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#custom embroidered caps
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Custom Embroidered Caps | Logoed Caps   
Embroidery Giveaways offer the best quality and the lowest cost of a 2 Location Embroidered Baseball Cap. Shop Now
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bludoguk · 5 months
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Shop Beechfield Youth Snapback Cap for kids, available in many colors and sizes. Check out our cap collection widely used for fashion, clubs and societies.
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brandingexcel · 6 months
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Top Benefits of Custom Branded Apparel
Evidently, we wear clothes that make us feel good! Have you experienced the satisfaction derived from custom branded apparel which has the ability to both please and impress. However, did you know that our clothing choice of custom branded apparel also gives our businesses an excellent marketing advantage? Yes, you can gain a lot from a unique type of branding that lets you express how you want your customers and clients to see you. Among the versatile approaches you can choose the best approach for your target audience utilizing custom branded apparel for your business. 
Custom promotional items have the power to increase awareness of your brand. People wearing logo apparel can increase awareness of your brand and attract more viewers than stationary forms of marketing. Moreover well-made high-quality clothing that carries the identity of your business can influence others who admire it.
Every business wants to stand out from the competition and custom apparel or promotional items can give your business that much needed opportunity. Custom promotional items including apparel gives people a feeling of inclusion. It is not surprising to see top businesses promoting their brand with giveaways such as an occasional gift of a custom t-shirt or custom embroidered hat. It is indeed a great way to make a customer feel very special and appreciated. In this way one can establish a personal connection. 
Custom promotional items refer to clothing, hats, and other accessories that display a company’s logo and/or mission message. Such custom apparel plays an important role in building brand awareness of your business and creates engagement, and loyalty of your customers.  
Compared to the benefits you receive from custom branded apparel you choose to give away at seminars, charitable events or exhibits, the cost is very less than you perceive. You can get optimum exposure from promotional t-shirts and custom embroidered hats that require an initial investment but continue to provide the recognition you desire for a long time. 
While other forms of advertising and promotional strategies can get a customer’s attention for a moment, your custom promotional items can continue to pay back your investment by making a lasting impression. You can buy in bulk and get the price advantage, depending on your preferences. 
Branding Excellence is leading Brand signage Design Company based in Milwaukee and owned by woman. Branding Excellence offers custom promotional items including Etched Slate Plaque, Custom Glassware, Leather Coaster, Koozie, Bank, Cowbell, Tech Items, Logo Rug, Commemorative Coins and Custom Gifting. It aims to help businesses build and enhance their brand identity.
For more Information, visit our website: https://brandingexcel.com/
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specworksinc · 10 months
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SpecWorks: Fashion and Function in Embroidered Jackets
Searching for unique corporate gifts? Look no further than SpecWorks. Our thoughtfully curated collection offers a wide variety of options to suit every recipient and occasion. From personalized executive accessories to practical gadgets, our gifts are designed to leave a lasting impression. With our customization options, including engraving and custom packaging, you can add a personal touch that elevates the gift to another level. Trust SpecWorks to provide corporate gifts that reflect your thoughtfulness and make a lasting impact.
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samedayicustomca · 11 months
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Buy Your Embroidered Hats Only at Same Day Custom Apparel 
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Looking for the perfect embroidered hat?👕 Look no further than Same Day Custom Apparel! 😎 We've got a wide range of designs🌈 and colors😍 to match your style.😎 Whether you're dressing up or keeping it casual, our polo t-shirts👕 are always in style. Contact us now for more details!😀
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icustomnewpark · 11 months
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Buy Your Embroidered Hats Only at iCustom Newpark
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👋 Looking for a new embroidered hat to add to your collection? Look no further than iCustom Newpark! 😎 We've got a huge selection of designs and colors that will keep you looking stylish all winter long. 🔥 Contact us for more details and let's make your winter wardrobe pop with style!
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icustomoakridge · 11 months
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Buy Your Embroidered Beanies Only at iCustom Oakridge
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Hey, beanies-lover! 👋 Want to up your style and keep warm at the same time? 🔥 Check out iCustom Oakridge - your one-stop shop for all things embroidered beanies. 🧢 With a range of designs and colors that cater to your style, you're sure to find the perfect match. 😎 Contact us to know more!
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graphics-stitches · 1 year
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Graphic Stitches is a business that specializes in providing high-quality custom embroidery services in Australia for a range of apparel items, including uniforms, shirts, polo shirts, caps, and patches. With years of experience in the industry, Graphic Stitches is committed to delivering exceptional results to its clients.
The company offers a wide range of services, including uniform embroidery, custom embroidery, shirt embroidery, embroidered polo shirts, cap embroidery, custom name badges, and clothing patches in Australia. Whether you need to outfit your staff with custom embroidered uniforms or add a personal touch to your clothing, Graphic Stitches can help you achieve your vision.
At Graphic Stitches, we use the latest technology and equipment to ensure that every embroidery project is completed to the highest standard. Our team of skilled embroidery professionals is dedicated to providing excellent customer service and making the process as easy and stress-free as possible.
We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional quality at competitive prices, making our services accessible to businesses of all sizes. Whether you need a single custom embroidery or thousands, Graphic Stitches has the expertise and experience to meet your needs.
Choose Graphic Stitches for all your custom embroidery needs and experience the difference our high-quality workmanship and exceptional customer service can make.
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cre8iveskills · 1 year
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How Could Embroidered QR Code Patches Help Your Business Grow?
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There is no denying the internet's enormous potential to help businesses communicate with and reach out to potential customers as well as to convey brand messages. Whether small or large, almost every business has its presence on the internet and uses a number of the most powerful promotion tools, such as social media, video content, blogs, articles, and many more, according to its business objectives and growth strategies. Aside from online tools, customized embroidered patches have always been a popular means of promotion due to their captivating aesthetics and flexibility.
However, in today's world, when marketing and branding are largely influenced by digital technology, reaching potential customers through custom patches is no longer dependent on their styles, and we can see the growing prevalence of scannable QR code patches in recent years for promotional and branding purposes. So, if you'd like to know what exactly these embroidered QR code patches are, how exactly they work, or how significant they can be for your brand's promotional efforts, keep reading this article.
Scannable QR Code Patches: What Are They?
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To put it simply, a personalized QR code patch is a new type of patch that is embroidered with two-dimensional scannable QR codes that resemble usual QR codes. Typically, these patches are often sewn in black and white, but they may also be in a variety of color combinations, and one of the unique features of embroidered QR code patches is that you can embroider your company's logo inside the QR codes.
