saying you had a little too much to drink. They believed Shoto because you were at a dinner party for a couple of hours before sitting with Shoto. He quickly seated you in his car and ran to the driver's seat and took off. He had approximately 48 hours of you being unconscious so he had to rush to get your permanent residence fixed up.

He had found an apartment before taking you and padded the walls and walled up the windows before drugging you. Now he had to just bolt the galvanized u-bolts to the ground and purchase the chains. It didn’t take long to finish the task. 24 hours more. He stripped you down and placed leg shackles on you and placed you on a mat. For the very first time he touched you, you were unconscious and that's what he liked. Slowly caressing your breasts down to your stomach. Then back to your carotid artery to check your pulse, slow and steady breathing.

What he didn’t expect was that you opened your eyes quickly and groaned. Your head was pounding furiously, your eyes were throbbing like crazy.

“Huh?...where am I?” you groaned out.

“Hey, my Flame...how was your sleep?” Shoto said to you while sitting next to you with an amused grin on his face.

“Oh...my head...it’s killing me...huh?...Shoto?...but, why?” you groaned.

“Well my Flame since you left me years ago I missed you to the point I almost asked my father for a favor...can you believe that? I Shoto the one who despises my dad was going to ask to bring you back?” Shoto said to you.

“I got to get up...fuck...need some painkillers...need to use the bathroom,” you said while struggling to get up.

“No can do my precious Flame...if you want to use the bathroom you're going to have to ask me” Shoto explained.

Realizing the situation on hand you started to inspect yourself and found that you were chained up.

“Shit Shoto this is not funny...come on unlock the chains...BDSM really?...not my cup of tea...besides the point...Shoto you're my friend” you said to him.

“ENOUGH! You can’t possibly be that dense y/n...here let me put it to layman's terms. You are MINE! This is your new home. Get used to it, you’re not going anywhere...got it?” Shoto asked.

Silence.

“I said GOT. IT!” Shoto added while pinching one of your nipples hard.

“Owwwwww…FUCK. What the fuck! Shoto stop that!” you shouted at him.

“I said got it!” Shoto once again did it to your other nipples

“Yeah! I got it, I got it!!!!” you screamed out in pain.

“Good,” Shoto said while getting up and gesturing to you to go to the bathroom.

You slowly got up and walked to the bathroom. You heard the chains clanking and turned your head to see you had a long chain attached to your ankle. You walked towards the toilet and sat down yet using it you looked up and asked for some privacy and, Shoto didn’t respond and steadily observed you.

“This is so ridiculous Shoto...can I have some privacy?” you said to him.

“You finished?” Shoto asked briefly.

“Yes...do you mind I would like to wipe” you said annoyed.

“Go ahead I’m not going to turn around so, you might as well,” Shoto said to you.

“Why are you doing this Shoto?” you questioned him.

“Go ahead and wipe and go back to the mat...and I’ll explain,” Shoto lied.

You finished and went to the mat. You sat down and waited for him to explain.

“Well?” you added.

“You left me,” he said. Then walked out of the door. You were confused, left him? Then the door opened and he placed a take-out bag in front of you.

“I’m sure you're hungry,” He said.

You opened the bag and proceeded to eat.

"You left me alone...did you know that I was deeply in love with you? You were the means to get away from my father. Even since my mom left me with the scar" he pointed at his scar. "I was always alone...until you came along" looking at you. "I thought...I thought you were my future y/n...I was planning to graduate UA and marry you” you looked at him in shock at what he was confessing. “But, all of that was gone when you left” Shoto started crying.

He quickly wiped his tears and got up. “I need to go,” Shoto said while opening the door.

TWO DAYS LATER

Dizzy, and delirious you haven’t eaten or drank for two days. You were almost considering drinking the toilet water except it had your waste because there was no water running. Your stomach feels as though it's eating itself. Your throat felt so dry, you almost wanted to throw up. Your head was hurting, lips chapped due to dehydration to the point of gagging but, you had nothing in your stomach. You threw up bile bitter, acidic taste on your tongue that made you shudder with disgust.

The door opened and Shoto stepped holding a take-out bag and a gallon of water. You were too weak to lift your head so he came to you. He sat down and poured a cup of water and slid it towards you. You grabbed it and quickly downed the water.

“Please Shoto can I have another cup?” you begged.

“No, you need to take a shower and get something to eat after,” Shoto said.

He helped you up out of the mat and took you to the bathroom. He then went out of the room and turned on the water valve. He came back and flushed the toilet and turned on the shower faucet. You took a good look inside the bathroom. It was immaculate, sort of like the inside of a hospital restroom clean and sterile. Except for the lingering stench of waste for two days.

He helped you in the shower. The shower was so refreshing having warm water surrounding your body. Being so cold for those two days. Lathering you from head to toe, the lather felt comforting he commanded for you to rinse and so you did. When finished he helped you out of the shower and proceeded to dry you.

“Can...can I have some clothes” you timidly asked Shoto.

He handed you a long t-shirt. It was one of his merch shirts. You pulled it over your head and it hung down to your knees.

“Please Shoto Let me go” you pleaded.

“Your mine, my Flame...I lost you once...I don’t intend to lose you again” Shoto whispered in your ear.

But I-” y/n was interrupted.

“Eat your food...I’m leaving” Shoto said while opening the door and walking out.

Shoto waited for a couple of hours and waited until the drug kicked in. Watching the camera he saw you fell to your side. Shoto walked in to find you unconscious from the drug he put in your food. He made his way to her sleeping form and paused then started to take off his clothes. He knew that to make you his he had to make love to you. He kneeled by your sleeping form. He placed his hand on your thigh with a little hesitation. He moved his hand upwards, sliding your shirt up. He saw your perfect breasts and wondered why you haven't fought men off with a stick.

Cupping your breasts he started to grope you pinching your hard nipples in which your body responded perfectly at his touch. He slid his hand down to your pussy and parted your folds. The soft velvety folds felt like rose petals. He rubbed his finger up and down from your clit to your entrance. Then he started to pluck your clit fast to the point that your slick started to run down to your ass. He knew you were ready for him.

He then parted your legs and climbed on top of you. He positioned himself at your entrance and slowly pushed himself inside of you savoring the wet and tight cunt of yours. He waited for a minute. It seemed like forever the way you cunt was strangling his cock. He knew right there and then that you were a virgin. He shuddered in excitement knowing that he will be your first to the only man you will ever be with. He pulled out and notice there was a little blood which confirmed what he was thinking.

He started to thrust slowly gripping your waist. His pace started to get faster and paused when he heard you groan. They started thrusting again this time your eyes started to fluttered and open.

“What are you doing to me?” you moaned out.

“Shhh...my Flame...I’m making you mine” he whispered to you.

You started to struggle to flail your legs out trying to push Shoto back and almost succeeded. Until Shoto slapped you hard on your jaw.

“What did I tell you?... What did I tell you? I’m making you mine” Shoto said while gritting his teeth.

You were in shock at the actions that Shoto was doing to you. In tears, you started to sob.

“Get the fuck off of me! Motherfucker! Get off! Now!” you sobbed out.

Another punch this time you almost passed out from the impact.

“Please leave me alone Shoto please” you mumbled while being woozy from the punch.

Shoto slammed his hand over your mouth while rutting in you. The sounds of muffled screams fell out of your mouth. Squelching sound echoed through the padded room and the muffled screams. Shoto wasn’t going to lie, he was getting more turned on and his cock was getting harder. Balls slapping against your ass he let out a big moan and cummin in your cunt.

Still, on top of you, his body relaxed as spurts of cum shot right into you, pulsating into you. He slowly pulled his cock out of you and buried his face on the crook of your neck.

“I told you...I was going to make you mine” he panted.

He quickly got up and put his clothes on. Threw you a little blue box. You looked at it and it was a Plan B box.

“Here...I don’t want to get you pregnant” Shoto said while opening the door and leaving.

[thegodthief]

In that same temp agency dream, when I went back to the office, the temp manager was pissed. The client had called him the moment I left and told him flat out that he was doing me a disservice and that she had suspected him of assignment bullshit, but this would be the last temp assignment she would take from him as she just offered all the temps that showed up a permanent job.

Turned out that encounter was a waking-up for her as well, and how she was contributing to the cycle.

Good for her.

Sucks to be me.

He kept looking for something to justify docking my wages for, or to keep me from other assignments, but he already had a list of clients that were asking specifically for me and some of them were willing to pay a premium for me to be assigned there long term.

And he knew that any long-term assignment was going to become a permanent job with the client, and oops, there went the golden goose.

"It's not your fault that you can't do shit, kid. It's not like anyone can teach you anything with a head like yours. Okay. So. Let's give this one last shot, eh. There's a... difficult... client. He's cool, I mean, not handsy or anything. But his work location is way out there and there's no one to talk to but the plants. As long as the plants don't talk back, you shouldn't have any problem, cuz you're like, not socially normal or anything, so... HERE! I don't care how you get there tomorrow, but get there, or don't come back."

He shoves a scrap of paper in my hands with the address of the client. He's smiling in a way that makes me want to cut his throat with a spoon. This is a trap and I have no choice but to walk into it.

As I walk out to the parking lot, his secretary is waiting for me off to the side of the door.

"Don't go to that assignment. Here." She shoves an envelope in my hands. "Leave. There's enough money here for you to get out of this place and start over. It's what he was supposed to have been paying you, but his books are so shit, I was able to pull it aside because I knew he would do this. I fucking knew it."

