#to track down all the documents and contact details they needed. (by asking my mom to go through my stuff mostly.

[likeawildthing]

Not to be morbid on main, but everyone dies and people are rarely prepared for it. It’s so much easier when you know your loved one’s wishes. So even if you’re a teenager or twenty-three and healthy, I hope this helps you start thinking about end-of-life wishes, because it can happen to us all (both the dying and, rudely, being died upon).

Cremations are an affordable way to subvert the funeral industry, but going this route puts the burden of “the little things” on the family. I’ve learned a lot in the last 36 hours and wanted to pass those things that weren’t on any checklists, because the burden is on you to navigate the process.

Putting this under a cut because it’s so long (although not comprehensive). Obviously some of this is altered because COVID and some is meant to be applicable in some distant, theoretical future when we can go out to lunch again.

Before you die

Think about it, talk about it, write it down

Think about what kind of rememberance you want, if any. If it doesn’t matter, tell people that so they don’t fret about it and grieve in whatever way works best for them.

Communicate now to save your family and friends angst later.

Build an “in case of death” binder, zip drive, google doc with links, etc. Make sure your passwords are up to date so that’s not an administrative nightmare for your loved ones.

Advanced directives. Here’s a great article explaining the types of medical advanced directives and decisions to make before an accident or illness happens, including whether you want to donate your organs.

We lost grandma for about twenty minutes yesteday because we couldn’t find the paperwork and grandpa couldn’t remember where they signed up for services. Death. Binder. Have a death binder/folder/zip drive so no one loses grandma.

Insurance. 

You likely have insurance through work, so consider that. It will also expire if you leave your job.

You can usually get, with minimal fuss, a 10- or 20-year term policy with enough to cover your arrangements and debts for less than $20 a month. Death expenses are anywhere from $5-$20k, conservatively. 

Talk to your auto insurance agent and score a multi-line discount.

Body snatchers. 

If you want to be cremated, talk to a local crematory beforehand and give them your basic information. It can be paid out of your estate (i.e. by your family or a life insurance policy) when it happens. 

Most funeral homes (I believe) require pre-payment. It’s super morbid but there are TONS of heavily discounted grave sites for sale on Craigslist if that’s the route you want to go. 

Here’s a list of certified green burial sites in the US.

Donating your body to science 101.

Memorial service. 

The idea of a “proper” funeral is more or less out the window, especially in the time of COVID. Celebration of life? Religious ceremony (or not)? A picnic at your favorite park? Anything goes, so figure it out now. 

When my sister-in-law died, we had a celebration of life at a non-profit who donated the space and had a poker tournament with her ash tin (she lost). 

Whether you have strong or no preferences, write that down to guide decision-making. 

Memorials. 

Traditionally people would donate money in the event of a death to a charity, foundation, or family account, or flowers to a funeral home or church.

 Family accounts (like for children) are traditionally done in care of the deceased’s bank but online fundraisers are a thing. 

If you have a particular charity you love, add this to your list of wishes.

Food. 

Before COVID it was pretty typical for there to be some kind of meal after a funeral. Will this be a restaurant? 

This is ultimately up to the family but if you have strong preferences (i.e. no church or Italian food), tell people now.

Obituary. 

Writing down the basic facts of your life, hobbies, and accomplishments you want included in your obituary means your family doesn’t have to do a guessing game. 

Plants, animals, stuff, etc.

Do you want your clothes to go to a specific charity? 

Do you NOT want your stuff to go to a specific charity? (Goodwill is terrible!)

Who will get your car (person, donate, sell)? Want to have your record collection to go one sister? Obviously family will divvy up stuff how they like, but write down any special considerations.

Have a plan for your pets (insurance, vet info, guardianship).

Please organize and digitize your photos if they aren’t already.

If you lose someone close:

Identify the primary griever

Support that person/those people by providing feedback when solicited, running errands as needed, and running interference so they aren’t inundated with all the little things.

Notifying people

Use the phone tree method. Great Aunt M will be happy to help by calling your cousins. Your boss, coworkers and HR. Your mom’s best friend/your adoptive aunt, your mom’s bunco group. 

Ask that family not put anything on social media until the principal people are informed. I found out my grandpa died on facebook!

Esp these days, set boundaries for visits (who, where, and in what capacity).

Designate one person to be the primary contact for extended family to keep the burden off the primary griever(s). 

Give this persons’ information when the first phone calls are made. It also makes sense for this person to be the travel coordinator. 

This person should have a good handle on family dynamics (i.e. my aunt is flying in and would drive my grandma nuts so she’s staying with Mom). 

This should be their only task because it’s time consuming.

Food

When people die, people gather, even in the time of COVID. Be responsible but expect a ton of drop by food. Clean out the primary griever’s fridge in anticipaton.

Organization

Start a shared family Google doc or sheet. Consolidate to do lists, anecdotes, important contact information, questions and inquiries, etc. 

Pay to have the houses of anyone hosting (gatherings, people coming in from out of town, etc.) cleaned. Or, delegate. This can be an act of service for someone who wants to help and doesn’t mind doing the work. 

Find the death binder (hopefully), legal documentation, etc. Get a folder or binder for papers if one doesn’t exist. And start a shared google doc for loved ones to track everything.

Delegate

I know I have said this three times, but it’s important. If you’re a primary decision maker do not be the primary do-er. My mom is the primary decision maker so my sisters and I are doing literally everything else. 

Say YES when people ask if they can help you. Look at your running list of to-dos and say yes.

Pay to have the houses of people who are hosting cleaned. It will seriously be such a life saver, or this can be an act of service for someone who wants to help.

Social media

You will need to decide what to do with a person’s social media. Do you start a tribute page? Turn their facebook (if they’re old) into a tribute page for a time? Indefinitely? Things to think about. 

Thank yous

Keep a running list of people to thank after via hand-written thank you notes. The link includes guidelines on 

who should receive a thank you note (gave flowers, brought food, made donations, helped with arrangements or the service(s), did readings, or went well out of their way to warm your heart or show up)

when to send them (ideally 2-3 weeks after the funeral)

here’s how to write them (it doesn’t matter if you buy fancy, ones or dollar store ones, make sure they’re hand written).

Receipts. 

Don’t be the petty biatch your cousins hate, but do save significant receipts to be reimbursed by the estate. (I.e. catering hundreds of dollars of food, paying $250 for programs and thank-you cards like I just did, etc.)

Service.

You will have a million decisions to make including

what kind of service to hold, if any

where to hold it

costs

hymns, readings, and anecdotes to share

who will be pall bearers, readers, vocalists, and give eulogies

Crematories handle cremation only, not the service details. 

you will need photo boards (Hobby Lobby has nice black foamcore ones) or a powerpoint (and a way to display it depending on the venue)

a guest or memorial book

a card basket,

memorial cards, possibly programs, and thank you cards 

Officiants, musicians, religious institutions, etc. all need to be paid (and tipped) for their time.

If we ever wrangle this pandemic, donating funeral flowers to a nursing homes is a fantastic way to brighten residents’ days. 

Obituary.

Obituaries are expected, but traditionally costly ($200-$800). As part of the publishing fee, most newspapers keep the obituary on legacy.com indefinitely.

A funeral home will assist you with this, but the burden will be on you and your loved ones if using other methods. 

These take hours to write and many hands does not make light work. Keep it to 2-4 key people. Having the facts laid out will help, and so will looking at other obituaries. I read a great tip which was to write about your loved one in present tense first, then change the tense before submission. 

Newspapers will update your spelling and grammar but that’s about it. Cheaper alternatives: 

Death notice which gives age, date and location of death, and who is handling funeral arrangements. Our crematory put in the death notice for us because they had her body, but the requirements on this likely vary state-to-state. 

Here is a place to put a free online obituary.

Plants, animals, stuff, etc. 

Save the plants and pets. 

Household misc. are usually not dictated by the will, except in special circumstances or contested items. Closest members will go through possessions first. Voice early if you want something in particular, but understand that you may not get it. That’s ok. 

Going through someone’s life is an overwhelming process. You may be repulsed and sad and overwhelmed and amused, all at the same time.  

In deciding what to keep, as I’ve now cleared out three houses, I’ve found that quality over quantity is the way to go. The sweet spot? 1-2 sentimental + useful things. My great grandmother’s thimble and juicer? Use them all the time, and I remember her lemonade. 

It’s okay to throw away some keepsakes and let things get thrown out or donated, depending on the thing. 

Don’t give into guilt if you don’t want the china your Aunt Karen is pressuring you into taking when she doesn’t want it either.

Legal stuff. 

If someone dies, there will be all kinds of legal things you will need to do (bank accounts, utilities, debtors, education, etc.), investments or 401k, etc. 

This varies too much by state and circumstance to talk about in depth but there are guides to specifically help you.

If someone you love has lost someone they love

Do not give platitudes or ask if they’re ok

Don’t expect a response from someone grieving

Do send a card! It’s so thoughtful. I keep a stack of blank condolence cards and a set of forever stamps in my closet. It doesn’t have to be a $20 card to be special.

