#customer service is something where you never know what to expect with the next person | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

catszu · 9 months ago

Text

Writing Random Prompts Until I Improve

A forgotten well granted wishes, at a price

In his village, there was a legend: those who seek the Well that grants any wish, no matter low or large, would bear the consequence of their selfish aspirations.

Unfortunately for Atsumu, he was a dreamer amongst a clan of pragmatics. If it wasn’t for the overall wellness of the clan, a personal dream was no more than an intricate fallacy in which its fruition would cause havoc.

The Inarizaki clan needed dreams as little as they did memories.

He tried to live within the bounds of his clan's expectations and customs. There was no person more honorable than the clan head, Kita Shinsuke. He led the clan with compassion and selflessness. Atsumu couldn’t recall a time in which he acted in service of himself. His heart was soft but his spirit and resolve were ironclad.

So naturally, Atsumu fell in love, fast and hard, unable to stop despite his brother’s forewarnings. They all grew up together. He, Osamu, Suna, and Kita plucked herbs together, dug the earth for crops, and climbed trees to their highest peaks. They promised each other to see the world, to know its secrets. Atsumu promised to lead them all to the extraordinary. It was easy to imagine how he and Kita could be together.

When the day came to tell Kita of his budding love, Atsumu wasn’t even remotely nervous.

His confidence was short-lived.

“Atsumu, I am so sorry. I do not feel the same.”

Kita laid a gentle hand on his shoulder with a kind squeeze. It was almost worse that there was true sympathy in his eyes as he crushed Atsumu’s heart within the delicate folds of his grip.

The pain was agonizing and he spent weeks unable to leave the den, only eating or drinking the nutrients that his brother forced down his throat.

Soon after, Kita got married to Ojiro Aran, an heir of a neighboring clan. It was a happy occasion, the entirety of the clan celebrated with a festival that lasted three days.

It was then that Atsumu decided that he could no longer live with the crippling burden of a broken heart.

He searched for the well the next day. He would have a single wish: to force his heart to forget, never to allow love to bloom again.

He told nothing to his brother and Suna, leaving in the dark when the moon was at its peak. He brought only a single packed bag that was slung carelessly over his shoulder. It was said in the legend that the wishing well sat in the brush just before the mountain.

It was shrouded under foliage so dense that you’d miss it 99 times out of 100. There was magic within these forests and the closer one got to the well, the thicker the energy swelled. As the story is told, the only way to find the well is to become hopelessly lost. It acted as a great ward so that many would not abuse the power that the well held.

Atsumu aimlessly wandered through the forest, knowing that if he could find the well, it would be as the well desired, not as he chose. Eventually, when he was well and truly lost, he stumbled over something hard. He skinned his knee and both palms were rubbed raw from catching himself, dirt and debris embedded into his skin.

He rubbed the blossoming sore spots with a frown as he surveyed the ground for what tripped him. He caught sight of pale cobblestone covered in layers of dark moss. Atsumu brushed the moss away, uncovering a single aged stone with directions carved into the side.

He who seeks the grace of the well shall look no further, for it is upon him. Search thineself for what you desire and it will appear.

Atsumu read it twice, then a third time. He picked up the stone and turned it over in his palm. It was abnormally heavy and smooth to the touch. He grazed his fingers over the etching in the stone with curiosity.

The stone said that the well was here but he saw nothing. Perhaps it was a kind of key?

He searched the surrounding area, looking for any clue. He hadn’t been paying attention to where he walked, only that it was somewhere between the foothills of the mountain and his home in the plains. First, he noticed the trees. They were tall, with thick trunks and far-reaching branches that allowed very little light to spill between, encompassing the earth in darkness. Next, he noticed where his hand was touching the earth, his fingers came away with damp soil clinging to him. While the air was thick with humidity, there was no evidence that it had rained recently in the surrounding foliage. It could only mean that there was water underneath the soil, keeping it moist even without rain.

Atsumu weighed the rock in his hand, bouncing it up and away from his palm several times before catching it and slamming it into the earth. The moment it struck the ground, the thud vibrated the ground beneath. The letters carved into the white stone began to glow.

He stumbled backward, pushing away from the glowing rock as he shielded his eyes from the light. The ground rumbled beneath him as if he was enduring an earthquake.

As the shaking stopped, all the noises around him of the flora and fauna became eerily quiet. There was not a sound, no cricket or bird, not even the sound of the leaves rustling. When Atsumu dared to crack his eyes open, he realized he was no longer on the forest floor, but in a deep and wide-set cavern.

The walls were covered in brightly colored murals. They painted a picture of creatures that Atsumu had never seen before. Some were human-shaped, with familiar bodies and faces to his own, yet their lower half was that of a fish. Each figure was languidly draped across rocks, holding the hands of kneeling figures. Human, like himself.

Atsumu's heart beat rapidly within his chest and his fingers trembled where they dug into the ground underneath him. When he looked past the murals, he saw the Well. Except, that it was more a fountain than a Well.

The pool was wide, with water cascading into it from the ceiling of the cavern. There were flowers everywhere. It looked otherworldly, like he was transported to another universe. Perhaps he was. Atsumu got to his feet, careful not to trample the array of colorful flowers leading to the pool.

The water was so clear, it was like looking into glass. Atsumu’s curious reflection stared back at him. He was afraid to touch it, to disturb the serenely still waters. He couldn’t see the bottom, just the reflection of the cavern ceiling against the surface. In the legend, there were no instructions on what to do once you actually found the Well, so Atsumu was left hesitating. He had nothing to offer, only mere dreams and a broken heart.

It dawned on him suddenly that he could not ask the Well for such a gift, with nothing in return. Perhaps that is why there were dire consequences. People would come, with desires racking their hearts, encroaching on their vision, and diminishing their character. He who would disturb the beauty of the Well, would only do so in his own self interest.

With a heavy sigh, Atsumu stepped back from the well. He sat upon the shore with his head in his hands. He made the journey here, and to what end? He would go back and watch the person he loved make a life with another. Everyone he knew had a partner or a purpose.

Atsumu had nothing.

“You won’t make a wish?”

With wide eyes, Atsumu shot his head up from where it rested in his palms. There in the middle of the pool was a man with coal black eyes with hair just the same. His skin was so pale it was pearlescent and covered in inky black moles. Two, most notably, sat right above his brow, one after the other. He was the most beautiful individual that Atsumu had ever laid eyes on.

“Who are ya?” Atsumu asked, quelling the urge to reach out and trace a wet curl where it dropped on the creature's forehead.

“Who are you?” The stranger parroted, moving closer to the shoreline that Atsumu sat at. “Who I am is irrelevant, will you wish or won’t you?” He placed a wet hand on the shoreline, his fingers the same shade of pale as the rest of him, sin the gray webbing between his fingers. His nails were human, as were the length of the arm it was attached to. Yet, he was too beautiful to be anything but magical.

“Are ya one of the creatures on the wall?”

Atsumu thought back to the beautiful humanoid figures painted just behind him, he wished to see more of the person before him, to see if he too had a tail like the others.

The creature stayed silent, viewing him warily with those starry black eyes. It did not blink, nor did it move. It simply watched Atsumu, assessing him.

It took him several long moments to realize that the creature was waiting for an answer. “Ah, sorry fer wasting yer time. I guess you’d be the guardian of a place like this? Should have figured.” Atsumu ran a hand through his hair, probably leaving smudges of dirt through his blonde locks as he did so. “Don’t ya worry. I did come here to make a wish, but I won’t. It’d be selfish.”

“Human’s do not care if they are selfish.” The creature responded, boredom laced in his tone. Whatever this being was, it did not think kindly of humans.

“Well, this one does.” Atsumu assured, slowly pushing farther away from the shore.

The creature followed him, dragging the bulk of itself onto the shore with half of its torso exposed. “You earned your arrival, wish like everyone else does. Only fortune can judge the weight of your selfishness. Your consequence will be just.”

“I had a change of heart, alright? Can ya just tell me how to get out of here an’ i’ll be out of yer pretty hair in no time.”

The creatures brows rose, clearly confused at Atsumu’s insistence to leave without making a wish. “No human is without desire, make a wish.” It demanded.

“‘Course I have desires, but i don’t hafta act on everythin’ I want. ‘S’not that important anyway. I’ll be fine eventually.” Atsumu stands then, dusting off his legs before rising to his full height. From above he could see that he was right, this creature is one of the beings painted on the wall. His tail was dark, black like midnight, but it shimmered lightly as it lazily swished underneath the water. The fan of the tail was large and thin, it elegantly swayed with the creature’s movement.

“You are not like the others.” The creature commented.

Atsumu frowned. “Nah, I’m the same as every other human. I came here for the same reason as everyone else. ‘M not better just cause I chickened out at the last moment.”

The creature looked at him inquisitively for a moment before pulling all the way onto the shore. Atsumu was wrong. The tail was not black like the creature's hair, but a deep blue. He wanted to touch it. Would it be scaly like a trout? Smooth with the direction of the scales but rough going against it? Atsumu desperately wanted to ask the creature so many questions about it, how old it was, if there were more like it. If all of them were as beautiful. If it were human, the top half of the creature’s body was starkly similar to that of a human male, but there was no telling how things worked for a magical being.

“Why?” The creature asked.

Why what? Atsumu thought. He was deeply entrenched in admiring the individual before him and couldn’t seem to recall what the creature would be asking about.

“Sorry.” Atsumu relented, “I don’t remember what we were talkin’ about.”

The creature rolled their eyes, which Atsumu found hilarious because it seemed like an extremely human thing to do. He wondered if the creature had known of other humans besides him, or if his judgment of them was like Atsumu: based purely on legend.

“Why did you ‘chicken out,’ as you say?”

“I got nothin’ ta give. Nothing that’d be worthy of receiving any gift given by the Well.”

“The trade is made complete by the consequence. So long as you are willing to endure the price, you owe nothing before your request.”

Atsumu smiled. “That’s why I’m a coward. I wouldn’t want to endure the consequences, especially not at the price of disturbing somethin’ this amazin’.” He gestured to the environment, the astounding beauty of it all. “I could never give anythin’ of worth to a place like this so I don’t have a right to take anythin’ from it either.”

The creature hummed, low and melodic–contemplative. “Change your wish then.”

“Why d’ya want me to make a wish so bad?” Atsumu asked, more than a little suspicious. An alluring pretty face and magical to boot, he wondered if this was a sort of test.

The creature continued. “If it is the consequence you are worried about, do not ask something large. If you ask for something small, the Well will grant you with it and the related consequence would be miniscule.”

Atsumu was struck by a realization then. “Oh.” He said. “I hafta make a wish ta leave, don’t I?”

The creature merely nodded.

“Alright then.” Atsumu thought for a moment before deciding. “I wish ta know what your name is.” He said, smiling brightly as he took in the stricken expression on the creature's face. The water of the pool rippled the moment the words left his lips and a sudden wind whirled around him. He heard the faint sound of whispers in a language he did not know. It sounded archaic as it reached his ears, like an ancient song being spoken. Suddenly, a name popped into his mind, as if the knowledge had always been there and he just remembered it.

Kiyoomi

All at once, the cavern walls trembled and Atsumu watched with reverence as the murals split apart, revealing a staircase.

Kiyoomi gestured to the stairs. “There. It will lead you to the forest. Pick a direction and walk, it will guide you home.”

Atsumu gaped at him. “What about my consequence?” he asked. He took stock of his body. He felt fine, physically. His heartbreak from before was still present, although muted by his shock.

Kiyoomi only offered him a small smile, his dark eyes shaped like crescents as he spoke. “It is mine as much as it is yours, for we will not see each other again so easily.”

He watched him go, slipping beneath the waters as it turned from glass to a murky shade of brown.

Atsumu walked the long distance in the forest towards home, thinking only of the creature from the Well. A punishment indeed, for all he thought about was seeing Kiyoomi once more.

#writer stuff #sakuatsu #i kinda wanna make this a series #oopsie #creative writing

9 notes · View notes

ubike-official · 2 months ago

Text

hi besties, uhhh bf update. God he is a completely different person w/me now. we were both in restrained customer service mode up until recently and now have both blossomed which is wow. love is real...

tidbits under the cut

so, as i speculated, hes def got something going on gender / sexuality wise. He told me last night he really likes to crossdress. And i was Not Surprised whatsoever bc yea... it tracks. And I just told him I'm bi, its cool regardless of how you view ur gender. Every one of my friends thought he was pretty feminine to begin with and that i was not beating the "lesbian trying to make it work with a man" allegations. I told him this, he just laughed and agreed that yea. its on purpose. He knows and likes to look cute which i whole heartedly support. I can't wait till he can come over and i dress him in my clothes and do his hair and makeup. It'll be great. He didn't clarify where it fully stemmed from besides wanting to feel pretty. but i dont think he himself knows if this is just an interest or smth deeper and thats fine. ill just support.

