#no picture again sorry folks you'll have to use your imaginations

[hauntedestheart]

A Business Opportunity (Male Body Swap)

The sequel to "A Business Proposition"

Samson Mann was big, he was strong, he was (people told him) good looking, but most importantly, he was broke.

A few months ago his position at the warehouse (aka the only job he'd ever had since he left high school) had been made "obsolete" by new advances in technology so now, at thirty, he was being forced to brave the job market for the first time. But with just a GED, no special skills, and a resume with one reference, his only real job options were in degrading manual labor positions where the starting pay was insultingly low.

While Samson wasn't the brightest bulb in the drawer, his naturally stocky build and boisterous personality made him perfect for working in a physically demanding social environment like the warehouse... but no, companies would rather hire a robot.

After venting about it to his friends at the gym (one of the few indulgences he allowed himself after he had to start cutting costs) one of them had offered up a solution: a friend of a friend of a friend had begun working for Bod+E, and, if interested, he could hook Samson up with an interview.

While Samson wasn't the type to keep up with the latest tech trends, everyone had heard of Bod+E. Founded by eccentric young tech genius Kim Shinwei, the app was currently in the beta-phase and the only way to get access was through a hookup... which Samson's friend was happy to provide.

Samson didn't think of himself as the app gig type but it was the first offer that had come his way that wasn't entirely degrading, so desperation won out over trepidation and he agreed. Now, after two weeks full of paperwork, background checks, and drug tests, Samson was waiting in an office for a personal meeting with a millionaire.

Who was very, very late.

Samson shuffled in his seat again, his large ass uncomfortable shoved into the expensive chair he'd been told to wait in. A large faux-leather chair (conveniently taller than Samson's) sat empty across the desk from him, flanked by a display case of trophies proclaiming Mr. Shinwei's many, many achievements. Samson got the sense he was supposed to be intimidated, which seemed like overkill because waiting in anticipation already had him sweating.

Forty-five minutes wasn't unreasonable, he reasoned to himself. Right? After all, Kim Shinwei's a very important guy.

The only other person in the room was a slight Asian fellow seated on a couch in the corner- based off of his business casual attire Samson had at first assumed was some kind of secretary, but other than a small nod to Samson when he'd walked in the room the young man hadn't acknowledged him at all. Instead he was leafing through a large textbook and scribbling down notes, looking very much like he did not want to be disturbed.

Samson was debating whether or not to risk asking the not-secretary what was going on when he heard the door swing open behind him.

"There you are!" A voice boomed. "I hope you weren't waiting too long, I got a bit distracted when I was getting ready. You know how it is."

Samson rose from his chair and turned to greet the visitor, but when he saw them he did a double take. Based off of his hazy recollection of the photos he'd seen of Kim Shinwei he had expected to meet a weedy looking Asian man much like the one in the corner, but instead the man in front of him was a tall, strapping white man who gave Samson a real run for his money when they shook hands. Samson took in the way the man's muscles pressed against his thin white button up, and when he sat down and he splayed his legs in a way that created a very noticeable bulge that Samson had to quickly avert his eyes from. He looked like a porn director's idea of a businessman.

"Mr. Shinwei?" Samson asked, failing to keep his handsome face from scrunching up in confusion. He was certain he was being rude, but fortunately the man before him didn't seem to mind.

"In the flesh!" Mr. Shinwei chuckled at some private joke and ran his hand through his fluffy locks of hair. "And please, call me Kim."

"Good to meet you Kim. You uh," Samson cocked his head to the side, searching for an angle that would turn the stud before him into the engineer he'd expected. "You don't look like your photos."

The hunk in front of him smiled mysteriously. "No, I don't suppose I would, would I? But I like to dress up for meetings."

The not-secretary sitting in the back of the room snorted, and Kim flipped him off over his shoulder without turning back. Samson was a bit taken aback by the juvenile display and shuffled in place awkwardly, unsure what he was supposed to do, until Mr. Shinwei looked back at him and stretched a hand out illustratively.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Kim offered, suddenly the picture of professionalism once more, and Samson plunked himself down into the chair gratefully. Kim leaned forwards in his seat and locked eyes with with Samson. "So, Samson Mann, right? Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us, we really do appreciate it. You came very-" Kim's eyes flicked up and down the length of Samson's body. "-highly recommended."

"Thank you, that's great to hear," Samson straightened his back and cleared his throat, attempting to disguise his discomfort. He wasn't very used to professional environments (if this could be called professional) so he sent up a prayer that he wouldn't do anything to embarrass himself and jeopardize the opportunity. "My buddy seems to really love working for you and I needed a change of pace so I thought, why not?"