Don’t judge someone by how they grieve

Offer specific, actionable help if you’re close enough to give it

I am going to come over and clean at 10, leave the house unlocked

I’m at the store and am going to buy cheap vodka unless you tell me what kind of wine you want

oops I got you an uber eats gift card in your gmail sorry/not sorry

Buy thank you cards with stamps as a condolence gift, depending on the person and situation

Send a plant instead of a bouquet of flowers

Make a donation in the loved one’s name if you have the funds

If the grieving person is someone super close (best friend, sister, etc.) add the date in your recurring calender so you can check up on them this day next year with a card and/or phone call

#cw death #grief #end-of-life decisions

[urlocalnctstan]

𝚃𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜

Genre : Angst, Fluff, Slow-burnish, Idol AU

Pairing : Jaehyun x Reader ft.Mark (other members too)

Warning(s) : strong language, age-gap, mature contents, weird writing style lmao, uh what else? idk but yeah

Disclaimer :The story is completely fictitious, idol-fan relationships are not common so some of you crazy ones out here, pls don’t get too delusional, your oppas will be your oppas only virtually, not in real life.

Playlist : Youtube Link / Written

Word Count : 5.4k

Summary : ‘Time and tide waits for none’- a quote that is universally accepted and believed. You both had had your experience of meeting the right one at the wrong time, the concept of love long forgotten after the sudden downfall of your relationship together. But will time eventually heal everything for you both?

The car came to a halt, your mind subconsciously drifting back to the humiliation you faced tonight back at the office.

“ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB, Y/N?” your boss was a fuming mess, his whole office scattered with the documents you had brought just a few moments ago. At the sight of the shredded papers, you felt you heart clench. You worked so hard for this project, disregarding God knows how many nights of your sleep. The feeling of abomination was slowly creeping up from the pit of your stomach towards the man who stood taut, seething in rage.

“HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU TO JUST DO WHAT THEY ASKED YOU TO?” He yelled, his fist furiously banging on his wooden desk, beneath his hand rested some pieces of the torn documents.

“Sir, even you know how risky it is to design as they asked to. If a blunder happens it is our company that is to be held accountable, not theirs.” you knew it was pointless to reason with the stubborn headed prick, but you had to try out your luck.

“Get out. Out, out, out. Get your fucking face out of my face.” He swished his index finger repeatedly, letting out a frustrated shriek just as I was about to exit his office. His wrath was nothing new in the office, as all the other employees shot me a rather pitying look when they saw me exiting the team leader’s office with hands full of ripped papers. Wow, my 2 weeks worth of sleep. Just wow. You didn’t bother to reciprocate their sympathetic glances, storming out of the corridor as you furiously started clicking the floor to your cabin. The jabbing of your finger on the glowing button that read ‘13’ was the only sound that resonated in the fairly empty area, earning annoyed looks from the two individuals who stood right behind you.

“Ah, fuck.” You banged your head against the steering, recalling the even as you clutched the handles harshly. “Why,” another bang. “do I,” bang. “live like” bang. “this,” bang. You could feel your face was burning without even touching it, streams of tears flowing down. Just as you were about to give yourself another bang, the sudden honk of a car made you pause amidst your ritual. Indeed all motherfuckers love to test my patience. You decide to ignore the rider, mainly because you were also partially at fault for resting in your car in the middle of the park. You twisted the metal keys as the ignition went off, signaling your car was ready to flee. Yet again, you were distracted by soft knocks. You prayed to God to help you not lose your shit, at this point you were questioning if He ever hears your woes at all. The soft knocks stop immediately when you started to pull down the window, the person straightening only crouch again.

“Y/n?” his called out unsurely, as if he were afraid of mistaking you for someone else. You knew that voice, and that is not good news. Shit.

“Mark?” you were surprised to say the least, not expecting to run into an old friend. “Oh my god! How have you been?” You shoot out of your driver’s seat, instantly being engulfed into a bone crushing hug by the male.

“I have been good. Oh god, I can’t believe this! I can’t believe I ran into you after so long!” Mark still held you tight your embrace, the sudden reunion making him feel giddy with excitement.

“Yes indeed,” you were the first to pull out from the hug. You took a moment to study him; black mask covering half of his face as he smiled widely, eyes crinkled and the signature cheekbones still the same as they were in the past. God, it’s really been so long. “What are you up to these days?”

“Er,” Mark scratched his head as he laughed nervously, unsure if he was allowed to give you spoilers about his new album. “I have been working on my solo album actually.” 

“Are you for real?” You found yourself hugging Mark again at the joy of his successful career. “I’m so so proud of you mate!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Mark swayed you lightly, his voice muffled due to the mask he wore. Mark was the one to pull out now, still keeping your caged as he placed his hands on your shoulders. “In no way I am gonna let you leave without a trace again,” he almost groaned.

“Promise, I won’t anymore,” you signaled to the stack of files that rested on the backseat of your car. “They won’t leave me alone.”

“I’ll just ask your boss to assign you with more tasks then,” he giggled mischievously, earning a light smack from you at the mention of such an absurd idea.

“I’ll track your way to hell to kill you again if you do something like that,” you hissed at Mark, who was still giggling at your frustrated reaction. The atmosphere became quiet as Mark looked up in the vacant sky, deep in thoughts while you waited for him to continue. Your phone buzzed against your leather coat.

[From Bullhead] : Don’t think I am overlooking your mess. This is the first and final warning from me.

You shivered, half from the cold and half from the text you just received.

“26th, sharp at 8 PM, my place.” He snapped his fingers, hooting at the realization of having a free day in his busy scheduled life.

“Okay, done.” You should have refused, you thought. But for some reason, you found yourself agreeing to his offer, you felt both sad and guilty for disappearing out of your friend’s life without a trace. However, you couldn’t ignore the greedy feeling you felt, the want to see him again. “I think I should be done around...7:30? So I think I’ll be able to make it.” You unlocked and handed him your phone.

“You have to make it,” his eyes focused on the screen of your device, swiftly typing what you assumed was him number. “Just incase, text me if I happen to forget - no I know that look, Y/n, you must text if that happens..” He rolled his eyes, knowing that how much you would be overthinking about possibly tiring him because of his busy lifestyle. Mark dialed his number from your phone before handing it back to you. You visibly snickered at the name he saved his contact with : ‘My Boo MarkLee <3’ 

“Stop pretending as if you never renamed my existence as Markie Boo,” he groans, remembering how this has been his another one of the hundred pet names he had. Your conversation was cut mid way as his phone loudly vibrated in his phone, swiftly pulling it out as the guy whined in annoyance.

“Yo, I gotta go now I guess, something came up at the company.” He looked sad, pouty. “See you around, yeah?” You were pulled into another hug by the male, he surely loved to hug as usual.

“Yes, yes. Now go. Don’t be late.” You patted his back, pulling out of the hug and shooing him away towards his car.

“See ya, Mom.” He beamed as he sped off with his car. 

“Dumbass.” You muttered, softly laughing at the name he would always call you by, despite being years younger than him. You rounded around your car, getting inside. The start was bad but the end was good nonetheless. The keys of your car jiggled as you closed the door. Again, you twisted the keys, your mood slightly better than before for which you were grateful. Your car’s ignition blared, as you positioned towards the exit of the park, subtly muttering ‘long ass ride.’

The digits ‘7:37’ glowed on the the small digital clock beside your desktop. You felt stiff, stretching your neck as your bones made those cracking noes. You stare at your toes, zoning out was your passion and you excelled at it. You snapped straight, letting out a deep sigh as you started to scheme the projects before you were to hand them over to your bullhead boss. Soon enough, you were done, muttering almost too loudly for everyone that you wished your boss would be napping off instead of being awake.

Good for you, your prayers were answered for the first time in a while. You quietly placed the files that contained all the details that needed to be checked again by your boss, quietly making your way out of his cabin as soon as possible. On you way, you informed his secretary you were leaving, her face wore distraught and annoyance but softens as she saw you approaching. Sometimes you felt sympathetic towards her, often asking the heavens to bless her with utmost patience and perseverance to deal with the bullhead.

The marble floor clicked with every step you took, the sounds eerily audible in the serene lobby. It was very rare for the lobby to be filled with people in evening, the employees would practically sprint off their seats as soon as the clock hits 7. You made your way out of the building, making a mental note to buy a gift for Mark on your way back to home. What would he like? Take outs? Homemade? Wine? You drove across the street before halting your car in front of the department store that was situated just a few blocks away from your office. The header of the store glowed, the alleys seemingly half-crowded with people of different occupations you assumed. You let out a hiss as you felt a chill run down your spine, it was almost the end of Autumn which meant Winter was just round the corner. You decided to rely on your instincts, deciding to gift your friend a fancy bottle of wine despite having zero knowledge about it.

You were never quite the fan of wine. According to you, the seemingly alcoholic drink was too expensive, plus the etiquettes that came along for its consumption would always just make your turn your head away every time you laid your eyes across one. You schemed through the white shelves filled with different tastes and colors of wine, each hailing from various corners of the world. “How do I even spell it?” You crouched down a bit to a bottle that had caught your attention, the exquisite name was starting to make your head hurt. It’s probably a white wine you thought, the transparent color of the liquid was what made you convince. But something rather nostalgic caught your sight, before you could even realize, you found your fingertips caressing the cold glass bottle of the red liquid that you held now.

“If were to be a drink, then what would I be?” You lazily laid sprawled across the couch in the living, while you boyfriend who sat on the marble floor across fumbles with the knotted bunch of cables. Jaehyun had his gaze focus of the wire maze in his hands, eyebrows furrowed and lips pouted in immense concentration.

“Peach milk,” he smiled, unbeknownst to you he was actually implying a double meaning for his answer.

“And why that?” You felt his choice a bit amusing, not really expecting that as an answer.

