#It was bright and sunny today and were supposed to get snow tomorrow | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

keelywolfe · 3 years

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FIC: Snowdrifts ch.4 (spicyhoney)

Summary: It's Edge's first day as a stay-at-home child caregiver. It'll be fine, he has a plan! How much trouble can one little baby be?

Tags: Spicyhoney, Violence, Rescued Child, Medical Experimentation, Babybones

Read it on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

“All right, child, we need to come to an understanding,” Edge said firmly, hands on his hips. He was standing over Snow, who was in her highchair, sucking vigorously on her fingers and looking up at him with wide eye lights. They were alone in the Swap brothers’ kitchen in the late morning, all the others having consumed breakfast and gone off to the respective jobs or job searches as the case may be. Blue made a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausages, and if grape jelly wasn’t Edge’s preferred seasoning for sunny side up yolks, he certainly wasn’t about to start his tenure here by complaining about the food.

Tomorrow he would get up earlier to make breakfast, Edge told himself. He’d been here for two nights now, he needed to begin adjusting to his new sleep schedule and stop lying about in bed. Today he would be implementing some changes and as former Captain of the Snowdin guard, it was up to him to maintain order. He could do this and now was the time to begin.

“Today I start on my duties as your caretaker and also homemaker,” Edge announced to his audience of one. “I am going to wash the breakfast dishes now. You,” he pointed a finger at Snow and she tried to focus on the sharpened tip, her large eye lights crossing, “will remain there until I am finished. You have your cereal and toys, keep yourself busy and I will be finished soon."

With that, Edge gave her a last nod and turned towards the sink. Before he could even stick his hands into the soapy water, Snow let out a wail.

He hunched down as if struck by a blow and turned back towards her. “No,” he said sternly. “I can’t carry you all day, I have chores to do. You have food and toys, you can entertain yourself.”

Unfortunately, Snow was not at all receptive to his perfectly sound reasoning. Large tears were rolling down her plump cheekbones and she batted away the little bowl of cereal. It fell off the tray to the floor, scattering tiny ‘o’s across the linoleum. Both her upraised arms reached for him as she bawled loudly and Edge, who once walked home on a broken ankle without so much as limping to keep the weakness concealed, folded like a paper sack in a rainstorm.

He pulled the tray loose, scattering more cereal bits, and swept her into his arms, patting her back as he crooned, “All right, shhhh, it’s all right, little one. It’s all right.”

The tears dried up with suspicious ease and soon Snow was chortling happily again. Any move towards putting her in the chair made those joyful sounds melt away and Edge was forced to settle her into his lap as he sat on the floor to clean up the newest mess. Between the two of them, they picked up most of the fallen cereal with entirely too much of it ending up in Snow’s mouth before he could stop her.

“I suppose we should be grateful Blue keeps his floor clean,” Edge sighed.

“Brzzt,” Snow replied as she chewed happily on another filched floor treat.

It became an endless cycle. He would attempt to set her down, the child would cry, and Edge would cave and quickly pick her back up. The dishes sat in the sink untouched, the dregs of jelly and eggs drying into crusts while Edge could do nothing to prevent it.

It was hours later when Snow finally started drooping, her little sockets growing heavy. Edge sat with her in the recliner and rocked her to sleep, and then with the same care one might use while handling a volatile soufflé, Edge eased her into her little pillow pile and sighed in relief. If she kept true to her schedule, she’d sleep for at least an hour and that would give him enough time to wash the dishes, perhaps fold yesterday’s laundry and—

The front door flew open hard enough to crash into the other wall as Stretch came in, dusted with snow and his cheekbones flushed bright orange from the cold as he sang out, “lunchtime! what’s shakin’, bacon, got anything cookin’, good lookin’?””

He’d barely finished his verbal abuse of pork products and cookery before Snow began to wail.

“I just got her to sleep! Why would you—!“ Edge realized he was wailing at nearly the same volume as the baby and shut his mouth with a hard click, gritting his teeth until he tasted dust.

“whoopsie, sorry, sugar butt!” Stretch only laughed and Edge reminded himself that dusting was not considered a suitable punishment in Underswap, even for a crime so heinous as this one. Stretch kicked off his shoes and walked over to scoop her up, snuggling her until her cries dimmed down into tired hiccoughs. “didn’t mean to bust in on naptime.” He cocked a brow bone at Edge, who only slumped down and glared back. “must’ve been a rough morning sitting on the sofa the whole time, huh? lazing around ain’t exactly your modus operandi.”

“Lazing!” Edge sputtered. He shot to his feet and managed to lower his voice just in time as Stretch hissed a warning. “I have not been sitting on the sofa! I have been trying to get some housework done, but Snow keeps crying if I’m not holding her! I’ve yet to do the morning dishes, there’s laundry waiting to be folded. I’d planned to make lunch for you all and all I have to offer is you floor cereal!” He took a deep breath, ashamed of how close it sounded to a sob and swung away from Stretch, facing the wall and admitting to the blank drywall, “I don’t think I can do this.”

“woah, hang on,” Stretch said behind him. “pull back on the reins for a sec. edge, this is your first day at this, okay? bet you didn’t learn all your puzzles in one day.”

“Puzzles are complex tools that take weeks of planning, she is one child!”

“kids are plenty complex, edgelord, until you figure out how they work.” He sidled up next to Edge and slung an arm around his shoulders, giving him a gentle shake. “you know, letting her cry a bit isn’t gonna hurt her. if she’s clean and fed, she can take sitting on the floor for a little while.”

“No,” Edge said decisively. “I will not allow her to think her cries are going unheard, she’s not sobbing into a void in my presence.” When he turned to look at Stretch, he saw the other skeleton was giving him a strange little smile. “What?”

He only shook his head, sighing out, “oh, you got it bad already.”

“Got it? Got what, I can’t be sick,” Edge said, and already panic was starting to swell. “If I’m sick, I’ve been holding the baby all day, she could be ill as well!”

“nah, edgelord, calm down,” Stretch chuckled, “it ain’t contagious, well, not like that, and even if it was, it wouldn’t hurt anybody.” That crooked little smile widened. “think we’re all developing a serious case of superfluous adoptive parentalitis.”

It took entirely too long for Edge’s weary mind to puzzle that out and when he did, he could only sigh in exasperation. “You aren’t helping.”

“never said i was, but don’t you worry, edgelord, i got tricks up my sleeves that amateur houdinis only wish they knew. hang on.”

He went into the other room, still cradling the drowsy baby, and came back with Edge’s scarf, embarrassingly wrinkled from its overstay in the dryer. Edge watched in confusion as Stretch knotted the ends together, then tied it across Edge’s chest into a sort of sling.

“okay, snowflake, in we go.” Deftly, he slipped the baby into the scarf before Edge could protest. He nearly panicked, expecting the baby to come crashing out to the floor. Instead, her little bottom settled snugly into the pocket it created, her short legs spread on either side of his ribcage. She snuggled in contently, yawning widely as she cuddled in against his sternum, and drifted almost immediately to sleep.

“see?” Stretch said softly. “she doesn’t want your arms, she only wants to be close, and now your hands are free. well, kinda, she’ll probably keep ‘em pretty full one way or another.” He smiled wryly, tucking his own hands into his pockets and rocking back on his heels. “i’d tell you to let the housework go, but i’m pretty sure i’d be wasting my breath.”

“Other houseparents manage,” Edge said, firmly, “I will, too!”

“oh yeah?” Stretch countered, “other houseparents manage with no help at all, huh. how many other houseparents do you know?”

“I know enough.”

Stretch crossed his arms over his chest. “name three.”

Edge floundered, unprepared for the sudden quiz, “Um...the Cleavers, the Cunninghams—"

“from tv doesn’t count.”

Years of experience taught Edge when it was time to abandon a strategy. “That doesn’t matter. Other households don’t matter. I will manage this!”

“uh huh.” Edge was too startled to flinch when Stretch reached up and gently took hold of his face with both hands, his slim fingers still chilly from the cold outdoors. “remember what i said about not slapping away any helping hands.”

“You did help,” Edge admitted grudgingly. He tugged the scarf a little more securely around Snow. The baby didn’t stir, only slept on peacefully. “This was a good idea.”

“gonna help more, too,” Stretch said cheerily, dropping his hands and pitching his voice low, “you head over to the breakfast dishes and i’ll get lunch on track, yeah?”

“But—”

“i didn’t starve before you got here, edgelord, i can make sandwiches.”

It was the truth, Edge knew it was, and yet it still didn’t sit well. The bargain was that he would stay home instead of earning G, he should be able to do this, how could one tiny baby take up so much time and energy…that thought was abruptly derailed and Edge nearly jumped out of his clothes as Stretch gave him a little slap on the backside before strolling towards the kitchen. Retaliation wasn’t possible while he was holding the child, but Edge made a mental note to add this transgression to his tally as he followed after him.

The urge for any revenge reluctantly vanished when Stretch suddenly swung around and leaned in to drop a soft kiss on top of Snow’s skull. It was enough of a distraction that he couldn’t react when that quick kiss was transferred to his own mouth. Stretch didn’t linger to watch Edge gape at him, only headed to the refrigerator and began scrounging through it, leaning in to survey the contents.

“hmm, we got some leftover chicken, how about some chicken salad—eep!” Stretch whirled around on a yelp, rubbing his backside as he stared in disbelief at Edge, who was already making his way to the sink and the dishes.

“What was that?” Edge asked coolly. “Something about playing chicken?”

That sudden grin should have been worrisome, but Edge only felt a trill of anticipation as Stretch said with dark, deep intent, “oh, don’t you worry, honey, i can play. but first, lunch.”

Yes, lunch, that was in order. As Edge washed the dishes, the baby sleeping warmly against his chest and the plates clinking softly in the soapy water, he considered what sort of games Stretch might have in mind. Once he got a handle on this parenting strategy, he might switch his focus to the puzzle of Stretch. It would have to wait, for now, because when he began, Edge was certain it was a mystery that would require his full attention.

tbc

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #drifters

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seriouslyhooked · 6 years

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Scoring Your Love (Part 9/?)

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six,Part Seven, Part Eight. Story also on FF here and AO3 here. Banner by the wonderful @timetravelandfairytales

Modern AU where Killian is a world famous soccer star who has hit rock bottom and been sentenced to the place where ‘football’ legends go to die – America. While here he crosses paths with Emma, an up and coming musician and film scorer who challenges everything he thought he knew and makes him want more than the game he’s always loved. Will be filled with fluff for days, and eventually rated M.

A/N: Hello all! I am back again with another chapter, this time from Emma’s POV again. We are jumping ahead a few weeks, and surprise – we are still firmly in a land of fluff. This will be the case for a few chapters yet (though there’s some more to the story I have envisioned that will at one point pop up). That being said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as it provides some CS cuteness and Emma and her friends as well.

LA was synonymous with many things, stardom, fame, and money just to name a few. But a defining word that both locals and visitors used when describing this place was sunshine. All year round this was a city where people could count on the sun. The weather was supposed to be sublime at any time of year… but sometimes, every so often, rain came to the city, and when it did people collectively lost their shit.

“So you’re seriously telling me that the rain is reason enough to close all these shops?” Killian asked as he and Emma walked down the street under the large umbrella he’d come prepared with for their date today. They had just passed the third place in half a block that had a ‘closed early’ sign in the window and the count was bound to get higher as they made their way to her apartment.

Emma had to laugh at the face of confusion and of complete disbelief that Killian was sporting. Clearly he did not understand the LA mentality, and she couldn’t exactly blame him. London was known for its rain and the gray. To Killian this weather must feel like nothing, but to residents of always sunny California, multiple inches of rain in one day was far from normal. In fact, it had set some people into full-blown panic, causing early school closures and a mass migration of people from their work to their homes. Most people she knew didn’t even own rain boots, but after a handful of road trips with her friends, Emma had acquired a pair and a raincoat to match, helping her enjoy the precipitation rather than distress over it.

“Well we don’t exactly get snow days…” Emma hedged, trying to give her fellow citizens some benefit of the doubt, even if she knew they were all totally blowing this out of proportion. “Besides most people are just trying to get home at a decent hour. You thought rush hour traffic was bad on a good day? Imagine it when you throw a whole day’s worth of rain into the mix. ”

“Good God, I don’t think I can bear to,” Killian mumbled and Emma laughed, leaning closer into him as she did and knowing before she looked back up at him again that his grin had returned. They’d developed a habit as of late; Killian said something funny and charming that made her laugh, and that only made his already constantly good humor burn brighter. It was a seemingly never ending cycle, a really good one that always meant their dates or their calls ended well, with Emma feeling hopeful and happy and wishing she didn’t have to say goodbye.

“You know you could always stay over… wait it out with me until tomorrow,” Emma offered as they got to the front of her apartment building, knowing already that as much as she meant it Killian would still decline the invitation.

“I could, Swan, but we both know what a night at your place would lead to.”

Killian uttered the words as he closed the umbrella to hold the door for her. He was always the gentleman, but the feel of his hand as it slid over her lower back was hardly chaste or polite. It made Emma want things, things she knew Killian wanted just as badly even as he denied both of them. Three weeks – three freaking weeks of dates and talking and getting a little more wrapped up in each other every day, but still he was holding firm to the thought that they should wait until the time was right. Emma knew arguing the point was a losing battle, but she couldn’t help poking all the same.

“That really hot sex you keep promising?” She asked, feigning ignorance of the influence her words would have as the elevator doors opened and they entered together. “Because I have to be honest, I wouldn’t mind giving in at all.”

“Bloody hell, Emma,” he cursed as he pulled her to him, her chest coming flush against his as her hands landed on him to brace herself.

Being so close to him now Emma saw in his eyes just how much hunger was brimming under the surface. All afternoon he’d reined himself in, never closing himself off but holding firm to control over any baser urges. In this moment though Killian was so close to giving in, closer than he’d come any day before, and Emma wished he would just do it. Three weeks was an awful long time to wait with an attraction like this in the mix. Hell, they’d passed the third date mark what felt like ages ago, but at the same time it was kind of thrilling to have a man who cared so much about them making it that he advocated for taking things slower. Despite Emma’s want for more, she gained a little more assurance of Killian’s intentions every time they did this dance. Little did Killian realize, however, she didn’t need any more assurance. She was already certain of him, he just had to realize that.

“There’s never been a woman more tempting than you,” Killian said as his hand cupped her cheek, his gaze glancing from her eyes across her features before landing at her mouth. “You just might kill me one of these days.”

“Or you could just give in,” Emma said before pressing a quick kiss to his lips, one that she knew he would have liked to take further if the doors of the elevator hadn’t opened to her floor. Instead she led him by the hand to her place. “I know you think I only want you for your body, but I promise I’ll still be here in the morning.”

“Well you would be, love, it’s your apartment,” Killian joked and Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head, trying to pretend she didn’t love the banter. Then he got serious, taking her in his arms again and waiting for her to meet his gaze. “Besides, my waiting has nothing to do with trust. I know the goodness in your heart, Swan. I know you’re a woman of your word.”

“But…?” Emma asked, curious as to what still held him back.

“But when I finally have you in bed, Emma, I want you to be sure. I want you on the exact same page as me. The one that says this thing between us isn’t ending, at least not any time soon.”

Emma couldn’t be entirely sure, since she wasn’t a mind reader, but it felt like those last few words weren’t the exact ones that Killian had wanted to say. Maybe she was projecting, but it felt like he didn’t want her to imagine this ending period, and if that was the case he still didn’t have much to fear. As crazy as it was, and as foreign as falling so deeply into a relationship was to Emma, she was in this too. She knew the way they fit together, the way it was easy and how even the complicated messy parts still seemed right. She knew that she had given more of herself already to Killian than she had to so many men in her past, and that even without the sex she felt more intimately connected to him than most people did with anyone. It didn’t matter that he was this big soccer star or that their lives were both crazy busy – they’d been finding a way to each other for weeks now, always carving out the time to truly give this all they could. But, Emma didn’t know what words he wanted exactly or what she could do to prove to him that she was in this. So far her plans hadn’t ever worked. They’d all led to moments like this, moments that were sweet and sincere but not all that she wanted.

Frustrated with her own lack of ability to sort this out, Emma did the only thing that felt right. She pulled him in for another kiss before her doorway, melting into it as she always did and luxuriating in the heat and passion that flared bright between them. Killian Jones was a hell of a kisser, but more than that he had this way of holding her and giving off this warmth and this sense of protection. They were in the middle of her freaking hallway, in plain view of any of her neighbors, but they might as well have been in a world all their own. Emma was lost in this and in him, reveling in the lines of his hard body as she moved against him. She took an indescribable amount of pleasure from the groan/growl that came from Killian before his lips set on hers again, and she swore she was getting through to him too, expressing what she couldn’t in words until an unfortunate interruption came barging in.

“Emma, we know you’re out here!” The door opened but Emma and Killian processed it just a second too slowly to not be caught. They broke apart, but still stayed close, flustered, but together all the same. “What’s taking so long- oh, crap! I’m sorry! So sorry!”

The door slammed back in Emma and Killian’s faces, but the commentary this evening had come from an unexpected source. It would be one thing if it were Ruby who had interrupted. Emma could totally see that happening (since it had come close to occurring before), but the culprit of this interruption was her friend Elsa, someone who never would have dreamed of such an infringement. It was a break in politeness Elsa could never forgive, and Emma knew her friend was probably on the other side of the door blushing like crazy and mentally berating herself. Then another voice sounded through the door.

