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#whats the point in working so hard for a job i rarely get paid doing
princesschubbi · 2 months
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I'm so glad everyone is enjoying the new content I've been throwing all my effort into... I'm still so depressed that it hasn't brought in ANY income though and I'm so desperate for food money at this point. I'm so fucking sad. I'm working so hard and still seeing nothing in return. Half the time people are still hiding my content in their likes, so I'm not getting any reach for my OF to grow either. So I'm just stuck. I can't make any progress and I'm about to have to quit it all because I can't even afford to be awake most days or I'm so hungry all I want to do is cry and get angry but I'm not allowed. I'm so tired.
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yandere-kokeshi · 9 months
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Hi! I hope you're having a nice day
I'm just wondering if you can make a yandere ghost or price with a s/o who has a other boyfriend fic?
Thanks<3
(if you don't have time for this, it's okay)
— Such Waste
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Warnings: Yandere behavior, stalking, suggested age gap, swearing, talks about reader who grew up in an abusive family; current-bf is abusive/has an unhealthy relationship; reader is slightly naive, violence, and detailed blood..
A/N: this one was pretty hard for me to finish so sorry if it's dull or simply not well; I'm not very happy with it lmao. Enjoy! :]
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Inserting the key into the door with a small click!, and opening it to your usually, scattered apartment, you sighed — heavily. 
Today was grueling. Not only was your work office incredibly demanding, but it was possibly draining what was left of your very soul. Your bones and stiff muscles were hurting. Begging for you to get more sleep than having 2 – 4 hours of naps every day.
You took off your shoes by the front door and put your belongings on the table; re-footing your steps backwards, to put your keys on the bookshelf for remembrance. Though, you were rudely interrupted as your phone buzzed multiple times, and you let out yet another sigh. 
In your bones, you had a feeling — an immediate feeling of who it was.
Grabbing your phone in the back pocket, you whisked it out and typed in your passcode before seeing multiple, if not, tons of missed calls and text messages from your current boyfriend.  
Liam: Are you srsly ignoring me? It was a joke. — sent at 8:23 pm
Liam: baby, come on. You passed your break. Just answer me. — sent at 8:57 pm
Liam: answer the fucking phone! Are you dumb? Pick up the phone!!!! — sent at 9:21 pm
Liam: if you don’t answer, it's over. — sent at 11:48
You rolled your eyes, feeling anger rise in you again. You chose to send a small message. Who would’ve thought the blue-eyed, blond hair and a tooth gap combo of a man would be the best fit? Not you, apparently. 
You: Got caught up with work. Sorry, we can talk more about this tomorrow. I’m gonna head to bed. Night.  — sent at 12:19 pm
While Liam was a nice guy, he was slightly controlling and immature. Always wanted to know who or where you were, why you were hanging out with people he didn’t know, and if you loved getting unwanted attention. Sometimes, fights got so bad that your elderly neighbors had to call the police to separate the two of you for a few nights. 
Poor Lucy. Wonder how she still deals with you being next door.
Groaning, you put your phone back into your back pocket, before your hands rubbing over your face in exhaustion. 
Not only was your boss extremely cranky and rude today, but everyone was on edge due to his behavior. You couldn’t even talk to your coworkers without them using the excuse of ‘I have to leave’ whenever he steps foot into the room. Plus, the stress of bills, your current boyfriend, and the harassment was getting to your breaking point. 
God, you hated this job. But it paid your bills. That’s all you cared about, right?
You scoffed, feeling your back prick and pop in places that sounded like it shouldn’t. Looking at the fridge in your kitchen, you slumped over and walked over to it, talking to yourself as you opened it, reaching down for the leftover pizza box that you didn’t get to finish last night.
Barely eating a few pieces, you were already heading down the hallway to your bedroom, peeling off your sweaty work clothes. However, something stopped you in the tracks that made your heart jump right out of your chest and into your mouth. 
Roses. Roses were on your bed. Sure, it was beautiful. The lilac, reddening color shining in your room was gorgeous. 
But who put them there?
You stared at them. Who the hell was in your apartment? Was it maintenance? Maybe a surprise gift they gave out for people living here in the poor-run down apartments?
No. It couldn’t be. Rarely do they ever give you things — especially flowers. What and who the fuck?
“Do you not like them?” 
You jumped at the sudden rough voice, dropping your pizza on the floor and whipping around, seeing a giant man sitting in your favorite chair in the corner of your bedroom; wearing a thick, menacing skull balaclava, piercing your skin like a knife. 
“Who… the fuck are you!” you shouted. Your feet stepped back, watching him as he repositioned himself — his elbows now resting on the armrests of the chair, and leaning forward into the obvious comfy chair. You couldn’t help but judge the guy. Who wears a skull mask other than on Halloween? Was he a killer? Going to slice you—!
“I would think you’d know that with the stuff I gave you.” 
A chill ran down your spine. So was this — no, this was the guy. 
The man who left your favorite chocolate on your window seal each morning, the sweet notes of compliments, sometimes bearing suggestions on things you should wear that day. And the huge bouquet on the front door, which was soon transported to your dinner-table, that was left every Friday.
Oh, my g-d.
“Holy shit,” you gasped, finally looking at his outfit, seeing the Britain flag sewed on his Khaki pants. It’s military. What the fuck did you do? “Did I break the law?” you hushed out, terrified at the man.
However, the man in front of you snickered. “Doubt you’d have the guts to break the law, sweetheart.” 
“I– what?” you looked at him dumbfounded. Who the fuck was this guy? 
“Ya’ heard me, only have a speeding ticket,” he remarked, making you dart your eyes toward behind you to the hallway, seeing the front door before back at him. “Pretty impressive for your age, if ya’ ask me.”
Your brain short-circuited. “How… do you know that?” you posed, feeling your breathing quicken. “I have so many questions,” you added. But yet, the man stared at you with his darkening eyes. Didn’t help that your room was dimmed. You really should’ve fixed that light. 
He stared at you before speaking up. “Bet ya’ do. I’m all answering them as long as you get rid of that cunt of a boyfriend.” 
“E… ‘cuse me?” you stammered, taking another step back. But, your anger got ahead of you; your eyebrows knitted against each other. “I can assure you that he treats me well.”
Though, the man just scoffed and stood up as your throat closed at the sight of the man. Why the fuck was he so tall? “Sure. Keep imagining that sick fantasy image of yours, and you’ll wake up in the hospital with a broken nose.”
You wanted to defend yourself. But he was right. Breaking your index finger hurts like a bitch. The frequent fights were exhausting. The last time you tried talking with Liam about visiting a close friend an hour away ended up with his hand reaching out towards your wrist, twisting it with a large sprain and a large hospital bill. 
The yelling. The self-blame. The hours of constant harassment with texts and calls. The horrible smell of booze. You really fucked up your love life, didn’t you? 
“But,” he started, a thick accent voicing in as he stepped closer into your direction. “I can treat you better, love. Someone who won’t hurt ya. Treat you like the doll you are.”
You narrow your eyes at him, nervously biting at the inside of your cheeks as you wait for him to continue. 
“I’ll make sure to treat you well. Something you haven’t been lucky to feel. Your parents were mean towards you, no?” he asked questionably, and it made your heart drop to your stomach. “But, I can take care of you; better than anyone has.” 
So many questions raced through your mind as your eyes darted at the floor then back toward the man. Like a rabbit, you stiffened. Confused. Body shaking as the predator approached. 
“I don’t… even know who you are,” you replied, tightening your hand into a fist. Your heart was speeding, hands and legs shaking with fear. Your throat stiffened. He could clearly see it — and yet somehow, his eyes got softer; those brown pupils having a sad and apologetic look. Almost like a dog trying to comfort you. 
You don’t know you’re crying until you feel a gloved thumb wipe them away, causing you to flinch. Realizing that the man was now in front of you, you tried to step back, but your ankle hit the bedroom wall, securing you in a close habitat. 
But, with everything going on, you didn’t have the energy to push him away nor look up at him. Continuing to look at the floor as your mind circled around on whom the fuck was this man? 
“Look at me, will ya’?”
You hesitated. Didn’t reply. But as he said your name, a shiver traveled down your spine, and you looked at him – his predominant features coming in. Even with your anxiety and fear swirling in your stomach, you looked at the creases in his eyebrows, the clashing scars near his temple, eyes, and brows. His jarring eyes surrounded by black eyeshadow, seemingly gentler, almost like they were trying to welcome you into a trap. 
You stare up at him with half-lidded eyes. And with a gasp, you felt his hand take your chin, his palm almost eclipsing the lower half of your face, and turn your head right into the direction he wanted you to: staring at him in the eyes.
“I promise. I’m not going to hurt you,” he reassures, though, it doesn’t help as more tears drowned down on your behalf. 
And yet, you couldn’t fathom his words. 
“I don’t–” you started, taking a deep and sharp inhale, “–trust you, I don’t even know your name. How can I know you’re… not some, serial killer?” your question was weak. And stupid. But it was the only thing you could think of out of the bluster. 
His eyes narrowed at your reply before answering at your ‘plea’. 
“I suppose that’s a start,” he huffs.
You looked at his eyes, before narrowing down at the mask. And clearly, by your eyes and non-answer, he nodded at your invisible ask. 
Stepping back, the man’s hands traveled to lift the mask upwards. He revealed the point of his chin, the skin equally rough, like his demeanor. 
He didn’t stop from continuing, exposing more of his lower lip. The skin there was rugged and scarred, little creases in the flesh. Scars that made your heart thud awkwardly. At his cupid’s bow, where you saw a huge scar, it made you gasp quietly out of wincing. The thick mark going upward on his left lip, so callused and rough. It looks like it still hurts.
Finally, he pulled the mask fully off, revealing his natural-resting face, thick eyebrows, and the two large scars right above his filled brows. It helped a bit that he revealed himself, but you were still unsure how to… understand the situation.
He said your name, and it made you look at him. “Rest your worries when you’re by me, yeah?”
Those words fell into your stomach and twisted like a towel being squeezed. Though, somehow, in a way, you felt safer. A hesitant silence settles between you both, before you decide to speak up.
“Y–ou won’t hurt me?”  
Those stunning brown eyes take a moment to gaze into yours, searching something deeper in your meaning. Instead, all you could muster was eye contact that kept flickering to the floor and trying to calm your quickened breathing.
“What kind of man would I be if I did that, hm?” his voice is airy, tone-flimsy when asking his question. 
You swallowed thickly, “I want to know your name.”
“You do know my name, sweetheart,’” he coldly corrected you, “—use that smart brain of yours.”
Seconds blurred by you, trying to think – imagine what could or would be his name. But nothing came up. Nothing came to your brain, which, the man in front of you, hummed in acknowledgment at the state of your confused state. 
“Shame you don’t remember,” he started, a smirk curling on his face. “It’s Simon.”
Memories you didn’t know at the time came forward. 
Many things are given by that name — your favorite fast food being delivered to your home after a bad day, bouquets in expensive vases being delivered every week; cards given with clothes and money. And somehow, your insurance was now covering things they didn’t. 
Oh, and let’s not forget about the lingerie being sent. A note of: I hope to see you wear this tonight. Signed with initials: SR. 
At first, you thought it was Liam – but he was a cheapskate. Never liked spending money, especially on you. 
Your eyes widened, a bubble trapping itself in your throat — it was him. Police didn’t help, saying something along the lines of, ‘until they hurt you, we can’t do anything’. But when did they ever help? 
“So… what do you want, then?” you whisper, suddenly breathless with this proximity. You can see the gold-brown of his eyes clearly, the halo of honey flecks that cover the circumference of his pupil. His eyelashes flutter when he blinks, so pretty and… oddly feminine. 
“You.”
And just as he rasped that word, the banging on your front door started. The familiar yelling of Liam drowned out your thoughts, and his screaming made the two of you snap your head in the direction of the front door. 
He yelled out your name, and you flinched. Already feeling the bruising grabs, the constant screaming where your ears ring for hours. Oh god, what the hell did you do? 
“You– need to leave,” you ushered out, hands and legs shaking for the splinting images that shot through your head. 
He was banging on the door, jamming his fists; the handle being shaken so hard that it rattled stuck. It was all too much. 
Simon said your name, but you shook your head. Denying his existence. Danger was near, nobody would help save you. He needs to leave, he needs to leave, heneedstoleave—!
He grunted your name louder, and you looked at him with teary eyes; the small rivers turning into full tsunami’s. You couldn’t think. Breathe. He was here. Going to hurt you. He was going to die. So were you.
The door broke, the familiar thundering footsteps shook from across the house. And before you could react, Simon pushed you behind him — shielding you away from your abuser.  
“You—!” Liam screamed into the bedroom, a bottle of beer in one hand and his other clenched into a fist; his blue eyes burning into your stomach. You choked out a sob as he stepped further, but stopped at the sight of Simon. For once, Liam looked retched at his own thoughts. 
“Who the fuck are you?” he yelled, and the man only narrowed his eyes at Liam; challenging him with his height and quiet demeanor. 
“Get the fuck out.” his rough and dark voice sent shivers down your neck, making every hair stand up.
Liam scoffed, a plethora of curses voiced out, before he shut up. Your eyes narrowed, and as you looked at his shocked face, you saw a gun in view next — Simon’s finger gripping the trigger, aiming it at Liam’s head. 
Your heart leapt out. Fight or flight mode flicking on.
“Come on, man– we, we’re playing. Right—?” he chuckled out, and Simon grunted. 
In the dimmed room, you can see his high cheekbones and the absolute rage that is evident on his face, even hiding behind his mask. His hands are clenched around the gun tightly, finger curling even tighter around the trigger. 
“I’m not going to ask again; leave the fucking apartment.” 
Liam falsely chuckled, “O-or what? You’ll shoot me? Doubt you have the balls, my… guy.”
Within seconds, the gun went off — making you scream, closing your eyes, and covering your ears. Your fingernails scraped at your ears, making them ring. It hurt, not a single thought. Oh god, what the fuck happened? 
“—uck!” was all you could muster before you knelt to the ground, wrapping arms around yourself; teeth clenching down your lips as you felt— tasted blood. 
After a few minutes – or seconds – you open them up and find Liam, leaning on the wall for support, bleeding through his arm. There was so much– on the floor, on his hands. His eyes were widened, looking at the man in front of you; anger yet fear rising. 
He started hiccuping — more blood dripping down to the floor as he clenched his nearly wound. 
“Don’t ever let me see you again.”
Simon’s rough voice of threatening sent shivers down your body. Your breath hitched. Your body starts to shake as your eyes widen. Simon’s threat was enough for Liam to nod instantly, giving you one look before running out; not giving you a second look as it may not leave tonight with his face intact. 
You were about to say something, but the man cleared his throat and looked down at your shaking form. “Ya’ okay?”
You looked up at him, slowly nodding. In return, he said nothing, making you feel his eyes take in every detail of you. To your face and pupils, to your shaking legs and ragged breath. Yet, having never meeting you before, he gladly handed over his hand down to you. 
Looking up at his scarred hand, you hesitantly looked at it — large fingers, nails scratched and clear hangnails. You didn’t know what to do, other than grab it and strand up with his help. 
“Get your things.”
Your eyes narrowed, breath heaving. “Why?”
 He looked at you, brown pupils dilated. They were so feminine– pretty. His breath hitched, and a large hand grasped your shoulder. 
“Cause’ you’re gona’ be coming with me, forever.” 
Masterlist || Please consider reblogging and commenting instead of liking, stay well!!
© yandere-kokeshi 2023 — Do not copy, modify, edit, repost, or use my works for ASMR readings, tiktoks, or other content.
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yoonieper · 3 months
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For the Birds— Prologue | JJK
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I want you to stay even though you don’t want me.
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♡ Pairing: Jungkook x Reader (feat. Yuri) 
♡ Genre: angst, smut, future fluff
♡ Rated: D for Disappointment
♡ Series Warnings: Lots of smut (not always healthy), cheating, discussions of depression, this series includes Jk in a pretty toxic environment, degradation (not the sexy kind), manipulation, and overall Jk being in an emotionally abusive situation! This chapter is not too bad, but please read with caution going forward!
♡ Chapter Warnings: Jk sad boy, Yuri being… :/, oral (f. receiving), masturbation (m)
♡ Word Count: 12.6k
♡ Summary: As the son of the CEO at Golden Tech, a marriage was arranged in the name of business. Jungkook really tried to make the most of his situation and be the best husband he could be, but no matter how much he tried, his wife just doesn’t seem to want him. Then you… you came into his life and his eyes couldn’t help but wander.
♡ Now Playing: LOVE. by Kendrick Lamar (feat. Zacari)– see masterlist for full playlist!
♡ Betas: Thank you so much to @illyrian-book-lover and @teawithhoneyandlemon for reading this part for me! If you’re interested in betaing future parts, dm me. If you're interested in becoming a permanent beta for this series please first click here and refer to 'details about the job' section for more details and dm for any questions you might have! 
♡ Author’s Note: I’ve been working on this for a while, but I got sudden inspiration to finish the prologue~ This series should get pretty exciting, so stay tuned! ← Omg y’all the prologue has been in my drafts since 2020 :’) This series has gone through a lot of evolution that I might talk about in the future. This series is very different from where it started, but the prologue has always remained vastly the same, so it has a special place in my heart! Hope you enjoy the series my friends, this one is very emotional, so prepare for the rollercoaster ahead! I’m excited to show you what’s to come <3!
No reposting, modifying. Translating is not allowed unless given explicit permission. Thank you so much : D
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main masterlist ✩ series masterlist » next chapter
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“Secretary Yu, could you remind me of the schedule for the day?”Jungkook let his disgruntled sigh fill the room as he rubbed his temples, doing anything he could for a chance to soothe the subtle pounding in his head. Displeasure was painted all over his features, and his eyes were tightly closed while he listened to his assistant’s clicking heels stop in front of his desk. 