“Because I love your ass and boobs,” he winked, only to be hit by a pillow that was resting beneath your curled legs. Jaehyun felt himself giggling by your reaction, it was cute to see you being annoyed. “Babe, c’mon. I can’t lie about it.” 

“Never mind, just forget it.” You started to get a bit pissed, hurt as well because your sensitive ass thought he would probably say something sweet that would make you heart flutter. 

“Peach milk is my favorite, that’s the main reason why,” Jaehyun shifted his focus back to the cables, the last two knots were too adamant to let go of each other. You felt yourself smiling, too wide, he definitely knew you well. Cheeky bastard.

“What about me?” he asked, eyes still focused as he working on untying the last knot.

“Hmmm...” you shifted your position on the couch, now sitting up as you stared your boyfriend’s figure for a short while.

“Red wine.” sophisticated, classy, unique, warm. If you were to describe the aura around him, these would be the first choices.

However, your answer seemed to have caught Jaehyun’s attention, pausing in his tracks as he got curious as to why the specific choice. He had a huge grin on his face, he adored how you remembered the specific detail of red wine being his favourite, for he mentioned it in your first date which was 2 years back. But he knew there was more to it. He knew you too well. “But why red wine?”

You kept your gaze fixated on Jaehyun as he gets up from the ground, putting the cables in a secure manner to avoid another tie war. He hugged the pillow tight which you had previously thrown on him, before propping down beside you on the couch with a tired sigh, looking at you intently. It was as if you both were having a staring contest. So you rested your head on your right hand, both staring each other with soft smiles before you continued.

“You are much more to what everyone thinks you are,” you notice how Jaehyun cocks an eyebrow, still staring and trying to process what you just said.

“Just like wine, the more I know you, the more I know just how amazing you are. Both sweet and sour, but the balanced ratio of it is what makes you more admirable.” You admired how he was always able to balance things out, prior to what everyone believes about him, he had both good and bad sides to him. And that’s what made him more human, him acknowledging his flaws. That’s what made you fall for him.

Hearing you, Jaehyun thought he might dislocate his jaw anytime soon for smiling so hard. His heart started to do all sort of flips, ears starting to pink. It was at times like this when you don’t need words to express how you were feeling, silent but the communication was still present. Jaehyun slides his hand into yours, you glanced at both of your intertwined fingers before looking at him, his eyes full of hearts for you. You giggled, feeling shy at his intense stare but returning him the same way.

“I love you,” he whispered, his starry eyes which were only looking at you.

“Excuse me miss,” You jolt at the sudden change of voice coming from behind you. You whip around, a girl probably in her late teens stood nervously, her hands fidgets with the belts of her backpack. 

“Miss, you were kinda in the way so..” you felt flustered for absent-mindedly drifting into your dreamland while shopping for your friend, chiding yourself mentally in the process.

“Ah, I am so sorry,” you moved swiftly to the side to allow the teen some space to carry out her shopping. “Please, carry on.” You smiled softly. Though at the back of your mind you wanted to point out how she shouldn’t be consuming alcohol, but disregarded the urge nonetheless. Sometimes children should get to enjoy their minimal amount of fun in their youth too. You were still clutching the red wine bottle in your hand, eyeing it one last time before placing it back in the racks. You cleared your throat, as if to let the voices speaking inside your head know that you are not a stupid 20 year old anymore. You shake your head, glancing around to inspect if others were judging your state before proceeding to the counter for the random wine you picked which might have cost you half of your monthly salary. It’s okay to spend once in a while.

Mark was literally running around his apartment. Running. His head shot up as he remembered something. “Shit, fuck, are the bathroom lights okay?” he murmured to himself, sprinting off to the bathroom that was located in his vast living room first, followed by the ones in his bedroom and guestroom. Mark was still a newbie to the norms of living alone, him being a newborn living-alone man for sparsely 2 months. And he would barely be home due to his schedules. There were even times he would just forget his own bedroom.

“What else, what else,” he glanced over the whole area eyes drifting here and there before he realized something. Dumbass forgot to check if there were even enough food for two. Mark quickly scurried to the kitchen counter, the utensils were more than enough before checking his fridge. Beers? Check. Soju? Check. Kimchi? Check. Slices of chicken breast? Check. But the 33 year old still felt something was missing. Mark shifted his focus on the wooden shelf that was just above the kitchen sink, the transparent glass door of it making a creak sound as he opened it. For an apartment who’s owner was barely home, the shelf was definitely well packed and organized. It contained all sorts of ramen, tteokbokki and any other fast food you could name. “What else, what else, what else, what else,” he kept chanting, as if by some magic his chants of short memory would be heard and he would know what else was he missing out. He hunched over the lower shelf to inspect if all the sauces his housekeeper stores for him were present there. Absorbed in his thoughts, Mark did not notice the sudden sound of his bell going off, before the sounds just got repeated and even more louder. 

“What the fuck?” his eyebrows creased in annoyance, cussing out all the profanities he had in his vocabulary at the visitor’s insolent mannerism. Mark was beyond pissed, the person behind the other side of the door not only disrupted his memory battle but also had the audacity to ring the bell like a 3 year old in the middle of the night. Instead of just answering from the intercom, he directly opened the entrance door. “Look, it’s like 11 in the night - Hyung?” Mark halted his rant session as he realized it was Jaehyun standing in front of his house. Covered in black shirt, black mask, black pants - black everything, it would take a while for others who did not know him personally to recognize the member of the top boy group in the industry.

“Were you shitting or something,” Jaehyun smiled before casually giving his best friend a hug. Mark pulls out some of the spare slippers he had stored, while Jaehyun sits on the wooden step as he unties the knots of his black adidas. As Jaehyun get ups, he looks over to the other male standing in front of him, then down at the slippers and then again to the male.

“What?” Mark laughed, his hands shifting to the sides of his waist.

“Mark, please don’t go shopping by yourself next time,” Jaehyun silently judged Mark for offering him the fluffly colourful pink body and yellow polka dots slippers, similar to the ones he was wearing but the combination in opposite. 

“I got them from the BOGO offer going on in the supermarket just down the lane,” Mark wiggled his toes under the furry layer of clothing, slightly humming at the texture. “Bro this shit comfortable and cute, you can’t deny that.”

Jaehyun gives him another look, amused at how his bandmate’s old habits were still the same. “I help you out with your fashion choices next time. Don’t worry.” He patted Mark’s should, a sympathetic grin on his face as he anticipated the other male’s dramatic reaction. 

“Oh please,” Mark scoffed. “More like you need my and Johnny hyung’s assistance for your monotonous wardrobe!”

Jaehyun laughed at his friend’s rebuttal before lazily propping himself on the bean sack in the living room with a low hum. Oddly enough, Mark’s apartment felt more homely than his own apartment which was just above a few floors.

“But what brings you here?” Mark walks over to his fridge, judging by his friend’s sudden visit, he knew drinks had become a necessary part of the night. “And what about Hayoung?”

“What about her?” Jaehyun raised his eyebrow at Mark, skillfully catching the beer Mark had tossed to him after asking about Hayoung, Jaehyun’s, well complicated girl something.

“I though you guys might just....I don’t know, be official or something.” Mark stole a glance towards his friend, nervously opening his can. The momentary pin drop silence was an indicator, he indeed blurted something he should not have. The fizzy hiss of the beer can being opened barely broke the ice.

“I don’t do things like official,” Jaehyun scoffed, producing a low sigh after sipping the beer. Mark decided not to further press his friend, despite having an old unresolved grudge against Jaehyun somewhere deep within him. It had been years since all of that had happened, but he still felt hostility creep up inside every time he remembers that night, that week, that month. After all, it was you that Jaehyun had completely broken, torn and ripped apart.

Unbeknownst to the rummaging thoughts inside the mind of his bandmate, it took a while for the older to realize how oddly clean and organized the apartment looked. Jaehyun turned to Mark, eyebrows raised with mischievousness coating his words. “You having someone for the night tomorrow?”

Mark almost made a disgusted face but instead opted to scrunch. “Bro, I don’t have Tinder, neither do I wanna be a carrier of STDs.” Mark placed his empty can on the small glass table, simultaneously letting out a tired huff. Jaehyun almost took an offense to the statement, the attack was definitely but indirectly made towards him. But he decided to shrug it off, Mark was not lying after all. Jaehyun did not even know half of the girls’ names he had slept with, someday or another mixing up names which ends in him getting kicked out or being cursed out. That was what had happened that night as well. 

“Okay, I forgot. Hayoung, yes. Speak.” Jaehyun shot an incredulous look to the younger, as if he was able to read his mind or something. Mark only furrowed his eyebrows at the reaction.

“I-I....got kicked out,” Jaehyun’s voice was barely above a whisper, but the sharp eared male was able to catch his friend’s low murmur. Mark stifled his giggle, only to receive a glare from his friend. Jaehyun ran his fingers through his newly dyed lilac hair. Fucking embarrassing.

“But what made her do that?”

Jaehyun felt chills run down his spine as the scenario replayed in his head. He shivered despite the heater being on, an amused Mark glancing while chugging down the small remaining amount of beer. Mark was being a gentleman trying to conceal his laughter as Jaehyun rambled how he managed to fuck up yet another good hook-up buddy. At this point, Mark was not even surprised. Victim to his obvious facial expressions, Mark hated lying, and equally hated being lied to as well. Jaehyun side glanced his friend, a loud annoyed snort escaping from him. “Having fun, aren’t you?”