NSFW!!!

we didnt fuck but we've done sexual things. I did not expect it to go so well. i thought I'd be more hesitant as i am very reserved. ofc i have a sex drive i just handle it on my own. But yea, we were in the back of his car like humping with clothes on, he like fingered me over my underwear, feeling each other up, i was trying to jack him off over his underwear and missed it so i just grabbed his dick skin on skin which tbh i never expected myself to ever want to do that ever but no, yea. totally fine. enjoyable. He is SO Sensitive. its honestly so cute. Like sir, i am Just touching your back, why are you writhing like that and moaning into my ear ... have some decorum? uhh but ofc i loved it and kept going and yea. That sound is never leaving me. I had No Clue 4 months ago the guy who didnt even shake my hand on the first date would be moaning in my ear that he loves me. Thats craaaazy. Best Timeline though. We did this twice. The first time was in a daiso parking lot bc we needed to grab a present for his friend and after him doing all that, we composed ourselves and we So Normal inside the daiso. it was SOOO funny. Like damn, we're so good at customer service mood. its crazy.

i think he's lowkey got like oral fixation. I uh was messing around and was having him play bite my finger and then he took my thumb and sucked on it like He Knew What He Was Doing.... i never confirmed that all his past relationships were with women. He has never once used pronouns for any of them. honestly.... i have a feeling he's probably been with a guy at least once. But yeah,

We'll eventually do this right next time I'm home alone. he's never home alone and his parents are insane. Said getting each other off only ended bc his mom called. it was SOOO funny. we like instantly got off each other the second we heard the phone. it was SO synchronized. But yea, I'm loving it. We really really like each other. This relationship is so lesbian coded. Both bc well... it looks like it and also like he's already asking me "is it bad I'm thinking of ways to move in together? how many cats do you want?" like HAH GAAAY it's gonna be great. i found my person.

2 notes · View notes

mewmedic · 10 months ago

Text

A Deal with the Devil

Someone on the Lolita fashion subreddit asked what we can do about newbies who do not know how to find clothes outside of (the well documented scam site) Devil Inspired. I wrote the following in response and thought it was worth cross posting here.

To be very blunt: most people are too illiterate to read pinned posts (even though that should just be basic reddit etiquette) and too lazy to move their eyes to the area of their screen where there is a link to a guide that answers their questions. You can't fix stupid at a certain point, once people get stuck in their ways.

Really, the only action we could do would be to change the subreddit banner image at the top to say "PLEASE DON'T BUY FROM DEVIL INSPIRED. READ A GUIDE ON HOW TO BUY FROM TAOBAO." We probably need a pinned post saying the same thing in the title, with an explanation of taobao in the body and links to some guides. That may be absurd, but I truly think its the only bullet we have left in the chamber. Even then, most people will ignore it. It really sucks that this subreddit has become the Devil Inspired Customer Service Hotline.

There are just too many people (some millennials but especially zoomers) who lack the ability to use the internet properly. With the "enshittification" of google, people now expect human beings on reddit to answer every single one of their lingering thoughts. But let's be real, the "let me google that for you" situation existed for a decade before google started to suck. Devil Inspired is the first result when googling lolita fashion because they pay to have good SEO and be at the top. Most people are not internet savvy enough to google "[store name] scam" or "[storename] alternatives" when they encounter a new store online. That's not even getting into Devil Inspired shoving sponsor bucks down influencer's throats so they can vomit advertisements back out onto their naive audience.

I understand why a normal western person would know nothing about taobao. However, anyone with intermediate internet experience should be able to tell that Devil Inspired does not manufacture the clothes they sell. No one makes that wide of a variety of styles that quickly, plus the wide variety in photography styles (and they sometimes forget to hide the original store's watermark.) Next, they should know to reverse google image search photos from Devil Inspired's catalogue. Their last resort should be to go to the "find this dress" pinned post on this subreddit. Then, if they discover there that the dress is from a taobao store they could just google "how to buy from taobao." But they don't do any of these things because the average internet user does not know they can.

Just a few days ago we had some one here ask to be spoonfed information about gothic lolita, something they could easily find themselves. When some one kindly gave them a link to the lolita wiki, the OP had the nerve to complain because they don't like Fandom wikis. I fucking hate Fandom and have a personal beef with them, but I wouldn't complain about being spoonfed information for free from there. That person will never comprehend why people created fandom wikis in the past and they definitely won't understand why it's very hard to leave Fandom wikis. I am including this recent experience to illustrate why Devil Inspired is not the only problem here, people's attitudes just plain suck some times.

TLDR: We are fighting an unwinnable battle against people's illiteracy, refusal to learn, and Devil Inspired's fat stacks of marketing cash.

#Lolita #Lolita Fashion #EGL #jfashion #Devil Inspired #Elegant Gothic Lolita

8 notes · View notes

lucysweatslove · 2 years ago

Text

Well tonight sucked.

I don’t know what bee has flown up my sister’s bonnet but she has been… very volatile lately? Oreo pawed at Rob this evening- his way of communicating he wants to snuggle on his belly- and it was so cute my husband sent it to the group chat with me and my sister. My sister said something in jest about how we should just anticipate his needs and not make him communicate. I was joking back about how he likes communicating with us instead of having us make hasty assumptions. This got into a debate about communicating needs and desires vs anticipating them. Personally, I like when communication is direct and have no issues directly communicating expectations. My sister was saying most people want you to anticipate their needs so they don’t have to communicate.

Now in my experience, this isn’t true. Most people I have worked with do NOT like when you make an assumption and then make a choice based off of that assumption without consultation, because it could be incorrect. They like when you are thinking and anticipating a desire, but not when you strip them of the final choice (or, the choice to make the final choice). My experience is that the people who get mad at you for NOT assuming and then acting on said assumption without consultation are typically the people who would be mad at your for making those same assumptions on another day if the assumption wasn’t accurate.

Example, some customers brings in their own bags regularly for groceries. If the cashier asks, “would you like us to use your own bags today?” most people wouldn’t be angry at all, and will just say yes. They may register that the cashier remembered them and their bagging preferences. But let’s say there is a customer who gets annoyed that the cashier had to ask. Fast forward to the next week, and the customer usually brings in their own bags. If the cashier asks, “would you like us to use your own bags today?” most people wouldn’t be annoyed and just say no, I forgot my bags, [paper/plastic/a box] is fine instead. But, if the cashier assumed the customer had their own bags and didn’t, the customers on average will feel a little more annoyed. And the same customer who was pissed a week ago that the cashier asked would be among the most pissed that the cashier didn’t ask. Because for that customer, they want their needs anticipated no matter what, without communicating it, so anytime you may get it wrong, they’re going to be mad. But it is IMPOSSIBLE to know 100% of the time without any further communication.

When I shared MY experience, my sister decided to deride my experiences.

I have been in the workforce longer than she has, as I started working in college (she hadn’t). I worked at a grocery store doing “store support” which was, at its core, mostly customer service. I did a LOT of cashiering. We had boxes, not bags. Many brought their own reusable bag. Many were regulars. Sometimes they forgot. Sometimes it was in their purse and they hadn’t fished it out. I NEVER got an angry customer for asking if they’d want their groceries boxed, carried out, or in their own bag. I DID get a verbal reaming for assuming a regular knew the policy and NOT asking her upfront what she wanted. (She came in later and actually apologized to me, but you get where I’m going with this).

Anyway, I made a hasty judgment based on the fact I’ve worked actual retail-based jobs where we deal with hundreds of customers on the daily, and I’ve been in the workforce longer.

My sister got pissed about that and had to shit on the jobs I’ve done- you know, the nearly a decade I’ve been in the workforce apparently is nothing compared to her volunteering for our little sister’s grade school basketball teams, or working (truly shit hours) during her two years of clerkship + two years of residency.

She honestly thinks working in psych she deals with 4x the number of Karens as the general population deals with… like yes working in psych is demanding and psych patients are very demanding.., and I worked with them in a 100% patient facing role as a tech for over two years, longer than your residency. I didn’t say that though- I just validated that yes she has had experience too, and yes her jobs have been hard, shitty, emotionally draining in many ways.

I thought we had moved last all of this when she started getting into more semantic bullshit about communication (she was like “you’re lumping communication into one generalized category” to which I was like yes, because it IS a generalized category, that’s why it’s it own entire field of study people get degrees in?). She tried to say it’s about recognizing a pattern to anticipate needs in the future (this requires communication of some sort to know what to do about said pattern). I even tried sending a photo of Oreo snuggling the octopus to distract her and change the subject (I shouldn’t have to do that though, right, under her initial postulate? She she should just ANTICIPATE my needs right? Shouldn’t she have pattern recognition, that whenever we argue I try to retreat because I’m over it and don’t want to engage with this bullshit? No? OH because COMMUNICATION is needed! Go figure).

At one point she brought up her SO, who rob and I both don’t think is right for her and she complains about all the time, and how nice it would be and how it would take off mental load if he anticipated her needs without her having to ask. I didn’t argue any of that. I just said I understand why that is true for her. I however don’t like that, because I like to have the ability to change what I want at any point. Like, messes stress me tf out, but I would be PISSED if rob decided to “anticipate my needs” and clean my messes up. He’s done that and I HATE it. My point was- yes her experience is valid, here is my opposite experience, we have different experiences! That’s it. The whole time I tried to be neutral regarding her SO. I didn’t bring up sore spots.

Anyway she cycled BACK to the job thing and got VERY rude and belittling. I told her I wasn’t claiming to be better than her, nor did I say her job wasn’t important, valid, or customer service (I merely stated, again in a hasty judgment based on gut reaction) that I’ve been in the real world, making my own money and paying for my own life and being responsible for my own life, for longer and thus have had more real world experience. She conflated the two and then claimed I was gaslighting her “like mom” (a SUPER deep dig btw when I had worked so hard to be civil).

I tried to assert myself by saying look your work is hard, emotionally demanding, interaction-heavy, but that does NOT mean that she trumps over all of my experience- nearly a decade. I tried to remind her that I’ve done more than just the paid stuff she knows about too and gave an example. You know what her response was? “I listen to everybody in the family so of course I knew about the hotline” (no she didn’t because I actually didn’t talk about it???) and then she just went off again that I was invalidating her experience “just because I wasn’t getting laid working in a grocery store” (she kept coming back to my grocery store time but never mentioned the medical work I’ve done or even my teaching?). I have done nothing but validate her fucking work experience and how important it is, I’m just saying to GROW TF UP and realizing OTHER PEOPLE HAVE EXPERIENCES THAT MATTER TOO.

My final text, which she won’t see until tomorrow and likely won’t reply to in any real capacity (she’ll probs turn it onto me) was me asserting myself and boundaries. She has more medical knowledge. She does not have more knowledge on the human experience. She invalidates my work frequently, regardless of how much I validate hers. That whenever she perceives any slight against her she can get very judgmental and CRUEL no matter what the reality of the situation was. That she chooses words and actions that belittle those around her. That she doesn’t monopolize shitty, demanding work. ThT respecting others jobs doesn’t take the respect away from here. That maybe she spends so much time pretending to care about people around her that she doesn’t have two shits to give to her sister, or maybe I’m just an easy target or a safe person to lash out at. Or maybe she just truly doesn’t respect any of my lives experiences because I’m not a doctor.

And at the end I basically told her that if that was the case, to let me know. Because I know I’m going to be faced with disrespect and belittling frequently, in situations I just have to put up with because that’s medicine, but I do NOT have to put up with it from her. If she is going to treat me like I am somehow beneath her, I won’t give her opportunities to do that to me directly.

So yeah I had to assert a very strong boundary. I didn’t outright say I will never talk to her again, because that’s extreme. But I have to protect myself and my boundaries where I can. If she continues to insist that my experience is worth less than hers because we chose different paths? Fuck no I’m not going to force myself to be around that bullshit when I don’t need to. I won’t be around for holidays if she’s there. I won’t take care of her dogs or be there to listen to her when she needs an ear.