“I told you not to rush her, Els,” Ruby said, sounding pleased as freaking punch that Elsa hadn’t listened.

“You didn’t say she had a date tonight!” Elsa whisper-shrieked, losing some of her composure. “You should have told me! Not cool, Ruby.”

“But real talk, what were they doing?” Ruby asked, ignoring that last part.

“Kissing!” another voice that was definitely Mary Margaret said with the gleeful giggle that only ever came when her friend had wine. “Definitely kissing.”

“Do you think? I thought Killian was taking it slow,” Belle mused and Emma squeaked out a sharp sound of embarrassment because Killian had definitely heard that.

“Slow doesn’t mean the man is dead, Belle. It’s not an Austen novel. There are more than stolen glances and heart eyes between those two.”

Emma groaned aloud now. Jesus, it was a certifiable party in there and now everyone was discussing her love life in full volume. She would die of mortification if she could, but then she met Killian’s eyes and saw the grin he had going and somehow that instinct to hide and to cower faded away. He wasn’t looking at her like she was the crazy girl with even crazier friends. No, Killian Jones was looking at her like she was the best thing he had ever seen, and Emma was powerless to feel anything less than thrilled. Then his fingertips came to brush a piece of hair that had fallen from her ponytail back behind her ear and she shivered at the contact.

“I guess in your imagining of this there’s also a little more privacy when things finally happen, right?” Emma asked, now very very glad she hadn’t convinced Killian to come in. He chuckled at that.

“Aye, love. It seems you’ve got a full house, but I’m certain you didn’t realize you would when you offered.”

“Definitely not,” Emma agreed, her hand running down her chest as she sighed. “Well I guess that’s it then.”

“Hardly,” Killian replied before bringing her in again and dazzling her all over with another heated kiss. It was tantalizing and dizzying, a kiss designed to entice her and remind her of something she never forgot – that she wanted Killian, and she wanted him bad. But it was also too short, too brief for Emma to come even close to satisfied, and it took everything not to moan at the loss when he pulled back, his eyes having gone darker as they held hers spellbound. “This is far from over, Emma. I’ll convince you of that soon enough, but you can be sure that when I do we’ll have two critical things – distance from the rest of the world, and time.”

“Time?” Emma asked, still distracted from the kiss.

“Time,” Killian responded.

That one word sparking about a dozen fantasies of what she and Killian could do with all of that desirable time. Unfortunately noises from inside intruded again, and with one last goodbye and a promise that he’d call her tomorrow when the team had landed in Denver for their next game she headed inside to face the rabble-rousing crowd currently camped out in her living room.

The chatter going on once Emma closed the door behind her gave the appearance that her friends were engaged in some kind of conversation, but Emma didn’t need to hear the particulars to know that it was staged at this point. She and Killian had no doubt been the hot topic since Elsa’s opening the door, so walking in to hear Mary Margaret discussing a new cupcake recipe she’d tried this week sounded a little less than organic.

“I must have missed the memo on girl’s night this week,” Emma said calmly, sizing all of her friends up and seeing the ranging senses of shame or regret. There was Elsa, who looked just as stricken as she did before, followed closely by Belle who gave a definite ‘I’m sorry’ vibe through her expression. Mary Margaret looked slightly torn, clearly chomping at the bit to ask questions but also wanting to be respectful, but Ruby – always predictable Ruby – went right in for the kill.

“I called an emergency meeting, Emma. A situation like yours requires immediate back up.”

“Excuse me?” Emma asked, halting mid-step. “My situation? What does that even mean?”

“It means that you have a sinfully sexy soccer star traipsing all over this city with you, calling you when he’s away, sending you things just because they make you smile, basically killing it as boy friend material and you’re still hesitating.”

Emma scoffed at the idea. She was hesitating? Wow clearly her friends were off the mark with this one. They thought that she was the one who was taking things slowly, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Emma didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand she was glad that Ruby hadn’t been eavesdropping through the door during these goodbye moments (something Emma would not have put past her), but on the other hand it was kind of rude to have her friends plotting an intervention for a problem she didn’t have.

“Did it ever occur to you that hosting an intervention might complicate matters if I were hesitating and decided to finally give in?” Emma asked and Ruby tilted her head considering.

“Nope, but was he coming in tonight?” Ruby asked and Emma sighed and shrugged off her jacket before shaking her head no. “See! Hesitating.”

“Oh I don’t think she’s hesitating,” Elsa said before covering her mouth, as if she were shocked by the fact that she’d commented. “Sorry, Emma.”

“It’s fine,” Emma sighed, the feeling she had of agitation a moment ago slipping away. “And for the record Elsa’s right. I’m not.”

“So why the molasses pace?” Belle asked, surprising Emma with the bluntness of it. Belle wasn’t exactly known for jumping into bed with people. She didn’t do casual hook ups, so her thought that three weeks was a long wait was striking to Emma. Then Belle explained the inconsistency. “Sorry, Ruby’s words.”

Of course they were, and though they were hyperbolic Emma smiled despite herself. She was a person who valued her privacy and who didn’t love to be confronted about things she saw as personal, but the reality was that her friends were more than friends. They were her sisters, her family, and the best part of family was sticking together and knowing that through whatever came you could count on them.

“I’m assuming everything I say never leaves this room…” Emma said, to which all of her friends swore agreement. With their word delivered, Emma finally sat down on the couch between Mary Margaret and Elsa. “We’re taking it slow because Killian wants us to. It matters to him that we do this right.” Belle and Mary Margaret sighed dreamily at the confession.

“What could be more right than good sex? Nay, epic sex even,” Ruby asked. At this Mary Margaret interjected.

“Maybe love? I bet he’s a big romantic isn’t he, Emma?” Emma nodded at her friend’s question.

“He is. I didn’t expect it, but he’s thoughtful and present and interested, and I know that everything he does he does because he cares. It’s just…”

“You want more,” all of her friends said at once, causing them all to chuckle as Emma agreed.

“I want more.”

“And what did he say when you told him that?” Belle asked quizzically. “What were his exact words?”

Emma didn’t even need time to think on them, she just reiterated the words that were engraved in the memory of this evening. Unsurprisingly her friends all swooned a bit at his phrasing, and a mention or two of that damn accent was thrown around, but there was no deflection allowed on Emma’s part. Her friends wanted to know how she truly felt and she had no choice but to be honest.

“I’m falling for him, you guys. It’s fast, and it’s terrifying, but I can’t seem to help it,” Emma mused, her heart skipping a beat as she confessed these feelings aloud for the first time.

“Falling?” Ruby said with a laugh. “Honey you already fell. You’re not even trying to hide that, and neither is Killian.”

“Maybe,” Emma said, which by her standards might as well have been a shout from the rooftops that she was in love with Killian. “But I don’t have the words for that yet. If that’s what he needs for me to be ready… Let’s just say I have to find another way. At least for now.”

Her friends all volleyed around ideas of ways that Emma could say or do something to take that next step with Killian without throwing around that four letter ‘L’ word that had no business appearing so early in a relationship. But it was Elsa in the end who gave the wisest counsel and who got through to Emma in the way she truly needed.

“I think we all might be over thinking this. It’s not about looking to others, Emma. It’s about looking to yourself. How have you always expressed yourself? Where in your life can your emotions really live?”

“Music,” Emma whispered with a smile, one that Elsa immediately matched. No doubt her friend understood better than the others what it meant to find answers in music. It was a totally personal and undeniable experience to create that way, and it was also Emma at her most vulnerable, sharing a part of her heart and her thoughts with someone else.

“That’s genius! A love song! Emma you can do the melody, Belle can write the lyrics – I’ll do lead vocals of course. Mary Margaret how do you feel about tambourine?” Emma gaped at Ruby’s words, thinking she was serious but then her friend broke and laughed aloud. “Kidding! I’m totally kidding. This is all you, Ems, as it should be.”

“Definitely,” Mary Margaret agreed. “And from now on we promise no more interfering.” Emma blinked at that, trying not to laugh right in her friend’s face, but the giggle escaped all the same when Mary Margaret clarified. “Actually, scratch that. We need attainable goals… Hmm, let’s see. How about we promise no more interfering this year?”

“Eh, maybe this month?” Belle offered with her own laugh, tossing a pointed look at Ruby before Elsa chimed in.

“I give it a week max.”

“Oh hush. We will carry on as we always have. And do you know why?” Ruby asked rhetorically. “Because everything we do we do out of love and Emma knows that. Don’t you, Emma?”

“Yup. But just remember, what goes around comes around. And since some of you have intrigues of your own popping up,” she said looking to Ruby and Mary Margaret specifically. “You might want to keep that in mind.”

To that the friends all agreed, moving from Emma’s love life to other topics and enjoying a lovely evening together. And as she enjoyed the rest of the night with her very best friends, Emma found herself smiling about how good things were right now and how great they would be when she put this new plan into motion. Tomorrow she’d start crafting her way to show Killian their truth, and she knew in her heart this was the perfect way to show him she was ready. Soon enough she’d have what she wanted, and the best part about it was she’d do it her way and stay true to herself in the process.

Post-Note: So as I said this is a fluffy installment with both CS cuteness and also humorous friend time. I know I know, to some of you I am a tease and this has been described by a number of you as ‘torturous’ and ‘highly unfair’ but I’ll just go ahead and spoil for you guys - we get to the smut next chapter. To those of you have been hounding me about slow burn on this, I hope you’ll finally be appeased, but in the meantime I hope this was a good addition to the story for you all. Let me know what you thought and have a great rest of your weekend!

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taeken-my-heart · 6 years

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Independent {f} - Chapter 9

Summary: Your mom calls you stubborn, your friends call you wild, and the boys you’ve left in your wake call you a frigid bitch. You’ve built a life of independence and you like it that way. Kim Taehyung, however; seems to be able to change your mind.

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Light fluff, mild angst

Word Count: 8282

It had been raining nearly all day today, which was strange for this time of year, and perhaps you should have been miffed but really it was nice to be able to sit at the living room window and look out into the mist covered evening.

It gave you a sense of clarity that you’d really needed. You’d been thinking about what Taehyung had said all week and agonizing over what felt right. At this point you had a massive headache but you’d also managed to make a decision.

Curling your legs further into your chest you wrapped your arms around them, dropping your chin onto your knee and sighing. It was time you started opening up and at least trying, and even though you honestly weren’t really sure how, you were willing to practice and you only hoped that Taehyung would be patient enough to move slow.

You’d really only needed one day to decide but then the last 6 days you’d just agonized on whether it was actually the right decision until you’d grown frustrated and basically screamed at yourself into the safety of your pillow. Your roommates already thought you were a little crazy, there was no need to confirm their suspicions.

You’d texted Taehyung telling him you’d made a decision and that you’d tell him tomorrow but in his excitement he’d insisted on coming over immediately and really, you couldn’t have stopped him if you wanted to. He was like an eager puppy, bouncing all over the place. You’d tried to convince him to wait until tomorrow when it wasn’t raining anymore but he’d insisted he didn’t mind and now you were watching out the rain drenched window into the misty sky.

His form suddenly came into view, dark hood bunched over his head and hands shoved into his pockets. His head was hung low to protect from the rain, but really, the dummy didn’t have an umbrella so he was completely soaked through.

You met him at the door, opening to look into his beaming face. His hair was dripping rivulets down onto his hoodie and into his eyes and he shivered lightly in the breeze but he looked so beautiful standing there, dripping on your doorstep that for a moment you forgot to invite him in.

“Hey.” He said softly.

His husky voice snapped you out of your daze and you quickly stepped back, waving him in. “Come in, geez, sorry. Do you not have an umbrella, you dummy?”

Taehyung grinned good naturedly as he stepped into the front foyer, pushing his hood from his head and messily tossing his fingers through his hair to release some of the water droplets.

“That would be practical.” Taehyung teased and you laughed, shaking your head.

“Here, take off your shoes and hoodie and I’ll get you a towel to at least dry off a little bit.”

You quickly grabbed a towel from the main closet before making your way back to where Taehyung was still standing in a simple grey t-shirt, his jacket and shoes dropped unceremoniously in the corner by the door.

“Thanks.” Taehyung said softly, taking the towel from you and ringing out the ends of his hair.

“Let’s go sit in the kitchen.” You said and Taehyung hummed in affirmation, following after you. “Did you want anything to drink? Hot chocolate, coffee, water?”

“To be honest, I’d love a hot chocolate.” He grinned and you smiled back, nodding and grabbing the milk and hot chocolate mix.

After making two steaming mugs you came to sit back at the table, folding your legs crisscross in your chair and staring down into the molten chocolate in your cup.

“So.” Taehyung mumbled, taking a sip of his own drink and you looked up at him carefully through your eyelashes.

“So.” So murmured.

“You made a decision?” He asked cautiously.

Biting your lip, you nodded, but you still couldn’t bring yourself to look at him. He waited patiently for you to speak and you were really grateful he didn’t push the matter because, honestly, this was hard enough as it is.

“So,” you started carefully, tapping your fingers against the rim of your mug, “I’ve been thinking about it all week, like really thinking because I suck at making decisions and I wanted to be fair to you.”

You could see Taehyung nodding from the corner or your eye and felt a slight pang in your chest at the look of dejection that flitted across his face before he managed to mask his emotions. He thought you were going to turn him down.

“I’m not very good at the whole dating thing. After my dad died,” you paused, clearing your throat uncomfortably, “well, after he was gone it kind of broke me and I decided to protect myself. If I didn’t let anyone close, I couldn’t get hurt. Stupid, I know, but it’s worked so far.” You shrugged and Taehyung biting his bottom lip at your admission made you blush. With his grandmother passing away you imagined he did know a little bit about what you were talking about. Grief is grief, no matter the form. “Anyway, Sarah told me a little while ago that when I shut myself off from pain I also shut out joy and I figured she’s right so I’m willing to, you know, to try…if you’re willing to be patient with me.”

Taehyung’s head snapped up and for a moment you worried he might have hurt his neck with how quickly he’d looked up from the table top. “What?” He breathed, “You’re saying you’re willing to date me?”

“I’m willing to try.” You repeated, “But I’m not very good at this sort of thing so I really need to move slowly.”

Taehyung was nodding his head so quickly you thought it might just snap right off his shoulders. “Yes, of course, we can go as slow as you’d like.” He laughed breathlessly, “I’m just so glad you’re willing to try.” He reached across the space between you, pulling you into his arms and hugging you tightly. “Thank you.” He whispered into your hair and your heart leaped into your throat, beating a million miles an hour at the intensity of his hug.

“Would it be too fast if we hung out tomorrow night? It’s supposed to snow again and I thought it would be fun to go sledding.” He asked, sitting back in his chair.

You smiled, chewing the inside of your cheek as jitters spread through your limbs and into your fingertips and toes. “I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of the snow. But that actually sounds really fun.”

“Great!” Taehyung beamed, standing from his seat, wet socks squelching on the linoleum floor. “Well, how about we go at 7? That way we can have dinner and get some homework done and whatever. I’ll drop by and we can head out together.”

“Ok.” You nodded.

“Well, I’ll go then, I should probably go take a hot shower, don’t want to catch a cold or anything.” He chuckled. You walked him to the front door where he grabbed his sweater, still soaked and dripping and shoved his feet back into his shoes, grimacing as they sloshed loudly. “I’d give you another hug, but I just realized my sweater is soaking and I’ve already done damage.” He tailed off, waving his hand at your damp shirt and you chuckled, nodding.

“It’s OK. I’ll see you tomorrow, Taehyung.”

“See you.” He beamed.

The next morning was bright and sunny and it lulled you into a false sense of warmth but as soon as you stepped outside you swore under your breath, bringing your coat further around your body and shivering into your scarf.

It was only half way through November but you were already aching for the spring again. While you liked wearing boots and cute coats as much as the next girl, you really hated being cold and wet and the winter was an unfortunate mix of the two.

Plus, it was Monday morning. So really, there were bound to be some vexations. You trudged through the browning snow, which was honestly more slush at this point, and wondered if it really would snow today like Taehyung said.

You couldn’t imagine sledding on the mush that was currently on the ground so in spite of your normal feelings towards it, you found yourself hoping that it would snow so that Taehyung and you could actually go sledding. Ever since agreeing last night you’d been surprisingly excited and you didn’t really like the idea of having to put off those plans for another time.

You had three classes today, with a nice long lunch break in between history and photojournalism and you were planning on meeting your roommates in the café to grab something to eat. You’d woken up late and hadn’t been able to eat breakfast so you were infinitely grateful that you only had one class in between you and a burger.

Your mouth watered at the thought of food, what you wouldn’t give to eat…anything, really. Your stomach grumbled uncomfortably and you frowned, marching up the steps to the social sciences building and through the doors into the beautifully heated building.

Pizza, pasta, burgers, sandwiches, honestly, even a heaping pile of tomatoes. Right now you were so hungry you’d eat just about anything. Just as you were hiking your bag higher on your shoulder and readying yourself to walk up the stairs to your second floor classroom you caught a shimmer of blonde hair out of the corner of your eyes and turned to find Beth flouncing up to your side.

“Hi!” She gushed and you resisted the urge to vomit. She was so fake you wondered if she ever grossed herself out. “Oh my gosh, imagine seeing you here! What a small world.”

“Well, the university isn’t that big, I guess it’s not that strange that at some point we’d bump into each other.” You were proud of keeping the bite out of your voice and Beth grinned, tucking a long strand of hair behind her hair.