“Well, I mean it’s fun — sorry,” Mark clears his throat. He should be the type of friend who gives advices instead of laughing. Mark wiggled in his seat, distorting the empty can before having a perfect shot in the trashcan just a few feet away from him. Smooth one.

“I think I might retire, or just quit after the current contract ends,” Jaehyun felt tight, the words came out from him in a way too suffocating form. Mark visibly tenses, his laidback posture now crouching forward to his friend. Mark was too pre-occupied in his escalating solo career, the support he had been getting even before the official stage was way too much for him to fathom, but he was grateful for it nonetheless. A stinging guilt crept up inside him, chiding himself of being such an inconsiderate friend. “It’s high-time I start to live on my own accord.”

Mark decided to rather not pressurize the half-drunk dude with his numerous questions as to why or what has made him to take such a step. Jaehyun struggled to keep his eyes open, exhaustion was taking over his body ever faster now that he had booze in his system. Jaehyun would have rather opted to just spend the night on the couch (he preferred Mark’s limited edition long L shaped sofa over any king sized bed) but the guy decided to not get welcomed by his mate as ‘good morning.’ Mark put a hand on Jaehyun’s knee, an attempt to stop the non-stop stomping which was a very well-known drunk habit of him. Piling the blankets he just brought, the younger warned again, eyes like red lazer lights before trudging towards his bedroom. 

Feet wobbly, Jaehyun struggles to drag his build to switch off the remaining lights in the living room, glancing throughout the long empty space. He gulped down harshly, the familiar empty feeling creeping back to him which he had been avoiding for so long — for years. Jaehyun took a deep sigh, the heavy feeling feeling weighing down his chest as he took light steps towards the big glass window which granted him the view of the whole city. His eyes flickered at the luminous sight. He felt big but small, full, content but numb and empty. 

“Hyung, you’re still awake?” a sleepy voice spoke from behind, breaking out Jaehyun from his trance. 

“Huh?” It took a moment for him to process an answer. “Uh yeah. just like that. You go sleep.”

Mark shrugged, walking towards his bed as Jaehyun plopped down harshly on the duvet, wincing slightly as he felt a sprain in his lower back. With the alcohol slowly losing its effect on him with each passing second, Jaehyun started to feel more sober, more drawn back into the reality. He hated it. This feeling he was feeling.

Mark was having a rather difficult time to fall asleep. He even put on a random sleeping eye mask he uses for travelling, but alas that did not help either. He was too giddy, too excited for tomorrow. Pulling up the blankets over his head, Mark was assured he was safe from everyone, even maybe from God as a huge grin breaks out on his face. As much as he hates to admit it, Mark loved how things turned out to be the way they were.

“Oh god, this is so awkward. Oh god can I please please just die already?” Mark halted on his steps at the voice, glistening in sweats after the recent stage. He thought it would be an adventure to opt for the public washroom in disguise since the green rooms’ ones were all occupied by the rest of the members; and boy, Mark was really giving his all hold his pee.  

“OH GOD!” the sudden yelp caused the male to shriek quietly, muttering an inaudile ‘jesus’. Despite the odds, Mark decided not to test his luck, holding in the bubbling feeling just before explosion as much as he could. Muttering quiet curses, the male struggled to hold his posture as he stealthily tried to get to the other side of the stairs. Too busy in his on the way to urination voyage, Mark realized it was too late, he bumped. Bumped into someone. A girl. Hell yeah fucked. Panic crept at the back of his throat as he anticipated what was coming forth. Him being surrounded by numerous fan as he desperately tries to hold his pee. What a fucking sight.

“Look, I know you might be a staff or something,” Mark whipped his head at your voice. “But please just oh god,” you rambled, leaving the man standing with his legs crossed tightly in utter confusion. “I had no idea — Mark Lee?”

The colors from his faced drained, Mark turned casper for a split second. 

“PLEASE!” he was quick to react, half-whispering as he desperately caught your hands. “Please don’t just, uh.., shout or something.”

You immediately raised your hands in defense. “I uh have no reason to do so?” You stated, observing how he was literally squirming, it did not take you long to understand that the canadian needed to go the washroom as soon as possible. ”Oh!” You quickly moved. “Sorry for blocking your way!” Before he could even say thank you, you disappeared without any trace. Mark made a quick mental note to thank you, well that only if he ever happens to cross paths with you again. And deep down, he wised he would. On the other hand, you let out another distressed growl, promising to all of the heavens that never will you be ever accompanying your cousin sister, or let alone come to any concerts from now on. The stunt your drunken cousin had pulled just a while ago was humiliating enough, but of course, she had to spice it up by vomiting on the hallways just in front of the green room. You silently prayed and hope with all your might that maybe they will be generous enough not to sue you or ask for compensation for the mess, looking around cautiously for any employees before you sprinted off for the exit door, and yes, dragging the passed out stunt lady.

Mark felt as if he had a halo above his head, the water balloon inside him finally set free. But he had to race when he saw his phone buzzing with notifications, all of them belonging to his manager or the group chat of the members chanting same syllables ‘Where are you’ ‘show starts in 2′ ‘get yo ass here’. It did not take the rapper too while before he reached the green room, the makeup artists and stylists immediately wrapping themselves around him with brushes and hair sprays. He was smiling, genuinely smiling as he replayed the encounter he just had. Johnny raised an eyebrow with an amused grin on his face. 

“What’s with the smile, bro?” Johnny pulls up some random exercises to relieve the tension in his muscles.

Instead of dodging his question, Mark replied, still smiling, but wider. “The pee voyage was a nice one.”

Johnny judged the younger for a second before chuckling and heading towards the stage. The loud noises from the fans echoed throughout the whole arena, full of green lightsticks gleeming like blossoming spring garden. No wonder I called them grass, Mark thought. But today, he was looking for a rather specific individual, his eye scanning almost all the faces in the crowd. He hoped to see you again, smiling gleefully as he performed, but thought that it was too greedy of him to want this much in a span of a day. And so he performed, for the first time without any pressure of doing good, enjoying every moment of the stage he was on and yet again, wished that maybe, maybe your paths will collide with his again.

.

.

.

part 2

#wow my writing sucks #pls dont judge oki loves #idk if i should be asking this but #pls support this T.T #jung jaehyun #jaehyun sm #jung yoonoh #NCT #nct2020 #nct ot23 #nct oneshot #nct angst #nct fluff #nct incorrect quotes #nct mark #mark lee #lee minhyung #red wine #mark fluff #mark angst #comedy #jaehyun angst #nct dream angst #NCT 127 #nct imagines #czennie #cznnet #kdiarynet

[rora-s]

The Derivative  Chapter 11: Prediction

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 10

My foot tapped repeatedly as I sat in a chair outside the principal's office. I had no idea why I had been called out of my english class to be here. Not that I was complaining about being taken out of a monotonous lecture on adjectives and adverbs. 

“Hey Abby” I looked up as the door opened and Mrs. Clive was there looking down at me. “Come on in” 

I grabbed my backpack and walked into the office, Clive closing the door behind me. Principal Brick was sitting behind his desk. I always thought his name fit his features with how square his head was. 

“Take a seat Abby” he offered, I nodded and sat down. Clive took the seat next to me. “I’ve heard a lot about you Ms. Calvin from Mrs. Clive here as well as your other teachers. Many of whom are concerned about certain behavioral issues you’ve shown since joining us here.” 

“If this is about that fight in the cafeteria I thought we had that sorted out I mean I didn’t cause it” I quickly defended myself sitting up in my seat. 

“We know Abby, that's not what we’re talking about” Clive reassured me. 

“Then what is it?” I asked, growing suspicious. 

Brick sat forward resting his hands on his desk. “To be completely honest with you Abby, originally we were led to believe by your social worker, a Mr. Grant, that your behavioral problems would be expected considering your history with the foster system and problematic past parent situation.” I shifted in my seat “however, Mrs. Clive has brought a different perspective onto the situation”

My head snapped to look at the teacher. She had a light smile on her face “I got into contact with a friend of mine Michelle Wiat she’s a principal at an elementary school it turned out you attended. She told me about the advanced courses she put you in College Algebra, Calculus. As well as your IQ testing she provided all the documentation as well” 

There was a moment where my brain was flustered hearing Ms. Wiat’s name again after so long. Then I finally collected my thoughts “so what does this mean? Are you finally putting me in advanced courses?” 

“Not exactly” Brick objected “we believe at this time that this school can no longer provide what you need to learn” 

“In other words we know you’re not thriving here” Clive cut in “so I’ve arranged here with Mr. Brick for you to possibly test out of high school” 

I was stunned at the news but felt excitement bubbling within me “serious like no more school?” 

“Part of it will require you to continue your education somewhere else such as college, university, or career center but you will no longer be attending high school” Brick explained. 

“This is awesome,” I cheered excitedly. 

“Don’t get too excited you’ll have to take a test to prove you’re capable and that’s only if your father approves all of this” Clive clarified. 

I felt my excitement hit a wall “my father?” 

“Yes we’ll be sending you home today with a note detailing everything and asking for a parent teacher conference to discuss any other issues that may come of this” Brick informed “since you are still a minor you can’t just make these decisions on your own” 

“Right” I murmured as Brick handed me a letter. 

“Don’t worry Abby this will all work out and then we’ll get to see what heights you’ll truly be able to reach” Clive reassured me with a hand on my shoulder. As I looked at the paper I didn’t feel as sure. 

_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

3rd POV. 