"You know this is a trap, right? There's something odd about this client. He's right in that there has never been a harassment complaint or something... physically unpleasant... but there's something not right about this guy. Every temp we have sent to him has quit and left town about explanation. I don't even know why we still have him as a client. Probably because no other temp agency in town will work with him and boss charges him a fuckton of money for the sacrifices we send his way."

"And make no mistake, you are a sacrifice. If boss drops you as a worker, he has to pay unemployment, and he'll burn the office down again first. If the client rejects you, well, that's justification to dock your pay and keep all of the payment. If you walk away because of the conditions, well, that's job abandonment, and boss will have you blackballed everywhere in this town. There is no right answer here, so take what should have been yours from the start and get the hell out of here before he finds something to leash you with."

She looked down at the ground in sudden sorrow. "And he will. He's good at offering a deal you can't refuse, or a deal that looks perfect for you until it's time to pay it back." She turned to go.

"Wait." I didn't open the envelope but I could feel the bundles of bills. "What's the harm then in trying? If this client is not bad, then why is he used to get rid of people?"

She looked at me with curious horror. "You didn't recognize the name? Wow, you really aren't from around here, then. He's a magician. A real, live, damned, sorcerer. Most magicians are just acts on a stage, ya know, but this guy? He's really trying to make himself the real deal. And his assignment is just secretary work, filing, typing, messages, and emails. But... no one stays with him for long. Those that came back, came back with stories that are nonsensical. They say that he's as harmless as a sleeping kitten, but the environment... Well. Let's just say that you sure as hell won't be in Kansas anymore."

She left to go back inside and I left to walk back to my apartment. I didn't look in the envelope until the front door was bolted.

Fuck, that's a lot of money. Enough to get me to the City. Enough to start over.

Enough that I didn't have to leave immediately and could take the time to see what's so special about this client that his office is where temp contracts go to die.

And that is what I did the next day in the dream, but how much of that will be written publicly remains to be seen.

[hdjihye]

Hush, Hush

Words: 739 (technically)

Jihye could only hope that this meeting was what she thought it might be. 

It had been enough time since her sending in her audition for the global Kiss Studios audition call, and she was constantly checking her email and texts to see if they had responded. When she finally got a response from a Kiss executive, she tried to keep her expectations manageable. This was a good sign, but so much could go wrong. Maybe this was a trap and she was about to get in trouble with Starlight for going behind their backs. Anything could happen.

Still, she made sure she would look her best, just in case this went well. Her liner was on point, her eyebrows perfect, and a soft pink to her lips; professional, but memorable.

She made certain to be early, feeling like being professional was the least she could do to show she was ready for whatever they might decide to throw at her. When she was ushered into the practice room, she took a deep breath and put on a small, but polite smile on her face.

 “Hello!” She bowed, “Thank you for arriving punctually, we appreciate your effort. This is our first meeting, but I’ve been watching you very closely and my first goal was to fully assess your skills.”

Jihye bowed in response, then nodded in understanding, hoping the other saw something worth pursuing with her; she had been working hard for so long, she had to have something to show for it, right?

The secretary in hand continues with an even stricter tone, “Now, there’s a lot to discuss. After evaluating your audition, we have plans to place you with a set of candidates under Debut Evaluations.” 

Debut evaluations. Those were two of the most beautiful words she had ever heard in her life. Jihye wasn’t a very expressive person, but anyone with eyes could see the excitement forming in her own. All of her hard work in these past years were finally paying off; all she had to do was audition for a company that would appreciate her talents. A smile did form on her face, a bigger one than most people ever got to see out of the young woman, but this was truly one of the happiest moments of Jihye’s life. She was so close, she could taste it.

Only a little bit more work to go.

“As a debut candidate group for the year 2023, there’s a lot of work ahead before any official news are made. In terms of skills, teamwork, and passion for debut, the company has decided to follow a different type of debut preparation.”

Jihye was nodding along, listening to every word very carefully. 

“For the coming days, evaluations will be done with songs and choreographies made by the trainees - with the aid of coaches and instructors. We don’t believe idols can appeal to the public relying on only looks or skills. You’ll need to be an independent artist, with your own story to tell. It’s up to create the story others will gravitate to.”

Jihye was stunned. This wasn’t just a debut opportunity. This was an opportunity to debut with a song she personally had a hand in; this was perfect. “I completely agree,” she said after the briefest moment of silence as she processed the amazing words out of the other woman’s mouth. “And you don’t have to worry about me, I’ve been working on writing my own lyrics for years.” She considered for a moment taking her lyric notebook out of her bag to prove it, but thought against it; she needed to seem enthusiastic, but not too eager to please. She needed to keep her cool. “This is a dream come true for me. This is the exact kind of opportunity I’ve been hoping for, and I’m ready to show you my potential.”

With the final details settled, Jihye got up and bowed deeply, giving her thanks again before leaving he office and heading towards the subway. This was it. This was exactly what Jihye wanted, and she was ready to prove herself worthy of not only a debut, but a true artists debut.

Suck it, Woori.

It was only when she was on the subway back home did she realize she would have to be “friendly” and “likable” to the other girls being considered. So Jihye had to actually try to.. make friends.

Shit.

[advancetoclassesandmaterials]

MS Office Legal and Corporate- Dealing With A LinkedIn Issue On A Phone

Not too long ago, I did an article about a situation whereby an attorney received an important call on his cell where he could not clearly hear the message from the individual and the number came in as unknown, so we had to figure out how to reveal the unknown number. I will give you that link at the bottom of this article.

As I have said before, whether you work at a legal firm or corporate firm, you really never know what issue will surface where it is new to you as well.

So here is the latest situation. The secretary has been given the task of setting up the LinkedIn App on her attorney’s cell phone. He wants it on the phone. He has an iPhone. She went to the App Store and downloaded the App for him and figured she was done with that issue.

Someone on LinkedIn contacted the attorney about an opportunity whereby he could “possibly” represent this individual in a lucrative new venture. This LinkedIn contact wrote a lengthy post to him as a message.

He comes out to the secretary and tells her that he wants the message that is sitting in LinkedIn to be forwarded to “his email” so he can send to his colleagues to discuss this new opportunity.

She goes into the LinkedIn app and selects the ellipsis (three dots) on the upper right and she sees the message and opens it. While in the message, she selects the elipsis again but the only things that appear at the bottom have to do with dealing with the message “internally” including “creating a group chat”. Yes, she is being asked what is taking so long?

To make another story short she had to press down on the open message whereby, she then received the “Share Via” message and sent it to the attorney’s work email. Another scenario solved. Note: Keep in mind that many different platforms online react in the same way. Lesson here is relax, look up the situation and you will usually find the answer quickly.

I did promise the link for the “Unknown” scenario and that is directly below:

https://www.tumblr.com/advancetoclassesandmaterials/759793228899811328/that-was-an-important-call-i-need-the-number-to

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[randomcrapstories]

Noddle!! For the Ask Wip Challenge Post!

Can I know about Green With Life and Poison? :)

Hello hello!

That one is actually a rewrite of a published story, "Returned"

It's a Movieverse fic that plays with the idea of if Lloyd vanished out of the public eye and focused entirely on being a ninja. Progress is slow but I already like it a lot better than the original.

And! I actually have a snippet to share for this one!

They took care of everything that weekend. Koko fumed at how accepting the school was when she emailed them about Lloyd withdrawing. All it took was one email and the secretary assured her that all would be taken care of. They didn’t even ask Koko to sign off on anything.

The next day, Koko got out of work early, and she and Lloyd went to the school to clean out his locker.

“Oh, Lloyd…” Koko gasped, pressing her hands to her mouth at the sight of his locker. It had been completely defaced, covered in graffiti and notes. Most were about how he was just like his father—

(a blatant lie, Koko had loved both of them and knew they were completely different)

—but she could spot several calling for Lloyd to— she couldn’t even say it.

Lloyd ignored the writing, putting in the combination for his locker and opening it. Together, they emptied it of his books and supplies, loading it into a pair of cardboard boxes.

When they left, there was a wall of people outside. Other students at the school, come to gawk at her son. The administration must have leaked that Lloyd was dropping out. Several of them started jeering, but Koko summoned her past as a ninja warrior to send them a sharp glare. The students cut themselves off, and she and Lloyd walked back to the car in silence.

They loaded the boxes into the back of Koko’s car. Koko climbed into the driver’s seat, Lloyd into the passenger. Before starting the car, Koko leaned over the shift stick to hug Lloyd tight. He hugged back, squeezing his arms around her middle, and she could feel his shoulders shaking.

“I’m so sorry, baby…” Koko whispered, pulling her son as close as she could with the dash still between them. “I’m so sorry.”

She didn’t know exactly what she was apologising for. There were a million and one things she could list that she could have done better. Should have done better.

Whoever leaked that Lloyd was withdrawing was very lucky that Koko’s love for Lloyd was stronger than her hatred.

Lloyd pulled back first, wiping at his eyes. The glow had dimmed, and Koko wished for the days where they glowed brighter than the lightbulbs in their apartment. Koko cupped his cheek and he turned to press into it.

“Can we go home, mom?”

“Of course, Lloyd.”

There were a million and one things she should have done better.

[chxncinth]

illogical

pairing: ceo!chan x rival ceo!reader 

genre: smut

description: seeing chan’s company surpass your company made you feel a type of anger you weren’t familiar with. you had always gotten everything you wanted and now you fell short of it, so you felt the need to show and prove to chan that you were still better no matter what. you headed to his house to talk to him, not at all expecting what was about to happen.

warnings: oral (male and female receiving), choking, sir kink, rough sex, ice play, use of safe words

wc: 4.9k

notes: whoo this took such a long time! this is the first time i've ever tried writing this much smut so i hope people like it 😭 please like, reblog, and leave comments! it would mean the world to me <3

a loud slam of the door made you look up from your monitor.

