#adding this to make it available for translators screen readers and others

[afreakingdork]

Weak Spot - Chapter 19

RotTMNT Donatello x Reader

Warnings: Aged-up Turtles, Romance, Meet Cute, Villain Donatello, Cussing, Crushes, Xenophobia, Fear, Intimidation, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hurt/Comfort, Love, AFAB Reader, Vaginal Sex, Sex Rough, Sex, Penis In Vagina Sex, Creampie, Teasing, Scent Kink, Sexual Tension, Breeding Kink, Multiple Orgasms, Cunnilingus

Synopsis:  Though it hadn’t come easily, as these things rarely do, you found yourself in a whirlwind romance with a handsome and mysterious mutant. His idiosyncrasies had been easy to ignore as attraction grew into something more. However, will love endure when the unknowns about him end up being far darker than you ever considered?

Also available on Ao3

First 💜 Previous

Fem!Reader References/Warnings: single bra mention

Lucky.

You considered yourself so damn lucky.

You had been riding a high for over a month now. Between your friends and Donnie, your heart had never felt fuller. The latter of which was probably the most cause for your euphoria, but you didn’t want to give him all the credit. Work had been a pleasant monotony and your recent outings without him had been fulfilling in a totally different way. Your meals had been good. Other New Yorkers had only kind of gotten on your nerves and your usual barista had given you a free pastry the last three times you’d seen her.

You mused on this while staring at your computer. A refresh here and there was more for you since the clock in the lower right hand corner of your screen hadn’t actually clicked over to the right time yet.

Right beside that was your phone and you no longer needed to resist the allure of texting Donnie. The relationship had been going so smoothly that you were comfortable enough to label it as such even though in reality the conversation still hadn’t occurred. There was little room left for questions with how open the two of you had been as of late. Communication was now routine to the point where Donnie rarely dodged you. If a topic he couldn’t pursue came up, he simply explained that he couldn’t expand. The first time he had done so you had also essentially jumped him which was probably more than enough signal to him that you preferred that over being ignored. 

It meant that you knew something was up with his work. It had started a few weeks ago when you’d met for a date and immediately pinged his tense aura. Instead of letting you simmer on the question as to why, he’d come right out that he was having complications with so-called competitors. He hadn’t exactly apologized as it was something he rarely did, but he had explained that he felt bad for bringing those concerns with him during his off time. You only had to remind him of the many, many times he’d let you complain about your own work before he softened up. It became an odd routine of its own. The meeting would start with frustration clinging to him and after a few minutes with you he would hang it up like a coat. Your heart and pride swelled over the amount of control you seemed to wield over his mood.

It was also something you swore not to take lightly.

It additional added to the self-esteem that had been on the rise as since his little reveal during the first  B.E.D.F.A.S.T. deployment. He had not joked about being unable to keep his mouth off you. In a strange buoy, it had made up for the seeming drop in penetrative sex which hadn’t occured since before the chase. You kept meaning to ask him, but it was difficult to remember when he seemed to be making up for some kind of timetable orally. Squirming in your chair, you checked the clock and decided to shift your thought to other tenderness for focus’ sake.  

On days where psychical touch was out of the question, you’d found yourself at the receiving end of a different type of affection. His close eye had always translated to a sort of doting, but he was nearly shameless when it came to days he couldn’t get his hands on you. He listened to everything you said, even the silliest things, and seemed to have a stock pile of gifts at the ready. You were only thankful he had some and understood that not everything was meant to be received. Otherwise you basked in the many small things that ranged from new ink for your favorite pen when it’d run out to snacks you’d half mentioned wanting to try.

Seconds ticked down and you let the cozy thoughts fall away as you readied yourself. In a refresh the page opened and you filled the dialog boxes. In several rapid clicks, you imagined yourself as a expert hacker. The page turned with a loading bar and refreshed into another. You squeezed your eyes shut with one final wish before you opened them to see you had acquired two tickets for an art installation you’d been hoping to see. Jumping clear out of your chair, you kept your voice to yourself and instead rapidly pumped your arms with victory.  

It was definitely some kitschy thing and probably more for taking selfies, but the walkthrough museum  had a new theming you just adored. You’d been vaguely interested in the past, but it’s latest exhibit was a must. Sadly, the tickets had been on a first come, first served basis, during work hours. Instead of hiding it, you’d shamelessly asked your boss to block off time and said you’d take a cut to lunch. He’d waved the whole thing off as thanks for your honesty and now you sat, a ticket holder, having moved with precision. Taking a screenshot for later, you refreshed the page curiously to see how others faired. The sold out banner was hung across the screen and you nodded to yourself.

You checked the clock and found only a minute had passed.

Sitting down and praising your luck yet again, you still had five minutes until you were due back. Pulling out your phone, you snuck down to the elevators to make a call.

The phone rang a few times and you stared out the window of the high-rise which only afforded you a view of more glass.

“Hm.” The voice came through with tepid curiosity. “Let’s see what’s more probable…”

“Go ahead.” You hummed and rolled on your comfortable work shoes.

“You could either be calling due to your excitement in garnering the tickets or, because you are devastated that despite your best efforts, you did not get them.” 

“I wonder which…?” You pressed your lips into a thin line to keep from blurting out the answer.

Donnie played up a noise that he was thinking it over.

A giggle broke through.

“Congratulations.”

You did a little hop. “Thank you! You should have seen me. I was clicking keys so fast.”

“You wouldn’t have had to bother if you’d just let me enact my algorithm.”

“No cheating!” Moving one foot at a time you did an awkward twirl.

“As I have explained that is not the case. It would have simply purchased the tickets the instant the site opened.”

“Yeah, yeah.” You heard him huff. “So next Saturday we’re in!”

“Next Saturday.”  

“Yeah and it’s in your area so I was thinking we could walk over? We got the primo prime time night slot so I’m extra pumped. I think they do something special with the lights when it’s dark! My only complaint if I had to give one is it’s technically the day after opening too. I wasn’t as fast as I hoped, but still pretty speedy! ” 

The was silence on the line and you became hyperaware that you had excitedly blown past his curious repetition.

“Something’s wrong.”

“It’s sooner than I anticipated.”

“Oh.”

“You were forthcoming with the dates; I’ve just been distracted.”

“Yeah…” You leaned against the glass and stared at a nearby plant that needed watering.

“Based on my research and your refusal to allow my help, I underestimated your purchasing speed.”

“You thought I’d get a later date.”

“Correct.”

“Is that… a problem?”

“I also can’t imagine that either I misheard or you misspoke. However, I recall the location being near Soho and not my abode.”

You grimaced. “Uh, yeah… The permanent instillation is, but the new one is a pop-up. That’s why it’s temporary and has so few tickets...”

Another bout of silence came through the line. 

“It’s okay if you can’t make it…” You wanted to strangle the stupid disappointment in your tone.

You heard a little inhale through the static as he seemingly thought something over.

“Really!” That was better. “Someone else is sure to be around and, no matter what, I’ll take so many pictures! You’ll feel like you’re right there with me!”

More quiet emanated from your device.

“Are… you still there?”

“Yes.”

“I… I’m disappointed, obviously, but it’s not the end of the world.”

“You wanted to go with me.”

You gave a small, knowing smile to yourself. “I want to do everything with you.”

You heard a clear tapping noise and wondered what it could be. It sounded louder than a pen, but had a density you couldn’t place.

“We don’t have to figure this out now and I should get back.”

“Okay.”

“Alright! I’ll text you at lunch!”

“No, I’m saying ‘okay, I’ll go.’”

You paused.

“Unless you already penciled someone else in.”

You blew out a puff of air. “Hardly, someone’s hogging my line.”

He hummed.

“Are you sure? It’s work, right?”

“Yes to both queries.” There was a sound as if something large was turned over. “I haven’t… wanted to bring it up, because I was hoping to avoid it, but I may need to take a business trip soon.”

You straightened up a little. “Yeah? I didn’t know you did those.”

“They can sometimes be a necessity.”

“Donnie, if you need to go, it’s really okay.”

“I’ve already agreed, it’s automatically logged into my calendar, and I will seek restitution if I find you worrying.”

“Geez, fine!” A coworker popped their head out from around the hall and waved at you genially. “I really have to go...”

“Send me the exact time. I’ll hear from you at lunch.”

“Gotcha! I’ll… talk to you then. Bye!”

“Farewell.”

-

You tried to avoid paying the penalty, but Donnie had been on increasing edge up. In the short amount time up to the ticket date, he’d been slower to let his guard down around you until he suddenly stated  he couldn’t meet the entire week prior. His texts came through uninterrupted, in contrast, and, though he attempted to make up time with calls, his voice had been heavy with things you couldn’t place. You almost thought it was anger, but it wasn’t exact enough.

It meant that as you stood outside his apartment, you wished you weren’t as excited as you were. You’d been instructed to wait as he’d come to you which left you pacing to burn off the excess energy. This was supposed to be your special night, but he was part of the equation. With a failed kick to a pebble, you tried a second time and stood triumphantly as it skid down the sidewalk. An amused huff came from your back so you spun around to find a bare stoop. Continuing the rotation with a crinkled brow, you soon spied Donnie walking over from down the street.

“You weren’t home?”

“A misdirection.”

You squinted. “And why do you need to throw me off your trail?”

He seemed to realize what he had said and moved to close the gap. “It was work. There was a misguided attempt to thwart my date for the evening so I took appropriate measures.”

That wasn’t very convicting, but he’d been so honest as of late.

“Oh, a hot date? Have they shown up?” You mimed putting a hand over your eyes to look around.

Donnie turned his head one way and then the other before landing back on you. “It looks as though I’ve been stood up, but I may have found better.”

“Only ‘may’?” You teased and that buzzing excitement returned in full force as he seemed more himself. You squirmed and withhold yourself as the next question was how much touch you were in store for. Ready, he answered your question by stepping to your side and holding an arm out. Heart skipping along, you went to take him up on his offer when you registered the way he was dressed. His usual primped clothes were gone and what replaced was a type of all black modified street wear that had such a subtly to them that you had almost missed them entirely.

Stepping away to take him in, you traced how his well tailored black pants slid directly into sharply cut combat boots. His usual outwear was gone and in its place he had only a single long sleeved piece over his torso. It had a wrap quality to it where the stitching was barely visible but seemed to be segmented in three strips going from his right shoulder to his left underarm. The fold became apparent at the bottom where an asymmetric cut dropped a triangle of cloth longer down one leg. Resisting the urge to circle him in an attempt to chase the hem, you instead moved your gaze up to find two separate necklines. One hugged his throat, but bunched in a way that said there was quite a bit of that stretchy fabric than necessary. The other sat with a wide breech around his collar and you could just barely tell it was a sort of hood that had been portioned out. Knowing you were gawking, you slid your hand delicately into the crook of his arm and observed how his sleeves came down over his hands. It was a rare oversized fit that you had never seen on the man.

“Cool outfit.”

He said nothing and took the lead in an easy stroll.

“I should have dressed up myself.” You tried to eye him, but he was looking straight ahead. “Is this what you wear to work?”

“No.” He parted you a little glance. “Is pushing my style boundaries unsatisfactory?”

You stiffened. “Oh! No, this isn’t bad at all! It’s just surprising considering you have a pretty set style.”

His interest seemed faint. “Consider it a practice in versatility.”

“An art piece at an museum? You’ll steal the show.” You tittered and bumped him slightly as you walked.

You felt him tighten his arm around your hand to signify his contentment.

“You do look good in everything.” You craned your neck to see a little more of him.

“Remind me to schedule time for your ogling the next time I so much as raid my closet.”

You blew a raspberry. “Like you need me for that. I bet it’s already logged.”

From where his eyes were glued to the sidewalk, he wrenched them away to look at you with a devious air. “Very much so.”

He always liked it when you understood his tech. You giggled and took the chance to lean up to him. “Make a note about undressing too.”

He slowed and through hooded eyes he seared a look into yours before bumping your foreheads together.

You caught the move and pushed back with a little nuzzle of your own.

His arm left your hold and wrapped around you. “That was completed days ago.”

“How long have you been planning this little outfit stunt?”

“To answer that would include an enormous commitment.” He tried to take a step with you in his hold, but the height difference made moving awkward.

“Usually it’d be a huge ‘explanation.’” You tilted your head at his word choice and slipped one of your arms behind his back in an attempt to help.

He stiffened and you remembered his shell. Back pedaling for a rapid extraction, he lowered head into your air space to stop you. “Keep your hands flat and don’t grope. It should be alright.”

You looked up at him in awe.

Doing as he said, you were able to reach about halfway around him. You splayed your fingers there and made sure the pressure wasn’t overt. From what you could feel, it was flatter than it looked. It took him a moment, but he settled into the touch and attempted to step again. “As usual your attention to detail has aided your assertation. While it would be impossible to explain, showing you is something more of a question. I should have adjusted my phrasing as such.”

His wordiness kept you from falling in line with him so the two of you ended up diagonal to one another as something dawned on you. “Did.. you say commitment?”

A new giddiness took hold of you as you wondered what it could possibly be.

He broke away from both you and the rooftop he was studying. The air around him shifted and you could sense the nervous nature he took on. “If I were to take a second, I would ask if you would ever consider sharing a digital calendar with me?”

For any other person in the world that might have been a boring clerical necessity, but coming from him and paired the near timid way he’d said it, your heart leapt. For someone as studious as him, it was a clear relationship step. You looked at him earnestly and tried to drown out the blood rushing in your ears. “I’d like that.”

“It would prevent future complications and-” He stopped and blinked down at you.

From where you were already love struck, you sank even further by the fact that he hadn’t thought you’d say yes and felt the need to convince you.

“Right.” He tried to bounce out of what seemed like clear embarrassment and look back down the road. “I’ll set up a shared one and invite you on.”

“Can’t wait.” You followed his gaze to give him a little reprieve. You strolled comfortably together amongst the others dotting the street. No one seemed to look twice and the night air felt especially comfortable for the time of year.

With the venue only a few blocks away, you moved to look up at Donnie. Though you’d already scoured emergency exits, it never hurt to be prepared and you figured a quick itinerary check was in order in case of an oversized crowd. Your attention slowed as you saw a tightness in his jaw and his eye seemed transfixed on something in the distance. The question was just on your lips when there was the clear sound of a metallic warble. It was growing louder by the second and, before you could blink, you were halfway down the road where you were now facing the opposite direction. From where you had just been you stared as a large sword was stabbed into a pool of blue light that definitely had not been there a moment ago. It slowly began to sink and, as your jaw dropped with it, Donnie’s face appeared in front of yours.

“I need you to listen to me unlike ever before.” He caught hold of your face and squeezed hard. It caused a squish of your cheeks, blurring your eyes, but the desperation in Donnie’s features was unmistakable.  “What is about to happen is one of those accursed unavoidable occurrences I warned you about. I tried my best to get rid of them, but obviously that was not the case. I am going to need your full cooperation if I am to get you out of this. Do you understand?”

Everything was happening way too fast.

He squeezed even tighter.

You could only nod so he’d let up.

“My actions do not reflect how I feel about you. I beg you to keep that in mind. Do not speak at all, no matter what you hear, and I apologize for what you’re about to see. This isn’t… how I wanted you to find out…”

You wanted to yell.

You had just about a thousand questions.

All you could do was make a small grunt as he let go of your face.

His arm coiled around you and, as soon as it locked, you were airborne. 

A screech left your lips as in a zigzag pattern you were rapidly scaling between two buildings. With wide eyes you saw the night sky seemingly up close as you shot high above the rooftops. Your stomach bottomed out in a terrible drop as the high tapered off before you landed on the edge of a desolate building. The rushing movement made you feel like throwing up, but you couldn’t even keel over with Donnie’s arm like an iron bar crushing your ribs. Dazed, you went to communicate your discomfort when you caught how different your partner now looked.

That small collar you had noted earlier was now pulled taunt and melded as a mask around Donnie’s snout. You had been right about the other being a hood as it was now served such a purpose and shrouded his face in near darkness. Balking, the arm that wasn’t around you extended and out from under his sleeve material grew something like black ichor. It stretched until it coated his fingers before rolled back to burst forth to swallow up his sleeve’s hem. When it finally settled, it formed a smooth latex glove that ended at Donnie’s elbow.

A weird laugh rattled out of you.

There was a loud thump and you turned towards it dumbly.

A huge figure now knelt crouched down in the center of the roof.

Your eyes lost focus and you scrambled to correct.

Even in the scattered night lights it was obvious that there was a huge shell sitting on the person’s back. It contrasted Donnie’s in every way and there was a sway as the figure’s outstretched arms came in from what must have been a super hero landing. The person then rose up and with a quick adjustment, you saw they had a sword in hand. You curled into Donnie at the sight of it and his arm tightened as the figure’s face appeared.

“If it isn’t his violet-ness!” There was a clear smirk there and a blue mask.

You blinked and then twisted to look at Donnie.

You could barely see him and your senses gleaned even less.

He had clearly shut down.

Looking back to the interloper, you watched as he reached into another flash of blue light and extracted a second sword.  

You weren’t moving, but it felt like everything was spinning.

The figure then flicked the oval away like it was muck and renewed the grip of his weapons. Adjusting their stance, you saw that they were shirtless and proudly displaying a plastron nearly similar to Donnie’s. There were some marks carved out of one top corner, but you refused to linger in your sweep. Skirting down momentarily you took in how his baggy pants where wrapped up below the knee save one that had a sharp metal cap covering it. Safetly identifying him as a turtle, you watched as he seemingly dripped a carefree attitude until he didn’t.

He was glaring down Donnie with a palpable ferocity.

“What’s the problem?” The turtle’s head lolled to one side. “Oh! I’m sorry! Not going by Violet Violence these days? Hard to keep track of all the variations!”

“Maybe he’s waiting for ‘Mauve Marauder?’”

You nearly jumped as another voice came from a nearby rooftop. You didn’t dare lean out beyond Donnie, but you could just see a pair of white eyes glowing from atop an access door.

“Nah, wasn’t the last one ‘Plum Perpetrator’?”

Unable to stiffen any further, you simply closed your eyes as this chipper voice came from the complete opposite direction.

With one in the front and two on each side that meant you were basically surrounded.

The thought was enough for you to shift direction away from the odd nicknames they were listing.

You needed to be on guard, for Donnie’s sake.

Opening your eyes, the immediate turtle rolled his weight as he spoke.

“Who knows? And don’t expect me to ask because, as you know, I literally could not care less.” He took a step forward and Donnie’s free hand went to your throat.

“Don’t move.” Donnie’s voice was ice and you felt sharp daggered points dig into your jugular.

He had claws.

A flash memory of nails digging into your scalp appeared and you wilted.

The turtle gave a loud dramatic sigh and dropped his blades as if he might throw a toddler-like tantrum. “Seriously, no shtick. What’s the deal? I thought we were past the whole trafficking thing. Didn’t you deem every living being that wasn’t yourself inferior or something?”

There was the bassy thud and it was clear the voice to your right had joined you on this building.  You tensed to look against the hold on your throat and watched a second turtle come up from a posing that mirrored the first. Similar in again how different he was to the other two, you watched as he rose up with a body somehow even larger than anything you’d seen. He was all brawn and sharp spikes with a long tail that matched him like a Stegosaurus. He had a loose sort of jumpsuit on that barely covered his front before coming up to hood at one end and held down with wraps at the other. Unlike Donnie’s cloak, this turtle’s cover did not mar the clear red of his mask.

There was clearly a pattern here.  

You could almost surmise what the third person looked like.

“I’ve never hesitated before.” Donnie snarled and you could feel the points digging in painfully. “What makes you so sure otherwise?”  

You tried to swallow, but felt the motion would break skin.

“Easy…” The red masked turtle raised their hands and made a show of loosening the grip on their weapons.

You didn’t know the name of them, but their dagger like points told you more than enough. 

“Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me!” The blue masked turtle folded his arms and pointed out with one sword as if he were extending a finger. “Let’s see what we’ve got: you’ve been skulking around one area for awhile which put you back on our radar. It’s weird, guess you’ve gotten sloppy in your old age. Shame, thought you’d retired.”

The red masked turtle groaned and pinched the bridge of their snout.

“Now, hold on!” The blue turtle half turned towards the red one. “This is classic banter. When’s the last time I got to do solid banter?!”

“With him or in general?” The red turtle dropped the hand from his face.

“Uh…” The blue turtle drew out the syllable and then gave an all too bright smile. “The first one, duh.”

“I think you just love to hear yourself talk.”

“When you have a voice of an angel, right Plum-sucker?” The blue turtle rolled his head back to Donnie.

Though he hadn’t moved in the slightest, you finally pinged an emotion off your turtle: pure unadulterated hatred.

“Anyway!” The blue turtle’s bottom teeth came up in a cheeky grin. “We track you the last few weeks and find something similar in the area every… single….time…  you show up! And what do you think that is?”

Your brows knit.

That approximately matched the timeline for Donnie’s work troubles.

You were struck by your turtle’s first comment of the night: misguided.

Your eyes widened as you realized they had been tracking him the whole time.

“Or should I say ‘who?’” The blue turtle dropped his gaze from Donnie to you and your shoulder’s bunched. “Hi, doll. The name’s Leo, by the way. You doing alright there?”

Something bitter burned your tongue, but Donnie’s plea kept it from saying it.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head.” The blue turtle cooed. “We’ll have you out of there uno momento.”

You didn’t like that.

Given what you had, you translated it into a sharp glare.

“Eugh! Oh yeesh. What’d he tell you?” Leo grimaced and looked towards the red turtle who simply shrugged. “We’ll work on that too.” He then gave you a more realized smile before returning his attention to Donnie. “So yeah, I don’t think you’re going to hurt this one. I am curious what caught your eye, though! We tried doing a background check. Didn’t get much. Are they secretly some kind of politician’s kid? Royalty? Tech heir? Robot in disguise?”

“Always a step behind.” Donnie’s voice was utterly dismissive.

Leo gave a loud theatrical laugh and stumbled over to the red turtle who he used to seemingly hold himself up. “Oh, that’s rich, huh Raph?”

“It’s surprising. Never seen ya look twice at humans; let alone anyone else.” Raph shot Donnie a little sideways glance and you noticed there was something off about the gaze.

If you weren’t encased by him, you might not have felt the microscopic twitch Donnie gave.

Leo feigned wiping a tear away and did that deadly shift from comedy to gravity. “Ah! See… Cause I remember-” He righted himself. “-the last time we met, we beat you down so badly, you seemed to give all this up! Sure, you’re still up to no good, doing a job here or there, but nothing, nothing, compared to before.”

 Raph shifted and you could tell he was preparing for something.

Your nerves frayed.

Did Donnie know?

“Coulda sworn you’d rolled over after being beat by the superior players.” The blue turtles clipped tone spoke volumes as he readied his blades.

That sounded eerily familiar.

Your heart sank.

“LOOKS LIKE WE GOT THE CHECK!” Leo screamed. “WHAT DO WE DO, BROS?”

Everything shifted into motion, but for you time slowed down.

Donnie crouched and took something off the arm around you.

Leo began to sprint towards you.

Raph broke off toward the left.

Donnie applied whatever it was to your wrist and then let you go.

Shaking at the knees, you refused to drop.

Donnie reached up to his shoulder and slammed down on it.

There was a distinct hiss of pressure.  

Flinging his arm back, Donnie reached up under his shirt and came away with what looked like a large metal plate.

You steeled yourself as he slammed it onto your back.

It immediately came to life and glued itself to you with parts locking in over your shoulder and a large belt appearing around your waist.

You began to float and watched, wide eyed, as a metal rod appeared in Donnie’s hands before extending to become a long black staff.

In a spin, he had both a clawed and plain hand on it that pointed towards Leo who was rearing to strike.

Time caught up with itself.

“SPLIT!” Leo roared and his blades came down.

“THE!” Raph sounded beside you with his weapons fisted.  

“BILL!!!” That chipper voice was right behind you in your ear.

Your hearing was temporarily stunted by his volume and an ice cold sweat soaked your neck. Though muffled drums you heard a loud clang and glimpse Donnie block Leo’s swords before you were launched onto the next rooftop.  

Screeching, you landed without ever touching the group and kept moving even though your limbs hung uselessly. Left with only sight, you glimpsed the flash of a mechanical arm in motion. You didn’t get a clear view, but it reminded you of a beefier version of B.E.D.F.A.S.T.

Trying to connect the dots of what was occurring, your attention was diverted as a bright glowing orange chain shot out in front of you. Thinking it had missed for only a moment, it then curved around and a yell tore from you as it collided with your skin. It burned on contact and spun back out of your vision. A burning scent hit you momentarily before whiplash snapped your neck as the chain halted your momentum.  

“I’m real sorry about this!” A turtle materialized in front of you and you could only stare at him in pained horror. This one had no mask and instead a bright pop of orange bows sat wrapped around a bun crowning the messy hair on his head.

You didn’t think turtles had hair.

His face was steeped in concern and didn’t match the angry facial scar that ripped up a part of his lip before shooting across his face. It was even further contrasted by the burnt orange robes that seemed to flow around him ethereally.

“MIKEY, GET ‘EM OUT OF HERE!” Leo’s unmistakable voice came from behind with a tinge of distress.

That shifted Mikey into gear. “Sorry, sorry, I’m gonna explain anything, but we gotta get you-”

There was a loud mechanical whirring and you felt the thing strapped to you undulate. The belt around your waist tightened suddenly and you wheezed as it knocked the air out of you. The weight of it seemingly tripled and you gasped pathetically.

“That’s not good.” Mikey’s voice sounded very small considering he was still in front of you.

Fighting off the wince, you renewed your gaze on him to see his eyes hovering just above your head in horror.

You weren’t sure if it was a good thing that your foe was that scared of whatever was stuck on you.  

Your pack tried to wrench you free which only caused the chains to further strangle you. Your ribs screamed in protest and, in a twist, you watched Mikey wrap the orange metal around his hands before reading back.

He was about to yank.

You choked at the thought.

Leaving the ground this time was a stark contrast to before.

In a jerk that pained your already bruised neck, you flew to the right and started to curve around.

In a blur of searing energy, you looked back to the source and watched as Mikey operated as the center of a top. Feeling very much stuck on the world’s worst carnival ride, the g-forces hollowed out your ears and then your anchor point disappeared. The parabola continued before a sharp pull propelled you to wherever Mikey had leapt. Dragged like a broken pull toy, your head snapped back to collide with unrelenting metal. Angry sparks vignette your vision as you got sight of Mikey in front of you. He leapt off a building and, as if in a rollercoaster, you shrieked as your cart reached the drop. You were pulled over and the bottoming out sensation you’d felt when airborne with Donnie was incomparable. Bile bypassed your throat and went straight into your nostrils as your leash leader changed direction. The chains were a step behind and you arched again with an unrelenting curve from the drag. Everything went into blurry motion save the clear image of the bricks you were about to collide with.

Dropping out of a scream, you turned to curses and prepared for impact.

“Ah!! No, no, no!” Mikey’s voice sounded like it was flying around you and there was sudden release of pressure.

In a bounce that was far gentler than you expected, you heard the crumble crunch of stone.

You guessed instantaneous death wouldn’t amount to much.

Only, you didn’t feel dead.

Surprisingly, you didn’t even feel more injured than you already were.

Starting by cranking one eye open, you no longer saw the orange chains and instead saw the daunting height that dropped to the dirty alley below. A little noise of fear caught in your throat and you looked up to find large coils of mechanical arms buried into the brick where they’d both stopped and protected you.  

“Oh gosh… I know I said it before, but you have no idea how sorry I am.”

Looking just past the arms, you found Mikey perched on the ledge of the building you were dangling from.  

“It’s those dang arms. They’re really not cooperating! But-but I’m gonna make it up to ya! Expect a month-! No, a year-! Wait! A decade’s worth of free pizzas! Also… a video game partner that will willingly toss every match, and a snazzy kitten coloring book where only two of the pages have been colored in!” He punctuated the statement with what looked like a peace sign.