Interactive QR codes on patches function similarly to a link-building service, allowing you to link to specific web pages or other online resources of your company. For example, when a prospect scans an embroidered QR code with the call to action phrase 'scan to learn more ' with his smartphone, he gets directed to the production description page, where he can learn more about the salient features of the product. Given their compact size, the versatility of applications and affordability characteristics, QR code patches are gaining popularity worldwide, particularly among business people and marketers. 
What Else Can You Do With An Embroidered QR Code?
QR Code Cap Embroidery:
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You can intensify your branding campaign by using caps as a tool. Embroidering QR codes on caps allows your target audience to quickly access information about your products and services while fostering mobile interaction.
QR Code Left Chest Embroidery:
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Your company's uniforms, like caps, could be excellent brand ambassadors for your business. Left chest embroidery digitizing makes it possible to get QR codes embroidered precisely on different types of business apparel.
How Can You Utilize Embroidered QR Code Patches For Your Business Growth?
It has never been easy to reach out to and engage with your target clients, and business owners have to build growth strategies that take a wide range of factors into account. Still, in the current age of electronics and digitalization, picking advertising channels based on mobile-friendly technology is certainly advantageous. In this context, interactive embroidered QR code patches provide the ideal opportunity to represent your unique and appealing product or service concepts to your target customer with comprehensive details. Let's look at some of the strategies and approaches for maximizing the potential benefits of QR code patches.
1) Commercial Exhibition
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Exhibitions, whether for B2B or B2C enterprises, are one of the most potent platforms that significantly help your brand. These platforms give you opportunities to get connected with diverse elements of the market, such as customers, sellers, suppliers, middlemen, negotiators, etc., and showcase your dynamic products that are made for various purposes. In addition to live demonstrations of your products and services at supportive events like these, placing QR code patches at your booth and point of sale assists your company in gathering and analyzing information while enhancing customer interaction
2) Product Launch Activities
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If your company is in the textile industry and you are about to launch a new line of clothing, your next launch event is going to provide you with an excellent opportunity to get connected with your ideal customers. By strategically placing QR code patches on various garment merchandise such as t-shirts, shirts, caps, bags, jackets, and so on, you may make it easier for your intended audience to learn about your product's key qualities and benefits.
Conclusion
In recent years, there have been significant changes in how customers connect with businesses, and strategy makers need to modify their conventional tactics to handle their resources on the Internet. Considering the intense competition in every industry, it is very crucial to grasp how to reap the benefits of web resources and social media platforms for advertising your business brand. Patches have been utilized in the commercial world for decades as one of the most popular methods to increase exposure as well as the overall development of businesses.
In today's context, embroidered QR code patches appear to have opened the doors to a wide range of possibilities for business people looking for some of the most inventive and relevant approaches to take their business to a whole new level. So, if you are thinking outside the box and need help creating QR code patches for your business needs, make sure you select a embroiderd patch production agency based on its experience and competence in producing personalized QR code patches.
Whether it's embroidered QR code patches, QR code cap embroidery, or QR code left chest embroidery, Cre8iveSkill is well-known for its proficiency and precision in QR code embroidery digitizing. Our highly experienced team of professionals knows that producing QR code patches requires a distinctive approach to achieve perfection. In our production unit, we make use of the most advanced QR code patch production technologies and harness the power of highly effective computerized machinery, which enables us to produce patches on a large scale at the fastest turnaround time.
When it comes to producing QR patches, we always strive for perfection, and to ensure that no flaws remain in the patches, our experts perform thorough quality checks before delivering them to your doorstep. We are the leading supplier of QR code patches and can make patches in a variety of sizes and shapes to meet your specifications. Thus, if you're now convinced of the commercial benefits of QR code embroidered patches and are looking for the best QR code embroidery digitizer, then contact our experts with your requirements
Source: https://www.cre8iveskill.com/blog/benefits-of-customized-embroidered-qr-code-patches-for-your-business
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designworldsposts · 1 year
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imprint5china · 2 years
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With Imprint5, you can create your own cap online with text or a logo. We supply personalised baseball caps and can send them anywhere in the world that you desire.
To buy now visit - http://www.imprint5.com/apparel/caps-hats.html
Follow us on Instagram for more information - https://www.instagram.com/imprint5/
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fastcapsau · 2 years
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Top Personalize Custom Embroided Hat By Fast Caps Nowadays, customized headwear has become one of the most well-known merchandise items. It's no surprise that business organizations use caps for their brand promotion. This becomes more attractive and budget-friendly not just for marketing but also looks cool. So if you also looking custom embroided hat for your personalized style, then you must read the blog here to know how you can make it perfect.
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puckinghischier · 16 days
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Boyfriend!Nico Headcanons
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these pics are gonna get me everytime, i fear
just some soft nico thoughts floating around in my noggin. enjoy :)
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- boyfriend!nico coming home from morning skate and tiptoeing into your room, careful not to wake you so he can lay back down and nap with you
- boyfriend!nico waking up about an hour later to an empty bed, huffing because you didn’t wake him up, only for you to walk in the room wearing one of his t-shirts carrying two cups of coffee, a grin breaking out on his face
- boyfriend!nico suggesting you both shower together, even though he showered at the rink, simply because he loves when you wash his hair (and so he can use your products so he can smell fruity like you do)
- boyfriend! nico asking girls that approach him when he’s out with the team or on the road where they get various parts of their outfits/jewelry because he can’t stop thinking about how good you’d look in them, writing every store down in his notes app so he can take you there the next time you two go shopping
- boyfriend!nico who looks for you in the stands of every home game during warm-ups, needing to know you’re there watching before puck drop because he swears you’re his good luck charm, but also looking for any and every reason to impress you when he’s on the ice
- boyfriend!nico who buys you a custom jersey with his name and number on it, but with small four leaf clovers embroidered on each sleeve so everyone knows you’re his good luck charm, not the team’s
- boyfriend!nico who enlists jack’s help in surprising you with the golden retriever puppy you’ve been begging Nico to agree to adopting, making the poor kid drive three hours one-way to pick up the dog and then sneak the puppy into your shared apartment so Nico can keep you distracted and occupied, wanting to see your face when you open the door and the little furball comes running towards you
- boyfriend!nico who rushes through every post game interview he can because all he wants to do, win or lose, is go home and watch whatever current netflix show you’ve roped him into while eating whatever take-out you were in the mood for that night
- boyfriend!nico putting you on speaker in the locker room before games because the team overheard one of the pre-game pep talks you gave him earlier in the season, so now they all like to hear your encouraging words and how well you inspire each and every one of them to play their best (what jack refers to as your mrs. cap duties)
- boyfriend!nico who has to explain to his teammates why he can’t bring you along to every event the team has to go to because you have your own job and responsibilities, only for the team to whine and grumble about how nico hogs you and they never get to see you (just for him to facetime you halfway through the event so he can pass his phone around for everyone to say hi a few of them asking you to blink three times if nico was holding you hostage)
- boyfriend!nico who arranges for flowers and various treats to be delivered to your door every. single. day. that he’s gone during the season so you know he’s still thinking about you and he misses you, even if he only leaves for a day or two
- boyfriend!nico who listens to the playlist you’ve made for him anytime he’s traveling because he loves hearing whatever new song you’ve found that day that reminds you of him
- boyfriend!nico who begs you to take a bath with him because he’s so sore from a nasty hit earlier in the night and wants to just relax with you and your peach smelling bubble bath with one of your vanilla scented candles burning (but he’ll never admit he loves your sweet, scented candles)
- boyfriend!nico who will always trade a puck or a stick for anything that a fan brings as a gift for you, heart swelling seeing that the fans love you as much as he does
- boyfriend!nico who always wears a wrist full of friendship bracelets you make for him at warmups so he can trade them with the female fans that bring handmade bracelets for the players, so “they always feel included and welcomed at the games, despite what the grumpy old men have to say about it”
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hello love! can i make a request for gaz x f!reader she a civilian and a florist and he keeps visiting her and they slowly fall for each other and he calls her his sunflower or something cute like that? you can make up the rest, sorry if it’s not super detailed!