“That’s true,” she giggled. Honestly, you should be given a medal for how long suffering you were. “Anyway. So, this may seem forward, but I figured woman to woman, you know?” She said, leaning forward and whispering and you wanted so badly to roll your eyes. “Has Taehyung ever, you know, mentioned me?”

“Not really.” You said, “We don’t tend to talk about other people, just projects and stuff.”

“Oh.” Beth pouted. “But you guys aren’t dating, right?”

What could you even say to this question? You weren’t dating, though you were going on a date. Was that supposed to count? Were you supposed to mention that? Having Beth around made you feel strangely territorial and you had to remind yourself that you had no good reason to be possessive; Taehyung wasn’t an object so you couldn’t honestly claim him.

“I really don’t know much about his dating life,” you answered truthfully. “You should ask him those questions.” If Beth thought she was going to get some juicy information from you she was sorely mistaken. It wasn’t in your personality to share other people’s information with friends, let alone near strangers. “Anyway, I’ve got class in five minutes so I’ve gotta go.”

Before she could say anything more you quickly made your way up the steps and around the corner. Talking to Beth made you feel like she was expecting you to auction him off and you hated that feeling. Sliding into your seat in the back of class was a welcome relief and you pulled out your books and a pen as the professor began to talk.

An hour and ten minutes later you were trudging into the café when you saw Sarah waving you over from a nearby table. Havana, at last. You couldn’t wait to stuff your face with the first thing you saw and you rushed forward, dropping your bag into the open chair beside your blonde haired roommate.

“I’m so hungry!” You wailed. Charlotte looked up at you through a curtain of dark hair, eyebrows wrinkling and motioned over her shoulder.

“Then go get something, you weirdo. Anna is in there now.”

You nodded, grabbing your wallet and making your way further into the café, examining your different options before remembering your quest for a burger and hurrying to the correct station. Anna waved at you from nearby, coming to stand with you after grabbing her own food and chatting aimlessly while you waited.

Once you’d paid the both of you made your way towards the table and sat down with the rest of your friends. Everyone began chatting but you were so immersed in eating that you’d downed half of your burger before realizing that Anna was asking you a question.

“What?” You mumbled around a mouthful of food and Charlotte grimaced.

“Swallow your food you animal.” She grumbled and you grinned, swallowing and shrugging.

“What did you ask me?” You repeated.

“I asked you about what’s going on with Taehyung. Sarah’s the only one that really knows anything and to be honest, I feel a little offended.” Anna pouted.

You blushed, taking another big bite of your burger to avoid the conversation and Anna scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Come on, it’s not a big deal if you don’t make it a big deal. I just wanna know what’s going on with you. You said you kind of liked him and I don’t remember you ever liking a guy before, aside from that one guy in high school that you were sort of into. I just want to gossip with you!”

You sighed, nodding your head and putting your burger back onto your plate before smoothing your hands down your legs and looking up at your friends. “Ok, we can talk about it. Ask me anything you want.”

Anna beamed, shifting eagerly in her seat and rubbing at her chin. “Man, where to start?” You rolled your eyes at her and she chuckled. “First of all, how in the world did you even meet duck boy?”

You sighed, sending a glare Sarah’s way and she grinned. “You told her to call him duck boy?”

“No,” Sarah laughed, “we all call him duck boy because we’ve all seen him pat the mailbox.”

“Fine, fine.” You grumbled. “I met him when I was out taking pictures. I took a picture of him because he was smiling and it was a nice image and he caught me. After that we ended up working together for the recital and now he’s the TA in one of my classes.”

“OK,” Charlotte nodded, “And you like him?”

“Yes.” You admitted softly, blush rising into your hair.

“Does he like you?” Charlotte continued and you blushed harder.

“Yes.” You mumbled.

“Did he confess?” Sarah gasped and you sunk deep into your chair. This conversation was mortifying. You weren’t used to being quizzed on this sort of thing; was this normal when you liked someone?

“Oh my gosh!” Anna and Sarah crowed and you buried your face in your hands.

“Wow, so much progress and you didn’t even tell me!” Sarah tutted, swatting at you.

“It only happened last night!” You insisted.

“So are you dating?” Charlotte asked and you quickly shook your head.

“No, no, no!” You rushed.

“Why do you say it like it’s a bad thing?” Anna frowned and you blushed again.

“Well, it’s not a bad thing, I’m just not used to this. You know I would never rush into something like that.”

“OK, fair enough.” Anna nodded. “But will you go on a date with him, at least?”

You nodded, picking at the bun on your burger. “Yeah, we’re actually gonna go sledding tonight.”

Anna and Sarah began squealing and you were even surprised to find Charlotte bouncing giddily in her chair. You raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked, shrugging.

“You have to tell us what happens! Especially if he kisses you.” Sarah gushed. Your heart shot into your throat and you shook your head violently.

“That won’t happen!” You insisted. “I told him I need to move slowly, this is all super new to me. He said he’s willing to do that.”

“Good man.” Anna smiled, “When Max and me started dating it was so exciting. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was also really, really afraid. After Brad, well, you know, he messed me up for a while. I really liked Max, though, and I wanted to believe that not all guys are like my ex. I wasn’t sure I was ready when Max asked me on a date but he convinced me to just hang out and get to know him and that really helped me to get more comfortable with him. It just takes time to learn to trust after you get hurt, but if you’ve found a guy that really does work hard to wait for you then you’ve found a good egg.”

“How did you know with Max, though?” You asked quietly. “I’ve been alone for so long that I don’t even know where to start.”

“I take offence to that!” Sarah pouted, “You’ve had us!”

“Be quiet!” Anna scoffed, shushing her sister as you rolled your eyes. This seemed to be a theme with your friends. “Honestly, it took time. I had to get to know him and be his friend first. Comfort doesn’t come because you want it to, it comes because you took the time to practice it.”

You sighed, slouching in your seat and picking at your fries. “It just takes so much effort.”

Sarah laughed, rolling her eyes at you. “Anything worth doing takes time and energy, you loser.”

You smirked, flicking her arm. “OK, well for now let’s talk about something else. I feel exhausted thinking about all this stuff.”

“Fine, fine.” Anna pouted.

The four of you spent the rest of your break chatting about classes and any other mundane gossip you could think about before you had to head to your next class. The day was quickly turning to evening and as you finished your essay for English and looked up at the clock you realized you only had an hour to eat dinner and get ready for the date with Taehyung.

Butterflies erupted in your stomach at the thought of it and you rushed to grab some leftover spaghetti, sitting at the dining room table and scrolling through the social media on your phone. People were posting pictures on Facebook of the weather from that afternoon and you smiled. The weatherman had kept his promise when he said a fresh snow would blanket the campus.

A foot of snow had fallen while you were in your last two classes of the day and the sky was dark and grey, an indication that the billowy white wasn’t likely to stop falling anytime soon. After finishing dinner you rushed to the bathroom to brush your teeth and then into your room to decide on an outfit.

You grabbed a baggy white crochet turtleneck, slipping it over your chest and let it hang low over your dark blue skinny jeans as you searched in your closet for an appropriate pair of boots to wear in the snow. Grabbing a pair of grey and brown bean boots you slipped them over your fuzzy pink socks and went to grab your parka from the coat closet.

Just as you’d draped it over the living room chair and had grabbed a hat and gloves from the couch there was a knock on the door and your heart jumped into your throat. You could see the top of Taehyung’s head through the windows and took a few calming breaths before opening the door.

Taehyung smiled brightly, his coat zipped all the way to his nose and hat pulled down low over his ears. “Can you believe how lucky we got with this snow?” He beamed, stepping into the foyer and closing the door behind him.

You smiled, pulling your gloves and hat on before grabbing your coat and sliding it over your shoulders. "It is pretty amazing, I was a little worried we’d be stuck with yesterday’s slush.”

Taehyung stepped towards you, laughing and zipping your coat up to your chin. “It’s perfect for sledding!” He grinned and you smiled up at him. “Ready to go?”

You nodded and he opened the door again, leading you outside to where he’d left two wooden sleds. “Here, you take this one, it’s lighter so it’ll be easier to carry.”

You took the proffered sled and wrapped your arms around it as he grabbed the other one and motioned for you to follow him. “So how was your day?” He asked and if you didn’t know any better you would have thought he sounded a little shy.

“It was OK,” you said softly, “but I’m glad to be done with classes.”

“Hopefully by the end of today you’ll be saying today was fantastic! I’m taking you to my favorite sledding hill. I don’t know why, but no one seems to know about it even though I’m pretty sure it’s the best sledding hill in existence.”

“Those are some pretty big words, Taehyung, are you prepared to back them up?” You grinned and he smirked right back at you, slowing his pace down slightly as you crossed the main road and headed in the direction of a small wooded pathway.

“I always back it up.”

A few minutes later you stepped into the clearing of what you had to admit was a fairly substantial hill, covered in unblemished snow, not a soul in sight. “Dammit,” you mumbled and Taehyung turned to look down at you, “I was really looking forward to mocking you but now I can’t.”

Taehyung laughed loudly and ushered you forward towards the top of the hill. “OK, put the sled down and get ready to have your ass kicked.”

“My ass kicked in sledding?” you teased and Taehyung sat himself down on the edge of his sled, looking up at you and raising his eyebrow.

“What, are you afraid?”

You frowned, dropping your sled down beside him and quickly adjusting yourself in your seat. “You’re on!” You challenged.

“First one to the bottom gets gloating rights. On the count of three. One, two…GO!” Taehyung sped off quickly and you gasped. That little punk! Pushing off on your own sled you sped down the hill, hooting and screeching at the top of your lungs from the rush of cold air, the soft flakes of snow still drifting from the sky and onto your cheeks.

Once you’d reached the bottom you rolled off your sled into the powdery snow, laughing and looking over to where Taehyung had landed face first into a small snowbank. He pulled himself up, face and torso covered and he shivered, shaking the snow from his head.

“Serves you right for cheating, Cheater McCheater face.” You snickered.

Taehyung laughed, brushing the snow from his shoulders and off his chest. “First one to the top!” He shouted, grabbing his sled and racing towards the top of the slope.

You screeched in mock outrage, jumping up and grabbing your own sled, laughing when you noticed Taehyung’s feet getting stuck every few steps deep in the snows trenches.

You managed to make it to the top of the hill before he’d even got half way up and you sat back down on your sled, pushing off and laughing all down the hill past Taehyung’s grinning face as you were launched back into a snow drift and laughed, landing haphazardly in a pile of limbs and crystal.

“Hey!” Taehyung whined from the middle of the hill, feet still stuck deep and body twisted to look at you.

“Sore loser!” You called, grinning up at him.

“Come help me get unstuck and I’ll give you the winner’s title!”

“How gracious of you!” You called sarcastically, standing and placing your hands on your hips. “I think I won fair and square!”

“Oh, come on!” Taehyung pouted and you grinned, grabbing your sled and marching towards him.

“You’re not so tough now that your foot’s stuck, huh?” You chuckled, standing directly in front of him and he grinned, a puff of air leaving his mouth and warming your cheeks.

“Even the tough guys lose sometimes.” He replied and you nodded.

“Touché.” You looked down at his foot, buried deep in the snow and grinned, “all right, time to get you unstuck. You big baby.”

“I am an adorable, endearing big baby, I will have you know.”

“Is that so?” You smirked, wrapping your gloved fingers around his calf and tugging.

“Yes, my mother told me so.”

“Well, mother knows best,” you grunted, pulling as hard as you could. His foot finally popped loose and you both tumbled down the hill, giggling all the way and landing back at the bottom. Laying at the bottom of the hill, the both of you remained quiet for a moment, only the sounds of your gasps for air filling the space as you tried to regain your breath.

“We should catch snowflakes on our tongue!” Taehyung suddenly burst, jumping up to his feet and holding his hand out to you.

“Ew, that’s gross, Tae! Snowflakes catch everything that’s in the air; they’re super dirty.”

“Naw, come on. All the snow on the ground already caught what was in the air, now the new snowflakes will be clean!”

You remained frowning at him from your spot on the ground. “That’s not really how it works.” You said.

Taehyung laughed, flailing his outstretched hand in your face. “Come on, Y/N, live a little!”

You took a deep breath before grabbing his hand and allowing him to pull to up. Everything around you was so quiet, enveloped in silence in this little grove of trees. You nodded your head before tipping it back and opening your mouth, tongue out to catch the drifting flakes of ivory.

The first flake that landed on your tongue surprised you and you closed your eyes as it began to melt. You could hear Taehyung’s opened mouthed breathes as he stood in front of you and you peaked open one eye to look at him.

Though he stood taller than you, you could see his head tipped back, eyes closed and tongue out, arms flung wide. You smiled, closing your eye again and throwing your arms out to spin in circles, mouth still open wide and you began to laugh.

Spinning again and again you could hear Taehyung laughing and you opened your eyes to find him spinning in front of you before tumbling into the snow and rolling onto his back. In your state of disarray you found yourself tripping over his outstretched foot and falling face first into the powder beside him.

You rolled onto your back, laughing loudly as Taehyung looked at you in concern. “Are you ok?” He asked.

You turned to him, grinning and laying your head against his outstretched arm. “I’m really great.” You admitted.

Taehyung smiled, “would you say this day has been “fantastic”?”

You turned your body to stare up at the sky, head tucked in the crook of his elbow. “You know, I think I would.” You said softly.

You didn’t need to look at him to know he was smiling and honestly, so were you. This had genuinely been the best date you’d ever had and that made the butterflies dance in the pit of your stomach.

“I’m glad.” Taehyung whispered.

The next morning you woke to the sound of your roommates music blasting and you groaned into your pillow. Charlotte was many things and eclectic was one of them, her music tastes didn’t stray far from that and the bagpipe rock that was currently bouncing against the walls of your home further proved that.

After standing and pulling a hoodie over your head you made your way to the kitchen, narrowing your eyes at your friend as she bounced around by the stove, head banging along to the electric guitar. She looked at you over her shoulder and gave you a lopsided smile, waving her spatula in your face and then turning to scream the words of the song into the slotted pronged end.

You poured yourself a glass of orange juice, rolling your eyes in exasperation and watching as Charlotte turned a perfectly browned pancake onto her plate. She took the eggs from the other pan and plopped them on top and then proceeded to pour syrup across the top of them.

You made a gagging noise and she chuckled. “Don’t knock it until you try it.” She said, grabbing a fork and sitting at the table, flicking off her music as she went.

“Mm, no thanks.”

“Would you mind grabbing me a mug of coffee? It’s freshly brewed.”

You nodded, turning to the cabinets and pulling down a mug, pouring the scalding hot liquid into the center and joining Charlotte at the table.

“Thanks.” She murmured, taking a tentative sip and humming into the glass. “So you went on that date last night, right?”

You looked up at her, blush spreading across your cheeks despite your best efforts and slid your hands into the front pocket of your hoodie. “Uh, yeah, I did.”

“How was it?” Charlotte asked, shoveling a rather large bite of pancake, egg, syrup mixture into her mouth and you refrained from grimacing.

“Well,” you said softly, “actually it was really nice. Like, really, really nice. I haven’t had that much fun in a while.”

Charlotte looked at you, eyebrows rising in surprise. “Really? Wow, the girls are gonna die when they hear!”

As if on cue, the twins came into the room, already dressed and ready as though it weren’t 8 in the morning and Charlotte hadn’t been blasting bagpipes at an unholy volume just minutes before. “How did it go?” Sarah squealed, running over to you once she’d realized you were there.

Anna bounding up beside her, crowding your side of the table and you shoved them both away. “Three people can’t sit in one seat. Get your own spot!” You griped.

The twins laughed, taking the other two seats and imploring you to give them all the details. “Well, we went sledding as you know. He took me to this secret little hill in a clearing surrounded by trees. No one else was there, it was kind of amazing. We raced and he cheated a lot and we caught snowflakes on our tongues and after we kind of exhausted ourselves he pulled out these two thermoses from who knows where with hot chocolate in them and he walked me back home and said goodnight. If I’m being completely honest…” You paused, looking at the wide eyed fascination on your friends faces and sighed, “Man, it was so good. Like, so, so good. I felt so comfortable and happy and I’ve never felt like that before and that freaks me out a little bit but not enough that I would stop seeing him.”

All three girls screamed loudly and you were most surprised to find Charlotte the loudest of them all, wiggling excitedly in her chair, fork squeezed tight in one fist. “I cannot believe what is happening,” Anna gasped, “did you really just say you would be willing to go out with him again?!”

You rolled your eyes, smacking your friends arm and she grinned. “Ah, shut up, you’re making me feel self-conscious.”

She chuckled, grabbing your hand and linking your fingers together. “I’m excited for you, I really am.”

“Well, now we need to meet him. I mean, technically I have and I think Anna said she has as well, but whatever, technicalities.”

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically, “yeah, plus we can, you know, check out his roommates and whatever.”

You wanted to laugh at the idea. Charlotte couldn’t care less about dating and you all knew it but she was more careful of your discomforts than others. She knew that if she outright said she wanted to meet Taehyung and scope him out you’d feel uncomfortable so you were grateful at her efforts to be sly…even if she sucked at it.

“I know!” Sarah said, snapping her fingers together. “Why don’t you invite them all over for dinner tonight? We could make them something nice, chat, get to know them, you know, it can be chill. We need to make sure all the roommates come, though, that way it doesn’t feel forced or weird.”

“You sure you’re not just doing this to see Jin again?” You teased. At Sarah’s blush you knew you’d hit gold but she shook her head aggressively.