It probably was meant to signify the two pages, but he only had three fingers.

“Seriously though, you gotta tell the robot to chill and I can seriously explain everything. Me and my brothers just want to get you somewhere safe.”

“I don’t know why this is hard to comprehend…” You had no idea how your voice was coming out so evenly.

Mikey seemed to wait with bated breath.

“…but I was actually DOING JUST FINE BEFORE.” You roared to life; your voice burning your throat.

 “H-huh?” He nervously reached out as if scorned and it was enough to activate the fight or flight in your pack.

With a rear, you were flung across the alley to a nearby fire escape. The metal wheezed under the weight of the mechanical arms before it swung to the next safety ladder. Choking on a sudden bout of vomit from the intense seesaw, there was a sharp pressure in your wrist. Your nausea evaporated and you wanted to examine how, but the speed at which you were moving meant your limbs were uselessly pushed back.

“Wait! Ah geez!! Not again!!” You watched in horror as orange chains shot out around you.

Not ready for another set of burns, you winced and felt a violent bob. It forced your eyes open to see that your pack would not be fooled the same way again. It now zigzagged aggressively as it dodged alarming number of glowing loops that seemed to manifest in a never ending spool.

Barely able to track the progress, you dropped low dodging a chain overhead only to hear a hiss below. Looking down you saw burning orange melting steel as Mikey had gotten a hold of your bottom left mechanical arm. Your rig was undeterred as it spun around to face your attacker head on.

The sight across from you nearly stopped your heart.

Mikey’s eyes overflowed with the same sizzling energy and he was literally seated in the sky in a holding pattern.

He hadn’t just sounded like he was flying.

He could actual fly.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” The surprise tore from you and you watched as it hit him in a similar way.

In a blink his pupils returned and you felt your pack jar as the chains retracted rapidly to his person.  

In what seemed like a never ending escape, the arms surge to put distance between you when you noticed a single chain had yet to return to its master.

“Wait!” You tried to warn it, but it was too late.

Your movements stalled and there was a bitter screech of metal being torn from metal. Down a limb, little crumbles rained down on you as your pack got hold of the edge of a building. In a pathetic hoist, it seemingly used the last of its strength to fling you over the top. You landed on the roof hard as the rig further destabilized. Suddenly on your feet and unable to bear the weight, you stumbled backwards with all the weight until you were back against the ledge.

Mikey landed similarly to his brothers right in front of you before running over.

“Shit, shit! That’s not gonna shock you, right? Ugh, look at all those exposed wires!” There was a sparking sound and a worried scream was muffled by closed lips that tried to muster some kind of reassurance. “We gotta get this off of you!” Mikey’s hand came into view and you recoiled away as it was the closest he had gotten yet.

As if fending off a predator with its last breath, your pack came alive and awkwardly stumbled to the side. Mikey gave chase and you rounded the roof until one of the arms dug down to stabilize the unit. A mechanical arm shot forward and you watched with a front row seat as some kind of instinct came over Mikey. His hands flew up and he redirected the blow away on what looked like sheer instinct. He didn’t seem surprised and instead moved to direct another as your pack whirred viscously. Within milliseconds you could not long track the movement. It left the only evidence of the exchange as a blur of green, grey, and thumps as flesh struck metal. It oddly gave you a moment to yourself and you broke away to check your surroundings.

From the roof there wasn’t a specific landmark you could ping. Instead you mostly gleaned that during the chase, you had somehow swapped positions and now you were the one on the roof proper while Mikey stood on a ledge to take your rig on at a similar height. You felt a buzz in your limbs and brought you hands up to find a smooth black bracelet Donnie had left you. It seemed unremarkable and featureless save it had, at some point, sized exactly to be flush with your skin. Donnie stopping Leo’s attack flashed in your mind and you brought the device close to your chest before looking up.

Stupid luck.

It wasn’t supposed to run out in such a crappy way.

Stupid turtles.

Had you asked for too much?

Bottoming out all the things that didn’t make sense, you remembered the one thing that did.

You had surely missed your ticket window.

It filled you with a sudden rage as all your confusion redirected towards that loss.

It brought your knees came up reflexively.

“Hey, carrot cake!” You spat.

“Wha-?” It was enough to break Mikey’s concentration for a split second.

“GET LOST!!!” You roared and kicked out as hard as you could. The pack seemed to sense your movements and stopped its onslaught to add to the force. Your shoes connected with the turtle’s rock hard plastron in a way that seemed to immediately shatter your feet, but the combined strength sent him tumbling over the edge of the building with a shout.

“Leave! Leave! Leave! Fast!” You pleaded.

The pack complied.

As if leaping after him, you shot over the edge and bit down onto your lip until it bled. Gravity caught your throat as you dropped to a cacophony of sound. It took you a second to register that it sounding like a rushed assembly line before you suddenly stopped falling. Blinking down at the dirty sidewalk and lack of orange opponent, you hovered in place for only a moment before shooting straight upward like a rocket. The stars skewed until slowly the whipping speed edged off. Nervously opening your eyes, you saw only the cosmos before Earth reached back for its inhabitant. You fell down below the building line before the flight pattern shifted to a straight one. This time the wind proved to be too intense and it took all your strength just to keep your mouth closed. Taking far too sharp of a sudden left, you gagged. As if spurned on by the sound, you began to rock violently side to side as dozens of rapid turns were taken. You sort of began to register that it was probably to shake Mikey when you dropped like a stone.

Tearing your lip more, a counterbalance only activated right before you hit the ground. Your body shook with empty sobs as the momentary pause only preceded another round of mechanical construction. The arms reappeared and started to arrange trash near a dumpster. You sat feeling very much like a baby strapped to someone’s chest until you were pulled into a hovel of its own creation. The weight of the rig dissipated as the arms seemingly disappeared. You were left with what was essentially a steel backpack and a pile of trash. Above you, a bit of cardboard provided cover and, to your immediate right, the dumpster sat as a solid surface. Sinking against the cool, dirty metal, the tears finally came.

Streaking your cheeks, you curled in on yourself and tried to become as small as possible. The little hole afforded you additional quiet and for a long time you just waited out your shaking nerves. It took long after your tears had tried up before you were left with only the dull ache of the many bruises littering your body. Otherwise numb, you went to extract yourself from the trash when you found you couldn’t move. Alarm hit you before reason and you tugged violently as the pack appeared to be stuck on something. Growling out of frustration, your eyes burned with the lack of fluid before your wrist started to buzz violently.

Stopping out of sheer confusion, you sank back to the ground to stare at it.

There was no light, but it continued to vibrate angrily at you until it seemed to notice your staring. It then switched over to a very specific pinging that you could only guess was Morse code.

“I’m sorry…” Your voice sounded shattered. “I don’t understand...”

The bracelet halted for a moment before giving one last one ping that struck you as sad.

“Do… you understand me…?”

It started back up again.

“I don’t...!” it stopped and your exhausted mind finally provided something useful. “Yes or no questions, one buzz for yes and two for no?”

A single quick vibration.

“You understand me?”

Buzz.

You lowered your lids and wished with every fiber of your being. “…Donnie?”

Buzz. Buzz.

You went slack.

The bracelet sat patiently as you regrouped.

When you came too, you felt like you had nothing more to give. “I can’t ask who you are… What you are?”

Buzz.

“Yes. What you are?” You trailed off and thought. “Have I met you before?”

That seemed impossible, but it was as good a starting point as any.

Buzz.

For a second you waited for the inevitable second vibration, but it didn’t come.

“Wait, what?”

No response.

“Ugh, right. Stupid.” You shook your head. “I’ve met you before?” 

Buzz.

“Like formally?”

Had you met any of Donnie’s acquaintances?

Did Donnie have those?

Did he know anyone?

Three turtles flashed in your mind.

Buzz. Buzz.

“No, we haven’t met.” Leaning against the pack, you stewed.

All you knew of Donnie’s was his tech, but only B.E.D.F.A.S.T. had moved on its own.

There were no stupid questions at this point.

You were stuck after all.

“Are you B.E.D.F.A.S.T.?”

Buzz. Buzz.

You looked down in confusion. It was just vibrations, but that sure seemed like a bitter response.

What else was there?

Cycling through your memories with Donnie left an empty feeling in your chest.

You had no idea where he was or if he was even alright.

He’d taken two of those arms turtles on with what looked like a stick.

They’re weapons were way sharper in contrast.

The third one hadn’t found you yet, so there was a very real chance he’d returned.

That was, if there was even a battle still going.

Shuddering, you remembered your phone and immediately went to retrieve it.

You found all your pockets empty and groaned loudly.

Of course being flung around like a rag doll had thrown your possessions away.

You grumbled angrily and wished you had just been let up to Donnie’s apartment at the start of the night.

Maybe that extra time would have prevented the ill fated meeting.

You blinked.

“Are you the door… robot?”

…Buzz.

It almost seemed disgruntled.

“Do you not like being called a robot?”

Buzz.

“I’m sorry.” You softened. “I didn’t know.”

Quiet reigned for a moment.

“So.. you’re the door?”

Buzz. Buzz.

“No… More than the door?”

Buzz.

“Well, duh.” Shimmy against your pack, you looked out at the building across from you. “You’re obviously this device too.”

Buzz.

“I bet there’s more too, huh?”

Buzz.

“And yet we haven’t been introduced.”

Buzz.

“That seems unfair.”

Buzz.

This thing had personality.

It was enough to crack a small smile on your lips.

“Do you know if Donnie’s okay?”

…Buzz. …Buzz.

“Do you wish you did?”

Buzz.

“Do you worry about him?”

Buzz.

“Me too.”

You pulled your knees close and folded your arms over them so you could stare right at the bracelet. “I’m stuck waiting here, huh?”

Buzz.

“Am I waiting for something?”

Buzz.

“To be safe?”

…Buzz.

“A hesitant yes.”

Buzz.

A single chuckle came and with it came a stab to your ribs.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

It was less like a response and more of a warning. “Be careful?”

Buzz.

“Are you worried about me?”

Buzz.

“Do you have info on my condition?”

Buzz.

“Yeah, it hurts so I can’t imagine I’m doing great…”

There was a sound at the end of the alley and your muscles went taunt. It flooded you with more pain until you watched a rat scurry by across from you. You stuck your tongue out at it and relaxed with a wince.

“Where were we…?” You hummed. “Oh, yeah I’m waiting.”

Buzz.

“Almost to be safe…” You closed your eyes and saw Donnie. “Am I waiting for Donnie?”

Buzz!

That sounded extra peppy.

It was like it was excited you did a figured it out. “Will he come to get me?”

Your bracelet stayed still.

“Not a yes or a no…?” You licked your lip and tasted the wound there. “So a maybe or an I don’t know… Was it a maybe?”

Buzz. Buzz.

“You don’t know?”

Buzz.

“Does he know where we are?”

…Buzz.

You lowered your gaze to think. “Rephrase: he knows where we are, but you don’t know if he will come?”

Buzz.

“But I’m stuck here until he does?”

Buzz…

That one seemed sad.

“What if he doesn’t come-?”

You saw the three turtles all jumping him at once and shook the image away violently despite your body’s protest.

“If he never comes, am I just stuck here?”

Buzz. Buzz.

“No, so there’s another way to leave?”

Buzz.

“Okay…” You peaked out as much you could from under the cardboard. “When the sun comes up?”

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

“Woah little guy!”

The bracelet stilled.

“When the sun comes up I get to leave? Yes or no?”

Buzz.

“You get excited easily.”

Buzz.

“Me too, bud.”

You sunk against your arm until your cheek nearly butted up against the bracelet. You sat for awhile and let your thoughts drift. Nearly falling asleep, a bubbling thought said otherwise in the very real instance you had a concussion. Blinking and sitting up against the exhaustion, you looked down at the bracelet. “You still with me?”

Buzz.

“Thank you for protecting me.”

Your wrist was quiet.

You couldn’t let your new friend down.

“I bet you’re real good at 20 questions, huh?”

Buzz!

You played back and forth until the dryness of your mouth made your tongue swell. You swallowed hard on nothing and did another peak to find color barely tinting half the sky. You tried to get up, but the pack was remained locked. Sneering, you grouched to it and your bracelet seemed to sympathize. You wondered what in Donnie’s book registered as actual sunrise when a loud crash sounded all too close. Going deathly still, you felt the pack take on a weight as you imagined the arms manifest in silence. Making fists of your own and not ready to be another useless appendage to a sparring match, the cardboard was ripped off from above you. You launched forward and the pack followed suit only long enough for you to clothesline yourself.

You hacked as it dug into your pained ribs.

“There-!” A body crashed into you and you tried to fight against it. “I found you! Y/N! Wait-”

You had punched his jaw before you registered it was Donnie. Having had no fluid replenishment, your eyes burned yet again and you pulled your fists back only slightly. “Donnie?”

 “You have alarmingly accurate strikes.” Rolling his maw, you resisted the urge to crumble and instead searched him. He was hunched into you and looked to be in pain. If whatever it was had been enough to penetrate him then it must have been bad. Doing a second scan, you found his clothes only clung to him in long shreds. His hood was still intact, but the little mask had been pulled down.

You reached up carefully to his cheek.

He looked at your hand with an expression that rapidly deteriorated before he seemed to collapse into your touch.

Spurned by it, you shot forward and threw your arms around him.

He hissed in pain, but you didn’t let go.

He didn’t seem to want you to because he pulled you just as tightly to him.

It was your turn to blow air out from between your teeth.

Unlike you, he immediately retracted and did his own flurried scan. “What’s wrong?”

“Ribs… other… all of the above?” You were finding it harder and harder to breath.

He touched your shoulder and the pack mercifully fell away. You felt like you could catch some oxygen and leaned heavily into Donnie as you regained what you could.

“We need to get you to the cleaners.” Donnie touched your arm carefully.

“Bad time… to pick up… dry cleaning… Wouldn’t… you say?”

Why were you still wheezing?

“You’re not wrong. Can you walk?”

You nodded with uncertainty and tested a little step. Your body protested, but moved. Donnie took hold of your arm and lead. Stepping away from the dumpster, you saw the trash pile that had exploded from where you presumed he crashed and saw the trail of blood from there to you.  

“Donatello…”

He followed your gaze. “It’s mine, don’t worry.”

“That’s…!” You coughed, but pushed through. “…why… I’m worried!”

“Natural resilience, do you not remember?” Something seemed to occur to him. “I haven’t done even the most basic assessment. Damn it all.” He sighed heavily. “Do you have a headache or feel pressure?”

You swatted at him, but didn’t let go. “Both. What’s… at the… cleaners?”

He urged you to continue walking. “Doctor. Nausea or vomiting?”

“Not since…” You had a flash of what stabbed your wrist. “I think… this did… something?” You held up your bracelet.

“Pressure points. Balance problems are a yes. Are you dizzy?”

“Not really… Is it far?”

“Not from here. Programming accounts for strategic landings. Are you bothered by light and noise?”

“I mean… I was scared…” You thought back with a wince as you both made it out of the alley and onto a street in what looked like Chinatown. “Did… you get… hurt in… the crash?”

“My landing was less than ideal. Would you say you’re feeling sluggish, tired, or hazy?”

“W-wait.” You looked back toward the alley.

Donnie seemed to read your mind. “My shell will make it home on its own.”

“You’re… What?!” Before he could stop you, you pulled away to look behind him.

You shoulders dropped at the sight.

The back of his shirt was completely gone and you now knew exactly where the blood was coming from.

Seeping red, two long gashes ran diagonal across Donnie’s shell.

“Oh! Donnie…! Oh no…!” You reached out to it and he was in motion. He caught your wrist and his teeth snapped as he bit down just shy of your face.

“Don’t touch me.”

You shook from probably a hundred ailments at this point, but primarily shock.

Donnie seemed to remember himself and looked away.

“Twice… in one day. I’m a mess…” Self hatred flooded a dozen other emotions.

“Let’s hurry.” He redirected both the conversation and you.

You followed and kept your head down as he navigated streets with little foot traffic even when accounting for dawn. Light filtered in here and there, but the chill between buildings cast a cold bluish light. When you arrived at the designated building, it indeed looked like a dry cleaners though the sign was not in English. The windows themselves were covered by shutters and you resisted the urge to look toward Donnie as he seemed to do something. Grunting and groping, he only sort of registered that he had reached high along the screen before he hit something that made a thick clunky sound. He came down with a bitter seethe and stewed beside you until there was commotion inside.

With several shouts that didn’t make sense to your ears, there was the clear sound of a door with a bell opening before the shutter lifted. A man in his early twenties stood there with messy hair and baggy clothes that clearly indicated he had been asleep. He groggily looked over Donnie and you before giving a half wave within a turn. In your periphery, you saw Donnie nod to you before he continued to lead you inside. The smell of starch hit your nose as you watched the young man head through an arch behind the counter. Following, you all ducked through the carousel of clothes before passing through a seamstress area. Several presses and sewing machines had various work laid about. You tried not to look around as your chest burned with each inhale.

Through a washing and steaming area the humidity shot high before dropping suddenly as the next door felt like a cold storage. Losing track of doorways, you then moved into a what felt like a subspace that had been repurposed into a living situation. There was a half made bed there that you felt must belong to the young man as right about it was a large box that had wires on it heading back towards the entrance. It pegged you as some kind of alarm and your eye lingered on it when you were stopped by a door that did not immediately open. The man gave an odd rhythmic knock before spinning right around and giving a lazy nod before dropping right into his bed.

You passed him half a glance as the entry opened.

An older woman stood there and adjusted her glasses. “Othello Von Ryan.”

Donnie lowered his head.

Despite really wanting to stare Donnie down at that exact moment, you followed suit.

“Curious for you to bring another.”

“They need a scan and I require stitches. Your usual price plus a fee for bothering you at such an hour?”

She waved languidly to both dismiss both his words and as a signal to follow her as she turned around. “I always get up before the sun. I’ve only had my first cup; you will brew the next pot of tea.”

She departed and Donnie tried to follow, but you tugged your tether.

He turned towards you with a steely expression.

You mouthed one thing. ‘Othello?’

Breaking through stiff features, he seemed repulsed. With a bitter aura, he came in a little closer to whisper. “A pseudonym from a bygone era.”

You gave him a dry eye before moving to lead. He followed close as you stepped through to find the next room an odd combination of a kitchen and a doctor’s office. An exam table sat on one end while a stove and sink sat on the other. Beside the uncomfortable bench was a long armed light attached to a mobile table with many sealed implements on it.

Donnie gave your hand a squeeze before he released you. He then moved over to the little kitchen and seemingly dove straight into making tea.

The old woman looked him over for a long moment before gesturing to you. “What shall I call you?”

You opened your mouth to respond, but Donnie cut you off. “Anonymity fee.”

The woman clicked her tongue loudly. “He is reliable in his payment, but he has never had a favorable demeanor.”

You weren’t sure if that was meant to be a joke as you approached her. She motioned for you to sit on the exam table and you did. “Bruised ribs, concussion, and whiplash.”

“Scan.” Donnie reminded her with half a grumble as he reached up into a cabinet with his own seething sting.

“What did he do to you?” The woman adjusted her glasses and for a moment you could have sworn her eyes were yellow with a black slitted pupil.

“This was not my doing.” Donnie had fully turned around and was oozing rage. “You can thank the bastard’s three.”

The woman was unmoved. “The damage would be quite different if it were all of them.” She turned to you. “It’s not exact enough. This has to be a combination of something else and Michelangelo.” She moved over to the cart and wheeled it to your side.

The eeriness of how she placed it was immediately drowned out by the name off her lips.

You snapped to surprised attention while pain radiated from your neck and acidic flecks burned the edges of your vision.

“I am correct.” The woman hummed and adjusted the lamp.

Donnie stared with wide eyes before indignantly turning around.

You watched the woman readjust her glasses before she brought the lamp right above your head.

“You will feel a rush.”

“A…rush?”

She only nodded as she clicked the lamp on.

On contact, a flush of heat that started at your head and sped down to your feet. “W-wait… shouldn’t…. you cover… up?”

The woman ignored your question in favor of staring.

Confused, you looked down to find any part of you in the light was nice see-through. Your veins were clearly visible and you brought your hand up blankly. “Uh…!?”

“No internal bleeding. The bruising is extensive. There must have been some sort of protection?”

“All settings.”

The woman turned around to give Donnie a squinted look before moving back to the switch for the lamp. She clicked it and it turned over so that your bones were now visible.

You put your hand down and tried not to think about it too hard.

Three more setting were clicked through and the last two left you too wary to see what they revealed.

The woman hummed something to herself before joining Donnie in the kitchen. She reached into the cabinet as he boiled water before returning to you. “Apply this.” She held up a green bottle that had a flask-like shape. “To your neck and joints multiple times a day for the muscle ache.” She made you take it before she would hold up the next product. “This needs to be slathered on your ribs and wrapped. It will help you breath while you heal.” The old woman turned to Donnie with sudden scorn pouring off of her. “May I do that much or will you interfere with my job further, Othello?”

Donnie’s snout crinkled as he poured water into a cup. “Whatever you see I am paying you to forget.”

She clicked her tongue so loudly that she ended up sucking air through her teeth. “Terrible, terrible attitude.” She softened as she returned to you. “Let’s get that shirt off. Cut or stay intact?”

You tried to open your mouth, but Donnie approached. “I’ll help.”

“You’re… being a… dick.”

The old woman’s brows shot high and panic snuck onto Donnie’s face. He turned towards the woman who broke her façade to give a little laugh. “I see why you’ve brought the human now.”  

“You see nothing.” Donnie frothed.

She rolled her eyes at him, but relented to take his place in the kitchen. You glared at Donnie openly and he ignored you to take your hands. You pulled them away and he made a noise of displeasure. Spurned by irritation, you brought your arms up as if it didn’t feel like tearing your lungs by doing so. He hesitated for only a moment before grabbed your hem and carefully pulled your shirt off. He barely got away from you when his inhale alone told you how bad it looked. Looking down in spite of that, you grimaced at the deep dark purple and yellow blotting. Your whole demeanor tanked and you did nothing as Donnie unhooked your bra with great care. You sat lifelessly as he maneuvered it off of you before stepping back with it and your shirt on his person.

The old woman took a long loud sip from her cup.

Donnie glowered.

She only nodded and brought her tea with her as she returned to you. Donnie hovered nearby as she set the cup on the instrument table. “Besides timely payment, I let him return because he knows how to make a decent cup. My useless nephew scalds the tea.”

You nodded hollowly and straightened as she uncapped a tub of medicine. With gloves, she then proceeded to layer on a pungent amount of goo that had the texture of petroleum jelly over your body. You watched Donnie bring your clothes up to his nose and you couldn’t imagine how bad it must have smelled to him since it was already burning your nose hairs. Once you were thoroughly coated, the woman then retrieved gauze and bandages from a lower shelf on the cart. She wrapped you up like a mummy and, though it made you lightheaded, you could immediately tell how much easier it had become to breath.  

“You’ll apply this.” The woman shook the green bottle you had lost track of once Donnie got your shirt back on. You nodded and got the hint that the table was needed for her other patient. Slowly creeping down, you hobbled over to lean against the kitchen cabinets as Donnie hopped up. He didn’t wait for the woman and you were slow to uncork the bottle as you watched him open up a bag of surgical scissors and began to cut what was left of his top. You looked away only long enough to squirt some of the loose liquid into your hand before slapping it onto your neck like aftershave. Eucalyptus mixed with the other scents you couldn’t identify and your head felt light.

Leaning against the counter, you saw the last vestiges of Donnie’s shirt fall away. The old woman had adjusted the exam table to lay flat and was coming towards you with a bottle of soap. You readied to move out of the way when you caught Donnie turning.

You slowed wondering if you’d get a full view of Donnie’s shell.

“Get out.”

You hadn’t expected to find him openly glaring at you.

You bristled. “You seriously want to say it like that?”

“Now.” He barley pulled the punch in his voice.

You hated the way your lip quivered as you pivoted to leave. The door closed slowly and you heard a resounding slap followed by irate growling in a language you didn’t understand. With a shut, the sounds disappeared and soundproofing made a useless sort of sense to you. Swirling with hurt and exhaustion, you looked to find the nephew sound asleep. You passed him a glance before finding a crate to sit on. Staring listlessly at the hands in your lap, you caught sight of your bracelet.

“Are…” You looked up at the nephew before bringing your voice down. “…you still there?”

Buzz.

With the wraps, bending was out of the question so you brought your hand up. You touched the device to your forehead to convey your affection despite not knowing if it could even tell.

“Does Donnie know what we talk about?”

…Buzz.

You gave a dry wheeze.

That figured.

“Is there any way around that?”

Buzz.

You blinked.

Bringing your hand down you stared as if the black band could explain. It held no hints and you tried to think of computer terms for such a thing. It hit you in a way that made your eyes close. “Bypass protocol D.A.R.?”

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

“Yes or no?” You gave an tired scold.

Buzz!

“So I just say it and we’re safe?”

…Buzz …Buzz

“More to it, great.” You didn’t have the energy for this. “Bypass protocol Dar?”

…Buzz …Buzz

“Dar… what even isn’t that? It’s not my name.”

Silence emanated from your band and you sat back to think. You returned with feeling very much like your brain was buoyed in the ocean of your head. “Does it stand for something?”

Buzz!

“Is it an acronym?”

Buzz. Buzz.

“It’s not?!” You looked down at the bracelet incredulously.

Buzz. Buzz.

A shot in the, “Dark?”

Buzz. Buzz.

You groaned. “I can’t… go through the dictionary right now. Is there any way to temporarily keep him from knowing?”

The silence was particularly loud.

“Maybe?”

Buzz!

“Ugh, great, but what do I do!?”

Your bracelet started buzzing wildly with Morse code.

“Ah, stop! I don’t understand, remember?”

“Ugh!” A pillow flew passed your head and you stiffened. “It keeps saying ‘don’t give me back!’ Now shut the fuck up!!” The nephew slurred angrily.

The bracelet with quiet and you stared openly as the young man rolled back over in his bed before pulling his covers over head.

“Can… I ask one more question?” You tilted your head at the man.

“If you say one more word I will break your stupid jewelry.”

You gave a defeated nod.

Guess ‘Dar’ would have to wait.

You removed the bracelet and tucked it into your pocket.

-

You were dozing from where you’d propped the crate up by a wall when the door opened. You stirred as Donnie came out looking worse for wear in a mess of bandages and reeking of a totally different balm than you. He looked like he might pass out when he caught your eye and tried to assemble some kind of stoic face.

It wasn’t the least bit convincing.  

It shifted and you weren’t sure if it was meant to be apologetic, but there was a injured quality to him that was far more than psychical. He passed you heading towards the next door when the old woman followed in full surgical gear. She popped her gloves off and into a nearby trash can. You stared blankly at the rust colored streaks of dried blood on her. She shook a plastic bag and you moved your gaze to find she had a ton of what looked like bandages, boxes, and various medicinal tubs packed for you. You took it with a little bow and she leaned in close. “I have known Othello for many years. He is deeply mortified by the thought of looking weak. I imagine that extends to you: the one that is special to him. Give him hell until he apologizes by begging at your toes.”

Donnie turned around in a delirious glare that didn’t land on anyone in particular.

“Thank you for your help.” You bowed deeply to the woman.

“Get plenty of rest, dear.” She nodded before chucking her mask at her nephew and screaming at him in another language.

Donnie opened the door and you quickly slipped through as a verbal fight ensued. The two of you made it back out the shop and Donnie was somehow able to lock the door as you exited. His car was waiting outside and you went right to it. Climbing in, Donnie followed closely and opened all the car windows. The drive home was in heavy silence, but currently gave very little shit about dealing with it. At his apartment building, the trek from the elevator to his floor was one of motions alone. You hit his door first and knew it would be open as you sensed a buzz from your hip. Donnie thankfully didn’t seem to catch it and was swaying as he trailed behind. You ended up backtracking behind him to carefully lead him in.