As full adults, I have never told her that her experience wasn’t valid, that it means less than anybody else’s, that her hardships aren’t real. Things were going so well post-college for us as sisters. She was even my maid of honor at my wedding. So asserting this boundary sucks. But if she can’t respect me as another human, as her equal in many ways, I don’t want to spend the emotional energy on dealing with that anymore.

I know right now is a difficult time for her in many ways and I don’t want to compound to that. But honestly, respecting me shouldn’t compound that anyway. If disrespecting me is the only way she can deal, she needs a better therapist.

(Also I want to say: for years I have felt belittled by my family, that my contributions haven’t been recognized. I can’t bring any of this up because I will be told I’m wrong. I’m so tired of this).

#personal

17 notes · View notes

luvdrcp · 1 year ago

Text

── SEO DANBI

₊˙ ◌ ⁎˚ 〇﹒﹙lee jueun. cisfemale. she/her﹚guess who was almost late for their shift at gwangtaeg gym?? that’s right, it was seo danbi! it’s a wonder their job as a yoga instructor isn’t in jeopardy. the 26 year old has been working at sunset galleria for one year and eight months, and is well known for their kind nature. on bad days, they can be rather withdrawn, though. when the mall is dead at night, they can usually be found browsing hair dyes for her next color, but don’t tell their boss!

this is basically gyuri just with some changes so that i have a clear direction i want to head with her. so what's different about gyuri besides the new face? the biggest one is the name change. well, it's just a slight difference. i really didn't need to make the change but i felt like it. but! her personality is generally the same, she just has a bigger fall off from what she wanted to be vs what she's currently doing... more mommy and daddy issues, and maybe more of an "escapist" mindset regarding her personal life.

you may have heard about the fairy residing in gwangtaeg gym through the grapevines. yes, the fairy is seo danbi and no, she does not know exactly how she got that title amongst local gymgoers.

about. (it's basically the same as gyuri so i'll do a recap)

born march 17, 1997. as the last addition to a family of five. she is the baby and her brother and sister makes sure she never forgets that. the line between being babied and just straight up being spoiled is very thin with them, but it’s surprisingly still there. one might think they'd stop as she got older. (spoiler alert: they didn't)

a “loving” father and mother who had very high expectations that all of their kids would follow in their father’s footsteps in the medical field. although she should probably cut off contact with them, she just cant bring herself to do so. they are her parents and she does love them, even if they don't share that sentiment always sought their approval. studied hard, performed well in school, taking care of her chores without being told. all she wanted was to make them happy. i mean, that was her duty as their child, right?

no matter how hard she tried to build a bridge between her and her parents, there was always something that got in the way. maybe they just didn't love her the way she loved them? either way, life went on. she got into a lot of one sided arguments with her parents, got "unofficially disowned" by them over her choice in university major. she may make jokes and laugh about it but deep down she's deeply hurt by it.

attended university away from home with a double major in psychology and health science. supported herself throughout college, working jobs while being a full time student. one of the most difficult times in her life, and really doesn't talk about it to people who didn't know her then. however, she managed to survive the hard nights and the countless moments she wanted to give up and drop out.

had a lot of different hobbies and skills she picked up during college. some of it were from her random side gigs she picked up for extra money. this is also where she got into yoga, because how else would she deal with the troubles her life brings in a healthy manner?

got her degree and is effectively not using it in the way she intended. all of that full from her parents about wanting to be a psychiatrist and she didn't even continue down that path. cue her really getting into yoga post-graduation. took a lot of classes and even got her certification.

started working as an yoga teaching assistant to have an excuse not to move back home, which later led to her working at gwangtaeg gym as an official yoga instructor.

impeccable customer service, her clients leave satisfied and typically returns. even if she's not in the middle of a class or private session, she's seen around the gym, potentially working out in her own time or helping clean equipment. happy to help any gymgoer! or at least that's how convincing she is at pretending she loves interacting with so many people.

either way, she's got a reputation for being kind! and she upholds that for the most part but some days she's just not in the mood to talk to people. tends to isolate herself, and might not be as responsive as usual, which is why some times she can be perceived as withdrawn

fun facts

one bad bleaching session way from being bald. constantly dying her hair to feel like she has control over something in her life. likely got the fairy title from locals due to her preference for unnatural vibrant colors. her scalp is probably crying for help anytime she's within 20 feet from bleach, but that's not stopping her! currently sporting what is supposed to be pink, but may look more purple to some. yes she previously did go through a red phase before the pink and no she was not okay

bad spending habits, really goes in a store and ends up buying something she probably would never use, even though she makes the silly assumption she'll get her money's worth when adding it to her cart. becomes even more of a victim when it comes to thing she finds cute, like certain decorations. i assume this would mean her room has a corner dedicated to the random stuff she bought but hasn't really found a permanent place in her home.

self aware queen! her emotional intelligence very high since those psych classes taught her a lot, esp about herself. however, she still has trouble being vulnerable with others about her emotions. she's dealing with all of that herself and it gets draining quick. on nights it gets too heavy for her, she might be spotted getting a drink or a few in hopes of forgetting whatever was plaguing her mind.

love people watching and making up random backstories for people she doesn't know. it's kind of relaxing for her, the think about the reasons behind why some people are coming to the mall and buying stuff. realizing how big the world is and how small she is in comparison to that. you might just find her on a bench or against a wall just observing.

still living with anxiety, just this time around she's been professionally diagnosed. that amongst a few other things, but it's really something she doesn't speak about. she treats it like a government secret and does her best to keep it from others because she doesn't like others worrying about her.

quick little plot ideas

she is still a shopping fanatic. potential shopping buddies still available. likely to use them as an excuse to buy things after she had set a budget for herself. or somebody that coerces danbi into buying something whenever she visits their store... not like it takes much to convince her anyway

her go-to person. she has opened up to this person more than she'd like to admit, and trusts them more than she thought she would. considers them to be like another sibling, but most of that was never shared.

casual friends. most of your conversations have no substance, but you're a familiar face and she enjoys the lighthearted exchanges you two have... she likely doesn’t even remember exactly how you two met, but all she knows she enjoys your company.

someone who stepped into gwangtaeg gym and instantly became a victim of the danbi experience™. it doesn’t matter if you are a regular or it was a one time occasion, your fate was sealed the moment you step one foot inside the gym. danbi makes small talk with any gymgoer, and you were no exception. ( this could potentially result in workout buddies or budding friendships or on the other side, could result in the other being quite annoyed with her trying to start a conversation every time they visit if they wanted peace and quiet)

failed talking stages/situationships. could be due to gyuri’s unwillingness to be vulnerable, potentially leaving the other feeling more neglected? idk she a lot of issues that could be the reason why it failed tbh.

these were just some quick ideas i thought up to compensate for still not having a plots page, but we can brainstorm ideas that suit our muses as well !!

#sunsetintro #most if not all previous plots should work but lmk if you wanna come up with something else!!#really not feeling this back and forth i'm going to have to do in order to move all my drafts here.#+ if i add something to this later / u see any typos... no u didnt <3

1 note · View note

songvitko · 1 month ago

Text

Change Your Tresses: How iFoto's AI Hairstyle Revolutionizes Personal Styling

Hey there, fashion-forward friends! Have you ever found yourself standing in the hair salon, staring at the mirror, and wondering, ""What if?"" What if your next hairstyle wasn't just a risk but a calculated, stylish decision? Well, my friends, we're living in the future, and it's time to get excited about the latest innovation in personal styling: AI Hairstyle from iFoto!

Imagine walking into a salon, not with a vague notion of what you might want, but with a clear vision of how you could look. That's the magic iFoto's AI Hairstyle brings to the table. It's a game-changer for men and women alike, offering a free, virtual try-on experience that's as seamless as it is innovative.

The technology behind iFoto's AI Hairstyle is nothing short of groundbreaking. It uses the latest advancements in AI and machine learning to create a realistic simulation of various hairstyles directly from your own photo. Whether you're contemplating a sleek bob, a daring pixie cut, or something in between, iFoto's AI Hairstyle has you covered.

But let's get down to brass tacks—how does it work? It's as easy as pie. You upload a photo of yourself, choose from a wide array of hairstyles, and voilà! The AI does its thing, showing you how each style would look on you. It's like having a virtual hairstylist at your fingertips, 24/7, without the salon chair or the pricetag.

One of the most impressive aspects of iFoto's AI Hairstyle is its versatility. The tool isn't just for a single type of hairstyle; it offers an extensive range, ensuring that you can find something that suits your personality, face shape, and style preferences. Plus, it's not just about haircuts—it's also about colors and lengths, giving you a complete view of how you can convert your look.

Now, let's talk about the impact this technology is having on personal styling choices. We're living in an era where self-expression is more than just a trend—it's a lifestyle. And tools like iFoto's AI Hairstyle empower us to express ourselves in a way that feels authentic and tailored to us. It democratizes beauty and allows anyone to experiment with different looks without the commitment of a salon visit or a costly haircut.

Have you ever found yourself second-guessing a hairstyle because you weren't sure if it would suit you? With iFoto's AI Hairstyle, those days are gone. Now, you can make informed decisions based on a realistic preview of the outcome. It's a confidence boost that can lead to more adventurous styling choices and a newfound appreciation for your personal style.

But it's not just about personal benefits; iFoto's AI Hairstyle also has the potential to revolutionize the beauty industry. Salons can use it to showcase their services in a new light, allowing clients to see the results before they even sit in the chair. It's a win-win for both stylists and customers.

So, what's next for AI Hairstyle from iFoto? The sky's the limit. We can expect to see more personalized experiences, possibly even integration with other beauty tools to create a holistic approach to personal styling. It's an exciting time to be part of this beauty revolution!

If you're curious about trying out this futuristic technology, head over to iFoto's website and give it a whirl. Who knows? You might just find the perfect hairstyle that you never knew you needed.

In a world where personal style is more important than ever, tools like iFoto's AI Hairstyle are not just convenient—they're essential. So, why not delve into into the future of personal styling and see how it can convert your look?

#iFoto #AIHairstyle #TryOnHaircuts #TryOnHairstyles #Hairstyle #HairstyleAI

1 note · View note

ailogomakerr · 9 months ago

Text

The Delicate Art of Logo Redesigning: Navigating the Landscape of Rebranding

It is established that the visual embodiment of a company is the emblem. It’s your branding personality and it also encapsulates your emblem’s identity and values. However perfect you think your emblem is, it is bound to go under several iterations to keep up in a fast-paced industry of trade and business, where a emblem’s significance changes as often as the weather does. When a business matures, a scary yet necessary question arises — is it time for a rebrand? Explore the potential of revitalizing your emblem with a fresh emblem design journey, and find out if it’s time to make your mark anew with Arctic Directory.com.

In this week’s blog, we’re diving right into the do’s and `don’ts of rebranding in the complex art of emblem redesigning. Let’s shed a light on why you should take a path of rebirth for your emblem!

What’s the purpose of your rebranding?

The purpose for your rebranding shouldn’t be just for the hell of it, it should be a calculated move to the ever-changing world of the business landscape. One of the major reasons why certain emblems are up for a refresh is to maintain relevance and stay linked with an evolving audience. Your brand might work for a certain time but with the shifting preferences of consumers, societal shifts and other fads, it’s always at risk of fading into obscurity.

Dos

Market Awareness — Keeping an eye out is key. You should always be in touch and up to date with the market evolution, that is a crucial rule. It can help you understand and predict the shifting behavior of the consumers. Anticipating which fads to come next will help you get what you need with your emblem refresh.

Always a Step Ahead — keeping up with competitions is not only fun, it’s crucial for your emblem too! A refreshed new emblem might be all you need to make it stand out, capturing consumer’s attention in a saturated market.

Relevance in Culture — Part of being always a step ahead is staying attuned with social and cultural changes. These factors are absolute necessities in custom-fitting your emblem identity with the evolving values of your target demographic.

Don’ts

Impulsiveness — Never get caught up with your impulsiveness! Giving your emblem a new breath of life is not something you should take lightly. The journey is a meticulous process, not a snap reaction to a minor hurdle. Take a set back and try to assess the long-term effects of your rebranding plan on your emblem.

Disregarding Customer Feedback — Your customers’ inputs matter. Disregarding their insights will maim your emblem in the long run. It is best to keep a positive interaction and effectively engage with your audience to better know their views and expectations to ensure that your emblem is impacting them positively.

Inconsistency — Be firm and keep a consistent profile across all platforms and mediums. A scattered emblem with little to no update can confuse customers and lower the impact of your rebranding efforts.