"Your buddy... that's Joel Green, right?" Kim asked, and Samson nodded. Kim hummed thoughtfully, glancing up at the ceiling like he was remembering something. "Great, I love Joel. One of our most requested- his ass is to die for, right? That thing can shake."

"Uh-" Samson coughed to cover his surprise, and he stared at Kim in bewilderment. "Is this a test? Are we gonna get in trouble with HR or something?"

Kim chuckled and shook his head. "Yes I suppose that is a very unusual way for a boss to speak about an employee- but then Bod+E is a very unusual company. You're familiar with what we do, correct?"

Samson nodded, squeezing his fist beneath the table, and then a beat of silence followed. A sharp look entered Kim's eyes as they flicked over Samson, and he raised his eyebrow expectantly.

"Then tell me about it," Kim leaned forwards and grinned wolfishly at Samson, his pretty face baring a mouth full of pearly white teeth. "If you're considering working for us you have to be comfortable with our service. I want you to tell me what we do here."

"Bod-E, short for Body Exchange, is a silicon-valley startup that-" Samson began, wracking his brain to try to remember what he'd read on the company website.

Kim snapped his fingers and cut Samson off. "No, I don't want the corporate party line bullshit. Tell me what you think it is we do here."

"You uh- you rent out people," Samson said, stumbling over the words a bit. Truthfully, he was still wrapping his head around the idea. When Joel had first told him what he did at his hot new job, Samson had laughed in his face until he realized his friend wasn't joking, and even sitting in front of the creator the reality of it still seemed fake. "You hire guys and then other men pay to take over their bodies and do stuff in them."

Kim leaned back in his chair, a small smile on his face, and the tense atmosphere lifted slightly. Samson exhaled in relief at evidently having passed the test, and he let himself relax a bit as Kim began to speak.

"That's a good start but we're about a little bit more than that," Kim visibly puffed up with pride as he spoke about his work, and Samson tried his best to focus on his words and not the nipples that were poking through his shirt. "Bod-E is about creating experiences, it's about offering people the opportunity to become the man of their dreams and allowing those of us who weren't exactly blessed to work with someone who was to take advantage of their natural goods and get a bit of a break. If a poor man can rent a nicer house when he wants a vacation, why can't an average man rent a more attractive body for a getaway? It sounds too good to be true- but it isn't. And I've proven it."

"I just wanna check," Samson blurted out before he could stop himself. "This isn't a scam, right? You're not gonna steal my organs or something?"

Kim raised an eyebrow. "Why on Earth would I do that? They're far more valuable inside of you."

Samson tensed up when the businessman rose to his feet and slowly circled the desk, trailing his fingers along the polished wood behind him as he zeroed in on the interviewee.

"See, Samson, scams are about money, and I've made enough money to last myself a lifetime," Kim shrugged as if to say just a fact. "I have no motivation to go around scamming random men off the street. No, I do this because I believe in it! Because I care about my fellow man."

Kim was right beside Samson now and he hopped up to take a seat on the table, close enough that the two men's legs brushed together when Kim leaned back to lounge. He began to unbutton the top few buttons of his shirt, tugging it open to expose his shapely pecs, and the fingers of one of his hands idly rubbed at them as he continued to speak.

"Not everyone is born with the same natural advantages Samson," he continued, casually, as if he wasn't stroking himself, and Samson was mesmerized by the motion. "The world is different when you're beautiful, in ways that the beautiful people don't even understand because they think it's normal. And I think everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy that, even if it's just for a night." He snapped his fingers and Samson flinched, looking up to meet a gaze that seared into his soul. "And you're going to get the opportunity to help with that, and make a fuckton of money on the side. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"Uhhh," Samson muttered, a bit stupefied, and he shuffled awkwardly in his seat. "I guess? You kinda lost me a bit in the middle."

Kim chuckled and hopped to his feet, strolling back around to the far side of the table and reclaiming his chair. His shirt, Samson noticed, still hung open. "Let me put it another way then... Samson, are you happy with your body?"

Samson glanced down at himself, and he found no reason to be unhappy. First and foremost, he was healthy. But in terms of looks, he had nothing to complain about either.

While not overly obsessed with his appearance, he was very aware that other people thought he was handsome, and he'd never had any issues attracting a partner. A big guy since he was young, tall and with a stocky build, his years of laboring in a warehouse and the gym had granted him big arms and a small muscle gut- he wasn't cut like a pretty boy model, but he thought he looked good with a bit of fluff around the waist. He had a big, round ass too, and now that "thick" was back in fashion he was more popular than ever.