It was surprising how easily he complied.

He was in terrible shape.

Separating, you went to the kitchen and chugged two whole glasses of water before you brought Donnie his first. He had perched on the bed and appeared barely conscious as he sipped on it. He didn’t seem like he’d fall at least so you left him to get a third for yourself. When you returned he’d just finished one and you ignored your body’s whine as you went to get him another. Now wanting to keep making trips, you brought 4 full glasses with you in a bunch and left 3 on Donnie’s nightstand. You then set the other two on yours before backtracking to Donnie.

You watched him fight against his lids and leaned down to look him in the eye.

He met it with a slither of his pupil and your frown twisted as you wished to find something wholesome to cap the night off with.

He gave a beaten sigh and reached up a fist to rub a circle on his chest.

You’d seen that before, but you still didn’t know what it meant other than something akin to remorse.

It would be enough for now.

You gave a single nod before collapsing into your side of the bed.

Donnie followed closely after a difficult maneuver onto his stomach.

His shell protruded with a thick wall of gauze and bandages.

You stared at it until your lids drew lower and lower until the curtain fell.

NEXT

#rottmnt #rottmnt donnie x reader #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt x reader #donatello hamato #donnie x reader #rise donnie #rise leo #rise donnie x reader #rottmnt donatello #rottmnt donnie #me #fanfiction #my fanfiction #weakspotfic

[jovialdeermentality]

E- learning campaign | E-Learning PPC Agency

In today's digital age, education has transcended traditional boundaries, with the emergence of online platforms revolutionizing the way students learn. E-learning campaigns have become instrumental in promoting online education, offering a new approach to educate students worldwide.

Understanding E-Learning Campaigns

E-learning campaigns are strategic initiatives aimed at promoting online learning platforms and courses to a targeted audience. These campaigns leverage various marketing channels to increase awareness, engagement, and enrollment in e-learning programs.

The Role of E-Learning PPC Agencies

E-Learning PPC agencies specialize in utilizing pay-per-click advertising to promote e-learning courses. These agencies employ targeted advertising strategies to reach potential learners and drive conversions, ultimately maximizing the return on investment for e-learning providers.

Exploring the Best E-Learning Campaigns

In recent years, a number of e-learning advertising strategies, such as Google Ads and 7Search PPC, have shown impressive performance. Leading online course platforms, for example, have run campaigns that successfully addressed urgent educational requirements and targeted certain groups, resulting in notable enrollment and user engagement figures.

Effective Strategies for E-Learning Ad Campaigns

Crafting compelling ad content is crucial for the success of e-learning ads. By understanding the target audience's motivations and pain points, advertisers can create ads that resonate with potential learners, driving higher click-through rates and conversions.

Utilizing PPC for E-Learning Promotion

PPC advertising offers e-learning providers a cost-effective way to reach their target audience and generate leads. By carefully selecting keywords, optimizing ad copy, and monitoring campaign performance, advertisers can maximize their PPC investment and achieve their marketing objectives.

Harnessing Social Media for E-Learning Promotion

Social media platforms have become powerful channels for promoting e-learning initiatives, thanks to their vast user base and advanced targeting capabilities. Online learning campaigns can leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter to reach specific demographics, engage with potential learners through compelling content, and drive traffic to e-learning websites or landing pages.

Empowering Learners Through Community Engagement

Community engagement plays a crucial role in the success of E-learning PPC campaigns, fostering a sense of belonging and collaboration among learners. E-learning providers can create online communities where learners can interact, share knowledge, and support each other's learning journey. By nurturing a vibrant community atmosphere, e-learning platforms can increase user engagement and retention, ultimately contributing to the success of e-learning PPC campaigns.

Addressing Accessibility and Inclusivity in E-Learning

E-learning initiatives must take accessibility and inclusivity into account to guarantee that educational materials are available to students of all backgrounds and skill levels. To make their material more accessible to a wider range of consumers, e-learning providers can incorporate features like language translation, screen reader compatibility, and closed captioning. E-learning initiatives that prioritise accessibility can reach a larger audience and improve the lives of learners.

Navigating Regulatory and Compliance Challenges

Regulation and compliance issues might arise for e-learning programmes, especially in highly regulated sectors like banking and healthcare. It is imperative for advertisers to guarantee that their e-learning campaigns adhere to pertinent rules and regulations, including those pertaining to data protection and industry requirements for educational material. E-learning providers may reduce risks and gain the audience's trust by being knowledgeable and collaborating closely with legal professionals.

Enhancing Engagement Through Interactive Learning Experiences

Throughout their e-learning journey, learners must remain motivated and engaged through interactive learning experiences. To make learning more interactive and fun, e-learning campaigns might include gamification components, tests, simulations, and virtual laboratories. E-learning platforms may boost student happiness and retention, which in turn drives the effectiveness of e-learning advertisements, by providing chances for experiential learning and incentives for accomplishment.

Measuring Success in E-Learning Campaigns

It is important to monitor critical performance metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per acquisition when assessing the efficacy of online learning initiatives. By using analytics tools, marketers may gain insightful knowledge about the effectiveness of their campaigns and adjust their tactics based on data-driven decisions.

Challenges and Solutions

Campaigns may encounter difficulties despite their efficacy, including fierce competition, ad weariness, and changing customer preferences. However, advertising may overcome these obstacles and promote long-term success by keeping abreast of market changes, using novel tactics, and retaining a focus on providing value to learners.

The Future of E-Learning Advertising

As technology continues to evolve, the future of e-learning advertising holds immense potential. Innovations such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence are poised to transform the e-learning landscape, offering new opportunities for engagement and personalization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, E-learning PPC campaigns represent a dynamic and effective approach to promoting online education. By leveraging the expertise of PPC agencies, adopting creative strategies, and embracing emerging technologies, advertisers can effectively reach and engage learners, ultimately shaping the future of education.

FAQs

Q1- What is the difference between e-learning and traditional education?

Ans- E-learning refers to the delivery of education and training through digital platforms, whereas traditional education typically involves face-to-face instruction in a physical classroom setting.

Q2- How can I choose the right PPC agency for my e-learning campaign?

Ans- When selecting a PPC agency, consider their experience in the e-learning industry, track record of success, and approach to campaign management. Additionally, request case studies and client testimonials to assess their capabilities.

Q3- What are some creative ways to engage students through e-learning ads?

Ans- Some creative strategies for engaging students include interactive ad formats, gamification elements, personalized messaging, and storytelling. By creating memorable and immersive experiences, e-learning ads can capture the attention of learners and drive engagement.

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[rlxtechoff]

#IFTTT #Blogger

[apixrl]

IT'S YOU.

hanta sero x fem!reader

WARNING(S): slight angst. mostly arguing / tension but fluff towards the end.

word count: 5.3k

song: it's you // gavriel

note(s): if u stan him ur immediately just so hot and sexc and if not ur just really stinky sorry not sorry

italian translation - translator !!

The heavy pouring rain waged war against your once dry and stylish jacket. The piece of clothing now resorted to an added weight as you strode forth to reach your apartment complex. Luckily you were only a street away, your hurried walk turning into a legitimate jog when the storeyed building came into sight. It was Friday night, meaning the day you worked overtime for the sake of earning a little extra as well as filling in for a coworker. Most of the day the weather had been miserable, the sky maintaining a mundane and drilling grey cloudy sketch that slowly collected into rain. Luckily your morning walk to work hadn't been affected by the downfall but the weather had chosen to stick around for your walk home.

Your jacket glued itself to your frame as its capability to keep you dry fleetly decreased, the hoodie underneath beginning to dampen ever so faintly too. Your pants were already taken to the rain, answering its call by absorbing the water into the fabric and making them exceptionally uncomfortable to wear. The pair of shoes on your feet struggled to bind together as they countlessly stepped in puddle after puddle, wearing and tearing with every step you took.

Cars passed by, tires causing gushes of water to hit the pavement. The street lamps did nothing to show your presence as they sped by, your body growing damper from the droplets of water hitting you. You briefly scolded the inconsiderate drivers in your head, eyes glancing ahead to meet an approaching individual. They were most likely a neighbour but given the darkness surrounding you weren't entirely sure, ultimately deciding to keep your head down and not draw attention to yourself.

In truth, this wasn't the only reason.

During the last week and a half, your want to socialise was relatively low, finding a lot of your spare time spent at home and in your own company. The separation from society was healthy for your recently plagued mind, spending afternoons finding all kinds of homely leisure to pass the hours by. It felt much more wholesome and enjoyable to endeavour in a story from your bookshelf or writing poetry in your journal straight from the heart rather than sitting aimlessly on your phone. Simply scrolling through social media to bore the day away.

Why the sudden stray from society to your own little world? Well... sometimes having a popular Pro Hero as a boyfriend came with its cons. Especially when hardships came between. As of the Tuesday approaching, it would be your ten-month anniversary with your partner - Hanta. Or what he was better known as; Taping Hero: Cellophane.

Yours and his meet was rather mundane truth be told. What started as a journey to purchase a recently released volume of one of Hanta's favourite manga comics took a drastic turn and became something much more meaningful. He caught you grabbing the final copy available, smoothly swooping in to attempt to charm you into giving him the comic (the ravenette had been to about five stores before that during patrol - a rather lousy thing to do but he justified his actions with lack of spare time). However, he walked out with a date two nights later instead, finding himself be moved by your own charms and attraction that Hanta urged himself to ask and not miss the chance.

From there, things were taken slow. His social status was shared pretty quickly, faster than Hanta felt comfortable with - liking the idea of you liking him for who he was over his fame and wealth. It didn't affect your perspective of the ravenette, since you had already fallen for him before such information could be told. It took a month before you officially became boyfriend and girlfriend, and life couldn't have been better for the pair of you. For the most part, your relationship was perfectly stable and as healthy as you could make it. But unfortunately, all good things must come with a cost.

See, one thing you were to learn with growing closer to Hanta was he kept his personal life extremely separate from his heroic persona. Such a statement was made very clear before you brought your relationship to the next level since the ravenette requested that if you were to become lovers that he would want it to remain private. So he could feel he had a somewhat normal life outside of his duties as a hero. Whilst becoming a Pro was his dream and the man loved his job, Hanta was also a sucker for peace and quiet too. Having that metaphorical and literal balance in his life granted him inner peace, and as his partner, you respected that.

At least at first, since you didn't think you would reach ten months together and still be hiding behind sunglasses whenever the pair of you wanted to see a movie.

You couldn't lie, it was endearingly sweet Hanta felt that way, partly anyway. The fact he cherished your love and relationship so close to his heart that it was only shared between you two. But your irrationality couldn't help but make you wonder how in a concerning way, Hanta's desire to keep you from his greatest achievement in life (becoming a top ten pro) almost felt like he was hiding you... like he didn't want you a part of it. And once that thought struck you as the ravenette rested peacefully beside you one night, it didn't shy away anytime soon. Given the fact you had spoken briefly about making yourselves public in the past with little to no issue, you didn't think you would cause harm by bringing it up again. But it seemed your choice of when to bring it up was poor, as it most certainly did not run smoothly between you.

Something about his day had irritated Hanta, and so you pinning such focus on the subject seemed to pass him over his limit. There were a few snaps here and there, which you didn't necessarily appreciate, and Hanta's lack of enthusiasm and care for your request made you all the more upset. So weighted emotions matched with the evident disagreement surely lead to Hanta storming out of your apartment with such a slam to the door you wouldn't have expressed shock if your neighbour's stepped out in the hall to see the chaos ensuing.

That was nine days ago, and so far neither of you had seen nor spoken to the other. You'd made attempts to contact him since then, attempts you knew before you tried would come out unsuccessful. But from observation, Hanta was surprisingly a complete mess when it came to emotions based on negativity. Whenever the ravenette grew angry or agitated he became a closed book, so hard for you to read that the only thing you learned that worked was to give him space. To let him get through his upset alone since he never seemed to allow for outer help and comfort to assist. Which you despised because you wanted to help him through his troubles. To be there as the big spoon or to be the shoulder to cry on. But stupid male pride got in the way, Hanta building a wall so high and thick between him, his emotions and you that truth be told you had no idea how to push through.

So you resorted to letting him get over it in his own time, knowing deep down he would come around eventually. It wasn't the first quarrel you'd had and hopefully not the worst, and you knew this was Hanta's way of dealing with it. Whilst you had been willing to wait it out, you placed that thought in your head thinking it to be only two or three days before Hanta made some sort of effort.

But it was nine. And that was beginning to concern you greatly.

You finally reached the stairs leading up to your apartment building, the relief flowing through your system so freeing and wonderous. All that was left was to type in the passcode by the main doors and you would be merrily under shelter, able to kick off your trainers and slip into some comfy sweats. Perhaps even make yourself a warm cup of cocoa and watch an episode of a show you needed to catch up on before the sweet release of sleep. Or so you thought it was going to go.

Twenty minutes later and your thumb grazed lightly over your phone's home screen, imaginatively stroking the black hair of a certain boy you loved dear as he smiled cross-eyed back at you. The photo was taken when Hanta took you ice skating in the countryside during the winter which previously passed. He discovered a secluded location hiding a spacious lake that had been glazed with thick, sturdy ice. After numerous times of losing your balance, Hanta deemed it amusing to take a photo with you as you sat on your backside in defeat. And whilst it did humiliate you, you adored Hanta's goofy looking face in the photo. Hence why it was your background.

You'd found yourself staring at the photo the night prior too, contemplating whether to try to call again or not. What if something was wrong? What if Hanta was injured and somewhere under repair at one of the numerous hospitals in the city? God... what if the doofus finally slung himself across the city as crazily as that Western hero he never shut up about and fell to his death? And your setback from social media was the reason you hadn't found out yet? See! This was a reason why you wanted to go public! At least in an emergency, somebody would know who to contact!

Your brows crinkled at that final thought, what began as concern moving back a step to annoyance and you settled on tossing your phone behind you on your bed in defeat. Proceeding to stand upright, you tugged the oversized hoodie (Hanta's hoodie not to mention) on your person and wandered through the rooms of your apartment to your kitchen. Where the bubbling of your kettle boiling water filtered your ears. The low hum calmed you as you leaned against the counter in thought, arms crossed over your chest and your eyes focused deeply beyond the wooden flooring.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The noise went unheard at first, so occupied in your head you mistook the sound for the kettle boiling. But when the triple trill sounded again, it dawned on you that that was most certainly not how a kettle was supposed to sound. Snapping out of your focus, your head lifted to the kettle before it scanned the room around you. Nothing seemed different at all, and nothing inside your apartment had a reason to make such a sound.

Unless you had rats... then maybe that would make sense.

Please don't be rats.

Having no initial success, you blankly went back to your thoughtful state - the kettle finally boiling. Permitting you to fill the lavender painted mug that waited impatiently on the side, four heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder begging for hydration inside. Now actually having something to do you hoisted yourself off of the counter, stepping to the one opposite to do the task at hand. But then just as you were going to pour the heated water...

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

This time it was more rushed and heightened, holding a lack of patience to a certain extent. It was there you finally trailed your eyes left, right and centre, your E/C irises landing on the french doors past your sofa which lead to your balcony. Doing as much as possible to downplay your panic by putting on a brave face, you manoeuvred from your perch in the kitchen and headed for the doors to glance outside. Thankfully the light on the balcony was switched on, giving you a glimpse of silhouettes to the arrangement of the outdoor area. At first, nothing seemed different at all. Just the usual setting your balcony always had. A few potted plants and a small sakura blossom which you'd been growing from the seed, as well as a glass table and four chairs. Not to mention the closed up umbrella and pole reaching for the stars above too. But looking over your observations, something went amiss. Since when did you have five chairs?

Squinting your eyes in a struggle to focus better, they were only set to widen as it hit you what you could see. There, perched on your balcony in a squatting position was a person... balancing perfectly on the thin pole as their head leaned forwards to occasionally peer inside the glass doors. It took a second or two for you to figure out what was going on. But the moment you recalled the fact you had a boyfriend with the ability to swing from rooftop to rooftop, your heart both plummeted to your feet and leapt to the heavens above simultaneously.

After realising what was happening, you moved to the lock of the glass doors and grabbed hold. That movement seemed to indicate shifting on the exterior because the person on the other side stood upright and casually stepped off the railing as though it were a stair. You swallowed thickly, clamping down on the inside of your cheek in worry that you could not see his face. Unfortunate for your nerves since at least then you could gain some form of presumption to what his expression read. So walking in blind, you unlocked the door and jiggled it open, the glass door sliding to the side easily. Quickly did the silent walls of your apartment be filled to the brim with the heavy downpour of rain and distant car horns in the distance. As well as the overhanging state of tension in the air as your eyes trailed up the slender frame of your visitor and meeting the ebony eyes you'd been missing for far too long now.

"What... what are you doing here?" You uttered out after a long twenty seconds passed. Upon opening the door no words were said, only the longing gaze of two conflicted lovers. Hanta stood before you with a discouraged expression, lips tightly pursed together with no catchphrase toothy grin to show. He was donning his hero costume, though his helmet appeared to be missing for reasons you didn't know why. But it didn't help Hanta one bit since his black locks were laced with the heavy downpour from above. You imagined his hero costume was drenched as well, damp spandex sounding all too discomforting in your head as you used it as a focus to ease the nerves you felt to the sudden visit.

"Hey," Hanta finally said after what felt like a millennium. What were his usual cheerful tones came out low and unsure, like the ravenette hadn't come prepared and was relying on other factors to push himself forward. With sunken brows and a clear of his throat, Hanta continued as he lifted his eyes to meet yours. "Can I come in?"

"Oh... right, sure," You stated blankly and stepped back for him to do so. At first, you wanted to ask him why he decided to come to your balcony of all things, but the look in his eyes had convinced you to wait for that chance. There was just something about those gorgeous orbs of ebony you couldn't say no to - conflict or not. Luckily your apartment flooring was hard, meaning any water from Hanta's shoes (or soles as his costume didn't use shoes) could be mopped up and dealt with later. Not that you were thinking about that at all. Your mind was too focused on processing what was going on.

"I was in the neighbourhood and you know that my tape is crap in rain so... I didn't know where else to crash," Hanta started once inside your apartment. He nervously laughed as though to ease inner feelings, hands meeting his hips in a lost attempt to make conversation. It was mainly due to the fact you hadn't properly greeted him, sort of dawdling between him and the sofa. You looked Hanta up and down and sighed, seeing how soaked he was.

"Here... slip this on," You lifted your hands over your head to tug the hoodie off, holding it out for Hanta to take. It was his anyway, and it would be a lie to say you weren't wearing it for his scent. Underneath the hoodie, you donned a simple black tank top you tended to wear during your morning jogs or times of exercise. The ravenette took it reluctantly, initiating you to head for your bedroom. "I'll go grab you some pants too. And a towel for your hair,"

"Oh... okay then," Hanta was genuinely astonished by the hospitality, watching you disappear down the hall. As you grabbed the aforementioned items, he began to remove the top half of his hero costume. It was true that Hanta loved his hero costume very much but when it came to the rain he wanted nothing more than to change the design completely. The spandex soaked up the rain and it took hours to drip out, not only dampening him but also multiplying its weight much more than double its usual. With his tape dispenser shoulder pads placed on the floor, Hanta stripped himself of his top half. Sighing when he discovered the rain had seeped through and dampened his skin. Luckily you entered the room shortly after, carrying some grey sweats of Hanta's and a freshly cleaned towel.

"So... is there any other reason you decided to scare the crap out of me on my balcony?" You questioned flatly, a hand on your hip as you held the towel out for Hanta, placing the sweats on the sofa cushion next to him. He mumbled a quick thanks, promptly starting to dry his upper half.

"Well yeah," The ravenette stopped momentarily to glance your way, ebony eyes finding you back at the countertop in the kitchen where you resumed the task of making cocoa. Hanta quickly expressed a sigh. "W-We gotta talk,"

"About?" You asked innocently, though you were fully aware of what was being implied. Chewing the inside of your cheek as you did your best not to make eye contact, Hanta furrowed his brows at you.

"I think you know,"

"Well, are we starting afresh or picking up where we left off? The moment you decided to storm out of here and slam the door shut?" You spoke in a passive-aggressive manner because truth be told, you didn't appreciate Hanta's way of handling your last discussion at all. So you were certainly planning on letting him know. Speaking of which, Hanta was now scrubbing his raven locks dry as his eyes closed in response. Almost like he expected you to react in such a manner. Though he refrained from biting back, knowing that would only make it worse. Not his aim for visiting.

"Starting afresh,"

"Okay then," Was all you said, stirring your spoon and tapping it quite obnoxiously on the side of the mug before dropping it into the kitchen sink. Then you moved to the fridge to grab yourself some squirty cream. The can practically empty, it reminded you how badly you needed to go grocery shopping the next day. As for a reply, from across the room, you could only see the essence of hesitance. Either from Hanta figuring where to go from that or ultimate regret for even coming. Your bets were on both.

"Look Y/N -," The ravenette began, relatively quick to dry the rest of himself off and to put on the remaining clothes. Just as he was prepared to skirt over to your side, his actions ceased upon seeing you setting yourself down on the armchair opposite. Hanta had a moment where he didn't move, unsure what to do before he resorted to sitting down on the sofa. Feeling it the only safe thing to do. "I don't want problems between us. It's the last thing I want, okay?"

"I um... okay," You said, fingertips tapping lightly against the ceramic mug filled to the brim with whipped cream and cocoa. Hanta met your gaze for a split second, hands proceeding to fiddle with the other much more prominently.

"But... I want you to know that I've been thinking about it and well... I guess if it'll make you happy, I'm willing to do it and go public," Hanta spoke through a sigh. Peculiar, because a week ago you would have probably broken into a bright smile and jumped straight into the ravenette's arms then and there. Yet, you remained in your seat and mouthed a small oh of... disappointment was it? Whilst you weren't certain what it was, it most definitely felt like that. Which was odd because the words Hanta had just uttered were the ones you had been waiting to hear for months now.

Funnily enough, it didn't take you long to figure out why. Because throughout the previous week and the lack of contact, that's exactly what had been the route of the problem. The way Hanta treated you during your last interaction and the lack of communication mixed with it. It wasn't the original issue anymore. Of course, you still wanted that. But you additionally craved a sense of closure for how you were treated.

"Hanta I...," Hanta's brows crinkled together in a frown, not shy to display his confusion to your hesitant tones.

"What? What is it? T-That's what you want right?" He replied.

"Yes, it's what I want. But that's not the issue anymore,"

"What do you mean? I'm not following...," His response made you scoff. Not exactly great for the situation at hand. You remained silent for a little bit longer, scratching the side of your head as you sat upright to elaborate.

"Hanta... you haven't texted or called me in over a week. You walked out of here after a fight and practically went radio silent!" Was your protest, watching as Hanta fell back against the sofa. Unbeknownst to you, there was another reason he did this. An inner conflict he had yet to unveil. A prolonged silence ensued as if Hanta was trying to find the correct words to say.

"Because I needed space Y/N... time to think!"

"Yeah well we both did... but even calling just to say that would have been reassuring," You weren't finished despite trailing off, Hanta seeming to notice by the way your lips were faintly parted. "I know you have a busy schedule but... but...," The thought entered your mind for a split moment, doing much more damage than intended.

"But what?"

"It doesn't matter. I-it's stupid," You tried to brush it off, suppressing the thought further down into your system so it wouldn't win you over. Hanta didn't seem to like that though, his head tilting your way with his eyes boring into your own. He could tell when something was bothering you, just from your body language.

"No. Tell me,"

"You're not losing interest in me, are you?" It sounded ridiculous the moment you uttered the words, and it sounded even more ridiculous as Hanta's hands met the bridge of his nose in a heavy sigh. Quickly causing you to further your point. "I-I just thought that you not wanting to go public and being 'busy' was a nice way of saying -,"

"Don't even finish that sentence,"

"Sorry," The silence lingering between you both drowned out your voice, to which you looked down at your hands with a sigh. The ravenette sat upright rather abruptly, shifting onto his feet and coursing a hand through his hair. There was a clashing frown on his face as he reflected on the words he just heard.

"I can't believe you would even think that... that I'm growing tired of you!" Hanta called out in disbelief, near offended by the accusation. His body twisted to face you, eyeing you down for some sort of explanation or justification to what you said.

"It's hard not to when you're giving off all these... these signs!" That was your best response. Though you were set to be cut off by another sharp sigh from Hanta. One of many expressed that rainy night. You watched as he walked on over to the glass doors he entered moments earlier, observing the rain slashing harshly against the clear surface. It had grown even heavier since his entry, the back of his mind relieved to be out of the dangerous weather and inside closed doors. He didn't ponder on it long though, returning to the situation at hand and leaving the indistinct 'pitter-patter' of the rain behind him.

"Y/N have you ever thought for a single moment why I've kept you secret for so long?"

"You said you liked your private life to be away from your hero one... a-and I get that!" You replied urgently. "I'm okay with all the publicity and the social media responses and -," As though he expected that answer, Hanta interrupted you with a near saddened laugh. It caused you to frown and glare his way, about to raise your voice if not for his own voice filling the apartment.

"You know my job isn't just walking around being a celebrity, right?" Hanta glanced back at you. "I'm a hero for crying out loud! I protect people from danger! People like you!" The ravenette pressed a closed fist against the glass pane of the door, forehead inches away from the surface since Hanta shifted most of his weight onto it. You tilted your head, frowning.

"I know that but -,"

"But do you?" Hanta's tone came off harsher than intended to emphasise his point. But he was quick to abandon it, clicking his tongue in defeat to a battle in his head when he realised he had to explain his case. He'd been reluctant to say anything about his activities in the last week since technically not even the press knew, but lying wasn't going to get Hanta and you anywhere. So he surrendered to the urge and spoke. "Listen, the reason I didn't message you this week is that I've been working non-stop over some drug trades going on. One's that have been going on for a while underground and ones that have gotten good people killed. I haven't had the time to focus on us even though our fight has been in my head all week and I've been shitting myself over talking about it because I don't want to lose you! I couldn't imagine life without you, Y/N and I feel like an ass for treating you how I did last time we spoke! But I haven't been able to tell you that because access to my phone has been slim, and I couldn't-,"

"Hanta?" You stood up gingerly, only speaking up due to the change of Hanta's aura. He had started curt and sharp but slowly tumbled into a more emotional demeanour. The more personal his small speech grew the more it started to affect him, probably the impact of his own thoughts taking their toll. There was even a voice crack at some point, one you'd never heard before. Hanta took a deep breath, bracing himself to speak again.

"It sounds like a lame excuse but it's the truth. I didn't want to say it. But I can't lie to you," He continued. "It's cases like this that have kept me from wanting to go public. B-Because if those people were to figure out who you are because of me...," There was a stifled shake of a breath, Hanta's voice quietening in fear just at the thought. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself,"

You were speechless. So speechless you weren't even mad anymore. He was finally... finally being vulnerable with you and that seemed to be enough for you to erase all your grudges. Sure, work wasn't an excuse for everything. But in a circumstance like this one - with the job that Hanta lead, you could understand his reasons and in spite of your worry you knew the rules. No mobiles on operations. And finally, he was confiding to you about why he struggled with the thought of announcing your relationship. So in a very reluctant manoeuvre, you plucked up the courage to walk up behind him and wrap your arms around Hanta in a sorrowful hug. Hanta tensed up at first, breath running short, but he didn't push you away. A hopeful sign.