Abby sat out in the hallway at school. She was reading Twelve Years a Slave. The nine year old had been kicked out of her 4th grade class for calling another kid an asshole after he broke her pencils. 

“Abigail” she looked up at the familiar disappointed voice of the principal. 

“Hello” the girl greeted. “Call me Abby” 

The principal, Mrs. Wiat, sighed and sat down next to the girl. “Whatcha reading?” 

“Twelve Years a Slave” Abby replied, showing the teacher the book cover. 

“Advanced book for someone your age” The principal voiced genuinely surprised. 

“It’s a good read but I feel bad for Solomon. He just wants to escape his captivity.” Abby voiced “he didn’t ask for any of his problems he just got dragged into it” 

“Do you relate to him?” The woman pressed sensing something. 

Abby shrugged and didn’t make eye contact. “Maybe a little” 

“Abby, you know calling people mean things is wrong” The principal explained. 

“But he broke my pencils,” the girl defended. 

“I understand but lashing out isn’t the answer” Mrs. Wiat kept her voice even as she spoke. “Abby, you've been fighting with other kids and not doing your homework. Is there something going on at home? Something you want to tell me?” 

The girl shook her head quickly “no nothing” 

“Okay” the principal nodded. “Then why don’t you do your homework?” 

“Because isn’t the point of homework to practice the stuff you learn in class?” The fourth grader asked. 

“That’s right,” the principal nodded. “Which is why you need to do it to learn.” 

“But I already know the stuff,” Abby objected. “I mean I get perfect scores on the tests so why do I have to do the homework?” 

The principal found herself speechless at the fourth graders logic. “Because it factors into your grade” 

“Well what's more important in school for me to learn or for me to get good grades?” The girl challenged. 

“Abby” the principal sighed. Then a thought came to her “I want to send a note home with you for your mother” the principal explained “I want to talk to her and get you in a more advanced program at least for your reading level maybe math also” 

“Does this program have homework?” Abby questioned. 

The principal chuckled lightly “Unfortunately Abby all of life has homework.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Abby POV. 

“What you think he’ll say no?” Charlie asked as he moved some papers around on the table. 

“I don’t know what he’s going to say,” I exclaimed, my chin resting on the table the note from my teachers in my hands. “That’s the part that bothers me.” 

“Well then I suppose the only way to resolve that would be to ask him” Charlie argued. I let out a breath in a huff. “Listen Abby, you've been arguing to learn more advanced curriculum since you got here and I’d wager even before then. This is a great chance for you. I’m sure Don will see that and let you test out okay?” 

“Yeah” I murmured. “Don’t tell him about this though I want to be the first one to talk to him” 

“My lips are sealed” the mathematician vowed as he typed on his laptop. 

A moment later Alan came in from the kitchen and I folded the note and stuffed it in my pocket. “Hey,” he greeted “Charlie whatcha working on there?” 

“Sabermetrics” Uncle C replied with a sigh “baseball math found on a dead man’s computer Don’s having me look at it for a case” 

“Oh” Alan murmured a little put off from the dead man fact. He walked up behind Charlie peering over his shoulder “What do these formulas tell you?” 

“The ones I’ve recovered indicate that the Dodgers are not on the right track to win the pennant next year” Charlie informed. 

“Like you needed math to figure that one out, huh?” Gramps muttered. 

Charlie chuckled “no” 

“I heard that, uh, Don was leaning towards the wife.” Alan voiced. 

“That’s right,” Charlie confirmed. 

“Seems to be the first place they look nowadays” Alan mused. 

“I don’t understand” Charlie agreed “I mean, if you hate the person you’re married to that much, get divorced.” 

“Even the thought of divorce holds its own special horrors, let me tell you” Alan sighed. 

“Well, you and mom never thought about- I mean, I was never witness to any kind of-” Charlie stammered as his father leaned on a chair. 

“That’s exactly the way we wanted it.”  Alan explained. Charlie shifted in his chair, eyes still fixed on Alan urging him to continue “well, it was a long time ago, we, um. We had a little rough patch there for a moment, but we got through it.” 

Charlie closed his laptop slowly and I looked between the two men wondering where this conversation was going “how rough a patch are we talking about?” Uncle C questioned. 

“It was when you were 13 years old,” Alan offered willingly “and you went off to Princeton.” 

“Mom came with me,” Charlie added. 

“The separation was pretty hard on both of us” Alan admitted “and aside from the money matters, there was this irrational jealousy. Anyway, even the possibility of divorce was never discussed, because we loved each other too much.” 

“I don’t remember any of it,” Charlie murmured. “I don’t even remember a raised voice between the two of you.” 

“That’s because your mother and I both agreed that we wouldn’t stress you or Don any more than we had to.” Alan explained sitting down. “Charlie that’s how parents argue in front of their children; they disguise the big things as little things.” 

Charlie was quiet for a moment looking at his work. I stood up and made to leave the room a churning feeling in my gut. “Abby you alright?” Alan called after me. 

“Yeah, yeah fine I just, homework” I lied horribly but Gramps didn’t seem to be questioning it and I didn’t really give him time to before I was bolting up the stairs. 

I collapsed on the bed in Don’s old room. Charlie going to college early had put a huge strain on his parents' lives. What kind of strain would I be putting on Don if I graduated early? In all my nagging why hadn’t I considered how this would affect Don. After everything my mom went through and sacrificed for me growing up was I really going to make my other parent sacrifice for me too? Let alone one I’d only known for less than a year? 

I groaned and grabbed the pillow covering my face. When did my life get so complicated? 

_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

3rd POV. 

Abby sat bored in yet another class at school. She glanced at the clock and sighed. Wondering how difficult it would be to slip out a side door during a passing block. The public library wasn’t too far from the school and it would be open at this time. 

Then her mom's words came back to her. She glanced around the class all of whom were still working on the algebra assignment she had already finished. How was she going to become friends with any of them? Most of them were upper middle class with well to do parents. Nice clothes, new backpacks, and cell phones. Abby wore thrift store clothes, had an old backpack that had seen better days, and never had a cell phone in her life. 

The bell rang jogging her from her thoughts. Gathering her things Abby headed out into the hallway. Going to the freshman lockers to ditch her stuff from algebra and grab her English stuff. 

They were reading “Of Mice and Men” which she had already read years prior. She remembered every word and had told her teacher as much but the woman had still insisted that Abby bring her copy to class everyday. Despite the obvious redundancy. 

“Hey gutter kid” Abby heard the call and turned just in time to get hit in the face by someone’s backpack. “Oops looks like Miss smarty pants isn’t much of a quick thinker.” 

Abby recovered quickly and looked to see who had thrown the bag. She wasn’t surprised to see a gaggle of laughing popular kids not far off. She looked down at the back pack and reared punting it down the hall. 

She smirked broadly as one of the kids ducked and another got a face full as she had. 

“Why you little” One of the kids came at her, pinning her to the locker. She kicked out on reflex and before she knew it a fight had broken out in the hallway. 

When a teacher finally showed up and pulled them apart. Abby was shocked that he first turned to the kid who had started it. 

“What happened?” the teacher asked them. 

“She attacked me-“ 

“I did not you liar!” Abby objected loudly. 

“You be quiet” The teacher ordered her. 

“But I didn’t-“ 

“Come on I’m taking you to the office now” the teacher ordered. He grabbed Abby’s arm and led her down the hallway. 

Not long after she was sitting outside the principal's office. She could hear everything going on inside. 

“She has a history of ditching” the teacher, Mr. Simons, was saying. “And now she’s picking fights.” 

“Abby skips because she isn’t learning anything in her classes if you put her in the advanced class-“ 

“That girl shouldn’t even be in regular classes,” Simons objected. “And don’t act like she’s some genius from the look of her I’d say she skips to go out drinking and do drugs-“ 

“Don’t you dare talk about my daughter like that!” Janice yelled. 

“Settle down both of you and Simons sit the hell down” the principal suddenly snapped. Then continued in a quieter but not any less tense tone “What exactly did Chris say happened?” 

“That she attacked him in the hallway” Simons stated “unprovoked” 

“Alright and what did Abby-“ 

“Why do you need any more convincing? It’s obvious what happened! What are you going to trust the word of some delinquent that can’t be bothered to show up to class or the straight A quarterback.” 

“My daughter is no liar!” Janice exclaimed. “She doesn’t go to class because she already knows everything that’s being taught cuz you refuse to put her in the advanced classes” 

“Do you really think a girl with elementary school education like Swiss cheese is actually going to make it in an advanced class?” Simons scoffed arrogantly. 

“She can remember everything that she’s ever read perfectly just ask her” Janice shot back. 

“Will you two stop!” The principal exclaimed and sighed. “I’m putting both students involved on temporary suspension” 

“What!” Simons exclaimed. The office descended into loud bouts of indiscernible yelling. Abby closed her eyes and tuned them and the world out the best she could. 

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

“You alright?” Charlie asked hesitantly as him and Don left the Lorman group headquarters. 

“Yeah” Don murmured “It’s just all this stuff about predicting human potential I can’t help thinking about how it’d impact Abby you know?” he explained as the pair loaded into his SUV. “I mean she doesn’t really talk about it but I got enough from her social worker to know that her and Janice lived in some not great neighborhoods growing up.” 

“And this predictive model would have slighted against her despite her potential” Charlie inferred. 

“Exactly I mean she’s incredibly smart” Don explained “and I’ve been trying to go to bat with her regarding these advanced courses and stuff. Like, you were already in college at her age and she’s that same kind of smart. I just want her to have all the opportunities she deserves.” 