Gossamer Silk Smiles
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Pairing: Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick x F!Florist!Reader
Synopsis: You loved your job more than anything, and at the end of the day, even with pricked fingers and cramped muscles, you went to bed happy. It had all been going well, insanely well. You were focused; self-assured... Until he showed up. 
Word Count: 6.1k
Warnings: Insane amount of fluff, this is the definition of a soft fic, beginning of a relationship
A/N: I know this man would treat me right. Also changed the nickname around a bit, but sunflowers are still prominent. Enjoy, Anon!
*I do not give others permission to translate and/or re-publish my works on this or any other platform*
When you opened your flower shop, you told yourself there was no going back – no distractions or second options. This was what you loved more than anything and at the end of the day, even with pricked fingers and cramped muscles, you went to bed happy. It had all been going well, insanely well. 
Until he showed up. 
It had been a shitty day, one for the record books, in your opinion. Shipments for Larkspur, Zinnias, and Sunflowers had come to the shop damaged. The boxes had been so beaten up you half-believed the mail carrier had gotten into a personal disagreement with them. All initial humor aside, you were now out of this week's product as well as a good chunk of money – the flowers couldn’t even be considered that anymore, seeing as they were really just broken stems and stray crumpled pedals. Then came the unusual amount of rude customers and the building of minor inconveniences. 
But to your credit, you didn’t let it get to you. 
Well…externally, at least. 
“Have a great rest of your day,” you force out with a strained smile to an older woman who only huffs. She stalks out of the shop with a vase full of Daylilies, Purple Cornflowers, Yarrow, and Taro leaves. “I hope your brother gets well soon–” The glass door shuts with a clatter of the small silver bell attached to the frame. 
Leaning back on your heels, your eyes close; taking down a deep breath, you hope your lungs won't explode in your chest as you hold it there. 
“Fucking hell.” The air flies from you in a weak groan. 
Your fingers tap against the countertop, and a small, humorless, chuckle later you’re walking out to change the window sign to closed instead of open. It was well past your usual shift anyways, but the previous customer had been relentless about the ‘perfect bouquet.’
“Like there’s even such a thing,” your lips twist into an annoyed frown as you speak to yourself in a grumble. “...Should have just denied her service… Didn’t even leave a tip.” 
You really wouldn’t have minded helping her that much if she had just been kinder towards you.
Grabbing the small paper sign held up by a suction-cup hook, you flip it around with little thought, already trying to plan out a way to make up for the weeks worth of ruined product. You don’t even notice the man speeding down the sidewalk until his desperate face is staring right into yours – only separated by a thin piece of glass. 
Yelping, your shoulders tense at the sudden visage. 
The man was around your age, tall, and had a handsome face inlaid with eyes reminiscent of deep amber. Light reflected off the iris in ways you can only describe as the glinting sun does off waves of water; gentle. Nearly soft, really. He was wearing a ball cap with an embroidered British flag on the front and had a panicked look set on his lips. 
Close to the door handle, his long fingers freeze mid-air and you find the prominent muscular build and set of his shoulders staining the back of your eyelids like a movie screen. Whoever this guy was, it didn’t stray from the fact that he was attractive.
You’re not happy about it, but your mind blanks as you stare with wide eyes; heart steady in your breast. 
He blinks at you, square jaw loose, also double-taking from beyond the see-through barrier. His flickering eyes flew quickly over your form just as you had ogled him moments prior. 
Silly, perhaps, and childish at best, but you felt your throat tighten with stilled breath. There was a small chunk of time that you both just gawked at each other – as if Cupid had suddenly stabbed you both with one of his blots; gazes inexplicably locked as blood dripped to the floor from copper arrowheads.
If you were more gullible, you would have called it love at first sight. But you were anything but that. 
Sighing, you rip your eyes away and take a breath. Opening the door with more questions than answers, you were praying that it didn’t get dark before you could help this man with whatever it is that he needed. 
I can see the fucking veins on his forearms. You think as the chilled air hits your face,  recalling the peek you sent to the rolled-up sleeves of this stranger’s blue button-down. 
The bell above you dings as you set the door in the crook of your shoulder, leaning out halfway. Clearing your throat, you ask steadily, “Can I help you, Sir…?” 
He sets his stubbled jaw, vision snapping to the side for a split second that was so fast you almost missed it. 
“Erm…my apologies, Ma’am, for rushing up like that.” He lets off a chuckle, and the flag on his hat is quickly explained away by the prominent accent. “Hope I didn’t worry you.” 
Fighting the uptick of your lips you feel your chest let go of a sliver of tension. He was smiling slightly at you, the khaki pants he wears creasing as his feet set themselves; his brown eyes never leave your face. 
Respectful, you think.
“Not every day you have people trying to barge into a flower shop. Trust me, Sir, I sleep well knowing no one wants to rob me.” Attempting a light joke, the stranger's chest jerks in a silky laugh. The tips of your ears heat, the blood under your skin rushing. 
His laugh was like a blanket during a storm; a cup of hot chocolate during a blizzard. Could you be attracted to a laugh? You seemed to ask yourself. Already your mind was coming up blank at this, all of a sudden, welcome intrusion. 
“Well, I’d imagine that’s a good thing, then?” He teases showing off pearly white teeth.