"I'm sorry for making it such a big deal when you had other things to think about," You said, pressing your lips to the back of his shoulder blade and giving the surface a peck. You remained there for a good few, adamant seconds before retracting. "And I'm sorry for never looking at it that way... or considering your feelings on the matter,"

"Y/n it's fine... just...," Hanta seized the opportunity to turn around to face you, running a hand through his ebony locks with one hand as his other slithered around you to return the hug. "I'm sorry I made you doubt me... I feel like shit about it and it wasn't my intention at all,"

"No! No! Don't apologise. It's okay, " You brought a hand to fiddle with the string of his hoodie. As much as it wasn't what you wanted, you had to see Hanta's perspective and understand his feelings too. This was a two-person relationship after all and had you known his feelings ran that deep, you wouldn't have pressed the matter as much as you had. "Look, we don't have to announce anything to anyone okay? If it makes you comfortable and happy then I'm willing to remain a mystery a little longer,"

That returned some colour to his face, almost like Hanta feared you would oppose him even still and the situation would grow for the worse. With a small sigh of relief, he finally allowed a smile to press to his lips. A smile you knew all too well and had missed for a while now.

"Thank you for understanding," Hanta exhaled, pausing as his eyes hovered onto you with an ounce of playful intent. "And I guess we could be a little bit less discreet when we go to the cinema together," You smiled faintly, finally satisfied with the decision you had come up with. Better yet, a compromise. The very thing you had wanted to start with... clearly your concluding thoughts had been premature.

"Thank you... it means a lot,"

"Yeah... I love you," Hanta spoke gently, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"I love you too," You stood on your tiptoes to lightly peck his lips, Hanta humming softly in approval as he returned the gesture. After a few seconds, you pulled back though, feeling a smile on your face as you did. It was enjoyable to kiss his lips again, another thing you had missed greatly in your week-long deprivation of your boyfriend.

"So, how does some hot cocoa sound? I can imagine you were sat on the balcony for a pretty long time," You pulled away from the hug, but kept hold of Hanta's wrist as you tugged him along with you. Hanta shook a fist in grateful triumph, sighing out in bliss at the offer.

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask! Hot cocoa sounds amazing," He smiled, pausing temporarily before adding on. "But are cuddles on the table too?" You glanced back at him, half expecting the request. But there was no way you were going to say no. You shook your head in amusement before answering.

"I think we're both in desperate need of cuddles, so I think so. Yes,"

"Amen to that,"

#hanta sero #hanta sero x reader #sero x reader #hanta x reader #hanta sero x y/n #hanta sero x you #bnha x reader #mha x reader #my hero academia x reader #my hero academia #boku no hero x reader #bnha sero hanta #bnha #angst #fluff #sero fluff #x reader

[httpjeon]

ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ — ᴋɴᴊ (ᴍ.)

namjoon/reader | angst, fluff, smut | dating service!au

wordcount: 10.3k

contents: date for hire, unsafe sex, sensitivity kink, size kink, dirty talk, fingering, car foreplay, safeword use, jimin cameo, panty kink (?), grinding, orgasm control, orgasm denial, cunnilingus, riding, wet&messy, creampie, light overstimulation

— synopsis: club ardor holds a special raffle for a free night with a man who will supposedly be the boyfriend of your dreams. you definitely don’t expect to win.

blog masterlist — series masterlist

© httpjeon — all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any medium is not allowed. translations not allowed.

The bar was a quiet and calm atmosphere, a Thursday night meaning it was just mostly people having a drink after work. As you wiped down the counters with the rag, you heard your coworker come from the back room calling your name.

"______, have you gotten a chance to check the raffles today yet?" she asked, grabbing a glass beside you to help clean it before you could.

You smiled in thanks, "No I haven't added them to the list yet but a few did pull a ticket today!"

"That's great," she smiled, giddy, "I think it's so exciting."

"A lot of people do seem interested in the service," you nodded, tossing your rag under the counter into the designated bin.

"I mean, how often is it that you get a free night with a man from Club Ardor?" she giggled, bumping you playfully with her hip, "Did you draw? I did."

"I haven't, no," you shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

"Why not?!" she gasped, grabbing another glass to dry off.

"I don't know..." you confessed, "I guess I'm nervous about if I win."

"Come on, it's basically a once in a lifetime opportunity!" she whined, turning around to grab the bowl and clipboard, "I'm signing you up."

You watched as she fished a paper from the bowl and handed it to you.

91294 was your number. She quickly wrote it down along with your name and contact information.

A worker from Club Ardor had shown up a week ago to explain the process of drawing and how to keep track. It was easy enough and there were already numerous spots filled on the pages.

You slipped your number into your pocket and turned around when a customer arrived at the bar to order a drink.

Somehow, you'd completely forgotten about the drawing.

It was your day off, after an especially rowdy weekend of working the bar, you were exhausted. Lounging on the couch, you munched from a bag of chips while watching TV.

From the coffee table, your phone began to buzz incessantly, making you frown. Turning to glare at the device, you saw an unknown number flashing across your screen indicating a call.

Wiping your fingers off on your sweatpants, you picked up your phone and accepted the call.

"Hello?" you sighed, hoping it wasn't a scammer.

"Hello, may I speak with Ms. ______?" a gentle, feminine voice filter through.

"Speaking," you responded, now curious.

"Ah, hello Ms. ______! My name is Joy, I'm calling on behalf of the raffle for Club Ardor," immediately, you were frozen in place, "I'm happy to congratulate that you've won the deluxe date package free of charge!"

"I...I won the..." you sat up on the couch, mouth open in shock as she laughed.

"Yes, you won," she giggled before you heard papers shuffling around.

"S-So...what happens?" you ask, heart beating loudly in your chest.

"Well, the winner is matched with Namjoon, he's the one we usually recommend for beginners," she explained, "You'll have 24 hours with him before it's over. The scene will be completely up to him—"

"Scene?" you repeated dumbly.

She hummed, "It's a term commonly used in BDSM. It's basically a planned encounter, meaning that everything that happens between you two is...essentially a role play, in this case."

"I...do we have to have sex?" you gasped at the mention of BDSM.

Joy chuckled on the line like she'd heard such a question numerous times, making your cheeks flush, "Absolutely not. You can if that is something you and he decide you want to do. If not, there is no pressure to do anything beyond talking. There is a safeword that the two of you can use if anything happens that makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe."

"Okay..." you breathed in relief, "So...So what now?"

"Well, I'm going to ask you to download an app called Club Ardor. It will ask you for a password and it's the same as you raffle number. This will allow Namjoon and you to communicate safely without your numbers being revealed to the other."

"Oh...wow," you were impressed to say the least, "Alright, I'll do that. Thank you."

"If you have any questions of concerns feel free to call back!" she bid you farewell and you hung up.

After the call, you rushed to the App Store to download the app.

Just as you were told, the first screen that popped up was a code box and nothing held. You cursed, realizing you had no clue what the number on your ticket was.

Standing up, you rushed to your bedroom to find your laundry basket. Groaning, you began to dig through to collect all the pairs of your work pants that you had worn that week. You sat on the floor and began to search through the pockets of every pair.

"Ah-ha!" you cried as you pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

You stumbled with how fast you stood up in an attempt to get back to your phone. You completely ignored the mess left behind by your rummaging and went back to sit on the couch.

Picking up your phone, you typed the number on the paper in and pressed enter. A small loading screen popped up before a profile to fill out filled your screen.

It was simple, asking height, weight, and basic characteristics.

After filling it out, you were brought to a simple blank page akin to that of an empty text message thread.

Unsure of what to do, you sat and clicked around for a minute to see if you were missing anything but nothing new happened so you locked your phone. Placing it to the side, you sighed as the nerves finally began to fade.

"I wonder..." you unlocked your phone and clicked on safari.

You typed in club ardor in the search and got a website of the same name.

"Welcome to Club Ardor, an exclusive dating service dedicated to living out every woman's fantasy," is what it read.

You scrolled past the information about how they were formed and where they were located. There was a box that was used to presumably register online for a date instead of calling to schedule. You also noticed there seemed to be a male-exclusive Club Ardor that operated separately from the one you were on.

Finally, you found what you were looking for: the dates profiles.

"Club Ardor's Dates are hand picked into the most desirable archetypes," you clicked next and were immediately brought to the profile of 'Namjoon — The Boyfriend Type.'

To your dismay, there was no picture of him — only basic information such as his height, weight, and age. You were surprised to notice the winning raffle number was the date of his birthday.

'Namjoon is most suitable for beginners. He offers an authentic Boyfriend Experience unlike any other you will experience.'

Beneath that was a small notice; “Namjoon’s service comes in a Deluxe Package and Standard Package. For 24 and 12 hours of date-time respectively!” 

Before you could click further to see the other men, you phone made an unfamiliar dinging noise before a notification came in indicating a new message on the Club Ardor app.

As you opened the app, your heart began to race. A new text thread became available from Namjoon.

"Hello, nice to meet you!" his message said.

You quickly replied back with a greeting of your own. It was indicated as 'read' immediately before he started typing.

"Our date is scheduled for Saturday afternoon," he said, "I'll let you know the details as soon as I have them. Do you have any questions?"

You read the message a few times, trying to think if you had anything to ask. Your fingers began typing before you realized what you were doing, "You plan the date by yourself?"

"Yes," he replied, "Every experience of my client is unique so no two women have the same date with me 😁! I will ask you questions to make sure that everything is to your liking so I don't plan something you may end up hating lol."

You smiled, instantly charmed by his personality as you replied, "Alright! I look forward to it 😇!"

Saturday was a week away and you had no idea how you were going to live through the anticipation. It'd been so long since you'd been on a date and now you're about to go on one that would supposedly be your dream date with your dream boyfriend.

Tuesday morning rolled around and you woke up to a couple messages from Namjoon.

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟹:𝟷𝟾ᴀᴍ]  ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɪᴛ's ʟᴀᴛᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ᴀsʟᴇᴇᴘ ʙᴜᴛ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏʟʟᴇɢᴇ ᴏʀ ᴡᴏʀᴋ?  ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟹:𝟺𝟿ᴀᴍ]  ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴄᴀsᴜᴀʟ ᴏʀ ᴜᴘsᴄᴀʟᴇ?  ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟽:𝟷𝟻ᴀᴍ]  ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ 😜!

The messages made you smile and you quickly typed up your response before getting out of bed, "I work at a bar and I probably prefer casual...I only won this date, remember? I'm not used to luxury so...and good morning!"

You watched for a second, locking it after a moment when he didn't read it.

"No way, you won?!" your coworker, Yongsun shrieked before covering her mouth when a customer glared her way, "You won the date?"

"Yeah..." you chuckled, sneakily unlocking your phone to show her the Club Ardor app with Namjoon's name on the preview to the text thread.

"Oh my god!" she squealed, grabbing your arm excitedly, "This is crazy! Oh my god, you're going to have to tell me everything."

"Nothing's really happened," you chuckled, "He's just asked a little about me and said he's making the best date he can for me."

"He already sounds like a dream..." she sighed, lashes fluttering.

"Let's get back to work," you chuckled, pocketing your phone.

With your shift over, your feet were killing you and you nearly collapsed before you could get the door closed. Your phone gave a now familiar ding and you pulled it out to see a message from Namjoon.

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟷:𝟻𝟽ᴘᴍ] 

ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛɪʟʟ ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ?

You texted back letting him know your shift just ended and you were going to be heading home. He read it immediately and began to type.

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟷:𝟻𝟽ᴘᴍ]  ʟᴀᴛᴇ sʜɪғᴛ, ʜᴜʜ...ʙᴇ sᴀғᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʜᴏᴍᴇ. ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ʜᴏᴍᴇ.

You smiled, enjoying the way your heart fluttered in your chest at his words. He definitely had the 'boyfriend' role down to a science. Packing your things up, you bid goodbye to Yongsun and made the trek back home.

As soon as your door was shut and locked behind you, you pulled out your phone to text Namjoon.

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟷𝟿ᴀᴍ]  ɪ'ᴍ ɢʟᴀᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ sᴀғᴇʟʏ. ɪᴛ's ʟᴀᴛᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏʙᴀʙʟʏ ᴛɪʀᴇᴅ. ɢᴇᴛ sᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴇsᴛ.

You bid him goodnight, and held your hand to your chest. He was dreamy. You wondered what he looked like.

His personality only gave you so much and you wished you could put a face to the man who seemed to increasingly make you swoon.

After getting ready for bed, you sat down and combed your freshly washed hair before pulling your phone out of the mess of blankets you'd thrown it into.

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟷ᴀᴍ] 

ᴄᴀɴ ɪ ᴀsᴋ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ?

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟷ᴀᴍ] 

sᴜʀᴇ, ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴɢ.

The pet name immediately had you blushing and you bit back a smile.

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟸ᴀᴍ] 

ᴄᴀɴ ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʟɪᴋᴇ?

He read the message and you waited to see if there was a response. When he didn't begin typing, you deflated slightly and sighed — taking it as a no.

As you tossed your phone to the side, you stood up to go to the bathroom to brush your teeth. Once finished, you crawled back into bed and picked up your phone.

You paused when you saw three minutes ago Namjoon had sent you a picture.

When you opened it, you felt like all the air had been punched out of your lungs.

He had blonde hair that was pushed back off of his forehead and thick, pretty lips. You could see the faintest hint of dimples on the flawless skin of his cheeks.

He was probably the most good looking mad you'd laid your eyes on.

As you stared at his picture, another text from him came in.

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟽ᴀᴍ] 

ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ɴᴇʀᴠᴏᴜs ɴᴏᴛ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀɪɴɢ, sᴡᴇᴇᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛ.

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟽ᴀᴍ]

sᴏʀʀʏ...ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴊᴜsᴛ sᴜʀᴘʀɪsᴇᴅ. ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ...ᴠᴇʀʏ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ.

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟾ᴀᴍ] 

ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ, ɪ'ᴅ ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪᴛ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ'ᴅ sʜᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ ғᴀᴄᴇ.

You frowned, feeling self-conscious as you had to follow up a picture of your own face after seeing his incredibly attractive self.

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟿ᴀᴍ] 

ɪ'ʟʟ sᴇɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ. 

ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷:𝟶𝟿ᴀᴍ]  ᴋᴇᴇᴘɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴇᴅɢᴇ. ɪ sᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɢᴀᴍᴇ, ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴɢ. ɪ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ɪᴛ.

The teasing tone and pet name had you flushing, unable to respond as you locked your phone and plugged it in for the night.

When you woke up, you had a text from Namjoon greeting you good morning once more. It brought a smile to your face and you texted him good morning back before once again leaving to get ready.

As soon as you got to work, you showed Yongsun the picture of Namjoon. You were sure she nearly had a stroke as she covered her mouth to scream gleefully before gushing about how good looking he was.

"Man, Club Ardor really...really did choose well, huh?" she hummed, zooming in on his face, "Look at his lips, man, if you don't get at least one kiss from him I will make your life hell."

"You trying to live vicariously through me?" you giggled at her dramatic nature.

"I can't any other way! I'm too poor to snag a date with one of them," she pouted, putting her work apron on with a sigh, "It must be nice to be rich."

"He keeps calling me pet names, it's honestly..." you quickly tied your hair up as you spoke, "He really feels like a boyfriend, it's crazy."

"Club Ardor lives up to its reputation," Yongsun nodded, "I thought it was only a 24-hour thing, how come you've got him for a week in advance?"

You shrugged, putting your phone on silent before pocketing it, "When I won, the lady said it was a special deluxe package. I didn't think to ask. Maybe I'll ask Namjoon later."

"I wonder how many women end up falling for them by accident," she mumbled, opening the staff door leading to the bar for you, "They must have broken numerous hearts if everyone is as authentic as Namjoon seems..."

"I guess that's the price you pay for a fake date with the man of your dreams," you replied, sighing, "They ruin you for anyone else."

Getting home, you noticed you didn't have any messages at all from Namjoon. It was odd but you didn't think anything of it. Heading to the bathroom, you touched up your makeup and fixed your hair before taking several selfies until you found a suitable one.

Taking a deep breath, you quickly sent it to Namjoon with an attaching message reading "as promised!"

When you didn't receive a reply, you decided to just head to bed.

Waking up that morning, you quickly realized it was going to be a shitty day. Your alarm on your phone failed to go off properly — you must have forgotten to turn it on the night before. It led you into getting ready as quickly as you could to get to work on time.

You arrived at the last minute, Yongsun having arrived earlier than you so you didn't have a chance to talk to her.

When your lunch break rolled around, you had the first moment to check your phone. Opening the text thread with Namjoon, you noticed he had seen your picture shortly after you sent it the night before but hadn't responded.

It made you feel bad, your already low mood easily receiving another hit from the bad day.

Putting it on silent once more, you put it in your pocket and returned to work.

By the time you got home, you were beyond drained. Your mood was in the toilet, your feet hurt, and you had barely gotten any tips.

You took a shower, hoping to relax the tense, sore muscles in your back. The hot water and soothing atmosphere helped to clear your mind.

By the time you got out, you were feeling a little better and decided to curl up on the couch for the night in comfortable pajamas and fuzzy socks. Covering yourself with your favorite throw blanket, you turned the TV on and let yourself settle down.

Before long, you were dozing off. You had gotten several episodes into a drama and decided to call it quits once the current turned off. In an effort to keep yourself awake, you sat up and grabbed your phone off of the coffee table.

When you unlocked it, you were surprised to see several text messages from Namjoon.

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟷𝟾ᴀᴍ] 

ʜᴇʏ sᴡᴇᴇᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛ, sᴏʀʀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ ᴀʙsᴇɴᴄᴇ. ʜᴏᴡ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ? 

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟸𝟸ᴀᴍ] 

ɪ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴜᴘsᴇᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ, ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ᴛᴏ ɢʜᴏsᴛ ʏᴏᴜ. 

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟸𝟾ᴀᴍ]  ɪ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ sᴀғᴇʟʏ.

You couldn't help but smile as you unlocked the phone and typed out your reply.

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟸ᴀᴍ] 

ɪᴛ's ᴏᴋᴀʏ. ɪ'ᴍ ʜᴏᴍᴇ. 

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟸ᴀᴍ]  ɪs sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡʀᴏɴɢ?

You were surprised both by his quick response and ability to tell that something was wrong.

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟹ᴀᴍ] 

ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴀ ʙᴀᴅ ᴅᴀʏ. ɪs ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴏᴋᴀʏ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ? 

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟺ᴀᴍ] 

ʏᴇᴀʜ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪs ғɪɴᴇ. ɪ ᴊᴜsᴛ ɢᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʙᴜsʏ sᴜᴅᴅᴇɴʟʏ! 

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟺ᴀᴍ]  ᴏʜ? ᴡᴀs ɪᴛ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴄʟɪᴇɴᴛ?

You were quite curious about the aspect of his job. It was such an unknown world to you that it actually made you want to know more about what happens behind the scenes.

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟻ᴀᴍ] 

ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ, ɴᴏ. ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴀ ʙɪɢ ᴇxᴀᴍ ғᴏʀ ᴍʏ ᴄʟᴀss. ɪᴛ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ ᴀʟʟ ᴍʏ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴛᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ. 

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟻ᴀᴍ] 

ᴄʟᴀss? ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀ ᴄᴏʟʟᴇɢᴇ sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛ?! 

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟸:𝟹𝟻ᴀᴍ]  ʏᴇᴀʜ! ɪ'ᴍ ᴀ ʙɪᴏʟᴏɢʏ ᴍᴀᴊᴏʀ ᴀᴛ sɴᴜ.

You were stunned. SNU was a tough university to get into, and the fact Namjoon had — he had to be smart. You were confused why a man like that was a date-for-hire. It felt too invasive to ask so you simply replied with an impressed 'that's amazing'.

He immediately began typing again and you waited just a second until the message popped up.

"I've got to go, something with work came up. I just want to say that I enjoyed your picture, you're absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see your beauty in person. Sleep nice, sweetheart."

For the first time that day, you felt happy.

Friday morning, you were a mess of nerves. You still had work and you were thankful that it would be able to take your mind off of it.

As you worked, you felt your phone buzz and you heart raced in response. You hoped it was Namjoon.

It wasn't until you lunch break that you were able to open it.

He had asked how you were feeling which you replied with an honest 'nervous'.

Before your break ended, you got a sweet 'don't be nervous, baby. It'll be fun, I promise!'

Once you were home, you found yourself opening the text thread with Namjoon to greet him. He didn't respond quickly so you jumped in the shower to wash off the filth that had started to cling to you. You'd gotten off earlier than usual but there had still been the loud, smoking, drunk patrons that frequented on weekends. The smell of cigarettes stunk up your hair so you eagerly washed it, enjoying the scent of your lavender shampoo.

You stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around your body as you used another to scrunch your hair dry.

Taking a seat on your bed, you noticed the screen lit up with a notification.

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟶:𝟷𝟻ᴘᴍ] 

ʜᴇʏ ʙᴀʙʏ, ɪ'ᴍ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʟᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ'ʟʟ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴅʀᴇss ᴄᴏᴍғᴏʀᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ. ᴡᴇᴀʀ sʜᴏᴇs ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪɴ ғᴏʀ ᴀ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ. 

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟶:𝟷𝟼ᴘᴍ] 

ᴀʟʀɪɢʜᴛ! ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴀ sᴋɪʀᴛ ʙᴇ ᴏᴋᴀʏ? 

ғʀᴏᴍ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟶:𝟷𝟼ᴘᴍ] 

ᴛʜᴀᴛ sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ғɪɴᴇ, ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴɢ. ɪ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ sᴇᴇɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ! 

ᴛᴏ: ɴᴀᴍᴊᴏᴏɴ [𝟷𝟶:𝟷𝟽ᴘᴍ] 

ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɪᴛ!

You locked your phone and put it on to charge for the night after bidding him goodnight. Sighing, you stood up and made your way to the closet. Luckily you had an outfit idea in mind and you stood up to fish it out.

Feeling giddy, you hung it up on the hook on the back of your door and picked out a pair of flats. You'd had them for a year, they were still in excellent shape but they'd been worn enough to be more than comfortable.

Then you finally laid down in bed, curling up with your blankets around you.

You woke up at 11 — your alarm pulling you from a deep sleep. Sitting up, you stretched and let out a groan as you joints popped. You tossed your feet onto the floor and stood up, making your way to the bathroom.

When you came out, you spotted the outfit today's date on the door of your closet and smiled. Your heart fluttered in your chest and you eagerly picked up your phone, unlocking it when you saw a message from Namjoon.

Your fingers trembled as you read that it was a simple address.

"Meet me here at 12:30...we're having lunch!"

You decided to get dressed and use the hour you had to do your hair and makeup. When you were ready, you let out a slow exhale to steady your nerves as you slid your shoes on and headed out.

It was wonderful weather and the light breeze felt nice on your bare legs. The skirt made you feel cute and encouraged you to hold your head high.

The address led you to a small, family owned restaurant. You opened the door, taking a look around. It had a rustic vibe and there were a couple people scattered around. You inhaled, the smell of cooking food making your stomach growl.

Realizing that Namjoon wasn't at any of the tables, you decided to choose a booth that was located in a quiet corner.

A waiter stopped to deliver a menu to you before asking if you wanted a drink. After ordering a coke, he disappeared and you opened the menu.

You checked the time, frowning when you realizing it was 10 past the time he'd told you. The waiter placed your drink down and you thanked him.

"Do you want to order anything?" he asked, holding a small pad and pen.

"Um no...not yet, I'm waiting for someone," you replied sheepishly. He nodded and put the pad away before he disappeared again.

As you resumed looking at the menu, eyeing the burger options, someone dropped down into the booth seat across from you. You jumped, head jerking up to meet the brilliant, dimpled smile of Namjoon.

"Hi," he greeted, his voice smooth and rich. It made your heart flutter and your cheeks burn. He was gorgeous, deep dimples and pretty brown eyes that sparkled. His hair was honey blonde but was hanging in his eyes, giving him a boyish appearance.

"H-Hi..." you breathed, looking away when you couldn't hold his stare any longer.

"Cute..." you heard him chuckle before he leaned back in the booth, "Sorry I'm late...work held me for a bit longer than I anticipated."

"I-It's fine," you mumbled, the two of you being interrupted by the waiter placing another menu down for Namjoon and asking him for his drink order.

"Can I get a coffee black," he asked, smiling before looking down at the menu, "Got any clue what you want?"

"I kind of want a burger..." you mumbled, eyeing the different options.

"You read my mind," he chuckled, sending heat to your cheeks once again, "The burgers here are to die for."

"You come here often?" you asked, raising a brow when he nodded.

"Usually after class, it's on the way to my apartment so..." he shrugged.

"Here you go, sir," the waiter said, placing the cup of steaming coffee down in front of Namjoon, "Do you two know what you want?"

After the two of you ordered, you were left alone. Namjoon looked effortless at ease, a small smirk playing on his lips as he looked at you.

"You look cute," he complimented, smiling gleefully when you became flustered, "Do I make you nervous?"

"N-Not nervous..." you mumbled, biting your lip, "It's just..strange, I guess."

He nodded, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hand thoughtfully, "I get it. There's build up to it and then when it finally happens it sort feels unreal."

"Yeah," you chuckled, lifting your glass to your lips to take a sip from the straw, "I was meaning to ask you...er," you paused before you voiced the question, "Are you okay with...talking about your...job?"

He chuckled, "Ask away."

"How come you're going to a school like SNU...but working this job?" you asked, "I mean there's nothing wrong with a date-for-hire job but like..."

"I get it," he nodded, sitting back to sip his coffee, "To be honest, I just needed a way to pay my way through. I didn't exactly...expect to pass the entrance exam, it was just a spur of the moment decision, and then when I did...I realized I had absolutely no way to pay for it," he sighed, a smile playing on his lips, "So I was looking around and...the opportunity to work for Club Ardor came up so I took it."

"That's interesting..." you hummed, stirring your drink with the straw, "You've got to be pretty smart to pass the exam without even expecting to."

He chuckled, dropping his head. You could see his ears turn pink and you realized he was shy, "I just...do my best," he cleared his throat and looked back up at you, "So you work at a bar?"

"Unfortunately," you huffed.

"You don't like it?" he asked.

"Not really," was your reply, making him frown, "Kills my feet and it's usually shit pay and tips. I'd quit and get a new job if I could but I can't risk losing my apartment and stuff..."

"I understand," he said and looked like he was going to say something else but the waiter interrupted with the plates of food.

The two of you fell into a surprisingly comfortable silence as you began eating. You hummed at the delicious taste, making Namjoon smile.

"Good right?" he chuckled when you nodded enthusiastically, taking another bite.

After you both had finished your burgers, he ordered a piece of chocolate mousse cake to share. It was wonderfully easy to fall into Namjoon's rhythm, you realized. He was calm, easy to talk to, and witty — making you laugh by barely doing anything.

You were comfortable with him.

However, there was a heavy feeling deep in the back of your mind as you remembered that this wasn't real. It was his job to make you have fun — he was paid to make you feel nice.

You were surprised to find that the two of you had been there for a while — it was nearing four o'clock. He seemed a bit surprised as well as he checked the watch on his wrist. You couldn't help but notice how expensive it looked.

"I think we should get going, our next destination awaits," he stood up, slapping down a couple bills from his wallet as a tip.

"There's more?" you asked, taking his hand when he offered it to you.

He chuckled, lacing your fingers together as he nodded, "Of course, wouldn't it be disappointing if this is all we did? A whole 24 hours to kill...man, I would not be worth my salt."

"I-I guess..." you chuckled, acutely aware of the way his hand felt in yours, "Where are we going though?"

"Ah...you're not getting information out of me that easily," he teased, opening the door for you to let you out first, "It's a surprise!"

"What if I hate surprised?" you asked, teasingly raising a brow.

"Well..." he stopped in front of a sleek black car and smiled, "I guess you better learn to love them pretty fast."

He didn't let you answer before he was opening the passenger car door and ushering you inside. Once he was sure you were comfortable, he shut the door with a slam and jogged around the front to slide into the driver's seat.

As he began driving, he turned on the radio and let a comfortable silent settle in. You took a moment to take him in; his long, pretty fingers gripping the wheel and the way his jeans hugged his thick thighs. As he stared ahead at the road, you could make out the sharp of his jawline and how his lips glistened in the sunlight after he dug his tongue across them.