The room was dark, but that hadn’t kept his retinas from burning any less as he looked at the woman in front of him— he didn’t know at this point if it was because of all the crying or the exhaustion from waking up so early. The day had only just begun, and he already wanted it to end; to just climb back in bed, sleep away his troubles, and forget everything that transpired over the last 24 hours. Hell, maybe there was still a chance he was asleep, and that this was all just a bad nightmare his brain had conjured up in nervousness.
“Director Jeon? I didn’t expect you to be in so early.” Secretary Yu Min-ju tried to smile but the furrowing of her eyebrows made it obvious she was a little confused. This hadn’t been part of the plan they discussed. Jungkook didn’t let the moment linger, instead, gave her a firm look of exasperation that made her hastily pull out her tablet to find his schedule. 
Her usual cheerfulness was not what he needed today. 
Min-ju couldn't stop the smile appearing on her face when she saw its rare emptiness. “Your hard work these past few days has paid off. Today is pretty light. A meeting with the financial team at 12, and then another meeting at 1pm with Mr. Cho. You should be able to go home after that.” The secretary warmly smiled.
Jungkook’s eyes drifted down to the picture sitting on his desk as she spoke. It was of him and his wife on their honeymoon last year to The Maldives. They had been walking on the beach and his mother had texted and begged for a picture of the new couple; Jungkook could do nothing but oblige. Yuri had clung onto his shoulders when he held up his phone, and upon counting down to one, gave him a surprise kiss on the cheek leading to Jungkook’s eager, unnaturally wide smile being captured forever and memorialized on his desk. He couldn’t help but frown. 
He wanted to be excited, craved for it, yearned for it, but home was the last place he wanted to be right now. All that hard work for nothing. For once he wished he had more to do, anything to keep his mind busy.
“Didn’t I have deadlines for a few upcoming reports?” He suddenly questioned. 
Min-ju looked farther down her list and she nodded. “There are a few documents that need reviewing and signatures, but a majority of them aren’t due till next week. But you don’t need to—“ 
“I’ll get them done today.” Jungkook’s tone was astoundingly emotionless, completely void of the delightful emotion he had spoken with in the days leading up to today. Min-ju was at a loss for words. She knew how hard he worked to free up his day for the special occasion. What's with the sudden change of plans? What happened? 
It was Jungkook himself who had requested for her to try and free his schedule so he would be in the office for as little time as possible. There was no joy or giddiness behind his eyes like she had expected. Min-ju had pictured her boss walking in with a strange cheerfulness in his mood, rainbows and sparkles practically dancing around him as he skipped through the halls and greeted her good morning. But his tone lacked spirit altogether. Jungkook was like a husk compared to the person she said goodbye to the evening prior. 
“I— uh alright, I’ll make sure to send them to you later sir.” Min-ju bowed, before she scrambled away. 
Jungkook listened intently to the way her heels tentatively clicked while she walked out, it was at a certain speed that told him she was rushing to get out of there. As soon as the door closed behind her, he let out a loud sigh as he leaned back in his chair. 
What a fucking disappointment this whole day turned out to be.
Jungkook had planned today to be one of the most preeminent days for him and his wife as a couple and those plans were all squashed within a second last night. It had been playing over and over in his head since he woke up this morning.
He tangled his hands in his hair, his grip growing tighter and tighter on his short locks as the reality of the situation hit him for the billionth time. It just wouldn’t stop, replaying in a loop hoping something might change. That he’d wake up from this nightmare, or maybe even realize something that in the heat of the moment had gone entirely unnoticed— anything to explain what happened. Last night still didn’t feel real. 
The cancellation had been entirely unexpected.
•────•──────────•────•
Last night Jungkook had been in high spirits all day. A radiance was cast on his features by the pure, exorbitant elation flowing through his body. It was like the most beautiful display of fireworks were going off all at once, tickling his insides, and making the smile on his face grow so wide it hurt his cheeks but he couldn’t find it in him to stop. After all, tomorrow was going to be the turning point for their relationship. Something was about to happen, he was sure of it.
Jungkook was lying on their shared bed, having just recently come out from the shower. His hair was still slightly damp, and a giddy smile was plastered on his face as he scrolled through his phone. He was eagerly reviewing their itinerary for their plans tomorrow. 
D-day. The day that Jungkook and his wife were meant to celebrate their one and a half year anniversary. It might be a weird occasion to commemorate, but after being apart for too many holidays and milestones for various reasons, Jungkook went out of his way and made it a point to plan something to make up for all the lost time. 
He let his attention turn from his phone and settled on his wife who was meticulously going through her nightly routine at her vanity. His smile softened as he silently watched her dab night cream across her cheeks. 
How was this his life?
Sometimes it was a little hard to believe Yuri was actually his wife, it was almost intimidating at how beautiful she was. Her eyes were round yet sharp in their gaze as she focused on the mirror. Her skin was usually so soft but it shined even more so at that moment from all the various oils and moisturizers she made sure to use every night. Her long, dark hair flowed nicely down her back but was pushed out of her face by a cute, fuzzy, gray headband. And even in pajamas, she managed to carry this level of elegance that pulled him in so easily. 
Jungkook bit his lip to contain the smile that was threatening to envelop him entirely. 
The outfit was especially a big deal. It was different from the shorts and tank tops she’d normally wear. It had been his idea to start the celebration with matching pajamas, a slight preview to the day he had planned for the both of them. Jungkook’s heart had hammered in his chest when Yuri relented and agreed to wear the set he had given to her before she went to shower. It matched his own exactly. It was nothing too special, but a nice way to bring them together before the big day. A simple, gray pajama-button-down-classic; the material was so soft and he knew Yuri would look just as amazing as it felt. 
She always did.
His excitement was almost overflowing, Jungkook couldn’t stop himself from getting up so he was right behind her. He wrapped his arms around her small frame, and gently placed a quick peck on her neck. 
“I’m so excited for tomorrow~” He hummed lightly into her skin. 
Yuri didn’t say anything, her attention trained on her reflection. 
“What about you? Are you looking forward to spending the day together and doing all the fun stuff I have planned?” He sang. As soon as the words left his mouth he knew it sounded cringey, but for once he didn’t care. He just wanted to hear it, that she was excited to be with him.
Yuri’s gaze eventually flickered over to him before she turned around to face him. 
“Jungkook, I have to tell you something…“ She sighed. He tried to ignore his uneasy feeling about her tone. 
“Oh, you did?” Jungkook attempted to fight back his disappointment. That wasn’t what he hoped she’d say. 
“Yeah, I did,” she muttered. He hated the look on his face as he peered into the mirror. A slight frown had dimmed down his smile, and he wanted to do anything to wipe it away. There was no time for frowning, he didn’t want to ruin tomorrow before it even started. He shouldn’t overthink it.
“I had something I needed to mention too.” He went back over to the bed. “I wasn’t able to get out of my meetings tomorrow so I’ll have to go in for a few hours, but I promise I’ll come straight back here.” He had really tried, but there was no way to reschedule them any further into the week. At least that was the only thing on his agenda tomorrow, however, he had wanted to take the day off completely and spend it with his wife. 
Jungkook saw Yuri’s face drop. 
“Don't worry, I’ll be here all morning! I worked hard to clear my schedule as much as I could, it’ll just be two meetings and then I’m back.” He tried to smile. Hopefully, she wouldn’t mind the brief interruption too much.
“Actually—“ Yuri dragged it out as she looked back into the mirror to make sure she rubbed in the cream well, “I have plans tomorrow.” She put it frankly. 
Jungkook blinked a couple of times before a look of confusion settled on his features. “Plans?” His voice had grown small. It didn’t have a reason to yet, but maybe all along he knew where this was going the minute she brought it up.
“I have a friend from when I went to school in the US coming to visit.” She mumbled. Jungkook couldn’t hide the disappointment from showing. 
“Oh? Um…”
“We’re planning to spend some time together, so…” 
“When will you guys be done?” He questioned, still a little shocked that she was just telling him about this now, the day before their plans. “Hopefully we can work around it. Maybe you guys could meet up while I’m gone so it doesn’t mess up—“ 
“Jungkook, this is going to be an all-day thing.” He could see the way Yuri watched his expression from the mirror as the gears started turning in his head, now realizing what that meant. The silence that settled in the room was painful. 
“But… but we had plans.” 
“I know we did, but—“ 
“But?! Yuri I told you weeks ago!” Jungkook retorted. He was angry now. He didn’t want to be angry.
“Weeks Yuri, weeks!” He continued, unable to process this was happening. There was no way she could have simply “forgotten” about the day they were supposed to spend together. He’d literally been talking about it since they both agreed to do this a few weeks ago.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” He accused, confused how news like this would just go unsaid. 
“She just called me two days ago,” Yuri argued, as if that would make this any better. 
“Two days ago— and you didn’t say anything until now?” He was baffled. There was no excuse why she couldn’t have brought this up sooner. 
“Well— look how you’re reacting.” She scoffed and crossed her arms.
That just set him off even more.
“How I’m reacting, Yuri?! We talked about this for weeks; it’s the only thing I’ve been talking about for the past few days. I’m sorry that I was excited to spend the day with my wife.” Jungkook exploded at her. He was furious, and he didn’t like it. This wasn’t how this day was supposed to go. 
Yuri didn’t say anything but instead rolled her eyes.
“And you can’t just cancel?!” He finally asked, getting up and pacing around their shared room. 
“Jungkook, she's my friend! I haven’t seen her in a while and—“
“But what about me?!” He snapped. The words seemed to hang in the air, a painful silence following it. Jungkook noticed the look on her face, and he sighed as he sat down at the edge of the bed so he was facing her. He ran his hands through his hair and took a couple deep breaths to get himself to calm down.
“I didn’t mean for it to come out like that… it’s just… Yuri, we've been married for a year and a half and I feel like I hardly know you. I know this is technically only meant to be business, but I thought we said we’d try and make this work.” He cried as he grabbed a hold of her hands. He looked her directly in the eyes, wanting her to know that he meant every word. 
Was he really asking for too much?
“We’ve hardly gotten time together since our honeymoon. Our schedules are full, and I know that’s not our fault, but I just wanted some time alone with you even if it was only for a day.” He pleaded; the desperation was so evident in his voice. He felt pathetic. 
“We can do that any day. My friend will only be here for the next two weeks.” Yuri acknowledged before she turned back to her vanity. 
“And why can’t you just hang out another day?” He asked, defeat overtaking him and his efforts to convince her. There was no point really. It seemed she had already made up her mind.
“I said she’s leaving in two weeks. We only have a limited time to hang out before she’s catching a plane back to California. Besides, we can just do something after she leaves. We will have all the time in the world when she’s gone in two weeks.” Her words were punches straight to the heart. She always says that when she needs to cancel plans— that next week never comes. 
Her excuse was ridiculous, but this wasn’t the first time it had happened. He’s used to it now and knows there isn’t really any point in trying to negotiate. 
“Yuri, I have a business trip that week.” 
“Well what about the—“ she was cut off. 
“You have a shoot in Hawaii that week.” Jungkook just sighed and got back up to sit on his side of the bed. “We can just forget about it all together in that case.” He fumed as he flipped over, now too upset to even face her right now. 
Part of him was hoping she’d just say “Never mind, I’ll just reschedule,” jump in the bed and cuddle with him because she realized just how much this meant to him, to herself, and to them both as a couple. Everything would be fine and–
But no… Yuri just sat there, seemingly unaffected by the cancellation of their plans.
He began to think it was a little sad at how upset he was. Yuri didn’t care; maybe he truly had made this a bigger deal than it needed to be. She was right in some sense— they live together and can plan something any day of the year. 
But it still hurt that just for this one day, Yuri didn’t want to spend time with him. 
•────•──────────•────•
It did not get any better the next day. He woke up in a bad mood. She wasn’t even there in the morning. Everything just made him upset: Yuri’s cold, empty side of the bed, he forgot to turn off his alarm so he missed his opportunity to sleep in, and he nearly slipped in the shower as he was ranting to himself about how dumb this was. Their annoying, squeaky bedroom door that Jungkook’s been meaning to call someone about. Even the milk for his cereal pissed him off because he asked Yuri last night to pick up more while she was out but of course, she forgot, and he forgot to tell their cook about it thinking she’d get it, so he only had a little left for his breakfast this morning.
The last place he wanted to be was at their apartment so he left for work as soon as he was ready.
Jungkook took out his phone knowing he had some time to kill and he needed someone to rant to or else he was going to go crazy. A few minutes later, like the trusty friend he was, Jimin was bursting through the door like he was the Kool Aid man, ready to listen to all of Jungkook’s problems. 
“Ok, who’s ass do I need to kick?” Jimin came in, hands up, ready to fight– which might have been Jungkook’s fault with the ambiguous text he sent to his hyung. Saying “the world’s ending, need help now!” might have been a little too drastic, but it felt appropriate at the moment.
“Mine...” Jungkook groaned, his head was on the desk but he could hear Jimin’s footsteps hurrying over, before taking a seat in the chair in front of his desk. This was routine at this point.
The two of them had been friends for a number of years now. Jimin was two years older than Jungkook and had mainly been friends with his brother at first. But when Junghyeon left, apparently he decided he needed to leave his big brother duties to someone, and he thought who else would be a better fit to watch over him than Park Jimin? Those were Junghyeon’s words when Jungkook first mentioned that he was getting close to his old friend. Jimin occasionally checked up on him when he was still in high school, and their bond grew really strong soon after Jungkook had started college. Jimin became his guide as he navigated adult life and a very real friendship was born from his brother’s efforts. 
When Jimin graduated, it only felt natural for Jungkook to extend an invitation to work at his family’s company, knowing how good of an addition he would be to the team. As of about three and a half years ago, they’ve also been work buddies. 
“So,” Jimin stretched it out. “What is it this time?” He asked when Jungkook still hadn’t said anything. 
Silence followed.
“Is this about Yuri?” Jimin finally questioned, that being the most obvious, considering Jungkook shouldn’t even be in right now.
The younger man nodded. 
Jimin hummed as he thought about it for a second. “Ok, is this another rant about your sex life because I have some—“ 
“No, no, no, well… maybe, yes? I don’t know hyung, I'm just…” All Jungkook could do was sigh, his frustration getting to a boiling point again. 
“I’m guessing with the way you’re acting, things didn’t go as planned…?” Jimin asked wearily, knowing precisely what Jungkook had in store for today. He’d helped Jungkook plan it out. The first thing that was supposed to be on the itinerary was waking Yuri up with a good time. Jimin was the one to suggest it, but the fact he was in a bad mood was enough to let him know things hadn’t gone the way that they’d discussed. 
“The whole plan didn’t happen,” Jungkook lamented as he leaned back in his office chair. He could feel Jimin’s confusion without even having to look at him. “She canceled our whole day because of a friend visiting from the US.” He scowled and saying it out loud made it sound even more unreal. 
Jimin blinked a couple of times, obviously just as confused as he was. “A friend?” 
“It’s something she knew about two days ago before even bringing it up last night. It wasn’t even a full day before our plans!” At least he could’ve gotten a heads-up. He wasn’t sure what that would have done, but at least he could have had more time to cope with the disappointment.  
“What?” Jimin questioned in disbelief. 
“And maybe, maybe I’d get it if today was the only day they could hang out, but she said they’re going to be here for the next two weeks.” Jungkook was getting angry all over again. 
“I’m sorry, what?” Jimin repeated, honestly just baffled. 
“And! And when I asked her why they can’t just hang out the next day, she said it’s because they’re only here for a limited time and that we can just hang out whenever!” It didn’t make any sense that she would say that when Jungkook had to spend days working into the early hours of the morning trying to clear his schedule enough so that they could have some time together.  
“What the fuck…” Jimin looked just as confused as he felt. 
“I know, it’s ridiculous…” He trailed off with a laugh, but the pain from the sudden cancellation made it hard to even pretend this was anywhere near comical.
“Jungkook, I think that’s a lot more than ridiculous…” Jimin tried to reassure, his tone quickly turning sympathetic.
“I know we’re arranged, but I just… I thought being married would be more than this, you know?” He leaned back in his chair. Jungkook simply had dreams for his future and this wasn’t anything he pictured it would look like. 
“And there’s nothing wrong with that. You both agreed to try and she has never given you a reason why she’s practically avoiding you.” Jimin said, recounting the fact this wasn’t even the first time something like this has happened.
“I’m wondering if it’s me. Maybe I’m not doing enough or maybe I’m doing it all wrong? Right? It had to be something I did.” Jungkook tried to rack his brain, thinking of anything he did that might have made Yuri so upset at him.
“I don’t think it’s your fault. You’re trying your best. It doesn’t make sense to me why she did this. It wouldn’t make sense to anyone, but I don’t know… maybe she wants her space.” Jimin suggested, it being the only explanation he could come up with to make sense of her behavior. 
The words sat in the air for a second, a painful second, like the wrong note reverberating at the end of a musical piece. Jimin didn’t notice the shift fast enough before Jungkook suddenly sat up to look at him, and his brows were furrowed like what he said was crazy. 
“Space? We have space all the time, this was the one day I wanted us to be a couple— or at least try and be a couple.” Jungkook chided and Jimin immediately knew he didn’t phrase that in the best way.
“I meant it more so for yourself. I’ve seen and been in enough relationships, situationships, you name it, to know when to back away. Things are obviously going to be even more complicated because you’re in an arranged marriage. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but maybe taking a step back so you don’t get hurt is something to think about.” Jimin laid it out plainly, but Jungkook maintained his hard expression. If anything, he seemed even more displeased. 
“I have to make this work. I’m obviously not doing what she wants!” Jungkook seethed.
“We have no idea what’s going on. I’m just trying to stop you from getting hurt.” Jimin's gaze filled with sympathy, but Jungkook just seemed to grow more angered as he rolled his eyes at him. 
“Like you would understand— everyone wants to be around you.” Jungkook scoffed, turning away. 
Jimin sat there for a second, dumbfounded, wondering where that came from. 
“What are you talking about?”