“Incredibly.” Opening the door wider, you beam. “You’re lucky I was still here. I’d normally be all locked up by now.”
You should be closing – telling this stranger to leave and come back tomorrow – but something inside of you told you to just open the door. It was illogical, unprofessional, and downright strenuous on your already foul mood…but this individual had such an air to him that you wondered who exactly he was. He made your skin pule with goosebumps.
“Thanks,” the man utters as he slips inside, nodding his head to you and fixing the position of his hat with one hand. “Yeah…I’m incredibly sorry about this but I’m runnin’ on a bit of a time crunch, to be honest with you. I’ve been checking every shop in town – you’re the only one with the lights still on…” He looks to you, “I really hope I’m not causing any trouble for you, Ma’am.”
Slipping your fingers into your work apron’s pockets, you let the door shut and tilt your head to the side, gaze softening at the pure candor of his words. 
“Emergency flower orders are always my favorites to work on. It’s no problem, really.” You say your name as an introduction and ask what he would like to purchase as he scratches at the back of his neck with a boyish twist to his lips. 
“Kyle Garrick.” He sticks out his hand and you shake it instantly. Kyle’s hands are warm despite the cold weather outside, and you have to stop yourself from melting into him as you pull back. But already your skin tingles. “Actually, I was wondering if you might be able to help me on that front. What flowers would be the best for an apology?…just not something too flashy, if that’s possible.” 
He trails with an awkward chuff, obviously not used to being in a flower shop before. You wondered if he even had a favorite flower. You hoped he did.
You could really tell a lot about someone based on the types of flora they surrounded themselves with.
“Apology?” You wonder, tilting your head. Quickly falling into work mode, you continue, “I can work with that. Do you have any preferences? Colors?”
“Well, she likes orange, yeah?” He speaks and your heart sputters for a moment. Smile freezing. “I don’t suppose that’ll help very much, but it’s really all I have to go off of. I’m a bit of a hopeless bastard when it comes to flowers.” Kyle lets off a huff of laughter.
She. Of course, he’s already in a relationship. 
Nodding, you swiftly walk past the man, catching the scent of fresh-tilled earth and rainy grass as your shoulders nearly brush. You can’t help but feel a little disappointed. It wasn’t every day you found yourself attracted to someone. But, oh well, life continues on.
“Well,” heading towards the wall baskets, your body feels heavy, but you quickly force it to the side. You really shouldn’t be surprised. “You said orange? I have about seven you can pick from.”
“Affirmiti–erm, yes, Ma’am.”  
“Hm.” You hear him come up behind you, following at a respectful distance. Throwing a glance over your shoulder, you watch as his eyes slide over the various types of flowers, all separated by color, with deep thought. 
A slight furrow was in his dark brow. His dedication was adorable. 
“What’s this one called?” Kyle asks, moving around you to a bushel of orange poppies and accidentally bumping into your side. 
Grunting, you lightly jerk forward until a hand swiftly grabs your shoulder. Eyelashes fluttering, you look up with shock at the embarrassed face slightly leaning over you. 
“Shit, I’m sorry. That’s my bad.” 
“N-no, you’re fine.” God, this was so awkward. Smiling shakily, you feel the press of his hand over your skin, separated only by the thin barrier of your shirt. Kyle squeezes your flesh before letting go. 
He was staring at you, though. Brown eyes set into dark skin with a soft expression like Pygmalion staring at his marble-wrought Galatea. But as quickly as it was there, the look was gone and the man was clearing his throat, snapping his neck back to the basket and shifting his feet.
Even if you couldn’t explicitly see it, you knew he was blushing – just the same as the heat in your capillaries mirrored. Swallowing to get rid of the dryness of your throat, you realize you’ve been gawking before sliding your hands into your pockets and quickly looking away. 
Why won’t my heart stop beating so fast?
“Those are Orange Poppies. Papaver orientale.” Speaking, you reach forward and grab the stem of a single bloom holding it to him as he gazes down at you from your side. “Common in ‘get well soon’ bouquets, if you were curious.” 
Holding it up to him, you watch his fingers delicately pluck it from you like the flower was made of glass. It nearly made you laugh, but you settled on a small smile instead. 
“It’s pretty…” Kyle pauses, and you read it well enough.
“...But not what you were looking for.” Settling on the answer, you giggle when he passes off a sheepish smile and a nod. “I kind of guessed. Here – how about this.” 
He ends up buying a handful of orange Tulips, Myrtle leaf for greenery, and a small gathering of Baby’s-Breath. Behind the counter, you try to stay focused on setting the flora perfectly in the clear vase as your clippers lay beside it. Frowning, you take the long stem of a Tulip and snip the end at an angle, placing it to the far left of the rest with a concentrated set of your eyebrows. 
“So,” Kyle says, breaking the silence, and your fingers twitch as your spell is shattered. Soul stilling, you look up at him as he waits on the other side of the counter with his arms comfortably crossed. He leans back on his heels, feet shoulder-length apart. “Busy day today, then? Other places around here are mostly dark by five.”
Standing straighter, you politely smile before going back to the arrangement, hand reaching for the small white tufts of Baby’s-Breath.
“Mostly, yeah.” You cock your head to the side, “I was supposed to be home two hours ago, but one lady was very adamant about getting the most ‘perfect’ flowers, as she told it.” 
Chuckling humorlessly, you step back and stare at the vase, not aware of the eyes stuck on the tired slump of your shoulders or the slight frown staining the man’s lips. 
“Two hours? Well, that’s a bit excessive.” Kyle remarks, eyelids creasing, “I’d hope she at least left a tip for you?” 
That gets a laugh out of you, lungs jerking for a moment; focus once more brought back to the present at the preposterous words that just left your customer’s mouth. Those brown eyes suck you back in to a point where you wonder if you’d ever be able to look away.
“Now that’s funny, Mr. Garrick.”
He lets the subject drop, but you notice a slight crease in-between in brows – a narrowness to his eyes that wasn't there before. You try not to think too much into it, but Kyle certainly did seem like the man to get upset when people aren’t treated respectfully. The thought warms your heart. 
Or maybe I’m just reading too much into this. 
“Is there anything you’d like me to rearrange, Sir…? Do you want a note to go with it?” Seemingly lost in thought, Kyle comes back to you with a diligent shake of his head.
“It looks perfect, Love. And, please, just Kyle’s alright. You’re makin’ me sound like an old man when you talk like that.” He chuckles, and it’s a rich, velvety sort of thing – twisted with blue satin and wrapped in a gentle breeze. Your stomach twists. 
“Then I suppose that’s it, then. I’ll get you the bill and you can be on your way.” Turning around to calculate the total price, you make a quick comment in passing, not really thinking about it as you tap on your calculator. “I hope your girlfriend and you make up.” 