Charlie chuckled slightly “you know this side of you Abby brings out it- its kinda weird” 

“Yeah? Good weird or bad weird?” Don inquired. 

“Definitely good weird” Charlie assured. 

Don sighed “I guess I finally just understand what Mom and Dad meant when they said they wanted the world for us, you know. And that’s what I want for Abby” Don explained and Charlie smiled working very hard to keep his mouth shut about Abby’s letter from her teachers. 

_____________

Don glanced up at Abby as she ate her fries, her eyes scanning over the book she had laying on the table. They were eating dinner in their apartment now that he was back from the long case he’d just worked. The man took a deep breath deciding he had given her enough time “so I talked to Ms. Clive today and set up the time for the parent/teacher conference” 

Abby’s head snapped up so fast he was a little concerned “how did you? Did she tell you? Uh…” she fumbled over her words. 

Don scoffed setting down his burger “Abby, first off my job is to figure things out second off if you want a secret kept your uncle is the last person you should tell” Abby groaned putting her head in her hands and muttering a curse word or two towards Charlie. Don chuckled lightly “the only thing I don’t get is why you didn’t tell me. I mean, this is what you’ve been after forever I thought you would have jumped at it” 

“I was and I am… excited” Abby replied carefully biting her lip nervously which made Don shift in his seat. “It’s just… I know me going to college early is a big deal and it’s going to change things for me a- and for you and I didn’t want to make your life harder than I already had” 

Don was surprised by the confession and even more concerned as his daughter refused to make eye contact with him. He thought about what to say and only one thing came to mind “Abby I want the world for you” he told her. 

The girl looked up in surprise, her eyes meeting her father’s “what?”

“Listen I don’t care if this is going to change some things. Because I’m here for you” Don explained “Listen, I appreciate the concern but it’s the parents job to worry about the kid not the other way around or at least not until I’m old and gray” a small smile spread on Abby’s face. 

“Thanks Don” Abby told him. 

“Yeah, of course” Don nodded and he could tell Abby felt a lot better. Not just from this situation but it was like another wall had fallen down, chain had been released. And for him it was like another puzzle had been solved, another crisis averted. For both another step toward being family. 

Chapter 12 -> 

#numb3rs #numb3rs season 1 #Don Eppes #Charlie Eppes #alan eppes #amita ramanujan #larry fleinhardt #david sinclair #terry lake #fanfiction #Don is a dad #abby calvin #episode per chapter #Episode Related #also on ao3 #also posted on quotev

[exosmutfactory]

Six Phases 001

Who knew it nearly took 6 months to win your heart, and 6 phases for Baekhyun to lose his mind.

A/N:  Here’s part 1!  I do warn you it’s 5.8k+ long (baekhyun’s fault as always) 👉🏼👈🏼 hope you like it, let me know in my ask box if you want 🌹 Enjoy ♡ ♡

[ contains: romance, fluff, angst & smut (later on) ]

Part 1 ✓ | Part 2 | Part 3 P(1) | P(2) | Part 4 P(1) P(2) |  Part 5 P(1) P(2) | Part 6

•⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •

Track 03

Being the new girl on campus is never easy, nor the one in town. And because of a certain situation that occurred a month before high school graduation, the summer following it was spent getting over the traumatizing affair… And the following 9 months.

Don’t worry, the lesson from it all has been learned well.

“Damn this place is huge.” I squint, shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand. For the weather to be a mere 78 degrees it sure doesn’t keep the bright star from bearing down on me. Spotting a building that has “Dormitory” written clearly on the side I push my glasses farther up my nose and pull my suitcase along.

Receiving the directions and details to my room goes smoothly, but just as I’m turning to the elevators I slam into someone else.

“Fu–” I sigh, rubbing the tip of my nose as I step back. “Sorry,” I mumble already feeling the embarrassment on my cheeks as I lift my head only to be met by a broad chest.

Lifting my chin farther I’m met with friendly, sparkly brown eyes and a dashing smile. “It’s alright.”

I blink, nodding silently as my heart skips a beat. Curly brown hair; puppy eyes; thin yet pouty lips. I shift my eyes away before I get even more caught up in his smile, or worse, checking him out.

“Do you need any help?” His voice rings again. A melodic sound I’m quickly finding myself liking more and more.

Meeting his eyes again his gaze sweeps over the suitcase in my hand along with the full backpack on my back before completing the eye contact. I try not to blush farther, “No, I’m alright.”

He nods, shoving his hands in the pockets of his ripped jeans. “Don’t freak out if the elevator stops working.” He calls as I pass by him. “If it stops moving wait a few seconds before pressing the floor you want again.”

Looking back his way I forget our height difference until all I see is his white t-shirt and long neck. I nod once attempting to send him a small smile that he quickly returns. “Thanks.”

He smiles even more, waving a little as I step through the dreaded metal doors and tap Floor 3 with my knuckles.

His friendly gestures stay on my mind until I trip over nothing trying to step out onto my floor. Making a noise in embarrassment I check to make sure no one else saw before taking out the directions to my room. 304

Carefully discovering the left side of the hall has all the even room numbers I slowly made my way down. The desired dorm is 3 doors away from the staircase. Reading back over the paper my roommate’s name is Jenny.

Gathering myself I give a little mental pep talk, knocking politely on the door as the sound of laughter reaches my ears.

“Oh, hold on.” Comes muffled through the door. The next second a click is heard before vibrant blue hair and light blue eyes peek out. “Hello, how may I help you?”

“Um..” Blinking at the welcoming smile on her face I quietly hold up my paper in fear of squeaking in reply.

Her eyes drift over the document. “Oh!” She smiles even more, opening the door fully. “Come in! I didn’t expect you to get here so soon.” She continues sheepishly as I step over the threshold, taking in the state of the room. One side is obviously occupied; clothes spewed all over the bed.

“It’s okay.” I softly reply slowly shrugging off my backpack. “So!” She begins as I set it on the floor. “I’m Jenny as you already know.“ She jokes. "What’s your name? Where are you from?”

Looking her way she’s perched on her bed, eyes focused completely towards me. I shift my eyes away after a few moments, quietly mumbling my name.

“Riley?" She tilts her head, smiling again as I nod. "Your name is pretty.”

“Thank you." Fishing through my pocket I pull out my phone, taking if off airplane-mode.

"I haven’t seen you around before, are you a freshman?”

“Yes." Briefly checking my notifications and sending an ‘I made it’ to mom I put my phone back. "I’m nearly 19 but I took a gap year so.." I peek at her, "Here I am.”

She nods, looking intrigued as I start unpacking my suitcase. “Did you live close by or from out of state?”

I smirk, carefully tucking my folded clothes into the empty dresser. “I’m from a boring town down south.”

“Ah," She blinks, "Well that’s cool! I hope you like it here." Her face turns serious. "We just met but if anyone gives you problems, you let me know, okay?”

Taking in her expression I nod.

Another smile spreads on Jenny’s face. “Now show me your timetable.”

/////

The first-week breezes by relatively fast, assignment after assignment of due dates coming from left and right. Luckily I was smart enough to research every possible way to study over my year out of school. Traveling to new countries and places during a gap year? Haha yeah. Not me.

“So Riley,” I’m greeted with the second I walk into my dorm room. I carefully set down my stack of textbooks and tablet on the desk before turning to Jenny with a quirked brow.

“I know you just got here,” She begins, perched on the edge of her bed. “But there’s a party this weekend–”

“You mean tomorrow?” I blink as it is quite literally the late afternoon of Friday.

Jenny smiles sheepishly, “Do you want to go?” Seeing the look on my face she adds, “I swear I’ll stay with you the whole night.”

Yeah, where have I heard that before. “I’ll think about it,” Checking the time I look back at her. “I’m going out and will stop for food on the way back. Want anything?”

Her eyes light up at the mention of food, nodding and excitedly telling me what she would like.

As I exit the small safe space once again my lips quirk into a smirk. Time to go shopping.

A little more than 24 hours later I find myself trying to relax in the passenger’s seat of Jenny’s small convertible; nervously fiddling with the thin straps of my dress.

“I’m surprised you agreed honestly,” She starts eyes focused entirely on the road. “And that dress.” Her eyes flicker over at me, “Forest green and backless? Damn you’re brave. And gorgeous.”

Thankfully the early night is just dark enough to hide my burning cheeks, “Thank you.”

She smiles knowingly, steering the wheel with both hands. “Lucky me I have to keep boys off you all night.”

I laugh heartily at that catching the teasing smile on her face. “I don’t know about all that.” I joke watching as the street lights flow by, “I’m pretty good at holding my own.”

“Brave, gorgeous and independent.” She pulls the car to a stop looking over at me. “Oh honey, they are going to drool over you.”

Giggling as she looks in the rearview mirror, I take a look around at the giant house up ahead. Cars lined along the street as dozens of party-goers head towards the booming bass of music.

“Riley, does my eyeshadow look okay?”

Turning back to her I take in the perfect spread and shiny golden glitter over her eyes; nodding, “Damn near perfect.”

She smiles, “Now you’re speaking my language.” With a sigh she turns fully to me, smoothing the front of her black A-line dress. “Ready?”

Nodding we both step out the car feeling the late summer night breeze rolling in. Closing the door I follow after Jenny as he heads up the hill, our respective heels clicking loudly against the concrete.