He was dreamy to say the least.

"You okay?" he asked, smiling that pretty smile, "Do you want to AC on?"

"No, I'm okay," you replied, looking away at almost being caught.

However, you were quickly forced to look back at him when you felt his hand slide over yours on the middle console until you let him lace your fingers together.

"We're heading out of Seoul," he said, "We should be at our destination by 7."

"Is there something interesting going on out of Seoul?" you asked, making him shake his head.

"Interesting for other people, no. Interesting for us...very much so," he squeezed your hand, bring it up to his lips to press a kiss against the skin.

Your heart hammered loudly in your chest as his lips lingered.

He was good at his job, you'd give him that.

The time passed with the two of you talking; he introduced you to his favorite music and made you laugh as his sang along off-key. He even took a bit to passionately explain a recent portion of his course in college to you — even though you barely understood anything. He looked so cute with bright eyes as he excitedly spewed things off from memory.

It was nice. It was comfortable.

His hand in yours felt nice.

The sun was just beginning to set, casting a vibrant orange glow on the world around you when the two of you suddenly pulled into a side road. The pavement gradually turned to gravel before it was just dirt.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were bringing me out here to murder me," you joked as you watched the heavily lined trees pass.

Namjoon laughed wholeheartedly from beside you, "Oh darn, you caught on."

His sarcasm made you smile, your eyes focused on the road in front of you. After several minutes, the trees finally vanished Namjoon stopped the car.

You stepped out of the car when he opened the door for you, grinning.

Looking around, you realized you were in a huge grass field. There wasn't anything in sight as far as you could see. It was a vibrant green, almost glowing in the orange light.

"What...what's here?" you asked, looking to him as he leaned back against the hood of his car.

"Just wait, baby, come here," you flushed at the pet name and let him pull you into his chest.

His arms wrapped around your waist and you could feel his breath fanning over your ear. He smelled incredible, a musky — almost spicy scent of his cologne making your eyes flutter.

You relaxed, your back to his chest as you both stared out over the seemingly endless field.

As the minutes ticked by, the sun began to sink lower and the light diminished further. You were eager to know what exactly you were waiting for.

Suddenly Namjoon hummed, "There they are..."

Your eyes moved from his face back to the field and you couldn't help but gasp at what you saw.

The field was lighting up with seemingly millions of little lights. You stepped forward, eyes wide as you watched the lights dance around endlessly as the field vibrantly came to life.

"This is..." you gaped for a second before looking back at Namjoon, "Incredible!"

"I heard about this place a couple months ago," he explained, pushing himself off the hood of his car, "A friend of mine took his kids out here and it sounded so magical I wanted to come. I didn't have the opportunity to until now."

"I'm so glad you decided to take me here," you whispered, beginning to make your way into the field.

The grass was thigh-high, clearly unmaintained but you didn't mind. The fireflies surrounded you, landing on your body and flickering their little lights brightly.

"I'm glad I took you here too..." he said, making you jump as he was suddenly behind you.

As you looked up at him, you could see the way the fireflies lights reflected off the deep pools of brown in his eyes. He looked ethereal, smiling down at you as if it were just the two of you in the world.

He turned you around, wrapping his arm around your waist and reaching up to cup your cheek. Your breathing stuttered as he leaned down just slightly — hinting at what he wanted.

"Can I kiss you, ______?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"Y-Yeah...I'd like that..." you replied.

He smiled just slightly before his lips descended down upon yours. They were soft and as his thumb softly stroked your cheek, you returned the kiss. Your hands found purchase on his chest and you stood on your tip toes to deepen the kiss. He eagerly reciprocated, cupping the back of your head to tangle his fingers in your hair as his lips moved effortlessly against your own.

When you pulled away, you were both panting and he wore a small smirk.

"Ready to head back?" he asked, voice a few octaves deeper.

A shiver went down your spine when you felt his way his hands lingered on your body. You nodded and let him take your hand to lead you back to the car.

The atmosphere between the two of you changed drastically from before. It was tense and heated.

You could feel his gaze shifting to you every few minutes, lingering in a way that had your body heating up. With every second that passed, the more you thought about that kiss.

He was a good kisser. You wondered what else those lips could do. He had pretty hands. You wanted them on your body — wanted to feel his touch on your skin.

It seemed Namjoon shared the same idea as his hand suddenly found purchase on your thigh — bare from the skirt you wore. Goosebumps rose along your skin in response.

His fingers inched towards the sensitive skin of your inner thigh. You let your thighs separate for his wandering touch and you heard him release a breathy exhale.

"Tell me if you want me to touch you," he said, making you lick your lips, "I'll only do it if you say yes."

"Pl-Please touch me, Namjoon," you breathed shamelessly eyes fluttering when his hand forced your legs further apart so he could cup your clothed core.

"The safeword is firefly," he growled, the sound only dampening your panties. Your breathing hastened at the soft, teasing touch of his fingers, "Say it."

"Th-The safeword...is firefly," you breathed, letting your head fall back against the headrest as you arched you hips further into his touch.

"Good girl," he grinned, never taking his eyes off the road.

His fingers were skilled and precise, forcing the damp fabric between your folds to find your clit. You shuddered at the rough friction against your hardening bud, biting your lip to hold back from crying out. He let out a breathy chuckle, clearly enjoying teasing you.

You were getting wetter with every second that passed, making your panties stick to you almost uncomfortably.

"Can you take your panties off for me, babygirl?" he asked, taking his eyes off the road to take a look at you as you reached under your skirt. Hooking your thumbs beneath the band of your panties, you tugged them down. You pulled your knees up to your chest to tug them off of your feet.

Before you could toss them away, Namjoon grabbed them and sat up to shove them into his pocket before his hand found purchase on your thigh again.

"Spread your legs wide, baby," he mumbled, licking his lips as you did as you were told.

With your pussy completely exposed, he could see the way your wetness glistened in the passing light from outside. He let out a breathy groan when his digits found their way between your folds, spreading them apart to make you shiver as the AC breezed over your sensitive slit.

You let your mouth fall open with a small whine when he slid his middle finger into your entrance, the long digit easily finding your sweet spot — which he immediately began to abuse. When you looked over to him, you could see he wore a smirk on his lips and it made your walls flutter around him.

He hummed, pulling the digit out to circle your swollen clit — your own arousal allowing him to make effortlessly quick circles on the bud until you reached down to grab his wrist.

He chuckled, letting you slow him, "Sensitive, baby?"

"Mhm..." you sighed, not releasing your hold on him as he moved to sink two fingers into your cunt, "Feels good..." you whispered.

"Yeah?" he chuckled, licking his lips as he slowly pumped his fingers into your wet pussy, the noises almost obscene in the otherwise quiet car, "So tight, baby."

You didn't offer a response, merely grinding your hips down to get him to touch that spot again. When he did, you jolted and moaned. Namjoon hummed, his cock painfully hard in his jeans. He wanted to relieve the ache but both hands were too occupied.

"Hey baby?" he asked, smiling at your dazed 'hm?', "Can you unbutton my jeans for me?"

As you reached over, fingers ghosting over his hardness through the material of his jeans, he added a third finger. It made you paused, instinctively gripping his cock. He groaned, biting his lip at the feeling until you finally pulled the button out of the loop and pulled the zipper down.

"Fuck, that's better..." he mumbled to himself, angling his fingers in your hole upwards to press that spot again — enjoying the way it made you tremble.

He paused in surprised when your hand dove beneath his jeans to cup his cock through the cotton of his boxers, "You're...big..." The comment had him grinning, ego boosted, "You know how to use it, right?"

"Do you think I don't, babygirl?" he growled, pulling his fingers from your cunt to lightly slap your clit. You jolted and covered your mouth with your hand to quiet the shriek you let out in surprise at the sting.

You hummed, squeezing his cock, "I hope you do but...sometimes guys have big cocks that they just can't use."

You felt a rush of excitement as you saw his tongue poke the inside of his cheek angrily, clearly not happy with your challenge.

"You'll see how well I can use this cock soon, baby," his voice was low and dark, "Until then, sit back and let me play with your little cunt, huh? I don't wanna hear anything but moaning from that pretty mouth, got it?"

You didn't answer, resulting in a sharp slap to your sensitive bud again.

"Answer me," he growled, stroking his fingers over your folds to sooth the sting when you voice your understanding.

It seemed like everything turned into a daze around you. You could only focus on the incredible feeling of his hands touching your cunt. Every time it seemed that you were close to release, he'd back off and ease you away from orgasm.

You were growing frustrated, nearing tears when the car came to a sudden stop. Blinking yourself out of the daze, you looked around to find you had pulled into a small parking garage.

You sat up in the seat, pulling your thighs together and shivered when you felt how wet you were. Namjoon opened your door and helped you out, slamming it before you heard it automatically lock — deafening in the garage. He took your hand and tugged you in the direction of the doors.

There was a red carpet leading up the two darkened glass doors which Namjoon easily opened with a slide of a card in the reader that sat on the wall. When you stepped inside, you were stunned to see that it was a breathtaking, extravagant sitting room.

It was furnished mostly white with a couch and chairs, even a TV and table. There was a door on the other side that also appeared to be locked with a card reader.

"This is restricted to the guys and clients only," he explained, leading you over to an elevator. He pressed the button to call it and the two of you fell silent.

You squeezed your thighs together at the lingering arousal, only increasing when you felt his hand trail beneath the back of your skirt the graze over your folds. The elevator dinged and slid open, the two of you stepping inside. Namjoon pressed a button and the elevator doors closed.

He suddenly turned around, pinning you against the wall of the elevator. The metal railing pressed against your spine but you paid it no mind because his lips were quickly pressed against yours. You sighed into the kiss, gripping his shirt tightly in your hands to pull him closer to you. His body was warm and firm, hands gripping your hips to grind his still hard length against you with a groan.

The elevator dinged with the arrival to the correct floor, his lips lingered on yours for a second before the doors began to open. Before either of you could step off, you were greeted by another man who stood with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"What're you doing, Jimin?" Namjoon asked, sounding surprised as he stepped aside to let the other on.

"I was going to go out but now I'm stuck in an elevator with you for another minute," the new man mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back.

You took a moment to look him over, black hair pushed back messily to reveal strong brows and sharp eyes. The man oozed intimidation and you felt your heart speed up. Namjoon seemed unaffected and you assumed it was because he'd been around the stranger, Jimin, a lot.

The elevator dinged once again and opened up. Jimin gave Namjoon a short wave when you both stepped out before he reached over and pressed a button. You caught sight of a smirk on his full lips before the doors closed.

You let out a sigh, letting Namjoon take your hand once again.

"Sorry about that," he chuckled, "We don't usually run into each other like that."

"He's another...date?" you asked as he led you down a hallway. There were several doors that you passed but he was taking you to the very end of the hall it seemed.

"Yeah, that's Jimin," he responded.

"He was...scary," you mumbled, making him laugh.

"A couple of the guys are pretty intimidating," he said, "A lot of girls are into that type though."

"I see..." you said, the run in with another date only seemed to pull you out of the daze you'd gotten into with him. It reminded you that you were only part of his job, and that thought made your chest ache. You felt almost pathetic and you realized how lonely you would feel after you left him.

"Again, sorry," he sighed, seemingly realizing you had been pulled from the scene. He stopped in front of a door at the very end of the hallway, pulling out the card he used for entry and slid it into the door like a hotel keycard. The red light turned green and he pushed the door open.

"It's okay..." you assured, smiling politely when he let you walk in first.

He flicked the light on and you paused to look around. It was a homely, casually decorated room. There was a TV and a couch connected to a kitchen. You could see through a doorway across the room that it was a bedroom. The carpet was soft and warm beneath your feet when you took your shoes off.

"This is our room for the night," he smiled, placing his keys and wallet into a drawer next to the door, which automatically locked with a keycode, "I chose it just for you."

"There are other rooms to choose from?" you asked, wandering further into the living room to take a seat on the couch.

"Yeah, this whole floor is actually mine," he said, kicking his own shoes off, "We all have our own floor. Each room is furnished and styled differently according to client and scene."

"Interesting," you sighed, letting yourself relax on the couch as Namjoon wandered into the kitchen.

You watched him open the fridge and pull out a couple bottles of coke. He placed it down on the coffee table in front of you before he sat down as well.

"Thanks," you smiled as he put his arm around your shoulders and grabbed the remote, turning the TV on.

After a moment of him channel surfing, you realized you needed to pee. Excusing yourself, you followed his directions into the bedroom to the bathroom.

The bedroom was designed just as homely as the living room, with a bed of several fluffy pillows and a bedspread that looked soft. There was a dresser and bedside tables as well. It sort of looked like a bedroom a couple would share.

Shaking that thought from your head, you stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.

Namjoon sat on the couch and sighed when he heard the bathroom door close. He could tell you felt strange about everything now and he cursed Jimin's appearance.

The only way the scenes worked was if he was able to make his client feel like their relationship was real and genuine. Usually he would let his client figure her own way around and he'd move on with his job but for some reason he really wanted to see you lost in everything with him.

You weren't familiar with this life whereas his clientele consisted of women who regularly used dating services. The way everything was so new to you was endearing and he wanted you to have a good time.

He broke out of his thoughts when you sheepishly called his name from the doorway of the bedroom.

"What is it, baby?" he asked, glancing at the way you gripped the edge of your skirt.

"Y-You still have my um..." a smile bloomed across his face as you inched closer to him until you were standing in front of him.

"Your what?" he asked, cocking his head to the side in faux confusion.

"M-My panties," you grumbled, holding your hand out, "Give them back, it feels weird not wearing any."

"I think I prefer you without them," he grinned, sitting forward.

Your breathing stuttered when his hands gripped your thighs, urging you forward until your standing between his spread knees. His fingers found the edge of your blouse, pulling it out of the band of your skirt. Your hands naturally found purchase on his hair as he leaned forward to press a soft kiss against the soft skin of your stomach.

His hair was soft and he sighed when you tugged it as his lips ghosted over a sensitive spot. Pulling back, he reached up to undo the first button of your shirt, pausing to give you a chance to stop him. When you didn't, he continued to undo the buttons until it was hanging open. He licked his lips as he sat back to admire you, your breasts looking wonderful in the pretty bralette he knew you wore just for him. It wasn't lost on him that it matched your panties.

His hands traveled up your body until he cupped your breasts through the bra, making you sigh and arch your back for him. He pushed the bottom up until your breasts came into view and he felt his cock throb in his jeans at the sight of your perked nipples.

Your cheeks burned hot as he shamelessly drank in the sight of your bare breasts. You quickly stripped the article off, leaving you in your skirt alone.

He released a shaky breath and grabbed your hips, urging you forward until you fell into his lap. Cupping the back of your head, he brought you down for a heated kiss. You could feel his length, so hard, beneath you and you reached down to unbutton his jeans once again. This time, however, you pulled his cock free. You could see precum glistening on the tip and as you gave him a quick squeeze, you watched it drip down the head to meet your hand.

He pulled you down so you were suddenly sitting on his cock, the shaft sliding between your wet folds. He groaned, head falling back as you immediately began to grind against him, your clit sliding along the sensitive underside of him.

"You're so wet..." he breathed as he felt you dripping down his cock, "Does it feel good, baby?"

"So good," you whined, gripping his shoulders as you eagerly ground yourself against him, your clit throbbing as you were reminded how you were edged and denied by him earlier.

The high you'd missed out on was rapidly growing again, making you tremble in anticipation. Namjoon sensed your impending orgasm and quickly stopped you, forcing you back onto your knees.

Before you could voice your complaints at being denied again, you were roughly pinned down with Namjoon hovering over you. He leaned down, cupping your cheek as he pulled you in for a kiss.

You gasped into his mouth as you felt his cock at your entrance. You could distantly register the crinkle of a condom wrapper but were too absorbed in the kiss to think about it.

You both froze, eyes locking as he sunk into your tight cunt, your walls squeezing him so perfectly that it made his lashes flutter. Neither of you wanted to wait, you arched your hips, grinding down on him until he pulled back.

When he sunk into you completely and you cried out when he found your sweet spot with practiced ease.

"Holy shit," you whined, clinging to his shirt as he focused on hitting that spot.

"Feel good?" he asked, a cocky smirk on his face when you nodded, "Think I know how to use my cock?"

"Fuck, yes," you panted, losing your grip on him when he suddenly sat back on his knees.

He gripped you beneath your knees and pinned them to your chest. You were left deliciously exposed and the angle allowed him to hit your spot even better. The orgasm you continued to be denied was growing once again.

Sweat caused Namjoon's hair to cling to his forehead and there was a dark glaze in his eyes as he watched the way you hungrily took him in. Your cunt was creaming wet as you gushed on him, painfully close to cumming but unable to without him touching your clit.

He grinned as you whined, dangling so close to the edge, he kept building you up but never let you fall over. The desperate way you ground against him made his cock throb, close to his own orgasm.

It turned him on, having such control over you. Knowing that he was the only one who could make you cum in this moment.

"Please, please make me cum, Joon..." you practically sobbed.

The nickname took him by surprise, throwing him off guard and it pushed him over the edge. You whined when he stilled, feeling the way his cock was throbbing in the throws of his orgasm, the lovely little groan he gave as pleasure coursed through his body.

He pulled out, watching the way you trembled. The denial was painful, leaving you with teary eyes and pouting lips.

Suddenly, he was sinking two fingers into your entrance and there was the hot feeling of his tongue on your clit. Your hands flew down to grip his hair. He pumped his fingers upwards, hitting your spot as he sucked your bud into his mouth.

Your walls fluttered and tightened around him with your high. Your whole body tensed before you were cumming. He groaned, releasing your clit from his lips but flattening his tongue against it as it pulsed in time to your orgasm.

You were crying out, the orgasm that had been denied several times being one of the most powerful you'd ever experienced.

Before long, you were whining in overstimulation until he finally pulled his fingers from your cunt. Giving you a final lick to your clit, enjoying the way it made your body jolt, he pulled away.

He brought his cum soaked fingers to his lips, meeting your gaze as he took them into his mouth. Your squeezed your thighs together at the way he moaned at your taste, swirling his tongue around the digits until he deemed them clean enough.

Then, he leaned down and pressed his lips against yours — letting you barely taste yourself.

The two of you were panting, worn out from the intense session.

"We should get cleaned up," he breathed, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

"Yeah," you nodded, letting him pull you up and lead you to the bathroom.

He closed the door and began to strip. The only thing you had to do was push your skirt down until you were completely nude.

"I've...never done that before," he suddenly said as you both stepped beneath the rainhead shower, hot water pouring over you both.

"Done what?" you asked, smoothing your hands over you skin to quell the goosebumps.

"Used my...mouth," he mumbled before quickly shaking his head, "I-I mean I've eaten girls out before, I've had girlfriends obviously but...I've never done it with a client."

"Oh..." you hummed, meeting his gaze. He seemed almost nervous, "Th-Thanks...for doing it with me, I guess?"

He chuckled, nervously reaching up to comb his now wet hair back, "Don't take this the wrong way but...I really don't know why I did it. I just...had this overwhelming need to taste you..."

The confession send a shiver down your spine and you bit your lip, "And...was it up to your standards."

He grinned, stepping forward until he was towering over you, "Exceeded them."

He leaned down and pressed his lips against yours, sighing into the kiss. Wrapping his arm around your waist, he pulled you closer to him.

"I want to do it again," he mumbled, reaching behind him to shut the water off.

"Wh—!" you were cut off by him suddenly picking you up. Clinging to him, you were paranoid he would drop you but before you could enjoy being in his arms, he was tossing you onto the bed.

Neither of you cared you were soaking wet from the shower, he spread your legs and dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed. He was perfect height to slide his tongue through your folds, making you sigh. You were still sensitive and eagerly spread your legs for more.

He was good with his tongue, letting his tongue find its way into your entrance — hot and wet. Mouthing at your clit, he swirled his tongue around the bud, enjoying the way you whined at the stimulation. Reaching down, you ran your fingers through his wet hair and tugged.

Namjoon was in heaven, the taste of you sweet juices on his tongue going straight to his cock. It was maddening how you had such a strong effect on him.

Wrapping his arms around your thighs, he slid his tongue between your folds with a moan. He took your clit into his mouth, the tip of his tongue flicking lightly to make your thighs jump.

"I'm gonna cum..." you whined, arching your back as you abandoned your hold on his hair in favor of the sheets.

"Cum," he urged, never stopping his tongue on your clit, even as you arched and let out a low moan. You trembled in his hold and gasped, clamping your thighs around his head to stop him when it quickly turned into overstimulation.

He stood up, eagerly crawling onto the bed, meeting your lips for yet another feverish kiss. Reaching down, you wrapped your hand around his hardened shaft, pumping it a few times until he moaned and pulled away.

"Ride me?" he breathed, making your heart skip a beat.

You nodded, the two of you moving effortlessly together until you were positioned above his cock.

"C-Condom?" you asked, remembering how he had gotten one earlier.

"Fuck..." he dropped his head back, eyes following your wetness as it dripped onto the head of his cock, "I...You can say no but...I don't fucking want one."

"Me either," you confessed, prodding the very tip of him at your entrance.

"I trust you're clean?" he asked, watching you nod though he was fully aware that you could be lying, "Fuck, take me in, baby."

You did so without hesitation, the two of you groaning as you sunk down on him — walls stretching to accommodate his thick length. You rolled your hips against him, grinding your sensitive clit against his pelvic bone. Sighing in pleasure, you pulled yourself almost completely off before dropping back down.

Namjoon /whimpered/, gripping your hips as you eagerly began to ride him. You reached up, pinching your own nipples as you effortlessly moved. Your walls spasmed and clenched around him, the feeling of him stuffing you full intoxicating.

"Th-This is so fucking reckless," he choked out, knocking your hand away to cup one of your breasts, "I never...do it bare but fuck...I've never wanted it more."

"Y-You feel so good..." you whined, resting your hands against his chest for more leverage.

"That's it, good girl," he praised, pinching your nipple to make you cry out.

You could feel him throb inside you, obviously close. Your wetness coated his cock, dripping down his shaft to his balls. The fact you got so wet for him only turned him on more. He tightened his grip on you, urging you to quicken your pace.

You were more then happy to oblige, leaning down to pull him into yet another kiss as you rode him. Your thighs were burning, sore, but there was nothing in the world that could stop you in that moment.

"Gotta feel you cum around me," he panted, urging you to sit back up. You leaned back, putting your weight on his thighs.

"Please," you begged, biting your lip.

He watched the way your breasts bounced in time to your movements. He brought his thumb to his mouth, wetting the pad of it with a quick lick before pressing it against your little clit. Your eyes rolled back and he could feel you clench tighter around him, your mouth falling open in a silent moan.

"Cum on my cock, babygirl," he ground out, clenching his teeth to hold back his own orgasm, "Come on, do it for me, baby."

With a final, exuberant cry, you were cumming. Your walls spasmed and you trembled above him, nails digging into his thighs. He didn't mind, the sting only adding to the pleasure.

"Fuck, where can I cum?" he asked, voice tight was he forced himself to stop from blowing his load inside you.

"Inside, please, cum inside," you begged, resuming rolling your hips against him even though you were painfully sensitive from your own orgasm.

Namjoon let out a loud groan, "Fuck," as he came. His grip on your hips tightened as you felt the hot rush of his cum filling you up. It dripped from inside you, running down his shaft and making a mess but neither of you minded.

His hissed, "Stop, stop," until you stopped moving.

The two of you sat for several long minutes until you finally pulled off of him. His cum gushed out further but you only laid beside him, uncaring. He wrapped you up in his arms, and kissed the top of your head.

"I can't believe I did that..." he said, an almost gleeful chuckle escaping his lips.

"Y-You don't ever do it bare with...clients?" the word rolled awkwardly off your tongue.

He nodded, "It's not technically against policy but...it's urged. Some of the other guys order STD tests before a meeting so they can go bare but...I don't usually."

"Then why with me?" you asked, looking up at him through your lashes.

He was quiet for a moment, eyes analyzing your face, "I don't know. I think I'm addicted to you."

You were surprised by his words, eyes widening. He gave you a small smile and urged you to lay your head back down.

With his heartbeat pounding against his chest, you couldn't help but wonder what would happen when the 24 hours were up.

#bts smut #namjoon smut #rm smut #bts scenarios #namjoon scenarios #bts imagines #namjoon imagines #bts reactions #namjoon reactions #bts preferences #namjoon preferences #bts fanfic #namjoon fanfic #namjoon x reader #namjoon/reader

[spicyspencerreid]

Just Friends| Part One

A Timothée Chalamet Imagine: Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Female!Reader, Dancer/Actress!Reader, CoStar!Reader, FrenchSpeaking!Reader// This part is a little bit of a backstory into how Timothée and the reader became inseparable best friends, and ended up in Paris together for a movie role, with a little bit of leading into part two at the apartment. 

Warnings// CURSING. GUYS THIS IS SO FUCKING LONG…LIKE I MEAN A WHOLE 3,474 WORDS. LIKE OMG. Bad grammar/spelling, lack of proofreading lol. F L U F F. (Well kind of depends on your interpretation.)

Key: French writing (english translation), Y/n/n-Your nickname, Y/f/n-Your first name, Y/l/n-Your last name

(Added July 2020) Note: this whole series was written before Ansel Elgort’s allegations arose, and honestly, in the most disrespectful way possible: I hope he rots in hell. I ALWAYS stand with the victim, and if that’s going to be a problem, find another series to read. If the mention of his name is triggering to you, PLEASE do not read. If you or anyone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, do not be afraid to speak up, but if that’s not the route you personally want to take: you can call 1-800-656-4673, available 24 hours every day and 100% confidential.

Not my gif: Sorry this is kinda slow because I really want a solid backstory. I hope you enjoy reading :)))

The dating rumors were insane from the moment they surfaced. It’s been that way since the night they’d met. The night you didn’t even really want to take part in. You didn’t feel like attending the movie premiere, but Ansel insisted you’d come. A movie you hadn’t heard of yet, but Ansel insisted it would be incredible, saying he went to high school with one of the leads.

“What movie are we seeing again?” You reached behind your neck, thankful for your flexibility, as you zipped up your dress and considered to chat on the phone with Ansel. 

“Call Me By Your Name, I swear it’s gonna be really really good”

“Okay...I’ll take your word for it.”

You and Ansel rode together to the premiere chatting in the car as usual. When you exited the vehicle flashing lights blinded your eyes. 

“Y/f/n Y/l/n, who are you wearing tonight? How have you been? Are we going to be seeing Zendaya tonight as well?”

Z was your best friend. Your first movie role was with her and you were beyond terrified. You were one of the most experienced dancers in the world, the French-American sweetheart who had an extraordinary dance talent. There was a plethora of choreographers that knew your name by heart and used every chance offered to them to commend you on your talent. You took pride in the fact that people knew you as well as Zendaya and Ansel, not just because you were friends with them, but because your work in the performing arts industry was just as commendable as theirs, movie screen or not. When you were offered a role in a movie, not just as a background dancer, but with actual speaking lines, you were, as said before, terrified. You were well trained as an actress, the opportunity just hadn’t presented itself yet. You’d attended Juilliard, a college almost a hundred percent centered on performing arts, and while your main focus was dance, you were still a very well trained actor who was practically designed for roles like this. Zendaya made you feel comfortable, excited, and most importantly welcome, it was the start of a great friendship. 

You didn’t usually answer questions from the press, only when you felt absolutely necessary. In fact, the press loved you, you were polite, friendly with the media. Having been valedictorian of your high school, you were almost destined to go to an Ivy League like Yale, Harvard, or Princeton. You were almost set on journalism, so you empathized with the media, but you heart was set on your one true talent. You were offered a pretty large scholarship to Juilliard, but you still paid off your loans by booking dance-based modeling jobs. You still managed to take as many journalism classes as you could during your four years, so you knew exactly how to present yourself to the press. Most importantly, you knew Z would kill you if you didn’t make sure to inform the press that she would be coming just a little later. 