When should I rebrand my business?

Like for most things under the sun, timing is key. In order to have timing on your side, you should know how to consider everything stated above as they will indicate the perfect moment you can execute your emblem transformation.

Dos (extended version)

Calculated Shifts — The best way to know if it’s a good idea to rebrand is when you’re doing it along with a significant strategic shift within your business. These shifts include product changes, improved services or extended target audiences. Partnering with directories like Alive 2 Directory.com can also amplify your emblem’s visibility and reach new audiences.

Old Image — Keeping a close pace with the changing times calls for a rebrand as well. If you think your current emblem exudes an outdated look or feel and no longer aligns with the company’s evolved values, then rebranding would be a good idea. A modern emblem will easily stay relevant in a contemporary scene and can be the well-deserved rebirth your business needs.

Don’ts

Change for Change’s Sake — As mentioned, your decisions should always be calculated. Stray away from impulsively making changes on your emblem just for the sake of it. There should always be a valid reason behind every move and every change that is anchored in a strategic goal.

Disregarding Customer Loyalty — Never disregard customer loyalty. Cherish you patrons as much as they support your business. If your emblem has a significant following, it is important to incorporate subtle elements from your old branding to your new one to maintain a connection with your existing supporters.

The Inspirational Journey of Starbucks Successful Rebranding Looking into industry giants is always a good way to learn. Way back in 2011, this global coffee giant went through a major emblem redesign. Starbucks completely discarded “Starbucks Coffee” from its emblem and retained the iconic Siren.

Keep in Mind

Emblem redesigning has its intricacies, being aware of the set appropriate motivations to rebrand is crucial. It is also good to remember that even the most successful businesses embark on a rebranding journey to keep up with trends and stay relevant, all while capturing new audiences in the process. The Dos in that were outlined elaborates how vital market awareness, calculated shifts, and cultural relevance is. While the Don’ts serve as a list of cautionary measures to avoid being impulsive and disregarding customer inputs. Hitting that perfect timing for a rebrand not only promises a successful redesign, but also impacts your patrons positively. First impressions last even on the vast landscape of business. The delicate process of emblem redesigning is not only taken as is, but as a powerful move towards growth and evolution. Change is always constant and embracing it head on with strategic steps up your sleeve will lead your emblem’s longevity and success.. Taken in the journey of an industry giant facing major rebranding head on. We can take this information in as inspiration for your own emblem’s journey The delicate art of emblem redesigning is not only done for the sake of change but it also serves as a testament for resilience and adaptability. May your emblem’s rebirth be one of the stories others can take inspiration from in the future. Keep taking the step towards change and make it count! This blog is from Ailogomakerr.com

#Logo design #logo creation tips #AI logo #logo maker #logo generator #logos #logo #graphic designer

0 notes

railrecipee · 10 months ago

Text

RailRecipe: Bringing Flavorful Feasts to Your Train Journey

Are you tired of the same old train food that lacks taste and variety? Say hello to a new era of train dining with RailRecipe! We're here to revolutionize your journey by delivering mouthwatering meals right to your train seat. Get ready to embark on a culinary adventure like never before!

RailRecipe understands that good food is essential for a memorable journey. That's why we've curated a diverse menu that caters to every palate and preference. Whether you're a fan of traditional Indian dishes, crave international flavors, or prefer healthy options, we've got something to satisfy your cravings. From spicy curries and biryanis to cheesy pizzas and fresh salads, our menu offers a delicious array of options for you to choose from.

What sets RailRecipe apart is our commitment to quality. We partner with reputable restaurants and vendors located near major railway stations to ensure that every meal is prepared using the freshest ingredients and authentic recipes. Each dish is crafted with care and attention to detail, guaranteeing a delightful dining experience with every bite.

Ordering food in train with RailRecipe is a breeze. Simply visit our website or download our user-friendly mobile app, browse through our extensive menu, and place your order with just a few clicks. Prefer to speak to someone directly? Our dedicated customer support team is available round-the-clock to assist you and ensure a smooth ordering process.

But convenience is where RailRecipe truly shines. No more rushing to grab a meal before your train departs or settling for subpar options at the station. With RailRecipe, your food is delivered directly to your train seat, allowing you to relax and enjoy your journey without any hassle. It's like having your own personal chef on board!

We understand that everyone has different dietary needs and preferences. That's why RailRecipe offers customizable options to cater to your specific requirements. Whether you're vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or have any other dietary restrictions, we've got you covered. Simply let us know your preferences when placing your order, and we'll ensure that your meal is prepared just the way you like it.

At RailRecipe, customer satisfaction is our top priority. Thousands of happy customers have already experienced the convenience and deliciousness of our service, and we're committed to exceeding your expectations with every order. Whether you're traveling for work, leisure, or anything in between, RailRecipe is your go-to choice for a satisfying dining experience on the rails.

So why settle for mediocre train food when you can indulge in gourmet meals with RailRecipe? Whether you're embarking on a short journey or a cross-country adventure, let us take your taste buds on a culinary journey they won't soon forget. With delicious food delivered right to your train seat, your next trip is sure to be a deliciously delightful experience from start to finish.

In conclusion, RailRecipe is your ultimate solution for flavorful feasts on train journeys. With our diverse menu, commitment to quality, and unmatched convenience, we're here to elevate your dining experience and make your journey a memorable one. So why wait? Place your order with RailRecipe today and get ready to savor the deliciousness!

#food in train #food on train #food delivery on train #get food on train #online food order in train #irctc food order #railway food order #food on train online #order food in train #food booking on train

0 notes

armory-rasa · 2 years ago

Text

As someone who did in fact turn their hobby into a job, I completely endorse everything said above. Doing a craft for a living is a whole different beast from doing it for fun.

There’s a leatherworking roundtable I used to go to, like a stitch-n-bitch where local leatherworkers come to hang out and chat and bring projects to work on. Out of the dozen or so regulars there, I was the only one who did it for an actual, full-time living—which a few of them expressed envy for, like, “I wish I could quit my job and make a living off my leatherworking!”

...But they didn’t, actually, because they weren’t accounting for the difference between doing something for a job and doing something for a hobby.

The first time I brought in an Ezio belt to work on (because it’s a lot of tooling, and that goes faster when one is socializing), people were quite impressed—by the fifth time I brought in yet another Ezio belt, they were over it. Somewhere along the line I had an exchange that went like,

“That’s very good.”

“Thank you—though I’ve gotten a lot of practice with it, this is like the seventeenth one of these I’ve made.”

“Oh I could never make something that many times, I’d get bored.”

Well, then I hate to break it to you, dude, but you’re not going to be able to quit your job in favor of leatherworking. Doing it for a living means you no longer get to pick your projects wholly to please and entertain yourself—you’re making what other people are willing to pay you for. Sometimes that means custom work that doesn’t really jazz you, and sometimes that means your 120th Loki pauldron.

Personally, I like the balance between repetition and novelty that leatherworking affords me. If I feel like challenging myself, there are always challenges out there; and when I get an order for my 120th Loki pauldron, I’m pleased to see it, because it’s a no-stress task, I know exactly how to do every step, no guesswork required.

I like leatherworking more than any other job I’ve done, but make no mistake: it’s still a job.

So that’s a consideration. Another is that being a small-business owner tends to mean wearing a lot of hats, not just the ones you like and are good at.

You like crafting—fantastic! But do you also like bookkeeping, pricing your work, sales and customer service, writing ad copy, maintaining a web/social media presence, doing self promotion, doing market research, taking product photography, etc, etc? Because unless you have a friend/partner generously willing to do that for you, or unless you can afford to outsource it, you’re going to be handling all that yourself.

(With the exception of tumblr, I do not like social media; I suffer it because I have to, for my business.)

All of which is to say that turning a hobby into a business is not the easy logical next step after getting good at something, and not the goal that everyone should be expected to pursue, or even desire.

This pressure to turn everything you enjoy into a side hustle is downright dehumanizing—give yourself permission to be creative for its own sake, and make things just because they make you happy.

Hi, kids,

Remember it's okay to not want to do your hobby as a job. It's okay to not want to sell the things that you make. It's okay if you want to make art without taking commissions.

It's fine to completely lose enjoyment in something if you're doing it for money. It's fine to say, "I don't like doing this when I have to do it," and to just never do it.

You don't need to make your hobbies pay for themselves. You don't need to turn professional or semi-professional. You can love the freedom of starting something when you want, working on it when you want, and finishing it (or not finishing it) when you want. If you find that taking that away makes you not love the thing, that's just a lesson that you've learned. It's not a failing. It doesn't mean you're not dedicated to your art or your craft. It doesn't mean you're not doing it right.

Not everything needs to be a business. Not everything needs to have financial worth.

While we're at it, you don't need to be good at a hobby to want to do it. You don't need to have a goal of improving. If you get a guitar and you love playing it, but never get beyond cowboy chords and 4-chord songs, you're still valid. You don't have to be the best in the world to have it have worth. Your grandma's chicken enchilada recipe isn't going to rank in the top 100 enchiladas ever, but you still love them and enjoy them and they taste great. Maybe your doll faceup isn't going to look like a youtube tutorial's did, but if you liked making it, that doesn't matter.

But it's also totally fine to do things just for the response you get from other people. If you're only updating that fic because you have nine dedicated readers who want to know how it ends, that doesn't mean you're not dedicated to the story.

"This is just something I like doing," is enough. It doesn't need to be a job, or something you're good at, or a labor of love, or an otherworldly calling from a holy being. You can just make things. You can just do things. It's okay.

#making this yo business

11K notes · View notes

dycefic · 3 years ago

Text

Have An Evil Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Biohazard.”

“Oh. Class three?”

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

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

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

He gulped. “Ah. Yes, ma’am.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sir, I know you’re not – “

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

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

Ms Fedorova blinked. “What?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He nodded slowly. “Tenebrous?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There was a long pause.

“You can cook?” Ms Fedorova asked carefully.

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

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

“You want me to join the bad guys?”

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

“That’s a regular concern?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have an evil day!

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

7K notes · View notes

baepsaesbae · 4 years ago

Text

Spring Will Come Again

Pairing— Jeon Jungkook x reader

Genre— Photographer!Jungkook x Baker!reader, SMUT +18, fluff, angst, Virgin!Jungkook, Sub!Jungkook, Switch!Jungkook

Warnings— Finger sucking, unprotected sex, multiple orgasms, squirting (?), slight choking, there are a lot of emotions, Jungkook is literally so sweet gosh I just wanna hold him tight, this fic is kind of a rollercoaster of emotions bc I myself do b going thru it

Word Count— ~10.9k

Summary— Springtime generally brings new beginnings, but being stuck in a small town all your life means nothing ever changes. Finally, something, or rather, someone, stumbles into your life. Can this shy boy manage to change your life forever?

A/N— This beautiful banner was made by @dee-ehn! Please let me know what you think of this fic! Hope you guys enjoy~

It all started on a beautiful spring day. Something had convinced you to go on an unprecedented early morning walk for some reason.

The morning air was cold but crisp. You were bundled up in your favorite sweater, and the scarf that your grandmother knitted for you was wrapped snugly around your neck. Normally you would be immersed in your headphones, but since today was already unusual you decided to forgo the music.

You walked along the banks of the stream that flowed next to your neighborhood. This particular stream held nothing but fond memories. You grew up here with all the other kids. During the summer breaks, you’d play out here from morning to nightfall. This was the place where you saw your first fireflies, and where you won your first fist fight.

You stopped to sit on the grassy hill that ran alongside the banks, relishing in nostalgia as you took in a breath of fresh air. Everything is so different now. Everyone moved away to pursue their careers or to go to a big university. You were the only one left. Your parents urged you to go to college, but you refused. Who else would help run the bakery?

As much as you hated to see it, your parents were growing old. Managing the family bakery was getting harder on them. You were such a huge help to them since you basically managed all of the front-of-house work. They worked diligently in the kitchen every day to create the best baked goods in town.

You had always dreamt of leaving this small town. You’ve fantasized about attending a big university in the middle of a bustling city since you were a little kid. Unfortunately, that can’t happen now. You can’t leave your parents or the bakery behind. You held no resentment though, you loved it. Being an only child was a bit lonely at times, but your parents made you feel loved no matter what.

You laid on the grassy hill, watching the clouds roll by. Maybe life was better this way. It was simple, and you always knew what to expect. Day in and day out, the routine was always the same.

Everything changed on that day. That was the fateful day that you ran into him. Or rather, he ran into you.