“I swear I’m filled with regret every time I face this sidewalk.” She pants sending me into another fit of laughter. “Oh shut it Miss 3 Inches, You’re one to laugh!”

I shrug smiling so much it nearly hurts, “Your silver stilettos make your legs look great, Jen.”

“Oh, now you’re just trying to butter me up.” She rolls her eyes until they widen; suddenly she stops making me freeze mid-step to not bump into her. “Hey Riley, look.” Whispering she discreetly points somewhere farther ahead.

Being as inconspicuous as possible I crane my neck while pretending to shake out my skater skirt, eyeing the group moving towards the house.

“Those guys.” She continues, “Are bad news. Make sure you stay away from them, okay?”

Just as she finishes her sentence I spot a head of silver hair, the shine of it catching in the dim glow of a streetlight. My heart quickens in unease as I nod in front of her concerned eyes. “Okay.”

Like always a smile finds its way to her face, “Good.” Grabbing my hand she starts walking again, “Let’s go have fun!”

I chuckle following her lead. The house is a lovely mansion with clean-cut hedges and a stone walkway leading up to the white, front double doors. Held open as people stream in past two men seemingly standing guard. One noticeably shorter than the other with a close-cut haircut and big eyes. The taller sporting a burgundy suit with no shirt underneath; a teasing smirk that I can guess is usually placed on his pouty lips.

“On door duty again, huh?” Jenny teases. “How much are they paying you this time Kyungsoo.”

“Not nearly enough.” The shorter replies. His lips are nicely shaped, I bet..

“Daydreaming about Soo’s heart-shaped lips, eh?”

I flinch back from the taller, tensing at the feeling of his breath fanning over my ear.

“No need to glare at me Dollface.” He chuckles holding his hands up in surrender. “Who’s the cutie, Jenny?”

“No one you need to know.” She mutters pushing me protectively behind her away from his hungry gaze.

“Well then.” He mumbles not even surprised, gesturing to the open doors. “Guess I’ll have to find out on my own–” He flinches back as Kyungsoo lifts a fist in his direction.

“Please excuse him.” He sighs. “Come on in.”

Jenny’s smile is bright as he reaches in for a hug, “Thank you Soo~” Looking back at me she grabs my wrist and pulls me ahead, shooting one last glare at the tall man as she urges me to walk inside first.

Stepping carefully into the house I make quick work of analyzing my surroundings. Makeshift dance floor to the left; expensive in-home-bar to the right. Grand stairs leading up to the second floor right ahead and surely plenty of bathrooms scattered around the whole place.

“So, what do you wanna do first?” I jump at Jenny’s voice in my ear, blinking back at her as she smiles innocently. My eyes drift to the dancefloor and she immediately shakes her head, “Here. You’ll want a drink or two before you start mingling with those idiots.” She sends me a pointed look. “Trust me.”

Before I even nod in agreement she is leading the way to the bar, keeping a reassuring grip on my wrist as we bump into careless strangers standing in the middle of the room. “Minseok!”

A handsome man with black hair and cat-like eyes looks up from shining a glass behind the bar, a friendly smile forming on his lips. “Jenny, what can I get you and your friend?” His eyes peek curiously at me.

Realizing I’m hiding behind Jenny like a little lost cub I step closer to the bar, feeling her eyes on me. “Do you perhaps have Gin?” He nods. “Brandy? Vodka?” Nodding once again, I rest my chin on my palm, quirking my lips into a half-smirk. “Dr Pepper?”

He returns the expression. “Maybe.”

“Hmm.” Grinning I finally settle on, “Vodka and Dr Pepper…Mostly the pepper, please.”

His laugh can’t be heard well over the booming music but I can tell he means well by the understanding look in his eyes. “Coming right up, Beautiful.”

Flushing I discreetly fan my cheeks with my hand, looking away as Jenny tells him her order as well. Instantly I feel a pair of eyes on me. Leaning my elbows back on the bar I lazily sweep my gaze across the room.

There. Just at the edge of the dancefloor. Adoring an all-black outfit consisting of a silk shirt, waist-length silver button jacket, and tight-fitting leather pants. Leather two-inch heeled boots and partially slicked-back silver hair completing the look. With a start in my chest, I realize it’s the same guy I bumped into at the beginning of the week. His once-friendly gaze and welcoming smile traded in for a piercing, hungry stare. The longer I continue the eye contact the hotter it gets in the room.

“Here you go.” Minseok’s voice brings me back to the present. The heated spell put over me by the handsome stranger broken as I turn to my full glass seated on the bar. Taking a tentative sip of the concoction I licked my lips, smiling at the flavor.

“How is it?” He asks. Jenny even turns to see my reaction.

“Perfect.” I nearly purr, throwing it back to chug the rest.

“Whoa!” Jenny exclaims, her beer held carefully in hand as I licked my lips again. “Damn girl, if I didn’t know any better I’d be envious.”

“I’m a lightweight,” I mumble, kindly asking Minseok for another.

“I can tell.”

Sending a weak glare her way she just shrugs in return, smiling unapologetically.

That same feeling of a stare never quite goes away as I take time to savor my next drink.

“So, you like your drinks heavily diluted, huh?” Jenny inquires.

“I don’t like the burn…” I start wrinkling my nose, “It’s starting to set in.”

She giggles at my misery. “What a baby you are.”

Nodding in agreement I down the rest of the tasty drink neatly placing the glass back on the bar. “Thank you, Minseok.”

He nods smiling as he picks it up, “Have fun on the floor.” He quirks a brow, “Be careful.”

Smiling politely I glance at Jenny before twirling around, making my way to the crowd of grinding bodies. Not surprisingly there is a clear empty space right in the middle of the floor.

Being extra I sway my hips as I walk to the dead center already feeling a handful of eyes on me. Ignoring them I let the beat of a familiar song take me over.

“I don’t hate it. You tell me. I’m nervous.”

Slowly body rolling sensually from side to side to the time of the song I walk forward with one foot in front of the other, praising myself for deciding to let my hair down in loose beach waves for the evening. Once the bass kicks in I speed up the tempo, running a hand through my hair and down my body with a smile on my face.

“She’s so selfish, but I like it.”

Letting the song take complete control, I let loose. Dancing my best as my skirt swishes around; spinning on my heels as the alcoholic buzz finally makes me feel warm all over. Or maybe it’s the curious heads turning. Surprisingly no one dares to approach. Their dance partners near slapping them every time they slow down to look my way.

Shrugging inwardly I twirl around as if no one else is in the room, busting out my favorite dance moves and teases memorized from countless youtube videos and dancer dvds.

Just as the second chorus hits a pair of hands land on my hips. Smirking I keep my back to them enjoying the feel of smooth silky material on my bare skin as they move closer.

“Betcha. We were destiny. I’m gonna getcha.”

Reaching my arm up to wrap around the back of their neck I can’t help giggling at the feel of their grip tightening on my hips; digging my fingers into their soft strands. Feeling their lips brush against my neck I decided that it’s time to turn around, my eyes widening at the familiar pair of brown eyes and smirking lips.

Backing away as the music slows down I take a good look at him, his outfit looking even more stunning up close. We circle around each other like predator and prey, not daring to take that first step closer to the other. Not quite ready to go in for the kill.

He licks his lips as his eyeliner eyes meet mine again, showing off his own moves as the beat kicks back in. I stand there awestruck at the art of broad shoulders and thick thighs moving about before starting back up on my own groove; him being quick enough to compliment my movements.

We draw in closer and closer to each other until the chorus hits again. I dance around him as he watches with an amused smirk, my cheeks flushing as I notice his hard stare set on me.

“You’re gonna be mine, I. Oh baby in time, I.”

“Betcha. It’s something certain ma girl I meet ya.”

As the last of the song plays he pulls me in, holding my hand up and gripping my waist with the other before whispering the final words in my ear, “You’re gonna be mine.”

Looking into his warm brown eyes I glance down at the mole above his pretty lips, licking my own subconsciously before I can stop it. His own orbs shoot down to capture the action, slowly leaning in until the rambunctious noise of drunk people cheering breaks the atmosphere.

Snapping out of my daze I step out of his arms, blinking at him in shock from a safe distance as he keeps his eyes on me a frown beginning to form on his lips.

“Riley!”

Gulping with a headache coming on I spin around to a mad looking Jenny. “J-Jen–”

She shakes her head, grabbing my wrist, “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” She throws a glare over my shoulder, quickly making way back out of the crowd of grinding bodies.

I can’t help shooting one last look back myself as a familiar Grande song plays, not missing the daring smirk and challenging quirk of brow on his handsome face.

“Jenny.” I begin as she practically drags me back to the bar. “Jenny, who is he?”

She wordlessly points at a barstool and I take a seat, accepting the water bottle she hands me.

She sighs running a hand through her short, faded blue hair. “He is Byun Baekhyun.” Sending me a pointed look she continues with distaste clear in her voice. “The notorious playboy on campus.”

Remembering the feel of his hands on my hips and lips on my neck I blush in realization; turning near scarlet as Jenny crosses her arms with a knowing look on her face. “Oh.”

She sighs as my eyes flicker to a brunet man coming up behind her. “Yeah, so drink a bit of that and we’ll head on out–” Gasping a look of pure shock and a flash of fear crosses her face as he wraps his arms around her. She turns around on the spot, “J-Jongdae?”

The man with light-brown hair grins lazily, “Hey babe.”