“seriously? what the hell did that guy do?”

your eyebrows furrowed together as you looked at your very obviously frustrated secretary. catching onto your confusion, jeongin handed you the papers in his hands.

“look for yourself.”

you quickly scanned them, eyes widening in disbelief. 

“what the fuck?! how did this even happen?!” to say you were angry would be a serious understatement. you were livid. 

you had always gotten everything you had ever wanted, be it a company that you were interested in or the newest luxury car in the market.

but now? you were beaten by someone. and that someone was bang chan out of everyone it could have been. 

standing up and grabbing your purse and coat, you stormed past jeongin, shoving the papers into his chest. he ran after you, trying his best to keep up with your angry stride. 

your heels clicked sharply against the tiles and caused the heads of the few employees remaining at this late hour to turn your way. jeongin bowed apologetically towards them and continued after you.

you pressed the button to the elevator and turned to look at jeongin.

“i’m going to his house to give him a little talk. don’t come with me. finish up your work and head home. i also want you to send out an email to all employees giving them the next week off. this quarter was hell for all of us,” you sent him a small smile but your eyes shined with anger. 

jeongin looked concerned, after all he was your best friend. 

“but y/n…”

you shushed him as the doors to the elevator opened and you stepped in.

“don’t worry about me innie. i’ll be fine. if anything goes south i can just kick his balls.”

jeongin laughed at that, telling you to call him afterwards as the doors closed.

he really hoped that you’d be fine.

-

tossing your belongings into the passenger seat as you got into your car, you huffed out in frustration. 

‘fucking bang chan. that pain in the ass.’

you started the car and headed off in the direction of his company, the way there basically branded into your brain. after all, you frequented it for the longest time. 

as you reached your destination, you found that the building was closed. sighing in frustration, you got back in your car.

really, you should have just given up and gone back home. but no, you were stubborn and you weren’t going to give up until you actually talked to him in-person.

so you headed to his house.

you passed the gate easily as the guard recognized your car and let you through with no questions.

his property was just as you remembered, dark, spacious, and foreboding. the only change was that there was a garden in front.

you parked and stepped out of your car, deciding to leave your coat and purse inside since you wouldn’t be there long.

as you walked to the entrance, your brain screamed at you to stop. memories of the last time you were here were thrown at you nonstop and you had to physically force yourself to get to the door and ring the bell.

the electronic panel stayed dark for a few seconds until the face of a maid popped up.

“may i help you?” she said, squinting slightly. 

“i’m here to talk to chan regarding work? i’m y/n.”

her eyes lit up in realization at the mention of  your name. there was no doubt that the workers gossiped about you and the scene that occurred back then.

the maid pressed a button and you heard a click.

the door opened automatically and she rushed towards you from around the corner, bowing.

“please wait in the sitting room for a moment while i call mr. bang,” she told you with a smile as you took off your heels and slipped on a pair of house slippers.

you nodded and made your way there, sitting down on the plush couch.

you looked around a noticed that nothing at all had changed, not even a single decoration. then you noticed it in the corner of your eye.

getting up, you headed towards the little corner table that had various framed pictures on it. and one of those pictures just happened to be back when you and chan were on good terms.

it was a picture of you and him as high schoolers during your annual trip to singapore. the both of you sporting beautiful smiles on your faces except you were looking at the camera while chan stared at you with what could only be described as a lovestruck gaze. 

you bristled at the fact that the picture was still here after seven months, expecting him to definitely remove everything about you in his house. 

“that picture is my absolute favorite one of us.”

you turned abruptly at the voice, seeing him walking into the room. even after so long of not seeing chan, you weren’t surprised all that much that he still took your breath away.

he wore navy blue silk pajamas that looked extremely familiar to you. as he got closer, you realized that they were the ones you gifted him on his birthday.

“you still wear those?” you asked, scoffing slightly and wondering how he had the audacity to after what he had done to you.

looking down at himself, he smiled softly. 

“yeah, they’re my favorite too.”

it was silent as the two of you took in the sight of each other for the first time in seven months.

his face had gotten sharper and his eyes harder. as usually, you weren’t able to read his emotions easily. they were closely  guarded.

he broke out of his daze first and stepped forward again.

“why are you here?” he asked you bluntly.

the glare that you had been sporting up until you came here was back again and your arms crossed automatically.

“i’m here because of your profit this quarter. how in the world did you manage to increase it by 38%? that’s practically impossible.”

chan chuckled, the uncomfortable atmosphere increasing tenfold within a second. but you weren’t sure if the feeling up in the air was hate or something else that you’d rather not acknowledge. 

“so you’re here because you can’t stand someone else being better than you?”

“no, i’m here because i want to know how you got ahead of my company. i’m obviously better than you are and we’ve seen that for the past how many years now?” you cocked up your eyebrow.

his eyes became darker, a shimmer of what you believed was annoyance flashing before it was gone as fast as it came and his eyes were blank.

“it’s called working hard sweetheart,” he said as he brushed past you towards his office. you scoffed and followed after him.

“you have some nerve coming here after ghosting me for seven months,” he said to you as you were closing the double doors behind you.

“i have nerve? last i remembered, it was you who cheated on me by fucking my little sister.”

chan’s eyebrows furrowed together as he dragged a hand down his face lightly. “you broke up with me and ignored me like the plague because of that? how many times do i need to tell you to not believe baseless rumors?”

you were furious. how could he even say that? had he no shame?

“well chan, i can tell you that i don’t believe in baseless rumors because i saw this with my own eyes.”

“and pray tell, what exactly did you see?”

you faltered at his obvious confidence and grew smaller. his arms were crossed lightly as he sat back in chair, sporting a slight smirk. the pajamas stretched dangerously across his broad shoulders and for a second you thought the material would rip.

“well, i guess i didn’t really see anything as much as heard, but still! the noises i heard are enough proof!”

chan got up and walked around his desk, coming to stand right in front of you. you flinched slightly as his hand reached out and softly grabbed your chin, tilting it up so that you would meet his eyes.

“proof you say? well, what if you knew that i was in my room with your sister so i could plan out what to do for what would have been our fifth anniversary? oh, and if you remember, that same room has a fucking massage chair in it.”

it was as if a lightbulb slowly went off in your brain. 

your eyes widened in surprise as you instinctively moved away from him. turning around you quickly went over to the doors, prepared to make a run for it and do what you do best: avoid the situation you’re faced with.

but wiggling the doorknob simply led to more frustration and embarrassment as the doors seemed to be locked.

“why the hell aren’t these stupid doors opening!?” you said, lightly kicking them.

chan chuckled softly behind you and you heard his footsteps coming closer. gulping nervously, you let your head drop so that you looked at the floor.

“there’s something known as ‘automatic locks’ baby. i just pressed a button right after you came in here. and god, explaining that whole thing was a lot harder than it should have been.”

you turned and stared at him. his chocolate brown eyes seemed to suck you in and it took you a moment to remember what you wanted to say.

“l-let me go chan. i have things i need to do,” you said, trying your best to show some sort of confidence despite stuttering.

the man brought his hand up and softly traced the outline of your face.

“you still have quite a bit of attitude, don’t you babygirl? i think we need to fix that before you can go,” his hand traveled down to your waist and pulled you closer so that your lips were barely touching. his breath caressed your lips and you felt the urge to collapse and let the man in front of you take care of you as he used to— but you stood straight and looked right back at him. 

“you wanted to know how my quarter’s profit was higher than yours so here’s the first thing: i’m not stuck-up like you.”

and with that, his lips were on yours. they were bruising, the force with which he was kissing you being one that you had become quite accustomed to while you were dating each other. you were slightly stunned for a second before you kissed back just as passionately, pushing the small piece of hesitance back into the corner of your brain.

your hands crept their way up to entangle themselves in his hair, pulling on the strands lightly causing chan to let out a soft groan into the kiss. 

“god princess,” he said when he pulled away slightly. “i missed you so much.”

“yeah, well i didn’t.” you looked at him defiantly, not wanting him to know of the effect he had on you. but you were aware that he knew you and your body better than yourself. “and there are other people in this house.”

chan picked you up easily, lightly spanking your butt and eliciting a soft moan from you. he walked in long strides and dropped you down onto the plush grey couch in his office.

“such a brat,” he hissed as his fingers went back to tracing your form.  “i dismissed them as soon as i knew you came here.”

you back arched into him as his hand trailed behind you to fiddle with the zipper of your skirt. 

“is this ok y/n?” he whispered against your lips, making sure before he moved forward. after all, no matter how much he wanted you, he would never do anything without your permission. 

you looked up at him, staring into his bottomless eyes. and you were surprised because for the first time, you could read him effortlessly.

his eyes held nothing but affection for you, and you could see that he worried that he was overstepping your boundaries. that was enough for you to make up your mind.

you smiled and pulled him into you by his neck, kissing him slowly. it was a stark contrast to how rough you had been treated right before but chan lost himself in you.

“it’s ok chan. do whatever you want to me.”

“whatever i want?”

his eyes hardened over with lust, smirking as he pulled the zipper down, helping you take the piece of clothing off. you shivered slightly as the cold air hit your bare skin.

you inhaled softly when his finger slipped underneath your blouse and started to dance across your stomach. taking a second to compose yourself, you opened your eyes and looked up at chan.

“i just have one question. why do you still want me? didn’t i hurt you?”

chan hummed as he moved to remove your blouse. you lifted up your arms to make it easier for him. 

