#you still get a dentist's receptionist chasing you down at the end of your appointment telling you that you need to sleep more

[demonslayedher]

How do you stay productive and up to your work/studies.. does your workflow drain your mental energy …asking for a friend🥲

Me, when I first saw this Ask, while ignoring at least ten real life tasks:

Me, knowing that I am enabled and driven to be an obsessive monster mostly due to my current situation in life and my personal recipe of brain soup:

Me, deciding I need to be a good senpai and just stick with practical advice:

I SHALL ENDEAVOR TO KEEP THIS TO THE POINT!! IT’S PROBABLY GOING TO GET LONG ANYWAY!! WE SHALL COVER MAKING FANDOM CONTENT! STUDYING, ESPECIALLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE! AND ADULTING, BECAUSE I HAVE TO EAT!!!!

OKAY SO!!! I AM KIND OF OBSESSED WITH KIMETSU NO YAIBA!!! I own up to this fact. I allow myself to run with it. Ultimately, FANDOM SHOULD BE FUN. Keeping it fun keeps my mental energy for it up. Don’t pressure yourself into anything, and have boundaries to keep yourself in the realm of what’s fun for you. That’s how I remain a happy monster living under a rock.

And I produce so, so, so, so, so, so much under this homey rock. PRACTICE!! I have! So! Much! Practice!! This means I go faster with generating ideas, doing research, and typing. Also, I broke the weeb scale a long time ago. Not only does a lot of my content pull from stuff I have been involved in since a pretty young age (specifically writing, drawing, and Japanese culture), but I have written so much meta by now that you can mention any scene in the manga and I can probably locate it from my collection in about ten seconds. PLANNING!! I never start writing until I see where I’m going!! I will develop something for minutes or years, but I have to generally see the whole picture before I start, even if there are things I will tinker with along the way. If my situation allows it I have been known to alter all my plans for the sake of writing like a monster for days due to a flash of inspiration, but when this isn’t doable, I pour that energy into writing outlines, which can help keep me focused for months, if that is what the draft calls for.

I STAY OBSESSED WITH ONE PROJECT AT A TIME Multiple WIPs? Cannot relate. When I say "WIP" I usually mean "the draft is done but I'm still stewing on edits." My current project at any given time demands that I finish it. Must not sleep or eat or—what do you mean I have to go to work? Arrrrrggghhhh---

Okay yes, but what if you don’t have ideas that possess you? What if you’re stuck? What if it’s, like, not fandom stuff, but homework?

BRAINSTORM!!!!! Brainstorming is a discipline you get better at. When you need to hurry and generate ideas, write down everything, whether in web format or list format or whatever suits you, as fast as you can, for a dedicated period of time. It doesn’t need to be super long, but aim for a little longer than comfortable; you’ll get to the brilliant ideas after pushing through the first layers of bland and overtly bizarre ideas. Brainstorming is a non-judgement zone, you write down E V E R Y idea, no matter how ridiculous. I also get hit with a lot of ideas in everyday life; sometimes it’s solutions to a place I may be stuck, but often it’s reconsidering how I’ve written something in the first draft or something that’s missing, and and I make a very quick note of it to go back to later. When I post fanfic on a schedule, I usually keep my thoughts relatively focused on the upcoming chapter to really let it stew, and I might come back to it several times between the updates. A lot of my ideas come when I'm doing mundane tasks like sweeping or showering. EDIT: If you're here specifically for writing advice, I have another brainstorming method I use especially when working out plot holes and how to get from Point A to Point B: ORATING TO MYSELF on selfie mode and seeing where my babbling takes me. It's a good thing my file sizes are too big to upload to Tumblr, nobody needs to watch me talking to myself while brushing my teeth, but some major takeaway: --identifying goals, plot constraints, character motivations --if tossing out an idea right away, identifying why (i.e., OOC) --approaching from many angles --skipping over parts that I need to figure out later --if I like a solution, asking myself what needs to happen to enable that solution --allowing some extreme ideas, which I might use in a lesser extent --jumping into character POV to walk myself through a problem the way the character would approach the problem --coming back to it in several videos as I continue digesting the problem Okay, okay, that’s great if you just want advice for writing tons of fanfic or Asks responses.