He flexed his arms subconsciously and nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"I suppose I should have expected that answer from you," Kim said with a laugh, and his eyes roamed Samson's body shamelessly with something close to hunger. "You're tall, strong, handsome- what would you have to be insecure about? But if you would indulge me for a moment, imagine that this wasn't you and you weren't happy with your body. Imagine you looked like..." Kim pointed at the young man still leafing through a textbook at the back of the room. "Like him over there, just to choose a completely random example. Small, skinny, weak, and you had always been that way and you were scared that you were always going to be that way. Never the hero, never the object of desire, always ashamed."

Samson detected a hint of bitterness in Kim's voice, but he wisely chose not to comment on it. Instead he tried to play along and just nodded.

"So if someone told you that you could have the opportunity to feel like this," he gestured towards Samson's powerful body. "to feel like the man you want to be... would you be willing to pay for it?"

"I think I would," Samson found himself agreeing, and he pressed his hands to his belly almost protectively.

"Then you understand why I'm so passionate about the service we provide." Kim smiled, a mischievious glint in his eye. "And here's a follow-up question: On your first day in this hot new body, what would you do?"

"Um..." Samson's brain was overheating and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Honestly? Fuck people."

"See?" Kim cackled with delight. "You're a natural, you've already wrapped your head around our business model." He opened up a folder and slid a sheet of paper across the table towards Samson with some paragraphs and diagrams on it, which the poor man couldn't make heads or tails of. "It's no secret that many of our clients have specific intentions with bodies contracted through our services, but as you can see here, it's all very understandable."

"Sorry but I gotta ask," Samson rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and he was barely able to look at Mr. Shinwei as he spoke the question on his mind. "Isn't this... isn't this prostitution?"

A pause.

"Technically speaking," Kim's words were practiced, as if he'd given this speech several times before. "The government has no name for what's happening here, and can legally do nothing about it. We've followed all appropriate government regulations and are working closely with lawmakers on potential future regulation of the market."

Then Kim smirked. "But that's just the bullshit I have to deal with. All you need to know is that you'd work on commission, so it would be in your best interest to, well, remain as appealing as possible. No one will be allowed to use your body for anything you don't consent to," Kim paused and tapped at the page he'd laid down on the table. "But our data does show that gigs are weighted heavily towards employees who do allow clients to perform sex acts in their bodies, so, make of that what you will. Do you understand what I'm getting at here?"

Kim linked eyes with Samson, and the bigger man nodded. Deep down he'd known what he was getting into, but hearing it said aloud was still very unsettling.

"And it's safe, right?" Samson asked, and Kim smiled at him.

"We watch out for our people," he said simply. "Our security measures are airtight- I designed them myself, and we haven't had an incident yet."

Samson opened his mouth to ask something else, but Kim cut him off before he could speak.

"You seem nervous," the businessman said bluntly. "So let me just assure you that you have nothing to worry about- you're definitely..." Kim licked his lips. "Qualified, for the job. I can see you doing very, very well here, but only if you're willing to take a leap of faith on this opportunity."

"I can see from your resume that you were laid off from your last job because your company replaced you with a machine. Well congratulations, you've stumbled in to the one line of work where guys like you can never be replaced."

Although Kim was trying to put Samson at ease, something about the way the businessman spoke sent a shiver down the big man's back. Still, Kim's words made sense, and at the end of the day Samson needed the money so he girded his loins and plastered a smile on his face.

"But..." the big man faltered. "The pay's good?"

"Ah yes, money," Kim's nose wrinkled up for a moment, then he sighed dramatically. "It always comes back to that, doesn't it? Well, if that's what you're looking for, you're in the right place. Depending on how much of your time you're willing to offer to the company you can expect to take in somewhere between six to eight thousand dollars a month. Perhaps more if you establish regulars who request you privately."

Samson whistled- that was a lot of money! Definitely more than he'd ever made at any of his other jobs. A lot of questions still swirled around his mind but when the numbers were laid out like that, he knew that there was only one answer.

"I cannot believe I'm gonna say this but... I'll do it!"

"Well then!" Kim clapped his hands and stood up, extending one hand forwards, and Samson rose to meet him with a handshake. "All that's left is the trial run."

"Trial run?" A look of bewilderment crossed Samson's face, and then he grasped the implication of Mr. Shinwei's words. "You mean..."

"A test swap," Kim smiled sweetly, but Samson could see that he was practically trembling with excitement. "With me, of course. I vet all of our new hires personally. After all, I wouldn't market a product without testing it first!"

Samson grimaced slightly at being referred to as a "product," but he nodded his head. This was what he'd signed up for after all, might as well get used to it now.

"Allow me to just confer with my associate here for a moment," Kim turned towards the Asian man sitting in the back of the room– Samson had almost forgotten he was there. "Peter, would you mind?"