“Everyone likes you! Everyone practically flocks to be around you. You have no trouble in relationships– yet I can’t even make the one woman I’m married to at least be comfortable by my side.” Jungkook cried out, and it was here that any anger that was threatening to boil over cooled the minute Jimin saw the wetness in his eyes.
Jimin had only been a bystander for the last few years in Jungkook’s life, but he could hardly comprehend this was the same man he’d been friends with for years now. 
Jungkook had gone from the guy who shied away from relationships, to suddenly being the only married man in his friend group.  
He could never forget the day that Jungkook came to his apartment late one night, it felt like forever ago now. Those were different times; they weren’t the same people anymore. His eyes had been wide and petrified, like he’d just seen a ghost. It practically took the whole night to get it out of him that apparently his parents had made some kind of deal and were basically forcing him to get married to solidify it. 
Jimin could hardly keep up after he’d finally managed to get him to speak, and a lot of it went over his head. To be honest he didn’t believe it even after Jungkook explained it over and over again. It didn’t sound real. Whose parents would make their twenty-two year old son get married without at least talking to him first? It didn’t make sense.
It also didn’t make any sense considering Jimin had been the listening ear to how well their three dates– yes only three dates– went before the engagement.
“They were ok.” Jungkook would sigh, before showing a picture of her and talking about how much he struggled to say anything because of how nervous she made him.  
In the months leading up to the marriage, Jungkook had eventually heard the details of the deal, and that’s when the mood started to shift. Jungkook’s protests grew quieter to the point the wedding day managed to come and go without any intervention. Jimin still didn’t believe it, even as he saw Jungkook stand at the end of the aisle, even as he watched them get pronounced husband and wife, even as he witnessed the contract getting stamped, and even as he helped Jungkook pack to move to their new shared apartment after they came back from their honeymoon.
It didn’t feel real, but Jimin tried to remain as optimistic as Jungkook appeared when he came back.
“We said we’d try.” Jungkook told him with a toothy grin. The honeymoon had been good apparently. 
But that optimism was short-lived and Jimin was forced to sit back and watch as something in his friend shifted. Things weren’t right in the relationship, that much he was sure of. Jungkook had finally said something towards the beginning of the year. It was small things at first, things Jungkook made sound like the typical lovers’ quarrel. But as time passed, it grew more vague, unusual, and desolate. It was never detailed enough for him to get the full picture, but he could see the way Jungkook was practically deteriorating right in front of him.
He had no idea what was going on, but it was moments like this that made his blood boil. Jungkook was normally a closed-off person. He didn’t share his problems with others easily. For him to come to Jimin to talk about his issues in his marriage made him wonder how bad the situation truly was. The alarm bells wouldn’t stop going off in his head. 
“Jungkook, what’s going on?” Jimin sat up and rubbed his friend’s back. Jungkook’s office was dark but when he lifted his head, Jimin could see that the tears had finally started running down his cheeks. 
“Hyung, it’s me right?! I don’t understand why she… w-why she…” He stammered. The words caused the emotions he’d bottled up to spill over, and the tears became uncontrollable. 
“I must be doing everything wrong, right? Am I really that bad? I just… I just wanted to spend some time together. Am I really that bad of a husband?! I try so fucking hard, I swear I do, I just— Hyung I don’t know what else to do…” Jungkook ranted, sounding so dejected. 
Jimin only felt the fire burn harder ​​while his brain worked to try and understand Yuri. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, that there had to be some rational explanation that he just wasn’t seeing that would explain why every chance Jungkook made plans for them to be together, something had to get in the way. The only thing he could see was how much this affected Jungkook, and she was starting to piss him off. 
He got up and went behind Jungkook's desk so he could give him a hug, the younger man only sobbing even harder in his arms. Jimin didn’t say anything, instead ran slow, comforting circles over his back. 
Jimin couldn’t help but think that he needed to talk with Yuri. They weren’t close but hopefully they’ve met on enough occasions that he could have a comfortable conversation with her to at least get her side of the story. It would be the opportunity to try and get the chance to understand what was going on. Maybe then he could actually help Jungkook try and win her over.
The moment was interrupted by the blaring ring of the phone that sat on Jungkook’s desk, letting them know that Secretary Yu was calling. Jungkook quickly tried to wipe his eyes, doing his best to pull himself together, but Jimin stopped him in his tracks, already picking up the phone before he could object. 
“Hi Secretary Yu~” Jimin chirped, putting on that notorious charm that so easily put people at ease. “Yeah it’s Jimin, I’m taking over the phone for this one….. uh huh, right, wait but I thought— ohhhh, really…?… I see….. Yeah, I’ll let him know, he’s right next to me…. Nice talking with you…. bye.” Jimin frowned as soon as he put the phone down. 
“She said we have a meeting we need to go to. Apparently, finance has an emergency that we have to oversee.” His eyes remained trained on Jungkook as he grabbed some tissues, seemingly trying his best to switch back to boss mode. 
“Sorry, I probably look very pathetic right now,” Jungkook sadly chuckled as he wiped his eyes, but Jimin wasn’t having it. 
“Stop calling yourself pathetic. It’s alright. Cry as much as you need to,” Jimin attempted to reassure him when he noticed Jungkook’s lip still quivering. He looked like he was on the verge of another breakdown. “Don’t push yourself, we still have a few minutes before the meeting starts.” He tried to get Jungkook to slow down but he was already up and out of his chair.
“I’m fine… I just really needed that. This will be good, don't worry.” Part of Jungkook wondered if he was trying to convince Jimin or himself. 
He walked over to a mirror. “Are my eyes red?” Jungkook questioned, worried that it looked like he had been crying his eyes out. 
Jimin walked over and shook his head. “Just a little, but no one will notice unless they knew what you were doing.” 
He nodded, affirmed. “Ok, let’s do this.”
With that, Jungkook pushed through the door, passing Secretary Yu’s desk as she got up to join him, along with various higher up employees who had gotten the message about the meeting. 
Secretary Yu pulled out her tablet and moved a little closer. “Director Jeon, I just wanted to quickly give you a better brief of the situation before the meeting starts.”
“Go ahead…” Jungkook’s voice was shaky, but he hoped she didn’t notice.
“Production had encountered an unexpected issue. Good news is that it has been solved already so there’s no need to worry about it. The bad news is that we can’t use any of the inventory they made prior to the fix.” Secretary Yu tried to speak calmly but grimaced when she noticed the change in her boss’s demeanor.  
Jungkook’s eyes widened, and he stopped dead in his tracks. All the executives that were walking behind them came to a sudden halt along with him, making everyone nearly bump into each other. 
“Wait, what?! But production had been running for–” Jungkook didn’t need to finish that, already knowing the answer. It was far too long and their launch date was about a month away. 
This was bad. 
“What was the issue?” 
“I’m not sure yet—“ The ‘what’ didn’t really matter right now, all that meant was this launch was screwed. 
Launches were some of the most important moments of the year. The fact it had been slated for the last quarter of the year, the most important quarter for a company like theirs in turning up profit, they had been counting on it even more than normal. This put everything in jeopardy, particularly anything they had planned for next year. This line had already been delayed to the utmost limit because of numerous other complications so delaying it was almost entirely off the table. 
“Just great huh. Really fucking great. This day can’t get any worse can it—“ And he should have learned that words like that challenge the universe to see what other shit it could throw at you. 
They finally picked up their hurried pace to the meeting room, but right as Jungkook rounded the corner he collided with something hard and suddenly he was cold and soaking wet. Jungkook just stared down, his suit covered in what he could immediately smell was coffee. A sliver of luck for him was that it was iced, but that didn’t stop him from being covered in coffee— he could only imagine the stains on the beige fabric.
Part of him wanted to scream but as his eyes trailed up to see a woman frantically picking up the cup and her scared, apologetic eyes when she realized it was all over him, he found himself unable to speak. Jungkook immediately knew he had never seen you before; he would have remembered you. 
Your red blouse was tucked into your short pencil skirt, which perfectly fitted to your form. Your legs were long as you stood up, accentuated even more by your tall, black stilettos, and Jungkook couldn’t stop the way his eyes ran over the exposed skin. What seemed to hold his attention the most was your vibrant, red lipstick. For a second he was left a little dumbstruck and forgot about the coffee that was everywhere. You were beautiful, ridiculously beautiful, it was almost crazy. For a second he wondered why you were here and not walking down some runway or the face of every brand imaginable. 
He would have noted this a lot more if he didn’t have coffee soaking into his clothes. Right now he just saw you as another problem, making his day that much worse. It was one of his favorite suits too, he wore it to make himself feel a little better about today, but you… 
Things just can’t get any worse.
•────•──────────•────•
This can’t be real. 
It was your first day and all your worst fears seemed to be manifesting. You slept through your alarm, you missed your bus, and your much needed caffeine was all over this handsome stranger— though you really couldn’t say you saw that one coming. The embarrassment you felt creeping onto your cheeks in front of all the people staring at you in the hallway was enough to melt you into a puddle. Worst of all, your supervisor who was walking right next to you saw everything. 
It couldn’t get much worse.
“I’ll clean this up. I’m so sorry! I should have paid more attention to where I was going!” You panicked as you scrambled to find something to help fix this. You looked to your supervisor, but he seemed even more distressed than you for some reason. 
You finally turned back to the stranger and his gaze met your own for a brief moment. His eyes were wide and looked almost like a kicked puppy at how much sadness filled them for a split second. It really was only a second before you noticed the more expected glare of annoyance. 
“Just,” He sighed. “Clean this up, okay? Director Son, please tell the team I’ll be a bit late. Hyung, can you…?” Jimin quickly nodded before speeding away. 
Jungkook just walked past them, not bothering to acknowledge anyone any further. In truth, he was a second away from bursting into tears again, but they didn’t need to know that. Instead, he just hurried off to the bathroom and waited for Jimin to bring the spare suit he kept for emergencies such as these. 
It seemed things could get worse.
Your eyes were wide as you watched him swiftly walk past you, not even bothering to look at you. You knew he had every right to be upset, but he was a bit rude. It was clearly an accident and he didn’t even give you time to apologize properly. 
“Yah, what’s up with that guy?” You mumbled. His annoyance had been a disease and it was quickly spreading.
“That guy?! Y/n do you know what you just did?!” Your new boss was clearly exasperated and that just made you a little confused. It was then you noticed everyone who was still in the hallway had their eyes on you, their hands were over their mouths, and they all had this look of horror on their faces like you had just committed the worst crime imaginable. 
“Who was that…?” You finally questioned, your heart already beating out of your chest.
“I swear you’re going to get us both fired and you only just got here. I swear…” Director Son rubbed his temples and cursed silently to himself, a look of worry speedily etched its way into his features. 
“Director Son, what did I just do?” You asked, growing even more anxious. He finally turned to face you. 
“Y/n, that was Jeon Jungkook.”
You still looked confused and this made him laugh— a worried, nervous laugh that made you know you had royally fucked up.
“You just spilled coffee all over the CEO’s son.” He put it plainly. It was only then that the pieces of the puzzle came together and started to make sense. 
What….have…you……done?
“That’s my boss, your boss, everyone who works on this floor’s boss.” The words only seemed to set the reality into both of you. 
“We’re going to have to pray. Get on our hands and knees, beg for forgiveness, and hope he doesn’t fire us or tell his father.” Suddenly, Director Son sprinted to the office area and returned with a bunch of napkins. 
“We have to see him in the meeting too. What am I going to do?” Director Son said with apprehension, throwing his hands up in the air. He already had so much bad news to deliver and now his newest employee had spilled coffee all over his boss. 
He was fired for sure. 
You hurriedly went to help him start cleaning up the coffee, but you were barely paying attention. You were just dazed because, at this point, you were convinced you were about to get fired on your first day. 
Suddenly, someone else was coming up beside you. “What a great entrance, huh?” A deep voice chuckled as he put more napkins on the ground. 
“It’s only my first day and I’m already ruining everything.” You huffed, getting the feeling you wouldn’t be here much longer. 
“You have to admit it was pretty funny~” 
You stopped. “No, it wasn’t. Do you know how humiliating that was?!” You finally turned to see yet another handsome stranger, but this time this guy had a warm, welcoming, boxy smile on his face. 
“I do, but it made my day better. Nice to meet you, I’m Kim Taehyung!” He stretched out his hand. 
You smiled weakly, feeling better that someone could laugh about this. “I’m Y/n. Nice to meet you Taehyung.” You said as you quickly shook his hand.
•────•──────────•────•
Jimin burst through the doors, emergency suit already in hand.
“You alright?” Jimin questioned as he set the suit on the counter. 
Jungkook turned toward him, clearly teary-eyed. He shook his head. “I just want to go home.” He tried to laugh as he started unbuttoning his shirt. He would have been better off not coming in today.
“Maybe you should. Today just doesn’t seem to be your day, huh?” Jimin tried to joke and smiled when he saw Jungkook chuckle. 
“I have meetings later though. I have to stay till then.” He just sighed. Jungkook had already felt guilty about leaving and hardly being at work today because of his plans with Yuri, but going home right now seemed selfish considering the dire situation. He didn’t want people to think he was running away and leaving them to deal with this mess alone. It’s not like he had anyone waiting for him back home anyway. There was no need to rush anymore.
Jungkook spent most of his time at the office more than at home. He wanted to show that he was working hard, it was something he knew was essential to gaining everyone’s trust. Since he was still pretty young, people often doubted his leadership, but he earned his spot in the company just like everyone else did. Jungkook had been working here since he was nineteen, interned even longer, and started off at the bottom like everyone else. He didn’t want to be the spoiled, rich kid inheriting the company simply because his father is the CEO. He wanted to make sure that by the time he became CEO he would have built up the same respect that the rest of the employees held for his dad. 
As a result, leaving earlier or taking days off was something he tried to steer clear of as much as possible, but today… things just weren’t working out. He feared that being here any longer might make him explode. 
Once they figure out this whole situation, he’ll immediately go home after his last two meetings are over. Right, that was the smart thing to do. He couldn’t risk having a breakdown in front of everyone. 
“Hyung…” Jungkook said suddenly after he managed to get his pants up. Jimin hummed. “Thanks for being here with me.” His voice wavered slightly.
“Of course, I’ll always be here when you need me.” Jimin said softly. Jungkook was extra sensitive today. He usually was able to reserve the waterworks for sad movies or when he was alone in the apartment, but today he couldn’t seem to keep his emotions at bay. 
When they both came out of the bathroom, Jungkook and Jimin hurried to the meeting room ready to assess the current crisis at hand. Everyone was already in their seats when they walked in, and upon seeing Jungkook, they scrambled out their chairs to stand up and bow. 
Jungkook took a seat at the head of the table and Jimin in the seat to his left. Director Son was already standing at the pedestal in the corner of the room with a gloomy expression practically carved into his features. This was probably even worse than what he was told, judging by the solemn tone of the room. 
He was antsy to hear just how bad it was, and was about to tell Director Son to continue, when he spotted you at the end of the table. 
“Director Son,” Jungkook said, curiosity peaking. He knew pretty much everyone who worked on this floor, but you were definitely not familiar. 
“Who’s she?” He pointed directly at you, making your attention turn toward him. 
Director Son scrambled from behind the pedestal, realizing he had forgotten to introduce you because of the incident earlier. 
“My apologies, sir.” Director Son addressed Jungkook before turning towards you and motioning for you to stand. You quickly bounced on your heels, not wanting to piss him off even more. If Jungkook didn’t fire you, surely he would. 
“Everyone, this is L/n Y/n. She’s our newest member of our financial team. It’s her first day here.” Everyone gave you strange looks as most people here at this table had witnessed the incident earlier.
It’s like you made the worst first impression you possibly could have. 
The silence was deafening as everyone stared; you were tempted to run away, fake your death, get a new identity, and attempt to start your life over knowing things couldn’t get much worse than this. It took a moment, but eventually Taehyung, who sat right beside you, started clapping— slowly but surely everyone joined him. You looked down and smiled, mouthing him a thank you before you sat down. 
Your eyes flickered over to Jungkook who was still staring at you. Your skin warmed as his gaze bored into you. 
“Thank you, you may begin.” Jungkook finally said, leaning back in his chair. 
A new line of products was supposed to be released shortly before the holiday season— namely a new line of TVs that had already been delayed multiple times, all for various reasons during development. They had been forced to push the date back as far as possible, right to the point before there would start to be major repercussions. Production had promised that they would be able to meet this new date, and production began a few weeks ago. Jungkook had thought the most troubling stage was over and the only thing that was left was handling this launch with the marketing team now. But a malfunction that was only realized this morning had been noticed, and all of the inventory they had managed to produce before today was completely unusable.  
To make matters worse, the date they needed to have everything shipped out by was too close to have the now scarce inventory hit even the low range of their planned profit margin. It was a disaster and after Director Son explained the issue, Jungkook was ready to pull out his hair. Of course this had to happen today, of all the fucking days everything just had to go wrong. He couldn’t even think straight as everyone around the table started suggesting ideas, too busy trying to pull himself out of the funk that made him practically useless. He was convinced he was cursed, that had to be it because how does this all happen in one day?
This fuck up jeopardized everything— it was their biggest source of profit for the year and they thought they’d be able to make up for all the delays by having it at such an important part of the year. They already decided to invest extra in advertising to help boost sales far beyond what they’d traditionally expect. Now without the numbers they had planned for, the profit they had wanted to reach was virtually impossible. This was detrimental to next quarters budget and especially the following year. Any plans, projects, anything they had planned was now at risk, and— 
The meeting ended up going on for quite a while. Everyone panicked as they tried brainstorming ideas that could be used to rectify the situation: 
Some suggested seeing if they could push the launch back, but at this point that was even more disastrous than just releasing whatever they can manage to get done. Others suggested that this fell on production and that they should use intimidation to try and make the numbers get as close to what was planned. Jungkook normally was against ideas like that, but it was mind boggling how poorly these products had been handled so far. He had already been planning to meet with the executives over at the factories to figure out who he needed to hold liable for this. Others went on about distribution, how their department who handled Seoul, should be prioritized and that they should focus on the bigger stores, such as malls, in order to hopefully increase the chances of selling everything they could to at least get the highest profit they can. It went on and on. Another radical suggestion was increasing the price of the line of TVs to try and force a similar profit margin.  