“Good morning, ____! Where were you this morning? Why weren’t you answering your phone?” your concerned mother asked when you returned home.

“Morning mom. I went on a walk and forgot my phone I guess. Sorry about that. I ended up laying on the hill by the stream,” you replied as you sat at the breakfast table.

Living with bakers was probably one of the biggest blessings in your life. Every meal smelled delectable and you had access to all the fresh goodies you could desire.

“Wow, you were awake before we were? What a surprise. Here, tell me what you think of this loaf,” your dad set it in front of you.

You tossed a piece of bread into your mouth. The taste was savory to say the least. It was your father’s signature banana bread loaf, only this time with a small twist.

“Why’d you take out the walnuts? It’s still delicious though,” you said, devouring another piece.

“Well so many customers complain about having nut allergies now. I thought we could sell more if we take them out! You think we can sell this?” he asked eagerly.

“I think this will be our newest best seller!” you happily replied, “I’m gonna go open up the shop. See you guys soon,” you kissed them each on the cheek before taking your leave.

The bakery was down the street from your house, so the commute was only about 5 minutes even if you walked slowly. You brought your phone with you this time, so you were jamming out to your music, oblivious to the outside world. You were so out of it, that you didn’t have time to react to the person quickly rounding the corner.

One moment you were walking to work, the next you were knocked onto the cold hard ground. Your assailant fell on top of you, and you soon locked eyes with him. It was as if time stood still for a moment. He was the most beautiful boy you’ve ever seen. His eyes were wide with concern, and for a moment, you swore you saw stars twinkling within them.

It took a second to register that this stranger was on top of you, in a compromising position no less. You’ve never been this close to a boy since...well it has been a while. Your legs were intertwined and his nose was only inches from yours.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you until the last second,” the boy apologized as he scrambled to get off of you.

As he helped you up, you reassured him that you were fine. You laughed off the incident and took the boy by surprise. You had the most angelic laugh he’d ever heard. He stood awkwardly gazing at you, before you asked him if he was okay.

“I-I’m fine! I’m glad you’re okay. I apologize again for being so careless,” he bowed.

“I’m also at fault! I wasn’t paying attention either. So shame on both of us,” you smiled to show him you were joking, “Enjoy the rest of your day, don’t run into anyone else!”

And with that, you parted ways. You forgot about the stranger as the morning rush piled into the bakery.

Despite being located in a small town, your parent’s were nationally renowned bakers. The bakery was always busy. That was part of why you loved it so much, you were never bored. The regular customers were your favorite. Most of the townsfolk had been coming to the bakery since you were little.

“Is this banana bread new?” Mrs. Park, the local florist, asked.

“Technically, yes. It’s the exact same recipe but without the walnuts,” you replied.

“Perfect! I’m not too fond of walnuts but I adore your parents’ banana bread,” Mrs. Park beamed, handing you a loaf along with other goods she picked up.

“How’s Jimin?” you asked as you rang her up.

“Oh he’s doing well! He loves it out there in the big city. At first, I was terrified of letting him go. He’s just always been so passionate about dancing, I finally had to cave in. He recently auditioned to be part of some fancy dance crew, and he got in! Can you believe it?” Mrs. Park began to dote on her son.

“That’s amazing! I’m happy for him,” you smiled.

“You know, ____, Jimin is still single. You two would be perfect together--”

“Long distance relationships are hard, Mrs. Park,” your mother interrupted her, swooping in to save the day. Thank god. You wouldn’t have known how to react.

“She could always move out to the city to be with him!” Mrs. Park retorted, not picking up on the awkward situation she created.

“I could never leave the bakery,” you responded quickly.

“Ah, yes that’s right. You have such a good daughter, Mrs. _____. Jimin never took any interest in taking over the family business. I’m jealous of you!” Mrs. Park said to your mom.

After what seemed like an eternity, Mrs. Park finally left. You were fond of her, but she never knew when to stop talking. Jimin was a good friend of yours growing up. You never wanted to admit that you had a huge crush on him. You figured it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, since he was so fixated on moving out.

The morning rush had died down. You took this opportunity to restock and tidy things up before the afternoon rush. The store bell rang, indicating the arrival of another customer.

“Welcome in! I’ll be with you shortly,” you called out from behind the counter.

“No worries, thanks!” the customer yelled back.

Once finished, you popped up with a bright smile on your face. Your parents taught you to always greet the customers with a smile as soon as they walk in.

However, the customer wasn’t facing your direction. He was looking at the baked goods that aligned the opposite wall. You patiently waited for him to make his selection. He kept walking back and forth, eyeing all of the baked items. You left your station behind the counter and approached him.

“Can I help you with anything, sir?” you piped up behind him.

The man jumped back, startled.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you,” you apologized.

“It’s okay! I didn’t hear you at all. You must be some sort of ninja-- Oh it’s you!” the boy turned around to face you.

It was the gorgeous boy who ran into you earlier.

“Hello again! I guess it was my turn to frighten you,” you joked.

“That’s fair,” he nodded, “What’s the best thing here?”

“Mmm that’s hard for me to say, considering that I love them all. What kind of tastes and textures do you like?” your customer service persona kicked in.

“I like sweet things I guess? I like bananas too…” he trailed off.

“We don’t have any bananas in fruit form, but we do have killer banana bread,” you beamed.

“That sounds good, but I don’t really like nuts so--”

“There are no nuts in our new recipe! You must be lucky, this is the first day that we’ve started selling them. Want me to ring you up a loaf?” you interrupted him.

“Oh no nuts? Okay, I’ll try it,” he agreed quietly.

“Would you still like to get something sweet as well?”

“Yeah, if that’s okay,” he nodded timidly.

“Of course it’s okay! My personal favorite is our milk pudding bun. The pudding in the middle is pretty creamy plus the bread is unbelievably soft! If that’s not for you, then we have a classic chocolate bun filled with, surprise surprise, chocolate. We also have…” you led the boy around the entire bakery.

You were too focused on recommending various breads to notice him stealing glances at you that lingered longer than normal. He patiently let you talk his ear off about the goodies.

“I’ll go with the milk pudding bun,” he smiled shyly.

“That was the first one! You should’ve stopped me from rambling,” you huffed.

“I wanted to know my options. Plus you seemed pretty happy,” he added softly.

“Alright, let’s go check you out then,” you headed to the counter, “I haven’t seen you before. What brings you to our little town?” you attempted to make conversation.

“Mmm, to get away, I guess,” the boy said after a pause.

“Are you in some sort of trouble?” you leaned over the counter to whisper.

“Kind of,” he whispered back.

“Stay right here, I can call the police,” you frantically murmured as you whipped out your phone.

“No no! Not like that,” he couldn’t contain his laughter, “I’m a fine arts student. My main focus is photography, but lately I haven’t been able to capture anything worth printing,” he explained.

“Ohhh,” you said, feeling dumb, “Then why come to a town in the middle of nowhere? You won’t find much here.”

“To an untrained eye, maybe so. But to a professional, beauty can be found anywhere,” he said proudly.

“Then why can’t you find anything back home? And aren’t you still a student?” you questioned.

“You know, I was really hoping that you’d let me have that,” the boy deflated.

“Aw, I’m sorry! If you ever want to take photos of the beauty that is bread, you’re always welcome here,” you smiled.

“I might take you up on that offer,” he said as he grabbed the purchased goods, “What’s your name by the way?”

“____. Yours?”

“Jeon Jungkook.”

“I’ll see you around, Mr. Jeon Jungkook. Oh! And if you’d like a tour of the town, I’d be more than happy to show you around,” you suggested.

“That would be nice,” Jungkook pondered, “Where can I find you?”

“I’m here every day. I get off at 3pm,” you answered.

“Cool. I’ll drop by tomorrow, if that’s okay?”

“Sure! See you then!” you waved goodbye.

“Who was that?” your mother asked when the boy left.

“Some photography student that said he wanted to get away for some inspiration. I offered to give him a tour tomorrow after work,” you explained.

“Do you want me to come with you?” your dad offered.

“I’ll be fine on my own, thanks,” you quickly turned him down.

You spent the next morning frantically flip flopping between outfits. Should you go with a pretty top paired with a skirt? Or perhaps keep it casual with a t-shirt and jeans? Or should you go with a simple dress? You know you’re supposed to be a tour guide, but you still wanted to look somewhat presentable. You settled for the dress. It gave off a “cute but not trying too hard” type of vibe.

Time seemed to slowly drag on as you waited for Jungkook to return. You had already mapped out your route, making sure it was efficient (not like there’s much to see anyway). You wanted to surprise him with a picnic at the end of the tour. Hopefully it could help show off the natural beauty of the forests and meadows that surrounded the town. As the clock approached 3pm, you began to wonder if springing a surprise picnic on a stranger was odd. Oh god, what if it was? You hadn’t had much interaction with people your age once all your friends went off to live their own lives. Panic was starting to set in when the front bell chimed.

“Hey! I’m a little early, but I can wait around until you’re finished,” Jungkook greeted you. You noticed a fancy looking camera dangling around his chest.

“It’s all good! Business has been slow today, I’ve been bored,” you admitted.

“Oh I see--” Jungkook was cut off.

“Hi! I’m ____’s mom. Did you like the bread you bought yesterday?” your mom materialized out of nowhere with a pan of fresh bread in her hands.

“It was delicious! Better than anything I could get in the city,” Jungkook complimented.

“Why did you batch a new batch? No one has come in after 1pm,” you aggressively whispered to your mom.

“I got bored,” she pouted, “Here, have one! On the house, think of it as a welcoming present to our town,” she motioned for Jungkook to take a fresh loaf off the tray.

Jungkook’s face lit up at the offer as he thanked her for the snack. His smile lingered as he took a bite, savoring the taste.

“You must have some sort of good luck charm; you’re getting even more free food later,” you chuckled as you plopped a wicker basket onto the checkout counter.

“Sweet,” he beamed.

You let out a small sigh of relief. It didn’t seem like Jungkook was creeped out by the thought of eating with a stranger. With the basket in hand, you led Jungkook across the town. There truly wasn’t much to see. Your family’s bakery was in line with the rest of the town’s shops. You passed by the florist, the cafe, the grocery store, and the post office within the first 3 minutes just by walking down the street. You added in little personal stories with each business that you pointed out.

Jungkook paused by the flower shop, in awe of all the beautiful arrangements. His eyes scanned the outside displays, as if he was looking for something.

“Need something specific, dear?” Mrs. Park asked her potential customer.

“Do you have Tiger flowers?” he inquired.

“Tiger… No, but I can probably order some for you,” she offered.

“Ah, that’s alright. I’m sorry to bother you,” Jungkook apologized before rejoining you.

“Did you wanna take a picture of that specific flower?” you asked him as you strolled along the sidewalk.

“Yeah, it’s my birth flower,” he shyly nodded.

“Oh nice! I don’t know what my birth flower is, but yours sounds pretty. Ah, here is the town square. Over there is the courthouse/government building/boring stuff happens in there probably,” you said as you pointed out the building.

“This is cool,” Jungkook examined a decrepit well that stood in front of the courthouse.

“I guess. I always thought it would be better if they replaced it with a big pretty fountain or something,” you mentioned as you looked down into the dark abyss of the well.

Jungkook said nothing as he began taking pictures of the well from various angles. You watched him frown at each picture he took before he tried to take another.

“Maybe you could take a picture looking into the well? I mean, you’d probably have to stand on it to get a full shot and your feet will be in it but…” you suggested before realizing that you knew nothing about photography.

Jungkook immediately hopped onto the well, disregarding the loose pebbles that crumbled away under his weight. Pointing the camera directly down into the well, he snapped a couple of pictures. He didn’t bother hopping off of the well before scrolling through the pictures he just took. You caught yourself staring at him, admiring his features. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, his lips were pursed, and the wind was blowing his bangs over his forehead ever so slightly. He really was a handsome boy, though he seemed to be completely unaware of it.

“How’d it turn out?” you asked as he climbed down.

“Not bad actually. Better than the angles I took at first,” Jungkook smiled with approval, “I’ll show you after I touch them up.”

“I’m excited to see! Also, this basically concludes the tour because everything else is residential stuff. Unless you wanna take pictures of random people’s homes,” you joked.

“I’m good. Is this where we’re eating? I kinda skipped lunch,” Jungkook looked at the wicker basket in your hand.

“Nope! I’m gonna take you somewhere special. Are you okay with a bit of light hiking?”