The man called Peter looked up from his book and rolled his eyes, then picked up the phone next to him and tapped on its screen. Suddenly, both men froze in place and their faces went blank, eyes staring blindly into space. Samson glanced at the two nervously, wondering if he should go for help, when suddenly they snapped back to attention.

Samson watched as the man in front of him stumbled, and he reached out to steady him.

"Mr. Shinwei? Are you okay?" Samson asked, a little nervously, but the man in front of him just sighed and jabbed his thumb back towards the man seated with the books.

"I'm over here actually!" The not-secretary waved, rising from his seat and walking over to join them . "And please, I told you, call me Kim."

It took Samson a moment to put it together.

"You mean, that whole time we were talking, you were–" Unable to articulate himself, Samson rapidly pointed between the two of them.

"Swapped?" Kim chuckled, his voice much reedier in his real body. The real Kim Shinwei was shorter than both Peter and Samson, but as he stood beside them he had a presence that towered over both of them. He slapped the shoulder of the body he'd just been inhabiting, and the man inside rolled his eyes. "Yes, Peter is my... let's just say assistant, and I like to use his body for negotiations since his dashing visage has a certain presence that I lack."

"You mean I exercise and shower," Peter remarked with an eye roll, and Kim just laughed.

"That's one way to put it," Kim mused, a razor sharp smile on his face. "And yet, which one of us is rich?"

Peter grumbled incoherently then plucked something from the back of his neck and dropped it into Kim's palm. Kim held it up in the air for Samson to see: a small white bead of plastic.

"Now, crash course, this is the neurolinker that's going to facilitate the swap," he explained, rotating item in the air to show it from every angle. To Samson it just looked like a jellybean, but Kim proudly declared that it was jam packed full of intense tech. "It's going to bind seamlessly to the back of your neck– you might feel a little tickle, but that's it. Do you mind?"

He pointed towards the back of Samson's neck, and Samson nodded. Kim passed the bead back to Peter, who crossed behind Samson and placed a hand on his neck.

Samson tensed up. "Warn me before you-"

"It's already on," Peter said, and sure enough, when Samson reached back he felt a small bump at the base of his neck that he assumed was the neurolinker. He blinked in surprise– he hadn't even felt it attach.

"Everything feel okay?" Kim asked, and Samson nodded, still rubbing his fingers over the device in fascination. Kim grinned when he noticed Samson's interest. "Like I said, seamless! Comfort was a major factor I considered while designing it."

He held his hand out to the side, and Peter slipped a phone into it.

"They're activated wirelessly via the app– and don't worry about it activating by accident, the commercial models our customers receive are activated a three factor identification system tied to biometrics." Kim tapped at his screen as he spoke. "But I have an admin copy with special privileges so the process will be a bit more streamlined for us today. All I have to do is just–"

Everything went white for a moment, and when Samson blinked again, he was staring at himself.

"Tap right there on the screen!" Kim said, finishing the sentence he'd begun in his own body. "And the transfer happens instantaneously."

"Woah," Samson muttered, clearing his throat a few times before he realized the reason his voice sounded different was because it wasn't his voice.

Even knowing what was going to happen hadn't prepared him for what it would actually be like to be in another man's body. He was short now. More than that, he was skinny. Not even just skinny, a twig. He patted himself down, feeling only the frail bones of an under-exercised engineer, and he shivered. Who knew having no meat on his bones would make him so... chilly?

If being in another body was strange, seeing his own body from the outside was even stranger. He knew he was a big guy, but from his new smaller body he looked like a giant, and Mr. Shinwei was clearly having the time of his life with it.

There was an expression of glee on his face as Kim inspected his body from the inside, and the man had zero shame about groping Samson's body right in front of its owner. Samson watched as Kim glanced over his shoulder at his backside and then began shaking his hips around and Samson saw his ass jiggle around- he hadn't even known that his butt did that.

"Oh this is nice, this is very nice!" Kim exclaimed, then he turned his attention back front and tore his shirt open (literally tore the buttons off, which made Samson wince since that was his only dress shirt) to expose his sexy, hairy body to the room. He licked his lips at the sight of the powerful pecs that sat above Samson's belly, letting out a chuckle as he tweaked one of his nipples.

"Would you mind if I-?" Kim glanced at Samson and then gestured down towards his pants. Still speechless, Samson nodded yes, and Kim tugged his waistband forwards and looked inside. He smiled. "Oh, this is definitely workable."

Samson's mouth gaped, and all he could think to do was mutter a stunned "thank you."

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to show a little self-restraint," Peter said, clearly less impressed by what was happening, and Kim flipped him off.

"And it wouldn't kill you to lighten up a little!" He chastised his assistant, strolling across the room to stand before a full length mirror in the corner of the office. "Look at where I am and what I'm doing. Look at this body!" The flexed his borrowed biceps like a bodybuilder, grinning ear to ear at the sight of his new muscles, and he smacked at his belly. "Why wouldn't I enjoy it?"