“No, of course not. I’m doing this for you. We’ve got to be guardians for our sister and the best way to do that is to scope out the enemy.”

“The enemy?” Anna laughed and Sarah shrugged.

“Semantics.” She said.

“Fine,” you agreed, “I’ll invite them but I can’t guarantee that all of them will come. Just be prepared for that.”

“I mean, it’s not like I care, it’s whatever. I’m just saying, you know?” Sarah argued and you smiled.

After texting Taehyung and getting the green light from him and his roommates you finished your breakfast, took a shower, and got ready for your classes. Art History was first and you were sure Taehyung would sit with you again. The thought made you blush a little but you pulled your scarf and gloves on before sliding your feet into your boots and grabbing your backpack to head out the door.

If possible, it felt even colder than before. Half way through November you should have really expected it to be like this but you kept leaving the house hoping it would be warmer only to have your hopes dashed. Burying your face further in your scarf you pushed through the blistering cold up to the top of campus where your Art History class was.

The classroom felt warm and fuzzy when you entered and you smiled pleasantly to each person you passed, as though you could communicate with them how pleased you were to finally be warm. Taking your normal seat at the front of the class you began to pull your pens and notebooks from your backpack, setting them up on the pull out table top and sliding off your coat and gloves.

“Morning.”

You looked up to spot Taehyung, scarf wrapped warmly around his neck and over his nose, eyes scrunched and smiling at you over the top.

“Morning.” You smiled as he took the seat beside you, dropping his bag at his feet and searching through.

“My roommates are so excited about dinner, you have no idea.” Taehyung said as he unwound his scarf and dropped it into his lap.

You chuckled and nodded. “So are my roommates. I think Sarah is particularly excited to see Jin again.”

“That’s good news!” Taehyung smiled, “seeing as he asked me specifically if she was going to be there tonight.”

“Ah, well I’m glad we could oblige them.”

Taehyung laughed just as the professor started his lesson and you settled into your seat, pulling off your pen cap as he pointed to one of the slides about romanticism in renaissance art and began his monologue.

Every now and again Taehyung’s knee would bump against your own and you would smile at his grin from the corner of your eye. You couldn’t tell if he was doing it on purpose or not, but it made your heartbeat flutter excitedly in your chest. Halfway through the lesson Taehyung reached over, doodling in the corner of your paper and you chuckled, swatting at his hand.

He bit his lip to stop his laugh, turning his attention back to the class and you smiled down at his little drawing. It was like Taehyung had sketched his own spirit animal; an excitable little puppy with floppy ears and a bowtie.

After the class ended you packed your bags and waited for Taehyung as he spoke to the professor briefly before jogging over to you. “You’ve got another class, right?” He asked as the two of you made your way through the doors.

“Yeah, I’ve got Organic Chemistry next.” Taehyung grimaced and you grinned. “I thought it would be fun to try it out. I was wrong.” He laughed and you began walking to the science building together. “Do you have another class today?”

“No, I have a bunch of early morning classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I’m gonna be helping a few people in the library with their projects and then after that I’ll grab my roommates and we’ll head over for dinner. What are we having, by the way? Jungkook will probably be all over me with questions when I get back.”

“Honestly, I kind of left it up to my roommates to decide but I think Anna was talking about a pot roast. She’s got this bomb recipe from her mom that she makes sometimes so I think that’s probably what they’ll go with.”

Taehyung licked his lips and rubbed his hands together. “That sounds so amazing.”

You made your way up the science buildings stairs before Taehyung grabbed your hand, tugging you back and you looked at him expectantly, trying to hide the rush of endorphins the moment his hand touched yours. “I’ve gotta head to the library now. I’ll see you at dinner, though.” You nodded and he pulled you into a hug, nearly bone crushing in its intensity before waving and walking back down the hill.

Once you got home later that afternoon you dropped your bag off on your bed and made your way to the kitchen. Your hunch about the pot roast had been correct, the entire house smelling so strongly you were already salivating. Anna was stood by the crock pot, staring into the lid and you smiled, watching her from the corner before clearing your throat. She jumped in surprise and you laughed.

“Don’t do that!” She gasped, clutching at her heart. “I thought my heart was about to fall right out of my butthole.”

“That would have been unfortunate.” You quipped, walking towards her. “Have you never heard the phrase, a watched kettle never brews?”

Anna frowned, “Haha. I know me staring at it won’t make it cook any faster. I was just enjoying the smell.”

“That was an intense enjoying session.” You remarked and she slapped your arm.

“So they’re all coming right? All of Taehyung’s roommates?”

“Yeah, they all said they could make it.”

“Even Jin?” Anna teased and you laughed.

“Yeah, actually, he asked about her specifically so it looks like there might be a romance blooming there.”

“A two for one!” Anna hooted.

“Stop it!” You blushed.

“Ah come on, don’t be so shy. You have both admitted to liking each other and you went on a date, it’s OK to be a little gooey.”

“Maybe, but you know I’m not a gooey person. Speaking of gooey, how’s Max?”

Anna grinned, biting her lip and wrapping her arms around herself. “He’s good. We’re going to meet his family this weekend actually.”

“Really? But you’re so young!” You said in surprise.

Anna smiled, rolling her eyes. “Calm down, we’re not getting married or anything. His parents are just coming into town and wanted to meet me.”

“Still, isn’t that kind of a big deal?”

“Yeah, but I think we’re ready for it. We might not want to get married right now but someday I do want to marry him.”

“Wow.” You sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table. “That’s heavy.”

“I mean, I guess, but it doesn’t have to be any heavier than anything else. I don’t know why you’re sweating this,” she chuckled, “you’re not the one meeting your boyfriend’s parents.”

“You’re right,” you nodded, laughing, “I’m just busy trying to worry for you. So are you nervous?”

Anna shrugged, “I guess a little, but Max says his parents are really chill and they’re excited to meet me. Honestly, I think if I’m just myself that things will be OK.”

“I agree, who wouldn’t love you?”

“Thanks girl. Well hey, now that we’re both done for the day would you be willing to help me get some things ready for dinner? The other two won’t be back for at least 40 minutes and I need help with the side dishes.”

“Sure.” You smiled, walking towards the fridge and grabbing the items she dictated. About an hour later Sarah and Charlotte were both home and they were following Anna’s orders (Charlotte very grudgingly) as she dictated them around the kitchen. There were only 15 more minutes before the guys were supposed to arrive and it didn’t feel like you had enough time to get everything together, but thankfully everything was ready shortly before the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it.” You called, Sarah and Anna oohing behind you and you rolled your eyes, flicking them off and walking to the entryway.

“Hey!” You smiled once you’d opened the door. Five rowdy guys were standing on the doorstep, Taehyung and Jin leading them and you were surprised to find that even Sam had come. He looked less than pleased to be moving around so much, but you supposed the incentive of a free home cooked meal was too much to pass up. “Come in, it’s freezing outside!”

The guys shuffled in, each giving you a quick hug and drooling over the smell wafting from the kitchen. “I’m so pumped, I can’t even tell you.” Jungkook said and you grinned.

“You better be, Anna worked hard and it’s a pretty amazing recipe. I think you’ll love it.” You motioned for the guys to follow you once all their jackets were hung up and led them quickly to the kitchen where the rest of your roommates were.

“Let me make some quick introductions and then we can dig in.” After going around naming each person to the group you noticed with interest that Charlotte and Sam were eyeing each other in curiosity. You were definitely expecting Sarah and Jin but you were not expecting those two.

After everyone had sat down and dinner started the girls began asking questions to each guy and every once in a while Anna would catch your eye, glance at Taehyung and then wiggle her eyebrows at you. You would roll your eyes and divert your attention in an effort to ignore your roommate because even though she was being such a brat, it was honestly kind of funny how hard she was trying to get you to laugh.

“So what kind of music do you do?” Charlotte asked, and you turned to look at Sam as he took a drink of his water.

“I like to dabble in a lot of different styles, but mainly rap.” He said after a moment of thought. “What about you? What are you studying?”

“I’m studying graphic design. Always been interested in the idea of filming and editing videos so I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Sam seemed impressed by the idea, nodding his head in thought. “Maybe you can film a music video for me someday.”

Sam’s roommates looked at each other in surprise and you looked at Taehyung, raising your eyebrow. All the time’s you’d ever met Sam he’d been nice but a little on the reserved side. From what Taehyung had said, he was very much Charlotte’s lazy counterpart so this was rather surprising. That either one of them would put any effort into entertaining the idea was a little shocking.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Charlotte agreed. You couldn’t wait until the guys were gone so you could tease her mercilessly without embarrassing her in front of Sam.

“So,” Sarah said, throwing her long hair over her shoulder and smiling at Jin, “what happened with the recital for you. Y/N told me you got some pretty cool offers but hasn’t updated me on what you decided.

“That’s because I don’t know either.” You smiled and Jin blushed.

“Ah, yes, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before, it’s all been pretty overwhelming. I decided to go with The Talent Investment Group, they were here recruiting a lot of people, including Taehyung. As soon as I graduate at the end of this year I’m going to be moving out to Los Angeles to start working on some projects. It’s all kind of crazy right now.”

“Wow,” Sarah breathed, “that’s incredible! You must be so excited!”

“I am!” Jin beamed, “it’s an incredible opportunity. It’s kind of scary to go and do it alone, but I won’t be alone forever since Tae’s gonna be joining me as well.”

That made your heart leap in discomfort and you turned to look at Taehyung. “What do you mean?” You asked softly and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I didn’t really get the opportunity to tell you, since this last week has been…well, you know, it was just kind of busy. I decided to accept their offer too.”

“Oh.” You murmured, looking back at your food and pushing a piece of broccoli across the plate. “Well, that’s great.” You felt like your heart had dropped into your stomach and you tried not to let that show. You should be happy for him, this is what he wanted…but you’d just barely begun to warm up to the idea of him being something more and now he was leaving?

You felt selfish in your desire for him to stay. He wasn’t your boyfriend so you didn’t have any claim on him and even if he were, he was free to do what he wanted to do. Frankly, you wanted him to do it too, if it made him happy…but you hated that you were left to feel unhappy in the process.

“They gave me a great deal, though,” Taehyung hurried to explain. “I told them I really wanted to finish my schooling and they agreed. They even said they would pay for the rest of my schooling, at least the acting centered classes. They said since I’m joining their label as an actor they see this as a worthy investment.”

“Wow!” You gasped, “…so then you’re staying?”

Taehyung beamed. “I’m staying…until I graduate in two years, of course.”

“That’s amazing!” Sarah gushed and you grinned. He was staying…and the deal he’d cut was so amazing. When Eleanor had initially been approached her company had told her they needed to strike while the iron was hot and it was either move forward or don’t. You’d expected that sort of treatment with Taehyung and Jin but this was beyond your wildest dreams.

“I can’t believe it.” You breathed. “I’m so happy for you! Are you happy?”

“So happy!” He grinned.

“Have you guys already celebrated?” You asked, turning to the rest of the guys and they shook their heads.

“We’ve been so busy this last week that we haven’t been able to. We thought we’d do something small this Sunday.” Jimin said.

“You should come!” Jin smiled, glancing at Sarah. “You guys should all come, it would be fun to have a little get together.”

Sarah blushed, “well I’m certainly up for it.” Everyone else nodded and Taehyung rubbed his hands together in excitement.

“Great. So this Sunday at 7, how’s that sound? We’ll have some drinks and snacks and whatever and just hang out.”

Dinner continued smoothly and you watched in amusement as Jin and Sarah flirted, blushed, and basically turned into piles of goo. Charlotte and Sam were discussing the songs he was currently working on and Jungkook, Jimin, Taehyung, Anna, and you were all talking about dancing and the choreography that Jimin was currently helping Jungkook come up with for one of his class finals.

The guys helped with cleanup and you all went into the living room to chat for a while. You sat on the floor, pulling a pillow into your lap and holding it close to your chest as Taehyung sat beside you, arguing good naturedly with Jimin about who makes the worst pasta with Jungkook as the highly biased judge.

You laughed, holding the pillow up to your face and Taehyung grinned down at you as Jimin and Jungkook began to argue with each other about whether or not Jungkook was sure his taste buds were acceptable judges.

“How are you feeling?” Taehyung asked softly as the rest of the group joined in on the brothers’ argument and you smiled.

“I’m OK, how’re you?”

He nodded, shrugging. “I’m pretty good.” He paused, looking down at his lap before continuing. “Were you surprised about my news?”

“A little.” You admitted carefully. “But I’m really happy for you, Tae. I know you didn’t say it but I could see how much you wanted it so I’m glad your dream is coming true.”

“It’s only one of many dreams,” Taehyung smiled softly, “I’d like to see a few of my other’s come true as well.”

“Oh? What other dreams do you have?”

Taehyung blushed, biting his bottom lip and looking away from you. “Just…things in my personal life, that kind of stuff, you know?”

You cleared your throat, shifting uncomfortably in your spot “Oh.” You murmured.

Just then Jungkook’s voice broke in begging Taehyung to help back him up on why he was better with scary things than Jimin and you spent the rest of the evening laughing and playing games with everyone before it was time to say goodbye and get ready for bed. Tomorrow’s classes would come too soon and you still had a stupid paper to finish.

I hope you love this chapter. I was swooning when they went on their date. Next chapter is gonna have some slightly angstier themes so prepare yourselves for that!

It might take me a little longer to post chapter 10. I’m moving back to Korea in two days and won’t have consistent internet for a little while (plus I’ll be starting a new job) so bear with me!

Chapter 8

Chapter 10

#sfwbangtan #kpoptrashtag #taehyung fic #taehyung fluff #bts fic #mild angst #kim taehyung #bts v

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daynamartinez22 · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 327

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 327 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangout. This is episode, if I remember correctly, 327. Today is the 17th of February 2021. We got almost the whole crew here today. I think Hernan’s got some traveling going on. So he may not be joining us. But we are gonna go around, say hello to everybody. Get some announcements out of the way and then hop into your questions. So first is Chris. How are you doing today, Chris?

Oh, doing well here today. The weather is absolutely crazy. Like one day is like warm, like almost spring. Next day when the ice-cold? I don’t know. Right now. It’s again warm. So I’m happy. Things are good.

All right, fair enough. Marco. What? How’s the weather with you?

It doesn’t change, man.

Hey, hang on. Let me let me go. There. You go to the window before too much light. It’s too bright. And it’s like you’ve seen it. I started this a year ago, almost to the day. It was sunny. It was what you see me in nothing but either a T-shirt or a sleeved shirt, a button. a button-down shirt every Wednesday for the past year. And it’s always been what you see.

This is what it is. And you asked me Adam, but don’t you get tired? I’m like, Fuck no. Why would I get tired of it? Why would I want to be living in it? For example, in Texas where the pipes have frozen, people are freezing. They have no electricity, they have no water like that. I can have that if I just move to one of the places that our charity supports. Why would I want to live anywhere else? No. I’d like I’d rather have like if I’m gonna have no electricity. I’ll take this weather. Thank you very much. It’s very rare that Texas has this kind of weather though. So during the rainy so yeah, but I mean, I don’t have to worry about rare. Weather rare here. It’s 60 degrees. The rare here is 90. That’s the fluctuation that we haven’t you see it? It’s sunny. And it’s warm. And it’s beautiful. And it’s my Fortress of Solitude. We always talk about both. This is where I want to be

very nice. Well, Bradley, how you doing on the East Coast today?

Good. The weather is decent here for now. But we’re supposed to get five inches of snow tomorrow. So we’ll see. But yeah, things are good, man. All right. Well, wish you the best of luck and everyone else. I’m not sure internationally what’s going on. But I know if you’re in the middle, probably two-thirds of the US you got some nasty weather going on. So stay safe, stay warm. So how is your place?

Yeah, but the same as always is low cooler, but 15 and sunny. So that’s a cold day here in the Bay Area. So can’t complain.

First of all, if you’re watching, thank you for watching. Thanks for being here. If you’re catching the replay, that’s great, too. Drop us a comment. If you’re live ask your questions. If you’re watching the replay, you can also leave a comment there on the YouTube channel. And we’ll get back to you if you got a question. But we encourage you to come live and you can always do that at semantic mastery comm HD questions. And that is where you can be sure that we will get to your question, provided we have enough time we only got an hour, but generally we can get to it. And secondly, I wanted to say the question we get asked a lot for people who are new to Semantic Mastery new to MGYB new to the heavy hitters club. You know, what should I do? Where should I start? And you know, we’ve got a few things we tell people depending on what you want, right? It’s not a cookie-cutter. But the general gist of this is if you’re not sure, and you’re not sure what the SEO shield is go to the SEO shield comm start there. It’s free training about what the SEO shield is what it can do for you. Now if you want to go beyond that, in terms of SEO, you can get our step-by-step processes for getting SEO results with the battle plan. You can find out more about that battle plan dot semantic mastery COMM And if you’re an agency owner or a consultant that wants to get more clients who want to grow your revenue, and you want to scale your team, then you should head over to 2xyouragency.com. Find out more over there. And then if you’re ready to grow your digital marketing business, or maybe get a brick and mortar, maybe you’re helping someone else out but you want to join in the experienced community, then the mastermind is going to be the place for you and you can join at mastermind dot semantic mastery.com now at the beginning of my little spiel here I mentioned mg y B and I don’t just blow past that. But a lot of times people ask us okay, this is great. I’ve got the training. I want to run faster. What do you guys do? We order from MGYB.