“Sounds fun,” Jungkook grinned.

“Perfect! Now it’s your turn to lug this thing around,” you said as you handed him the deceptively heavy basket.

You took him to the outskirts of town, where nature was left untouched.

“Is this where all the cool kids have their picnics?” Jungkook asked as you led him down an old trail.

“All the cool kids left this town a while ago, so I can’t speak on their behalf. However, this is where I like to have my picnics so take that in whatever way you please,” you responded.

It was a sunny day on the verge of being too hot, but the densely wooded forest provided enough shade to make it comfortable. Your parents used to take you on walks in these woods when you (and they) were younger. Of course, now the hilly paths and loose soil would only wreak havoc on your parents’ old knees. You’ve grown accustomed to exploring on your own. Bringing Jungkook along was a pleasant change.

“You okay with eating here?” you suddenly stopped, pointing over to a field just off the trail.

“I’ll eat anywhere, I’m starving,” Jungkook quickly nodded.

“I’m fully aware of that; I could barely hear the birds chirping over the sounds of your stomach growling,” you teased.

An old tree that was large enough to cover up the entire picnic blanket with shade proved to be the ideal spot. Jungkook set down the wicker basket that you assigned to him earlier, eagerly waiting for you to finally open it.

“On the menu today we have fruits as an appetizer, ham and cheese sandwiches in homemade croissants as the main course, and last but not least, chocolate buns for dessert,” you proudly showcased each item.

“I never knew bread could taste so heavenly until I went to your bakery. I’m happy I walked in,” Jungkook praised as he wolfed down his sandwich.

“It’s not my bakery, it’s my parents’ bakery,” you corrected him as you ate the fruit.

“Don’t you work in it nearly every day? I don’t see how it’s not your bakery too,” Jungkook insisted.

“I’m not the one running the business,” you argued.

“You seem to put in the same amount as work as them. Instead of baking, you’re handling all of the customers. That’s gotta count for something, right?” Jungkook persisted.

“Fine, I guess you could say it’s a family bakery. Happy?” you huffed, clearly annoyed.

“Hey, I wasn’t trying to make you angry. I’m sorry if I overstepped,” Jungkook apologized, putting his sandwich down, “I wanted to let you know how much I love your family’s bread, that’s all.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s just…” your trailed off as you gazed at the blue sky.

“I don’t want to pry, but I’m happy to sit here and listen,” Jungkook offered.

“I don’t want to scare you away by dumping my personal issues on you,” you tried to lighten the mood.

“I don’t think you could do that, ____,” Jungkook assured you.

Your eyes widened ever so slightly since he caught you off guard with his sincerity, but soon you gave him a soft smile.

“Fine, since we’re just sitting here anyway,” you caved as you picked up your sandwich, “I wish I wasn’t here anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents and I love the bakery. I just wish I got to go to a big city somewhere and attend a real university. I don’t know what I’d study, I just know that I thought my life would be different by now,” you turn away from him to hide your watery eyes.

“It’s not all that great,” Jungkook responded after a short pause, “I came from a small town too. The only difference was that it was along a beach, not by a forest. Wait, the location doesn’t matter,” he quietly scolded himself, “What I’m trying to say is that I did get away from my hometown. I was so excited to finally be a city kid. I didn’t realize how overwhelming it would be. Now look at me. I’m a senior in college with no direction in life. That’s what I get for choosing a career with no job security,” he chuckled as he looked down at the camera around his neck.

“But are you doing what you love?” you quietly asked.

“I think so. Are you?” he asked back.

“I think so,” you sighed, finally turning to look at him.

“I could always take you back to the city with me,” Jungkook flashed you a big bunny smile.

“Don’t joke with me like that. I hate getting my hopes up,” you playfully punch him in the arm.

“I’m not joking!” he yelped in surprise.

The conversation turned into a more cheerful one. You both spoke about your dreams, both childhood and present day. It was fun talking with Jungkook as you both watched the clouds roll by without a care in the world.

“Maybe you could get some pretty shots of some wildlife while we’re out here,” you recommended when the conversation came to a pause.

“Do you want to model for me?” Jungkook asked.

“Huh?” his sudden proposal surprised you.

“It’s completely okay if you don’t want to! Actually, just forget I said anything,” Jungkook looked down at the camera in his hands in a futile attempt to hide his flushed cheeks.

“Just tell me how to pose,” you smiled, already getting up.

“Uh, just act natural,” he said awkwardly as you leaned against the thick tree trunk.

At first, you made some silly poses that made Jungkook laugh. To be honest, you only did that because you really didn’t know how to pose next to the tree while making it look natural. Forcing a smile, you attempted to lean on the tree like as if it were another person.

“You don’t have to fake a smile,” Jungkook called from behind the camera.

“I don’t know what to do!” you called back.

“Act natural!”

“How do I do that?”

“Naturally!”

His response rewarded him a sarcastic eye roll, followed by a burst of laughter. Jungkook furiously clicked his camera as you laughed even harder. He praised you for ‘being in your natural state’ as he took shots from ridiculous angles. He gave you a thumbs up after he was satisfied with the impromptu photoshoot.

“Is laughing until I can’t breathe just me being in my natural state?” you asked playfully as you sat back down on the picnic blanket.

“It was authentic, so I would say so. I wish I could capture sound too, your laugh is so cute,” Jungkook said nonchalantly as he scrolled through the photos.

His eyes widened as soon as he realized what he said. He opened his mouth to try and take it back, or at least cover it up. He looked over at you shyly, only to see that you were digging out dessert from the basket. He let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, you didn’t hear him.

“How were the pictures?” you asked, scooting to sit beside him after handing him the dessert.

“See for yourself,” he proudly showed you.

You were amazed by his talent. Even without editing, the photos looked like they were ready to be submitted into a contest. Everything looked so perfect. Your smile was genuine, the lighting was optimal, and your hair looked surprisingly good. You applauded him for his talent, to which he bashfully denied by saying he was still such an amatuer. You both finally dug into the desserts.

“These chocolate buns were amazing,” Jungkook licked his lips after he finished it.

“They’re my personal favorite! They’re also the best things that I can make on my own,” you winked at him as you finished yours.

“You made these?” Jungkook’s doe eyes filled with awe.

“Yep! Don’t act so surprised,” you pouted.

“Sorry, it’s just that you told me your parents bake everything. These were really good! Probably the best things I’ve had since--oh wait. You have a little something,” Jungkook leaned forward to wipe the corner of your mouth with his thumb.

You both froze for a second, in shock of this intimate gesture. Jungkook’s mouth opened to apologize, but you stopped him before he had the chance. Without thinking about it, you put your mouth around his thumb. You sucked on it for a second before you snapped back to reality. You started apologizing profusely the instant his thumb left your mouth.

“It’s okay! I shouldn’t have touched you in the first place,” Jungkook shied away from you, refusing to look you in the eyes.

“I don’t know what came over me,” you apologized as you grabbed his hand.

Jungkook looked at you with an embarrassed expression the moment you held his hand in yours. At first you didn’t realize why he was so embarrassed, you were the one sucking his thumb. But then, you noticed Jungkook sheepishly resting his other hand in his lap.

“Jungkook,” you said sweetly.

“Yes?” he answered, his eyes averting yours once more.

“Do you want me to do it again?”

“Huh?” he looked back at you with disbelief.

You made a bold move as you moved to straddle his lap, each leg settling beside his waist. You brought his hand up to your mouth and batted your eyes innocently.

“Like this,” you say before licking his pointer finger.

Jungkook gulped while slowly nodding his head, giving you permission to continue. His eyes stayed glued on you as you wrapped your lips around his finger. You dragged your flattened out tongue from the base to the tip. You then reversed this motion, but instead only using the tip of your tongue. You began to work on his middle finger as well. It was hard to fit his long fingers in your mouth, but you’re no quitter. Your tongue weaved between his fingers, adequately coating them with your saliva.

Jungkook’s breaths quickened the longer you went on. You felt a bulge grow between your thighs as you straddled him. Perhaps wearing a dress was a great idea after all. Your hips began to move on their own as you slowly grinded on Jungkook.

“____…” Jungkook moaned quietly when you daringly took three fingers into your mouth.

Rubbing your clothed pussy against his hard crotch spurred you on even more. Drool was dribbling down Jungkook’s arm and your chin, but neither of you cared. It just made you look more erotic to him. His other hand was on your hip to help you maintain a rhythm. You opened your eyes to make contact with his as you suckled his fingers. That’s all it took to make him come undone.

He quickly pushed you off of him as he cried out. You were both too shocked to say anything for a few seconds. Jungkook seemed too embarrassed to look you in the eyes again, his cheeks bright red.

“Jungkook, I--” you started to apologize.

“You probably think I’m pretty lame huh? Cumming in my pants like some sort of middle schooler,” he looked down in defeat.

“What? No, of course not!” you disagreed.

“Don’t lie,” Jungkook refused to believe you.

“Jungkook, that was honestly the hottest thing I’ve ever done. What we just did was hotter than when I was actually having sex,” you tried to cheer him up.

“You’re not lying?” Jungkook finally looked up at you with sad puppy dog eyes.

“I swear I’m not. I could help you clean it up, if you’d like,” you offered.

“I think that would make me feel worse. Just hand me some napkins and I’ll go take care of it myself,” he declined.

You packed everything up while you waited for Jungkook to return. He discreetly threw away the ball of used napkins into the designated trash bag, praying to god that you weren’t looking.

The walk back was quiet and awkward. Neither of you knew what to say. You were horrified with how you acted; you’ve never been so bold before. Jungkook was ashamed of cumming before he had the chance to do anything to you. He felt so pathetic.

“I’m sorry for making you so uncomfortable, Jungkook,” you finally apologized.

“Are you kidding? You think I would cum that fast if I was uncomfortable?” Jungkook looked at you with incredulity, “I’m the one who should be sorry. I’m disgusting and came in my pants while you did all the hard work.”

“You’re not disgusting at all, Jungkook. I enjoyed it too. I can’t remember the last time I was that horny,” you laughed.

All the tension in the air had disappeared. Jungkook bounced back to being his cheery self. The conversation went back to normal as you brought him back to the bakery. You hugged him goodbye and were about to leave when he caught your hand.

“Thank you so much for the tour. I know we’ve only known each other for a day but... would you like to go on a date with me?” Jungkook asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“No,” you said firmly, watching his shoulders fall, “I’d love to go on a date with you,” you smirked.

“You jerk!” Jungkook gasped.

You couldn’t help it, he was too easy to tease. After working out the details, it was decided that he would come pick you up on Friday night.

Jungkook took you to basically the only restaurant in town (that wasn’t the cafe). It was a family run Italian eatery, and it took Jungkook by surprise.

“Is everyone in this place a master chef or something? This is delicious!” he praised as he ate his pasta.

“I guess it’s the authenticity of family recipes? You probably eat at more chain restaurants while you’re in the city,” you shrugged as you twirled noodles around your fork.

The date went on pleasantly. Jungkook wanted to know as much about you as you did him. The conversations you had were lively and fun; there was never a dull moment with him. Something about him just automatically clicked with you.

“What’s your favorite thing to photograph?” you asked.

“I like taking pictures of landscapes and buildings. That’s why I was super excited about going to a university in the city. It’s a lot easier than taking pictures of people! Unfortunately, that’s where the money is right now,” he explained.

“You don’t like taking pictures of people?”

“Not really, no,” he answered bluntly.

“Then why did you ask me to model for you?” you were genuinely curious.

Jungkook froze in his seat. He took a long sip of his drink before answering you.

“For practice, I suppose,” he said softly.

“I’m happy I was able to help then,” you smiled, thinking nothing of it.

Jungkook seemed grateful that you didn’t press for more details, and was soon coaxed out of his shy shell once the topic of anime came around. You were happy that he took you out on a proper date, you hadn’t been on one in so long.

He walked you back under the pale moonlight. You were admiring the twinkling stars when you realized that Jungkook hadn’t said anything in a while. His hand awkwardly brushed against yours when you first left the restaurant, but you didn’t think much of it. Jungkook seemed to be thinking hard about something as he walked alongside you. You were going to say something when the back of his hand brushed against yours again. He instantly pulled away and uttered a small “sorry”.

“What’s wrong, Jungkook?” you were worried now, you thought the date went well.

“Nothing…,” his voice trailed off as he looked away.

You interlocked his pinky with yours without a word. Jungkook looked over at you with surprise, but said nothing. He admonished himself for not committing to hold your hand, but he was happy with this too. In fact, he thought it was cuter than actual hand holding.