He snapped his fingers and pointed towards the door, then turned his full attention to the mirror and began removing his pants. A still speechless Samson managed to catch a glimpse of his own bare ass before an arm wrapped around his shoulder and tugged him away- he grunted in protest, but unfortunately his new body was too weak to put up a fight.

"I'll take you to HR to fill out some paperwork," Peter muttered as he ushered Samson towards the door. "He's gonna be at this for a while."

The last thing Samson heard before the door shut behind them was the sound of skin on skin, and his own voice groaning.

[loverrrgirl]

KISMET- Austin Butler x Reader - PART 4

I’ve written a few parts ahead and I’m like, very excited for what’s about to happen. If it feels slow right now, GET READY.

Warnings: mentions of car accident, hospital, etc. Fluff for now but will eventually contain smut. I think that’s it, unless you need a warning for Austin subtly asserting his dominance.

I’ve never written a fic before so please leave all the comments and suggestions you have. Be nice to meeeeeee. Do you want the next part????

Here’s part 3

He was still scanning my face.

"I'm sorry, I've over shared." I whispered. The tears were threatening to flood down my face.

"No. No. I asked you and you answered me. I'm just really sorry, that must be really hard. And I wish you weren't experiencing it. If you want to talk about it, I don't have anywhere to be for a while." He said quietly to me. I could tell he was unsure if his small joke was welcome in a time like this. Thankfully for him, humor is my coping mechanism. So I smiled and gave a little nod.

"Thank you for the offer, but I don't think I want to talk more about it right now. I appreciate it though. Instead, why don't you tell me about literally anything. What is your favorite food? And why? This is better than an entire personality quiz. This will tell me everything I need to know" I said jokingly but also not jokingly. I was half serious.

What if his favorite food is bologna???  That would be some sort of deal breaker right?

"Oh wow. No pressure or anything damn." He laughed as the words came pouring out of his mouth. His whole face lit up when he laughed. The way the apples of his cheeks rose up and brightened the room. It really was a sight. "I guess I'd have to choose a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They're obviously delicious and my mom used to make them for me all the time. A staple"

I smiled. "I get it. PB & J is classic. It's timeless. Thank god your favorite food isn't bologna" I said with wide eyes and a giggle. The thought of that truly disgusted me.

"How about you? What is your favorite food, and why?" Austin reversed my own question on me.

Clever.

Honestly how does a person just choose one favorite food? Just one? I have so many depending on the time of year, the occasion, who's cooking. This was a hard one. "Damn Austin. When I asked you that, I didn't realize you'd be asking me hard questions back." I said as I laughed, embarrassed at how hard it was for me to choose just one favorite food. "I guess if I had to choose one food as an all time favorite, it would have to be tacos."

He cocked his head to the side, and did that thing he does. The one where he rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip like he was trying to buy time before he responded.

"Also a classic. Very versatile, very adaptable. Always exciting. I like your style Stella." He said as he smirked. He was looking right in to my eyes again.

Is he still talking about tacos?

The pilot came on the speaker again. "Hey folks, we're beginning our descent in to Los Angeles. It's a bit gloomy today. Lots of drizzle. A cool 57°. Make sure your seatbelts are fastened and your seats are in their upright positions and your tray tables are closed. Thanks for flying with us. We'll have you on the ground in about 25 minutes"

Wow, that six hours flew by. Time flies when you're having fun or whatever they say.

"What's the first thing you'll do once you're rested? What is your relaxation?" I asked. I always wondered what someone so recognizable did when they needed to unwind.

"I like to go on smaller hikes and take pictures of whatever I want to remember. Sometimes I go to the beach and just walk along the sand so I can think in peace. Who knows? I might just stay home and soak in the quiet, see a few friends, eat some of my favorite food." He said, staring off a little bit. Like he was imagining himself in his happy place. I was so glad he was going to get to do that.

"Honestly that sounds like a dream. I hope your staycation is just as relaxing as you want it to be Austin." I smiled thinking about the way his cheeks lit up when he smiled at something that made him truly happy.

"Is your mom picking you up?" He asked hesitantly.

"Oh, no. I'm going to take an Uber. I don't want her to have to leave the hospital. It's about a 45 minute ride, not too bad" I said as the plane started to get bumpy on descent. I hate this part too. I grabbed the arm rest once again so I didn't become unraveled. I closed my eyes, pretty much forgetting I was in the middle of a conversation entirely.

I felt Austin grab my hand and I wasn't about to argue. I was trying not to shake. After about 3 minutes, the air was smooth again.