Yesterday, I placed an order for an SEO shield off to come up with something but an SEO shield. And this is the stuff we use. I didn’t come up with the SEO shield. But collectively these are the products we use, right whether it’s Marco whether it’s Bradley, Rob coming up with this stuff, and we’re implementing and using the stuff that we have at mg y B and Semantic Mastery. And so we tell people Hey when you get to the point where it makes sense you have money now and less time to start getting this stuff done for you, you can hire a VA and learn, put them through the courses and teach them how to do it. Or you can go to MGYB and just say, hey, build it for me, I want it done right the first time and do it that way. We’re not saying one’s better than the other. It’s two different ways of doing it. But if you haven’t checked out mg y b.co, head over there, hop on the email list. If nothing else, we got some fantastic deals going on, especially around the holidays. And we do send out a lot of really good information. And then last, but certainly not me. Yeah, yeah, what I’d like to say about that is even if you hire a VA, and your VA isn’t going to put be put through all the courses, then have your VA learn the ordering process, or learn the processes so that you can just tell your VA, okay, so we need an SEO shield. They know they got MGYB. Well, now we need link building. They go now we need some press releases. And they go because that time that you spend going in and doing that and the ordering process, you could spend prospecting, growing your agency getting more results for your clients, putting your VA through even more of your processes systematizing, there’s a lot more than your VA can do other than learning because I mean, just the keyword research, I can tell you takes a long time to learn because they have to go through SEO Bootcamp, they have to go through all of the software that we use to do the keyword research, then filtering it then finding out Okay, so what would work in my categories, what what’s a possible push, and then to turn that into something manageable so that you can approach it that way? Okay. So that’s how that works. That’s how we do that.

I don’t recommend anyone, anyway, not a VA and not not, of course, a business owner to do all of this on their own, you have to have a process, you have to have a system, we go a long way, and that we save you all of that time that would take to actually build it up. Because that takes a lot of time also, right. So it’s just a time saver, being able to have a place to go and order rather than having to do the fulfillment yourself. Definitely. And I think Margot touched on something really important that the keyword research is just one example out of many, that that would take you three, four days if you know the process. And so you talk about the time saving with a project where that’s one piece, whether you’re building a new website for yourself a client or project, you’re putting together an SEO shield again, yourself or MGYB, the amount of time that goes into this is irreplaceable. You know, we understand. And I mean, I speak for myself, but I know these guys, most of them, I know enough of your story where you know, we got started, you know, kind of bootstrapping, I don’t think any of us were funded as consultants or getting started into this. And so you start out, you got more time you try to do some of this yourself. But over time you become the bottleneck. To start either training a VA ordering from mg y b, you know, find the best place out there and get it done and save yourself time. So you can grow and get to a point where you know, whatever your tofu is, maybe you scaled the gas agency, or maybe you work part-time and chill half the time. So whatever that is for you. So with that said, you guys, Marco, I know you posted on the page, is there anything people need to know about the charity webinars, we’re doing the fifth one on Monday.

It’s the one that we’re going to tie everything together, because we’ve had people talk about, of course, Bradley, PVC, and money ads for the entity and the brand. We had Jordan, come in and talk about the branding bridge and how to approach your entity through branding through marketing. And that whole approach, we had Dixon Jones showing how to do content, right? How entities exists in your content and how to approach your entity from from from that aspect of SEO, then we had Brian cattle do images. So because there’s there are entities, of course, in images, and you can approach your SEO that way. So you have all of these different approaches. So how does this all get put together?

In a way that you can systematically just take down just about any niche. And before someone asked, No, you cannot go after amazon for the keyword Amazon unless you have millions and millions of dollars. No, you cannot go after Google. Many have tried and failed you can? No, no. All right, you better have the deep pockets, the investors, and the right way, the right idea before you take on a giant like that. But that doesn’t mean that in a vertical. You can’t take this system and this approach. And for example like we’re doing in pet food doesn’t mean that you can’t go after pet food. And if you approach it that the right way that you can’t rank for it because yes you can and very well the home services industry whether it’s plumber, HVAC, electrician, whatever it is, it’s there to be had especially when it’s approached the right way when you have the right mindset, because it’s also knowing and understanding how it is that we approach all these things. And so you have all of this information, but it has to be tied together, which is what we’ll be doing on Monday. So not only if you make a donation, not only will you get access to Monday’s webinar, you will also get access to all of the previous webinars because they’re all recorded. And they’re all uploaded for people to see.

Nice. All right, and then if you have your live instructions, the link is on there, if you need it, so anything else you guys before we get started?

All right. Let’s do it.

I didn’t refresh the page. And I was still looking at last week’s webinar on the page. I was like, wait a minute, shit.

All right. Let me get the screen.

You guys are seeing my screen? Correct. Good to go. Yep.

Alright, so where are we?

How come? I don’t see the days and times? Yeah, that’s interesting. They must have updated something. But you can go up my comment is probably the last one. So scroll back down a little bit. Chaz B has the first. Yeah. Mr. Banner.

Thoughts On Chameleon Mode In BrowSEO

Keep that one. Going. Yeah. After an hour, after hour. Yeah. Right there. Cool. That’s weird. They took the days and times off there. I wonder if it’s just a temporary thing. Anyway. Just as Mr. Benner, mentioned, you were still using BrowSEO? Do I know the Creator is launching or has already a new version called Chameleon? Just heads up? If you didn’t know. Yeah, thanks, jazz. I know that I’ve got it. It’s called Chameleon mode. And it sucks.

Like, honestly, I’m still using Browseo to I’ve got, you know, I still use BrowSEO to for my stuff. And I think it works as long as you only right-click a profile, and use system Chrome. That’s what you have to use. And then it opens up Chrome, but it’s its own instance of Chrome for that particular profile. And that still works. But all the other stuff, why don’t really only use the for the browser function anyways. Like you can’t use Firefox in the browser anymore at all. Because it just it. It’s broken, basically. And chameleon mode just sucks. I’m sorry to say that because I’m still using the browser you have part of the reason why I haven’t moved it over to like ghost browser or something else. There’s another one called session box, that one looks to be even better priced than ghost browser. It’s called session box.io. I think it is. But that’s probably the one that I end up trying eventually, whenever I have more time to move all my profiles from browser to something else. Just right now, I don’t feel like taking the time to do it. Because it’s not a priority. As long as it’s still working with the system Chrome. That’s fine. I the chameleon mode though I’ve got access to that, because I’ve got lifetime access to browse to and I logged into it, I can’t figure out how to use it. It’s clunky. I just like I said, I don’t like it. So anyway. And I’ve been talking about updating that for well over a year and finally rolled out the beta version of it and if I don’t like it at all. So anyway, moving on. Thanks, though, for the heads up. Appreciate that.

How To Push More Power And Authority To All Posts On The Money Site?

The next question is Hey, guys, my question is related to the instant push for the post, which was just published, is related to the instant push for the post, which was okay, my website belongs to a niche where the frequency of post is way higher than the normal blogging. We typically do four to five posts every day, it is not possible to do the link building for each individual post. Oh, okay. Now I see where you’re going. And that also takes time. How do you push the instant power to just publish a blog I have a syndication network and SEO shield in place, how to push more authority and power to all the posts on a money site. Thanks in advance.

Well, you could set up an applet in IFTTT or Zapier or something that will take your post URLs and add them to a Google Sheet. Right. So it would automate your RSS like anything, any of your posts, which will update your RSS feed, can send the link to the new post to a Google Sheet. And if you add that Google Sheet to like your drive stack profile, for example, into one of your public drive folders, then that sheet will be public, which means you can use that sheet to build links to it right you can build links to that sheet which will automatically power up your posts.

Now if you’ve got multiple categories that you’re posting from, and you want to get more granular with it, then I would set up a separate sheet for each category and set up categories RSS feeds to feed the Google Sheet. Instead of doing just your overall general RSS feed, where you could be mixing all different types of content, you know, post-con, post types, excuse me into the same sheet. So if you’ve got silos on your site,

And you’re publishing content in the specific silos or categories, then you grab the category RSS feed, and set up a separate Google Sheet for each feed category feed. That way you can hammer that specific Google Sheet with the correct sort of links and anchor text profiles specific to that topic. Does that make sense? So that’s, that’s something that you can do. And that’s a really easy way to do it.

When you’re talking about that kind of manual, or excuse me, publishing frequency of publishing, then that’s something that I would do, I would just set it up in an automated way, I like to do it more manually because we don’t publish near as much as that, you know, most of my clients will get two, maybe three blog posts a week, and that’s tops. And so once we flesh out a silo, and we complete our link, we’ll within the silo, we extract the URLs from the posts, and then set everything up in the G site. And then just take all that’s kind of a manual process anyway. So that all those URLs just go into a target URL file that we upload to MGYB for link building. Does that make sense? So a G sheet is a way to automate it. And that’s how I would do it. If If I wasn’t going to like a mirror all of the posts into the G site, which in your case, I certainly wouldn’t do that. But in my case for what we do, it’s, that’s a good strategy. So

Does anybody want to comment on that?

Join the heavy hitter club. That’s what we have the mad.

What Is The Quickest And Cheapest Way For A Starting SEO Agency To Get Leads And Make Sales?

Okay. Frogger. Nice. He says, Hey, guys, as a starting SEO agency, what’s the quickest cheapest thing we can implement to start getting our pipeline of leads making sales calls aside from link ranking location pages. We can implement to start getting our pipeline of leads, making sales call aside from so I’m not sure I understand that question.

The first way I interpret it would be how, what’s the quickest way you can start getting leads for your agency? I think that’s what you’re asking.

And I found I’m working on a very specific strategy, I can’t reveal it 100% here, but I’m using a high level, which is the agency platform agency dashboard essentially does a whole bunch of automation and things like that. It’s amazing. Go to semantic mastery, comm slash high level, if you want to see you get a 14-day free trial, you’re probably already aware of it. If you’re not go check it out. It’s a 14-day free trial. And if all you’re doing is using a high level for your own agency for prospecting, you can do that with one seat. So it’s $97 a month, right, and you set up your agency in there. And then you can use that for prospecting. And I’ve been using that for prospecting now for well since about September of last year. And it works really, really well. At first, I was doing it just to find lead buyers for my own lead gen assets. But now just on Monday of this week, I just started for my new agency, I just launched a new agency. And I’ve started using one I’m using high level for prospecting for that with a very specific method. But it’s working incredibly well already. So I’m going to be talking about that in the mastermind. But not outside of the mastermind, at least not yet. But a high level is a great way to automate that kind of outreach and things. Because what I’m doing is even cold email outreach, as well as voicemail, you know, voicemail drops. And that’s what I’m doing to start with. However, I know there’s you know, depending on which industry you’re targeting, unless you’re just a, you know, a general marketing agency, which means you’ll work with any industry. LinkedIn can also be a really good source, I’ve not been real successful getting leads from LinkedIn, because I never stuck with it that long to really get good at it. But I know that LinkedIn can be a really good source. And there’s a lot of really good automation tools that weren’t around when I used to attempt a lot more LinkedIn stuff. So that is on my schedule to start doing probably within the next two weeks is to, in fact, I’m going on a webinar on Friday for one of them there’s an app Sumo deal right now for a LinkedIn tool.

And they’ve got a webinar on Friday, it’s like 50 bucks for a lifetime account for this app Sumo deal for this LinkedIn prospecting tool. So I’m, I’m going to go check out the webinar on Friday, so I can see if it’s something that I want to use, but I’ll probably be doing that as well. So that would be mine. My suggestions would be, you know, cold email still works, guys, if you do it, right. Voicemail drops, you gotta be careful. There are certain states and things like that there are certain laws now that you have to be careful with.

Direct Mail works. The hard part with direct mail, though is getting, at least in the industry that I worked in with charter tree contractors is a lot of times when I send direct mail because I do that I get a lot of it returned. So means that the physical address that was associated with the company was incorrect. So you got to be careful with that. If you’re going to do direct mail, make sure it’s a current list that has some sort of filtering or cleaning capability. But those three things are the ones that I feel are the best that I have personal experience with and like I said LinkedIn is going to be next on my list. Anybody else?

Yep.

Looks like we lost Marco to hump.

Yeah. Okay.

What can we implement to start getting our pipeline of leads making sales calls aside from ranking location pages? Yeah. So I’m not sure, if, if there’s if I didn’t interpret that question correctly, then please restate it below with a little bit more clarity, and I’ll try to get back to it.

What’s The Impact Of Blockchain, Decentralised Tech, And AI To SEO?

Nikolas says, Hey, guys with future techs, like blockchain, decentralized tech, and AI, where do you see SEO going? Also, what some creative ways to quickly benefit from iframes to our website? Well, Marco would be the perfect one to answer all of those. And unfortunately, he’s not here.

Adam, you’re doing a lot with AI stuff right now. Do you want to talk about that a little bit? Yeah, I’m just thinking. So with future tech, like blockchain, decentralized tech, and AI, where do you see SEO going? I don’t know. Yeah, I can only speak to the side of this, I’ll just speak to the stuff I know, I’ll let you connect the dots on the SEO side. Both Bradley Chris and then whoever else is watching. But the right now where we’re at is that this is really helping speed up testing a lot. So like the one I’ve used is product descriptions. So I went in, besides MGYB, I am part owner of another little e-commerce store. And I also help clients with e-commerce both on the funnel. And on the email marketing side. Long story short, though, one of the boring things that have a big impact is the product pages, like improving the title of your product, improving the product description, and a couple of other things on the page there. And writing product descriptions is really friggin boring. But it’s really important. And so a lot of these tools now, you can put in a few words about your product, and it’ll write a great product description. Yeah, like conversion.ai. And so coming in and using that will let you not only get past that hurdle of either having to hire someone and hoping that they know what the hell they’re doing, doing it yourself, or not having enough variations. So you can really get to the testing. So I think it was the, I don’t have the quote in front of me, and I apologize, but they’re the CEO or founder of VWO, you know, was talking about this. And where we’re at right now is that this is going to just speed up testing. And so I look at it the same way, from an SEO point of view, if you can come up with all of this content that you can test, you no longer have to really come up with it yourself, you just need to know that there are tools available that will allow you to do this. And then the next step is going to be tools that do the testing, integrating this type of stuff, where there is a tool I use right now. And I was talking to the founder on a call about some other stuff. And I said, Hey, have you guys played around with these, these writing tools, and he’s like, yeah, that’s the next step. He’s like, you know, our tool helps you speed up the testing process for things on-page, like a title, or description, or whatever it is. And I said, but now we want to integrate with these tools that do the writing. So you can say I want to test this title. And that’s it, it’s done. It tests the title for you and runs through, you know how many other options you give it. And it does the writing for you. Now, I assume there will still be some human interaction. But that that speed to testing is I think going to be crucial from the SEO side, where you’re getting traffic to a place, whatever it is a website or a YouTube channel, and being able to test all of this different kind of permutations. And it’s going to become easier both for the little guy to do this testing. But it’s going to become it’s kind of more of the same and yet different, these tools will trickle down and be available to someone for free or very low cost. But at the same time, you know, that human time spent maybe monitoring results and seeing what they really mean. That’s where the real value is going to be, I think on a lot of the content side of things. So long story short, we got a lot of cool tools we can use for testing right now. And if you’re not aware of them, I would spend half an hour just familiarizing yourself with some of these tools. Like Bradley showed one the conversion.ai and just sign up for a free trial if they have one. I don’t know. But there are tons of tools copy Smith snazzy.ai just go see what’s capable right now. And I don’t think you’re going to be like Oh God, you know, Skynet, the world’s ending. But it is impressive to see and I think it’s you can connect the dots real quick in your head and see where this is going. So yeah.

Yeah. So you know, Adam turned me on to this one just about a week ago actually, that I signed up for haven’t started using it yet. But this is conversion.ai, which I think is good for copy phrase.io this is good for tuning content for search. Similar to I think, what is it page optimizer pro and surfer SEO and in links and that kind of I mean, this was probably more basic than a lot of those other ones but it’s good for optimizing content and I think that’s where a lot of, at least in my opinion, you know, Marco is the one that does a lot more with AI stuff. He’s more plugged into that stuff than I am. But I think there’s going to be a lot of tools to help auto-optimize things. You know, we’re already seeing the content optimization tools and content production, you know, producing tools or generating tools that are using AI. I bet I think, you know, for example, in Google ads, I do a lot of stuff with Google ads, they’re using AI and machine learning. And in ADS now like to set up automated bidding strategies, right, you can, you can opt to use machine learning and AI and Google ads to auto-optimize your ads. And I don’t do that upfront. But once I have proven certain, you know, audiences and ads that are working well, then I will turn on automated bidding strategies or duplicate a campaign, but set that campaign using automated bidding strategies instead of manual bidding.

And in allowing it to, you know, a split test against my own optimization and adds to what I’m letting Google Optimize for me, and start to see and more often than not, as long as I have at least, proven a good ads campaign with the proper audience than when I move that over to test automated bidding strategies in Google, more often than not, so more than half the time, Google’s AI and, you know, automated bidding strategies end up outperforming what I was able to do on my own. So it’s, it’s been great, because it’s been able to improve, like where I’ve been, I’ve been able to get my ads to a certain spot. And then once I get them to that point, I put it into Google, you know, let Google take over. And, like I said, more often than not, so more than half the time, it ends up outperforming what I was able to do on my own. So not always the case, but more often than not. So I see that as something else that could be potentially coming into more SEO stuff as well would be like, auto optimizing website, right? For example, for example, like conversion optimization, I can see sometime in the near future, that pages will auto like, you know, split test pages on their own and change elements of the page and layouts of the page and things like that, to determine which are the highest converting rates, like which to optimize for conversions, and I could see that as something that’s coming. Right. So that it’s already out, man, is it? Yeah, yeah. But it’s gonna become the status quo. You know, in the next few years. I think that that because right now, it’s like, if I had a WordPress website, I agree. I know, it’s out there, Chris. But it’d be like, Where do I how do I do that? Where do I do that? Yeah. I mean, like, make it mainstream. I’m using a mainstream tool, but I’m not allowed to talk about it. So what can’t be mainstream? If you’re not talking about it, then?