You arrived in front of your house. Bidding Jungkook goodnight, you went in for a hug. Jungkook also went in for a hug, but he leaned the same way you did. In a quick bumble, your lips grazed the corner of Jungkook’s, causing you to jump back. You stood in Jungkook’s arms, looking away in embarrassment. He brought up one of his hands to cup your cheek, forcing you to look back at him. His eyes sparkled under the moonlight as he gazed into yours.

Slowly, you found yourself leaning forward. Jungkook met you in the middle, his lips finding yours. It was a tender kiss, sweet and soft. You broke it off after a couple seconds to giggle, but Jungkook pulled you back into it. He kissed you gently, yet with so much passion. You reciprocated his affection as your fingers intertwined with his hair, deepening the kiss.

He finally pulled away, smiling back at you. To be honest, you wish it lasted longer. However, you knew you would have had a hard time controlling yourself if it did.

“Thank you for dinner,” you thanked him with a soft voice.

“Of course, thank you for accompanying me,” he bowed like a gentleman and kissed your hand. You couldn’t help but laugh at his gesture.

“Too much?” he tilted his head.

“Don’t change a thing,” you continued to laugh.

All sorts of thoughts about Jungkook swam in your mind as you fell asleep that night.

Jungkook soon began to hangout with you every day. When he wasn’t out trying to take pictures, he would be in the bakery keeping you company. Your parents teased him, saying that he better buy something or else they’d kick him out, but they never did. In fact, your mom would always sneak him some freshly baked goods.

After work, you and Jungkook would spend even more time together. It didn’t matter if you guys were exploring nature, cooling off in the stream, or just watching movies; you enjoyed it all. It was nice having someone to talk to for a change. Jungkook never asked to make plans with you, he just assumed you guys would hangout the next day when he said “see ya tomorrow!”

You knew you had a crush on Jungkook, but you didn’t know how he felt. Yes, he took you on a date. Yes, you’ve kissed. Yes, you made in cum in his pants (not necessarily in that order). You were waiting on him to ask you to be his girlfriend. You didn’t want to pressure him, especially when you knew that he’d be going back to school in the fall.

One day, much to your chagrin, Jungkook was helping you with inventory. You argued that he shouldn’t work since he wasn’t getting paid, but he smiled and replied that spending time with you was all the payment he needed. You were too flustered to argue after that.

“Great, everything has been accounted for! Can you help me put this box back up there?” you asked him, nodding your head at a particularly high shelf that was out of your reach. You grabbed a step stool for him to make it easier.

Jungkook lifted up the heavy box of supplies with ease, and placed it back on the shelf. He looked down at you and smiled.

“What?” you cocked your head.

He said nothing as he leaned down and kissed your forehead, “You just look cute from up here.”

You looked away as you blushed, not knowing what to say. Jungkook laughed as he got down from the step stool. He teased you about it for the rest of the day.

Days flew by as it was getting closer and closer to Jungkook’s departure. You let Jungkook decide on what to do during his last day there. He picked you up at the bakery after your shift. He wanted to take one last stroll with you around town before he had to leave. You were about to hug him goodbye when he invited you over, saying that he had a box of popcorn he needed help finishing.

After watching a couple movies, Jungkook had his arms around you as you rested your head on his shoulder. Cuddling had become a norm between you two. Jungkook suddenly nudged your side, causing you to shriek.

“Sorry, just making sure you were still awake,” he giggled.

“I was, but now I definitely am,” you said as you returned the favor and tickled his sides.

It soon became a war of tickling as laughter erupted from both of you. Jungkook was just as ticklish as you were, making it a deadly battle. Before you knew it, you were straddling Jungkook, gripping both of his wrists in your hands. You both stared at each other as the laughter subsided, now replaced with heavy breathing.

“You could easily knock me over, you know,” you said as you lowered your nose to his.

“What if I don’t want to?” he whispered back.

He moved his head upwards to kiss you, catching you by surprise. You kissed him back, pushing him back down. You lowered your hips to rest on his hardened crotch. You let go of his wrists to help him take off his shirt before removing your own.

Once your lips connected again, Jungkook’s hands moved freely over your body, gently caressing your breasts. He treated you so tenderly, it made you even hornier. Your hands reached down to unzip his pants.

“Is this okay?” you paused to ask.

“Only if you take off your pants too,” he answered with a smirk.

Soon enough you were both down to just your underwear. You palmed Jungkook’s erection, curious to see it. It already felt huge in comparison to your hands.

“I want to fuck you, _____,” Jungkook groaned as you kissed his neck.

“I’m glad we want the same thing. Where do you want me?” you cooed.

“Like this is fine,” he quickly answered.

He helped you take off his underwear, revealing his massive dick. Your pussy clenched at the sight of it. You wriggled out of your panties and positioned yourself on top of him.

“Ready?” you asked.

Jungkook just nodded, his eyes wide with anticipation. He gulped as he watched you slowly lower yourself onto him, taking in each inch slowly. You moaned as he went deeper and deeper in you. You hadn’t had sex in a long time (and admittedly it wasn’t very good). Now, you were sopping wet and Jungkook was filling you up perfectly. Once you reached the base of his dick, you took your time going back up.

From the look on Jungkook’s face, he was in pure bliss. You continued to tease him as you fucked him slowly. You transitioned from taking his entire length to just swiveling around his tip, making him moan from the overstimulation. Jungkook dug his nails into your lower back, begging you to take all of him in again.

You leaned back over and peppered kisses along his chest and up his neck. Jungkook whimpered at the sensation, his breathing grew uneven. You giggled at him as you suckled on his neck, leaving wet kisses in your wake. Once you had enough of teasing him, you slammed back down onto him, and both your moans filled the room. Your hips began to move faster as you bounced on top of him. Jungkook’s grip on you tightened.

“I--I’m gonna cum,” he panicked.

You immediately hopped off, hoping to edge him. He whimpered at the loss of your warm pussy, but your plan seemed to work. His eyes begged you to get back on top.

“Now it’s your turn to fuck me,” you demanded as you laid down on your back.

Jungkook complied and positioned himself between your legs. He bent over to kiss you while he pushed his cock back inside of you. He took his time at first, but then tried to pick up the pace. His movements were awkward and stiff, and his pelvis hit your hips in a way that you knew they were going to bruise later.

“Jungkook, just relax,” you commanded.

Jungkook steadied his breathing and took your advice. He was finally able to find a rhythm and stuck to it. Luckily, it was the perfect rhythm for you as he continuously grazed your g-spot. Jungkook moaned with every stroke as your warm insides squeezed around him. You wrapped your legs around him, bringing him even closer. You looked up at him to see that the usual sweet star filled doe eyes of his had switched to a version of pure ecstasy as he gazed down at you with blown out pupils. The change was a little jarring, but also incredibly sexy when you realized the potential duality Jungkook could have. You pulled him into a deep kiss, tongues exploring foreign regions as he pounded into you.

“I’m gonna--,” his breath hitched.

“Cum on me baby,” you panted as you furiously rubbed your clit, desperate to cum with him.

With perfect timing, Jungkook got to feel you cum around him for a few seconds before he had to pull out and finish all over your chest. He gave you a quick peck on the cheek before scurrying off to find something to clean you with.

He rested his head on your chest as you held him close. You were falling asleep when he said something.

“Sorry, what did you say?” you asked him since you barely heard him.

“I am, well I guess was, a virgin,” Jungkook admitted.

“Oh,” you tried to mask your surprise.

“I didn’t wanna say anything. I mean, how lame is it that I’m a college senior and have never gotten laid. You’re probably surprised huh? I’m not lying, I swear.”

“I am surprised, but only because you seem like ladies would be all over you. You’re so handsome, funny, charming--”

“Yes yes keep going,” Jungkook joked.

“--and a genuinely good guy. Plus I feel like being a photographer would help you meet a lot of pretty girls,” you reasoned.

“While all of that is true, the real reason is pretty embarrassing. I’m...I’ve always been kinda scared of girls,” Jungkook sighed as you tried to suppress your laughter, “I’m not kidding! I always get so nervous around girls, I could never actually talk to them.”

“So am I not a girl in your eyes?” you teased.

“You’re a woman,” he answered cockily.

“Shut up! I hope your first time was enjoyable. Thanks for entrusting me with your v card,” you laughed.

You both continued joking and laughing the night away until you fell asleep in each other’s arms. While that night was enjoyable, it made Jungkook’s absence hurt more.

Life had sunk back into the same mundane routines once Jungkook left. Of course, he still kept in touch. He would text and video call you as often as he could. He’d send you pictures of his newest shooting locations, and you’d always be the first person he’d show his finished products.

You loved witnessing Jungkook’s passion grow, he had a new spark in him that wasn’t there before. With your encouragement as an extra shove, he applied to his dream job. He explained to you that it was with an agency that would send him to a random country where he’d work with a participating magazine company. You secretly envied him for even having the possibility of exploring the world.

Days and weeks started to blend together. Your parents insisted on having you help out more in the kitchen, presumably to get your mind off of Jungkook.

It was a weird fling you had with him. However, it also didn’t seem like a fling. Most flings didn’t still keep in touch in a long distance “friendship”, or whatever it was you had. You were never officially dating, but it sure as hell felt that way. You cursed yourself for waiting for him to ask, you should’ve just done it yourself. Of course, part of you felt like you’d just hold him back if you guys actually ended up dating.

These thoughts constantly swarmed your mind. Ironically, the only time you weren’t thinking about your dilemma was when you were chatting with Jungkook. The end of the semester was quickly approaching, and you could tell that he was getting antsy. He hadn’t gotten offers from anywhere that he applied. You could do nothing but give him hope but assuring him that someone somewhere will hire him.

You watched snow fall outside when you got a call.

“I GOT IN!!!” Jungkook exclaimed.

“What?! Where?!” you jumped up in excitement.

“My top choice! The one where they send me to another country! Guess where I’m going,” he sing songed.

“Umm… Italy?”

“Close! I’m going to España,” he said with a spanish accent.

“That’s amazing, Jungkook. I’m so proud of you! I knew you could do it. When do you leave?” you asked.

“In a week. God, I’m so excited! Oh, my parents are calling. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course. Congrats again,” you cheered before he hung up.

Before you knew it, you were crying. You were honestly happy for Jungkook, but reality hit you. You were never going to be able to tell him that you loved him. You were never going to be with him, not while you’re stuck in this town. It sucked, but you had no choice but to accept that.

Two days had passed since that phone call. Jungkook was probably busy packing and working out minor details, so you stayed out of his way. You figured things would probably be like this from now on. Why would he bother talking to a small town girl while he’s out exploring the world?

You were restocking the milk puddings rolls when the front bell chimed.

“I’ll be with you in a second,” you called out.

“No worries, I’ll wait all day if I have to,” a familiar voice responded.

You dropped the rolls as you turned around with lightning fast speed. Jungkook stood at the doorway, beaming a big bunny smile at you. You ran to him, embracing him in a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around you and kissed your forehead.

“Surprise,” he smiled.

“What are you doing here?” you asked as you wiped tears from your eyes.

“I needed to see you. I was planning on coming back and surprising you even before I left. You didn’t think I’d leave without saying goodbye, did you?” he ruffled your hair, “Oh, and those tiger flowers are beautiful,” he nodded over to the flower bouquet on the checkout counter.

“I got them because they reminded me of you,” you blushed, your ears turning red.

“Did I hear Jungkook?” you mom poked her head out of the kitchen, “Oh my goodness! Honey look! Jungkook is back!” she called your dad.

Your parents came out to greet him. He explained everything to them, and they congratulated him.

“How long will you be here? Aren’t you leaving soon?” your dad inquired.

“I leave tomorrow night. I wish I could stay longer,” Jungkook answered solemnly.

“____ suddenly doesn’t have to work until after you’ve left,” your mom smiled fondly at you.

Your eyes lit up as you kissed your parents on the cheek to thank them. After grabbing your jacket, you took Jungkook’s hand and dragged him out. You both aimlessly walked around the town as you chatted. He went more in depth with the details of his job. He was most excited about capturing photos of the city. After looking up some pictures of the architecture, he immediately fell in love with Madrid.

Jungkook invited you over to watch some of the short films he worked on over the past semester. While they were just videos of his friends with no plot, you could feel their friendship seeping through the screen. The way Jungkook played with music and colors really enhanced the already well shot video. You felt at peace sitting beside Jungkook on his bed as he showed you all his past projects. Part of you wished that this moment would never end.