"Sorry, again. I wish it wasn't so paralyzing" I said, removing my hand from the equation.

"I don't mind. I'm glad to help, even if it's just a little bit. I'd really like to drive you to the hospital if that's okay? I don't want you to have to ride with a stranger when you're going to do something really hard." He insisted.

"Aren't you kind of a stranger, Austin?" I laughed, only half joking.

"Well, sort of. But at least we've been talking for the past 6 hours. If you really want to Uber that's fine, but I would feel more comfortable if you didn't have to ride with a complete stranger." He bit his lip again.

Is this conversation making him nervous? Something else?

Normally, I'd have said no. He seemed genuinely concerned about me getting in a car with someone I didn't know. He seemed concerned with my safety, but also my feelings. Oddly enough, I felt much more comfortable riding with him than I would in an Uber. I felt comfortable with him. Peaceful even.

"Is your driver going to be okay with that? Taking an entirely extra drive?" I asked, trying to convince him that I'd be fine.

He laughed.

He laughed right at me. What's so god damn funny?

"I don't have a driver while I'm in town. I prefer to drive myself. My car was dropped off last night. So the driver of my car, me, certainly does not mind the extra drive." He said but wasn't laughing anymore. He wasn't joking. He does enjoy the mundane things. The simple things in life.

"Well okay then. Sure, I'd like that. Thank you. I hope it's not too far off from your house?" I smiled, feeling kind of excited now that I didn't have to be anxious the entire car ride. Well, at least not as anxious.

"I'm going to my dad's house. Just in Anaheim. It's not a bad drive" he said. And I knew he was lying.

"Austin that's almost an hour away from the hospital. I'm from here too you know, you can't fool me. No. No way." I argued.

"I already said yes. I'm driving." He said. Very matter of fact, with eye contact.

Okay. You're driving I guess.

The plane was about to touch down. He seemed to know I hated that too. It was my most and least favorite part all at once. He grabbed my hand once again. I squeezed it hoping I wouldn't hurt him.

Yeah I doubt it'll hurt him. Have you seen the size of those things?

Touch down.

Thank god.

He put his sunglasses back on. I was suddenly snapped back to the reality that he gets recognized when he goes places. And I really hoped my presence wasn't going to stir anything up for him.

The plane taxied and the flight attendants opened the doors. I was overcome by feeling everything I had in front of me that day. I froze there, not wanting to move towards what was coming.

I felt Austin's hand on the small of my back. It was our turn to get off. "One step at a time. You got this" he said as if he knew I was drowning inside.

One step at a time.

[nikarmy]

Equilibration ~ Prologue

Masterlist

Pairing: Waterbender! Jungkook x fem!Firebender Reader feat platonic!Bts

Genre: The Last Airbender Au, fluff, angst, kinda slowburn, s2l

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: judgemental stares in public, cursing, slight inner aggressiveness (how do you call that?), self hatred, mentions and descriptions of war,   childhood trauma, flashbacks, reader is insecure af, mentions of killed people and humans screaming out of fear,

The looks from the passengers started to intimidate you.

How should one react to unwanted attention? Stare back, insult them, ask them what's wrong, or put their powers to good use and knock them down? Fuck no. That's not the right thing to do.

But the old lady in the olive robe has been fixating her gaze on you since she entered the train, only stopping her inspection when a young man offered his seat to her 5 minutes ago. Unfortunately, as soon as she made herself comfortable on the metal bench, she restarted her action.

Her face looks remarkably punchable to you right now.

Red was never your favourite colour.

In fact, you despise it, even though it perfectly described you.

Anger, Aggressiveness and Harshness. Perhaps that's why you've been considered as a prodigy and as one of the most gifted trainees back in the fire nation. You are basically the embodiment of the hot flames, symbolizing destruction and war.

You hate it. And now your red attire made you hate the colour even more, as the result was having judging looks on you all the time.

Teachers, parents and elders of the fire nation always tell stories and legends about the benders of their kind, emphasizing their heroic actions, and everyone listens to them attentively.

Although you know these stories by heart, you longed for more, for a view outside of the borders that separate your people from the other elements.

You read folk stories of waterbenders, earthbenders and airbenders, satisfying your curiosity by practically studying their culture.

But the more you learned about the peaceful water tribe, the disciplined people of the earth kingdom and the imaginative

air nomads, the more you felt ashamed about the fire nation, about yourself.

The insecurities grew as your father forced you to join the military as a soon – to – be soldier at the tender age of 8. He wanted to “use your abilities to good use”, so you just went with the flow and trained along with other talented students, destined to end the war in a brutal way and make their parents proud.

Years went by, and not too long ago, marking a week now to be exact, you went on your first “mission” to a city of the earth kingdom, whose name you don't even know, to occupy them and take over their land in a brutal way.