People just kept going and going and Jungkook was ready to bang his head against the table to hopefully get himself to wake up from this nightmare. Everyone was so loud as they bickered and fought that their way was better, and he tried his best to suppress wanting to just scream for them to just shut up and walk away from the situation all together. He was overwhelmed and it was even worse that he felt unhelpful, all efforts went to keeping himself firmly planted in his chair and not letting the tears spill over again.
What ended up surprising him was that it was you who came up with the best solution. In between all the nonsense, you were also very vocal during the meeting. You were knowledgeable as you spoke, asking questions any time you could and also giving your two-sense on the suggestions the rest of the team kept spewing out. Most of your takes he found himself easily agreeing with as you countered how none of those ideas worked. If Jungkook hadn’t encountered you before, he wouldn’t have guessed you were the same clumsy woman who spilled coffee on him earlier today. It was absolutely shocking considering the fact that today was your first day and you had only been briefly filled in on the situation. 
Eventually though you had given your own opinion and one that stood out from the masses.
“Do nothing.” You had put it so simply. You argued that there was nothing that could be done and instead that they should just send out the inventory they created after today, though less of it, as planned and capitalize on the opportunity to create even more demand for the line. If production could get their shit together and deliver the product as promised, plus with the added reputation of the company, they should certainly sell, and sell quickly. While this would not prove fruitful immediately, during the time they would work on getting the next shipment together, this would create a demand that would hopefully be able to make up for any losses encountered during the launch.  
It wasn’t the best considering what they had thought this new launch would bring, but it was the best idea he heard all afternoon, and the one he ultimately picked they should explore further. The team first had to crunch the numbers to make sure they could afford that type of risk, but at the moment, waiting, letting the scarcity create demand, and gently still pushing the production team to try and get the inventory as high as possible, was what he sent everyone away with in mind.  
Jungkook wanted to hate you, you had basically ruined his favorite suit, but seeing you in this meeting had him momentarily forgetting about the incident in the hallway. He never really considered firing you. Despite being incredibly petty about the suit, he didn’t want to take his anger out on you or Director Son. This meeting just made him realize how great of an addition you would likely be for the team. If this was your first day and you had already managed to help work out a crisis, he could only imagine what you would do for the team’s future. 
But today just wasn’t the day he could forgive you completely. 
Thanks to you he was able to go home around the time he had planned. Since the entire financial team was there, they were quickly able to cover the points of their original meeting that was scheduled, and he ran off directly afterward to meet with Director Cho in his office for a discussion about marketing. It was still in the afternoon by the time he got back to the apartment. Part of him hoped he would find Yuri waiting for him with open arms, and they would leave together to start their day as he had planned. 
It was wishful thinking, but that didn’t stop the disappointment from burning his heart when he came back to find it exactly how he had expected.
Empty.
Jungkook sighed and kicked off his shoes. Today was horrible. 
He was about to head straight for the beer they kept in the fridge, but the various ingredients he found inside gave him an idea. If he didn’t try at all, how would he ever make this work? As much as Yuri hurt his feelings, he would still put on a happy face and be a good husband. 
He got straight to work, tying up his apron and rolling up his sleeves. 
Jungkook first contemplated what should make, and he decided pretty quickly once he double-checked what they had. Then he moved on to pulling out all the ingredients and putting them onto the counter. 
He wasn’t a master chef or anything, Jungkook had hardly cooked for himself his entire life— his parents always had a chef to prepare their meals. It was when he moved out that he realized how much he enjoyed it. It wasn’t too often that he cooked, but when he did, it always brought him so much satisfaction knowing he made it. Not to brag, but despite his lack of experience, Jungkook could easily follow a recipe and turn out with something pretty decent at the end. 
He decided to go with gimbap— it was relatively easy to make and increased his chances of not messing it up. By the time he had the rolls cut and ready on the plate, the sun had gone down.
Jungkook smiled as he looked at his creation. It was a little misshapen and the ingredients were spilling out from the sides, but he had high hopes on how it’d taste; he’d thrown in all of his favorite ingredients. It was cute and showed it was made by his own hands. He hoped this would be enough for them to at least spend a little time together when she got home. 
He sent her a quick text telling her about a ‘little surprise’ waiting for her at the apartment and to hurry home as soon as she could. He even added a heart at the end, a sign of peace, so they could put what the day could have been behind them and move on to shaping what they could make of it now.
Jungkook let out a satisfied sigh before taking off his apron, grabbing one of the nicer containers they owned, placing the food inside, and setting it on the dining table ready to be eaten whenever Yuri came back. 
He hoped this would be enough to get her to come home soon. 
He changed into more relaxing clothes and headed straight to the couch, deciding to continue that show he had started a little while back. He hadn’t planned to be here long; for some reason, he pictured Yuri bursting through the doors at any second, but he should have known he would end up disappointed yet again.
After more time passed, Jungkook eventually pulled out his ice cream and the beer he’d promised himself not to go for. 
He was depressed. It was worse than when he was in his office earlier. He wanted home to be his escape from the day he had, but it only made the problem worse just like he feared. All he could do was drown out his darkening thoughts with comfort cream and beer. 
Even more time passed by and there was still no Yuri. At this point, Jungkook had to call Jimin knowing he couldn’t be alone right now. He was on the verge of another breakdown. 
True to his nature, his hyung was at their apartment in no time. 
Jimin’s face fell the minute Jungkook opened the door. His friend looked even worse than when he left the office, his eyes were lifeless behind the smile he tried to show. It hurt even worse when he noticed the uneaten dinner on the dining table. He could see Jungkook had pulled out all the fancy candles, plates, and silverware, but they remained untouched; clearly, he was waiting. 
“Sorry I called you so late… I just didn't want to be alone right now.” It was more than that, and Jimin knew it. 
In truth, the thoughts that seemed to keep echoing in his head worried him. Not even his favorite movie could take his attention away from the harsh realization of what he was facing right now. He knew not even Yuri coming home at that very moment would solve everything. He just needed someone to talk to, someone to distract him from his thoughts.
Jimin pulled him into a hug before guiding them inside. They both ended up sharing a few beers together, Jungkook venting nearly the entire time. It was good and played as the much needed therapy he wanted. 
It was well into the night that after a few crying sessions and more beers, Jungkook was tipsy and better enough to send Jimin away. 
It was late, really, really late. 
He sent a few more texts to Yuri, now starting to get worried. None of them were answered.
The only thing that kept him sane was the fact that this wasn’t the first time it’s happened. She’d ghosted him before, leading Jungkook to nearly have a panic attack before she came back, claiming her phone had died. He just hoped maybe that’s what happened today. 
More time passed by and his eyes started getting heavy as he continued to stare at his TV. He probably would have fallen asleep if it wasn’t for the sound of beeps from someone putting in the passcode for the door. 
Jungkook sprung off of the couch as the door opened to reveal the girl he’d been wanting to see the entire day. Yuri slowly closed the door behind her, probably thinking he was asleep. All the lights were off except for the TV. 
“Yuri?” He asked hesitantly, a bit scared he was dreaming. 
She quickly turned around as soon as she heard his voice. 
Part of him was tempted to yell, even scream at her for abandoning him the way she did, but he was in no mood to pick a fight. Instead, he steadily waddled over to the front door where she was standing, careful not to bump into any furniture but the room had started to spin.
Jungkook was a bit stunned when he noticed her outfit. It was dark, but he could still see she was wearing this short, little red dress that seemed to sparkle even in the darkness. He had a feeling that she and this mysterious “friend from the US” had probably gone out to a club. He didn’t even feel like interrogating her. Nope, instead he finally made his way over, wrapped his arms around her frame, buried his face into her shoulder, and bathed in her warmth. 
Maybe he was a little more than tipsy…
“Missed you so much…” he whispered quietly into her skin as he placed gentle kisses on her shoulder, the slur in his words even noticeable to his ears. 
Jungkook felt her arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer, a wave of excitement that he’d been missing all day washed over him. 
“Did you really?” She lulled like a siren’s song, leading him down a path to forget everything that happened. He wanted to say something, but being drunk left him unable to form any cohesive thoughts to convey his feelings; the hurt he felt being abandoned, how much had he wished he spent this entire day running around Seoul with her by his side, how much had he hoped she would just come home so they could, at the very least, share a meal together. All of these moments, memories, time, and energy wasted.
But he didn’t want to turn this into another fight, instead he just nodded into her skin. “So fucking much.” It was a little more crude than the romantic declaration he was going for, but it didn’t matter. He meant what he said, he really did miss her. 
Yuri hummed lightly into his ear, and he couldn't stop himself from pressing her against the wall, pulling back slightly so they were eye to eye, and resting his forehead against hers. Her presence was intoxicating, in a way that made all the worries so easily wash away. He was supposed to be mad, he had every right to be, but for some reason that didn’t stop his hand from coming up and his thumb gently caressing her cheek; so soft and warm.
He was definitely more than a little drunk at this point. Not to the point he was confused where he was, but he was faded enough to be wobbly on his feet, and the liquid courage was certainly flowing through his system to make him bolder than usual.
A moment passed, one that if he was more sober, he would have thought through more. Did he want this? Should he turn back? But whatever he felt in the past, it didn’t really matter anymore. His wife was here now, he should be happy. 
If he was questioning it anymore, the look in her eyes was enough for that seesaw to finally land. It was sultry, like she wanted him to forget and he wanted to as well. 
Jungkook felt the rush surge faster than any rational thought could stop, his lips were on hers in a haste to finally feel her. It was slow at first, Jungkook wanting her to know just how much he wanted her to be here with him. It made him feel so warm, the affection he’d been craving for all day was finally happening.
He couldn’t stop himself from pushing her further into the door and picking up the pace. It all happened so fast.
Suddenly his tongue was down her throat, he could taste the sweet alcohol she had probably drank, and with the fleeting reminder of the dress she was wearing as his hands ran up her thighs, an odd sense of possessiveness came over him. He had no idea who she was with, if this “friend from the US” even existed, but he had the odd feeling of making her remember exactly who she was to him. She was his wife, everyone, everywhere should know that. 
Jungkook hastily picked her up and put her on the kitchen counter that was closest to him. His hands roamed her sides, tracing every curve with a hunger and need that saw no end. Soft sighs of pleasure fell from her lips as his hips steadily rocked into hers, and he relished in any sound he was able to draw out of her. All he wanted to do was make her feel good, that’s all he ever wanted. Her hands gripped his shirt tightly and he wished for nothing more than for her to rip it off of him. His skin burned and pleaded for more. As much as he enjoyed kissing her like this, this wasn’t enough.
He couldn’t wait anymore. He picked her up again and led them over to their shared bedroom, he didn’t even bother turning on the lights as he gently laid her on their bed. Jungkook quickly slotted himself between her thighs and dived straight back to her lips. 
His mind felt fuzzy, maybe it was just because he was more drunk than what he thought, but as he ground himself into her clothed core, the sudden realization of everything hit him hard. 
They haven’t had sex in months, literal months since the last time he felt the warmth of her walls around him. They’ve done other things, but full-blown sex…
“Yuri… please….” He cried as his hand traveled under her dress to hover over her panties. Yuri quickly nodded and that was all he needed to lose his mind. 
He pulled her dress up and moved down so he was staring at her clothed core. 
He quickly pulled her panties down her legs before his face was buried between her thighs, and he was diving in for his rightful meal. Jungkook was good, using his tongue to work her clit and he had two fingers buried deep inside her, all the while he was practically fucking the mattress in a haste for any kind of friction. 
When he said they hadn’t had sex it was more so that Jungkook hadn’t been touched in months. Jungkook was a good husband, always there to take care of his wife when she wanted him. But she never let him take things further. This was just another running problem in their marriage. His sex life was pretty much nonexistent. He never wanted to be that guy, and especially with the fact that their marriage was relatively new and they were still getting to know each other, he knew sex was going to be a tricky subject. 
There were clear boundaries set, and he was okay with taking things slow right now, but does it leave him frustrated sometimes? Yes, extremely. 
The amount of times Jungkook has done this for her, he knew her patterns and how to get her cumming on his tongue in no time. Her moans and pleas were all music to his ears, knowing he was doing something right for once. 
By the time he pulled away, Jungkook was hardly keeping it together. He practically ripped off his shirt and pants, tossing them off the bed somewhere into the abyss of the darkness. 
When he turned back to her, he was practically drooling at how fucked out she looked; Yuri’s hair cascaded around her, reminding him of the angel she looked like on their wedding day, and her dress was pushed up to her thighs and the straps were brought down revealing her tits. 
Oh fuck. Now, now, now. 
Jungkook hurriedly kissed her, before reaching over to his nightstand, and opening the drawer to grab a condom. The box wasn’t right there so his hand had to search and feel his way around— it didn’t take long, but it was too long in his desperation when he was finally pulling one out.  
“Jungkook, wait… what are you doing?” Yuri asked once he finally managed to pull one out of the box. 
He looked at her hoping this didn’t mean what he thought it did. He kissed her again and buried himself into her shoulder. “Baby please… wanna feel you…” he pleaded, grinding slowly into her heat. A moan fell from his lips, the friction was desperately needed. He would take anything at this point. 
“Been so long… I missed you.” It was bad. His body was crying out for something, and he wanted Yuri to give him just that. It was starting to hurt. 
“But it’s late, Jungkook. I’m tired.” Yuri sighed, making his heart drop. 
“But…but…” he mumbled. He moved so he could see her face and he could immediately tell she wasn’t joking. 
“It’s fine, I promise I’ll be quick. You worked me up so much, just—“ 
“Jungkook, not tonight, okay?” She grumbled, clearly done with the moment they shared. This is what happens all the time. He didn’t know why he thought it was going to be different considering the occasion, but that didn’t stop him from feeling a bit disappointed. 
Jungkook just sighed and rolled off of her. His skin burned with need and he knew he had to do something. It hurt, it had been so fucking long.
He tried not to be mad but he was. He hurriedly got up from the bed. 
“I’m going to take a shower… a very long shower.” He huffed.
“Jungkook you better not do that shit in our—“ was the last thing he heard before he slammed the door. 
He tried to be calm; he didn’t want to get mad over something like this. The marriage was still new, there were going to be hurdles. It happens. 
Today had just been terrible. All the emotions he had tried his best to suppress were coming out; he was angry, he was depressed, he was frustrated. There hadn’t been one moment that he felt like things were okay, today had been just as horrible as he thought it would be and then some since he woke up this morning.
All he wanted was some type of relief. 
He quickly turned on the shower to hopefully stop her from hearing him, and got to work pleasing his body in the only way he could. His hand covered his mouth while the other traveled down his body, finally grabbing a hold of himself. 
He thought about how today would have turned out if it went the way he wanted. Jungkook would have woken his wife up with every affirmation of how much he loved her, how happy she’d made him since they got married, as he showered her with all the praise his mushy heart would come up with in that moment. 
Jungkook wouldn’t have wanted to leave her that morning, but duty calls and with the taste of her still on his tongue he would have gone to work. It was hard to be apart for those few hours. He would have struggled to keep his eyes off his phone as she cutely texted and pleaded for him to be home soon because she missed him so much.
The minute he would have returned Jungkook could hardly get inside before she was tackling him with kisses. She would have been already dressed for their day out, wearing that pretty off-the-shoulder dress with flowers all over it, knowing how much that one drives him crazy. But none of that mattered because the dress was hitting the floor before he could close the door behind him.
Another moment of passion and love as they did it right there on the floor. Jungkook would have been enthralled by her warmth and her love. She would have let her heart’s declarations spill from her mouth continuously as he held her in his arms; that she wanted him here, that she cared for him just as much as he did for her. 
Then they were finally able to pull away from each other. It was just long enough that Jungkook could whisk her around Seoul to all the destinations he’d planned to take her. They’ve both lived in Seoul for most of their lives but Jungkook made sure to pick obscure but momentous places around the city that he was sure she’d enjoy:
 A jazz lounge for a late lunch, he’d seen videos of the band that played there and he knew it would have been perfect to have in the background as they conversed. He also planned to take her to the mall– one of her favorite spots to go with her friends. He hoped to share some of that excitement and treat her to whatever she stumbled across that day, showing his wife just how much she means to him. He had pictured holding the bags while she dragged him along to wherever she wanted to go, sitting down for hours as she tried out dresses and him struggling to convey that he really meant it when he said she looked beautiful in whatever she put on. There was so much more, a day full of wonders, kisses, hugs. But the night would have ended with a nice, romantic walk by Han River, enjoying the sights and scenery in the cool September air. They would have hopefully gotten the chance to stop by this dessert place Secretary Yu told him about that she promised Yuri would love. Maybe they would have kept walking as they ate and talked their hearts out. Jungkook had practiced all these cheesy lines he hoped she would have liked, at least laugh at, anything to see her smile. 
It would have been magical and when they would have made it back to the apartment, they would’ve immediately gone back to the room to end the night with a bang. She would have felt so good, he knew she would. He probably would have lost his mind just having his wife close and by his side. His heart would have melted every time she would look into his eyes. Her hands on him, pleading, pleading for him to make her feel good. 
No, maybe… maybe even in this reality, the one where he had a horrible day, even then it would have been so nice to be with her. That’s all he wanted.
He whined and whimpered as his thumb traced along the tip, precum leaking profusely. His hand made quick work of its strokes, hastily trying to chase the pleasure he’d been denied of the whole day. 
He had to resist the urge to scream when he ended up spilling all over his hand, stomach, and thighs. It had been way too long. 
Jungkook ended up in the shower not too long after, the water cool against his skin to keep the burning desire for more at bay. Instead, he just thought about his day, how shitty it was. 
Like of all days, he got coffee spilled all over him? It sounded like something out of a sitcom.