But what if you’re studying for a big Nerd Test? Or like, an actual school test you have to pass for class? Or studying a foreign language, or needing to memorize a speech? First, when studying a daunting amount of material, especially when a lot of it is trivial, prioritize between ACTIVE and PASSIVE knowledge. Passive knowledge means you’re familiar enough with something that you can choose it from multiple choice answers because you’re reminded of it, or you can listen and understand a word or phrase without actually being able to use it yourself. Passive knowledge is much easier to attain in huge amounts. Active knowledge is what you must produce yourself, and it’s going to require REPETITION and FOCUS and LOTS OF USE. The challenge is getting lots of info without wearing yourself out, thereby killing your motivation! Carving 15 minutes out of most days will familiarize you with something better than cramming for 4 hours and then not touching it again for a whole week. Even studying in 1-2 minutes spurts as many times as you can throughout the day will help build familiarity. For example, when I was at beginner and intermediate foreign language levels, I usually carried 25~50 flashcards with me to review at any open moment. Basically, any time you feel the urge to kill time looking at your phone, like waiting in a line or for a bus, you should make yourself go through the flashcards. DON’T JUST LOOK!! Use your other senses!! You want to learn kanji? You can't just look at those suckers, you really do have to write them, a lot, I’m sorry. If you’re using flashcards (for ANY topic, not just foreign language), write them with your finger on your thigh. USE KINESTHETICS AND TACTILE SENSES!! Writing things over and over, walking around as you read, chewing gum, keeping yourself more active instead of letting your mind wander as you just look at stuff. USE YOUR EARS TOO!!!! Read stuff aloud to yourself, record yourself, and play it back to yourself on repeat as you do other stuff. Get your brain super familiar with those patterns you want to memorize. Speaking of listening and active use, a lot of beginner language programs will be helpful to some extent, but only if used with dedication: active listening and speaking back, on a regular basis, and very repetitively. And for those of you who want to study Japanese? I am totally serious when I say to be the most annoying person in the room watching anime by mimicking everything as closely as you can, even if you have no idea what you’re saying. Voice actors are great models for parsing through grammar instead of muddling it together, and this gets your brain more familiar with patterns, so as you learn new words in book study (because for serious vocab acquisition, you WILL need textbooks), you’ll have a more intuitive understanding of how to actively use those words. Again, you must ACTIVELY engage with what you want in active recall, just passively watching anime doesn’t count, you silly otaku!!!!

And maybe you’ve got a friend who is fluent in your target language, and you both say to each other, “we should speak in that language in daily life”? Aw, that’s cute. And you never will, because it’s easier to use the language you already communicate with each other better in. Instead, set aside a SPECIFIC TIME, or even a specific place, where ONLY the target language is allowed, as a STRICT RULE. The amount of time will depend on your skill level and how exasperated you’ll find yourself trying to communicate. And your friend must be a jerk and follow the rules. Whenever I am in these situations in giving people English practice and they fall back into whatever language we usually use together, I make sure to blatantly lie, “What? What? Sorry, I don’t understand!” to force the person practicing into finding a way to say what they want to communicate.

Yes, that’s well and good, with practice you too can create massive works of fandom material and speak foreign languages. You can pursue your dream career as a demon slaying swordsman or make actual functional cosplay or cook things other people will actually want to eat! But hear me when I say, NO MATTER WHAT your dream or your hobby or your project is, THERE WILL BE DRUDGERY. There will be parts you just DO NOT WANT to do. MAYBE YOU DON’T REALLY WANT TO DO THE WORK TODAY. You WILL want to give up on what you’re trying to accomplish. Sometimes it’s good to take a break.

Sometimes it’s good to sleep. Sometimes, stepping away from it is the only way to get unstuck, or recover from burnout, or reassess why you want to accomplish this in the first place, or if you even still want to.