The pictures of killed people and destroyed houses are engraved to your brain, highlighted by the destructive flames surrounding a once peaceful town. You'll never forget the children screaming on top of their lungs and the parents begging for their lives.

The next sleepless nights you sat at your desk and started making plans on how to escape the fire nation, whilst writing a goodbye note to your family and trying to persuade them to not search after you.

And now, days later, you are standing in a train to Ba Sing Se, not even having a clue on what to do next. Your backpack consists of a bottle of water, some sparing clothes (but still not much), your toothbrush and money.

Finally you hear the male voice on the speaker say the awaited words: “Ba Sing Se Central Station”. You leave out a sigh you didn't even know you were holding, glad to be at your destiny and also glad to get out of the stinking train with the rude old lady.

During your targetless walk through the city, you notice a lot of eyes on you, and to be honest, you don't blame them, you hate firebenders too.

So you guess a new start also means a new appearance, right? Luckily you walk past a thrift shop. Its appearance is very pretty, the building is made out of wood and warm tones, the curtains which could be seen behind the big windows were a light shade of green, above the small door you could see golden calligraphy spelling “Kim's Thrift Shop” in all it's pride. It's not modern, but it looks comfortable.

At exactly that moment you choose to enter and change your black and red attire to search for one with a colour that is much less hated, like blue, yellow or green.

Entering the shop you immediately face a young man behind the counter, and you swear you've never seen a more handsome human being before.

He had perfect features, his broad shoulders and his tall figure instantly catching your attention. His raven black hair was voluminous. He could easily pass as a prince.

As much as you drooled over him as a result of his striking lineaments, he looked at you, well, weirdly. That wouldn't surprise you if he looked at you like you were his enemy, just like the other people here, but he stared at you, like you were some kind of god. Like he is genuinely happy that you entered the store. His eyes light up with hope.

“FUCKING FINALLY! NAMJOON LOCK THE DOORS!”

What. The. Hell.

Never in your life have you been so confused. Does he want to kidnap you? Oh fuck he wants to kill you.

The only logical thing to do right now is turning around and leave the shop. And you do just that.

But as soon as you can grab the door knob with your right hand, another one holds it, preventing you from fleeing.

You look who this hand belongs to, and next to you stands a man with blue hair and tan skin. His biceps and height frighten you and you realize that you're in big trouble. He has a tight hold on your forearm and leads you to the backroom of the shop in a quick pace, behind you the black haired cashier.

The backroom looked comfortable, the carpeted floor creating a cozy feeling. But the atmosphere was the complete opposite.

Here you stand, surrounded by five boys. You inspect each other and you realize that two of them are airbenders.

There stands the cashier, then your eyes land on the guy who held your forearm as if his life depended on it, and a third guy who sat on the sofa. His appearance was remarkably charming, full lips, blond hair, round face and soft features, he was quite short compared to the others. All three of them have green clothing on, so you assume that they are earthbenders.

But what really catches your attention are the last two guys. They wear yellow and red robes, both of them having a blue arrow drawn through the middle of their foreheads.

You've never seen an airbender before.

“So umm sorry if we scared you back there” the blue haired guy interrupts your thoughts. “But we are really desperate for someone like you right now”

“Someone like... me?” You curiously ask.

“Yes. The guy there..”

he points to one of the airbenders. The boy has wavy dark hair and as soon the blue guy mentions him he flashes you a cute boxy smile.

“This is Tae. Short for Taehyung. He is someone special. You see, for how long has the last avatar died?”

“70 years ago.” you reply. It's true, Avatar Aang died many years ago, and that at the time the world needed him the most. If he was still here, the war could have been prevented before it even escalated.

“Yeah” he answered “Tae is the next one”.

You gasp lightly and feel your eyes coming out of their sockets from having them wide open in shock.

The avatar is standing right  in front of you.

“And we are searching for different benders who can teach him in all the elements. See, we kind of established a secret alliance against the Fire Lord, to end the war. He already knows that the avatar came back and is searching for Tae like crazy, we had to move out of our hidings four times now because he always managed to find us. Now we have to find teachers quickly, the sooner the better. Tae has to learn to be a great avatar so he can fight against the Lord. We thought we would never find someone from the Fire Nation, but then you came. Are you a firebender?”

“Yes?”

“Perfect, you're exactly who we're looking for. We'll cut you a deal. Since we assume you're not a spy, we ask you to be Taes teacher in mastering the art of firebending. In return, you'll get to live with us and we'll give you food for free. Jin is a great cook. I know this is a lot of information to handle right now, but what do you think?”