A stunned silence falls, but you only focus on the numbers, jotting down the total on a sticky note and turning around after re-running the costs a last time. When your eyes lock with him, your feet stall at the dumbfounded look on Kyle’s face and the confusion ingrained in his body language. His head had pulled back slightly, hat tilted.
“What’s that?” He asks. 
“Your…girlfriend?” You say slowly, walking closer and passing him the sticky note, “you said you were getting her apology flowers?” 
The handsome man blinks at you before realization lights in his eyes like fire. Kyle laughs deeply, putting a hand on top of his head and pressing down on his cap.
“Oh, Bloody hell, no.” He takes a deep breath and you feel your lips pressed together in confusion, innocent intrigue taking place in your skull. “I’m sorry, Sweetheart, I should have told you right off. This is for my mum.” 
Blinking in surprise you pause, looking up with wide eyes. 
Sweetheart?...Mum?! Your face heats to an intense level. Oh. 
“O-oh I didn’t…” He’s reaching for his wallet with a large lop-sided smile on his face and understanding eyes, watching you as he flips it open. You settle with a single laugh and say, “sorry, I guess I just assumed.”
But you can’t help the sudden relief that sprouted out of nowhere that leaves your lips pulling back in a mirrored grin. You’d been doing that a lot, as of the last fifteen minutes. 
“It’s no problem,” Kyle admits, “Thing is, I’ve been off on deployment for a while, and I missed my return date party, unfortunately. Just got back about noon today and I decided I was going to surprise her tonight.” The man pulls out a large stack of bills, “Thought she’d like that, yeah? Can’t go wrong with flowers, can you?” 
“You’re in the military?” You ask smoothly but internally swoon at the thought of a son giving his mother flowers out of the kindness of his heart. Whoever she was, you know the woman who raised this man would be overjoyed with the prospect of simply having him home safe and sound before anything else. 
Did not Penelope, wife of Odysseus, care for her son Telemachus more than anything? Above danger and possible death? They protected each other. You supposed it was the same in this situation. 
Being able to be a part of it made your legs weak.
“Something like that, Ma’am.” Kyle’s lips flick into a smirk as he hands you the bills. “Feels like I’m surrounded by children most days, but there’s no place I’d rather be…When I’m not nearly getting my head bloody blown off, that is.”
You huff in amusement, and slight concern, taking the payment and settling it on the counter without checking the numbers; never doubting whether he gave you the right amount or not.  
“Well, it seems like you’ve got it all figured out.” Garrick looks to his feet for a moment, pocketing his wallet, and clears his throat near mutely. He tilts his head back up to you.
“Nearly,” he whispers under his breath, a delicate wrinkle on his forehead as his lips pull in a minute, closed, grin. Sheepishly, you look away from his intense brown gaze before you can make a fool of yourself as giddiness sparks in your racing heart. What was happening to you? You have to ask yourself. Where was all of this blatant scatterbrained activity stemming from? No one had ever made you act like this before. 
As you look away, your eyes unintentionally land on the wall clock across the room, and your thoughts still like water in a puddle. Eyes widening comedically, you feel your lips part. 
“I really need to be closing up.” You say apologetically, looking back to the man who touches one of the Myrtle leaves carefully, running it between his thumb and forefinger. Under you, your feet shift over the floor. “Is this all you’ll be needing?” 
“Pretty sure.” Garrick answers easily, “I won't keep you any longer, eh? I’d hate it if I made you go home by yourself after dark.” 
“That’s very thoughtful, Kyle, thank you.” Pushing the vase over the counter, he takes it up and pauses as if he wants to say something. His mouth opens before closing – looking at his feet for a moment and itching at his neck with his free hand. 
“I…don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Ma’am,” your breath hollows, watching carefully as you listen. “But, uh, I,” Kyle shifts his eyes to your face, standing a bit straighter as the corner of his lip flicks up, “You’re just about the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met – if that’s not overstepping, of course.” 
He laughs stiffly to dispel tension, and the air suddenly gets ten times hotter at the brutally honest, if not mildly stuttered, confession. You can nearly hear the blood rushing to your head like a flood of ocean water – more violent and immediate than a tsunami. In your ribcage, your bones ache at the beating organ and the swell of your lungs. Having to take a deep breath to not forget yourself entirely, your mind rages.
Did he really just say that? He…he called me beautiful. 
When was the last time you had been called that? By such a lovely and kind man nonetheless. Kyle seemed like a confident person, his profession telling you that already, but the way he was acting now he seemed hesitant; like he was appalled by the fact you would take what he was saying the wrong way and come off creepy. 
But that was so blatantly opposite of how you were reacting. 
“I-” You stutter, eyes snapping away and hands coming to hold themselves in front of your abdomen, “well, I think you’re very handsome, yourself, Kyle.” A meek expression spreads your visage as you see the breath in his chest hitch, “and I wouldn’t call that overstepping at all. Not by a long shot.” 
His eyes widen, and a second of intense eye contact later, he smiles and glances away. Garrick sneaks looks as you bite your lip, and finally, he nods firmly before his phone starts to ring in his pocket. 
As if a switch had turned, his hand snaps down and grasps the device, peeling it out of his khakis and checking the contact. Immediately he utters.
“Oh, Shit, this is her. I’ve got to run.” He walks backward a few steps before turning and lightly jogging to the front door. Following with your eyes, you’re somewhat entranced by the man. 
Before he can walk through the door, he stops in his tracks.
“Sorry, again,” Kyle turns back around, and his dark eyebrows crease, “but, uh, what days are you open?” 
The giddy smile that forms on your cheeks leaves your skin hurting.
“All of ‘em except the weekends,” you say, confidence suddenly sprouting in your veins, “but I’m sure if you told me ahead of time that you were stopping by, I’d make an exception.”
“I’d imagine for emergency flowers only?” Kyle teases, a smirk on his face. His eyes promise you, though, that this will not be the last time you see him. 
“Of course.” You reply, raising a brow. “I’m a florist, after all, Garrick. Emergency flowers are my specialty. If you’re ever in need of more, I’ll be here, waiting.”
He laughs, stares for a few seconds longer with a distant sheen, and disappears through the door. You don’t follow when his form fades from the windows entirely. You don’t ask for his number, even if you knew you should have. You don’t look at the amount he gave you as you put it in the register, knowing, even by your intuition, that it is double the amount he was due. 
You’d just tell him all about it when you saw him again.