But you… 
Suddenly he thought back to you, your long legs and red lipstick. You were definitely one of his saving graces. Without you, he would have been stuck worrying about this launch. That wasn’t completely alleviated, but the team had texted throughout the day that your method had looked promising, and especially considering what they already invested into advertising, the wave of demand would hopefully nearly double by the time the next shipment rolled out. Though it wasn’t going to be exactly the profit they had expected to bring in from this quarter, this method should hopefully in the long run make up for the botched launch.
Without you he might have still been at the office, the teams and him trying his best to come up with some sort of solution in dealing with the consequences and ramifications of such an unexpected fuck up. It was still odd that it had been weeks since production started, and they had only noticed this malfunction now…  
He needed to head down to the factories and see for himself what exactly happened, but he already had a few names in mind of people who might not be here for much longer.
But he wouldn’t worry about that now, instead his mind drifted back to you during the meeting today.
He already knew working with you was going to be interesting, and despite the rough start, he was looking forward to seeing where you might go. 
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sadhornyygirl · 11 months
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Kinktober
Day 26: Cockwarming (billy loomis)
You were with Billy, or rather, Ghostface, on your Cam broadcasts.
"Can you be quite like you've been and keep daddy's dick warm, girl? Can you show everyone how I have the best girl who doesn't want to be away from me for a second? How is is mommy is so good to her son, even when she has her own job? He murmurs, his hand moving between your legs just to cup the top of your mound. “You can’t move like that, baby. Otherwise, I might end up fucking you on this broadcast.”
You bite your lip, but a small moan disappears anyway. You cover it up with a cough, but you can hear some of the fans. One of the ones you really like makes a noise that makes you think of joy, but it's hard to tell by the pounding of your heart in your ears. After a minute, you look back at the papers and comment softly. “You'd have to charge them for that, kid. Concentrate, they are asking questions.”
Billy growls softly, moving his hand from your mound to wrap around your waist, pulling you tightly against him. “I wouldn’t let them see me fucking my pussy. Not for all the money in the world.” He hears someone else ask a question, this time louder, before looking into the camera and smiling. “She's beautiful, but she also has a job that frowns upon that. It’s okay to date me, not so much to appear in my videos.”
There's a chorus of disappointment that leaves you laughing, shaking your head and managing to say something. “Sorry, I had the job before I met you. And I love him, but the money that is all mine is a little more important.”
No one blames you for this, and you swear you hear a scream before you stick the pen in your mouth. Billy's grip relaxes as he rubs just a hair at the sight of the pen. You don't comment on it, instead squeezing once more and releasing just as quickly. You know he feels it when you hear the inspiration. It's like that for another hour, with you're teasing and Billy teasing back while your fans eat it up. It's not a paid thing, and you're not necessarily doing anything sexual, but it's cool. Very rarely do you get to be a part of Austin's world like this, just do what his job is, but doing so almost makes you wish you could.
“I know, I know, I don't want this to end any more than you do, but we're past 30 minutes, and looking at what she's doing, I think she's at a really good stopping point. And I promised her a great lunch. He smiles at the camera, placing a kiss on your neck that makes you shiver slightly. “I have to call. Next month, same time. Maybe with her, we will also see how the schedule works. Love you all."
The second the camera cuts off, Billy's lips are on his neck, ripping off his hat with a flourish, reminding you how much of a showman your boyfriend can be. It would make you laugh if he wasn't already breathtaking. “Billy.”
“Such a good girl. You can already feel how difficult it has been. It's been so hard not to fuck my pretty pussy, not to bend you over and fuck you senseless while they watched. His words are murmured against your skin as you feel him rutting against you slowly. “I know we need lunch, but let me fuck you. Just let me fuck you. Let me give you a reward for keeping my dick so hot in your pussy. I swear I’m on fire.”
His head rests against his shoulder. “Be quick, and I will consider doing this again next month.”
“I’ll be so fast, you’ll call me Flash.” He teases, grabbing your hips and pulling you off his dick only to practically throw you back onto him, earning a moan from you.
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prettyrealm · 6 months
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how do the ive members see wonyoung?
this reading is a paid commision, thank you so much for trusting in me! <3 celebrity commissions • personal commissions
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an yujin - she thinks wonyoung is extremely professional and a great idol, she admires that she will try in all aspects of the job (she’s always on “idol-mode”) but she thinks that wonyoung wants to be the it girl, is proud of it, and doesn’t plan on giving that spot up. wonyoung is on yujin’s mind all the time because of this, and I think the reason she sees so many good qualities in wonyoung is because she wants to be more like her. she definitely feels as if she lives in wonyoung’s shadow. she thinks wonyoung is highly attractive.
gaeul - she doesn’t really view wonyoung as a real person. she thinks she’s very distant and that she doesn’t really hang out with the ive members unless she has to (so maybe she’s the first to leave dance practices, or skips out on hanging out with members after work). she thinks wonyoung is really good at being on idol-mode as well. she sees it as not who she really is, not that she thinks she’s a snake or something either, rather it’s more like “no one could really be this way”,’ it’s like she feels she doesn’t and will never know the real wonyoung (as wonyoung doesn’t really open up even behind the scenes). a part of her is even curious to see if wonyoung will ever “break character” one day. she thinks wonyoung is very beautiful.
rei - she thinks wonyoung super attractive, she is actually attracted TO wonyoung (didn’t ask if she acted on it or plans to btw, this is just how she feels). she thinks wonyoung is elite at her job, very beautiful and able to pull everything off, it’s likely that she thinks wonyoung is the best idol in the group. she thinks wonyoung is the ultimate woman. she thinks wonyoung’s kindness is real, she thinks you wouldn’t be able to maintain that type of personality/aura for so long if it wasn’t genuine (she seems to also have the tendency of glossing over possible negative traits or behaviors to interpret them as more positive). she thinks she rarely has a bad day with wonyoung and she can even get butterflies when they’re together. she has a lot of trust in wonyoung and likes her to the point where if wonyoung was ever super mean to her (or betrayed her in some way) she would actually feel heartbroken. she often feels sorry for wonyoung and wishes she could make things easier for her, she sees wonyoung as someone who often has hard times.
liz - she thinks wonyoung is very professional - again, a really good idol. she sees her as a perfectionist and that she’s confident but not arrogant (humble enough that she’s always trying to improve herself and isn’t the type to think she knows everything). she thinks wonyoung’s constant striving for perfection has very harmful consequences though (physically and mentally). she thinks wonyoung is distant and on idol-mode 99.9% of the time so what she sees often isn’t the real wonyoung, but she assumes this is just her being professional rather than fake. she genuinely likes wonyoung and would love to be closer to her and hang out with her more because she thinks she could be a good friend to her, but wonyoung is too distant and simply won’t let that happen.
leeseo - she wants to be wonyoung, there’s a chance that she was even wonyoung’s fan before meeting her. she tries to copy everything wonyoung does, even with how wonyoung acts behind the scenes, she finds herself wanting to be like that (whether she can pull it off or not). this makes her jealous though, she finds herself jealous of how willing people are to help wonyoung because of how loved she is. she understands wonyoung is on “idol-mode” often and this makes her more jealous because she’s like, “yeah i want to be like this too, but I can’t believe everyone is so nice to you when you aren’t even being real!”. i think a part of her even hopes for wonyoung to “crack” and for people to realize she’s not perfect, but overall she basically sees wonyoung as the luckiest girl in the world. she does think wonyoung has a lot of pressure on her though.
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octuscle · 9 months
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I'm tired of being fat and dateless can you make me a hairy muscle freak who likes having his snake drained if you get what I mean
I'm tired of being fat and dateless, can you make me a hairy muscle freak who likes his snake emptied, if you know what I mean
Well, you're not exactly the catch of the day… Well beyond 300 pounds. It's amazing that you made it to the age of 55 with your blood values. You look much older with your bad skin. Yes, you won't get a date like that… But I'll see what we can do for you.
It's not easy for you to get out of bed in the morning. Neither is taking a shower. You struggle into your jogging suit and sit down at your computer with a box of donuts. Before the pandemic, you were sometimes still in the office. Since then, you've only been able to work from home. You rarely leave the house anymore. What's the point? You take a break after two hours. Dealing with suspected money laundering cases is an annoying job. You drink a large glass of water with a shot of grapefruit juice. And do a few squats and a few press-ups. You've been trying hard to lose weight for two years. You've already lost many kilograms. But the flaps of skin that now hang from your tits and hips are an expensive price to pay. But you feel better for it. But now back to the computer. You get paid by the case.
You have a lunch break with friends. At a vegetarian restaurant a quarter of an hour away. It's raining and at first you wanted to go by car. But you're not a wimp and any exercise is good. So you take the bike. Yes, you look anything but sexy in those rain overalls. But you enjoy the looks when you take it off. You've been training hard and eating healthily for five years. You look quite respectable for a man of 50, even if the sins of the first 45 years of your life still show. But now you don't need to hide among colleagues who are sometimes 15 or even 20 years younger. The food is delicious and it's fun to chat with your colleagues, who you meet far too rarely in the office. It's not easy to lead a team that only works from home. Okay, you're not a good example today, but you try to be in the office as often as possible. If only because you enjoy the bike ride. And because it's close to the swimming pool.
The lunch break took a long time. The afternoon was short. Nevertheless, you finish work at 18:00. You have HIIT at 19:00. At 44, you are one of the oldest participants. But you easily outperform some much younger ones. Your job has been your life for eleven years. But sport is your passion. Giving your all during the day and even more in the evening is your motto. When the course ends at 8 p.m., most of the participants are panting and crawling into the shower more than they are walking. You hit the weights again.
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At 11pm, Mike, the gym manager, switches on the emergency lights and turns off the music. Your signal that it's time to end the workout. You are once again the last one on the training area. You pull your T-shirt over your head, drop your pants and post up in front of the mirror. Not too bad for a man in his early 40s. Mike approaches you from behind, hugs you and grabs your nipples. Damn, this guy knows exactly where your on switch is. You're actually a disciplined nerd. But for once you give up an hour of your precious sleep for a good fuck. And if you spend the night at Mike's, you also save yourself the trip to the morning gym before work. So you fuck another round straight away.
Amazing pic found @rickmuscleguy
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b4mpyre-k1zz3s · 1 month
Text
The Jackass Guys Working in Fast Food HC’s!
Warnings: Suggestive content, crude language, drug use, tampering with food (and general bad food service practices)
An: This fic was largely inspired by this spot the guys did for the Arby’s Action Sports Awards, a concept which still eludes me to this day…
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The awards show that invited the jackass guys to host had this sponsorship deal with some fast food company,
And, as written in tiny print on the contract, the guys ended up getting roped into something they’d never thought they’d have to deal with:
Working in food service.
Johnny
Given his position as the leader of the group, Johnny is kinda the manager by default
Partially because he’s so charismatic and partially because he just has pretty privilege so customers can’t get too mad at him
So when the drive through window gets stuck, guess who’s running orders outside?
He was the most responsible one and often takes up the job of cleaning up the dining area,
Even though he did have a tendency to clean off tables while people were eating or sweep a little too close to the patrons,
“Uh, scuse’ me, ma’am…Feet up, please.” And they never seemed to mind!
In fact, anytime someone got their order messed up, guess who they send in?
“I really am sorry for the inconvenience, sir,” Knoxville shoveled about twenty apple pies into a bag as turned to speak over his shoulder to the pissed off customer
“But I just wanted the order I paid for-”
“Shh…Just between you and me.” Johnny nudged the bag closer to him with a wink, “Go ahead- take it! I gotcha.”
And he actually took it.
Bam
“What’re you- some kinda wussy?” Bam had a tendency to shit talk customer’s orders, often pressuring them to size up,
“C’mon, be a man! You know what, dude? I’m just gonna put you down for a large combo…”
God forbid a customer is rude to him because holy shit. Bam is a master the guerrilla food terrorisim!
He has 100% spit in a guys onion rings because he yelled at him over the drive thru
And you bet he served them with a smile
Even though Bam has that whole line cook look, he’s maybe the worst person you want to have working at your restaurant.
It’s pretty rare that he gets sent out to register duty (due to the fact it takes him forever to make change)
But when he does, he just looks so disheveled from working in the kitchen
I’m talking condiments on his apron, pieces of meat just…hanging off of him, which obviously raised a couple eyebrows
“I mean- I was in the kitchen. I was workin’ hard back there! Can’t you tell?”
Steve-O
Steve couldn’t help but grin to himself when the angry customer over the drive through sarcastically asked him if he was ‘on something’
“Yes, sir- I am.”
Completely opposite to Bam, Steve is the closest thing they have to a model employee due to his experience working shitty jobs
If you order a four piece nugget, and he’s making it, count on getting a fifth one every time because he knows he would be pumped if he got one.
Point is, Steve is the fast food employee everyone loves, and that extends to his work at the counter
When all the guys are hustling to get orders out on time during a rush, guess who’s out there doing clown tricks to keep customers entertained?
Doing backflips off of the counter and juggling condiment packages to keep people happy people while whistling that one circus theme
“If you like the condiment stuff, wait till you see what I do with the drinks!”
Chris
“Welcome to Arby’s! Can I tempt you with my- I mean, our meat?”
Him and Steve have competitions as to who can say the most out of pocket thing over the drive thru speaker. He’s in the lead (for obvious reasons).
One of the best ones he came up with was when he was told to advertise the new dessert offerings,
“Are you sure you don’t wanna try one of our pies? The cream is delicious.”
Him and Steve are inseparable, usually spending more time fucking around in the kitchen than actually preparing food
So when, in the middle of a rush, the mayo gun Steve was using gets jammed and (despite his very skillful efforts to fix it) explodes all over him, Chris has a lot to say,
“Oh my god-” He turned to where his buddy was standing there, stunned, “Steve. Is this your man-aise?”
The customers could hear their laughter from the kitchen.
And speaking of Steve, Chris came up with a few tricks of his own to pull when he’s on register duty
Like walking out with two burgers stuffed in the top of his apron like boobs,
“Can I take anybody’s order?” He looked around the restaurant like nothing was amiss as he adjusted the twins.
Ryan
“Welcome to Arby’s, where the world’s a better place…” Ryan sighed, reading off the drive thru script for the fiftieth time that day,
“Whaddya want?”
Ryan hates dealing with customers and, in the middle of a rush, went out for a “smoke break”, which really meant he was going to hide in the freezer until his shift was nearly over
“Really, Ry?” Bam raised an eyebrow at the ice crystals in his beard, which only tipped him off that something was amiss because it was June.
Kinda similar to how Steve and Chris have their drive thru routine, him and Bam tag team on food sabotage, only Ryan’s arguably less gross
Like the worst he’s ever done was take a sip out of a guy’s milkshake before he gave it to him.
It isn’t that hard to believe given the fact he introduced the guys to using “God’s Tongs”
(if you don’t know, is a nice way to say picking up food with your hands)
In fact, everyone remembers that one day a customer was complaining to him that their burger arrived without a bun, holding out the bare patty to show him,
“Alright- I gotcha.” Ryan took a few steps back, grabbing a top bun from the back, and he just chucked the thing at the guy!
That top bun landed perfectly on top of that burger.
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turbulentscrawl · 4 months
Text
Modern AU: Norton Campbell
You've heard of modern reader? Well now it's time for Modern canon!
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- Previously, he worked in the oil industry, but a nasty accident he doesn’t speak about has left him with his fair share of burn scars. Norton now works as an independent contractor, known around town as a do-it-all type of handyman. He rarely works with or for group projects, preferring to be hired directly by property owners for the work they need done. He’s his own boss, and he makes his own schedule, but he’s a workaholic.
- He was raised by his uncle Benny after his parents died when he was still very young—his mother shortly after childbirth, due to complications, and his father in a work-related accident. Benny’s health deteriorated fast, though, and as soon as he was legally able Norton picked up a part-time job to help pay the bills and build a college fund. (Or several, more like, and he was known to bounce around for better pay.)
-Some time in his senior year of high school, he discovered that Benny was keeping secrets; Benny had not only convinced his father to stay in the oil industry after he was born, but wasted and gambled away all the life insurance money from his death. Enraged and betrayed, Norton dropped out of school and left. He drove as far away as he could with the little money he had, and then lived out of his truck for a while. Eventually, he made enough money to rent a shitty little motel room by the week, and then a shitty little apartment.
-After leaving, he at first went into the oil industry like his old man and Benny had been—it was something he was familiar enough with and hard labor paid better than being a busboy again. But after a few years there was an accident which left him with several burn scars. He was left in pain for a long time, but the worker’s comp paid for most of his medical bills and his rent, giving him just enough time to get his GED. After that, he started into construction, plumbing, and other handiman things he was knowledgeable in after years of being poor and self-sufficient.
-The accident, this time, was more of an ACTUAL accident. Norton had a disagreement with some of the coworkers he hated. There was an altercation, and something ignited…and Norton was the only one who got out. He doesn’t talk about it, mostly out of shame and a sense of guilt, but he copes by telling himself they deserved it.
- He drives the same beat-up old pickup truck Benny bought for him as a kid. It was transferred into his name when he was 18, so Benny can’t swipe it from under his nose. (Legally, anyway.) He could probably get a loan and buy a new car, but at this point he prefers to keep the old hunk of junk. Maybe he’s sentimental, or maybe the weekly maintenance he has to do on it is just therapeutic in a way.
-Not a super techy guy. He keeps up with industry news and learns new skills often, but his truck, his phone, and most of his home appliances are older. He’s good enough with fixing things that he hasn’t bothered to replace them.
-He’s not much of a decorator, either, but he’s good at thrifting and building his own furniture with recycled materials. His apartment/home is a bit of a hodgepodge, with mostly bare walls, but what he does have I impressive in its own way. Any décor he has is likely gifted.
-He’d like to own a home one day, but he’s playing things by ear. He realizes that might be asking a lot while he’s got no real support system.
-He’s a fair cook, but a lot of what he makes could be called “struggle meals.” They’re what he’s been used to for a long time.
-He’s a little paranoid about pumping gas into his truck, but he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. On his days off, he tends to walk to take public transit to save some money and gas mileage.