I can’t tell anybody.

I think I can share it in Semantic Mastery. But like I said like I can say anything to the public. Go there. So, Bradley, I’m glad you brought up free. So I think that is the other side right now where you can get a lot of mileage out of this where let instead of you writing the content brief that, you know, this also goes back to the process. And since parts of this are being automated now, you can go into phrase type in a keyword, and have it auto-generate a content brief for you. And is it going to be perfect? To me? No, but it’s a start. And it’s a process, which I mean, I’m guilty of this, too, where it’s like, oh, I need an article for this. Well, I’ll just kind of outline it. And inevitably, I’m not doing the same thing each time. So like, these tools, to me really help. You know, if I have to hand it off, I can say, Okay, here’s the process, you go in here, you Click these buttons, you do a manual review, take this stuff out, and then hand it off to a writer, for example, instead of just being like, Okay, well, this is the article I’m looking for this time, you know, so I think those tools, as you said, Bradley are going to become even better, and they’re already pretty freak in good. Yeah. And that’s a good point that you made about that. Because, you know, I still order a lot of content from writers. And sometimes I’ll need a piece of content for something and, you know, I’ll be staring at the order submission screen and like, I draw a blank, like, what the hell should know, how do I describe what I need. And so what he just said about a content brief is a good point, because I can go to phrase now, and type in a query or put in a keyword or something and hit go and it will spit out a content brief and natural, like seed the idea for the content that I need, as opposed to me having to come up with something so it does definitely save time. And that’s kind of where I see things going with AI with some quickly quick ways to benefit from iframes to our website. Well, I mean, we talked about all that stuff with theme mirroring and using the G site and everything else if you’re not familiar with what we talked about with iframe stacking and all that, that’s taught in heavy hitter club, Semantic Mastery Mastermind as well as RYS Academy. However, you know, you can go through our YouTube channel and get lots of high-level overviews of what the mirroring is, and how we do it using the G site and the drive stacks and everything else that we do to write. So siloing, GMB posts siloing press releases, we mirror the same silo structure from your website onto everything that you do. And the way that you stack and interlink content should all be consistent, as well. And so, you know, one of the quickest things, the best things you can do is iframe your website into corresponding pages on the G site that are mirrored right, so a one to one relationship or one to one ratio, from your primary pages on your website to your primary pages on your G site, right, you want to duplicate your primary pages from your website into your G site, when I say that you don’t need to copy and paste content, all I do is duplicate the pages on the G site. To create an inner page on the G site to match the inner pages of my main site. And then I just iframe the money site into the G site, there’s your content, you don’t need to go through all the copy and paste and everything because Google will read the content from your money page through the G site, the iframe on the G site. And so that becomes the content for the page. And then we talk about stacking different pieces of content together that are relevant. I talked about that many times and they hang out again, you can just go to our YouTube channel. So youtube.com/semantic mastery, then go to the channel search feature and just search that kind of stuff out like theme mirroring iframes g sites or stacking, iframe, stalking, all that kind of stuff and just start going through because we’ve got a ton of information in there about how to do it.

But then you just hammer your G site with backlinks. And then you can power up your money site page without actually physically directly linking to your money site. And that’s how we’ve been doing it for years now. And it just works incredibly well. So hopefully that makes some sense.

In What Order Should You Create The GMB And Gsite?

Bb’s up with many questions as usual. What’s up, BB. Hey, guys, what is better to start a GMB and then start a G site/website or backward a site and then a GMB or start parallelly it’s a hard word to say, or start search ads and then organic viewing. Okay, well, there’s a couple of things here, BB.

If you don’t know the industry, then I would highly recommend that you start with ads, the keywords that drive traffic and conversions. It’s not just about traffic, because you might, you know, I made the mistake years ago, I just didn’t do ads for a very, very long time at all. And I would always just start with SEO and in part because it was really easy to rank. But you know, it’s become more complex and more difficult. There’s no question. And so if I’m going into it, which I don’t, I don’t like to go into any new industries. Now I like to just stick with what I know. But if I was to go into a new industry, then what I would do is set up a Google Ads campaign first to figure out which keywords are going to produce not just traffic and clicks, but conversions, right, that’s the optimum goal is conversions. So if you just look at keyword tools and look at search volume, that doesn’t tell you the whole picture, right, that only gives you part of the story.

Am I still alive, guys, I see the page doing some weird stuff. You look, I think you’re good. Let me check the page. Okay. It was uh, it was doing some refreshing or some weird shit. Anyway, um, so what I’m saying is if you go just look at search volume and stuff and think that you’re going to optimize for keywords based upon search metrics, right search numbers, search volume numbers, then you can end up spending time, money and effort, creating content, and trying to rank for keywords that might produce a lot of traffic, but they just don’t convert, or they’re they don’t have buyer intent, or whatever. And so what I like to do is spend money upfront, which by the way, when you first start running ad campaigns, even if it’s not like Google search ads, you’re going to spend a lot of money depending on what it is. But for local stuff, I mean, clicks can be super expensive.

But even YouTube and things like that, like the way I look at it, is any new ad campaign for Google ads, specifically, it’s like the first 30 days, you should really just assume that you’re just buying data, right? Like you’re it’s rare that I start a new ads campaign in a new industry that I’ve not ever done any testing in and get immediate results like positive ROI, right? Like it’s very rare, it’s usually I’m gonna lose money upfront. But once I have enough data, then I can start to optimize, where I see the most opportunity stop spending money on ads, or keywords or creatives or whatever that aren’t really relevant aren’t producing, redirect those funds into what was producing and then start optimizing those producing campaigns to you know, optimize them even more so that they’re performing even better. And so I just look at using ads upfront when it’s a new industry. If it’s a new topic, new industry, whatever I look at, okay.

I’m going to spend money on buying data first. Once I have that data, then I’m going to start to optimize my campaigns to put that budget to good use to start turning a profit, right or making a return on investment. And then from there, I continue to optimize. So my first strategy would be if I don’t know an industry, I’d start with Google ads to figure out what those keywords are the ones that are going to produce traffic, but also convert, and then I would start optimizing content for that, right. So start the SEO process, which would be building the, you know, getting content written, optimizing for that, and all the other stuff that we do. If I already know the industry, then you know, I use, you know, I still use ads usually to jumpstart a campaign, but I’ll go right for the keywords and everything that I already know, to be effective and to be what people use and what I love about the tree service industries. There are really only five keywords that drive all you know, 90% of all traffic is driven from five keywords. So it’s beautiful because I can optimize for those five, I don’t need to continually do keyword research and all that other shit. You know, as far as whether I would do GMB first or website build first It doesn’t matter. I mean, I like to go with GM I what depends, right? Again, it depends always depends. If you have a real business that can be verified. It’s not a spammed GMB listing, then there’s no reason that you can’t start with the GMB or just do both in the parallel right, the GMB as well as the website everything else. If you’re dealing with a spammed GMB listing, then I recommend that you get the website set up first with the brand name, the domain that’s going to be associated with the GMB. You get the structure. You get as much detail on the page as possible. Like you don’t have to have a full-on built-out website. But I mean, the homepage on the root domain for that project should have something that’s relevant. It should have the company name the contact information that’s going to be used with the GMB. So name, address phone number, structured data at the very minimum organization schema, if you’re going to do it, if it’s for local business, which GM bees are supposed to be for local business, then put local business schema on the page and then go try to claim and verify the GMB right or to associate the GMB with the website if that makes sense. So it depends if it’s a valid business and it doesn’t mean you can’t you can start with the GMB or run both parallels. That’s typically how I will do it. But if it’s a spam GMB, then I try to get the web asset set up first, before trying to associate the GMB with it or get the GMB if I’m starting from scratch, so that it has a reference point that Google can see that has some validity to it. Right. So for example, not just have the domain but

I just kind of figured out a ticker earlier this week.

Well, let’s just say have the domain registered, you might want to use something like G Suite or Google workspaces for your email for that domain because that means you’re paying Google for that domain, right? Like you now you have a paid account with Google that is associated with that domain so that when you try to tie the GMB to that domain, there is some validation there that it’s not spam, because you got a paid account. Remember, Google workspaces, guys, if you go with a basic workspace account, formerly G Suite, it’s six bucks a month. So don’t be cheap, spend six damn dollars a month, and have that additional verification or validation for that, less likely to be spam, if that makes sense. Okay.

It’s a good question, though.

Are GSA Links Also Web 2.0 Contextual Links?

Next question. Are GSA links, also web 2.0 contextual links, some of them are.

But some are not web 2.0. contextual links are meaning blogger type, you know, blogging type platforms that allow you to post articles and blog posts published, excuse me, text-based content. I mean, it can have images and media and stuff in it looks like blog-style posts. The contextual link means a link within the content. That’s why it’s called a contextual link. Right. So that, you know, GSA can have all kinds of crap stuff in there, though. That’s why we only recommend GSA out of like, third or fourth tier, that’s what we call I called GSA links, kitchen sink, spam, right? Throw everything at it, but the kitchen sink Well, this is the kitchen sink. So we have we’ve been calling a kitchen sink spam for years, but that’s what GSA does. Now some people that are super skilled with GSA know how to use it for just web 2.0 blogs and all that’s great. I don’t know how to use any MDM tools because I’ve always had a link-building guy that does it for us are the same one that does it for MGYB. So I don’t know how to use all the tools and I really don’t care. All I’m saying is if you’re going to use GSA links, they’re more than just contextual web two Dotto there. Some of those can be mixed in there’s no question. Those are some of the platforms. But GSA is a known spamming tool. So a lot of the platforms that you will connect with Are you know, forums.

And just all different kinds of stuff. So just remember web 2.0 typically means blogging-type sites, right? And contextual links are links within the content body of a post or an article. So they’re more powerful because there’s you know, they’re contextual meaning the link can benefit from the context that it’s in, right that the context that it’s buried within. So there are associations that can be made with the content and the keywords and everything else. So that’s what a contextual link is. Why do you recommend buying first and tear web to contextual links, and third and fourth, to buy GSA links for exactly what I just said, you get a lot more power out of a contextual link, because Google can understand the relevancy from the keyword theme, the keyword set all of that’s on the page. And that is a contextual link is more powerful and safer than a lot of these other types of links if that makes sense.

So and I only recommend building first and second-tier web 2.0 contextual links, because that’s what our link builder has been telling us to do. Whatever he tells us to do is what we do that makes sense.

Which, you know, maybe you could always post in the free Facebook group and tag data on a question. No questions about that. And now in the free group, I don’t know how much you get in there, how deep you get news answers. But definitely in some of our paid groups, he, you know, other people ask questions about link building stuff. And he’s, he’s a wealth of information about that. He’s really skilled. So

Do You Have A Service Of Closing Lead Gen Clients?

do you have any service of closing lead gen clients? I’m not sure what that means, BB. Do I have a service? for closing lead gen clients? Or I’m not? I’m not sure I understand the question. But if that’s what you’re asking, Do I have a service for closing lead gen clients? I mean, I do that in-house. I still do all my own sales. Although the new agency that I just launched on Monday.

I’ll talk about it more later, another time. But that I fully plan on hiring a full-time salesperson. But not I mean, I’ve got got to get some revenue in that agency first. But that is one of my top priorities is to hire a salesperson. Right? So But no, I still do all the closing myself. So I mentioned this at the beginning of today’s webinar, I use a high level. Again, check it out semantic mastery, comm slash high level, you got a 14-day free trial. If you’re only doing it for prospecting and sales for your own agency, you only need one seat. So you don’t need the agency-level account or all that other stuff. I used just the $97 a month high-level account for my own stuff for many, many months. Now I’m on to what’s called a high-level Pro, it’s 500 bucks a month. But that’s for a very specific reason, anyway.

Yeah, I mean, I just do exactly what I said at the beginning of this, which is I do cold emails, direct mail, and voicemail drops right now are my three primary methods for prospecting. And then once a conversation gets started, which is for me, that’s the primary objective for the prospecting campaigns is to just get a conversation started, the hardest thing that I found when you’re trying to sell marketing services, is getting a conversation started, because as soon as a prospective business owner thinks that it’s a solicitation call, they put up their defenses and the conversation, tanks immediately, right, it goes downhill, right off the bat, because they, they, they smell a sale coming. And so, you know, I found over the years, the best way to get a conversation started, or once I get a conversation started, if I can get a conversation started, then I can typically do fairly well. So for me, when it comes to lead gen stuff like selling leads, then what I often do is we’ll we’ll approach a contractor about, you know, asking them questions about what they’re, you know, if they’re, if they are accepting new jobs in a particular area, or whatever, or and then once they reply back, then I’ll send them you know, basically a, and I’ve talked about this in video lead gen system, guys, but for lead gen stuff, I’ll say, you know, Hey, are you doing jobs in, you know, whatever city, if they reply back, and I’ll say, Okay, well, I’ve got several jobs that need to be completed. It’s kind of hard to explain, though, can I send you a video showing you what I’ve got? And I so essentially asking, and it’s whether this is email or SMS, it doesn’t matter. It’s either way. But once I get their permission, when they reply back and say, Sure, go ahead or yes to some sort of positive intent reply, which by the way, all this can be automated in high level, right? Because they have intent triggers and all like so like, essentially, if somebody replied back with Yes, or Sure, go ahead, send it you know, anything like that with positive intent, then the automation will send them back another email or an SMS, depending on which medium we were like, you know which platform we were using communication channel we’re using, then we’ll send them back with a link to a landing page where it will show like hey, I’ve got leads in this area.

All right now, and I’d like to give you three of them for free. And right now I’m doing five for free. So I say five leads for free. If you’re interested, just fill out the form below, which is a very simple contact form. And then they fill out that contact form. And it notifies me that I’ve got a new form submission. And then I call them to follow up, say, hey, okay, great. Let me just confirm your service area, what type of jobs you’re looking for, and I’m going to enter you into my system. And I’ll send you five leads at the end of those five leads, I’m going to follow up with you to find out if you want to continue working together. That’s how I do it for leads. I’m doing something similar for clients, which I’m trying to take clients on for my new agency staff. But it works really, really well. And here’s the thing, like I said, it’s, I’ve set up this funnel, and I talked about this and POFU Live last year, for 2020. And all of what I just talked about is explicitly laid out in the POFU Live recordings, which are still available. So if you want this exact method, then go by that POFU Live 2020 recordings, and you’ll see exactly how I built this in high level and exactly what I’m doing in my messaging and everything, okay. But it works, it works really well. And here’s what I here’s what I’ve learned, though, is I had set up all these automation and everything to try to get potential lead buyers to go through that funnel, to where only I would only you know, basically, they would get entered into my lead distribution system, which I’m using lead, simplify, Matt, Mike Martin’s lead simplified, that’s what I use for lead distribution and everything.

And I had set everything up hoping to get people to go through all that funnel-like to where it would be automated until they had signed up. And then I would call them. That’s not how it works. Unfortunately, you know, after. I mean, the prospecting machine works really well. But I’ve only had three people, since I started in September, actually go through the full funnel process and book a call with me and all that other stuff. Generally what happens, like almost always what happens is, they’ll start through that funnel sequence like all the automation. And at some point, the conversation gets transferred to me because they ask a question or something that the automation can’t handle. And so I end up having to jump into the conversation and taking it from there. But it’s fine because at least they’re intrigued at that point. They’re interested. And so it’s not, that’s the hardest part, as I mentioned before was getting the conversation started. Well, at this point, the conversation has been started through automation through an automated fashion, right, through automation, it’s been started and then I take over from there and jump into the conversation where appropriate, and then take it from there. And it’s been so much easier that way for me. And at first, as I said, when I set all that up, I was hoping to get people to go all the way through the automation without having personal contact with me. But then after I realized that I was going to have to take the jump into the conversation before most people would go all the way through the funnel. I’ve realized now that now I don’t even wait as I like as soon as they reply back to the front end of the campaign. Especially because all I’m dealing with these tree guys now and landscaping contractors is I just jumped on the phone with them immediately. Like as soon as I see that they’ve engaged with my sequencing, my messaging, my, my automation, then I jump right in and just take over and I’ll pick up the phone and call in a heartbeat now, and just and jump on the phone with them and try it because it shortcuts the process for me and I get to a sale quicker if that makes sense. So the automation and all are great. And for those that make it all the way through. It’s fantastic. But it’s so rare that I use all of that automation, just to get the conversation started kind of eliminates those people that aren’t interested, those that are going to ask questions, and then I can jump in and take over the conversation at that point. And steer the conversation in the right direction. So anyway, hopefully, hopefully that made some sense.

Well, it says dates and times, and questions work fine on my Mac. Yeah, I know. Well, you keep pushing your Mac stuff. But you’re not going to sell me on it. Keep trying. Oh, buddy. heresy. Keep trying. We’re almost done, guys. We’re gonna run out of questions. Anyway.