Until Kyle Garrick showed up you had been focused; as immovable as a mountain, but then as the days drew on, you faltered. Your eyes would linger on the glass as people pass by, heart in your throat and feet tapping as you bound stems. Flowers had taken up so much of your life, but now another was trying to push its way in – slowly infecting you like a parasite in your mind as the days went on. 
And as he kept showing up, month after month, he had taken to calling you Persephone. A goddess of spring and nature; beautiful flowers of all colors and shapes growing on hills and in vibrant meadows. It was perhaps the greatest compliment someone like you could have been given. At first, it had been a nickname until it had become as common as your actual title, and Kyle used it so much even regular customers teased you with it with smirks and side-eyes. You only rolled your optics with a burning under your skin and a small smile.
“Well, look, it’s Persephone…”
“That boy of yours here, Persephone? Hiding in the back room perhaps?”
“Persephone – you have any Peonies this week?”
You didn’t mind it…really, you didn’t. If anything, you thought it was precious. A man comparing you to a goddess that danced in green fields as flowers sprouted at her feet? Yes, that was quite alright.
Quite alright, indeed.
The office room was cold, he thought. Nearly a meat locker. 
How in the hell can he stand to work in here, Kyle asked himself. Bloody place is like a damn winter storm just minus the snow. 
He was seated in one of the two chairs in front of the mahogany desk, hands on the armrests and feet tapping the floor. When the Sergeant had gotten the order on his radio to come to Captain Price’s office ASAP, he had expected the man to already be here, but five minutes later he was still sitting in silence. 
That wasn’t to say he was bored, though. He was thinking of you. He could never be bored when he did that. 
It brings a small smile to Garrick’s face as he relives your last interaction, lips unconsciously twitching as his eyes grow distant. 
You’d made him a flower crown, mostly as a joke, but had been left in raging fits of laughter when you’d placed it on his head. 
“Hold still,” you grunt, sitting on the front counter and keeping the weaved headpiece in your grip as it hovers above the man’s scalp, “I want to get it centered on the first go.”
“Y’know,” Kyle chuffs, “I could always do it myself – I do have working hands, Love.” 
“Shush!” Exclaiming, your breath fans his face, leaving him more still than a statue, if only to smell your scent and be content with your body so close to his. Kyle was still working out the best way to ask you out officially, but that didn’t seem to extend to his instinctual actions when it came to you. It was increasingly hard to stop his head from leaning just that tiniest bit forward and connecting his lips to yours. 
The pressure on his head brings him back, and his eyes blink as if they could force all the rogue thoughts from his mind. Kyle clears his throat when you lean back, acutely aware of the longing set of his dark brows as he had stared off at you. 
“Well, then,” The Sergeant clears his throat and smiles at your concentrated face, though he notices the hitch in your chest with a strange sense of pride. “How’s it lookin'? Is just as you imagined, eh?”
Your face scrunches, head tilting. Kyle couldn’t remember a time he’d let someone put a wreath of flowers on his head, woven with Forget-Me-Nots, Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, and Tiger Lillies. The others would make fun of him for this. 
But he found he cared little. If you kept smiling at him like that, he’d let you do anything to him in a heartbeat. 
“Perfect.” You chuckle. “You should have let me do this earlier.”
The shop was closed – it was a weekend, after all, and that was the time for restocking and number crunching. Not really the time for making crowns for a man who was totally smitten with you.  
“You sure that you don’t need these?” Kyle asks, a hand reaching up to his head to touch the flora. “I’d hate to not pay you for them, Love. Can only imagine how expensive they are to order.” 
“Eh,” rolling your eyes, your legs brush the Sergeant’s hips from where they sit around them, and the man has to remember how to breathe properly, “they’re the old product, anyway. I’d have to get rid of them by Monday. Better for such a handsome individual to have a crown of his own, with all the gallantry he practices in his job. It’s the least I could do, hm?”
You’re teasing him, a smirk taking up the frame of Kyle’s vision. He returns the action, hands coming to rest on either side of your hips; leaning forward until his nose with mere inches away. He hears your chest rattle with a slow breath.
“Are you teasin’ me, Persephone?” He asks sneakily, as you begin to giggle. “Insinuating I need a flower crown to be recognized at work? It’ll certainly get me attention, that’s for sure, yeah? Just not the kind I want. Soap’ll have a field day.” 
“He’d just make a few comments, I’m sure.” 
“You’ve never met him. The bloke would never let it go until the day I kicked the bucket.” You’re laughing, one hand coming up to cover your mouth. 
Kyle hates himself at that moment because you’ve never looked so beautiful, and he can’t quite pick up the courage to just lean in. So he watches with a matching look of happiness and an embarrassing, yet adored, flower crown on top of his close-shaven head. He watches with an ache in his chest and a violent beat to his heart as your body heat melts into him; urging him, prompting him. 
But he just smiles and watches a moment longer before taking a step back. 
“Sir,” Garrick asks, settling back down and watching the older man slink behind his desk, “What’s all this about?” 
The door opens with a firm hand. Kyle startles to his feet, tuning and about to go into an instinctual formal greeting before the Captain speaks, beating him to it.
“At ease, Sergeant. Take a seat.”  
Price sighs as he takes a seat, slapping a large file that was previously in his hand to the wood before opening his drawer with a grunt. Gaz watches with narrowed eyes as his superior ignores his question, pulling out a large cigar from a lockbox and slotting it between his lips. A lighter follows soon after, and soon the smell of burning tobacco enters the air. 
“...Captain?” Kyle was starting to get nervous now. Why was he looking at him like that? Blue eyes seem to dig deep into Gaz’s soul, trying to find something that was hidden behind layers and layers of flesh and bone. 
John pulls the stick from his lips and holds it between his fingers, smoke now entering the air and rising to perforate like mist. Feet shifting over the floor, Kyle’s heart skips a beat. 
What in the hell is going on? 
That’s when the bearded man speaks. 
“Well, who are they, then?” Price asks, tilting his head forward as his bucket hat sits where it usually does atop his brown hair. The Captain’s eyes are squinted; curious but still laced with that authority that never seemed to leave no matter how many years the two had known each other. 
“Pardon, Sir?” Gaz has to ask, confusion prominent in his expression. “They?”
John raises a thick brow as if the answer was obvious.
“You’re distracted. Been checking your phone like it’s going to explode the last few days. So,” the Captain stares at him heavily, taking another drag before placing the cigar in his ashtray and breathing out a cloud of smoke. He leans forward and places his hands on the table, as Kyle watches, perplexed, “who is it, Sergeant? No use hiding it.”
“I…” Gaz trails before blinking dumbly, lips parting, “oh, hell, was it that obvious?”
“Painfully.” The answer makes the younger man cringe and his skin pulls tight. A pause leaves the room silent, the Sergeant avoiding his Captain’s gaze as he tilts his head away for a moment. He clears his throat. 