-He’s that guy with a 7-in-1 shampoo, conditioner, bodywash etc men’s soap. Someone please teach him better ways.
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crushedsweets · 1 year
Note
what is jack and toby's relationship like?
oohh ive covered this a few times. i love them.
this post i did on their relationship basically sums it up !! ill do more under the cut
jack helps the proxies so that slenderman lets him stay in the forest as refuge. he doesn't like toby at first, seeing him as too violent, too aggressive, viewing himself even in his monstrous form as more human than toby - which is true, in a sense . toby kills for slenderman. he wouldn't be killing people if not for that, BUT he absolutely finds release in it - he makes a game out of it, he detaches himself from the victims and reflects all he wanted to do to his dad onto them. sometimes he catches himself saying exact phrases his dad screamed back onto them. bro probably called his victims 'npcs' at some point LOLLLL
and jack RARELY EVER does his own killing. he gets a lot of his bodies as a dark web human remains disposer(cuz he gets paid for it too), or from jeff. and it took a while for him to be able to stomach the shit he has to do to survive, so it's rough for him.
jack hates it, jack hates what toby does, but he can see so much in toby that goes beyond that and it fucking sucks and it hurts and jacks prob cried FOR toby before. not in front of him, but anytime jacks confronting his own mortality and humanity, toby is one of the first people that comes to mind each time, and he wants to throw up thinking about it. only nina can rival how emotional jack is LOL
it's kinda weird for toby the way jack treats him - sometimes he gets mad and accuses him of treating toby like some research paper in a book, because he knew jack had a decently privileged upbringing in comparison to himself, and hates the supiroirty complex. jack asks too many questions and is always just trying to grasp whats going on in tobys brain and its fucking infuritating for toby.
but jacks just always fucking there. jack is easily the most present person, always easy to find, usually calm. tim/brian are rarely around, kate is unsettling and hiding away half the time, jeffs a dick, bens unreliable, ninas in love with jeff and has a life seperate from the creeps. even natalie has long periods of time where she just cannot get herself to confront toby because she has her own issues and is struggling to even maintain her job as a waitress. she can't be there half the time.
but jacks never gone. jack rarely tells him to get the fuck out. jacks so welcoming, even if he's an annoying uptight prick who thinks he's better than everyone - and half the time, toby knows jack is. he knows jacks better than everyone else around him and it sucks fucking ASSSSSS being around someone like him, but its also something toby needs really bad
after a year or so of knowing toby jack would be able to comfortably say he loves him, whether its as a friend or a brother or whatever the fuck sort of fucked up shit is going on in these freaks heads . again, jack is INCREDIBLY FUCKING HUMAN hes emotional he loves so hard he hates himself he wants people he wants connection he feels so alone he wants everyone to be there he wants his mom he wants his siblings he wants to read he wants to walk around he wants to cook he wants to breath in fresh air. and toby really does put in some work for that. maybe not correctly, honestly he might fuck it up more often than he gets it right, but who the fuck else is gonna invite jack to go swimming on a random summer night ? how badly he wish he could see tobys face when toby asks to hang out
also this one shot from necroromantics if ur looking for good jack toby content . sorry for stealing tomb. u just get them so much . also sort of in the same vein of this drawing i did ... jack was full of life and empathy and love and joy for so long....... doesn't understand how toby never had any to begin with.
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jujutsubaby · 5 months
Note
congrats on your milestone sweetie!!! a hot white mocha with oat milk, and a slice of the rose milk cake from maison rose would be lovely 🌹 thanks! 🤗
a/n. thank u for participating babe xx i really appreciate it. your ask was giving xmas/holiday szn so i decided to riff off of that hehe enjoy ~ 
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🌹 WELCOME TO MAISON ROSE ! 🌹
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🤍 PAIRING. mikasa
🤍 WORD COUNT. 1.4k+
what sucks more than having to work during the holidays? no, really, you’re waiting for an answer while you’re cleaning up another spill on the counter for the third time this morning. how are people this careless about leaving their drinks near the ledge?
not only that, but you have to do an expert job of cleaning or else your boss, mr. clean freak levi ackerman, would tear you a new one. god, you wish you had made better plans in advance. 
and to make matters worse, eldians rarely believed in using the holidays to stay at home and relax. rather, it was a time of festivities and late night gatherings @ paradis’ trendiest cafe: maison rose. 
okay, sure you’re sounding bitter right now and not at all in the holiday spirit but you have a good reason and it’s that you miss marley and your family, but alas, it was your choice to “find yourself” and you just happened to find yourself enjoying making delectable drinks and pastries with levi during his retirement. 
you take a look at your watch. 11:30pm. two more hours until closing. you can do this. at this point, people were already wrapping up their conversations and heading back to someone’s house, so you’ve been spending most of the time touching up the cake display and cleaning the coffee bar.
as you’re loading up the dirty dishes into the back, you hear the laughter of your least favorite customer. okay, let’s get all the formalities out of the way: you love and cherish every customer equally and you strive to make the best drink every day. but you would be lying if you didn’t think about using the expired milk on eren jeager’s cafe au lait every time he visits. 
it’s not that he’s rude or mean…just a bit too brash and uncomely for your liking. you finally see him and his friends walking towards the counter to order: armin, jean, connie, and…some (gorgeous? ethereal?) raven-haired maiden  you’ve never seen before. what’s a girl like her doing with a crass, uncultured, oafish guy like —
“‘sup babygirl, y’miss me?” eren says, winking at you and effectively derailing your train of thought. you stop staring at the girl like some juvenile teenager and focus back on eren. he’s wearing a black supreme hoodie, and you’re pretty sure it’s fake. you roll your eyes. 
“what do you want, jaeger?” you ask, annoyed at his greeting for you.
he frowns at your unwelcoming response. “why’re you acting like you don’t know your favorite customer’s drink?”
you raise an eyebrow. “so one iced bleach latte for you?” 
“i bet that would actually be so good because i know levi keeps the good cleaning shit in the back.” he says, without missing a beat. 
“can you guys not do your usual antics tonight? it’s literally a holiday here…” you turn around to see levi with crossed arms glaring at both you and eren, and you both nod your head and play nice to not scare the customers away. you quickly start jotting down the orders of everyone with eren, but you only paid attention to one particular order. 
a hot white mocha latte with a slice of rose milk cake on the side. the same rose milk cake you had spent hours this morning decorating, and had only one slice left. was it super delusional for you to think that this was meant to be? a raven haired maiden to request the very last piece of your hard work?
you got so caught up in your fantasies (read: slight delusions) that you forgot to ask for her name. 
you pride yourself in preparing your drinks with care and detail, but for some reason, you found yourself frothing the milk a little extra longer for the white mocha, and being extra precise pouring the latte art. 
you call eren’s name for the drinks and he gets up to receive them. a thought pops into your head, and you know it’s gonna hurt you more than eren to say it, but…fuck it, it’s the holidays anyway. 
“eren, wait.” you hesitate to say, not even realizing you were holding a silent breath. your hands clam up. “uhh, who’s…that girl you’re with?”
just as expected, a sinister smirk forms on eren’s face as he sneaks a glance back at mikasa who’s chuckling at something connie has said. “oh? you mean mikasa? why’d ya wanna know? does someone have a cruuussh–”
“shut…up, jaeger!” you hush him, not wanting anyone else in the cafe to hear. “i don’t have a crush on her okay, god forbid i wanna know my customer’s names, jeez…”
“oh, okay, then you’re fine if i admit to you she’s my girlfriend?” you practically drop the last precious slice of rose milk cake from the plate you’re holding. ain’t no fucking way she’s with him…
“you’re lying,” you say definitely, calling our eren’s bluff. 
“okay, yeah, i am. but still, that means you dig her, oooo~”
you regret this already. oh well, at least you tried. “just take your stupid drinks and go.” and for once, eren does as you say. 
you notice eren’s party stays longer than most other people, and it’s probably because of their close history with levi, who has been making the rounds to say hello to his old survey corps colleagues. 
as the two hours dwindle down to minutes, you’re almost done wiping down the countertops and unloading the dishes. levi leaves upon your insistence that he enjoy a night out with erwin and hange, despite his groaning and moaning about just wanting to go home, so it’s on you to close up shop. 
you wave goodbye to eren’s friends, and scrunch your nose up in disgust at eren. however, you notice the most peculiar thing: mikasa waving them goodbye whilst staying behind. you’re confused, wasn’t she…?
mikasa collects her plate and cup and meets you across the countertop. she looks so pretty wearing a tight fitted stop and baggy ripped jeans, that you almost don’t register her greeting you.
“hey, sorry i’m bringing in these plates so late, i know you must be dying to go home…”
“oh! um, don’t worry about it, it’s not a big deal as long as you enjoyed your order.” you say warmly, taking the dishes from her. your fingers brush against her hands and you could’ve sworn there was twinge of pink on her cheeks. 
“it was the best drink! but i was really blown away about the rose milk cake? eren told me you make them every morning and design them yourself? is that true?” eren told her that? eren talked about you to mikasa? 
“oh, uh, yeah, i guess i do,” you say, scratching the back of your head. 
“don’t be so humble! you should be so proud of what you made. you’ve actually ruined cakes for me, so thanks for that.” you chuckle. 
“do you really like it so much? i’ve been saving a slice of saffron milk cake because it was leftover from today in the back, you want it?” 
“oh! eren told me you might have some leftovers in the back but i thought he was just messing with me like always.”
“yeah, you can’t ever trust that guy.” eren? telling mikasa? about your secret cake stash in the back? the last time you told him about that, you made him promise to keep it a secret while you two scarfed them down after levi left. 
“i never do! at least not for normal stuff like this,” she chuckles. that being said, you were glad eren’s big mouth blabbed this little secret. 
you go to the back and bring out two slices of saffron milk cakes for mikasa in to-go boxes. she stares at the cakes, before demurely looking at your eyes. the eye contact catches you off guard as she says, “maybe we can sit down and share the slices together? i don’t think we ever met, y/n. sorry, eren told me your name…i hope that was okay.”
wait? she asked eren for your name? “i’d love to, actually.”
the delusions were well and alive in your mind as you once again are convinced this must be fate, even if that fate involves a little bit of eren’s meddling. you take off your apron and join mikasa in the couch in the corner, where the two of you sink into the sofa, and end up way too close to each other as you share the cakes.
but neither of you mind it. 
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ponyosfrogg · 1 year
Text
INBETWEEN (PT 3)
Summary: You wake up, completely under the effect of your dream about comic characters, just to find out a new character has been added to DCU? Or has she always been there?
Pairing: Tim Drake x Reader
Author's Note: Gosh, sorry for taking some time. This chapter was a pain in the ass, all i wanted was to write about sweet moments but god 😶‍🌫️ sorry about the typos, I'll fix them as soon as i can i promise, hope you like it my loves! thank you so much for the support! 💗
Warning: Some of the themes and contents written in this fic might be upsetting for some of the readers, read at your own risk. Some parts have strong language.
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As you woke up with a throbbing pain in your head, you couldn't help but wonder if this would be a issue every time you tried to wake up normally. Frustrated, you cautiously opened your eyes, preparing for the brightness. The light made everything appear blurry, so you tried shading your eyes with your hands, but it didn't help much. Suddenly, a silhouette rushed towards you.
"You got me so worried! I can't believe you didn't took your medicine's today! I'm so angry at you" A slap out of worry hit your arm and made you more awake and more aware of your surroundings. You were in your house, with your best friend beside your bed. She must've taken you to your bed since the last thing you can recall was washing some dishes. The slippery and weird feeling in your hand was just proof. "And so glad that you're okay." Amber hugged your laying body with compassionate behavior.
You reposition yourself on the bed and lay your back on the bedstand now facing your best friend who was sitting next to you on your bed. You were in your room. Your real room.
"Are you okay? You're very quiet." With her voice you tried to collect your thoughts in one place. So you had a dream about comic characters? God, you must've been going through some shit because you rarely even dream. Maybe you were in need to feel some family support? Or you just read a lot of them last night.
"Yeah, I'm okay no worries. I just had the weirdest dream ever. I'm sorry about worrying you I'll be more careful about my medicine." but you were so sure that you took all of them today. Why would your heart react in such a way. You found yourself questioning yourself once again, falling into a familiar pattern of self-doubt and second-guessing.
"Oh I can't wait to hear about it but first i have to tell you something." She must've done something she thought was necessary but not necessarily the best idea. "I called Nate." Yes, just as you guessed. Amber must've seen the shift in your reaction and started to get panicky. "Don't blame me! I got so worried and waited for one hour but you didn't wake up so i had to call him, i didn't know what to do. he said he's on his way to come here now. Could be here any moment now." She got up from the bed and started to walk around the room in a panicking way.
But you weren't focusing on her anymore, just hearing Nate's name made your heart flutter a little bit. He was your ex. You had been inseparable from your childhood and at some point it turned into a beautiful relationship. Nate was an ambitious student who wanted to have nothing more than a wife and a job. You on the other hand, you like the possibilities life could offer you. You never had something on your mind you were just going around wherever life takes you. Spontaneous trips to places you'd like to visit, working freelance and getting paid whenever you're in need of some money, reading books and comics whenever you're free. You were a kind of woman who would post something dumb on an afternoon during weekdays which would make all of your working friends question your sanity. So it's safe to say that you guys were completely opposites.
And whoever said opposites attract, they were wrong as fuck. You needed someone to think like you. It was hard to maintain the relationship when both of your needs were completely opposite, beside your characters. You guys broke up two months ago or something like that. you weren't keeping the count.
Although it was hard to not to think about him, you always thought you made the right decision about him. You wouldn't want to keep him from living his life, and you wouldn't want him to keep you from living your life either. It was the right decision. But why were you feeling nauseous right now?
"It's okay, we were going to see each other at some point anyway." You tried to smile in a relaxing way and you must have been successful since she gave you another big hug. She was one of the kindest soul you had a chance to meet on this earth. She had beautiful ginger curly hair with a lot of freckles on her face. She had this beautiful smile that made your day better whenever you saw her. She was just the most adorable person you could ever hope for and you were glad she was your friend, your best friend to be exact.
"Okay, I'll leave you alone and give you some privacy for you to change your clothes." You rolled your eyes at her words. Yeah, you took back whatever you said about her, she was devious. "I'm not going to all doll-up for Nate, Amber." She giggled at the annoyance at your voice while she was leaving the room.
You looked around your room. How could something feel so familiar yet so strange. You felt an unexplainable feeling on your chest. It wasn't about your heart, something was different. Maybe the dream affected you more than you could admit.
As you gazed around, your attention was suddenly drawn to the batfamily poster hanging on the wall behind your desk. It was an old favorite, something you had put up about three years ago. It included all of the batfamily members. Yet, this time, there was something different about it, or rather, someone.
You rushed to get a closer look, your eyes widening in surprise. Among the familiar faces of Bruce, Jason, Dick, and Damian, there was a new addition—a girl standing beside Damian. Who was she? And why the fuck she looked like you.
"Amber?" You yelled from your room, hoping her to hear. Her voice echoed back a response, and you called out again, "What did you do to my poster?"
You heard her quick footsteps and then Amber entered your room, her expression showing annoyance at being summoned. She glanced at the poster you were holding in your hand. "It looks perfectly normal to me. I didn't touch it."
You rolled your eyes, feeling annoyed more and a bit frustrated. "I mean, who's the new character next to Damian?"
Amber looked at you as if you had said the most absurd thing you could ever say. "Are you serious right now? Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? Listen, i need to go out. I know that you're kind of excited and anxious to meet Nate and you don't want to be alone but i have to go." You turned around and saw she already dressed up. You were speechless.
"Wait, what? Are you going out? Are you going to leave me alone with Nate and excuse me but what the fuck is happening right now! Who is this girl."
She didn't say anything and left the room, leaving you without any further explanation.
You reached over your laptop and opened it. Yes, something weird was going on and you were determined to find it and what would be a better way than google. You pull your soft, white chair and sit on it while you are waiting for your laptop to be open. When it got open, you typed the batfamily and searched for it.
After like three minutes, you saw the name Viperia, even though you read a lot of comics and familiar with almost every character at that point you've never heard of her so you typed 'Viperia' on a different tab. To your surprise, there were numerous posts and messages about this character. She appeared at the same time as Damian in comics. She was snarky, cocky and definitely a pain in the ass but somehow she literally had her own fan-base. You saw a lot of websites made in the honor of her, a lot of fanarts and literally thousands of fan fiction. But how come you've never heard about her and why did she literally look like you.
"Yeah, this must be a fucking dream."
When you heard a knock from the door, you remembered you were expecting Nate. Fuck, you already have forgotten about him coming. You pulled yourself together and promised to check this after you're done with Nate. Right now you have to focus on him.
You must have been so lost on your research, you didn't realize Amber already left the house. You opened the door and you saw Nate's bright face.
Seeing him make a lot of emotions rushing to you. There was longing in your heart, you were longing for his presence. There was some kind of disappointment. You were disappointed in him, he could've made this thing go further but he didn't. He chose to give up on you and you chose to give up on your relationship.
When you break up with someone, seeing them changing does have an effect on you. You expect them to be the same but you don't realize people tend to change every now and then, especially after going through a painful break-up. You felt sad but you felt you didn't have any right to be sad, after you were the who cut the cords of that relationship. You chose your path to leave him. It was painful for you but you knew that if you didn't, it would be more painful in the future. But somehow right that moment you were looking at a completely different guy. He had a bright smile on his face just like he always does but somehow it was different, it was full of confidence. His eyes were shining like two little stars. He was radiating some kind of sunshine energy that you became addicted once. And seeing him make all of these things rush through your mind.
He had a white shirt on him, which made him look very... professional? But in a pretty way. His partly long hair was slicked back nicely. You can see his newly grow beard that he probably is going to shave tomorrow morning. Even though he looked almost the same as two months ago you realized he changed, he's much better now. He's better off without you or maybe you were just that lonely who was considering going back to her ex just because you hated being alone or a narcissist who thinks everyone is in love with her.