“you did but you’re also just irresistible baby.” his lips came down and grazed your collarbone. “that, and i know that you didn’t mean to hurt me. you’re just a little slow.”

as soon as he said that, he started to suck harshly and leave behind marks for you to remember him by. your eyes closed with the pleasure, any comeback to his words that you had dying on the tip of your tongue. his hand wandered down to your panties and you gasped softly as he finally, finally, slipped a finger into your folds, slowly dragging a digit down and spreading your arousal.

you were too far gone by now to be even the slightest bit embarrassed by how wet you were by him simply kissing you. 

“but i think you still need to make it up to me since you were so insensitive,” he said as a smirk took over his features. “hands above your head head. now.”

your hands immediately followed his orders, knowing that there was no way you would have forgotten what he had conditioned you to do.

chan chuckled at how easily you listened as he got up and went behind his desk. opening a drawer, he grabbed a spare tie. your eyes widened in refusal and you whined lowly, not wanting your hands to be tied so you couldn’t touch him. 

tutting, chan closed the drawer and walked back, using his hands to press your hips into the couch.

“oh baby, you know brats like you don’t get to have a choice. be good and take it,” he said lowly, tying your wrists together and looping the tie around the leg of a corner table.

“channie—“ you were cut off by a harsh slap to your thigh. it burned in the best way possible and your back arched as a long, drawn-out moan came out against your will.

“god, you get off on me spanking you, huh? you’re just a slut who loves the pain,” he said harshly, eyes glinting with unspoken desire and a need to fucking ruin you.

whining, you struggled against the restraints, wanting to run your hands down chan’s body.

but he simply chuckled and began unbutton his shirt, slowly revealing his chiseled torso. your whines increased as you stared hazily at his abs, feeling the need to do nothing more than to touch him at that moment and for the rest of eternity.

chan discarded the piece of fabric and leaned down. he teased you as he brushed his lips oh-so-lightly against yours, hands moving to deftly unhook your bra and throw it on the floor.

his sinful lips attached themselves to your breasts and he kissed and sucked the skin there as if he had been starved. your whines increased in volume and you strained against the tie binding your arms together.

“chan—“ you whispered breathlessly, opening your eyes to look down at the head of blonde.

“no. that’s not my name brat. and especially not for someone of the likes of you.”

his glare could have frozen your blood if given the chance but you didn’t give it that. looking away immediately, you whispered to him, “sir…”

he grinned, teeth on display as his hand gripped your neck, tugging harshly to make you look at him.

“look at me when you address me.”

so you looked at him.

“i want you in me sir.”

you were met with another slap and this one hurt. a lot.

tears prickled at the corner of your eyes and fell over.

“do you really think you can order me around like that?” scoffing, chan grabbed onto the hem of your panties and seamlessly ripped the lace into two pieces, leaving you completely naked in front of him.

“you really think after the shit you’ve pulled, what with you ignoring me for so long, i’ll listen to you? give you that pleasure of spoiling you like i used to when you were mine?”

his hands spread your legs apart for him and he immediately thrust two fingers into you, sending your mind spiraling.  

“well, i guess that’s not right because you’re still mine. you probably got off every night thinking about me fucking you. probably imagined that the people fucking you were me,” he said nonchalantly as he drove his fingers into you so deep that he hit your g-spot repeatedly. you knew he was correct and your moans increased in volume as you squirmed around, the pleasure almost unbearable. 

“s-sir…please…” you gasped breathlessly. 

“please what babygirl? only two fingers and you can’t even string your words together. how pathetic,” he practically growled at you as you while thrusting another into you. 

“god,” you said as your eyes rolled back into your head. the feeling of chan’s fingers stretching you out was something you had thought about constantly over the past few months and now that you had them in you, you felt unbelievably complete.

he then abruptly pulled out, leaving you whining at the emptiness. 

“sir—“ 

he interrupted you by harshly showing his fingers into your mouth. 

“suck,” he commanded. you followed his order without hesitance, also remembering how much you love the feeling of his fingers in your mouth.

he removed them, resulting in a small ‘pop’ to echo throughout the office, and stood up. brushing your hair back, he leaned close and pressed his lips to yours lightly. 

“stay still. i’ll be back soon.”

and he was gone after clicking a remote and walking out the doors, leaving you to be alone with your own thoughts.

your mind was going crazy. chan had gotten  bigger in the time you hadn’t seen him, and you could only imagine that it applied to every part of his body. 

a shudder of pleasure and fear passed through your body at the thought of taking him in after so long. sure, you had sex in between, but everyone you fucked were extremely underwhelming compared to chan. honestly speaking, barely anyone made you orgasm unless you imagined that they were him.

eyes closed, you pulled up memories of chan’s cock, remembering how he had both length and girth, along with a slight curve. he always filled you up to the brim, leaving no room in your head to think about anything other than pleasure.

your thoughts made you so wet to the point you started to drip onto the couch. writhing around, you tried your best to divert your attention to anything but the ever consuming heat between your legs.

“sir, sir, sir—“ you whimpered as you ultimately failed and started thrusting up into the air, as if that would make chan come back faster to pleasure you.

“well would you look at that babygirl? begging for sir and making such a mess of my furniture? you’re so fucking hot.”

a gasp came out of you as his fingertips trailed over your stomach. you arched up into him, uttering incoherent words as you tried to plead him to touch you properly.

“forgot how sensitive you are baby. i missed it,” he said as he pulled a silk blindfold from his pocket. he tied it around your eyes, and you whimpered more, now having to solely rely on your senses of hearing and touch to figure out chan’s next move (not that you really would be able to even without being restrained since he was quite unpredictable). 

he chuckled and leaned down to kiss your lips, trailing his kisses down to your breast. he licked your nipple softly and then bit it, making you thrash around until he put his hand on your hips to stop you.

“sir, please…” you breathed out.

“you said i could do anything, didn’t you?”

you hesitated for a moment before nodding. 

“words sweetheart,” he said getting up. you heard him take a few steps away from you and the sound of his mini fridge opening.

“…yes sir.”

he hummed lowly and after a few seconds of silence, you gasped as you felt a sharp coldness on your torso.

you writhed at the new and unexpected temperature. the coldness moved down further and further until it was ghosting over your clit before it was removed.

chan chuckled above you and you could only imagine how desperate you looked as he traced ice along your body. he leaned down and licked the trail of water left by it while holding your hips down in place.

“god, you’re a fucking masterpiece,” he muttered under his breath, continuing to lick the remaining water while listening to your moans which were slowly increasing in volume.

it was when he got down to your clit that he placed a soft kiss on it before starting to suck.

you screamed at the sharp pleasure that came with his actions, tears coming out of your eyes with how turned on you were.

“sir please—“ you heaved as he spread your legs wider, his tongue moving down to lick at your hole. “hurts!”

“such a slut just for me aren’t you? want my cock so bad—“ a kiss was placed on your inner thigh. “—you cant even speak properly.”

a mix of words left your mouth as he sucked on the soft flesh of your thigh, leaving a bright red mark.

chan stood up, sliding his pants and boxers down in one go as he positioned himself in front of your entrance.

“color?”

“green, sir,” you breathed out.

he pushed in with no warning and started to fuck you without giving you time to adjust.

the sheer size of him was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time, and your body did a double take.

“chan!” a moan ripped from your throat and he thrusted harder.

“sir,” he said between breaths. “and i didn’t tell my fucktoy to speak did i? you’re going to be quiet and take it.”

you couldn’t see anything but you could feel the glint in his eyes as he looked down at your body, arms tied and eyes blindfolded, all while being fucked to the edge of your sanity. 

you tried your best to not make noises but that proved to be quite hard as chan increased his pace and even leaned down to circle your nipple with his tongue, hand reaching out to give attention to your other breast.

both of your moans and groans increased as you approached your highs. chan’s hand came out to wrap around your neck and he squeezed.

“i didn’t allow you to come yet whore,” he said as he choked you harder. “you don’t get to come until i say so.”

a sound of surprise escaped your lips and you arched your back as he rubbed circles on your clit.

“sir fuck please please i wanna cum i need to—“

chan ignored your string of garbled pleads and looked down at the sight of his length disappearing into your hole. he growled lowly as he tightened his grip around your neck.

“if you think you’re going to get the pleasure of feeling your release this early on, you’re sadly mistaken babygirl. you’re nothing but a cumdump for me tonight so act like it and if i think you deserve it, maybe i’ll let you cream around my cock.”

and it all continued since your body was still used to his commands, not daring to let go until allowed. 

he finished inside of you and swiftly untied your hands as he hoisted you up, only to press your back against the wall and fuck his cum into you.

it was only after he came again and was preparing to bend you over his desk for a third round, that you spoke due to the pain of how overstimulated you were.

“chan…” you whispered hoarsely, purposefully calling him by his name in the hopes that he would figure out that something was wrong. “stop…”

but you were mistaken because he only slapped your ass sharply, spreading your legs and thrusting back into your swollen and abused hole. 

you screamed at the feeling, and tears streamed down your face as your body was too used to put up with it any longer. he was too far gone.

“red!”

chan’s hips stilled as he took a second to register what you said. his eyes then widened as he pulled out quickly and stepped away.

“baby? i’m so sorry,” he said, trying to put space in between the two of you.

you walked over to him and wrapped you arms around his torso as you tried to regulate your breathing.