“She’s just…” Kyle clears his throat, “someone I met in the city. A florist. Down on Main Ave.”
“A florist, eh?” Grunting, John nods his head to himself. “Asked the bird out, then?” 
“What?” Snapping his head up, Gaz says loudly with stuttering lips, “N-no, Sir. Not yet.” 
The man ahead of him hums, leaning back and flipping his file open, taking a moment to pick up the first page and skim the contents with small eyes. He looks over the top with a blank expression. 
“I’d get on that, Son.” 
Today was different, you knew. Something was going to happen. An unexplainable feeling was in the back of your mind, making you somewhat anxious even if you didn’t know exactly why. It was like a sheet had been thrown over your head and someone had just told you to run in circles without hitting a wall; feet tied with a rope. 
The morning had started off normal, as had everything else that followed, but there was an air of expectation wafting in front of you. 
What’s going on? You ask as you wipe down the counter with a wet rag, swiping stray leaves and petals into the garbage bin at your feet. Why am I feeling like I’m expecting something to happen? 
It was Tuesday – nothing astounding ever happens on Tuesdays. 
The front door opens with the ringing of a silver bell, and you say absentmindedly, still caught in your thoughts, “be with you in a moment!” 
A cough startles you, your hand squeezing the rag a bit tighter as your neck twists upwards. 
“Hope I’m not interrupting.” 
“Kyle,” you laugh and take a breath, “I didn’t expect you today…” 
Freezing, your lips part in a silent gasp when you see it. The man you had come to have quite the crush on was standing a few paces from the door, dressed in a nice shirt and dress pants, jacket in the crook of his arm. He holds a single Sunflower in his grasp. 
It wasn’t anything overly impressive, a bit small and dead at the tips, but nonetheless, your heart stuttered at the gift. Staring at it silently, you turn your gaze to Kyle as his feet shift over the floor nervously. A strange look had overtaken his face, but he had a confident air to him that you’d been seeing more and more of the last few visits. 
“What’s this?” You ask carefully, body going hot all over and lungs swelling. 
You’d loved flowers for most of your life; worshiped them like the people of Delphi worshiped their god-chosen Oracle. But never could you recall a moment when you had been given any out of free will. Everyone always assumed you disliked getting them because of your job, but, oh, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Flowers were like declarations of emotions – they could mean so many things to so many different people. They were the truth laid bare in nature as plainly as it could be, wrought with promises.
Your breath stills, eyelids pulling back delicately; lips parting. 
Kyle speaks softly, raising the flower in his grip.
“I remembered you saying you liked these more than roses – you called them ‘tacky’ if I’m…remembering correctly. The roses, that is.”
He was remembering correctly. But that had been just a passing comment to another customer you had been helping before him. Unimportant. A quick piece of yourself that hadn’t mattered while you were cutting stems and looping twine. 
But he remembered it. 
A giggle falls from you until your hand snaps up, trapping it behind parted fingers and an awe-filled face. 
“I wanted to give it to you,” he continued, walking forward with measured steps, “and ask you a question, if you’d let me.”
“Of course, I would.” It’s breathless, the way you say it, and suddenly you know exactly why you've been so on edge today. 
You’d been waiting for him.
And when he smiles at you, your mind runs to gossamer silk. Such a delicate thing; that smile, comparable to the millions of strands a spider spins in a lifetime. Gorgeous and so very easily missed if you weren’t looking at just the right moment. Gossamer Silk. 
Since when has his grin become so important to you? To where you craved it just as violently as water or food? That look in his amber gaze – the one that left you breathless even when you simply thought about it, that was what you wanted to witness when you woke up in the mornings. You wanted his arms around you. You wanted his lips pressed to yours. You wanted him to be in your kitchen making you dinner as the rain fell outside and the flowers in your back garden grew strong and beautiful. 
You wanted him to be yours.
Kyle stops behind the counter and hands you the flower. You reach for it without complaint instantaneously, wondering momentarily if he had just happened upon one and taken it in a moment of passion. Both of your fingers brush, and the imaginary sparks that fly make you turn slightly shy, head tilting to the side for a moment. 
But a finger hooks under your chin, moving it back as delicately as bird wings, gentle feathers tickling your flesh and nerves. 
A hum resonates in your chest, eyes crinkling as you stare into amber brown with flecks of gold. You could get lost in them if you looked too much. 
But you didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
“Persephone, would you do me the great honor,” the two of you laugh at the wispy and teasing tone, and suddenly you wish the counter between you would disappear into thin air, “of going on a date with me tonight?” 
Tuesdays, perhaps, might have just become the best day of the week, and a small Sunflower with dead tips and fading yellow, your new favorite flower. 
Ironic, how that works. He ended up distracting you more than you could ever imagine.
“Don’t you have to be back on base soon, Garrick?” You mutter into a warm chest, street lights shining into the windows of the apartment. 
“Bloody hell, yes…But I’d crawl back to you, if you asked it of me.”
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“And when she learned of Finwë all that had befallen since her departure (for she had given no heed to it, nor asked tidings, until then) she was greatly moved; and she said to Finwë in her thought: ‘I erred in leaving thee and our son, or at least in not soon returning after brief repose; for had I done so he might have grown wiser. But the children of Indis shall redress his errors and therefore I am glad they should have being, and Indis hath my love. How should I bear grudge against one who received what I rejected and cherish what I abandoned.’“ - J.R.R. Tolkien, Morgoth's Ring, Laws and Customs Among the Eldar
@finweanladiesweek day 1 » INDIS & MÍRIEL THERINDË
[ID: an edit comprised of four posters in dark and light browns accented with gold and silver.