“Zendaya’s on her way, just running a little late. I’ve been pretty good, thank you so much for asking. How are you doing?” You kept a smile on your face as you spoke. Conversation came rather easy to you, and you really didn’t mind engaging in conversation with the press, they were just trying to pay their bills like everyone else. 

“Now, Y/n.”

“Yes, Stacey.”

“You must know what we all are wondering at this point?”

“And what would that be Stacey?” You giggled as you spoke.

“Is there a special someone in your life at the moment?” The press had finally gotten used to the face that you and Ansel were friends, and nothing more, but it opened the door to them investigating your life ruthlessly trying to find the man you just HAD to be hiding somewhere.

“No special someone at the moment, sorry Stacey, I’ve just been spending my time doing what I love and hanging out with my friends,” You heard a new swarm of press head toward a car, and felt Ansel tap you on the shoulder, knowing it could only be your best friend, “It was lovely talking with you Stacey, have a great night.” You gave her a sweet smile and walked with Ansel to greet your best friend. You gave Zendaya a quick hug and headed into the venue with her and Ansel on either side of you. It was a pretty venue, they had drinks and bar food spread out on tables with a sign saying when the doors to the theater would open. You grabbed yourself a glass of water and continued to chat with your friends. 

“Timothée wants us to sit by him in the theater.” Ansel spoke as your eyes snapped up from your drink to look at him. You choked on your water.

“Timothée...Chalamet?” You managed to get out through your coughs. Zendaya started to giggle.

“What? What’s wrong with Timothée? He’s the lead in the movie, the one who invited us.” Ansel said as he started to laugh along. As it clicked in your mind that he was the one Ansel went to high school with, your face started to turn red. You looked at Z, daggers within your eyes. 

“No...no, Z, I am begging you-” Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.

“Last night Y/n said, and I quote,” she turned to you as you pleaded with your eyes for her to just shut up, “‘Goddamn, Timothée Chalamet looks like he was carved by greek gods.’” You covered your face with your hands, mortified, “She almost had a panic attack when he followed her on Instagram.” 

“No fucking way, how could you not tell me?” Ansel fake gasped. 

“It’s a celebrity crush, Ansel, and it was a JOKE. That’s all, I don’t even know the guy.”  

“But you willllll...and you’re also a celebrity Y/n” he shimmied his shoulders.

“No. Absolutely not. We are not having this conversation. This shouldn’t even be a conversation. It was a joke, no way, subject, change it.” They hadn’t stopped laughing, and your face hadn’t turned back to it’s normal tone. Luckily a man came out to announce the theater was opening. Saved by the bell. Your group walked in first, waving at some of the friendly faces, past co-stars, colleagues, you name it. Your hand was shaking at the thought of meeting Timothée, it was jus a celebrity crush, a normal thing for girls and guys your age, and you’d dealt with this kind of thing before. The first time you’d met Dylan O’Brien you thought you might’ve fainted, but it was fine, it went normally, you just had to remind yourself he was a normal person. Little did you know, this is how other people thought of you, quite the concept. 

You felt Ansel nudge you as he pointed towards Timothée, who was thankfully facing in the other direction. He turned sideways and you caught a glimpse of his jawline.

“Greek. Gods.” You turned to Z and muttered in her ear. She started giggling at your words as you laughed with her, trying to ease your nerves.

“You guys have serious issues,” Ansel started to laugh with you as a calm voice broke through the laughter.

“Ansel! Hey!” Timothée made his way over to you guys. He looked amazing in his suit. He gave Ansel a hug and did the same with Zendaya as you soon realized you were the only one who hadn’t met him before, “This is Y/f/n Y/l/n.” 

“Hi, I’m Timothée,” He reached out to shake your hand and his dazzling green eyes met yours. He’s just a normal person, look he’s human, he’s just a normal person. You told yourself over and over again as you tried not to collapse. 

“Yes...it’s so nice to meet you. I love your work, Miss Stevens is one of my favorite movies,” he smiled as you spoke, “you were amazing in it. Your monologue towards the end of the movie was exceptional.” Ansel wiggled his eyebrows at you before turning and talking to Zendaya. You glared at him before returning to your conversation. 

“Thank you, you know I’m almost positive I saw you in Sleeping Beauty, at the Met Opera House?” Timothée admired the way your eyes lit up the second he mentioned the ballet.

“Yes, last year I played Princess Aurora in the production.” You’d relaxed at this point, noticing how easy he was to talk to. 

“It was incredible, my sister got tickets for Christmas and brought me with her. I saw the production at the Paris Opera Ballet when I was younger. I actually enjoyed yours a lot more.” You felt your skin heat up and realized you were starting to blush, still barely believing he knew who you were.  You giggled at his words.

“I don’t really think you can compare them. The one at the Paris Opera Ballet was actually my inspiration when rehearsing, I saw it when I was studying in Paris my sophomore year of college, but then I was quickly exposed to how different they are...” You both got to talking about the ballet, eventually drifting off into a conversation about how you both spoke French fluently, he was a natural born speaker, his dad having taught him French and English when he was growing up, and you had studied it since you were in elementary school, so you weren’t as fluent, but you could hold a conversation with a native speaker. You eventually drifted into conversation about the movie you were about to see, you expressed your excitement to see him in another movie role. He spoke about the filming process and how this was his first time back in New York since then. He spoke about how Armie couldn’t make it but he was so nice to work with. You spoke about a couple of the other movies you’d seen him in before being directed to your seats. You and Timothée didn’t sit right next to each other, you had Zendaya and Ansel in between you two. Ansel deserved time to catch up with his friend anyway. 

The film was incredible, and it broke you, you and Z sobbed together at the end as you laid your head on her shoulder. You all went out to dinner afterword, Timothée making fun of the mascara that had stained under your eyes. 

He fit quite well into your little friend group. He’d just come back from filming, so it was nice for him to have friends his age to spend time with, not to mention his publicist loved it. You all became really, really close. You and Timothée specifically, your little crush stayed, Ansel often making jokes about it to the both of you, which ruthlessly embarrassed you, but Timothée didn’t seem to mind, thinking it was funny how you thought he was attractive. The dating rumors drove the both of you insane. You were just friends, it’s what you were, all you were. You hadn’t dated anyone because of how busy you were, or at least that’s what you told yourself. You understood the rumors, you guys were really close, best friends. To say you hadn’t felt a tiny bit of anything else for him would be a lie, but you knew he didn’t feel the same way, and that was all you needed to just stay his best friend. He would put an arm around you, hold you while you cried when you were upset, and you’d do the same to him. He’d show up to your apartment randomly and bring you cookies. You were both very touchy people: you’d play with his hair, he’d give you hugs, and he’d rest a small hand on your back when entering public events, which the press went crazy over. It was the best kind of friendship.

It had almost been four months later where you found yourself in California, sitting right across from Ellen DeGeneres. 

“So, Y/n, come on...you and Timothée Chalamet?” She motioned to the screen, where a video of you two dancing to one of Ansel’s songs in his apartment from a couple weeks ago, before he left for Paris.

“Yes, he’s my best friend, one of the best people I’ve ever met.”

 “Well, I heard you two are going to be playing love interests in an upcoming movie?” You couldn’t believe you were asked to be on the Ellen show. You’d been on Jimmy Fallon before, which was extremely nerve-racking, but you made it through it, so you told yourself you could also get through being on the Ellen show, that was until she asked about Timothée.

“Timothée’s lovely, a gifted actor,” you were practically trained to shut down questions like this at this point, “and yes we are going to be starring in an upcoming film together, but we are not playing love interests. I can’t reveal too much, but it’s a coming of age film, set in Paris, where I am going to be headed pretty soon. Um...I’m watching my words here, not trying to spoil anything,” you giggled and motioned to the audience, “it’s lightly based off of Black Swan, which the original with Natalie Portman is one of my absolute favorite movies, and I’m playing a...dancer, of course,” you stuttered again, trying not to give away your character, “I’m only going to be shooting there for six weeks, and then I have to head back to New York for another project.”

“I’ve heard great things about the movie so far, you and Timothée both speak French so I’d assume Paris will be fun for you both?” 

“Yes I’m really looking forward to it. Timothée’s actually already in Paris, they needed him up there earlier since he’s playing a larger role and has more to prepare for. I just have to be there a week or two early to start dance rehearsals.”

“Now give us the inside scoop here, will we be seeing some dancing coming from Timothée?”

“Now you’ll just have to wait and see on that one,” you giggled as you thought of how Timothée might’ve been trained in performing arts, but he wasn’t exactly the best dancer, to be nice about it at least. 

“Well, I’m very excited to see it, you’re such a talented dancer. Y/f/n Y/l/n everyone!” You smiled to the crowd, “It was lovely having you.”

“Thank you so much, it was lovely being here.”

It had been nice being in an airport by yourself, you were wearing sunglasses to subtly hide you identity, but you hadn’t had any issues with fans. Not that you would mind that much, you were grateful for them. Your team wasn’t coming to Paris for another week, which drove your publicist, Kelsey, insane, but you cherished this moments alone, insisting you’d leave a week earlier to start rehearsing. The plane ride was nice, no crying babies or anything. When you asked for coffee on the flight, a flight attendant asked for your autograph, which you found very sweet. Your car service brought you to your hotel and you grabbed your bags. You waved your driver goodbye as you entered the building to check in. 

“Bonjour Mademoiselle,” (Hello Miss) the concierge smiled brightly at you. 

“Salut, je suis ici pour m'enregistrer.” (Hi, I’m here to check in/register.)

“Votre nom s'il vous plait?” (Your name please?)

“Y/f/n Y/l/n,” It had been maybe ten minutes and the time difference was already killing you. You were in California for a week and had just gotten used to the difference from New York, and now this one, you were worn out. You didn’t want to sleep on the plane because you knew it would throw off everything and you had rehearsals starting in two days. It was only 3:00PM in Paris, but in California, it was 6:00AM, which would mean you’d almost gone thirty-six hours without sleeping. Not to mention with a light blizzard warning, it was darker out than usual, making you extra drowsy. You gave the hotel your information and waited for your key.

“Hi Miss Y/l/n, I’m the manager here. I’m so sorry to inform you that there was an issue in our technical system due to the storm, so unfortunately we can’t check anyone else in until that is back up. It should be back up tomorrow morning. We can give you a refund and try to help you find a room for tonight in another hotel? I’m so sorry about this, Miss” you started to feel bad for the manager the more he spoke. All of the workers were probably struggling a lot with this storm, you couldn’t imagine how hectic tonight must be for them. You told them not to worry and you’d make a couple calls, but really in your head you were only getting more and more stressed. You were already exhausted, and this wasn’t what you needed. You called Kelsey and made a couple calls to other hotels in the area, but it seemed that the storm had shut most of the area down. After every disappointing phone call you made, you made sure to look back towards the desk and smile at the manager and concierge to calm them down even though you were on the brink of tears. You only had one other option. You typed Timothée’s number into your phone, having it memorized at this point. He answered after only one ring. 

“Y/n/n, I was about to call and see if your flight landed yet, I thought it might’ve been delayed with this storm,” you smiled as tears began to stream down your face, you were able to control your breath and let yourself sound as calm as you could. He was so sweet, he’d always been so sweet.

“Hey T, um...so yeah my flight has landed...” there was silence on the other side of the phone making you nervous, “...but because of the storm my hotel’s booking system is down or something, de toute façon, je ne peux pas m'enregistrer avant demain, (anyway, I can’t check in/register until tomorrow) or honestly who knows when because the storm is supposed to keep on for a while, I called a couple other hotels but-” you were rambling at this point with a voice that was growing shakier and shakier by the second. He must’ve sensed how stressed you were getting when he cut you off.

“No, Y/n are you fucking insane, you’re staying with me. What’s the name of the hotel, I’m gonna send a car.”

“I’m staying at the Four Seasons, but I can get a cab-”

“And stand out in the rain? I don’t think so. It’s only fifteen minutes away, I’m sending you a car.”

“Okay,” you sighed, “I’m really, really sorry.” It was the last thing you wanted to do: impose. You’d been extremely independent ever since you were younger, which was probably how you grew to not to rely on people. You’d always been extremely insecure on how you were affecting others, you really didn’t want to cause any trouble. 

“No, Y/n/n don’t apologize, I’ll see you soon okay?” his voice softened.

“Okay.” you hung up the phone and wiped off your eyes on your sleeve. You smiled and headed to the front desk, letting them know you would stay with a friend for tonight and come back tomorrow afternoon. 

You stood under the awning outside but the wind pushed the rain if your direction, soaking your head and shoulders. “Great.” You sighed to yourself.

A black vehicle pulled to the front of the hotel and a driver got out, asking if you were Y/n, you smiled and he opened the door for you to get in as he put your bags in the car. You sat uncomfortably, trying desperately not to get the seat wet from your hair. You’d stopped crying before you even stepped outside the hotel, but the rain had hit your face earlier, causing mascara to continue to run under your eyes. You rested your head up against the window and listened to the sound of the rain and the thunder. 

The car pulled up to the apartment building and you sighed as the driver grabbed your bags out of the trunk and checked you in, then put them on the elevator. He clicked the button for the second floor. You thanked him and tried to tip him, but he refused, saying any friend of Timothée’s is a friend of his. 

You arrived on Timothée’s floor, grabbed your bags and knocked on his door. 

AH LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKE IT IT TOOK ME SO FUCKING LONG

ALSO. PLEASE SOCIAL DISTANCE!!!!

#timothee chalamet #timothée chalamet imagine #timothée smut #timothée chalamet #timothée x reader #timothee x reader #timothée chalamet fluff #armie and timothée #Timothée Chalamet angst #Timothée Chalamet smut #zendaya #ansel elgort #just friends

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Reimeiroku Saito Final Chapter

have i ever mentioned how i’m a masochist when it comes to this stuff? like, i will freely admit how i actually don’t like translating and doing more unnecessary work, but I when I do something for myself, I tend to want a certain degree of quality.... which is why i decided i’d do some video editing for this... a decision that I really regret now though i can say that it’s something that i know hate more than photoshop lol. 

after i finished my yuugiroku 2 vid, i figured i might as well try to install Visual Novel Reader to see if that could offer me better visual and audio quality for this... but before I finished installing it, I went and checked what videos were available that I could use for assets and found a video made through vnr had about the same audio quality as to ppsspp... along with videos from someone other psp emulated version of this... which i then clipped for audio. 

between visual and audio quality... i’ll pick audio any day so after deciding that i’d be using some of the less grainy audio i found along with my ppsspp footage... i set to work trying to layer the tracks.... but since the audio didn’t match the visuals’ timing, I had to manually cut pieces of my screencap video up so that it matched the audio timing, while also making sure that the visuals looked like they were still continuous (damn  circle icon which wouldn’t go away and caused problems)... on top of which, i had to deal with removing a number of random black screens that would just flash on screen for less than a second when i ran reimeiroku through the ppsspp emulator.... then i also had to find the song that plays towards the ending of this cuz the audio i had cut before the end of my screencap vid which was also a pain because i couldn’t find the damn thing anywhere on youtube so i had to go find the game rip audio (thankfully i have a site for that. also in the game, that song doesn’t naturally fade out and i manually added in that effect cuz i felt like it and thought it was better than the audio just cutting off) so i could put that in and align it so that track matched the audio timing for the vita audio track.... and then i also had to do something about the interval where i had to increase and decrease volume since the end kept sounding off no matter what i did....tho i kinda think the video still sounds off in 2 places.

once i got all the damn visuals and text properly lined up, i gave up on having to deal with the the stupid circle icon in that was originally in the bottom right hand corner since i got pissed enough seeing it and cuz it was no longer continuously in motion so I decided to remove it entirely along with the auto-play icon (at this point im on about version 10 of the video).

then, to cover up the right side of the video, i figured that’d i’d just stuck up an image over top of that section.... but after several tries i gave up on that since every damn picture i imported regardless if that was a screenshot of the game or a screen capture of the video from the editing software itself, nothing would match the colour of the text box for some infuriating reason... which ultimately led to me redoing everything so i didn’t have the stupid text box then stringing together clips between those stupid bouncing icons to erase the damn thing entirely though i thankfully didn’t worry about the auto-play icon the second time around....

however, doing that in itself posed a whole new problem since what i could effectively clip was less than >0.5 seconds each time to create cropped video layers that would hide that stupid icon, and my comp reaaaaaallllly started to issues when i did more of this and when i copied and pasted too many of those millisecond clips together... it got to the point where i was waiting 15 minutes for about 4 seconds of copied hide-the-damn-icon-video-clips (or about 8 hours for 40 seconds worth)... which pretty much crippled my computer..... 

this resulted in me having insane amounts of segments that looked entirely like this^, which occurred whenever there was an icon to hide... or text shake for some reason.... which caused me to create +20 openshot files for editing...(btw this is 138 tiny clips over the span of 6 seconds)

in the end, over the course of a fucking month, which i can honestly say that me finishing this for today was a complete coincidence (i barely managed to finish Warframe’s Scarlet Spear event cuz of how bad this was lol), i lost count of many versions of this video I made sometime after I reached version #32, openshot crashed on me at least 15 times (gave up counting that too), and my laptop crashed twice.... 

after i finally finished my video, i thankfully didn’t spend that long on subtitles but it took me far longer than i’d have liked to get the damn positioning right since potplayer is annoying when it comes to single lines and i had to guess and check the positioning almost every other time for some strange reason whenever i had a single line... which was never a problem when i had 2 or 3 lines of text... but editing was a slight hassle cuz i wanted the text used to be as accurate as possible... and i checked 3 reimeiroku tls of this chapter and the JP mtl of a bunch of sentences just to be sure. 

anyway, thanks to doing all of this unnecessary torture, i am absolutely never going to ever be repeating this experience ever again even if someone pays me because video editing is a serous pain in the ass and I hate it more than photoshop (also why the hell does ppsspp have so many issues with reimeiroku when compared to yuugiroku 2)!!!

also, learned my lesson and didn’t write this post this after staying awake til an ungodly hour lol. my attention to basic grammar plummets like a rock if i stay up past 4 am.... so i decided to write out all my grievances beforehand.... and put my video for this at the very bottom cuz im terrible like that and want everyone who sees this to deal with a massive wall of text xD! suffer! suffer as i have dammit lol!

enjoy the fruits of my damn labour! i’ve passed the point of caring if there are errors in this so keep anything you notice to yourself!! goddammit i noticed something wrong that i couldn’t ignore... namely the chapter name and my credit.... fixed that now.

on a final note, it’ll probably be more than a year before I touch Reimeiroku again because of my commitment to what I am able to translate for SSL so don’t ask lol.... 

#hakuoki #hakuouki #Saito Hajime #Hakuoki Game Translation #Yukimura Chizuru #hakuoki reimeiroku #hakuouki reimeiroku #video post

[selectgym55]

The Measures Of Suitability Of WordPress To Your Business Website Development - Web Development (2)

This theme is ideal for building a blog and magazine websites. Flash Blog is a properly-documented free WordPress theme that's specifically created for skilled bloggers in addition to supreme for these who're aiming to become one. In addition to it is nicely optimized for its velocity too. This theme may also be used for company, development, agency, enterprise, legislation firms, spa, fitness, medical, schooling, etc. It is a speed optimized theme that is simple and simple to use so begin to build an ideal web site. The web page builders work effectively with this theme, and since it’s full width by default you possibly can simply build a landing page or one web page for visualizing your agency, enterprise, or a consultant company. WordPress provides an ultimate medium to share and publicize your work and creativity. The ultimate goal of your site is to generate more enterprise and hence select a theme that best represents you and your corporation. You thus got to listen to the plugins you activate on your net site. WordPress presents a plethora of plugins and themes so your mini-site and gross sales letters can look professional. 2. No coding required: No coding information is necessary to implement or start a website using these WordPress themes free download responsive with slider. This theme is beautifully designed that is perfect for beginner customers as it is constructed without any coding information. Nulled Plugin Blog Bank is an animated WordPress blog theme that is compatible with Gutenberg. Another one-web page block theme in our collection of Gutenberg WordPress themes is Absolutte, it was constructed with Gutenberg and Absolute plugin (a customized WordPress blocks collection). This theme consists of unlimited accent colours, associated posts, and posts nav, unlimited widget areas, 0-4 footer widget columns, nearly zero structure images, 0-1 sidebars to the left or proper, 300px fastened width sidebar, 2 flexible customized widgets, localization help, social links, logo add, rather more. As well as, the theme is optimized for Seo and hundreds fast so if you wish to make you've got a theme that the major search engines love as much as your visitors, the Travel Agency theme is a superb possibility. Some of the themes in official WordPress theme comes with the quality HTML, safety, privacy, customary WordPress options, security and much more. This content was created with the help of GSA Content Generator Demoversion! It comes with an eye catching design that can attract many visitors to your site which is a plus point for you. And is quick loading that is perfect for attracting guests to your site. Another thing that we like about this theme is that it enables you so as to add an infinite scroll to the positioning. And there's a number of house for adverts like AdSense and different ad packages. Also, you're going to get an superior help form the crew if there can be any difficulties with the theme in the future. You will get full assist from the team if there will be any difficulties whereas utilizing the theme sooner or later. The theme is totally responsive on all the display screen that may give a great expertise whereas utilizing it. Now you may want to learn how to make a website using our free WordPress themes. You would possibly come throughout different companies, offering greatest website development companies from a wordpress programmer. It has membership functionality and integrates with shopping carts and electronic mail auto responder services. Other options include a full-display screen slider, a header picture, an Instagram slider widget, footer menus, and it’s translation-prepared. At the same time, all the time-honored blogger theme parts are still there for you: specify put up detailed data, add vivid header photographs to your posts and provides full play to the 3 menu places available. This theme is perfect for fulfilling all of your needs who want to construct a weblog for publishing online content, write blog posts on completely different matters. The language help is powerful for connecting with extra readers outside of your language, and the threaded comments get users chatting about your posts. And you're going to get full assist from the workforce for solving your problems. The theme comes with the devoted assist staff for solving your every downside. This theme is highly flexible as it comes with many helpful features. This theme comes with extensive features resembling Google Maps compatibility, contact plugins, translation prepared, and multilingual functionality. The theme comes with superior colors and layouts that may help to make your site enticing. This theme comes with distinctive toggle sidebars which will give you an awesome looking and reading expertise on all of the units. The page speed of this theme could be very good which is needed to present a great experience for your customers as well as good on your site’s rating.

#theme #plugin #wordpress

[yurimother]

Where to Legally Read Digital Manga

As you may have seen Manga Rock, the manga scan piracy site, announced that they would be shutting down. Like other piracy sites, Manga Rock published its content without permission, and none of the proceeds went to the creators or publishers. These scans can drastically hurt manga creators, as they prevent the sale of volumes and can limit a work’s potential to get licensed overseas (companies may not license works if free copies are already available).

As fans, we need to support manga creators. Many of these creators do not make a lot of money, especially in niche genres, and can have high costs because of freelance status in Japan. There are ways to do this and still be able to enjoy your favorite manga digitally. Most manga that is released physically is released digitally as well and many titles are only published digitally, as this is cheaper. 

Here are places that you can legally acquire and read digital manga

As I will be linking to the sites/apps the post will likely be suppressed from tags, so please share it.

Amazon Kindle: You can purchase digital copies of numerous manga from Amazon to read via the Kindle app on your desktop or mobile device

Google Play: Google offers a wide selection of manga titles which can be purchased and read on Google Books or the Play Books app

iBooks: Apple’s digital selection of manga for you to purchase and read on IOS devices

ComicWalker: Kadokawa’s manga platform with many titles available for free and even more at a low cost. Just select English from the menu at the top of the screen.

Bookwalker (Global): Book Walker offers manga and light novels digital at reasonable prices with frequent deals. They have a HUGE selection so be sure to check it out.

ComiXology: Comixology offers a massive selection of manga (as well as comics and graphic novels) for readers to purchase. For $5.99 a month you can subscribe to their Unlimed plan and read thousands of works and get discounts of more. As Comixology is owned by Amazon, Kindle purchases can be read on the app/site as well.

Manga Club: Manga club offers hundreds of manga chapters in English for free with no registration and many more with “tickets”, requiring registration, that can be earned daily. The rest of their work, especially more recent or mature works, can be purchased with purchased “coins.”

Renta: Renta specializes in romance manga, including Boys’ Love and Yuri. Works can be purchased outright with money or points, which can be purchased and earned from buying manga. They have both options to buy and rent, which allows works to be viewed for 48 hours at a reduced price.

Futekiya: Futekiya is an online manga subscription service for Boy’s Love manga. Their wide and growing selection of manga can be read for $6.99 a month.

eManga: eManga sells digital manga via their storefront and allows you to download your purchased works in a variety of formats. 

Lilyka: From the people behind eManga, Lilyka specializes in adapting Yuri (Girls’ Love) manga into English. Titles purchased on the site are yours to download in a variety of formats.

Juné: Juné is exactly like Lilyka, but for Boys’ Love (Yaoi). Titles are purchased individually and available to download in a wide verity of formats.

Netcomics: Netcomics hosts manga, webtoons, manhwa, and more on their site. While they have some free works, others are published and can be purchased chapter by chapter (at a low cost).

J-Novel Club: J-Novel Club is a light novel publisher. While they sell their titles on many digital storefronts, they also offer a Membership subscription ($4.95 a month) that allows subscribers to read light novels as they are translated and a Premium Membership ($10.95 a month), that gives subscribers a credit for one Ebook a month.

Shonen Jump: Run by the publisher Viz, Shounen Jump offers the hit shonen series from the magazine of the same name with new chapters being simulpubed with the Japanese releases. While there is a limited free selection, the entire library is available for $1.99 a month.

Crunchyroll: The anime streaming site Crunchyroll offers a selection of manga sumupubs that can be enjoyed with your Crunchyroll subscription at no additional cost. Some chapters are also available for free (with ads). 

Manga Plus: Manga Plus is run by the Japanese publisher Shueisha and they publish a ton of their hit shonen manga for free on the site and app including simulpubs.

Please share and add to the list with more digital manga services that legally license their works to support creators

Here is a post with just the list and no intro: https://yurimother.com/post/187479036529

#manga #legal #localization #comics #list #read #share #yuri #yaoi #shounen #anime #doujin #doujinshi #amazon #apple #google #tech #digital #manga rock

[kattahj]

Thoughts on The Last Wish (the first Witcher book)

Fair warning: this is decidedly mixed and with plenty of show-book comparisons that aren't always in the book's favour (though sometimes they are).

I wasn't at all sure that I wanted to read the Witcher books. I may love the TV show, but the question "Would I like to read a version of this written by a dude in the 80s and 90s, with less focus on the female characters, and the kind of fanboys who throw a hissy fit when black people appear on screen?" was answered with "well, maybe". Especially when I started The Last Wish and got anonymous boobs (in the faaaaace) on page 1.

But I kept reading and I kind of enjoyed myself.

See, I'm a sucker for twisted fairy tales, and a large portion of this book consists of such twisted fairy tales. We get full chapters for Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Hans-My-Hedgehog, as well as nods to Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, The Billy Goats Gruff, and probably more stuff that I've forgotten.

And yeah, it's action-heavy to the point of stupidity, and there's a lot of casual misogyny, but it's still fun. Even if it's fun I sometimes hate myself for having.

Take the Beauty and the Beast chapter as an example. On one hand, the Beast is cursed while he rapes a priestess, and his true love is a homicidal vampire who has to die (graphically, with a stake between her breasts) for him to turn back. On the other hand, there's a lot of fun anecdotes about how merchants send their daughters to the Beast's castle as a way for them to earn some money before they marry someone else, and it's also fun to read about what a loser Beast is. But I do think there's a reason this one was the only adventure not to make it into the TV show (yet).