“i’m fine,” you mumbled through deep breaths and sniffles, tightening your arms as much as you could in your current state.

chan led you to the couch, sitting down. looking down at him, you sat down and straddled him. your head then dropped down into the crook of his neck as you sought after the comfort that only he seemed to provide you. 

he stayed still, not wanting to move and possibly hurt you any further. 

god, chan felt despicable. you could feel that much simply by being close to him. and knowing how his personality is, he was probably beating himself up about how he ignored your signs of discomfort in return for his own pleasure.

you looked up and pressed a chaste kiss to his jawline.

“i really am fine love. i just need time to gather my energy.”

he was as stiff as a plank of wood beneath you, arms limp at his side. 

“but still…” he said, staring blankly at the wall. “i ignored you and i hurt you.”

you put your hands on either side of his face and turned him to meet your eyes.

“and i gave you permission to do whatever you wanted with the knowledge that if i said that one word when i felt uncomfortable, you would immediately stop.”

you sighed deeply at his regret-filled eyes.

“do you want to take a bath?” he asked. “maybe that will make you feel better?”

you nodded slowly and he picked you up, refusing to let you walk by yourself. 

he went upstairs and into the bathroom, setting you down on his empty dressing table while he filled the tub.

you giggled softly at the sight of him.

“your ass is cute,” you said, as he added bath salt to the  water.

“y/n!” he said, whipping around with an indignant look on his face.

“it’s true!” 

chan grumbled softly as he turned back, but you could see the tips of his bright red ears.

“i think it’s ready?” chan said, swirling the water to test the temperature one more time.

you stood up at his words, wincing slightly at the pain that shot up through your lower body. walking over to the tub, you slowly stepped in and lowered yourself until you were sitting.

“is it ok?“ chan asked, looking down at you.

“it would be better if you got in, you know.”

chan flushed and looked away.

“are you sure? i wouldn’t want to invade your space more than i already have,” he said.

you frowned and reached for his hand.

“chan, it’s ok. you didn’t do anything wrong so please just get in the damn bathtub,” you said sternly, somewhat tired of having to constantly reassure him.

he relented and stepped in, sitting down so he faced you. a smile made its way onto his face as he felt the warm water around him.

“this feels pretty nice,” he said, staring the water.

“come here,” you beckoned, grabbing a bottle of body wash and pumping some out.

chan scooted over towards you and smiled as you took his arm, applying the product on it.

“i missed this,” you whispered softly, tracing a heart on his skin. you then brought his arm up to your lips and kissed it.

chan’s heartbeat increased as the tips of his ears turned reds.

“then let’s never stop it.”

you looked up and met his eyes.

“never again,” you said, moving forward to kiss to his lips.

chan held your back softly as he reciprocated your affection.

“i love you y/n,” he said when the two of you separated for air and his arm came up to tuck your hair behind your ear.

your smile stretched from ear to ear, pink dusting your cheeks from the warmth of the bath tub and the man in front of you.

“i love you too chan.”

[justyouraverageficwriter]

Orange ~

Sana x M Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst(?), Smut (eventually)

WC: 4177

Chapter 2: How did you know?

Reader --

You spend most of your day in the new hospital performing surgeries. The older doctors tried to pass this off as the 'life of a surgeon'. Well it's true that surgeons work on such crazy hours. However, delegating almost all of surgeries to you seemed highly intentional. When you try to somehow work your way out, the doctors will justify it as essential for your career, labelling it as experience. On paper it looked like these seniors are taking care of you but in hindsight, it was clear that they are waiting for you to mess up. Today was no different, you are lined up for two surgeries. Perusing on the case files, you took a sigh of relief. Thankfully these two surgeries are minor ones. You promptly head out to call and meet your OR Team.

You may be new but you already assembled what you think was one of the best OR Teams in the history of the hospital. Well granted you don't know much of the hospital's history, you are quite confident about your idea regardless. That confidence mostly came from you being the surgeon but your co-workers are full of potential of their own. Your first assistant is Park Jun Han, a promising doctor who has just started practicing. He is older than you of course. Your team's scrub is Park Jihyo, a great and accomplished nurse. She is a beauty on her own. Big and deep colored eyes. It's not just her eyes that are big though, an asset too hard to miss if you're looking somewhere else. She's Jun Han's fiancé. A love story deserving their own. Kim Dahyun is the anesthetist, another bright young woman. She has this weird playful energy and has a knack of finding cameras. A talent if you can consider it as one that she discovered when she was pulled as an extra of one drama that was shot on the hospital premises. Lastly, your circulator which also serves as a second assistant on major operations Im Sang Hun. He is a resident. He also has a fraternal twin who is a famous idol Im Nayeon.

-

"Good job everyone," as you finished your last operation for the day. You admit you feel a bit tired. You said your thanks to the team, and asked Doctor Park to oversee the rest of the wrapping up activities. You headed out immediately of the Operating Room towards the waiting family members outside. You told them about the good news and went on your way back to your office. The office was dark and empty. You are once again reminded that you really need a medical secretary. Your paperwork was piling up fast and there is no way to accomplish all of it without any help. So without even stepping inside your office, you headed to the HR.

Inside the HR office, you saw this familiar face, Yoo Jeongyeon. She was a friend back in your short high school venture, and still a good friend now even you did not see each other for a very long time. "Do you have the final list of the applicants, Jeongyeon-ah?" You are tired so the words that came out of your mouth have somewhat of a rude tone. "If you just listened to my advice to have this position tagged as urgent, you should have your secretary by now." You noticed she rolled her eyes. She went on having her best impression of you when you told her you want the best so tagging it as urgent will just compromise the search. Clearly she was not having anything of the excuses you are going to say. Realizing there is no use to press on, you smiled. "I'm sorry if I sounded rude, I'm tired and famished". She looked at you amused.

"Are you saying that to help speed up the process?"

"I'm serious, Ms. Yoo."

"Whatever!"

There was a moment of silence. Then she sighed and laughed unable to hold back her put on cold face.

"I have the shortlisted applicants here. I'll send them to you so that you can pick candidates to be interviewed. Once done with that, let me know."

"I can look at them here."

"I'll just email it Doc, grab yourself something to eat first. You looked famished I agree."

She was right, it is better to grab a bite first.

-

Back in your office, you opened your computer to check on the list of candidates. Sure enough, the email from Jeongyeon is already sitting on your inbox. There were five resumes attached along with the email body that contains the basic information and summary of the candidates. Seems like Jeongyeon really want to have this thing done quickly and you are quite thankful for it. Scanning the list, one name stood out the most to you.

"Minatozaki Sana?"

You are sure you have heard that name before. Nope, you have read it. It was on one of the identification cards of the orange haired stranger you met. You clicked and open her resume and there it was, the face you could not forget. "What a small world." You knew you have found your secretary. You were that sure that you did not bother checking the other candidates. The others maybe more competent, more suitable for all you know but it doesn't matter. You do not believe in the stories of fate and all its drama. However, this one seem right. You may not be able to explain it. You may not able to understand it, but it felt just right. You quickly dialed Jeong's number.

"Can you please call Ms. Minatozaki Sana if she will be available for an interview?"

Your conversation turned into a quick argument. Jeongyeon was expecting that you have multiple picks to be interviewed. This was obviously for options in case your first candidate did not live to the expectations. But you somehow convinced Jeongyeon. She was at the end of her shift but she promised to call so she can schedule an interview as early as tomorrow and again you thanked her for it. Right after the call ended, your phone buzzed because of a text message.

[Tzuyu has sent a message]

'Oppa, it’s raining outside. Do you want me to pick you up?'

You looked outside and saw the heavy rain. Lightning can also be seen every now and then. You hurriedly type in a reply, struggling because of your shaking fingers.

[You]

'Yes please. Thanks!'

Sana --

Days have already past ever since that drunken incident yet Sana still could not take her head out of it. She put her chopsticks on top of the bowl of ramen she is currently consuming. She slapped her face with both of her hands to help turn off the said thoughts. She has more pressing concerns that she needs to solve. See Sana was working on the convenience store her landlady owns. She was living without rent as payment for her services. Her landlady is an old grumpy woman, but somehow she has a soft spot for the Japanese. She always invites Sana to eat with her and of course Sana obliged. Sana felt embarrassment and guilt obviously, she does not want to take advantage of the hospitality but it's free food. And we all know what free food means to those who are struggling. Besides, the old lady is genuinely happy having Sana around accompanying her in the dining table. Still Sana needs to find a proper work fast; she needs to be self-sufficient. Letting out a sigh, she turned her attention again to the computer to try and apply to any kind of work she thought she can do.

It has been days since she submitted her resume to that Medical secretary position. Admittedly, she felt confident that she will get at least to an interview but given the state of things, she thought it was as good as rejected. She heaved another heavy sigh and picked up the bowl of lukewarm ramen. She emptied the contents to her mouth when suddenly her phone rang. Flustered to the current situation, she struggled to chew and swallow at the same time. After she accomplished what seemingly an almost impossible task, she picked up her phone. In reality, Sana did not swallow it all completely and choked on the last bit of noodles. She was unfortunately coughing while the call was getting started. She heard a laugh on the other end and Sana sheepishly apologized. The other woman on the call quickly cleared her throat and snapped back to a professional tone.

'Hello good afternoon! This is Jeongyeon from Seoul National University Hospital. May I speak with Ms. Sana?'

"Yes, speaking." Her focus only on the call given the origins of it.

'Thank you. Hello Ms. Sana, this is regarding your application for a Medical Secretary position. Can you make it for an interview tomorrow at 9 AM?'

Sana could not believe hearing application and interview on the same sentence.

'Hello Ms. Sana, you're still there?'

The Japanese did not notice that she zoned out.

"Yes, I would be glad to come. Thank you!"