"Hello." His stern voice made you startled since you were, once again, wandering on your mind. "Hello, how rude I am. Come in." you stepped backwards for him to enter the house. He was looking around when you closed the wooden door and turned at him.
"You guys made some changes on this apartment huh? It looks prettier." You smile at the compliment. Always too nice.
"Yes, it was time to get rid of some old stuff." Then you realized this was not an appropriate sentence to say since it's only been two months after the break up.
You cleaned your throat and talked again: "Take a seat I'll prepare us some coffee." When you were rushing to the kitchen, you heard his footsteps right behind you. "You never really learn do you? I'm literally here for your heart and you are offering me coffee? Way to go." You laughed at his point.
It was nice to be around him. He had such a charm that could make you feel comfortable all the time. There wasn't any awkward silence around him. It was always joyful, happy and full of smiles. He was like a home for you once. Now he was just a stranger you perfectly know.
"Well, old habits die hard." At that point you literally wanted to punch yourself on your face. There were millions of words in English and somehow you always chose the one that made you sound like a heartless person.
When you were preparing the coffee he sat on a chair beside the window. It was raining again. There was no lightning or storm but just plain rain. It was the fourth day today and the weird thing is, it was middle of the fucking summer, July to be exact.
"So, your heart?" When you put on his mug, (which was adorable by the way. It was dark red with little white hearts on it.) on the little coffee table in front of him. You sat right in front of him. "Yes, I think Amber is overreacting. I'm perfectly fine." He looked at you with his brown eyes, completely scanning your body. It's like, he was trying to find evidence of you being okay. But in reality he was actually thinking about how much he missed you. He missed being around you, your presence, your voice, your scent and everything about you. He missed hearing your stupid theories about comics, he missed talking about ordinary stuff under the stars on a hill that he would take you every saturday, he missed you making him laugh so hard that he would cry, he missed you. Simply you, being you.
"Still, i think you should come to the hospital and let me examine you over there since I didn't bring a lot of stuff." You nod, perfectly aware of the fact that you simply wouldn't do something like that. You knew something was different. You experienced a lot of seizures like that and it was different and since you already took your medicine, you wouldn't bother to go again. If there's something, that would mean more medicine. But you were sure that was not the case.
Your mind went to Damian's sister again. How could this be possible. She looked exactly like you and you were wondering how she can appear on your poster. It was there for three years now and you would've noticed at some point right? Viperia... Even the name sounds so made up, you still were trying to convince yourself that you actually imagined that person. But then again, Amber said she's been there for some time. Maybe she also hallucinated.
You tried to pull your attention back on the guy sitting in front of you. Viperia was the future you problem, right now you had Nate in front of you.
"You look tired." When he stated the obvious fact you simply smiled. "Yes, it's been a long day." More like two days in one. "And I'm kind of anxious maybe that's why."
He directly looked into your eyes with such a compassionate look. If he could make your pain go away, he would in a heartbeat. It was so weird to part your ways even though you love that person. But growing up meant realizing it's important have someone who has the same mindset as you and about that, you guys were not the best. 'Love can start something but it wouldn't make something keep going.' Your mother used to say this sentence a lot whenever she and your dad argued.
He reached over your hand that was on uour your lap. When he touched you, you could feel the vibrations going around your body. It was dumb to think that you were over him but when it's you, you can never be sure and you knew that all to well.
"You know that I'm here right? It doesn't matter what time is it, if you call, I'll come." He said almost whispering. His hand traces its way through your face. Cupping one of your cheeks. No, that wasn't good. You could feel that every cell of yours longing for him but that wasn't a good idea.
"I think you should go."
He looked at you for five seconds with a disappointed look on his face. He could tell that you were uncomfortable and he didn't want to keep doing whatever he was doing. Then he take his hand off your face and stood up. "Yes, I think I should go. Thank you for the coffee. I think tomorrow morning you should visit the hospital just in case." You nodded and said 'thank you' while he was taking his stuff and going to door.
"Goodnight." He was the one who smiled as an answer this time.
As soon as you closed the door, you released the breath you didn't even you were holding until that point.
You went into your room after sitting back of the door for some time, collecting your thoughts about Nate. You needed something to take your mind off from Nate and you decided to keep researching about Viperia.
Two hours later, your mind was almost going to explode from all the information you found about her.
She was the sixth child of Batman, not a sister but twin of Damian. Raised by Bruce but also Talia too. Her name was the same as yours but she was using Viperia as an alias, which was a venomous snake. She was skilled at martial arts and she was a great assassin, maybe even better than Damian. She was quite popular with her rage and snarky comments just like Damian. She was getting along with almost every family member except Tim and you didn't find anything relating to that topic. On some fandom base sites, there were a lot of theories about them dating secretly 'why else they wouldn't even once mention about her relationship with Tim' they wrote. 'Tim never even refers to her as his sister.' You searched so deep that you even had came across a smut writing between her and Alfred which made you a little bit of uncomfortable and also scared.
You started to think how could you miss this character or did she literally appear out to nowhere in three hours?
The creator was releasing new chapters on that comic series in every two weeks. 'Batman's Daughter' was the title. It was covering the whole background starting from the birth which was crazy but useful also, since you learned that Talia literally put her in Lazarus Pit whenever she had some kind of blade cuts on the age of fucking three. No wonder that girl was total nuts but of course fun to read.
When you were doing your research your laptop's notification sound made you startled. Maybe you didn't have any resemblance with her since she could literally murder without even flinching and you were, well, getting startled from a notification sound.
It was an e-mail.
You took your laptop and stood up from the chair you've been sitting for some time now. Since you also started to get sleepy it was a good idea to going to your bed and read your mail over there.
You sat on your soft green colored sheets and opened your mail, you didn't know the person who sent you the mail. There was literally no name or anything. Just an attachment and a word on the subject part which was 'read :)'
You clicked on the attachment, even though you knew you shouldn't since it was a mail from someone unknown and you might even download a fucking virus on your laptop but however something inside of you was couraging you to open it.
It was a comic on a pdf format but it was more like a work in progress. Some parts were still empty.
The Doom of Batfamily?
That was enough for your curiosity to take over, so you started reading.
It was starting with Bruce talking with his family about some unusual murders on the city. He was suspecting someone from the League of Assassins since the murder weapon was a sword. But turns out it was Viperia who is getting more and more insane everyday because of the Lazarus pit. But it didn't even stop there, she was getting involved with some villains to trap her family one by one and killing them all, she was thinking they were on her way.
You were horrified. It was very graphical and the sketches literally showed everything explicitly. In the end, she was literally standing on all of their dead bodies, laughing histerically.
You close the laptop immediately and closed your eyes, trying once again to collect your thoughts. Everything seemed so messy right now and you didn't know what to do. Why Viperia appeared out of nowhere, Who was the sender of the mail, why is she killing all of her family, what the fuck is going on.
"Fuck, no."
Without resisting more, you give yourself in the sweet arms of sleep. You could try to solve that problem tomorrow, you needed some sleep now.
After like two minutes of sleeping you opened your eyes involuntarily since, well, you only closed them for two minutes.
"It took you long enough."
With this voice, you got scared again.
"I didn't know you like sleeping this much it's literally noon time now, wake up so we can go to my favorite cafe to have some breakfast and then feed the ducks."
You watched him in horror.
"Hey, haven't you missed your beloved brother?"
"Damian?"
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niccichi · 1 year
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Everything We Know About Jamie (so far)
Recently some developers for SF6 revealed a bit of Jamie's backstory at an event, and since he's my babygirl I decided to compile everything that's confirmed to make it easier to reference! I tried to pull everything from the game (World Tour, official descriptions), developer tweets and summaries from events like these. Most of these were in Japanese though, and since idk Japanese I had to Google Translate, so please take these with a grain of salt!
Putting everything under the cut because it's long and I don't wanna clog up dashes 🍶
He’s 2 years younger than Luke. Luke’s in his late 20s.
While Luke loves fighting for the sake of fighting, Jamie takes his relationship with his opponent into consideration. He reserves some techniques (like the finger snap) for a few opponents.
Jamie’s dad is a rich businessman and his mom is his dad’s mistress. His father’s wife passed away for unknown reasons. He hates his dad but loves his mom as they both went through a lot of hardships together (not sure how correct this is considering in WT he says he rarely sees her and doesn't know anything about her besides the fact that she's pretty). He calls his mother often, and he is very close to her.
Jamie's mom is a former actress.
He was born in Shanghai, but moved with his dad to Hong Kong to live with his mom.
He knows how to play the trumpet and learned it when he was a kid. The taunt he does where he sings his theme song and pretends to play the trumpet actually has the right finger placements.
He values his friends highly, always considering them first before himself.
He finds it hard to open up with people he likes, but he has no problems being honest with people he doesn’t like.
He moved to the US with his parents in high school due to his father’s work.
He hates lectures and arrogant people.
He loves his grandmother, Yun, and Yang.
He lived with his grandmother for a little bit in China, in the middle of nowhere. His parents sent him to live there when they got tired of his reckless behavior. He says that she was the one who taught him "how to fight" and "how to live." It's unknown how old he was when he lived with her.
Yun and Yang saved his life when he was in middle school after he got beat up by a gang member and was about to be killed for refusing to join their gang. He's admired them since and considers them his bros. He hasn't seen them in recent years though.
His favorite food is cloud noodles. He loves spicy foods and candy too.
He doesn't like carbonated drinks, and he doesn't like any foods with raw fish because he can't stand the smell.
He's ambidextrous.
Jamie started wearing make-up because of his mother.
He looks like his mother but his personality is like his father's. It's unknown why his relationship with his father is so strained.
Jamie doesn't text anybody because he doesn't like having messages being left behind. It's unclear why he doesn't like having messages - it's speculated that he either doesn't like having proof of people he's close with being found out because of his 'work' (see next point), or that he doesn't like having the memories there. He only calls people.
Jamie makes money through 'dirty work,' but it's unclear what this work involves. However, director Nakayama said that he learned how to do these jobs from Yun and Yang, who are speculated to be involved with the criminal underworld in Hong Kong in order to maintain the peace, resolving issues in their town by getting paid by residents to act as bodyguards/security, and Jamie might be doing the same in Chinatown if he learned from them.
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bronx-bomber87 · 1 year
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Hello all! We forge onto episode 13 for s1. Super solid ep all around really enjoy this one.
1x13 Caught Stealing
I love whenever Chenford get a cold open. This one doesn't disappoint. After the last ep Tim needed a little fun. What’s more fun than messing with his rookie on her first night shift? Ah the night shift I can’t imagine with that job. Poor Lucy I feel tired just watching her in this scene. Girl needs her some caffeine.
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The amount of sass he is throwing her way is hilarious. Being the tough ass T.O. with a little salty sass throw in for his enjoyment. He's definitely have a little fun with how damn tired she is. Poor Lucy is paying for not listening to his nap advice. Lucy see's a random guy in the street. We see them out out of the car because she insists she saw him. Lucy eventually follows this guy Tim doesn't see. Its very evident once she catches up to him this is a dream. She's awoken by laughter and mortified she's fallen asleep on her first midnight shift.
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Tim is so pleased with himself she fell sleep. Not only that but he gets to have others in on it with him. Her ‘No No’ as he's laughing and taking pics too funny. Clearly enjoying his damn self haha Lucy didn’t listen to his advice and paid for it. He's not even mad as he's taking pics. He's bemused with her more than anything else. You can see it in his face. There is no anger there. He is very much enjoying giving her a hard time about this. (Work flirt part 1.)
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Part 2 is the shirts he makes haha Lucy's face/reaction cracks me up. She's not even the least bit shocked he did this. Such a turd haha. Highly doubt Tim has ever messed with a rookie the way he does with Lucy. Just another work flirt between them. Whether he realizes he's doing it or not. She brings out a side of him rarely seen. His playful side it’s fun to see. Tim knows it’s going to bother her so naturally he does it haha
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I'll say it again the absolute sass Tim has with her in this episode is unreal haha He's getting so comfortable with her its just pouring out. They report to a burglary at a fertility clinic. Lucy being Lucy has to question if its an abduction or burglary haha She has a fair point in what she’s asking LOL I do love her little notebook trying to take down everything she can. Absorb whatever knowledge Tim is gonna throw her way. Even when he's being surly with her she's always ready to learn regardless. They end up going to the apt of the woman who stole the eggs. The ex- wives are in the midst of a massive fight about them when they arrive.
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Tim steps in immediately as their mediator. This scenario hits a little differently for Tim now. Also for the viewer as well. The way he handles this entire situation is masterful. If this isn’t his entire situation with Isabel in a moment idk what is. Just with the way he responds and de-escalates the whole situation. Using his past pain to do so. Now that he’s removed from it you can see the perspective he's gained since. How he uses it to relate to this woman's distress.
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The way he’s talking this lady through her emotional crisis. My goodness. Gets me right in the feels. The reason she ends up listening is because she can hear in his voice he can relate. The tone he is taking with her is so sincere. I couldn't be prouder of him. The Tim that Lucy started with would be floored by the words coming out of his mouth right now. They hit so much differently as he calms the ex-wife down. You can hear the painful experience in his voice.
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You can’t tell me Lucy’s words from 1x07 didn’t stick with him. The way she stopped him from this fate, from hating himself. Tim knew deep down he would've had he gone through with his plans. Lucy was there to stop him from doing that to himself. Tim is doing the same for this woman now. This is what growth looks like. Most people might think his growth is more apparent and doesn’t truly start till s2. Where we see Tim start to visibly soften for her, but it started the day he met Lucy Chen.
You can see the impact she’s had on his life. These are the moments that reflect that. How he's changed due to her presence in his life. That small crack in his rigid wall she started on day 1. How it continues to grow. S1 Tim is rough at the start but he is for a reason. It seems like this is a small scene in the ep as a whole if you’re not paying attention. But this scene is absolute growth for Tim. His character arc is primo and Lucy's role in it even more so.
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It makes me smile how Tim impresses her with this line of thought. Lucy is genuinely impressed with his attitude about the domestic violence rule. He’s almost offended she seemed surprised haha I think he truly does want her to think highly of him. Tim might actually be slightly offended when she is 'surprised' by him with stuff like this. Where he finds her 'surprised' Lucy is actually expressing 'awe' for him.
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We all know underneath that gruff exterior beats a soft puppy of a man. (Especially for her) I dare say Lucy’s attraction to him grows due to this comment he makes about the rule. She tries to rebound by saying he surprises her everyday hehe I know he does. His reply is so cute. They're so married and have no idea.
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Tim’s gut reaction is to immediately defend Lucy. *heart clutch* Not only that but compliments her while doing so. Talia calls him out on his compliment. They both know he doesn’t hand those out ever. You can tell he's a little irked Talia has done so. He back tracks a little cause of it but not much. He doubles down on it still and says she’s smarter than this.
He knows her just as well she knows him at this point. Tim is very aware how sharp Lucy is. So if it was even slightly possible she did this would've it would've been executed better. He's almost offended they would attach her to such a poorly thought out plan. Ah if only Lucy could hear him singing her praises Her head would explode. Oh the growth in this ep for him is glorious.
That wraps it up for the Chenford portion of this ep.
Side Notes. Non Chenford
I LOVE how Angela brings Jackson down a peg in this ep. He was insufferable about the rules. Well until he ran into a fiery buzz saw that was Angela and never recovered haha I do appreciate him coming to her at the end and apologizing. Thanking her for never giving up on him. He wouldn’t be here without her and wouldn't let himself forget that again.
Also the beginning of BAMF Lucy where she holds her own against a slew of baddies solo. Then out smarts them by revealing what the guy did and how he stole the money. Love our girl. Like Tim said she’s smart. Too smart for his own good most days haha doesn’t need Nolan by time he gets there. Saves her own damn self.
As always I thank you all for you likes/comments/reblogs. Truly love the comments. Replying to them is one of my fav things. See you all in 1x14 :)
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superlinguo · 9 months
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Barb Kelly
This time last year came the sudden, unexpected news of the death of Barbara F. Kelly's. Barb Kelly was one of my undergraduate lecturers, my principle PhD supervisor, and eventually a collaborator and friend. I have mentioned Barb in passing on the blog over the years, but now we've muddled through a year without her, I finally feel like I have some space to reflect on the fact she has been one of the most important influences the course of my life.
Barb was many things to many people. She managed to do this by being deeply curious about people, and had a devastatingly compelling ability to give you her full attention when you were talking with her. She was interesting because she was interested; her friendships, hobbies and tastes were eclectic and wide-ranging. There's a really beautiful obituary from our colleague Nick Evans that captures the story of Barb's life. This is my story of how Barb shaped me as a linguist, a researcher and a person.
I first encountered Barb when she was teaching in my final year of a Bachelor of Arts. The third year subject Language and Culture was a romp through kin terms, colour theory, names, primates, spatial systems, social intelligence, politeness, and so much more. Barb was an enthusiastic lecturer, with anecdotes, contextualisation and rich examples every week.
One week she introduced us to the topic of gesture. I was intrigued! How had I made it through a whole degree without encountering this work! (now that I write courses, I know how hard it is to find space in the curriculum for every topic worthy of attention, and gesture rarely features at all in undergraduate coursework). At the end of the lecture Barb said "this is one of my favourite topics. You're not allowed to do you're final assignment on this unless you see me first, because I don't want to read a bad assignment on this topic."
I still remember when I went to talk to her about it, and experienced the full intensity of the undivided attention of Barb Kelly for the first time. At some point, mildly bewildered by all this new reading, I wondered how we even knew that people paid attention to different types of gesture. "I always thought that would be a good topic for an honours thesis," Barb mentioned, before walking me back to something more manageable for a class paper.
[A brief time jump: The last time Barb and I caught up, it was getting to the end of the year and we were trying to avoid editing a paper. Somehow we got talking about the first time we met. Barb's main recollection was: "You were so weird." Barb thought it was very funny, but I also think that being interesting to Barb Kelly was a delightful compliment.]