But, every time you step away, you run the risk of never coming back.

It takes practice to get through the drudgery. You get better and better at it, I promise. It’ll feel less and less daunting the more you get over these scary and frustrating and very unexciting moments, and it’s because you make your way through the parts that suck that you can really bask in your accomplishments later.

You really do just have to FORCE yourself to do it sometimes. And… dang it… SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF TO DO REAL LIFE PRODUCTIVE TASKS AND GO TO WORK.

NO, NO, NO, I DON’T WANT TO, WAAAAAH, NOOOOO!!!!!

As you can see, I allow myself a certain amount of leeway to be immature about stuff.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to get over myself and focus, however begrudgingly. I do set rewards for myself, and time frame goals. I also had to set a lot of rules for myself while studying for the Nerd Test in what fandom tasks I would and would not do, based on how much they’d distract or refresh me. When I have a lot to do, I PRIORITIZE MY TASKS, so I can be okay with not getting everything done. I also make LISTS!!! So many lists. And I have a strong preference for writing things on paper even if I'm confident I won't forget, even if it's a task I'm looking forward to on a different day, just because it fools me into feeling like I have more control over my life. I own the fact that I am obsessed and allow myself to be MOTIVATED by that. This whole Kimetsu Kitchen tag? It’s precisely because I was upset with myself for eating so much convenience food (and because I was sad that’s hard to win a ticket to the Ufotable Café in Osaka and I’ve missed out on a bunch of the fun looking collab cafes elsewhere). These cooking experiments have forced me to do a bit more planning, but that does makes me feel a smidge more control over my life, so that’s been nice too, even if I have failures. But like, yeah, my work does determine a lot of how my daily life goes, and it feels very chaotic. It can be difficult schedule-wise, but I stay committed to hobbies that I’ve been practicing for years, even if I am generally in a state of drudgery with them. But this is all I must hold myself to. I live alone, very far from the people I most wish I could see.

This works wonders for how productive I am, as I have so few interruptions. I’m a vicious introvert anyway and usually want to talk to no one when I get off work, where my social battery gets run pretty dry (but as far as mental energy is concerned, I probably have a lot of pent-up energy to write up or draw KnY thoughts that have hit me throughout the day). It’s not a stretch to say Kimetsu no Yaiba is the source of most of my day-to-day joy, and I’m grateful to experience having a mainstream obsession for once in my life; it’s like everywhere I go I don’t have to look far and I’ll find Tanjiro smiling back at me from a candy wrapper or something. But if you have distracting friends, family obligations, and attention-seeking pets that prevent you from living out the creative ideas that possess you, I’ve been there, and as someone with monster tendencies for following my whims I sympathize, but please don’t fault yourself for that. You’ve got really good reasons.

[jimlingss]

Jungle Park [5]

Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6

➜ Words: 4.3k

➜ Genres: Fluff, Light Humour (?), Slice of Life, Workplace Romance!AU

➜ Summary: The equation is simple. Hoseok needs to hire someone. You need a job. Except like any actual equation, it’s not fucking simple at all! Not when you have to add the fact that he was forced to hire someone he doesn’t want in his office, he has little respect for your job in general, and oh yeah...once upon a time you might have—*CENSORED*.

➜ Warnings: swearing and taxi passengers slut shaming and being general assholes.