You didn't even think twice about it. Even though you don't know these guys, what do you have to loose? It's not like you had plans anyway. And stopping the fire nation seems to be just the right thing for you right now. And finally you can use your skills to good use, not for war.

“I'm in.”

Later you get introduced to all of them. The Avatar, Taehyung, is an airbender, and you swear you've never seen someone who behaves this childish before. But it's not a bad childish, in fact, it makes you feel jubilant. Maybe because his bright ambience makes up for the childhood you never had, the childhood you spent in training and learning that brutality is the way to power, and power is everything.

The guy with the blue hair is Namjoon, an earthbender and Taes teacher in that field. He seems like the leader of the group, always explaining and answering your questions.

The black haired handsome guy is Jin, a nonbender. He felt very excited when you said yes to joining them.

The other airbender is Hobi and also Taes teacher, the first thing you realize about him is his very contagious smile.

The blond dude is Jimin, a nonbender who is from an earth kingdom village.One day he knocked on their door of the shop and wanted to thrift there. But instead of finding clothes, he started talking to Tae who sat behind the counter. The Avatar liked him so much that he insisted on having him join the “Gang”.

The thrift shop actually belongs to Jins aunt, and sometimes, when he's in Ba Sing Se, he has to work here. It's also a good place to hide from the Fire Lord.

“So we need a waterbender too?” you examined.

“Yes” Namjoon was the only one to answer again “We have to travel to one of the tribes to find one. It won't be that hard.”

a/n: Thanks for reading! I would like to apologize if it’s bad, I’m not very content with my writing style, but I am working on it, since it’s my first fic and I have a long way to go:) What do you think?

[stvlti]

Being a content creator who runs a blog where no one is interactive sucks ass >:c I’m tired and I will quit because what is the point anymore?

Sorry, this caught me while I was half awake and I didn't know what to say. I crowdsourced some advice and I hope one of these help:

If you create copy-based content (fic, meta, poetry), honestly yeah that was me too until I joined several writing Discord servers. I also used to hang out in the local open mic & literary scene and am in several group chats with them folks and they're generally a willing audience. We like to share stuff with each other. So I guess, long story short, surround yourself with people who are into the same mediums as you if you want meaningful engagement and feedback (in the general sense of the word).

If you're more concerned with doing numbers though, then joining networks, participating in events and zines, tagging your posts strategically, and just generally plugging your content is probably the only way you'll get that engagement (in the digital content and social media marketing sense of the word). Unfortunately I've never really been very good at marketing myself because I get most of my dopamine from a handful of comments from friends, and numbers don't mean much to me, so I just don't even bother.

The nature of your content does matter obviously. Tumblr, though not a full fledged social media site as it still carries some of that weblog DNA, is still designed for microblogging at the end of the day and people's attention spans are short. They like stuff that are short and sweet, stuff that can go viral, and fics really aren't suited to that. This is why headcanons, joke posts, incorrect quotes, and stuff like that flourish, and if you really want to do numbers that's where the engagement is at.

This brings me to the other point. You should probably ask yourself why it is that you're creating content. Personally I do it because the characters and subject matters are important to me, and the ideas will eat me up at night if I don't exorcise them through the things I create (and also I'm just a nerd who enjoys the creative process). I do like being recognised for what I do of course but that's secondary to the craft itself. If I were to create for everyone else instead of satisfying my own creative impulses I imagine I wouldn't have much fun doing it - if I can motivate myself to do it at all. Maybe that makes me selfish, but that's how it is for me, and it saves me from focusing on the negatives, on what other people think about my work (discounting constructive criticisms). But if you can't satisfy yourself with just creating the thing without recognition and compliments then see Points #1 and 2+3 again.

I went off talking a lot about fic and poetry and meta - literary mediums, that is - but well, if we're talking about art and graphics and video edits then it's a whole different ball game. Easier, in fact. Because these are mediums you can bring to platforms with larger user bases, platforms like Instagram or Tiktok, to really get that exposure you need. And everybody likes a nice picture. They're more likely to stop and pay attention - and maybe share - an artwork. Not talking about Tumblr here though because I know that people stopped using the reblog function circa 5 years ago for some reason, but I'm just saying at least with art and what not you could always start anew on a platform with a wider audience 🤷

And if on the off chance you're one of those talented folks who can mess around on Ableton and make some beats then, hell, you got even better chances on platforms like Tiktok. And I'd say what are you still doing here on Tumblr because this site's one of the worst for hosting video and audio content 😆

Any way nonnie I hope you can find your motivation again. Do some soul searching and understand why you're creating and what you're creating content for, and then go do the thing that'll bring you the most satisfaction. And you may need to take a break. But no matter what you do, don't quit for real, because there is an audience for everything and they're probably out there waiting to see it represented in the things you create.