The call wrapped up with a couple of thank yous from both ends and the instructions of what to do when reaching the hospital. Sana was still shocked about what transpired but it was a very welcome news. It was too good to be true even. She knew it was just an interview but compared to her last applications it was a very big improvement. Granted it is on a medical field so she has this reservation inside of her, but she convinced herself it’s the best opportunity. It will be another big mistake if she will let it go. She rose up and started preparing. She explored her wardrobe and hunt for something to wear. Once her pick was settled, she started to prepare mentally. In the mix of anxiousness and anticipation, she knew it’s going to be a long night.

-

Morning came faster than Sana hoped it would. As expected, she woke up late because she was not able to sleep early last night. She only has 15 minutes. She was already on the train, and today the train seems to be moving slower than usual, or at least she thought it was. She was wearing a simple gray blazer with a matching pants. She looked accurately dressed for an interview, except for her bright orange hair which really attracts attention. Five minutes later, the train halted at her destined stop so she dashed out towards the hospital. Sana was clearly running out of time. By the time she reached the information desk, she was trying her hardest to catch her breath while trying to converse her purpose. After a phone call made by the attendant, Sana was instructed to go to the third floor where your office resides, Sana was handed a card with your name written on it. Sana did not even bother to check the card. She thought the heavens are playing with her. She barely has enough time to climb up the third floor let alone finding the office. Completely out of choice, she began sprinting again.

It was 2 minutes past 9 when Sana reached the third floor. Unfortunately, her battle was not over yet. She saw a nurse walking towards her direction. "Nurse-nim, can you please help me? I am looking for Doctor.." Sana finally checked the card to know her interviewer's name. She froze. She was sure the heavens are playing with her now. "You're looking for Doctor who?" The nurse asked snapping Sana out of her delirium. "Doctor (LN)." Her volume was barely audible like she completely forgotten how to speak. The nurse was quite taken aback. "You're applying for the Medical Secretary position?" Sana nodded as she read the name on the nurse's uniform. Park Jihyo. Jihyo quickly grabbed Sana's wrist and dragged her towards your office. Both girls stopped at the door. Sana could clearly read your name on the sign outside.

"You're late right? I guess you're in for quite a show. Doc (YN) has had a rough morning."

Sana was scared of Jihyo's warning. She could not discern if Jihyo was concerned or entertained. However, there is no turning back now. Sana bowed and said thanks to the nurse, and open the door to heaven, or hell.

Reader --

It's not news to you that people around you describe you as cold. As a matter of fact, you embrace it because it is one of the most effective ways for people to leave you alone. Although, to those guys who have seen beyond that cold front you are professional and easy to work with. If you look past the cold stares and lack of smiles that is. However, this morning, you are in a really bad mood. It was not the call at dawn that ticked you. You are fine being awakened despite just having fallen asleep after the rain finally stopped. You pay no mind rushing to the hospital in the very early hours of that morning. It was for a life. You would do anything to save it. What infuriated you was the lack of care of the attending surgeon. You took over the operation, having to work with the team you are not familiar with. The status of the operation left by the relieved doctor was a mess in and of itself. Amazingly by pure skill and not luck, you were able to save the patient. After the whole ordeal, you went to talk to the doctor. You expected to be thanked but you got barked instead. Still playing tough even if you in a way saved his career. The operation was almost done when all of the crew arrived. They were informed but was just put on standby if there's a need to come to the hospital. Still they all chose to come but unfortunately or perhaps fortunately they were not needed. All of them knew you are not on the best of moods so they decided to leave you alone.

It was already a quarter past 8 in the morning when you had a chance to sit on your office. Exhausted due to the lack of sleep, you involuntarily closed your eyes. Your cellphone rang. You grabbed your phone and you were clearly contemplating if you will answer it or not. In the end, you did. You answered without even looking at your phone to know who was calling. "Are you getting ready for the interview?" Jeongyeon asked. You immediately straighten yourself up. "Is it today?" You did not notice that you sound excited. Jeongyeon noticed though.

"Excited are we? You don’t have to wait long. It's scheduled at nine remember?"

Quite surprised you snapped back.

"Shut up! And thanks Jeongyeon-ah."

The call ended leaving you wondering if you really did get excited. Why would you be excited? True, you felt a little lighter compared to your mood earlier but excitement is as farfetched as it can go. Is it the idea of meeting her again that excites you? Probably not. Perhaps it's the thought of you finally having a secretary. Yes, that sounds about right and you decided to stick with it. You checked the clock, it was 9:05 AM already and your potential secretary has not arrived yet. You can tolerate quite a lot of things but being late is something that irks you. If you felt lighter a couple of minutes ago, well now you feel twice as heavy at the very moment. You were really strict about time because time can be the difference if a patient can survive or not. It was not until another 2 minutes that the door finally swung open. Your eyebrows raised, this girl has not only been late but she also somehow did not know how to knock stoking your irritation further. Sana was on a hurry stepping inside your office and when your eyes met, she fumbled and her left shoe came off. You immediately stopped yourself from laughing, and masterfully maintained a straight face. Your mood lightened up like a Christmas tree and you don't even know why. She bowed her head and greeted you good morning leaving her shoe still off.

"Please take a seat." As you gestured and pointed to the vacant chair. Sana bowed and fetched her shoe in one fluid motion. She took her seat right after. When you were sure that she was comfortably seated, you opened her resume on your computer. You saw her attentively looking at your every move when you took a quick glance. She really has a positive vibe, and it was infecting you. Maybe it was her orange hair.

"So what is the daughter of one of the owners to one the biggest hospitals of Japan doing in Seoul?" You calmly threw your first question. Her eyes were fixed into yours as she struggled to find an answer. Somehow she settled for a question as her official reply.

"How did you know?" Her voice was shaky.

"I guess every one studying medicine has got to come across your name. The trifecta of Japan's prestige hospital. The Hirais, the Myouis, and the Minatozakis. Is it not?" Sana was quite surprised and you clearly observed it as she tried to organize her thoughts. You however did not wait for a reply.

"Well I suppose that's personal. Let's se-"

"I want to make it with just myself." Sana interrupted you mid-sentence. Her face lit up like she thought it was the cleverest thing as an answer.

"That does not explain why you stopped your Medical education though. You are almost done attending medical school, you could have just completed that and try your residency somewhere else if you don't want it in your hospital." You looked at her inquisitively. You saw her purse her lips and her shoulders fall.

"I don't think I have any more questions Ms. Minatozaki."

She nodded her head after she composed herself. "I appreciate the opportunity Doctor (LN), and I would like to personally thank you for what happened. I am sorry I was not able to do it that very day. To be honest I planned to bring a small token of gratitude but unfortunately I got really pressed of time this morning. I hope I can give it to you the next time we see each other again." There was a hint of sadness and disappointment along her lines.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." You said to her without even looking at her.

"And Ms. Sana, I hate late people."

You expected something to happen. Movement or noise, but there was none. You finally looked up again to check and saw her frozen there. You looked at her without saying anything, waiting for her. In what felt like forever she eventually had the words to ask. "Am I hired?"

"You're clumsy. Don't tell me you're also slow. Step outside my office miss before I change my mind."

Her eyes were sparkling and she was very giddy going out. As your door closed, you heard a shout of joy. You could not stop yourself from smiling. You are very pleased with your decision.

Sana --

A big and loud yes echoed in the hospital hall as Sana lets out a shout. She immediately straightened herself after realizing someone saw her celebration. It was awkward to say the least. The girl who watched the whole scene smiled widely. "I guess I am meeting Doc (YN)'s secretary. Miss?" Kim Dahyun extended her arms for a handshake. Sana answered her with her name while returning the gesture.

"I am quite surprised you got hired Ms. Sana given Doc's morning."

"Please just call me Sana, Doctor Kim. And I guess I was just lucky." Sana read the name in the doctor's coat.

"Call me Dahyun please. I really don't like being called a doctor. I feel like I'm being put on the same level to Doc (YN) and his wizardry as a doctor. I am just an anesthesiologist."

"But surgeons could not do their operations without your help Doc."

"Yeah maybe your right, but I still don't to be called Doctor. And besides we should be friends if we're working under Doc (YN)."

Sana was not aware of your reputation in the hospital so she was curious. She also hinted a sense of fear coming from Jihyo when the nurse talked about you earlier.

"Is Doc (LN) scary?"

Dahyun tilted her head. Surprised with Sana's question.

"Did you not experienced it first hand? Jihyo-unnie told me you are a bit late and given what happened this morning, I thought it's a sure fire recipe for disaster."

Sana shook her head and told Dahyun about what happened but leaving out the details of her being a daughter of a hospital owner. Sana and Dahyun talked for a couple more minutes as the doctor asked about when Sana would start, and the thought of introducing you the OR Team. She also did not fail to ask Sana about her orange hair. Finally, Dahyun excused herself and the two went on their separate ways. As Sana was about to leave the hospital, she decided that now is the perfect time to get the gift. This way Sana can give the gift to you on her first day. However, she did not have any of what to get. She dialed a friend's number hoping her friend can provide answer.

'Hello Sana-unnie?'

"Chaeyoung-ahh, can you please help me? I'm trying to get someone a thank you gift. I don't know what to buy." Sana's cute antics can be heard across the phone.

'Are you dating someone Unnie?'

"What? No! It's just a thank you gift!"

'Why are you calling me Unnie? I'm busy preparing for my art exhibit. And besides I don't think I am much of a help.'

"Please Chaeyoung-ah, you're my only friend here remember?"