It’s too hard to stay awake.   It’s...too—…...difficult…..   “Y/N?” You’re shaken awake by someone’s hand coming to gently squeeze your shoulder. Immediately, you jolt back to life, looking around to find yourself in the office. Right. “Are you alright?”   Sunyi comes back into focus and you realize Hyuk and Lisa are already looking at you, watching your face as if you have a spider on your forehead and they don’t want to scare it away. “What? Oh, sorry. I was...um...distracted for a second there. What did you say?”   You can tell she doesn’t quite believe you, but the lawyer doesn’t push it either. “A bunch of us are going to dinner tonight. We were wondering if you wanted to join us?”   “Dinner?” This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s what you’ve always wanted. To finally be a part of the group, catch late night drinks or eat food, to actually befriend these people beyond the workplace setting. “I would love to….but...tonight?”   Of all nights. Why tonight?   “You can’t make it?”   “I...already have plans.” It hurts so bad — it’s like you’re a kid who’s been waiting for your birthday for months and on the day of, it turns out you can’t even attend your own party because of a dentist appointment.   “Aw.” Hyuk hangs his head and pouts, eyes flickering down the expanse of your body quicker than you can even register. “What a shame, thought I’d be able to finally get to know you.”   “I’m sorry. I should’ve known.”   Maybe it looks like you’re about to burst into tears, because then Sunyi smiles softly. “No, it’s okay. How could you have known? There’ll be plenty of other times. How about lunch tomorrow?”   “Lunch?” There’s a tone of hope and eagerness in your voice and you know you’re being pretty childish and pathetic, but you’re too exhausted to put on a more professional façade. “That works for me. I’ll clear up my schedule.”   “Alright.” Sunyi grins. “Tomorrow, a bunch of us can gather up for lunch.”   You smile, nodding your head. “Sounds good.”   A handful of people from the office begin to file out at five o’clock. You bid them a goodbye and goodnight. But someone else lingers behind and she seems to hesitate. “Hey, Y/N.” Lisa stands to the side and you wonder if anything’s wrong — ironic considering her next question is addressed to you. “Are you okay?”   “Yeah, I’m fine,” you reassure her with your lips upturned.   The receptionist nods. “Okay. Goodnight then.”   “Bye.” You watch as she catches up with the group, slightly touched that she shows concern for your well-being. Though, the question lingers in your head — ARE you okay? If you’re completely frank with yourself, you’re not sure.   On the way home, you accidentally fall asleep on the subway. Your head bobs up and down and ends up on the shoulder of a granny and you apologize profusely, nearly hurting your neck when you try to use your own shoulder as support. Then once you make it home, you fall on the couch to take a two hour nap. A symphony of blaring alarms is what you wake up to. After, you force yourself to get up, you wash your face, eat something quick, have a cup of coffee…   Then….   “Hello!” You twist around to face the backseat with a bright smile. “Where are you off to tonight?”   “The Kelpers Club on seventh avenue,” one of the three guys say and you nod, pulling off the curb and into the road.   “Oh, fuck!” The dude from the left seat startles you, but when you glance at the rear-view mirror, thankfully he’s not talking to you. He’s staring at the screen of his phone and his friends are glancing over. “Look what Tiffany just sent me.”   “Holy shit!” They reach over to punch the guy in the arm, laughing and grinning. They’re a rowdy and obnoxious bunch, but you try your best to keep focus on the road ahead of you. “Dude, you need to send me that. I could probably rub three or four out with that hot pic.”   They each have a water bottle with them, taking sips every so often and by the smell of their breaths that waft over to ruin your breathing space, you’re almost certain that it isn’t water they have in there. “Did you really tap that last night?”   “Yeah.” He smirks. “She keeps on texting me though. It’s so fucking annoying. Clingy bitch. It’s no wonder her boyfriend of four years cheated on her with her best friend. And she thinks we’re an exclusive item just cause I took her out once. What a joke. She’s desperate and a mess.”   Your left eye twitches and you run the yellow light that you normally would’ve slowed down at. The dude in the center laughs. “But c’mon, how is she? How does she take it?”   The other lets out a snort and rolls his shoulder. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. She’s a freak. She wanted me to slap and spank her. The skank choked on me like five times and even took it in the ass.”   “Holy shit!” They’re in an uproar, piercing sound of their chortles deafening to your ears. They punch him again, saying things like he’s a lucky bastard and what they would give to be in that position. But what’s the absolutely last straw for you is— “You could probably get it in if you want. I bet she’d like taking two or three cocks at once too. Tiffany is a massive slut.”   They roar and howl like animals in heat and one of them opens their mouth to add a comment, but you floor the gas on an empty street and their bodies lurch forward. “Do you want me to change the radio?” you interrupt before anything else can be said and before your blood pressure spikes more than it has.   “No. It’s fine.” They catch themselves when you stop at a red light.   “Do you want me to turn on the heating or air conditioning?”   “We’re fine,” one of them grunts out in annoyance. You ignore him and slam off the air conditioning, rolling all the windows up to seal shut and hitting the heating button. It begins to blast, though you don’t mind if you get too warm. It’s much too rewarding to look at the rear-view mirror and see all three guys squished up against each other, extremely hot and uncomfortable, hair becoming wet with sweat. You hope their vodka gets too warm and stale to drink.   “I’m having trouble finding the destination,” you lie without blinking twice. You loop around and around the blocks, purposely driving over the manholes at full speed and enjoying how the car launches slightly at every bump and they hit their heads on the roof of the small vehicle.   “It’s the left!”   “Left or right?” You feign innocence and stupidity as if you don’t understand basic directions. “Which one?!”   “Left!” He shouts.   You twist your wrist roughly, swerving the steering wheel to the right. “Oops!”   “What the hell?!” They’re in disbelief and you kill fifteen minutes, going all over the blocks and taking wrong turns, somehow even ending in the suburban area. When you’re satisfied with messing with them, you pull up on the curb...in the middle of nowhere.   “Whelp, we’re here.” You turn around with a blazing smile and their jaws are dropped, brows furrowed, finding the situation completely absurd. “It’s just down the block.” More like down thirty blocks. “The traffic is too much to get close. Sorry ‘bout that.”   “There’s no traffic,” one of them says, but you ignore them and they pull out their wallets to split the fare. They get out one by one with deep scowls, slamming the car doors shut, hard enough to damage your precious taxi. Before closing the last door, one of them pops their head through and mutters something you hear loud and clear, “dumb bitch.”   You end up driving directly into a mud puddle, splashing them in the brown slush and making it look like they collectively shat in their pants. You cackle as you pull off into the street again.   They didn’t even tip you.   “Hello. Where are you off to tonight?”   “The airport, please.”   “Certainly.”   It’s not like you’re passionate about taxi driving. You specifically sought out the HR position to leave this behind, to actually chase after what you want. But here you are, crawling back to your old career and balancing between your day and night job.   Even though Hoseok declared a truce between the two of you, you still can’t get rid of the feeling that he might fire you one day. You wouldn’t know what to do if one day you’re seated on the other side of the conference table with Jimin and Hoseok across from you, delivering the news that you’re not needed anymore. You wouldn’t know what to do if you’re thrown off on the street without a job. You wouldn’t be able to pay your bills. You wouldn’t be able to pay for food.   More importantly, you would have to move back with your mom.   The nightmare haunts you.   And you still have the lease on the cab. It’s been sitting in your apartment parking spot — might as well use it, right? At the end of the night, you get another wad of cash that goes directly into your savings. Doing this is better than sitting at home and worrying about your future, mindlessly watching television and surfing the internet, walking around, and….sleeping.   A little bit of sleep sacrificed isn’t a big deal.   Your eight-hours of sleep is merely split up throughout the day — naps taken on the subway to and from the firm, a two hour slumber before taking the taxi night-shift, another four hours afterwards before heading to the office. Occasionally, you might doze off in your office too, but no one really notices when you turn your chair towards the window and it seems like you’re staring out at the cityline.   Thankfully, Hoseok hasn’t noticed either.   “Excuse me?” The girl in the backseat stirs awake from her drowsiness, looking out the window. “I think we’re here.”   “Oh, sorry. I was thinking about someone—......I mean something. I was thinking about something.” You scramble with a laugh, parking the car and getting out to help with the passenger’s luggage in the trunk. She doesn’t seem that upset with you, even smiling and thanking you for the ride, tipping you a decent five dollars.   Things aren’t too bad.   “Aren’t you driving too slow?” A middle age woman impatiently quacks in the backseat of your car, pushing herself up closer to you. “Can’t you go faster?”   “Uh...I’ll try my best.”   Really, things aren’t too horrible.   ….   It could be worse.   //   The only thing you’re looking forward to is lunch. When you wake up in the morning, you’re already buzzing with excitement. As pathetic as it is, you can’t remember the last time you shared a meal with other people. If things go well, then people in the office will really begin to get comfortable with you and maybe you’ll have a few workplace friends that will become your friends out of work too. You’re excited, and you hope it doesn’t show too much.   “Hey, ready for lunch today?” Sunyi has popped into your office first thing in the morning with a smile. “You didn’t forget, did you?”   “Of course I didn’t,” you laugh.   “Good. We’re going down the block to that italian restaurant. They have a really good lunch menu, cheesesteak and sandwiches and soups too.”   “That sounds great,” your cheeks are almost bursting with your smile. “Who’s coming along with us?”   “You and I obviously,” she jests in a light tone. “And also Seulgi, Namjoon, Hoseok and unfortunately, the leech freeloader Min Yoongi. Trust me, I didn’t want him to join, but he self invited himself like the asshole that he is. He invited himself and Hoseok. I knew I shouldn’t have talked about it with Seulgi when we were all in the elevator earlier...”   You stifle back a laugh. “That’s completely fine.”   “Alright, see you later then.” The woman sighs and checks her phone briefly. “Gotta get some work done before we run on out.”   Your head nods once and she’s on her way.   //   For the first hour, you focus on running through more applications and looking for a suitable paralegal. There still hasn’t been anyone hired to fill Sebin’s position, but there’s not too big of a rush. Hoseok would rather you take your time to go through and choose carefully, rather than picking someone right off the bat. Plus, he’s also told you that things are actually running fairly well with the three paralegals already on the team, smoother than he expected.   You make a few phone calls, setting up interview dates and times. But then someone stops by your office. “Hey,” Namjoon greets you and before you can ask if he needs any help, he beats you to the punch. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m helping Jimin with mediation. The client re-booked it at twelve thirty, so I don’t think I can go later.”   “No, it’s okay. Work takes priority anyways,” you wave him off and he smiles, promising he’ll make time some other day for lunch. Not another twenty minutes pass by before you find yet another person standing at your doorway, balancing a huge mountain of files. “Are you alright?”   “I don’t know,” Seulgi admits in all honesty and looks like she’s on the verge of tears. “I just remembered I forgot to submit the affidavits and orders yesterday that were given to me by Jungkook and I think Hoseok’s going to fire the both of us if it’s not in submission. I’m helping him and we both have to run down there and I don’t know how long it’s going to take or if it’s even possible at this point—”   “Seulgi,” you call her name calmly to reassure the girl. “It’s okay.”   “I’m so, so sorry. Can I ask for a rain check?”   “Of course you can. I’m always free.”   By eleven o’clock, a full hour before the designated time, there’s another person at your door. This time, it’s a shorter man with full cheeks and messy black hair. He rubs at his sleepy eyes, barely able to keep them open. But when he looks at you and you look at him, it’s like a telepathic message is sent. “Can’t make it?”   “Yeah,” Min Yoongi responds in a husky tone as if he just got up from a nap, but plans to take another.   “It’s okay.”   But is it? — Really. — Is this okay?   There’s nothing you can really do even if all your insides are crying. What? Should you just drop to the ground and start crying? You’re going to need at least five shots before you throw a temper tantrum at your workplace. Things get busy, life gets busy, people get busy. You’re more than understanding and it’s just lunch. There will be plenty more opportunities to come. So…   “It’s fine,” you reassure the lawyer in front of you who has her bottom lip quivering and her brows furrowed deep enough you’re certain that wrinkles will permanently mar her skin.   “I’m so, so sorry. I know you were looking forward to this. I just had no idea that my schedule was already booked up with a client. I….I could change it and we can still go out—”   “Don’t be ridiculous.” You laugh, thankful that she’s worried this much over it. At least it’s better than the times in High School where people invited you out and didn’t even show up because ‘it’s just a prank, bro’. Your hand goes to gently squeeze Sunyi’s shoulder, channeling your maternal voice that doesn’t really exist to soothe her. “We can do this some other day. I’m gonna be around for a long time, so there will be plenty more opportunities. Just focus on work since that’s what you’re here to do anyways. It’s really not that big of a deal.”   “Okay, thank you,” Sunyi breathes a long sigh of relief, happy that you didn’t take the unfortunate circumstances to heart. Little does she know just how disappointed you are.   Reminds you of that time your mom promised you to go to Disneyland and you ended up Chuck E. Cheese instead.   //   At twelve o’clock sharp, Hoseok appears at your door with his phone in hand. You stare at him, waiting for him to say something as he stares at the screen and his thumbs move, probably texting someone important. It’s an awkward thirty seconds that feel like a whole two minutes before he puts down the device and looks at you. He frowns and takes a peek out your door.   “Is there no one else?”   “No.” You scratch the back of your neck before putting your palms in your lap. “Everyone is busy.” It’s only you and him. You’re not sure how you feel about that; maybe partly tense and apprehensive while the other part doesn’t mind so much.   “Okay.” Hoseok shrugs nonchalantly, hands in his coat pockets. “There’s no point in going then.”   “Oh...yeah…” You stand up awkwardly, trying to shuffle past him. Your stomach makes a noise that doesn’t sound too healthy and you hope he can’t hear it. “I’ll uh...I’ll just grab something from the kitchen then.”   “Wait.” He stops you, grabbing your wrist before you can run off. When he realizes he’s touched you without permission, he lets go right away, mumbling some kind of apology before you tell him it’s fine.   “You didn’t bring anything with you?” He asks and you don’t answer. Jung Hoseok must read your expression like an open book because then he smiles slightly. “Okay, nevermind, let’s go.”   “Pardon?”   “Just the two of us,” he says and walks off, making you stumble behind him and try to match his wide, fast strides. The lawyer glances over his shoulder towards you. “You don’t mind right?”   “I...I don’t mind.” Except a one-on-one lunch with your boss is not what you envisioned.   Instead of the fancy italian cafe, you follow his lead into a hole-in-the-wall. It’s a warm and cozy atmosphere, with two or three other tables full. Interestingly enough, they serve comfort food and the menu is deprived of a variety of different cultures. You end making an order of porridge with a side of mac and cheese and he orders curry with cold noodles.   It’s served quickly and all at the same time, so you don’t hesitate to dig in.   The only problem is when silence settles down, you’re not sure what to say. You’re not even sure where to look. Glancing up and locking your eyes with his only makes it more excruciatingly awkward.   “You know, I already told you that you don’t have to tiptoe around me,” Hoseok mutters and takes a large bite, looking up at you with his arm propped up on the table, holding a spoon and completely amused as he gawks at you.   “What?”   “You’re always stiff and nervous around me. But I won’t bite your head off…….probably.”   “I’m not nervous,” you defend yourself even when it’s a massive lie.   Hoseok laughs and almost chokes on his food. “Yeah, you are. Your eyes keep shifting and I can see that you’re beginning to sweat. You know…” He leans closer like he’s about to exchange a secret. “...makes it seem like you did something wrong or you’re a criminal. Last I checked, I’m not a criminal attorney, so I’m not sure I can help you if you did something illegal.”   You take a spoonful of the porridge, letting the taste linger on your tongue for a second before you stuff your cheek to chew a bit and swallow it down. “The only illegal thing I’ve one is steal someone’s wifi and probably jaywalking.”   “Wait, I should record this confession for evidence,” he teases with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a massive grin. You wonder if the other people at this office know this side of him. “These are very serious crimes. How many times have you jaywalked and who’s wifi have you stolen?”   “Oh please.” You roll your eyes. “You act like you haven’t done anything ‘illegal’ either.”   