Is There An Ideal Depth For iFrame Stack Loops?

So Jim says, Is there an ideal depth for iframe stack loops? Is there any more benefit achieved from going 1000 deep versus 10? Deep on the iframes? Is this something? This is something I haven’t tested very thoroughly. Thanks, gang. Again, Marco would have to answer that. I don’t know. I know some of our mastermind members have done some really nasty stuff with iframes to the point where if you open up a page on your in your browser, it will literally lock your whole computer up because it just takes all the cash in memory and just locks it up. And I’ve done it like I’ve had to literally hard reset my computer reboot my computer while holding the power button down because an iframe locked the whole damn PC up.

And I have seen that happen on several occasions.

So I typically don’t try going that deep. But I know some of our mastermind members have, unfortunately, Marco is not here to answer your questions. So perhaps you could repost that, Jim, next week, and Marco will be back hopefully, to answer it then.

How Does Google Privacy Sandbox Affect SEO And Ads?

okay, last question, guys. And then we’re gonna wrap it up a little bit early, which is fine. This says, How will the Google privacy sandbox affect SEO and ads? And what is your take on the upcoming changes? You know, I? I don’t know yet. As far as you’re talking about, like, because of like, privacy concerns with audience targeting and interest-based targeting and stuff like that. I don’t think that that’s going to affect Google as much as it has Facebook, Facebook, you’re already starting to see and I don’t do Facebook ads. Okay. But I know enough people, obviously that I’m colleagues and such the dude, and know that Facebook is already experiencing a lot of problems with ads and stuff because of their privacy concerns. And what Apple I guess, now stopped reporting back to Facebook, which is was a huge hit to them.

JOHN Beltre, I think his name is he’s got a great, let me see if I can pull this up. Because this is something you should, I think it’s john T. Belcher.

The death of pixels, I think is the name of the

Yeah, right there. Okay. So this guy’s I would go check this out. He’s got a free course. This might actually yeah, I’m already it looks like I’m still logged into this course. Because I started going through the training. It’s a free course called the death of pixels. Let me grab Let me see if this is the share URL because it’s probably not. Yeah, it is. Okay, cool. I’m gonna copy that and paste it on the page.

So if you go through that, it makes a lot of sense, a lot of it has to do with attribution. If you do what they call server to server attribution, and said, all that kind of tracking upconversion, tracking and everything up, then you can still, you can still have the sort of audiences and you know, interest base and behavioral-based targeting and all that kind of stuff that you’re you’ve probably grown used to. But you have to set that stuff up on your side. And you have to be real careful about, like, how you handle the data and all that kind of stuff.

Because you know, you can get in trouble if you don’t do it correctly, and all that kind of stuff. So I would highly encourage you to go check that out. As I was saying, I think it’s more affecting, like Facebook now than it is Google. I don’t even know if it’s affecting Google, to be honest with you. This kind of stuff. So does Bradley. That’s why he asked for the Google prices sandbox. Like, from what I know.

They’re pretty much doing the same on Chrome like somewhat Apple did.

Yeah, but what I’m saying is with Tag Manager, it’s like the server to server conversion tracking. It’s, you know, Facebook doesn’t give that to you. But Google does through Tag Manager, is what I’m saying. So it’s different. And also if you’re using Google Analytics because, Facebook has like conversions API, which is exactly the same as so it’s a server tracking.

Okay, well, again, I don’t do Facebook ads. So I don’t know any of that shit. But I know that there’s a lot of people whining on Facebook, about Facebook ads and how they’re, Yeah, we are.

When the virus is like, it’s pretty much pushed up by marketing people to sell you more stuff. And also, there’s like, the war between Apple and Facebook. It’s just like, all the media that is pushing it like, the reality is it’s like almost doing impact, in my opinion, like, yeah, if things change a bit, are you doing it?

But you gotta realize all the big companies, they got the data already, right. So they are not there is no law, like no changes that they’re gonna append the data. It’s just a little bit of fresh data that getting into their systems is a bit restricted.

And at the same time, they got their email addresses to get all those things right now, the plastic got fingerprint matchups and an entered like, I don’t think many people are talking about. So sounds like you’ve got a course that you need to produce there, Chris? Well, it depends if it pays well enough, like right now, like it didn’t have enough requests for anything, but that could be an option. Yeah, definitely.

Well, there you go. Next time, you have a question about conversion tracking and privacy’s, you know, address that one to Chris and should be good to go then sure thing

That’s what I’m here. Alright, guys, we’re gonna wrap it up. Thanks, everybody for being here.

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 327 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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localwebmgmt · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 327

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 327 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

All right, fair enough. Marco. What? How’s the weather with you?

It doesn’t change, man.

very nice. Well, Bradley, how you doing on the East Coast today?

Yeah, but the same as always is low cooler, but 15 and sunny. So that’s a cold day here in the Bay Area. So can’t complain.

Nice. All right, and then if you have your live instructions, the link is on there, if you need it, so anything else you guys before we get started?

All right. Let’s do it.

I didn’t refresh the page. And I was still looking at last week’s webinar on the page. I was like, wait a minute, shit.

All right. Let me get the screen.

You guys are seeing my screen? Correct. Good to go. Yep.

Alright, so where are we?

Thoughts On Chameleon Mode In BrowSEO

How To Push More Power And Authority To All Posts On The Money Site?

Does anybody want to comment on that?

Join the heavy hitter club. That’s what we have the mad.

What Is The Quickest And Cheapest Way For A Starting SEO Agency To Get Leads And Make Sales?

The first way I interpret it would be how, what’s the quickest way you can start getting leads for your agency? I think that’s what you’re asking.

Yep.

Looks like we lost Marco to hump.

Yeah. Okay.

What’s The Impact Of Blockchain, Decentralised Tech, And AI To SEO?

I can’t tell anybody.

In What Order Should You Create The GMB And Gsite?

I just kind of figured out a ticker earlier this week.

It’s a good question, though.

Are GSA Links Also Web 2.0 Contextual Links?

Next question. Are GSA links, also web 2.0 contextual links, some of them are.

Do You Have A Service Of Closing Lead Gen Clients?

Is There An Ideal Depth For iFrame Stack Loops?

And I have seen that happen on several occasions.

How Does Google Privacy Sandbox Affect SEO And Ads?

JOHN Beltre, I think his name is he’s got a great, let me see if I can pull this up. Because this is something you should, I think it’s john T. Belcher.

The death of pixels, I think is the name of the

They’re pretty much doing the same on Chrome like somewhat Apple did.

Okay, well, again, I don’t do Facebook ads. So I don’t know any of that shit. But I know that there’s a lot of people whining on Facebook, about Facebook ads and how they’re, Yeah, we are.

Well, there you go. Next time, you have a question about conversion tracking and privacy’s, you know, address that one to Chris and should be good to go then sure thing

That’s what I’m here. Alright, guys, we’re gonna wrap it up. Thanks, everybody for being here.

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 327 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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feelsgood-anon · 6 years

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Eros - Bar AU [Season 2] Chapter 5, Part 1

DISCLAIMER: THIS PIECE IS A MYSTIC MESSENGER AU. IT IS HEAVILY INSPIRED BY THE AMERICAN SITCOM CHEERS, A SHOW CENTERED AROUND A BOSTON BAR CALLED CHEERS AND IT’S REGULARS. EVEN THOUGH I HAVE TRIED TO KEEP AS MUCH OF CANON PERSONALITIES WITH ALL THE MYSTIC MESSENGER CHARACTERS JUST REMEMBER THAT IT IS AN AU AND A FEW THINGS MAY BE DIFFERENT THAN IN GAME OR YOUR HEADCANONS. THIS HAS BEEN FUN TO PLAN AND I HOPE YOU FIND A BIT OF JOY READING IT!

PG13+ FOR SWEARIN’ AND BOOZIN’.

[Season 1]

[Season 2] | Prologue | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5p1 | Ch. 5p2 |

“Boss, can I go home early? This place is dead.” Red groaned as he started to shine the glasses behind the bar for the third time, “You don’t really need me here, yeah?” Zen sighed loudly, “I honestly would let you, but since it is an easy night, I need to try to catch up on some paperwork. Keep an eye out while I’m in the office?”

Red mumbled an ‘okay’ and walked out from behind the bar, deciding to go chat with a few customers at the tables.

Duckie looked up from the books and papers that he had sprawled in front of him, waving to Zen, “Hey, could I get a beer before you leave?” “Sure thing, bud. Why are you studying here anyway?” Zen asked as he poured the drink, “Wouldn’t you be able to focus more at home?” “Well, I have a test tomorrow and I don’t want to get distracted by my games. Plus, it’s pretty quiet here so I can study just fine!” Zen furrowed his brow as he slid the glass towards the blonde, “Everyone keeps reminding me that it’s slow today. It will pick up in a few hours! The night is still young.” “Let’s hope so. I could be working on an essay right now,” Sunny yawned as she had set herself the task to neatly fold all the napkins, “I hate boring nights like these.”

Jingle~! “Good evening, everyone.”

“Sugar!” He raised a brow, looking around at the nearly empty space, “One of those nights?”

“Gahh!” Zen exclaimed, throwing his towel into the air, “I’ll be in the office.” Sugar sat at the bar, watching Zen storm off, “And why is he in a mood?” “He’s being sensitive about the lack of customers. Maybe he’s just getting the itch, eh? I read that people going through recovery can have anxious moments.” Red replied as he came back around to serve Sugar wine, “He’ll be fine.” They both turned when they heard Zen yell something intangible, a sleepy looking Cannon being pushed out the door. He rubbed his eyes, making his way towards the bar top, “Man, he can really kill a good nap.” “Perhaps you shouldn’t be sleeping while on the clock.” Sugar said flatly, sipping at his wine, “I wouldn’t be so thrilled either.” “It’s not like I’m needed out here. Sunny can handle two tables.” Cannon sneered. “And me!” Duckie said excitedly, “I’m here too!”

“You don’t count, dumb ass. You could probably just fill your own glass of beer.” Cannon rolled his eyes, “I meant real customers.”

“Hey, he is a real customer! Don’t give Duckie a hard time!” Sunny chimed in, frowning as she put her arm around Duckie’s shoulders, “Cut him some slack, eh?” Cannon pursed his lips, shrugging, “Whatever.”

Sugar chuckled, “My my...aren’t we submissive today?”

“Shut up! What’s the point in arguing with her, anyway? She’s usually right!” Cannon retorted, crossing his arms. Sunny’s eyes lit up, “You think so? That’s so sweet of you to say!” She moved towards him and put a hand on his shoulder, “See how easy it is to be nice?” “It’s easy to be nice to you…” Cannon muttered under his breath. Sugar’s eyes snapped towards him, smirking as he finally understood what was going on, “Hmm...anyways, I wonder where Clicks is. We were suppose to go to a gallery opening tonight. It’s not like him to be late.” “With Goldie being on a rampage? I would guess he got caught trying to pry her off of him.” Red said, refilling Sugar’s glass, “Of all people, you know how she gets.” Sugar rubbed at his temples as a slight irritation started to cross him, “Don’t remind me. I want to have a relaxing night tonight.” Duckie cleared his throat, frowning at both of them, “Hey, I’m right here, you know.” “I am aware, Duckie. I would assume you would recognize that she acts inappropriately with Clicks. There is no excuse for how she treats him at times.” Duckie let out a sigh, “I know she can do weird things when she’s stressed, but it doesn’t mean that I like when you guys talk so badly about her. She’s my cousin, after all. And she’s done a lot for me! It’s okay if you don’t like her, but could you guys could not be so mean when I’m around?”

“Let’s talk about something else, then!” Sunny clapped her hands, “We could play a game! How about charades? That's a fun one!”

Cannon rolled his eyes once more, “That is the dumbest game. Why do you just want to look like a fool in front of everyone?”

Sunny swatted Cannon away, “Oh shush. Okay, I'll go first!” she stepped back, facing Duckie. She held up three fingers.

“Three words!” Duckie exclaimed excitedly as he played along with her.

She nodded, holding her hand out flat. With her other hand she began making a scooping motion.

“Digging? Rowing? You're rowing a boat?”

She shook her head, then making the scooping motion towards her mouth. Her lips opened wide to accentuate the chewing process, her head bobbing up and down.

“Uhh, dancing? Head bobbing to a beat?”

She let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head once more. She held up two fingers, pointing to them.

“Second word?”

She nodded happily, wrapping her arms around her chest. Rubbing her arms up and down her biceps, she shivered violently.

“You're having a seizure.” Sugar scoffed as he interjected. Sunny turned towards him and frowned, “No!” whirling back towards Duckie, she started shivering again.

“Cold? Freezing?”

She nodded, moving her hands for him to continue with that train of thought.

“Mmm...ice? Snow?”

“Yes!” She shouted, but pursed her lips as she was supposed to be silent. She held up three fingers then.

“Third word!”

Sunny held her arms out, curling her hands into a cylindrical shape. She pretended to squeeze a bit, using one hand to motion something coming out and spraying into her face.

Zen had come out of his office then to witness this, freezing in place as he saw her gestures. Cannon had a hand covering as much of his flushed face as possible.

“A water hose spraying you in the face…?” Duckie guessed.

“That's what some would call it, I suppose.” Sugar mused as he took great enjoyment at how the rest of them were interpreting her.

“Ugh!” Sunny dropped her hands, thinking of how else she could do it. She perked, holding her hand out once more as if she were gripping something. She licked the air, eyes lighting up as if she were enjoying a treat. She faked a frown, making gestures as if something were dripping. Dropping her head, she again licked the air as if she were lapping up whatever was falling.

“Sunny!” Zen exclaimed, his own cheeks starting to turn bright pink.

“What?” She asked when she turned to him, “We’re playing charades!”

“What were you acting out?” Cannon squeaked, the color of his face almost matching his hair color.

Sugar cleared his throat, “Eating ice cream.”

“Yeah!” Sunny cheered, “He got it!”

“That's one lucky ice cream…” Zen muttered under his breath.

“Huh?” She wanted to question him more but noticed a table of hers waving he over, “Oh, I'll be right back! You guys decide who's next!”

Once she walked off, Cannon squirmed and quickly made his way out from the bar, “I need to use the bathroom.”

“Shit, I might have to as well.” Zen replied, rubbing the back of his neck, “How clueless can she be?”

“Perhaps you are just too perverted? It was obvious what she was doing and knowing how innocent she is, you shouldn't have let your mind fall to the gutter,” Sugar responded as he pushed his empty glass towards the edge.

Zen went to refill the glass but Sugar refused, “I won't be here for long. Clicks should be here any moment. You haven't heard from him, have you?”

“Not today. I know you two had a date tonight but you're old enough to not need a chaperone on your ass.” Zen replied as he took the glass to the sink, “Where are you guys going again?”

“A friend of his is debuting their art in a gallery tonight and he asked me to join him. You're still invited if you'd like to come. A three way date would be more fun than this place tonight.”

Zen scrunched his nose in distaste, “No thanks. That's not my thing. A lot of people talking about subjects I don't know and being expected to act high class. There's a reason why I own a bar,” He held his arms out to the tables, “This is my crowd.”

“It's a small crowd you surround yourself with,” Sugar joked, “Anyhow, the offer is still open. If he ever shows up, that is.” He checked his wristwatch before glancing at his phone, “If he is being held up by that blasted woman, it won't be a pleasant night from him.”

Sunny came back around, pointing to Duckie, “since you lost you have to act! Watch out, I'm really good at guessing!”

Duckie let out a sigh and stood up, “Okay, but I'm not that great. I'll give it a try!”

***********

A few hours passed and Sunny had managed to get everyone in on the game, yet all Sugar could do was constantly look at his phone. He slowly became more angry as the time went by, fully convinced that he was stood up due to Goldie.

“The nerve of him!” Sugar exclaimed loudly, the entire staff jumping at his voice, “I am this close to going to his apartment and dragging him out to the street by his neck!”

“Calm down, Sugar. He probably has a good excuse. Or at least...a reason.” Zen chirped as he filled a glass of wine and handed it over, “Just relax!”

“How can I relax when-” Sugar was cut off as his phone rang. Seeing Clicks’ name on the screen he picked it up promptly, “Where the hell are you? I've been waiting at Eros for hours.” He answered sternly. His eyebrow twitched as the familiar female voice spoke on the other line. “What? You have to make his phone calls for him now as well?”

All color drained from the man’s face as Goldie hysterically spoke. “An accident? How...what hospital did they take him to? I’ll be there soon.”

At the mention of hospitals, Zen immediately slid over towards Sugar, “What's going on?”

Sugar downed the entire glass of wine that Zen had previously set in front of him, “I don't know the details but Clicks was rushed to the hospital. I need to go.”

Zen ripped his apron off, “I’m coming too. Close up for me tonight, would yah?” He asked as he waved to Red.

Red nodded, “Sure thing boss. Everything okay?”

“I hope so,” Sugar answered, “Let’s go, Zen. I don’t want to waste anymore time.”

*********

Once they were in Jumin’s car, Zen looked over at him, “Things will be okay, you know.”

Jumin massaged at his temples, “I was so filled with rage, I didn't even think that anything bad would have happened.”

“It’s a natural reaction. Rika has been worse these past few weeks so of course you think she was the reason for him to be late. Don't beat yourself up, okay? At least she had the decency to call you. Maybe she does recognize that you are important in his life?”

“Mmmm. Perhaps. Remind me to thank her when we get there.”