“You’ve made me a better person, you know,” Jungkook said out of nowhere, “I’m more talkative around my friends, and I’ve gotten more comfortable with being myself.”

“I didn’t do anything, that’s all you,” you smiled as you poked his chest.

“You definitely helped,” he ran his fingers through your hair, “I love you, ____.”

Your heart skipped a beat.

“I love you too. I thought I’d never get to say that,” you said with a sigh of relief.

He looked into your eyes before leaning forward slowly. You’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, you practically pounced on him. You kissed him passionately, as if to show him how much you missed him. Clothes were thrown in every direction leading to bare skin being exposed.

Jungkook’s soft hands roamed across your body as if he were trying to memorize your every curve. His touch was a bit rougher than the last time, his lips crashed against yours as he pinched your nipples. You couldn’t tell if it was desperation, carnal lust, or just a new side of Jungkook, but you didn’t mind in the slightest. His erection pressed against your thigh as your hands tangled themselves in his dark hair. You reached down to grab his cock, gripping from the base and slowly dragging your hand to the tip and then back down. He shuddered at the sensation, moaning into your mouth.

“Should I get on top?” you batted your eyes.

“Nope, I have a better idea,” Jungkook growled as he flipped you over onto your knees, “Can I fuck you like this?”

“Fuck me however you want,” you answered gleefully.

Jungkook rammed into you without hesitation. He firmly gripped your hips to keep you in place as he thrusted into you. His dick sent waves of ecstasy as he crashed into you. He surprised you when he reached his hand around you to play with your clit, causing you to squirm under him.

“Be a good girl and stay still,” he ordered.

His newfound dominance turned you on. He was no longer the baby boy that followed your every move, although you were sure that side of him was still there somewhere. You got lost in pleasure and didn’t realize how far gone you were till you felt liquid dripping down your inner thighs.

“You’re so fucking wet baby. All this for me?” Jungkook panted as he continued snapping his hips into you.

“Mhm, of course. Only for you,” you managed to moan out between thrusts.

“That’s my good girl. Get up,” he demanded as he hopped off the bed.

You obeyed, curious as to what he was going to do. As soon as you got off the bed, he spun you around and pushed your chest back over the covers. He slipped back into you with ease, groaning as your slick juices coated his cock. This new position enabled Jungkook to directly hit your g-spot with each thrust. Again, his hand wrapped around your waist to find your clit. His other hand found purchase on your neck, slightly choking you. The overstimulation had you crying out in bliss that you had never experienced before.

You were practically gushing now as your wetness ran down your legs and sprayed onto Jungkook’s thighs with each strong impact. Jungkook lifted up one of your legs onto the bed, spreading your pussy.

“Now touch yourself for me,” Jungkook directed.

He didn’t have to tell you twice. Your legs started to shake as you played with your clit at the perfect pace while Jungkook drilled into you. You were sure that you had already came numerous times by this point, but you could feel the grand finale soon approaching.

“Jungkook I--” you didn’t get a chance to finish your sentence as you climaxed onto his dick. He was infatuated with the way you looked from behind, and he couldn’t get enough of it. He pushed you back onto the bed with your legs still hanging from the edge. He reinserted himself while you laid there, completely delusional from the pounding you had been receiving.

“You’re such a sexy woman,” he moaned as he anchored the weight of his arms onto your shoulders.

He continued his torment downwards. Your bountiful cheeks bounced back and forth while he repeatedly rammed into your g-spot causing you to release more of the juices his massive cock craved.

He slowed his pace but still kept going to help you ride out your high for as long as possible. The sensation of you cumming on him was enough to bring him right to the brink of no return.

“Can I cum on you?” he pleaded in a tone all too familiar to you.

“Please do,” you nodded.

“God, you’re so sexy,” he said as he gave you a couple more hard thrusts before pulling out and coating your ass with white strings.

Jungkook held you in his arms after wiping you down with a towel, both of your chests heaving in sync. You both managed to work up a sweat, but Jungkook still smelled amazing. He played with your hair as your eyelids started to get heavy.

“_____,” he whispered softly.

“Yes, Jungkook?” you replied with your eyes still closed.

“Come with me.”

“What?” your eyes shot open.

“Come with me to Spain. I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t care. You’ll finally get the adventure you’ve always wanted, and we’ll do it together,” he kissed your forehead.

His unexpected proposition had you overwhelmed. You were speechless. You would go with him in a heartbeat. It wouldn’t matter where you’d go, as long as you were with him.

“Jungkook...you know I can’t do that,” you fought back tears, nuzzling yourself further into his chest.

“I wanted to ask your parents as soon as I arrived but you rushed me out too quickly and--”

“I can’t leave them, you know that,” silent tears rolled down your cheeks.

“I think they’d understand. Plus, you’ve said that they’ve tried to convince you to go to college,” Jungkook was getting desperate, he thought you’d agree on the spot.

“They need my help now more than ever. My parents are getting old. As much as I want to leave this place, I can’t. I’m going to be stuck here forever. I’m so sorry, Jungkook,” you wept.

“It’s okay, ___. We can ask them tomorrow, how does that sound?” he rubbed your back.

“No, I can’t do that to them. You know they’ll say yes. I have to stay,” you sniffled.

“You’re a great daughter. I can’t force you to come with me. I’ll miss you. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone,” Jungkook’s voice started to falter.

“Don’t worry about me. Go live out your life. Eat great food. Take beautiful pictures. Meet pretty girls,” you tried to lighten the mood.

“You think I want to meet pretty girls? Why would I do that when I have you,” he hugged you tightly.

“We aren’t even dating, Jungkook. I don’t want to hinder you more than I already have,” you blurted.

“I...I know we aren’t dating. Not officially. But that’s just a stupid label. I want to be with you,” Jungkook’s voice softened to hide his pain.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” you said as you got up.

Jungkook immediately pulled you back into him. Your nose brushed against his wet cheek, causing you to freeze up when you realized that he had also been crying.

“Please stay with me. At least just for tonight,” he pleaded.

“Alright. I can do that,” you softly kiss him.

You woke up the next morning with your head on Jungkook’s chest. Jungkook looked adorable while he was asleep, with his mouth agape and his hair falling messily over his forehead. You tried to inch away, but he just pulled you closer, making it impossible to escape.

He woke up with a yawn a couple minutes later. He smiled down at you before ruffling your hair.

“Jungkook, I’m sorry about last night. I--”

“Let’s not talk about it. This is my last day with you for god knows how long. Let’s just enjoy ourselves, okay?” he interrupted you.

It had been three years since that spring when you met Jungkook. You sometimes reminisce about the times you had with Jeon Jungkook. It honestly felt like a dream. Communication with him slowly faded away, and now the only conversations you had with him were one message long during birthdays and holidays. You kept up with him more through Instagram. He regularly uploaded his beautiful pictures, and you could tell that his talent only grew. He had a knack for making dull buildings and streets come to life.

Your parents planned to retire soon, leaving you to tend to the bakery by yourself. They mainly managed the front-of-house work during the busy hours now. Their goal was to finally sell the bakery, but you protested against it. As much as you wanted to be rid of the chains that tied you down, you were scared. You didn’t know what you would do if the bakery was suddenly gone. It was all you’ve ever known.

Ever since your parents announced their retirement plans, you started to dabble in pastry making. They were impressed with your skills, and your creations got added to the menu. Word spread that the already famous bakery was now carrying delicious pastries, and business soared.

You were busy decorating your latest desserts when your mother came into the kitchen.

“Your father and I have to go run a quick errand, we’ll be back soon!” she said before giving you time to protest. You grumbled to yourself as you placed strawberries on your cakes, praying that no one would come in.

“Hello? Anyone here? The sign says open,” someone called from the front.

‘God dammit’, you thought before putting on a fake customer service smile.

“Welcome to--” you stopped in your tracks.

Jungkook was standing in the middle of your bakery, looking even more handsome than you had remembered him. His face lit up as soon as he saw you. You couldn’t help yourself as you ran towards him, colliding into him with a forceful hug.

“I hear you sell desserts now,” he grinned.

“Jungkook! What are you doing here? Your hair, it’s so long! And...do you have tattoos now?!” you were in shock.

“Do I look more artsy now?” he laughed, “I came to see you. I wanted to try your desserts too, of course. No one would believe me when I said nothing can compare to your family’s bakery. Oh, I have a present for you.”

You became giddy with excitement as Jungkook brought out a brown paper bag and handed it to you. You pulled out prints of a beautiful girl standing in a forest. Wait...it looked familiar…

“Is this me?” you asked as your mouth hung open.

“Yeah, these are the pictures from when you took me on that picnic. Would you believe me if I said I barely had to touch anything up? They were already nearly perfect,” Jungkook said proudly.

“It’s because you’re a talented photographer,” you smiled.

“That, and because I had the perfect model. How could I not ask the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen to model for me?” he said as he tucked your hair behind your ear.

“So I wasn’t just practice?” you recalled asking him about it all those years ago.

“I was so nervous back then, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth,” he laughed, “I’m much more open now.”

You promptly switched the ‘OPEN’ sign to ‘CLOSED’ and sat Jungkook down. You brought out one of your fresh strawberry cakes, eager to hear his opinion. His face contorted with pleasure as he took the first bite. He complimented the flavors and textures, saying that everything tasted like perfect harmony. You laughed together as he shared stories of his time abroad. He intently listened while you opened up about the struggles of the bakery.

“Anyway, that’s enough complaining for now. I’m happy you’re back! How long are you staying for this time?” you tilted your head.

“Depends,” Jungkook answered as he gazed out the window. He looked back at you with a serious expression. He quickly grabbed your hand and pulled you close, bringing your face just inches away from his.

“Do you still want to explore the world?” he asked.

“Of course, that’ll never change. But...you know I can’t,” you answered somberly.

“After everything you just told me, you still think you have to stay here?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow, “My next gig is going to be in France. Come with me this time, _____.”

You stared at him with a stunned expression. You thought he had forgotten about you. Now here he is, asking you to run away with him again.

“Why did you lose touch? I thought you had moved on. I made peace with that. God, it hurt like hell, but I came to terms with it. And now we’re doing this again,” your voice cracked as tears welled in your eyes.

“Honestly, it hurt me too much. I couldn’t bear talking to you every day or video chatting you, without knowing when I’d see you next. I never stopped thinking about you. I tried. I tried to forget...but no one could ever come close to you,” Jungkook cupped your cheek in his palm, “There’s a really good patissiere academy close to where I’ll be working. You could go there and sharpen your skills! Then maybe one day open up a bakery of your own...if you wanted.”

“But what about my parents--”

“Stop using us as an excuse to hold yourself back,” your mom scolded you as she entered the bakery.

“Did you like your surprise?” your dad winked.

“You knew?” you were bewildered.

“Jungkook contacted us a while back, asking if we thought his plan could ever be a possibility. I figured you were still head over heels for him since you never dated anyone else,” your mom shrugged.

“If you want to go, go. Don’t worry about us. We can sell the bakery, and finally retire,” your dad said.

“You have your parents’ blessing, ____. This decision is entirely up to you. What’s it gonna be? Will you come with me to France?” Jungkook asked again.

“I..,” you looked at your parents before your eyes wandered back to Jungkook, “Yes. I’d love to,” tears of joy rolled down your cheeks.

Jungkook got up and embraced you in a tight hug before he whispered, “I’ve missed you so much,” in your ear.

“Well, we better start packing,” Jungkook turned to your parents.

“Packing? Already?” your eyes widened.

“We leave by the end of the week!” Jungkook gleefully took your hand and dashed out of the store.

Jungkook dragged you through the town up to your house. You couldn’t help but smile as you watched his long hair bounce around while you ran. You could’ve sworn that sometimes they looked like bunny ears.

He was definitely Jungkook, but he seemed like the upgraded version of the shy boy you once knew. He had a new confident aura around him, and he seemed more manly than boyish now. Everything was happening so quickly, but you were nothing but excited for the adventures to come.

As long as Jungkook was by your side, you were ready to take on the world.

#bts smut #jeon jungkook smut #bangtanarmynet #btscreatorscorner #btswritingcafe #ksmutclub #jeon jungkook fluff #bts fluff #jeon jungkook angst #bts angst #jungkook fic #kpop fanfic #bts fanfic #jungkook smut #jungkook fanfic #jungkook x reader

1K notes · View notes