He scoffs at how you use air quotations with your fingers, also slightly offended. “Just letting you know, I live a very morally upright life. I don’t break the law. I work for the law. In fact, I am the law.”   “Yeah, right.” You click your tongue in feigned annoyance, muffling back some laughter. “What about that time you were drunk and passed out in front of the library? Made me have to drag you back. That’s public intoxication.”   “I did what?”   Your eyes go wide. Right. He doesn’t remember. You might’ve gotten too carried away, too caught up when he’s sitting right across from you, and it’s only you and him. But there’s no going back now, you might as well mess with him. “Or that time you shoplifted an entire refrigerator. And that time you started a pimp business to pay off your loans. Those were the days, right, Hoseok?”   “No way.” He leans back and crosses his arms, trying to repress his laughter that threatens to spill over. “I would never. That’s something I can’t believe. You need to come up with more reasonable lies than that, Y/N.”   Your food is left abandoned when you’re trying hard not to break into hysterical laughter. “So you believe how you wanted to piss in a library book, but ended up passing out in front of the library instead?”   There’s a long held silence. “That…..I can believe.”   A cheeky grin is plastered on your face, making your jaw ache a bit and you take a few more bites before your pupils flicker up. “Thanks, by the way. Just thought I’d say that.”   “For what?” He eats, chewing and swallowing, taking a sip of his water in the process.   “This. I mean...you didn’t have to come along with me.”   “You make it sound like I’m going to treat you to this.” The lawyer points a fork towards you and narrows his eyes while the corner of his mouth twitches oh so slightly. “Is that your tactic? You think I’m going to pay for your meal?”   “No!” You can’t help your giggles. “That’s not what I’m trying to say!”   “I can see right through you.” He has a playful smile and eyes you. The glare is less sharp and pointed, lacking real animosity or frustration. It’s much cuter and the stark contrast from him outside and joking around to his professionalism in the office nearly gives you whiplash.   “I saw your photo on the firm’s website.” It’s a little out of nowhere, but the thought pops into your head as you stare at the man. “And no offence, but you look way better in real life. You’re not photogenic at all.”   “Is that an insult?” Jung Hoseok gasps theatrically and you wonder why he didn’t just major in drama and become a comedic actor. He seems to have a knack for it.   “It’s not!”   “Or are you trying to say I’m handsome?” He puts down his utensil and nods. “Oh, I see. You don’t want me to pay for your meal. Thinking big picture, huh? You’re trying to say I’m a lot more handsome in real life because you want a raise, don’t you?!”   “I never said that!” At this point, the two of you are so loud that a few patrons are looking over, but none of you notice. He twists your words so much, it’s ridiculous and you’re left baffled and laughing. Maybe it was right for him to be a lawyer after all.   “You think I wouldn’t see your strategy.” He scrapes his bowl, eating everything that’s left while mischievously shaking his head in feigned disapproval. “Trying to boost my ego for a raise. How low is that. But what’s even more unbelievable is that it’s working. Keep going.”   You laugh again, this time refusing to utter even one syllable or make a sound. Hoseok finishes eating in the meanwhile and you pierce the carrots on your plate, putting it on his clean one. He looks up at you with brows raised. “You hate carrots? I never thought you’d be a picky eater.”   “No, I don’t hate it,” you muse. “You like it, don’t you?”   If it’s possible, his brows raise even higher. “How did you know?”   You shrug, looking away from him. “Let’s just say, I really want that raise.”   “Pft.” He pierces the carrot with the fork, inhaling it all at once and chews thoughtfully. “You better not be stalking me.”   “I won’t need to if I get a little somethin’-somethin’.” You rub your fingers on one hand together, indicating a thick wad of cash and he grins, eating the carrot happily.   A few months ago, if someone told you that one day you’d be sitting across from Hoseok and actually conversing and even laughing like normal adults, you would’ve probably floored the gas pedal of your taxi to get away in fear of that person being absolutely insane.   You expected to have lunch with coworkers and perhaps establish friendships out of the workplace. You definitely didn’t think you’d end up rekindling some kind of ancient relationship with your boss. But you don’t mind at all. It’s just more than what you bargained for in the best way possible.