Zen laughed, “You? Thank her? That will be a sight to see. Would you like me to record it as well? When you're old and gray, you'll want to remember when you showed mercy to an otherwise terrible human being.”

Jumin turned to glare at Zen, “Don’t push your luck. I'm not in the mood.”

“There’s my princess, in all of her glory. Just keeping you on your toes.”

“Tch.” Jumin looked out the window of the car, every worry now clouding his mind as they made their way to the hospital.

tags! @illneverrecover @zenscrotch @suzunesays @serensama @sinfulinsecret @forever-ender

#mystic messenger #Eros Bar AU #mystic messenger fic #mm #mystic messenger au #Saeyoung Choi #zen #Hyun Ryu #Yoosung Kim #Saeran Choi #Unknown #Jumin Han #V #jihyun kim #rika

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poetdameron · 7 years

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cracked | jonerys [got] fic | jonerys week

Title: Cracked Characters/Pairings: Jon/Dany, Jorah, Davos, Gendry Rating: T Spoilers/Warnings: Description of (Jon’s) scars, this shit is sad at first. Word Count: ~3,721 Summary: As Daenerys grieves for Viserion, Jon Snow sleeps and her heart demands answers for the way she's now attached to him. A/N: Hands down, I wasn’t expecting this to get so out of hand. It was supposed to only be ONE scene and it ended being... this. But, I enjoyed doing Dany’s POV. Hope you enjoy it. This was done for Jonerys Week Day 2: Favorite Scene. Jon wakes up to find Dany at his side, from Dany's POV.

AO3 | Read on my blog:

Cracked

Viserion had been the smaller of her children, bony even, as he grow up with his brothers leaving him behind. They constantly throw bites in his direction and she had to call up Drogon and Rhaegal for their mean manners to their smaller brother.

She remembers the golden egg, looking like a precious rock, how it felt the first time she held his shattered form and felt the warm inside her chest and belly, recognizing it as special since the beginning, all three of them hers.

Daenerys swallowed another sob. Jon Snow’s men surrounded her, giving weird looks at her figure, like not knowing what else to say but their thanks and sorry, as if they had been the ones putting her children in danger.

The figure in the bed didn’t distract her thoughts from Viserion long enough, his big and innocent eyes still fixated on her as she called them for a short bath when they were still small to stand on her shoulders. Drogon would ignore her and Rhaegal followed in his steps, like the younger sibling that admires the older.

Looking at the bed, she wondered if Lord Snow’s siblings admired him as much as his men seemed to.

None of them had left his side, constantly passing by to check on him, ask her if she needed anything. None stayed long enough to make conversation, and she knew better than to initiated it herself, so that was fine, too.

All this she was feeling, no one was invited to uncover it as he slept. Only him could give her an answer while her heart felt heavy still, the lose of her child haunting her like the murmur of rain before it became a storm.

He hadn’t opened his eyes today, they told her he will maybe tomorrow, or in a couple of days.

“Khaleesi, is freezing.” Ser Jorah said at her side while going home, and Daenerys looked at him as if he was far away and she had imagined his voice. “Please, come inside. They have prepared a warm drink for you.”

“Thank you, but I don’t feel like it.”

She didn’t feel like anything. Drogon and Rhaegal were flying by, just above their heads but far enough to not scare the rest of the men in the boat. Their travel was safe with them in the air, but they were uneasy. Missing.

“Khaleesi, please.”

Jorah’s plea didn’t register by much, she was missing, too. Searching. Waiting. But as Rhaegal fly by, crying out for a brother that would never come home, she realized at last, that her Viserion would not come back to her, no matter how much she waited outside in the cold.

“He’s gone.”

Her friend didn’t say anything. The comfort of his silence wasn’t enough this time, and he didn’t make a move to touch her. Ser Jorah was always so kind, always so warm, but not even his affection and company could take away the nothing inside her chest.

Drogon cried out now, calling his lost brother and her heart ached. Tears were rolling down her face and Jorah finally embraced her.

She remembered Viserion’s egg cracking in the middle of the consuming fire around her. Drogon was already out and Rhaegal had been opening his eyes when the last egg finally let out her third newborn.

The small frame of him reminded her that of a child and she wanted nothing more but to protect him. Daenerys hold him at the time, helped him get to his feet and stood showing her children to the world for the first time. Her people bend on their knees and recognized the miracle of her motherhood that had bring them to life after years of no dragons.

“He’s gone!”

But she had failed Viserion. He was dead now, fallen from the sky like a simple birth stroke by a single arrow.

“He’s gone…”

And Jon Snow had stood for her, sword high and faster than she has seen any westeroisi man. He had ran away from her, yelling rage like breathing fire from his, otherwise, almost gentle mouth. No one had ever done that for her children, only her.

But he had order her to leave him behind for he was about to end an enemy that had wronged his people for too long, that had took down her dragon, and was—it was going to attack her, isn’t it? She could barely remember, her mind and heart had been far away, almost to her throat and into the ground.

Viserion would never come back, just like her childhood dreams and red door wouldn’t, like Drogo had left her to not be again, like she never looked back. But Jon Snow did. He had came back to her, frozen to a certain dead, and yet he had come back and lived another day.

She walked inside at least when the tears stopped and the cold had started to be unbearable, Jorah behind her like if confirming she was warm enough to survive. But she didn’t went for her hot drink or another boring tiny chit-chat. Daenerys almost stormed into Lord Snow’s chambers and looked as Ser Davos prepared him for a quick bath, pot of water at his side and a small towel into his hand.

“Your Grace.” He greeted her. “I didn’t knew you were coming.”

“Neither did I.” She admitted and walked inside, looking at Jorah to dismiss him. He seemed uncomfortable with her actions but, like many times before, stored his desires for himself and left. “Can I help?”, she asked after closing the door.

“But—” Davos stood while blinking, she opened her mouth to give an order, or maybe just tell she wanted to, but he nodded first. “I don’t think it’s appropiate…”

“A lot of things aren’t in these lands.” She said, walking to the other side of the bed to slowly uncover Jon’s shoulders. “I—”

“How about you help me with this water and these towels, your Grace?” He invited her to his side. “I’m afraid there are things that should remind a mystery in here.”

Her face felt warm but a small smile crossed her lips, and guilt punched the air out of her. But Daenerys walked to Ser Davos’s side, holding the pot of hot water and passing towels to him when his hand reached for them.

She didn’t look, she couldn’t. If she was to witness Jon’s forms, she wanted him well and awake. She wanted him to share it, so she could share hers.

When she first met Jon Snow, she was sure she had seen him before. Later, she dreamed of him, but it wasn’t quit him.

It was that young lover she used to imagine, making her moan and cuddle him to her chest at night. Daenerys had reprimanded herself. How could she think like this when the man had called her not only a child, but had talked to her with such disrespect, claiming to not bend the knee to a stranger?

But he had been there at Dragonston after, walking around and working with dirt and crystal with his own hands, helping his men and talking to her people, as much as he and them could understand.

Now, he lay here, in the bed of one of her boats, half dead and covered in fur to bring him back. Two nights he had slept and she was starting to get impatient for his eyes to open.

The scars in his chest and abdomen haunted her.

It reminded her of her own, of the ones in Drogo’s body and Daario’s, but not quit the thing either. These were deep, dark looking. The skin around them was dead, probably hard to the touch.

He had taken a knife to the heart for his people. There was no exaggeration in that. And there was no pride on it for him, either.

If he was another, he may had used his survival for an exclamation of surprise and admiration. But he kept doing things that only surprised her for real, making her curious and wanting to talk, and talk, and talk.

She sat down at his side on that third day, they had told her he may wake up any time by now. For the moment, there was no danger surrounding him or them. They needed him to wake up, only that way they would make sure he was, in fact, completely out of danger.

“Here”, the boy named Gendry had entered the room with a bowl of food and more warm drink. “Is dinner time, your Grace.”

Daenerys nodded, Gendry left the plates on the night’s table and she kept her guard, listening to the sea guide them home and her dragons cry the one that was gone.

Jon was not going to be gone, she had decided. She couldn’t lose another one.

Early in the morning of the fourth day, she cried again, alone in Jon’s chambers.

She wasn’t sure for what the tears were, her child or how none of her dreams of home were true. Or Jon, that had been stabbed before they could meet. Or because he hadn’t woke up yet. It was still dark in the sky, and Daenerys cried in silence, swallowing sob after sob, until her eyes were dry and her nose was hurt.

Nobody came in the morning to give her breakfast or clean him up.

With firm hands, she disposed of the water and the towels, and cleaned him herself, at least cleaned his face and his arms, his shoulders and collarbone, until Ser Davos came and none said a word about what duties she had taken that weren’t hers to do.

“How do you feel the winter?” Davos said after Jon was clean, sitting with her as they waited for him to wake up. “I bet it’s not how you imagine it.”

“I didn’t think much of winter, Ser.” She answered. “I imagined other places with sun.”

“Like what? If I may ask.”

“You may.” She smiled, looking at Jon from the corner of her eyes. “Dragonstone. It was sunny when we arrived, but it’s been… dark, most times. The sky has been bluer lately, for sure.” She couldn’t help but look at Jon. Just a few days ago, he had been in Drogon’s landing spot and the contrast between his gray and black colors against the brightness of the sea and the sky, the green of the grass and the golden of the sun, had made him look beautiful. “Snow must be beautiful…”

If he had something to say or was thinking of her at the moment, Ser Davos said nothing and she appreciate it that way.

She has never seen snowing, not really. In dreams, the cold tugged at her core and made her shiver, she would see the small drops of ice melting in her skin and nothing else. Daenerys never imagined the real cold, never thought something would feel as it.

Most times, she was warm for she was a dragon after all, but the North was real to its claims, her skin was cold as her heart felt and she swallowed.

“What do the northers do when they have sick people in bed?” She asked.

Davos seemed to search for his answer, probably thinking of Jon’s House and what was done over there.

She knew so little about him but so much at the same time. She didn’t knew which of his siblings was the closer to him, if he had a favorite meal, if he wished to have the power to change something of his past.

But she knew he was a good man, that his heart may be too big for his own good. Her children recognized him like they never did anyone before. She recalled them growling at her lovers and friends, they had been always only touched by her. And Jon Snow had become their friend, suddenly touched by him.

If Drogon could be submissive to Lord Snow, so will be Rhaegal. Her Viserion would had been so happy to have another set of arms to pet him, and the threat she didn’t believe in had taken him away from all of it.

“People pray to their Gods and put on guards, waiting for them to wake up.” Ser Davos answered. “Sometimes, they tell stories, sing songs. Some women sew, other make figures to offer to their Gods and ask for their favor.”

“Doesn’t sound so different.” She admitted. “I guess we all love the same.”

He was looking at her now, she could feel it. But once more, he said nothing and only nodded. “We do.”

He woke up later that fourth day, hold her hand, said he was sorry, and looked at her like if she had bring peace to him as he longed since forever.

Daenerys couldn’t take it, it was all too much.

She ran from him like a little girl.

She dreamed of Viserion, happily flying and playing with his brothers, sleeping on the grass and sniffing on wild flowers that only made him sniff multiple times until he needed water to take the strange flavor and smell from his nose.

No matter how big he got, he was still her baby. And now he was gone.

Daenerys woke up with tears in her eyes for her dreams became nightmares of him sinking in unknown waters that would freeze him for eternity, away from home, away from her forever.

Her heart hammered inside her chest, and she put one hand over her mouth, silencing the best she could the sobs coming out from her. She had lost Rhaego first and it had almost killed her, to know she was responsible for that lost had also killed part of her spirit ever since.

Now, she had done it again. She had put in risk her dragons and one had fallen, she unable to do anything but watch.

Her baby didn’t like the water, he took his quick showers when he was younger better than his brothers, but he had never liked it anyway. And now he was doomed to sleep in water for the many years to come.

When she opened Jon’s door, he wasn’t in bed and for a second, her heart stopped.

“I thought you weren’t coming again.” She heard to her right, he was standing outside the toilet area, barely dressed in pants and nothing else. “Your Grace.” He greeted her after making eye contact, slowly walking back to the bed.

“Good morning…” She said, looking him get into bed lazily. “You are looking better. Are you feeling better?”

“I am.” He answered. His voice was as sweet as it had been yesterday, it made her legs feel weak and the rest of her body fill with strange sensations of cold and warm at the same time. “But you don’t seem any better, my Queen.”

The way he said those words shouldn’t be allowed, maybe she should tell him to stop it, but her heart didn’t want her to. Daenerys licked her lips, walked to the chair she had claimed as hers and sat down in front of him.

“I can hardly sleep.” She admitted, watching him sit to face her, his hands over his lap and she ached to take them again, feel his warm, that he was real and very much alive. “I have so much in my head, not even tired I can shut it all down.”

She didn’t question herself why she was telling him this right now, and she probably wouldn’t later. He was looking at her that way again, like if he could see something nobody else could, and was keeping the secret to himself. Jon nodded, and she looked at his hands, wondering if he would touch her again or was keeping them away on purpose.

Had he felt rejected? Maybe. There was no time for this right now, a war that could end everything they most loved was about to walk through that wall she have seen only in dreams before, love was only a commodity that could become a weakness none of them needed.

Daenerys’ heart jumped a bit at the mention of love. There was no work for her to keep it away from the privacy of her mind, not now. She wondered if Tyrion had noticed already, that Jon wasn’t the only one staring and making dumb decision dictated by his heart.

“Daenerys,” he called her and her body filled with goosebumps at the mention of her name. Until now, he had been respectful to her title and never said her name in her presence, but it rolled on his tongue like if he had said it a million times before, ��what you did for us beyond the wall… Not anyone would put their lives at risk like you did, not for a bunch of nobodies like us. You saved us, you could had easily leave us there to die—”

“What kind of person turns her back to those who need her?” She interrupted, he tilted his head and smiled softly. “You are a brave warrior, Jon Snow. You’ll be needed, you already are.”

“Jon is alright.” He answered, Daenerys swallowed. “You have too much of a good heart, you should allow yourself to accept when someone says thank you.”

“Where you?” She smiled.

“I was going to, aye.” He replied with his smile widening. “Thank you, Daenerys.”

She could feel her own smile widening instead, her cheeks grew tender and Daenerys looked down at her own hands, aching to touch his again.

“Dany it’s okay.” She said instead, slowly looking up at him again. “I was just taken aback by it before.”

He said nothing but smiled at her. The scars on his chest were exposed and her eyes lingered over them almost without her noticing, when she wanted to look away, it was too late. He had seen her and had moved to show them properly.

Daenerys’ heart ached at the view. How could someone want to harm him? Him, that was the most noble man she has ever met? She looked up at his face again. Maybe that had been the problem, maybe he was too good for the people and no one had understood it.

“Your scars--” She left the question floating around, hoping he would catch it.

“Aye.”

She left out a heavy sigh, her shoulders feeling heavy and lose at the same time. Daenerys liked her bottom lip while looking down again and slowly approached his chest with an uncertain hand. But she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t just reach out and touch, and when his hand took her wrist to guide her over him, her heart hammered inside her chest.

His skin was warm and the edges of every scar exactly like she thought, hard and not quit old yet. She wanted to ask him when this has happened, how it was, and if the ones who did it were still alive. The idea burn deep in her belly, forming an emptiness she didn’t like.

“How could it be…?”

“A Red Priestess brought me back. I don’t know all the details, I suspect I don’t want to know.” He said, his tone letting her know there was more to it he couldn’t put into words.

She wasn’t here to torture him with it, so she just followed the path to the scar over his chest. “So you were truly-- you were dead.”

It wasn’t a question and he didn’t seem to want to hide it anymore, Jon nodded.

The scar looked like a half moon, it almost made her smile when her mind recalled the times she has been called The Moon. She wondered what he would think, if he would felt as warm as she did while thinking about it.

“I almost didn’t met you.” Daenerys swallowed, looking up at his eyes. “You like doing stupid things, don’t you?”

The way he smiled, lowering his head before looking up again, she realized he was trying to not laugh. So she moved from her chair, standing in front of him with both hands on his face. He stopped then, looking up at her eyes in a tender way, still a bit surprised, but loving. There was no other way to describe it.

“You have to stop.” She said. “I’m not losing you. You said you are a King, then be one. You don’t have to be the stupid hero, survive for your people if you won’t for yourself.”

Jon’s eyes were a poem, or that they looked to her. Daenerys didn’t realize when he had put his hands on her waist but responded to the soft push of them, sitting on his lap in the process as he embraced her tight.

His grip was strong, his breathing heavy and his smell sparked the memory of a rainy morning as she looked through her window in the big house with the red door when she was a kid. Daenerys frowned, memories of that house were still sacred to her, and as much as she wanted to maintain them fresh, they had been disappearing one by one. But this one was new.

Almost as new as the way she felt for him. Not the same she felt for any of the people she has cared about before, not like her love and necessity of Drogo, her desire for Daario, her connection to Jorah. It was-- it was--.

“I’m sorry.” He said again, the warm of his mouth so close to her ear, her skin sparkled in goosebumps. “I’m here now.”

He would probably keep doing all the dangerous things being a leader got them to do, she would put herself in danger many times again after this, but as a long as he returned to her and hold her like this, she’d be stupid with him.

Feeling like this was probably a mistake, but she couldn’t help it. Daenerys smiled at him and leaned her forehead to his, closing her eyes and they breathe each other in.

Later, he lay down again as she stayed with him the rest of the day. She didn’t dream bad that night.

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