And Renfri may be an uncomfortable mix of murderer, victim, and fuck buddy, but I can't help it, I still enjoy reading about a Snow White who curses every other sentence and shacks upp with robbers. (I'm really sad Marilka isn't in the book, though. I liked that cheerfully psychopathic little girl.)

It's interesting that the circumstances around their battle are different from the show. Stregobor has locked himself away, and through stuff people tell Geralt about Renfri's gang, he realizes that she means to capture people at the market and give Stregobor an ultimatum: come down to be killed, or she'll murder the civilians one by one until he does. So Geralt kills off her entire gang to protect the town, and then Renfri returns, saying that Stregobor just laughed at her and wouldn't come down. The two of them fight, and as she dies she tries to trick him into holding her so she can kill him. So, yeah, book Renfri is a piece of work and Geralt's moral dilemma is a little bit lighter on him.

In general, the tone is a lot more outright humourous than in the TV show. There are still serious moments, but they're fewer and further between. It's also a lot chattier. There is a LOT of dialogue - Geralt is more talkative, and so is everyone else. It works fine for written text, but so much of it is exposition or random jokes that I understand why they'd cut it for the screen.

The stories are more expanded upon than they are on screen, which of course in many cases lead to much needed and appreciated context. In others, I quite like the changes made for TV. The situation with the elves, for instance, originally depend on a rather Deus ex machina type of solution - I prefer the way the TV elves and Geralt talked things out. (Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the way the book has the Sylvan and Jaskier playing music together afterwards. That was cute.) But then, the scene in the show is more hopeful that there can be a way for the elves to survive and both species to coexist. In the book, it's more, "Yup, you're all going to die, and that sucks, but humans are racist fucks and there's nothing to be done about that."

The stories are still told non-chronologically, though the system of doing so is a bit easier than what the show does - there are standalone adventures and then a frame story inbetween of Geralt recuperating at the temple, with each adventure tying into some aspect of his stay there. I quite like these slower parts, they're much needed between all the monster fighting. But as I understand it, the first four adventures were originally published in magazines, and the frame story and final two adventures were added later. I do think it shows, as the mood is different, and the last two adventures also more tied into Geralt's background and relationships than the others.

It does get a bit weird that Geralt's relationship with Yennefer, and her desire to have a child, are detailed at length through dialogue with the priestess Nenneke before we even meet Yennefer in the final chapter, but I guess this is an effect of how the stories were published. This part of the book was published after Sword of Destiny, and I'm assuming we get more of Yennefer there, and that most of the readers would already have encountered her by the time we get this. Nevertheless, when read like this, it's clunky.

OTOH, there actually isn't an orgy going on when Geralt meets Yennefer, so I'm not sure why the show added that. In the book there are only erotic statues, and a very naked, very seductive Yennefer. I still got a bit of a "yikes" vibe from the scene, though, especially since it's the first introduction in person to her (after the exposition), while in the show we've already known her for several episodes at that point. And then we get a bit about how as a sorcerer she can be attractive but never truly beautiful, because sorcerers are ugly women who are made pretty by magic and thus she has "an ugly woman's evil and cold eyes". Double yikes.

Interestingly, where show Yennefer hates that Geralt has tied their destinies together, book Yennefer is totally charmed by it.

Jaskier is even dimmer than he is in the show and not half as endearing. His second wish to the djinn is another "yikes" moment. In the show he wishes for his lover to return to him "with open arms, a cheerful heart, and very little clothing", which is already a bit iffy, but in the book he wishes that a countess who rejects every man will let him fuck her, which is... oy. But that's par for the course for these stories, unfortunately. :-(

I do enjoy the gentle ribbing Jaskier and Geralt have going on. Their relationship feels a lot more mutual. I hope to see more of that in season 2.

I also hope to see Nenneke, who is a matronly priestess from the frame story who treats Geralt with a combination of contempt, tenderness, and medical care. 

I don't know what could be made of Iola, who is, as it later turns out, the owner of the anonymous pair of breasts on page 1. She's a younger priestess who has given a vow of silence, which means she gets to fuck Geralt and listen to his tales without ever interrupting by telling him anything about herself, or indeed having any sort of personality. I honestly don't know if that character could ever be made palatable, but I kind of half want to see them try.

And yeah, it IS pretty noticeable that the three female characters in the book who are most unambiguously good (Iola, Lille, Pavetta) have next to no dialogue.

The Swedish translation mostly works well. Sometimes there's dialect and/or archaic language, usually for humorous effect, not enough of it to be irritating. (And I'm guessing that's in the original as well.) Jaskier is called Riddarsporre (Larkspur) in translation, which I'm sort of fine with. It's certainly better than them ignoring diacriticals and thus calling the horse Plotka, which means rumour - the original name is Płotka, which as we all know means Roach. Different words! (Translated to Swedish, Płotka would be Mört, which isn't a GREAT name, admittedly.)

I can kind of see why these stories, testosterone-laden as they are, would have a bunch of annoying fanboys. At the same time I find their "but people CAN'T be black, it's SLAVIC FOLKLORE!" whining even more annoying now. Grimm Brothers aren't Slavic folklore, and without black people we wouldn't have my favourite Cinderella film (dude, the conniptions they'd have over the genetic mix in THAT royal family). Furthermore, Skellige in this version is ridiculously Irish. Like, so Irish I'm surprised it's not populated by leprechauns. Though they also have bagpipes, so maybe Gaelic is a better term. The Elvish language seems to be a mix of Romanic, Germanic and Gaelic languages. (Their name for themselves, Aen Seidhe, is of course related to the Irish aes sidhe, and the Sylvan is Roman.) And of course djinni and ifriti are Middle Eastern (though Aladdin is set in China in some versions). So it's pretty much "put all myths and fairytales in a pot and stir." And that’s fine, but you don’t get to be all “MINE! NO ONE CAN HAS!” about it.

To be fair, I can also see why people who AREN'T annoying assholes would be fans of these books. Especially if they can compartmentalize the sexism, alternatively lived in the 80s when even children's shows had lots of bikini babe extras. There's a lot of rather rowdy fun to be had, and some tenderness.

And yes, I have ordered the second book from the library. (Ebook sadly only available in Finnish. So if you live in Sweden and speak Finnish, you're in luck!)

#the witcher

[angelademille]

Public Release 0.1522.2 - Story Updates, Spanish Translation & General Polish

Hi, everyone!

This past month has had me making little improvements and additions to the game that didn't involve an awful lot of writing. Not that there isn't any new written content, but most of what we're looking at here is a lot more art (including a proper title screen at last!) and something I'm particularly happy about: The beginnings of a Spanish localization for Penlight!

It's in its early stages, and you need to go through the game's menus to get to it, but the first two in-game days are now available to play in a second language, and I'd be thrilled if it helps to open up the game to new readers. There'll be more to come, with the hope of making the game fully dual-language in the near future!

As for the rest of the new content, there are now four new CGs spread across the game, and if you check out Hiroko's and Nozomi's newest storylines again you'll find they've had some more work done to their script, with Hiroko's now written to a full conclusion and Nozomi's having her ending tweaked among other things.

There's more little writing updates here and there (check the update notes), but like I said not an awful lot of new writing here. Just little incremental updates that hopefully make the overall game just a little bit better.

For next month I'm cracking on with a storyline I left hanging some time ago while the art upgrades continue. Plus we should see more progress with the Spanish localization. Stay tuned!

What's New

Fully written the scenes for Hiroko's newest storyline

Penlight is now partially playable in Spanish! Language select is available via the preferences menu, and Spanish text is present for the first two in-game days

Replaced the placeholder title and main menu screens with new art

Added a new CG scene for Nozomi's main (Trance path) ending

Added a new CG scene for Hiroko's route

Added a new CG to the start of Sayori's route

Added a new CG for the ending of the Villainous Devotion route

Made numerous edits throughout Nozomi's Trance path storyline, including some changes to the final scenes

Added a few new background musics. They play during Nozomi's Trance path

Replaced the outline for two of Nozomi's Trance path sub-paths with proper writing

Numerous edits to previously-written scenes in Hiroko's new storyline

Tweaked the Villainous Devotion route script slightly, and altered the ending a tad

Added a tiny bit more outlining for the Villainous Redemption path

Played with the menu colours a bit so they work with the new title screen better

Android Version: Added an option to the UI allowing players to hide the UI until the screen is touched again

The legacy sprite option has now been removed as maintaining them in the game was causing too many issues

Word count is now over 200,500!

Miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

Known Issue

Changing the language on a line of script where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error

#visual novel #hypnosis #mind control #indiedev #vndev #renpy #hypnotism #hypnokink

[kmp78]

DISCLAIMER AND RULES

These are the UPDATED directions/guidelines for all who want to participate/contribute to this blog. Our topics of conversation revolve mostly around 30 Seconds to Mars/the Leto Bros, but we have been known to also discuss various other current events around the world.

By reading, and especially by contributing, on what goes on around this blog, you are willingly agreeing with all guidelines and directions I have mentioned below - no exceptions.

I am willing to give a space to those who wish to discuss Mars (or other topics), and I am washing my hands from any and all fuckery that may ensue from other people´s opinions.

Also worth mentioning: I am fully aware that some people who publicly and very vocally denounce any interest in either this blog or Mars gossip lurk around this blog and then spread shit elsewhere on the internet. 

By doing that, you are essentially outing yourself as a quiet kmp78 admirer, so to speak. 

Or a fangirl, if that suits better. 🤗

Alright then... READ.

1.  This blog is laced with sarcasm, jokes, stupid and often very dark humor and PERSONAL OPINIONS - both mine and the people who participate in our conversations. This is not CNN, BBC or even Fox News - this is a personal blog run by a (sort of) fan. Not someone with inside information, and not someone whose opinions and views should be taken too seriously, and definitely not as gospel. I have no direct access to anyone in the Mars organization, and I do not work for them.

2. Nor do I work for YOU. This may be a blog which is mainly used for discussions about all things Mars and all opinions and topics are welcome, but the only one in charge is ME. I decide if a message gets published, if a message gets edited, if a message gets deleted - and if the sender gets blocked.

And not that it really needs to be said, but here goes anyway: I do not work for any Leto troll either.

3. And speaking of blocking: 

those who send threats or offensive messages will be blocked, as will anyone who I deem block-worthy. Rest assured, I never block anyone without a reason, so if you should discover that you have been blocked, that means I had a reason. I may or may not inform publicly when a person has been blocked, depends on my mood.

4. Everyone who sends messages is responsible for their own words - I do not accept any blame for other people´s opinions. Misunderstandings by accident or on purpose are not my headache. If I suspect a message will potentially cause unnecessary problems or annoyance for me, I will not post it (or will edit it), and  I don´t owe anyone any explanations as to why I´m not posting it. I may explain, or not - that´s up for me to decide. 

In any case, as I said: I will not take responsibility for anyone else´s words other than mine, and screaming at me over here or elsewhere online regarding comments someone else made and I posted...

Well, that´s just infantile. 🙄

5. All opinions are welcome, positive AND negative. A positive opinion does not automatically make you a sheep, and a negative opinion does not automatically make you a hater. 

Readers to this blog should be adult enough to handle both sides.

6. Calling women sluts or whores is not ok here. 

You also need to be able to tell the difference between calling a woman a whore and calling a Leto a whore. If you can´t understand the difference, then get out immediately.

SPECIAL CLAUSE:

the term “YACHT GIRL” when used in connection with an actually legit model who YOU ARE JEALOUS OF BECAUSE SHE GETS TO BONE A MAN YOUR FLABBY LOINS BURN FOR, actually is the equivalent of you calling her a whore, so kindly DO NOT.

Use whatever brain cells your parents genes bestowed upon you and make them at least somewhat proud. That should hopefully partially make up for the disappointment they most probably are already feeling knowing you actually read and participate in this shit.

7. What is also not ok is accusing people of crimes, calling them psychopaths, or threatening others with physical violence etc. - not even sarcastically or as jokes.

Think of it this way: 

when typing your message, if at any point you think that what you are writing might come across differently or more seriously to the person reading it than to you while writing it - then do not write it. Any innuendo about people´s potential “social diseases” is not welcome either, and neither are accusations of “obsessions” and people “stalking” the men this blog is focused on. Be VERY careful when using these terms. 

YOU are responsible for your own words. I cannot stress that enough.📣

8. We use a lot of initials and nicknames in our conversations - for a reason. 

Do not use people´s real names in messages. 

If you do not know who a particular person is, please come ask via chat (directions on how to use the chat feature can be found here). I may or may not blur out a name in a message if I think it´s necessary.

9. I post a lot of pics, gifs - and most of them are found from Google using various search terms, and sadly have no tags or indications as to who is the owner/maker. I don´t own any of the pics or gifs, or videos for that matter either (except the ones I have made and labeled as my own). If you find something of yours posted and prefer not to have it up or to have your name added as credits, please let me know and I will remove it.

As for links to either newspaper articles, IG accounts, other blogs or the like: you can find credits to the sources by either clicking on the links, or if I have decided to post screen caps, in the pics themselves. Again, I do not write articles or make videos and very, very rarely post anything other than other people´s comments - after all, this is prominently a discussion blog now. Opinions/messages from other people represent THEIR views and thoughts, my views/thoughts can be seen in my answers (in case of submits or multi-part messages, you will find my contributions to the message after this sign: ***).

To make this very clear: we don´t make news here, we discuss them.

10. When sending submits, if you are unsure of others potentially seeing your “ID”, please mention in your message that you want to remain anon and I will post it anon. Also please remember tho that there is no such thing as complete anonymity - so be careful when writing down your thoughts. Censor yourself if necessary - don´t make problems for me or others, or yourself.

11. I use Statcounter on this blog, which means I can see IP addresses from people visiting this site. However I choose to use that information is up to me, so if you are scared shitless of being outed due to your own actions/words, then DO NOT COME HERE.

If I out your IP, then there is a reason for it.

Don´t give me reasons if you want to remain in the shadows.

(And same goes for chat messages btw: don´t pretend to be my friend in private, but then turn your back and stab me in it in public. More often than not I WILL find out, and if I choose to then out your bullshit by posting private messages, THAT´S ALL YOUR OWN DOING, KIDDOS.

Play nice with me and you have nothing to worry about.

Start kicking dirt in my face and...🤷‍♀️

12. If you are addressing your message directly to someone (= other than me), please say so CLEARLY in your message, for example by starting your message with “For anon who said...”, or something along those line. I have had it with misunderstandings and unnecessary messes due to unclear messages! BE SPECIFIC!

13. ONLY write either in English or Finnish. I won´t waste my time on Google Translate, I have enough on my plate as it is and your weirdo mongrel lingos are boring as hell anyway.

14.  DO NOT SEND MESSAGES WITH THE SOLE PURPOSE OF STIRRING UP SHIT - OR TO INSULT OTHER COUNTRIES OR NATIONALITIES. That would rank quite high the PATHETIC categories...

15. I won´t post content from so-called private/non-celeb accounts such as Leto trolls (= VK for example IS a celeb so whatever she posts is most deffo getting posted, but anything posted by Lesser´s harem probs won´t be).

16. READ PREVIOUS MESSAGES! READ PREVIOUS MESSAGES! READ PREVIOUS MESSAGES! READ PREVIOUS MESSAGES! READ PREVIOUS MESSAGES! 

I´m beyoooooooond bored answering the same questions over and over again, sometimes in the space of just a few hours! The archives and search option are available on my blog for a reason! USE THEM. 😠

17. When sending messages containing info or “receipts” or whatever it may be that you think we should be made aware of, either clearly state WHERE that info can be found and WHO you are talking about. Do not simply send a message a´la “VK can be seen on Monica´s/Richard´s/Beatrice´s IG”. We don´t know who these people are! You may, but we don´t! I do not follow a single model or fashion industry creeper on social media so FIRST NAMES mean fuck all to me. GIVE FULL DETAILS OR SHUT THE FUCK UP. 

18. IF I SAY A TOPIC IS OFF-LIMITS, THEN YOU WILL RESPECT THAT.

19. I usually try to post messages in the same order they have been sent - with a few exceptions: 

If a situation arises which calls for “immediate attention” (new troll pics or other sudden Mars-related activity, for example), I may leave older messages for later and focus on newer ones first. Also when I am operating on my mobile, I am often unable to post certain messages (videos etc.), so those will be left for later when I am back to an actual computer. 

20. More often than not, tumblr fails to deliver messages to my inbox. If you suspect that yours has not been delivered, please send it again. I don´t mind getting duplicates.

21. If I feel that a message offers no relevant or needed content, I won´t post it. For example, a message such as “JL & XX in Japan bang bang” is unnecessary and pointless and not worth posting. I only have 250 allowed posts per day, and on busy days I have to make judgments on what is worthy of posting and what is not. I apologize if I therefore have to skip some messages. 

When I run out of allowed posts here, I will let everyone know that I am switching over to use the secondary blog which can be found at @kmp78secondaryblog

(PLEASE NOTE: That blog is ONLY used when we run out of room here, and I never go there unless I have to so please don´t send any messages to that blog unless I inform we have to move there!)

AND FINALLY PLEASE REMEMBER:

THIS IS A FANDOM FOR A BAND. NOT A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH. ACT ACCORDINGLY.

Creating hater accounts dedicated to POSTING PICTURES OF MY BLOODY EYEBALL (that btw actually happened because of course it did! This is the echeLOOOOOON after all! 👍) won´t make me quit this blog, so...

Yeah.

Anyway, for further information, please contact me via private message here, on my IGs, or at [email protected].

Thank you. 🙏

PS: In case you run into accounts/comments made under my tumblr “identity”, or otherwise unauthorized “kmp78″ activity outside of tumblr which you recognize as being linked to this blog in any way (such as my posts being tagged with JL´s tags etc.), please report them immediately, both to the admins of the sites you found these accounts on, and to me directly so I can take appropriate action, thanks.

Any of my personal pics taken from this blog have been taken without permission and I have never and will never give permission to post them anywhere. And when I say I “appropriate action”, I mean just that. If need be, I will be contacting the authorities, like I did when I received public death threats. 

Be very aware that my tolerance for that is less than zero - and also be aware that these guidelines and my rules may change whenever I feel the need to change them.

#DEAL ✌️

#updated rules #updated regulations #read and learn #think you can? #i don´t have high hopes #dumbfuckchelon

[vladfromparis-blog]

Complete Translation of the interview in La Charente Libre dated April 11:

-Wes Anderson is back for 4 days in Angoulême. He turns the last scenes of The French Dispatch. He has exclusively agreed to answer CL's questions. Meeting with an elegant filmmaker. He is a rare man. Discreet. Even if it has fueled all Angouleme's conversations in the last six months. Wes Anderson celebrated the end of the French Dispatch shoot with great fanfare in mid-March. Yet he is back for four days. Wednesday evening, in the salons of the hotel Saint-Gelais, his adopted home, he agreed to answer an exceptional few questions from Charente Libre and enlighten this Angoumoisine sequence of his life.

-Beige costume, colorful scarf, it is a handshake, pay attention to call his interlocutors by their first name. The director may be of Texan origin, he displays a very British elegance. He is talkative, prefers to answer in English for more accuracy in his intention. In a few minutes the ice is broken

-Why come back a few days to Angoulême? We had additional scenes to shoot. I spent the day [Wednesday, ed.] With students from the city for a dance scene. A Parisian choreographer was brought in to set the sequence. We also rebuilt a café in the studios for another scene.

-It seems that other prestigious actors are added to the credits? Rupert Friend (Homeland) makes me the friend to come and Alex Lawther (Imitation Game). But still not Brad Pitt, I'm sorry for those who thought to see him in the film. I shot with him, a few years ago, an ad for Japan. This is the only time we have worked together.

-Since we are talking about the cast, the one you managed to get together is pretty incredible. I have a lot of actors with whom I have been working for a long time. I'm lucky they agree to come even for a short appearance. But I had never worked with Benicio Del Toro, Timothy Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri or Guillaume Gallienne who was great. And it's amazing to have someone like Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Bastard) who agrees to come for a scene. Thanks to him, she is better.

-One of our readers was astonished in our columns that you did not find anything better than Angouleme. She did not believe that you traveled all over France before choosing. So tell us why here? We did a great tour of France in search of a city that could be a district of Paris, like Menilmontant, Belleville or Montmartre. Angoulême has a beautiful architecture. The old town is preserved with its stairs, bridges and different levels.

-That was enough to seduce you? The studio in the old factory in Gond-Pontouvre also weighed in the decision. For it to be perfect, it lacked a prison decor that we found at Ruelle. Finally, here it is quiet, so ideal for making a movie.

- How did the actors react, like Bill Murray, when you told them that it was happening in Angoulême?   They did not know. But Bill loved it. He was to come only once. He insisted on coming back. The second time, he stayed a week for a single day of filming. The hotel Saint-Gelais is for many. I needed a place like this to bring the actors together and the team feel good. And it was easy to bring them to the TGV.

-You have largely drawn from the local pool for figuration? Yes, it was pretty spectacular. We searched for a long time because, contrary to usage, we all see them in the image. They are important. That's why I wanted to cast them one by one.

-And you meet Mauricette Couvidat?

-Ah, Mauricette! I have never seen anyone being appreciated by all comedians so fast. She is a star! She has a powerful voice that gives her a great presence. She is a wonderful, very professional person, whereas she had never made films. When I saw the video shot in her downtown pharmacy, I knew she could not be a mere extraswoman.

-Your team was omnipresent in the city and yet it was a very secret shoot, why such a mystery? When I shoot I do not want any advertising, except when the movie comes out of course. I must evolve in calm and in intimacy. It's always hard to talk about a movie before it's released. The story is not easy to explain

-And precisely, what is the story? An American journalist based in France creates his magazine. It is more a portrait of this man, of this journalist who fights to write what he wants to write. It's not a movie about freedom of the press, but when you talk about reporters you also talk about what's going on in the real world.

-The mayor of Angouleme, Xavier Bonnefont, has the idea to keep some sets to expose them? It's a nice idea. Usually, they are destroyed. I find it interesting to keep them and make them available to the public.

-And what do you say to Angoumoisins ( name of the inhabitants) offended by the name of the city in your film: Ennui-sur-Blasé?  Blasé is the name of the river. He had been found before choosing Angouleme. For anglophones, it sounds funny. But that the Angoumoisins do not take offense, Angoulême plays a big role in the film.

-You share your life between New York and Paris, when will a house in Angouleme? I saw beautiful places that's true. I particularly like the Bardines Hotel, rue de Beaulieu, which belongs to the Fougère family. I hope they will not be embarrassed that I'm talking about their house. But it is incredible, it dominates Angouleme.

-

Last question, when will we be able to see the film on the big screen? I do not know the release date. I never know but I feel he could be ready before the end of the year.

#wes anderson #timothée chalamet #timothee chalamet #the french dispatch movie

[rlxtechoff]

#IFTTT #Blogger

[templified]

Best WordPress eCommerce Themes for Selling Products Online

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Best WordPress eCommerce Themes for Selling Products Online

When searching for the best WordPress eCommerce themes, there’s a lot of options.  For many, it can be time consuming to wade through all of these themes to find a real gem.  That’s why we’ve done all the hard work for you, creating this collection of incredible WordPress eCommerce themes that look great and perform even better.

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform anywhere, powering almost one third of the web.  Many of those websites are eCommerce sites and no matter which eCommerce plugin you use, WordPress can handle the job with ease.  Some folks swear by WooCommerce, some by Easy Digital Downloads.  Some go with Cart66 or the eCommerce Shopping Cart.  That list isn’t exhaustive, there are tons of other carts available like Ecwid, PayPal, Ecommerce WD or the Selz eCommerce Shopping Cart.  Whatever you choose, this list of themes is going to rock your world. With that massive rise in popularity, there’s been an equal rise in the number of WordPress themes available to choose from.  Some of these themes are incredibly useful and highly functional.  Some are not so good.  We’ve set about trying to find the very best themes and put them in this collection.

Every one of these themes is totally responsive and they each offer a little something different in terms of style, functionality and features.  I hope there’s something for everybody in this incredible collection.

Oxygen

Oxygen is one of the best simple, clean and elegant themes I’ve ever seen. This Oxygen theme can be used for nearly any type of eCommerce site. Fashion or electronic gadgets, hand crafted gifts or jewelry, it hardly matters what kind of product you’re selling. The overall style is so clean and fresh, your products will look incredible.  It’s a very big challenge running your own online store so Oxygen helps you make the most of your precious time by making it whole process of managing your store as easy as possible.  You have tons of options to create a custom look for your store with multiple headers, almost unlimited typography choices, unique layouts and more.  Oxygen has been sold over 3,000 times and it’s rating is 4.86 so you can tell this is a high quality theme.

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Oshine

Oshine is a theme that gets a lot of attention on ThemeForest and I think it deserves to.  There are a lot of reasons why and we’ll get into a lot of them.  This theme is a true multipurpose theme with dozens and dozens of demo sites to show what Oshine is capable of.  There’s a photography demo site that comes with just about every theme, right?  Well Oshine gives you several, there’s a minimalist style, a full screen photography style, designer portfolio and ‘new style’ portfolio and video agency portfolio and a bunch more too.  There are plenty more, creative agencies, modern business, restaurant and café sites, winery, gym, multiple different creative agencies, app landing pages, wedding templates too.  You get a ton of demo sites and every one is eCommerce ready to help you start your online shop.

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Material

Material is a nicely crafted theme that uses WooCommerce, or the shopping cart of your choice, to allow you to sell most any type of product you want.  It was designed with electronics stores and gadget sellers in mind, but why stop there?  Any online store that wants a clean, sleek look will love this theme.  Responsive, well organized and modern, Material is the kind of theme that can be adjusted to fit the look of an existing brand.  So if you already have a brick and mortar presence and you’re looking to expand to eCommerce, this theme can really help you get the job done.  Material’s developer, JWS Themes, has fantastic support and documentation to go with all their themes and Material is no exception.  They’ve included a lot of nice touches like one click demo data installation, three pre-made homepages, a robust theme options panel and tons more.  Worth checking into!

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Chamomile

Chamomile is one of my favorite themes by BluChic.  If you don’t know about BluChic, you really do need to check out BluChic’s entire collection of themes, they’ve got some fantastic feminine style WordPress themes.  Each one is easy to use, great for blogs.  More than a few also offer eCommerce solutions to get you into the game of selling products.  BluChic calls Chamomile the ‘girl next door’ theme.  I love that description, but let’s get into more of the features.  You can obviously see it’s a feminine style blog theme that could be great for a wedding planner or event coordinator, but there’s more than meets the eye.

Chamomile includes PSD design files with every download, that allows for full style control of your site.  Chamomile is responsive, so it’s optimized for mobile devices.  You want to adjust colors?  Easily done vial the color wheel color picker.  No coding needed.  Upload your header logo and add a featured slider, if you want to.  Social media icons are included, linked to each of your social network accounts via the theme options panel.  Add a stick menu and choose from one of the many layouts that are included with your download package.  A full featured, feminine and stylish theme, that’s what Chamomile is all about.

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Slikk

Slikk was designed by Wolf Themes, a developer with well over 20,000 sales on ThemeForest so far and they’re sure to add to that total with Slikk.  They create world class themes and plugins for all sorts of folks in all kinds of industries.  Slikk has several homepage demo sites, I’ve included a couple of them above.  There’s a lookbook home page, coming soon countdown clock page, blogs, grid shops, plenty of internal pages and so much more.  Oh, fine, here’s one more, it’s called the presentation panel.

For more outstanding fashion WordPress themes, you should really have a look at our collection. We’ve got dozens of the very best fashion themes around and we keep adding to that collection as often as we find a new great looking theme that. You can really stretch your legs in that collection, finding pleasurable and encouraging themes that can make your readers jump for joy. Or maybe it’s minimalist WordPress themes you’re searching for?  Either way, our collections of themes are the biggest and best on the web, so you’ll definitely find something you love in one of them.  Style is incredibly important for fashion magazines and eCommerce sites, which is why we’ve done our best to select only the most modern and tasteful, stylish and presentable themes for all of our collections. If you don’t see what you’re looking for there, we might recommend our collection of woocommerce themes. These juicy themes are knowledgeable and different, we have tried to create a nice blend of WordPress themes that can serve a lot of different content for any type of site.