Chae could not resist her friend's charms. She advised Sana to get something simple and can be used daily. That it was not the price of the item but the thought of it. Sana thought what Chae was saying was right and was ultimately able to make a decision. She thanked her friend and ended the call. Sana found herself in a shop of a men's brand half an hour later. She bought a set of handkerchiefs. It's the first thing that came to her mind upon hearing her friend's advice. She spent quite a bit of her saved up money but she was happy. Sana thought that she is gonna earn it back if she does good with her new found job. She took the train back to her apartment. Her mind wandered about the interview, on the question of how you knew that piece of information about her. On how cool you were conducting the interview. Manly, mysterious and bright. She immediately stopped herself realizing what she did. "What are you doing Sana? You cannot have these kind of thoughts on your boss. You cannot have a crush on him day one," she was saying it mentally while she covered her face. She spent the entire trip home trying to suppress the thoughts of you on Sana's mind. She may be able to take control of these thoughts now but there was one thing she could not deny. Sana has never been excited for tomorrow like now in her whole life.

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

In a hospital in Japan.

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

"Mr. Minatozaki, I have news regarding your daughter." The man proceeded to report to Sana's father.

"That stubborn girl. I let her go to Korea expecting to run back the first sign of struggle. Now you're telling me she managed to get a job? She has not only brought disgrace to my name but also still continuing to disobey me. I am going to drag her back to Japan if I have to!"

"Honey, she ran off because she does not want to be part of an arranged marriage." Sana's mother defended her.

"You are still tolerating her? I just want a good future for her. It was an opportunity to have the two names as one family and what did she do?"

"That's already done. The Hirai family has already called off the wedding. Besides it seems the Myoui and the Hirai family will not be joined as well after Mina announced she was secretly in a relationship with a book author."

Sana's father was still completely upset. Somehow he still could not accept the fact that her daughter ran away after he presented her with a huge opportunity.

———————————————————

A/N: Chapter 2 was completed earlier as expected. As a huge ONCE, I could not resist putting all Twice members. And I would like to assume I was the author that Mina was in a relationship with. I noticed a couple of grammar errors on the first chapter and I would not be surprised that you will find one here even after a couple of tries me proofreading it. As always, I thank you for taking the time to read. I'll see you on the next one.

PS. I apologize for the bad photoshop work of Sana's hair :D

[honeypiehotchner]

Unconventional (Hotch x Fem!Reader) — part one

The time has finally come 😈

This is just the first chapter, so it is slow (apologies) but I promise from here on out it picks right up xx

Warnings: none for this chapter! (one sexy thought, but it’s nothing)

Fic Masterlist || Hotch Masterlist

(picture from Unsplash)

Your AirPods vibrate gently in your ears from the bass in your favorite song. You shouldn’t have to psych yourself up this much to walk in here, but you do anyway.

“Here” meaning the office of the university’s newspaper. Your roommate, Megan, works here. For a senior staff writer, she sure does leave her notebook at home a lot.

You think it’s her last few attempts at recruiting you to the newspaper. But you’ve told her time and time before, you write fiction. Not about real people.

Still, because you love her, and because you’re passing the building on your way to the library, you stop by and bring her the notebook.

“You’re an angel,” Megan gushes when she sees you enter the glass doors. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“Only a thousand times on the phone earlier,” you joke, handing off her notebook. She repeated it way too much, no doubt trying to kiss your ass so you’d bring the notebook to her. “I swear you leave it on the counter on purpose sometimes.”

“Once or twice,” she admits shyly. “But this time was a complete accident. I got carried away with something else.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Please tell me ‘something else’ doesn’t mean what I think it means.”

“What do you think it means?”

“A boy,” you deadpan. “Or is it a girl this time?”

Playfully, she smacks your arm with her notebook. “It wasn’t a boy, or a girl, for that matter! I just got an email that I wasn’t expecting.” She pauses, beginning to grin. “Aaron Hotchner emailed me back.”

Your raised eyebrows morph into confusion. “Who?”

Megan continues, not noticing your confused expression. “Well, he didn’t email me back. His secretary did. She said he’s free at eleven tomorrow for an interview, but that he’s booked up after. I already emailed my professor and she said she can meet with me during office hours so I can skip class to go to the interview. Isn’t that awesome?!”

You nod slowly, listening but not really processing any of it. You have no idea who this Aaron Hotchner is, but he must be important if he has a secretary sending emails and making meetings for him. And if Megan seems this excited.

“This is it,” she goes on. “My editor said I needed a big story for my senior year. This is my big story.”

“That’s great,” you grin, trying to mirror her excitement, but you don’t think you could match her expression if you tried extra hard. You’d have to...get a book deal. No, a book contract. Multiple books. Yeah, that would do it.

“Aye, look who it is,” a voice calls from the back, flowing to the front as staff writer Derek Morgan emerges. “Did you finally recruit her?” He asks, addressing your roommate.

You answer him. “No, she didn’t.”

He shakes his head, clicking his tongue. “It’s a shame. You could be my fifth date this week.”

“Fifth?” Megan gasps, smacking him with her notebook this time. “Derek Morgan, you player.”

“You know it, babygirl,” he winks.

“Ew,” you laugh.

“Yeah, save that for Penelope,” Megan teases, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

But this is the first you’re ever hearing of a Penelope. “Who? A woman? Derek Morgan knows a woman?”

“Funny,” Derek scoffs. “Penelope and I are just friends, you know that.”

“Hm, have you told her you’re going on all these dates?” Megan asks.

Derek goes quiet. And then walks off, claiming to have an interview to get to.

“Got him,” Megan snickers. “They swear they’re just best friends, but I think it’s only a matter of time.”

“I dunno,” you chuckle. “I don’t see him ever settling down.”

“Me either,” Megan sighs. “Anyway, thanks for bringing this. What are you up to today?”

“Heading to the library,” you reply, hearing her response from a mile away.

“Of course,” Megan rolls her eyes jokingly. “Well, have fun. Want me to text you to figure out dinner?”

“Sure,” you nod. “That’ll remind me to eat.”

“I know,” Megan chuckles. “Get outta here. I’ve got an interview to prepare for.”

“Right,” you pretend once again to understand the importance of it. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, I’m gonna need it,” she groans, heading back to her desk.

You place your AirPods back in your ears, relaxing as your favorite song automatically begins to play.

+++

The smell of old and new books mixed with freshly brewed coffee greets you as you enter the university library. Over at the desk, a familiar face looks up from his book, which is a feat considering he once recounted an experience to you of the time he read a novel straight through a fire drill.

“Hey Spence,” you smile, leaning your elbows onto the counter. “What’re you reading today?”

“War and Peace,” he replies with a small smile.

Your eyebrows furrow. “Didn’t you read that last week?”

“I did,” he nods, turning the book around for you to see. “This is in the original Russian.”

You chuckle, shaking your head. “Of course. Is it just as good?”

“Better, actually.” He pauses then, putting the book down. “Do you need your usual room reserved?”

“Oh, no,” you shake your head. “I think I’m gonna get a coffee and sit under the stairs again.”

“Okay,” he smiles. “I hope you make some progress today.”

“You and me both, buddy,” you chuckle, waving as you walk away, heading for the coffee shop that’s inside the library.

It’s called Roastin’ which you think was the university’s failed attempt at making it hip and cool. Regardless, the coffee here is amazing. If you come to the library, you get coffee here. It’s a given.

After grabbing your favorite coffee and pastry, you make your way over to the small table that sits underneath the stairs. It only has two chairs, but once you get your laptop and journal spread out, the entire table is covered.

Not that you mind, though. Not many people like sitting here because the table is so small and because the vibrations from footsteps on the staircase can be annoying. But once you put your music in, you’re zoned out.

You’re a senior Creative Writing major and part of your final portfolio is a finished draft of a novel. The plus side to this is that if it’s good enough, some professors might give you agents to send it off to or make other connections for you.

But that can only happen if you finish this damn thing.

You’ve written a few novels, but they’ve been science-fiction. And even then, only one of them is what you’d consider publishing worthy. Your professor for Advanced Fiction Writing has challenged you to write outside your comfort zone.

Only, she didn’t tell you she was doing that until after you told her what genres you’d written before.

Which means now you’re stuck writing a romance novel -- young adult or adult, she doesn’t care, just not full-blown erotica -- and you don’t know the first thing about romance.

Well, that’s not true. You had one boyfriend in high school that lasted for a few months, but it was high school. The most the two of you did was make out during a movie. And that was his idea of a date. A movie.

Granted, it is a cute date idea. Here and there. With him, it was all he wanted to do. And half the time, he wouldn’t be able to pay. So there you were, stuck sitting through shitty movies with shitty, overpriced popcorn that you had to pay for, too.

He wasn’t even that great of a kisser. Or conversationalist.

It was all around bad.

And it’s the only experience you’ve ever had with romance and dating.

So trying to take that, and take what you’ve seen in movies and read in books, and apply it to writing a novel of your own is...difficult.

Difficult meaning you haven’t started.

You don’t even have a title. And it’s due at the end of the semester. Because you’re graduating at the end of the semester.

The word count isn’t an issue. The minimum is 60,000 words, but you’ve written more than that in the span of a month. It’s a matter of having a good idea that you can run away with. That’s the issue.

And as you stare at the blinking cursor, you don’t think you’re going to have any luck today, either.

+++

When Megan texts you later to figure out dinner plans, she’s surprised to find you’re already back at the apartment. And that you’ve ordered pizza that should arrive soon.

“You doing okay?” She asks when she returns from work. She turns to hang her jacket by the door. “You’re usually nose-deep in your laptop still.”