1: Roseline Lawrence, a ugandan-south sudanese model with dark skin and long coily dark hair. She is plus-size, wearing gold makeup and looking over her shoulder with one hand raised. She is framed by a gold rectangle, with gold text at the bottom reading "indis" in all caps. Below that, text in varying yellow shades reads "great; valiant woman," "second wife of finwë," and "“She was a Vanya, close kin of Ingwë the High King, golden-haired and tall, and in all ways unlike Míriel" / 2: A detail from a painting showing golden embroidered cloth draping down from above. Yellowish-orange text in a transparent brown box reads "“...when Indis saw Finwë climbing the paths of the Mountain, and the light of Laurelin was behind him as a glory, without forethought she sang suddenly in great joy, and her voice went up as a song of the lirulin in the sky. Then Finwë heard that song falling from above, and he looked up and saw Indis in the golden light, and he knew in that moment that she loved him and had long done so" / 3: A detail from a painting showing draped white and silver cloth. Silver text in the same format as Image 2 shows the same passage as the caption of the edit / Thando Hopa, a xhosa-sotho south african woman with albinism. She is looking straight at the viewer and is wrapped in a white robe that falls over her head, though she holds it out of her face. Same format as Image 1, but the frame and text are silver, and the text reads "míriel," "jewel-daughter," "first wife of finwë," and "She was a Noldorin Elda of slender and graceful form, and of gentle disposition, though . . .she could show an ultimate obstinacy that counsel or command would only make more obdurate" /End ID]
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serafilms · 5 months
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song 56! you’re on your own, kid (taylor swift) + choi soobin requested by @explorewithd (spotify wrapped event)
i didn’t choose this town, i dream of getting out, there’s just one who could make me stay all my days
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There’s a town on the west side of the coast, where the air is fresh with salt and pine. It’s small, quaint if you will, consisting of one market, one convenience store, a singular movie theatre, one McDonald’s and a whole bunch of family owned restaurants.
The town is yours, but you hate it.
You’re sick of walking through near empty streets, of seeing the same faces you grew up with at school, of trying to think of activities to do with your friends, and doing those activities knowing you’ve done them a thousand times before.
You can’t wait to leave it all behind.
You’re sitting in a booth in the McDonald’s, pondering this, when a tray slides in front of your face.
“Here you go, ma’am.”
You scowl up at the looming figure of the tall boy in front of you. He slides into the seat across from you and takes off cap embroidered with the restaurant logo, immediately reaching for one of your fries. He runs a hand through his dark hair, ruffling the flattened mess as he chews.
“Isn’t it against company policy to impose on your customer’s meals and eat their fries?”
Soobin shrugs at you, tearing open your straw and stabbing it into your cola to take a sip.
“Policy, schmolicy. There’s like two other people on shift and no customers. I’ll be fine,” he says, grabbing another fry. “And please, you love me being here.”
You tug the tray towards you protectively. “Not when you eat my food,” you mumble.
He rolls his eyes but a smile creeps onto his face as he looks at you, and you have to look down at your food to stop yourself from blushing and smiling back like a schoolgirl.
You open the box of chicken nuggets and frown. “Hey, you gave me one less!”
“Oh,” he says, blinking down at it, “yeah, I ate one of them when I was packing it.”
He sees your unimpressed stare and rises. “I’ll bring you two extra,” he says, then grabs the box and retreats into the kitchen.
Soobin’s absence gives you some time alone with your thoughts once more. Choi Soobin is, you believe, the only good thing about your town. He’s your best friend, your soulmate, twin flame, whatever you want to call it. He’s the one thing in this place that you could never be sick of.
You love your other friends and everyone else in the town too, of course, but it’s not the same. You know they’d all be there for you when you need them, but you aren’t quite sure when their concern stops being out of genuine care and starts being out of obligation. For their friend, neighbour, community. Nothing in this town acts by itself, and you feel sometimes as though you’re nothing more than a cog in its old, steam billowing machine.
You think back to your years at high school. You’d wait ages at some party for your friends to notice you, to find you and come up to you, only for them to not be there. Because you hadn’t asked them to. Because they were only there when you needed them to be.
You wanted something more. A city so wide that only those you wanted to find you could, that every friendship, every relationship is by choice. Freedom. More than that, you wanted somewhere that could contain your dreams, fulfil them. You were always overflowing in this town. You just wanted to know that you’re not on your own.
Your eyes flit upwards as Soobin returns and hands you the box. You’re pleased to find that he did put in two extra, and reach over to pat his head in gratitude. “Good job, Soobie.”
He squirms away from your hand and pouts at you, but forgets it as he grabs another of your fries.
“Stop that!” you protest.
“I’m only eating the super crunchy ones that you don’t like!”
You roll your eyes and take a few fries yourself, surveying the boy in front of you. His hair is tousled as it usually is at work, his face is a little shiny from the heat of the kitchen, and his eyes are wide as his mouth chews and he focuses on it. Something tugs at your gut, and you have a horrible reminder that to leave this town behind, you might have to leave Soobin behind too.
“Hey, do you ever think about getting out of this place?”
Soobin looks at you in confusion. “You mean McDonald’s? Well, yeah eventually, but it’s an easy way to make money right now—“
“No,” you interrupt, “I mean, like, out of this town. Move to the city or something.”
You feel the heat on your neck rising in embarrassment as his face morphs into one of surprise.
“I— do you?”
You begin to grow hesitant, but your desperation to confide in him wins, so you say, “Yeah, I do.”
He’s silent for a while, looking down at the fry in his hand, and you feel your anxiety start to take over, so you continue.
“I mean, obviously not forever, because I’d still come back and stuff, but I want to know what it’s like out there. I want to know if they can help me do the things I want to do.” He’s looking at you now. “I want to know that there’s more than just this version of myself.”
“So you’re thinking about moving to the city,” he speaks finally.
It’s less a question than a statement, and you aren’t quite sure how he’s feeling about this, so you ask, “If I was, would you come with me?”
There’s a long silence in which Soobin looks at you, and you meet his eyes, and you see uncertainty swimming in them until he says. “I don’t think I would.”
You feel your stomach sinking like a heavy stone. “Why not?”
“Well, because,” Soobin fumbles and his tall figure seems to shrink in on himself as he frowns, “because I’ve got friends here and family. I can’t just leave them like that.”
But what about me? You want to scream. How can he be so okay with letting you go? You want to yell at him, cry at him, rip your hair out, because if Choi Soobin wants to stay in this town you know that there isn’t enough resolve in you to leave him behind.
You want him to come with you, to fight to be with you, even to fight to make you stay. Anything, anything that will show you that he cares. Your hopes are disappointed.
“But if you do go, you know we’ll always be friends, right? You can call me whenever you need me.”
You feel as though you’ve been ripped in two, half of you left behind with the version of Soobin that sat there before this conversation happened.
You can call me whenever you need me, he said, whenever you need me.
You suppose that as much as Soobin is the best thing to come out of this place, he is still a product of it.
“Yeah, I know,” you say back, and manage a weak smile as he gives you one back. The two of you manage to divert the topic and spend some time devouring your meal until you’re finished and you finally have reason to leave.
“You should get back to work,” you tell him as you rise.
Soobin looks conflicted, and you see sadness in his eyes and the downturned twist of his lips, but he nods and makes his way around the table to give you a hug. You almost tear up at the feeling of his arms around you, chest pressed to yours, and you pull back before the tears fall.
“See you later,” he says.
“Bye, Soobin,” you say.
When you arrive home, you collapse into your bed and allow the tears to fall. You guess you really are on your own.
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