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Neto

Neto is a flexible, flat styled WordPress Theme specially designed to support e-commerce functions of websites. The theme is compatible with various WordPress business plugins like WooCommerce. It can also be used alongside theme builders to help create comprehensive product layouts and descriptions.

The Neto WordPress Theme is also highly customizable. It allows the use of shortcodes, widgets, and the ability to create unlimited templates. The theme boasts of access to appearance settings that allows changes to the overall color scheme without altering codes. It also allows users to personalize background images, logos, and even add a favicon.

Another business-friendly feature of the Neto theme is its easy integration with social media. With this, guests can easily share content on their profiles which, in effect, helps the business reach a wider audience. The theme is also specially optimized for optimum performance and to obtain higher ranks in search engines. It is also translation ready for the benefit of foreign guests.  The theme’s responsive design also allows access to different devices without sacrificing its functionality. It is both mobile friendly and retina ready to ensure quality display. Finally, Neto promises to deliver constant updates to ensure the theme’s compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress.

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Divi

Divi is a theme that can simply do anything you ask it to do, so we’ve included it in this eCommerce WordPress themes collection.  I couldn’t find a great example in Elegant Themes demo section, so I found one out in the wild.  This is an actual real live use of Divi by a buyer of the theme.  It looks pretty nice as a watch shop, so I’m imagining it’ll look pretty sweet for just about any product.  You’ve probably already heard about how powerful Divi’s drag and drop page builder can be, but page builders can scare some people off.  While the flexibility is nice, it can be intimidating to attempt to design your website from the ground up.  Luckily, there are tons of pre-designed layouts you can choose from if you’re worries you won’t be able to set your eCommerce site up yourself.  This theme is likeable for many reasons, swift support, succinct documentation, handsome designs and the fact that any style website is possible.

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Jevelin

Jevelin is one of the best selling WordPress themes on ThemeForest with over 5,000 sales.  It sports a solid 4.6 rating on ThemeForest too, so I think it’s worthy of inclusion in this list of the best eCommerce WordPress themes.  Built on the Unyson framework with Bootstrap code, Jevelin is compatible with all the plugins and shopping carts you’ll need to run a successful WordPress based store.  Jevelin is perfectly responsive, it’s mobile friendly for both blogging and eCommerce, it’s very well organized for SEO and creating a successful online brand is relatively easy, thanks to the number of custom options you can choose from setting up your store.  You’ll love the nimble style of this theme, the encouraging documentation, the dashing features and the alluring price.

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Float

With an attractive design, plentiful features and a full service eCommerce store, lots of folks have chosen to use the Float WordPress theme to build their online store.  Many WordPress eCommerce templates have static, plain designs and I haven’t seen too many that use parallax, but Float does.  I think it pulls it off quite well too.  With float, you can create a modern, slick looking WooCommerce shop, but if you want to sell digital products, you could choose to go with Easy Digital Downloads too.  I think Float would work particularly well as a digital downloads store.  Right now, if you purchase Float, you actually get a bonus theme for free.  Float offers a 30 day money back guarantee, you can use this GPL theme on as many sites as you want to and you get a full year of support and updates.

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Uncode

This theme is called Uncode, you may have heard of it.  With around 40,000 sales and a near-perfect rating on ThemeForest, plenty of people have.  Built to impress, to showcase products, to help you build a business, Uncode is a high performance miracle of a theme.  With a very fast page load speed, clean code and an even cleaner design, Uncode has carved out a place in history as one of the best themes ever made.  Uncode has so many demo sites to take a look at, it’s kind of ridiculous.  It’s a totally multipurpose eCommerce shop in a box.  The theme options are plentiful and easy to use, the support staff is fast and friendly, this tendy and contemporary theme is simply among the best eCommerce WordPress templates around.

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Underwood

Looking for a simple, stylish blog that’s also ready to help you set up a WooCommerce powered online shop?  Well, Underwood may be a great choice for you.  This theme is simple to use, yet incredibly powerful.  Built using the latest Bootstrap code, Underwood is a fine example of a modern, clean and simple multipurpose theme.  With parallax effects, custom color and font selections all powered by a live customizer, you can take Underwood and make it look exactly like you want it to look.  Underwood is optimized for great SEO, it’s got tons of widgetized areas for adding functionality and it’s incredibly user friendly for webmaster and reader alike.  ThemeShift has been around since 2009, so they’re not going anywhere anytime soon and their support is known to be among the best around.

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Hestia Pro

Hestia Pro is a nice looking material design theme for WordPress and it offers eCommerce too, so whatever WordPress shopping cart you choose to employ, Hestia Pro will help you make a successful place on the internet.  I don’t think it matters what kind of products you’re selling, though Hestia Pro’s material design style might lend itself to things like software or SEO services.  Building a WordPress shop doesn’t have to be difficult and with Hestia Pro, it isn’t.  For startups or established businesses, the parallax scrolling, one page layout helps to highlight each section of your content and make it shine.  This theme is well worth having a look at.

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Wright

Wright is an ultra-minimalist theme that’s a solid blend of blog, eCommerce and portfolio.  I really like the minimalist design and all the benefits you get from having a minimalist site.  It doesn’t mean that your website will lack features, but it does mean it will load up lightning fast and look great on any size screen.  That provides a great user experience and makes it more likely that you can convert traffic into sales.  That’s the big thing, if somebody ends up on your website, that’s the hard part.  You really don’t want to lose that sale because your site loads slow or looks janky on somebody’s mobile phone.  That won’t happen with Wright, because it is a completely mobile friendly experience and that makes for the best user experience possible.  Wright could be the best eCommerce minimalist theme around.  To see more clean WordPress themes, check out our collection.

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Kalium

Kalium is a premium theme for WordPress that’s been the choice for thousands of business owners who have also wanted to set up an online eCommerce store, just like you.  Kalium is very popular thanks to it’s simple, modern and clean design, sleek arrangement of content, powerful features and bold typography.  The shopping cart itself is every bit as stylish and with Kalium, your website and your products will look amazing on all devices, because this theme is totally mobile friendly.  Kalium supports WooCommerce of course, but every other shopping cart can work with it too, so don’t feel like you need to be tied to one cart.  With so many out there, a little variety could be just what you need to stand out from the crowd.

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Studio 8

Studio 8 is like a might oak, it’s strong an powerfully built, it’s full of strong branches that can be loaded with tons of products?  Stuff?  I guess maybe it’s not like an oak after all, but it is a well designed WooCommerce WordPress theme that I’m happy to recommend.  There’s a gigantic amounts of features that make for a really enthusiastic reader, or buyer in the case of eCommerce, when they make it to your website.  The design is clean and agreeable, the layout is never jumbled and untidy, and this cheerful design is one that makes your shop like electric, professional and useful.  No matter what type of product, it’s unquestionable that the Studio 8 WordPress theme will never leave you wanting.  You’ll be able to generate a dramatic and exultant WordPress eCommerce site.  There’s no utopia in WordPress themes, but the Studio 8 theme comes close to creating perfection.

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Massive Dynamic

Massive Dynamic has proven to be among the most popular themes for building a great online shop.  No matter which eCommerce cart you choose, Massive Dynamic works great.  Easy Digital Downloads, Cart66, Ecwid, WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping cart or the biggest and best of all, WordPress.  No matter which you choose, Massive Dynamic has the style, the tools and the functionality to make a great experience for buyer and seller alike.  Sometimes, multipurpose eCommerce themes can try to do too much, they try to be everything to everyone, but Massive Dynamic walks that fine line with ease.  This theme has several pre-made demo sites and each one can be used to sell products.  Each one is also installable with just a few clicks, which can help speed up the process of starting your website.  If you’re not familiar with how to set up an eCommerce cart, that can be a lifesaver.  For business or blogging, creative portfolios and personal websites, Massive Dynamic is a theme that’s well worth considering.

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Composition

Composition is a little different than many of the other themes in this collection, since it was built to work with the Sell Media plugin.  That’s sort of like Easy Digital Downloads, it’s an eCommerce plugin that allows you to sell digital files, prints and other stuff.  So, it’s one way to build a store online, but there’s a lot more going on with Composition.  This theme is really simple to customize, you’ll have the ability to visually arrange your blog, portfolio and more, making the perfect homepage to welcome your visitors and turn them into customers.  There are unlimited galleries, plentiful widgetized areas and automatic updates to make sure your site works perfectly with WordPress, every time.  Add in a clean, responsive design and you’ve got a full featured, user friendly theme that’s perfect for a stock photography store.

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Kleanity

Less is more, that’s an old saying and sometimes it can be true with regard to web design. A simple design, like the one offered with this theme, can allow your users to find exactly what they’re looking for without any sort of distraction. This template is great for businesses that want a clean and corporate style theme, it showcases your content with a minimal style that squarely focuses your readers attention on the products that you have to sell. I love the good layers page builder, it’s one of the best Drag and Drop content Builders around. It’s incredibly simple to use and can produce a very high quality shopping website. There are multiple headers and Footers, an infinite amount of layouts possible and each and every design produces a fluid and mobile-friendly, Unforgettable user experience.

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Arnold

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The Arnold WordPress theme is a minimal portfolio template for Creative people who want to blend and attractive and simple looking for folio with the power of woocommerce. Actually, with this Arnold WordPress theme, you can create a clean and beautiful online shop using any of the most popular shopping cart plugins. If you’d like to sell digital products, you might prefer to use Easy Digital downloads, probably the leading cart for that type of product. No matter which shopping cart you choose, this clean and modern template allows you to build beautiful portfolios, have an amazing blog and sell some stuff too.

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Zerif Pro

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Create

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Hermes

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Ultra

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Shoppe

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Inverto

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XStore

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CoupShop

ThemesKingdom has made several really attractive themes for eCommerce sites and none has has more of an impact that CoupShop.  The CoupShop WordPress theme was inspired by glossy print magazines and with all the white space, the typography centered layouts, big and impactful images and thoughtfully placed calls to action, it’s a very successful theme.  It can be a real challenge to run your own eCommerce website so picking the right theme is critical.  With CoupShop, you get a platform that’s stable, attractive and flexible enough to work for nearly any sort of product.  CoupShop has what it takes to be a sort of parnter for you in building a very successful online business.

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LaBomba

LaBomba is a WooCommerce based theme that looks a little different than many other eCommerce themes, so I though it might be worth highlighting what this theme can accomplish.  Specifically built for fashion trends and online clothing shops, LaBomba is perfect for creating a combination lookbook, portfolio and blog in one finely knitted package.  I couldn’t think of any other clothing reference, let me know if you think of something better.  Okay, so for a fashion store, you get multiple headers to choose from, unlimited colors too.  There are almost two dozen different home page layouts and Visual Composer support means you can build even more, if you want to.  I think the clean design and the number of features make it a really good eCommerce template.

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Hopefully you found what you were looking for in this collection, but I realize that there are a lot of themes out there, so I can’t include everything at once.  However, we’ve got another great collection of WordPress WooCommerce themes to check out.  There are plenty more themes in that collection, so hopefully you see something you really enjoy.

#eCommerce

[growthmktingpro-blog]

Top 10 Best Blogging Platforms for Creating and Hosting your Blog

Today, there are over 152 million blogs on the internet..

Almost all of us read blogs:

News sites and other blogs associated with big companies like CNN or Wall Street Journal

Themed blogs related to our favorite stuff like TechCrunch, Refinery29 or Hypebeast

Professional blogs of leaders in our industry  

Personal blogs: ones of our friends, travel, lifestyle and fitness blogs

Starting this blog was a turning point in my life

I was a great digital marketer and I always loved writing. So I married those two passions and took the plunge.

Today, my blog is not only one of my greatest sources of happiness but it also generates a good portion of my income! In our first year, we got 53,781 pageviews. Today, the blog is making over $15,000/month.

Maybe you’re thinking of doing the same thing. The good news: it takes less than 20 minutes to set up a blog.

But before you begin writing furiously, you need to choose the best blogging platform to create and host your blog on the internet.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit confusing because there are so many options. Choose wisely. It’s quite annoying to move your blog from what platform to another once you’ve started.  

There’s some important things to consider when choosing the right platform for creating and hosting your blog:

Ease: Blogging should be about making great content, not battling with software or settings.

Customization: If you want your blog to look a certain way, you have to be aware of the limitations of certain blogging platforms.

Support: Will it be easy to get help if/when you need it?

Search optimization: If you want people to discover you serendipitously via internet searches, there are some blogs that offer much better “search engine optimization.”

Price

Features: Some of the blogging platforms offer all-in-one solutions including website domain name and web hosting; the others just provide the Content Management System (CMS) suitable for blog publishing. Based on your goals, you need to choose the features you care about.

I’ve done the research on each of the major blogging platforms. In fact, I’ve used nearly all of them at one point or another in my career. Below is how each of them stacks up.

WordPress.org is still my favorite blogging solution. Learn to start a WordPress blog here.

But keep reading if you’re considering others.

Top 10 Best Blogging Platforms for Creating and Hosting Your Blog

1. WordPress.org

When it comes to choosing a blogging platform the first option that comes to mind is WordPress.org. In my opinion, WordPress wins the award for best all-around blogging platform.

In fact, this blog is a WordPress blog!

Believe it or not, WordPress powers 29% of the internet. By that, I mean WordPress.org powers 29% of the internet. Note that WordPress.com is not what people are talking about when they mention “WordPress.” Curious about the difference? Read WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: What’s the Difference?

Because so many people use WordPress, there are hundreds of help websites for it and developers everywhere understand it in case you run into trouble.

WordPress excels in search engine optimization. Your blog posts are automatically organized in a way that Google crawl them (read and categorize them). This means that people across the internet are more likely to discover your content in Google searches.

WordPress also has a whole host of plugins — in fact there’s over 53,291 as of today. These plugins require no code to implement and can do things like:

Make your blog look completely different,

Add analytics so you can see user behavior

Collect email addresses from your visitors

Further improve your search engine optimization

Sell products to visitors

And just about anything else you can think of

Finally, WordPress blogs are beautiful. There are hundreds of themes to choose from so that your blog looks exactly like you want.

WordPress is one of the simplest blogging platforms.

Our guide on how to set up a WordPress blog is best-in-class and perfectly simple. Launch your blog in 20 minutes.

Pros

Suitable for beginners and professional blogs like CNN.com

Over 50,000 themes and plugins available

Search engine friendly; certain plugins make WordPress’ search optimization even more powerful from a search engine optimization perspective

Cons

Not as easy as a drag-and-drop editor like Weebly, but not very difficult

Types of blogs From fashion blogs to high powered Fortune 500 companies and everything in between, WordPress is a great solution.

Price Free, but you have to pay for hosting. Fortunately, we have a $3+ per month hosting deal thanks to our partnership with BlueHost!

Link WordPress

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5pyFS4VTA

2. Blogger

Now owned by Google, Blogger is one of the longest-running blogging platforms on the Internet.

While the most blogging platforms offer paid features, Blogger is completely free. This platform is perfect for the beginners. It’s very easy to set up a blog and begin publishing here.

The other advantage is deep integration with Google.

You may choose the photos for your posts from the images stored within your Google account; there’s integrated Google Analytics for site stats tracking, and you can even make money on your posts by using Google AdSense option which automatically displays relevant targeted ads on your blog.

The Blogger users get unlimited space for their blogs, and the number of blogs owned by each user is also not restricted. You may even run your blog on a custom domain, which was a feature they once didn’t allow.

While the customization options are limited here, the users still have some room for the creativity. It is possible to choose from the number of the templates and to customize them by digging into HTML and CSS.

You can even edit the blog’s code to include third-party advertising.

Blogger also offers a lot of built-in tools, called widgets, which are actually Google Apps integrated with the platform. There are clocks, calendar,  Google Maps, Google Translate, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube widgets among the others.

Pros

Unlimited traffic and storage space for free

No fees for adding a custom domain

Google AdSense integration

Built-in analytics

Strong search engine optimization

Cons

Limited number of features

Limited customization

Types of blogs Best for small “hobby” blogs or “about me” blogs

Price Free

Link Blogger

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2QvwgaECps

3. Tumblr

Tumblr is positioned as one of the simplest blogging platforms. As the official site says ‘It is so easy to use that it’s hard to explain’. It’s a totally free service which offers yoursite.tumblr.com address for your blog.

There is also an opportunity to connect your own domain name.

Tumblr is not intended for the people who like to write, as it has the really tiny text field. In fact, Tumblr is more focused on a short content and thus, attracts those who are visually-oriented. It stays in the middle between the classical blogging platform and the social media feed.

It’s very straightforward to post links, mp3s, videos, Spotify tracks, photos, and any content you could possibly imagine. You can instantly see the similar posts from the other Tumblr users and share them on your blog.

Apart from the posts, one can also create pages which don’t move through the feed and thus are always accessible to the visitors. The number of pages is unlimited on Tumblr.

One of the outstanding Tumblr features is the mass editor. It’s very simple to work with the dozens of posts on one screen and make some batch actions with them. For example, you can tag, untag, or change a tag on a selected number of posts which are displayed as the thumbnails.

Tumblr is not optimized for search at all. If you want your blog to be discovered, stay away from Tumblr.

Pros

No fees for adding a custom domain

Convenient mass editor

Unlimited number of pages is possible

Your posts are advertised on the similar blogs

Cons

Limited design controls

Bad management of the comments

Types of blogs Only for bloggers who want to curate images (similar to Instagram) — not for serious blogs.

Price Free

Link Tumblr

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yv-woY0gXA

4. Medium

A lot of famous folks and influencers have chosen Medium for their blogging platform.

Created by the Twitter founders, this platform uses microblogging approach. There is one standardized template you use to publish all your posts.

It is possible to choose a grid or stream based layout for your publication, as well as add your logo, background color, or image to the header.

However, the customization options are very limited, so you’d better focus on what you write.

Medium has the robust WYSIWYG editor which recognizes key commands and formatting characters, correctly displays styles and more.

This makes it easy to use. But Medium is much better for pure written blogging than anything visual.

Once a post is published, Medium makes it simple for the other Medium readers to discover the content. The recommendations are based on the users’ interests. The readers can also easily subscribe to authors they enjoy. But Medium posts aren’t naturally very discoverable by Google, so SEO is just okay.

There are built-in analytics tools and inline commenting. You may also share your post draft with the interested users before it goes online.

Unfortunately, there is no option of using the own domain for your blog, so you can’t get the full control of your content. So you’re stuck on medium.com.

Pros

It’s easy to reach the existing Medium audience

Built-in analytics

Cons

Direct competition with other writers

Impossible to use your own domain

Just okay for search engine optimization

Types of blogs Not for business blogs or blogs that want to make money because of the lack of search optimization. Best for personal blogs.

Price Free

Link Medium

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPc4IvUlY6U

5. Ghost

Ghost is another blogging platform very focused on written content. It’s extremely minimalistic and thus clutter-free.

However, it’s much easier to use Ghost if you or someone on your team has an engineering background. The editor involves code, plus most people customize the look and feel of their Ghost blog in code. There are few plugin or theme choices out of the box.

Ghost installation is much more complicated than WordPress. You need to have the strong technical background to make it work on your domain.

Ghost(Pro) is a simpler option as you instantly get the fully working site with it. However, there is no free plan of hosted version like on WordPress.

The other thing that you should keep in mind about Ghost is the lack of the visual editor. Instead, the posts are written in Markdown which is a text-to-HTML writing syntax that translates your text into the formatted output.

Thus, you should have some idea of how to use HTML and CSS if you move forward with Ghost.

Ghost is an open source content management system made for midsize companies and up — who have engineers that can help with the look and feel of the blog.

Pros

It is seen as the fastest blogging platform

Easy writing

Clean and simple

Cons

Free version is difficult to setup

The number of themes is limited

No plugins

You must have a technical background to use ghost

Types of blogs Most businesses and personal bloggers can use Ghost. However, given that some coding is required to use Ghost, you need to be a proficient engineer.

Price Free to install on your own domain. Paid plans start at $19 per month and include 1 blog and 50,000 unique views/month.

Link Ghost

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-WToqkx7GM

6. Weebly

Weebly is not a blogging platform out of the box, but it can be transformed in one.

In actuality, Weebly is a website builder — meant for creating just about any type of website.

All setup job is done by dragging and dropping the required elements like pictures, paragraphs, videos, buttons, maps, contact forms, and more.

What you see in the site builder is what you get on your pages (WYSIWYG).

Updating the site is easy as well. Weebly includes a lot of extensions that can be added if necessary — related to ecommerce, design changes and analytics. Of course, blog functionality is among the plugins.

If you ever need advanced site features like forums, membership options, integrated advertising, or file uploads it’s pretty easy to add them as well.

The best thing about Weebly is that it supports apps made by 3rd party developers. The app center is constantly growing making it easy to find the extensions for any task.

The free version of Weebly includes weebly.com subdomain and 500 Mb of storage which is not much if you want to share images with your visitors.

Weebly offers a number of beautiful themes for all kinds of blog categories: business, academic, education, e-commerce, writer, musician, and so on.

They not only look great but also very responsive and perfectly adapt to mobile devices. And it is possible to customize them making your site to look different.

Pros

Drag-and-drop support

Affordable e-commerce functionality

A lot of extensions and third-party apps

Cons

The pages are difficult to manage if you have more than 10

There isn’t great SEO optimization

Types of blogs Better for ecommerce sites than for blogs.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $8 per month and include unlimited storage and free domain.

Link Weebly

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VnRMP7jRjY

7. Postach.io

Do you use Evernote for organizing your personal information? Then you’ll be happy to find out that there is a way to blog right from this application.

Postach.io is a simple blogging platform directly connected to Evernote. How does it work? You create Postach.io account and connect it to your Evernote account.

Then you specify which notebook will be used for writing and storing the blog posts. That’s it.

The best thing about Postach.io is that all your content is actually backed up on your computer and can be reached from Evernote.

The blogging features of Postach.io are basic. The user gets a free yoursite.postach.io domain. By default, your name and surname are used as a subdomain, but you can choose the one you like in the blog settings.

It is also possible to customize blog appearance with a number of themes, to add social profiles and cover photo, to write a blog description, to specify the purpose and category. F

or the small monthly fee, you are allowed to use your own domain as well as to protect your site with the password.

There are also some useful add-ons that can be easily added to the blog. You can power your site with Disqus comments, add analytics to your site with Google, as well as configure automatic sharing of published posts to Twitter, a Facebook page or profile. Social sharing is implemented just by ticking posts with ‘share’ tag in Evernote.

Overall, pistach.io has limited use cases and should not be used by serious bloggers.

Pros

Evernote integration

Social sharing

Google Analytics support

Password protection

Cons

Few opportunities for customization

No advertising possibilities with a free account

Types of blogs For starting your online notebook. Not for serious blogs.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $5 per month and include a custom domain, password protection, more themes, source code access.

Link Postach.io

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IamSDEpNkDY

8. Wix

Like Weebly, Wix is a website builder — it’s not a blog out of the box. But still, people do use it to power their blog.

Wix is one of the most beautiful blogging platforms.

Fully powered by HTML5, this website builder offers stunning templates for every niche you can imagine. The choice of the niche is made during the registration.

Once you tell Wix what site do you want to build it offers thematic templates for every taste.

Artists, photographers, graphic designers and other creative people are among the most loyal Wix fans because there are so many different animation options, photo galleries, video players, and so on.

With a free account, you get 500 MB of storage and the ability to create the unlimited number of static pages. Secure hosting and a mobile site are also included. The posts are created within intuitive blog editor with drag and drop support.

You can edit drafts, schedule upcoming posts, tag and categorize the posts to help the readers easily find what interests them.

Wix also offers video and photo galleries that could be embed into the posts. And you can even embed HTML code to add quizzes, polls, surveys, and other interactive content.

Pros

Great looking themes

Themes are customizable

A lot of widgets for adding new features

Cons

Free plan has too many restrictions

Wix Ads on a free plan

Types of blogs Good solution for fashion blogs and ecommerce websites.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $4.50 per month and include the custom domain. To remove Wix ads and increase the storage/bandwidth the $8.50 per month plan should be used.

Link Wix

Video https://youtu.be/pWDr1MNfJ34

9. Penzu

Most people who start blogging want to attract as many readers as possible. Best go with a blog platform that specializes in search optimization like WordPress if this is your goal.

But there are a couple blogging platforms that behave more like diaries — for people who don’t want their thoughts to be discovered by others.

Think about pregnancy or food diary, the reflective journal where all daily emotions and activities are covered, private dream journal that makes you feel happy, and so on. This is when Penzu is useful.

The service offers handy blog editor with a focus on writing. There are not too many possibilities for design customization, but basic things like colors and fonts can be changed so that your journal can look the way you please.

Mobile support is also included in the free account, so you can write your thoughts from any device. And don’t worry about the post preservation, since autosave option is also in place.

The main focus of Penzu is security. All posts are private by default. You need to use one password to access your journal and the second for editing and adding the new posts.

And if you’re really concerned about privacy, the paid plans also include encrypted journal locking. Also, Pro plans and tags for your posts, individual entry locking, PDF Export, starring entries, custom writing reminders, version history, trash recovery, and more.

Pros

Possibility to have private blog

Mobile apps for easier blogging

Cons

Pure customization options

No encryption for the free accounts

Not a real professional blog, more for writers who want to keep a diary

Types of blogs Penzu is more of a personal diary. Not for serious blogs.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $2+ per month and include multiple journals, added security, reminders, and journal customization.

Link Penzu

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGVh4ckt6M0

10. Pen.io

Like Penzu, pen.io is geared toward bloggers who don’t want necessarily want others finding their content. The search optimization is not good, but that is by design.

Registering and setting up for Pen.io is incredibly easy.

It is an extremely minimalistic approach to publish your thoughts and to share them in seconds. This platform is also handy for the or online resumes, anonymous letters, lecture notes and so on.

How does it work? Think about services for temporary files sharing. It’s almost the same, but for the blog posts. You need to enter your page title and password which could be used later for editing the entry. Write your post and add images from your computer (drag and drop is supported), then save.

You’ll get the unique link to the post that can be shared with other people. You may also create multi-page posts using tags. No user account, to blog customization, just the pages with the content. The page can be edited by clicking the link at the bottom.

It is not search optimized.

Pros

No registration required to create blog posts

Simple editing

Cons

No customization for the blog

Once the editing password is forgotten, it couldn’t be restored

No social sharing

Not search engine friendly

Types of blogs Pen.io is more of a personal diary. Not for serious blogs.

Price Free

Link Pen.io

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9fyf3hDyyI

Conclusion

When you are just thinking of your own blog you really have the freedom of choice.

Of course, if you’re a novice it’s important to choose the blogging platform that is easy to set up and customize. But it is always a good thing to look ahead because switching the platform is not easy when your blog is already running.

So, before making your choice, try to visualize your blog in the future.

Could it grow into something bigger (online store etc.)?

Are you considering advertising option on the site?

Do you want to own all your content and have an access to it and thus, ready to buy a domain? Answers will definitely help you to choose the best option.

There’s a reason most bloggers use WordPress. It has the out-of-the-box features and flexibility to serve your needs today or however you decide to grow in the future. See the guide by clicking below.

–> How to Set Up a WordPress Blog: Easy Step-by-Step Guide <–

Originally published on www.growthmarketingpro.com: 

https://www.growthmarketingpro.com/top-10-best-blogging-platforms-creating-hosting-blog/

#blogging #contentmarketing #digital marketing #blogger #blog #tumblr #wordpress #medium #ghost.org #weebly #postach.io #wix #penzu #pen.io #content marketing #marketing #online marketing