“Yeah,” you shrug, setting down the random novel you grabbed from the library. It’s not even a romance novel. It’s science-fiction again.

Megan plops down next to you on the couch. “How’s the book coming?”

“It’s not,” you chuckle, propping your head in your hand. “I can’t think of where to start.”

“We should find you a date,” she replies seriously, prompting you to start laughing. “I’m serious!” She cries. “Not settle down, just a date. It might help.”

“I don’t have the energy to go on a date.”

“It doesn’t take energy.”

“Trust me, it does.”

“Okay, well, not with the right person,” she argues. “What about that boy at the library? Spencer, right?”

You scrunch up your nose. “Nope.” It’s not that he’s unattractive (because he isn’t; he’s very cute), he’s just not your...type.

But you don’t know how to explain your type to Megan without being embarrassed or teased for it.

“Why not?” Megan presses on. “He’s cute, he seems like he’d be into you.”

“He’s into books.”

“Perfect. So are you.”

You give her a look.

“I’m just trying to help,” she says. “What about Derek? He’d do all the flirting. It wouldn’t even be serious.”

“Absolutely not,” you laugh loudly. The day you go on a date with Derek Morgan will be a day that the sun blows up and kills everyone -- or starts the real life Maze Runner.

See? Science-fiction is where you love to be.

“Fine,” Megan breathes. “Since you obviously don’t want to talk about it, look at these pictures.”

She pulls her laptop out of her bag and opens it up, going right to the last page she visited. It’s this Aaron Hotchner’s website, but then she goes to a new tab and Googles his name, clicking on images.

“What are we looking at?” You inquire, leaning a little closer, but trying not to be too obvious.

“This is the guy I’m interviewing tomorrow,” Megan explains, then pauses. “Seriously, how do you just not know who he is?”

You raise an eyebrow. “Do I look like I’ve ever needed a lawyer?”

Ignoring your question, she goes back to the images. “He’s this crazy successful attorney. Rumor has it, he hasn’t lost a single case in his entire career. Not even when he first started. How insane is that?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty insane,” you nod. Insanely attractive. How old is this guy?

“It’s a shame he’s so old, though,” Megan continues, answering your mental question. “He’s like 43 or something.”

“Oh, yeah,” you say noncommittally, knowing that if she hears your tone, she’ll think you’re disinterested. When, in fact, you’re very interested.

That’s only a twenty year age difference, which isn’t bad at all. Especially if he looks like that.

He’s exactly your type. Tall -- 6’2” which is tall enough that even in your heels, you’d still be able to rest your head on his shoulder. Dark eyes and dark hair, styled neatly in a way that has you dying to run your fingers through it, mess it up, tug on the strands. He’s muscular, that much you can tell even though he’s wearing a suit and tie. The tie is the best part. What you wouldn’t give to have that wrapped about your wrists, knotted to the headboard--

A loud knock on the door has you nearly jumping out of your skin.

“Pizza must be here,” Megan says idly, placing her laptop down on the coffee table. “Did you pay online?”

“Yeah,” you nod, gluing your eyes to the images of Aaron Hotchner on her screen while she grabs the pizza. There’s a picture of him back when he graduated from the university. No wonder this is a big story. He was attractive then, too, but something tells you that you still wouldn’t have gone for him.

You like older men. There’s a reason you haven’t dated Spencer or Derek, or any other boy that has shown any ounce of interest in you since you’ve been here. They’ve all been your age, younger, or not old enough.

You’re well aware that it’s taboo. Age gaps are cute and all when it’s a 23 year old dating a 27 year old. But being seven years away from 30 and your partner being seven years away from 50 would definitely cause some societal side-eye.

You roll your eyes at yourself as you head into the kitchen area for drinks. You’re thinking about all of this as if you know Aaron, as if he knows you, as if there is even a chance. Hilarious. You should be a comedian if this writing thing doesn’t work out.

Megan takes the pizza to the couch while you fix drinks, but a loud sneeze has you turning around slowly, both drinks in hand.

Another sneeze. Megan groans.

Tentatively, you hand her the glass of water. “You’re not getting sick, are you?”

“Don’t say that to me,” she mutters. “I’ve been sneezing all day. I think I just forgot my allergy medicine last night.”

“Oh, yeah, probably.”

Brushing right over the issue, Megan grabs the remote and queues up Netflix on the TV.

You settle back against the couch cushions, stealing one last glance at her computer screen, Aaron Hotchner’s eyes boring into your own before the screen goes black as the computer falls asleep.

There’s a new face for you to fantasize about at night, at least.

Next chapter

[horsesarecreatures]

Look at her cute little droopy lip. She seemed so happy and content this ride despite having some Lyme symptoms. From now on, I think she needs to be treated as if she is immune compromised and permanently kept on probiotics and either E/Se/Mag, or a herbal supplement like the Jing Tang’s.

I had a new vet out to see her last time time, but she didn’t really offer any unique insight. In fact, it was my idea to give her the dog vaccine and do a longer course of minocyline. Why Amba has been treated by 2 different vets at each of the 2 barns specifically for Lyme and no one mentioned that or strengthening her immune system (unless you count her chiropractor who mentioned the Jing Tang’s) I don’t know. This last vet pisssd me off and will never be coming back because instead of sending her probiotics and minocycline as discussed when the blood results came back and then confirmed in an email, she sent more Jing tang’s and insulin wise. When I tried to return them and get the right medications, she admitted her mistake but said, “I’m sorry, we can give you a refund on the insulin wise but not the Jing Tang’s because that’s a specialty product.” I then contacted the secretary and told her I was not ok with that, and that I had it in writing that these were not the medications that were supposed to be sent, but she repeated the same thing. So I called my credit card company and told them not to accept the charge. Haven’t heard back from the vet since.

So I made a post in a local horse fb group asking for vet recommendations specifically for vets with experience with tough or persistent neuro cases. Because if Amba keeps getting Lyme this often her symptoms will likely not go away fully one day. She will likely need to get intravenous tetracycline for a month if it comes back again, which may involve sending her to a clinic because I don’t think D will be comfortable having Rosa do it. I would really like to boost her immune system so I can try and avoid that outcome, and have plans to give her the vaccine, probiotics, and either certain vitamins or a herbal supplement, but I need to try and find a vet to give guidance on what brands/combinations of these things will work best.

[kingdomofvellia]

Letter: "Dearest Princess Zara Arete Victoria of Véllia. It is with great honour that I have been asked by Her Majesty Queen Felicia to invite you to Anya as her personal lady-in-waiting for His Majesty King Alexander's upcoming 10th jubilee."

Letter: "While she understand that you have a very busy schedule, she would love to spend the weekend with you to strengthen your bond as friends and colleagues."

Letter: “As this position is usually offered to younger women being introduced at court, Her Majesty Queen Felicia wants to make sure that you understand that she means no harm. Rather, she thinks this will be a great opportunity for you both.”

Letter: "We kindly ask that you answers this invitiation as soon as you know if you can attend or not. Yours truly, Ivan Brandburg, personal secretary of Her Majesty Queen Felicia of Anya”. Zara: ...

Zara: ... *Sighs*

Zara: ... Fuck me...

—————————-🌚

Jakob: Next week for your birthday celebrations you have been invited to lunch with the prime minister at 11:00, after which you are expected to make an appearance at the balcony together with the rest of the family at 12:30. Alice: Okay.

Jakob: Your dresser have chosen a blue set for the date, which will be fitted during the weekend. Alice: Okidoki. Jakob: I still have to ask your dresser, Prince Leo, what you’re going to wear as he is not answering my calls. Leo: Yeah, he’s down with the flu. Jakob: I see. Anyway, the week after you are expected to make the annual appearance for the anniversary of the Gyges attacks.

Alice: Oh right... That is coming up... Leo: You sure you don't want to cancel it this year? Alice: I am. It’s just so... close this year, with the thing that happened in Byukuya.

Jakob: I am sure the public would understand, Your Majesty. Alice: It’s okay! It’s just one hour, I can handle it. Leo: I get that... It’s just, we both know how much pain it brings you and I-

Zara: I'm late, I know! I'm sorry! Jakob: Princess Zara. I hope you don’t mind that we started without you. Zara: No, no, of course not… Please forgive me for not being here on time.

Alice: Don’t worry about it. Where were you? Zara: Oh... Well, I was...

Zara: Out... Buying a gift for Queen Felicia. Alice: Hm? Why? Zara: Heh, well you see...

Zara: She wants me to be her main Lady-in-waiting for Alexander’s 10th anniversary celebration…

Alice: Wait- isn’t that for unmarri..? Zara: Uh-huh. Leo: ... Oh. Zara: It’s okay! After all, it’s a huge honour.

Alice: I... I know what it looks like, but knowing Felicia she surely meant well. Zara: I am sure she did. She is only following tradition after all.

Zara: It’s not her fault that I’m old and unmarried. Alice: You’re not old, Zara. Zara: In terms of royals, I am. It’s okay though, I choose to be like this after all. Alice: Oh, Zara... You know you don’t have to do it, right? Zara: No, no, I’m going. It’s an honour. I just have to ask Mira to send my answer to the His Majesty’s office... Which I was about to do when I remembered that we... had to do this.

Jakob: Don’t worry, Princess Zara, I can take care of it. Zara: Thank you, Jakob. Jakob:  But speaking of His Majesty. I wasn’t going to mention it now, but King Alexander's private secretary sent us an email last night...

Alice: Oh? Jakob: Yes, I have not had the time to read the mail thoroughly yet, but when I quickly scanned through it before this meeting...

Jakob: … It seemed like His Majesty would like to come over for your birthday celebrations!