A couple of weeks later, I went back and asked "could... I be the person who did that paper you mentioned?" At the very end of the final semester of my degree, I threw in my plans for a fourth year of Art History. I'm not usually one to change big plans so dramatically, but I decided that I wanted to do linguistics if I got to do the kind of linguistics Barb did. Of course, many years later when we were talking about it she laughed "I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want you to do it!"
That's how we got working on a small honours project to see what kinds of gestures and other movement people report that they pay attention to. It was an in-the-spirit replication of an old task Adam Kendon set up in the 1970s with a projector and silent film, but we used a computer and software that let people mark what they thought a gesture was (this became, many years later, Gawne & Kelly 2014). Just as I was finishing up data collection Barb disappeared. She had colorectal cancer and (although I didn't know this at the time) the prognosis was terrible.
At the end of that year I felt quite lost. I had finished the project, but didn't really know what to do next. I managed to get an office job for a while; it was fun to have a steady income after years of student life, but I got bored pretty quickly. I had planned a long nonsense holiday in Europe to distract myself. Barb had returned to work and I emailed her about catching up for coffee. I even fact-checked this in my email archive, and apparently I asked to "pick [her] brain about post-grad courses". It's easy to forget, with the benefit of hindsight, just how little idea I had of what I could do, what I should do or how I should go about making any of it happen. The only people I knew who had PhDs were the ones who taught me. I do remember we talked about where there was good work being done, the difference between Australian/UK and North American PhD programs and what kind of topics I might do. Barb then mentioned that she had a project she was working on and they were looking for someone do contribute by doing a PhD on evidential systems of a Tibeto-Burman language from Nepal. How was I meant to come up with a better idea than that? She promised me that her oncologist gave her at least the four years I needed to finish a PhD, because I am excessively practical and Barb had a very good sense of humour. I mailed my application to do a PhD at The University of Melbourne from a post office in Malta while on my holiday. I only mention this because it sounds very nonsense and like something form the 1930s.
[A disclaimer here: I usually strongly discourage students from staying at their undergaduate institution for graduate study. But I also point out I'm a giant hypocrite and staying at UoM to work with Barb was a good decision for me. Please take into account the survivor bias. Barb believed in me and that was more useful than anything another institution could have provided]
The week before I started my PhD with Barb, we caught up off campus with Sara, another PhD student who was about to start working with Barb. Barb used it as an opportunity to explain to us that even though a PhD would be big and demanding and important, it was also important that we didn't let it stop us living the rest of our lives, "if you need to, take a break to tour with a band or have a kid, that's important too" I was worried she was maybe expecting I had time to start a band as well as do a PhD? but it also left a lasting impression on me. She was so good at talking through the linguistic content of what I was doing, but also socialising me into the expectations of academia, while being realistic about life also happening. With Rachel Nordlinger as co-supervisor and Jill Wigglesworth as chair, they were an amazing, sometimes slightly terrifying, dream team who took their roles as supervisors, teachers and mentors seriously.
After my PhD, Barb joined me in the work with Andrea Berez-Kroker on data management. We also tinkered away on other things; including getting my honours thesis published. She helped me plan job applications, and even loaned me her office when I had video interviews. When I left Melbourne for post-docs we'd meet in different corners of the world. She was supportive and practical during many of my less optimistic moments while I was precariously employed. I enjoyed that my postdoc work allowed me to return to gesture, and spend more time doing lingcomm stuff, while still continuing to do work on evidentials and language documentation. Having Barb as a role-model mean that I normalised having a range of interests as a strength. I still spend a lost of time at a desk, but it's as far away as possible from the monotonous office job I left to come back to do a PhD.
In late 2020 Barb had a cardiac arrest. When La Trobe offered me an ongoing job in that same week, I apologised to her for texting her while she was in ICU. Obviously this is important because I'm the protagonist of my own story, even though it's a story about Barb, but I also wanted to mention it because a recurring theme in conversations over the last year has been "but, even when she technically *died* she still came back", which hasn't really helped things sink in.
I am pretty much the age Barb was when we first met. And, a couple of years into a tenured teaching/research role, I'm in a similar place professionally. And that's very much thanks to Barb. Without Barb I would not have done honours in linguistics, and I would not have come back to do a PhD. I wouldn't have been ready to face the grueling academic job market, and I wouldn't have normalised the importance of having more in life to define you than your job.
I miss talking with Barb all the time. There have been moments in the last year when I've been introducing someone to the bouba/kiki test, writing about my favourite gesture papers or talking through a problem a grad student is having with their writing, and I get to continue Barb's passion and enthusiasm. I am so grateful for the influence she has had on me as a linguist, teacher, supervisor and human, and I'm grateful I get to pass that on.
Co-authored papers This is a list of all the published papers for which we were co-authors. I'm proud that they represent a good range of our shared interests across gesture studies, language documentation, and data management. We have one more forthcoming paper, a handbook chapter on discourse in Tibeto-Burman languages, which is the other major area of shared interest that carried through my PhD work and beyond.
Gawne, Lauren, Chelsea Krajcik, Helene N. Andreassen, Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker & Barbara F. Kelly. 2019. Data Transparency and Citation in the Journal Gesture. Gesture 18(1): 83–109. https://doi.org/10.26181/5f57fddc85ebb [Superlinguo blog post]
Berez-Kroeker, A.L., L. Gawne, S. Kung, B.F. Kelly, T. Heston, G. Holton, P. Pulsifer, D. Beaver, S. Chelliah, S. Dubinsky, R. Meier, N. Thieberger, K. Rice & A. Woodbury. 2018. Reproducible Research in linguistics: A position statement on data citation and attribution in our field. Linguistics 56(1): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2017-0032 [Superlinguo blog post]
Gawne, L., B.F. Kelly, A.L. Berez- Kroeker & T. Heston. 2017. Putting practice into words: The state of data and methods transparency in grammatical descriptions. Language Documentation & Conservation 11: 157-189. [OA PDF] [Superlinguo blog post]
Gawne, L. & B.F. Kelly. 2014. Revisiting ‘significant action and gesture categorisation. Australian Journal of Linguistics 34 (2): 216-233. https://doi.org/10.26181/5e4b684d8f1e9
Gawne, L., B.F. Kelly & A. Unger . 2010. Gesture categorisation and understanding speaker attention to gesture. In Y. Treis & R. De Busser (Eds), Selected papers from the 2009 conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. Melbourne: La Trobe University. [PDF]
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yes-i-write-fanfiction · 11 months
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So we've see TFA and TFP dream worlds, but what about the Rescue Bots?
What if a villain like Dr. Morocco or Madelyn Pynch built a device that kept the bots in recharge and in their dream worlds.
What would their ideal dream world's be? And how would they break out?
I would have to say that, similar to in TFA during the episode Human Error, they would all share one dream world. That's because their dreams are all so similar to one another. Since Earth is the only place they know, they are still on Griffin Rock and compared to all the other scenarios, there's nothing really extreme about their dreams which makes Fake Griffin Rock almost identical to the real place. Things are just... a tad different. Small things that, if you weren't familiar with the place and the people, you wouldn't notice.
Heatwave has been told by Optimus Prime himself that because of his outstanding duty and excellent skills that he's been chosen to join team Prime. He's overjoyed, seeing that all his hard work has finally paid off.
Blades is doing art and crafts with Bumblebee. Literally. Nothing dangerous is happening, no one is in danger and Bumblebee is there for some reason.
Chase is out working with Charlie Burns and things are going amazing. It's just work after work and always new things happening. They are helping people and everyone is telling Chase what a good job he's doing. That's basically it. He's just doing his job and people are nice to him.
Boulder is having a nice day out in the forest, bird watching. The weather is perfect, some deer walk up to him and he finds some rare flowers.
It's probably Chase that first figures out that something is wrong. He comes across Blades doing art and crafts with Bumblebee and asks him what he's doing, doesn't he know that there's a lot happening and Chase could need some help. When Blades tells him that nothing has happened, Chase gets suspicious. It's at this point that he also asks what Bumblebee is doing here and when Fake Bumblebee can't come up with a comprehensible answer even Blades feels that something is off.
Both of them go out to find Boulder and asks him if he hasn't noticed that something is different. Boulder confides in them that he's been experiencing some strange things, like deja vu and encounters with animals repeating.
Finally, the three of them find Heatwave and at first he refuses to believe that something is wrong. But then he proudly tells his team that he's going to join team Prime and Blades get super sad because does that mean he's going to leave them and this causes Heatwave to hesitate. He comms Optimus and asks what's going to happen to his team and when Fake Optimus responds "what about them?", Heatwave realizes that this uncaring person cannot really be Prime.
And THAT'S how they figure out they're in a simulation.
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triptuckers · 11 months
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invisible scars - echo
Request: nope Pairing:  echo x jedi!reader Summary:  the war leaves a lot of scars, some you can see and some that are invisible to the eye Warnings:  mentions of war (big shocker!!), mentions of death, angst, negative self image I guess?? Word count:  2.2KA/N: this has been sitting in my drafts for too long. also im totally fine. enjoy reading! posts that inspired this fic: feral-ballad catchymemes nothingbutloveforyou
life after the war was hard. you had to constantly look over your shoulder. it's been a while since the war ended but it never hurt to be careful. you don't want to experience firsthand what the empire does to jedi who served in the war and managed to escape order 66.
you'd been traveling the galaxy on your own after getting a ship. it took a lot of hard work to get the credits to be able to afford a ship, but it was worth it.
your ship wasn't exactly big or fully up to date, but it got you from place to place, and it was entirely yours. while you loved having your own ship, it was hard to be alone.
long ago, when you'd served as a general in the grand army of the republic, you loved having people around you. it's been hard, being alone for so long.
you took work whenever you could, as you needed to eat and you needed to pay for fuel for your ship. some jobs were dangerous, others were boring, most of them you did on your own. you traveled from planet to planet, doing jobs for a few shady people.
at one point, in search of work, you ended up on ord mantell. someone pointed you in the direction of cid when you mentioned that you were looking for work.
so, you started to do some jobs for her. you suspected she wasn't always 100% honest with you and some of the jobs were tough, but you got paid. and though cid's bar was never packed, you were there a lot when you were on ord Mantell. it reminded you of 79's back on coruscant.
when you first went out on your own, you made a promise to yourself never to stay in one place too long. just to be safe. but you always found yourself back at cid's. you wouldn't exactly call it home, but it was a nice place to relax in between jobs.
it's also where you met the bad batch.
one day you were sitting at the bar, having a drink by yourself, when you sensed someone looking at you. your old instincts kicked in, and you slowly reached for one of your blasters. but then you spotted the figure coming out of hiding. it was a kid.
she introduced herself as omega, and started a conversation. she was happy and excited to talk to you. it was refreshing to sit and talk with her. you gathered she didn't know a lot about the galaxy, so she loved your stories.
over time, you saw omega more often at cid's. most of the times she was accompanied by a few men who she seemed to be traveling with. you had only seen them from afar a couple of times, before omega introduced them to you as her brothers.
you could tell they were clones. though they didn't look like the men you served with, you knew they were clones anyway. you never asked them about it, you never commented on it. they'd talk to you if they wanted to.
as you started to spend more time with omega and with her brothers, cid started sending you on missions with them. you got to know them better every time cid sent you somewhere.
after a while, you decided to do all of your missions together. you worked well alongside each other, and you liked the company.
it had been a few months since you started working with them, when one of cid's missions took you to a planet you were familiar with. you were silent most of the journey.
the others could tell something was troubling you, but they didn't want to push you. they knew little of your past, as you rarely talked about it. you weren't ready to share that story yet.
it was echo who was especially worried about you. you were never this quiet. he figured he'd wait til you opened up on your own accord, pushing his own worries away.
cid's mission hadn't been hard. you ran into little trouble as there was almost no one living on the desert planet. she had sent you there to retrieve some of the plants that still grew there. most of the plants were gone, but some still existed. they were worth some money on the black market.
of course, no one had told omega that was the real reason you were here. she was just happy to get the flowers and to see another new planet.
you're standing a bit away from the ship, looking out over the sea of sand in front of you. behind you, the others are loading up the harvested flowers.
you don't hear much of omega's talking, too busy drowning in your thoughts.
after a while, you feel someone's presence right behind you.
'you okay?'
it's echo.
of course it's echo. there was something unspoken between the two of you. you could understand each other with little to no words. it was just so comfortable to be around him. you often sought him out, even if you didn't have a reason to do so.
'I'll be fine.' you say.
echo is silent as he moves to stand beside you. he looks out over the desert in front of you. there's little left of the villages, a few ruins scattered among the sand dunes and memories in the heads of people that left long ago.
'you know this planet, don't you?' asks echo.
you turn to him. 'how did you know?'
echo smiles softly. 'I know we know very little of you past. but I can tell you've lived through a war. I know that look on your face. I've seen it everywhere, in everyone I served with.' he says.
over time, you had learned more about the bad batch and their stories. you know they served int eh army as well, yet you couldn't recall if you had ever crossed paths with them.
while most of them had been a part of clone force 99 along with their brother crosshair, echo hadn't always been a part of the bad batch. he had been part of the 501st, anakin and ahsoka's men.
looking at the horizon, you get the sudden urge to tell echo. all of it.
he's been in the war as well. he knows what it was like. he would understand. but it's all too painful to talk about.
the bad batch didn't even know you were a general. they figured out you were a jedi, but you told them you left the order before the end of the war. it wan't true. the truth was just too painful to talk about.
'I do know this planet.' you say softly. 'I haven't been here in years. I had heard stories of what happened here, what the empire had done. I just wasn't ready to see it with my own eyes. guess sometimes you end up at the very place you try to avoid at all costs.'
'was this your home planet?'
you swallow the lump in your throat. 'yes.'
'I'm sorry.'
'I thought I had already moved past it. but to see it with my own eyes. it's different. it used to be beautiful. this whole places was covered in the most gorgeous plants. now all that's left is a few dying flowers people sell on the black market.'
'it was weird for me to go back to kamino as well. it was still there of course, but the last time I was there, I was with my brother.'
'which one?'
you turn to look at echo. when he looks at you, you can tell the look in his eyes mirrors you own.
'fives. he didn't survive the war.'
'was he in the 501st as well?'
'he was. he was an excellent soldier. but an even better brother. I still miss him every day.'
'losing someone is never easy. especially during a war.'
'what was your rank?'
you're silent, fidgeting with your hands. you don't talk about the war.
'I'm guessing commander or general.' says echo.
'how do you know I served in the war?'
'you don't talk about it much, but when you do, it's like you were there. I don't think you left the jedi order. I think you're one of the few survivors. but don't worry. I haven't told anyone else. you can tell them yourself whenever you're ready. I know it's hard.'
'thank you.'
echo smiles at you and nods, then turns his gaze back to the horizon. you stand next to each other in silence for a while. you're thinking back to the war, all the friends you lost and mourned. what you had to do to survive after the republic fell.
'you know, I may be a jedi, but in the end I wasn't a good person.' you say softly.
'what makes you say that?' says echo.
'I... hurt some of my men.' you confess. 'I didn't mean to. they suddenly turned on me. all of them. it wasn't until later that I figured out it was order 66. but... I did hurt them. I did what I had to do to survive. at least, that's what I tell myself. but I hate myself for it. every night before I fall asleep I think of them. they're in all my nightmares.'
'I had no idea. when you're with us, you're often the most optimistic one. save maybe for omega.'
you shrug. 'it's easy to forget that violence is mostly kept inside.'
'is that why you're sometimes so exhausted? nightmares keeping you awake?'
'mostly, yes. sometimes I'm afraid to go to sleep. I don't know what's worse, surviving the war or being killed by someone you trusted. those men did everything I asked them to. they were my brothers as much as they were each others. and in the end, I wasn't there for them. I failed them.'
echo turns to you so he can fully face you. 'y/n, it's not your fault. you know of those chips now. they had no choice, and you were defending yourself. if you hadn't, you'd be dead now.
you don't meet his eyes. 'maybe. it doesn't matter now anyway. I have no idea how many of them survived. and if they did, they're most likely serving the empire now. doing stuff like this.' you gesture to the desert planet you're on.
'for what it's worth, I think we can still fight. I think deep down, you haven't fully given up. otherwise you wouldn't have been a high ranking officer in the army leading men into battle.' says echo.'
a whistle interrupts your conversation with echo. you look back at the marauder to see hunter waving at you.
'you two ready to go?' he says.
'be right there!' says echo.
'I don't want to come back here.' you say softly. 'it's too painful, brings back too many memories.'
'we don't have to come back here. I appreciate you for opening up to me.'
you feel tears welling up in the corners of your eyes. 'I don't really talk about it. there's a lot more. but I haven't told anyone that.'
'listen, I know your struggle. having so many painful memories that are too fresh to talk about. and I hope you win this war you tell no one about.' says echo.
you look up at him and manage a smile. 'thanks, echo.'
'let's head back to the ship, yeah?'
'yeah, let's get out of here.'
echo starts to walk back to the marauder as you take one last look at the planet that was once your home.
'echo?' you say, walking up to him.
he turns around, expecting you to say something. instead, you walk closer to him and wrap your arms around his chest.
at first, echo freezes up, unsure of what to do. everyone knows there's something going on between you two, though you've never talked about it.
but then he slowly wraps his arms around you. he knows he's done the right thing when he feels you shuffle closer and press your face in his chest.
the two of you stand there like that for a while. you close your eyes and allow yourself to soak up the feeling of safety and comfort.
when you finally pull away, you look up at echo and smile.
'now at least I have one good memory of this place.' you say. 'thank you again for listening, echo.'
echo smiles at you as well. 'of course. if you ever need me, you know where to find me.'
'thanks. now let's get out of here.'
echo motions to the marauder. 'after you.'
while you still didn't feel like talking about all of it yet, you know echo will be there whenever you do feel like opening up. it was nice to have someone listen, especially someone who understands right away.
you just know you'd be seeking out echo a lot more after this.
A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rulesHere’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Max/Marit
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