Judging by his sluggish movements and her stiff expression he is shit-faced drunk and she knows it. Sighing once again she pats his chest, glancing over at me. “Let me help you get to your room, Dae.” Barely responding he lets her drape his arm over her shoulder, her tiny form managing to stand them both up.

I stand up to assist but she just shook her head, sending me one last apologetic look before slowly walking him in the direction of the stairs.

Minseok even shoots me a sympathetic look as I notice a man approaching out of the corner of my eye. Sipping steadily I ignore him as he leans across the counter most likely ordering a drink. My eyes seem to naturally drift over to where I last saw the infamous Byun Baekhyun. A twinge of disappointment pricking my chest when I see no silver hair insight.

“Hey,” A voice whispering in my ear has me jumping back, looking at the stranger with furrowed brows. It’s the same guy I saw walking up earlier.

“You come here often?” He continues his eyes lazily gazing over my form. If it wasn’t for his obviously reeking breath just from his unstable stance alone everyone in the room can see he’s drunk.

Feeling like I’ve had enough social interaction for the night—which I have—I turn back to my water, nearly downing the rest of the bottle. A hard nudge to my ribs has me wincing full-on glaring at the obnoxious person. “Want me to get you a drink?” He tries a smirk growing on his face as he stares at mine.

“No.” I pointedly say through gritted teeth; crushing the empty water bottle in my hand.

He chuckles at the sight brushing badly dyed blonde hair out of his eyes. “Oh well, your loss cutie.”

Leaning over to share farewells with Minseok I slowly relax my grip on the squeezed plastic, swiftly walking away from the bar. Realizing yet again that Jenny is busy and my ride I sigh venturing farther into the house. “The bathrooms have to be somewhere,” I mumble listening close to every door before daring to touch the knob. No matter how loud the music is out front people really don’t know how to tone it down on the pornographic noises. I lean away from the last door on the main left hallway with a deep sigh and heavy bladder.

Noticing a shorter darker hallway adjoined to it I peek my head around the corner. No noise seems to come from this part of the house. I have the sudden urge to bring out my phone as a guide until I remember how easy it’ll be to drop it in my state. With a shake of my head, I carefully listen through the first door; deeming it safe and opening to a nicely decorated bathroom.

Before I get the chance to enter I’m roughly yanked back and spun around, finding myself pressed up to the wall by that fucking douchebag from earlier.

“Gotcha.” He chuckles breath even more disgusting than last time.

“I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing,” My brows raise more with my voice. “But if you don’t back the fuck up we’re going to have a prob-”

He slaps a hand over my mouth, my eye twitching at the feel of sweat and god knows what else contaminating my skin. “The only problem,” He begins scarily calm, the humor fading from his face as he tightens his grip. “Is your fucking mouth.”

My eyes widened in disbelief before narrowing, using all my strength to push him off. Unfortunately, the man seems to be made of steel rather than muscle as he doesn’t move an inch beside the bruising grip on my wrist. I flinch pressing my back as close to the wall as possible as he leans in with a cruel chuckle shaking his head. Sighing at the turn of events I put on a fearful look hiding the hate in my eyes as he looks into mine, sickly satisfied.

“Now this,” He drags a hand down my waist, grossly chapped lips growing closer to mine, “Is more like it-”

Before I can stomp with all my might on his foot, he’s falling over with a yelp. Another figure just behind him with a textbook in his hands. “What have I fucking told you about showing your face around here, Lee?” His voice is calm with a cutting edge underneath.

I stay pressed to the wall slowly inching away as he goes to stand over the whimpering man on the floor. “What about not bringing your sick fucking ass around did you not understand?” He kicks him hard in the ribs, “Drinking my alcohol and harassing my guests.”

“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry-”

“Hey you.” The mystery man calls out. Noting that we are the only ones in the hall, I freeze.

He takes a peek over at me before crouching in front of the pathetically crying man, although come to think of it if someone slammed my head with a book I’d be sobbing too. “I’ll deal with you later.” He moves to slowly stand, and with a new sense of adrenaline; I bolt. Barely making it around the corner when a pair of arms wrap around me.

“Hey.” He mumbles picking me up with strength as I thrash in his arms. “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” He sighs, squeezing his unfairly strong arms around me. I growl in frustration, cursing the male population as I lay limp, staring up at the ceiling in a daze as he carries me to who knows where. Closing my eyes in a stressed manner I tense at the feeling of climbing upstairs.

“Relax.” He says again, kicking a door open and setting me down on a bed like a child. When he moves away I quickly sit up prepared to jump back onto my feet even as the room starts to spin. He’s already closing the door; locking it before turning back to me with his arms crossed over his chest. “You’re staying here.”

“Excuse me.” I aim to snap only for it to come out as a pathetic wavering reply. He uncrosses his arms as I take a closer look at him; my brain taking a second to register the silver hair on his head. It’s in a fluffy more boyish state over his forehead than it was earlier out on the floor. Byun Baekhyun. He takes a step closer and I back away on instinct, heart nearly racing out my chest as he stands before me.

He crouches down to my level, cupping my face in his large hand. For some reason, I don’t flinch back at the warm contact; lost in his eyes that turn concerned as he brushes his thumb over my cheek. “You’re crying.” He mumbles a frown on his face.

I am? I blink a few times, reaching up to wipe the blur from my eyes but freezing again as he does it for me; gently brushing my tears aside.

“Jenny is going to kill me.” He sighs hand dropping as he stands back up to his full height. Taking him in once again, I notice the absence of his waist jacket; it is draped over the back of a desk chair in the corner of the room.

“Alright, lay back.” He says running a hand through his hair.

My heart drops below my feet as my face burns scarlet. “W-What?”

“I’m tucking you in.” His brows raise meaningfully as he reaches down for my boots; carefully unbuckling and zipping with nimble fingers.

Suddenly hit with all the events of the evening all at once, from the drinking to dancing to panic to this, with tear-filled eyes I blurt out an “I-I need to go…bathroom.”

He looks up at me midway through pulling off the first boot. “Let’s get these off first, okay?”

All I can do is nod as he keeps his eyes on me, gently rubbing my ankle. After my shoes are off he picks me up again even though my legs are perfectly fine just to set me down in front of his personal bathroom two feet away from the bed.

Taking a few minutes to use the bathroom and get myself together, I clumsily walk back out into the room. This time he guides me back to bed with a hand resting respectfully on my waist. Everything after that is a blur. Only a sense of comfort and the smell of vanilla before my head hits the pillow.

  Even the slightest headache after a night of partying puts me in an unpleasant mood for the rest of the day. I can already feel one coming on as I nuzzle deeper into my pillow, surprisingly soft as a baby’s blanket with a hint of vanilla-

Opening my eyes they nearly pop out at the unfamiliar surroundings and even more so at the large t-shirt covering my chest. I sit up in a rush and pull at the loose white material feeling a little silly at the thought that I have seen this same shirt once before. Looking back at the pillow it is indeed covered with a blue baby’s blanket; the material fluffy and warm to the touch. I flush at the obvious hint of wetness on it. First I sleep in another person’s bed and then I drool!?

Can the ground just open up and swallow me whole.

Burying my face in my hands I sigh deeply, working my nerve before leaping out of the unfairly comfortable bed. Mansion. I conclude taking note of the grand windows and elegant doors. Peeking out of the bedroom I tug down on the bottom of my shirt. The material nearly brushing the back of my knees bringing me comfort as I make my way down the hall; holding the wall with my hand on my forehead as I search for the stairs. Luckily they’re not hard to find.

Moving down each step as slow and quiet as possible, my sock-clad feet silently glide across the wooden ground floor.

“You get lucky last night, Byun?” A barely familiar voice teases. I look towards an open area recognizing it as the side I didn’t venture through last night.

My eyes widen in realization; all of last night’s events flooding my mind. Oh god. I run quietly to lean my back against the wall behind the bar.

“Yes,” Baekhyun replies after a short pause, “But not…quite in the way you’d expect.”

“What does that even mean?” The other voices my thoughts, the twinkle of silverware sliding across a glass plate filling the silence.

“..I-”

“It’s not polite to eavesdrop, is it?”

Flinching away from the unfamiliar deep voice I look up at a tall man with big eyes and oddly adorable ears to match. Though the serious expression on his face is not one to mess with. Filled with a sense of guilt and dread I nervously lick my lips,“I-”

“Do you not know the rules?” He squints looking me over scrutinizingly with a condescending hum. “You must be new, so I’ll tell you this.”

Already guessing where this is going as the situation at hand continues to dawn on me, I blink back at him with a blank face.

“You are supposed to leave the house as soon as you are finished or to be gone the next day.” His eyes run over me in disapproval. “Not in Baekhyun’s clothes intruding on breakfast. However..” He licks his lips a smirk forming. “You’re pretty cute.”

I lean back as he crowds my space, bracing his hand on the wall next to my head. “How ‘bout this…” He whispers into my ear. “Wait up in my room and we can forget this ever happened.” He pulls back to smirk down at me, “You don’t want to lose Baekhyun’s favor, do you-”

“Park Chanyeol!”

The loud clang of metal against something solid echoes in the air, ‘Chanyeol’ groaning loudly as he steps to the side. “Baek what the fuck.” He hisses clutching the back of his head.

A body steps in between us; familiar broad shoulders decked in a leather jacket with a cap on their head. “Stay away from her.” Baekhyun mutters a frying pan in his hands.

“What do you mean you didn’t get laid, Baekhy-" A familiar brunet freezes soon after rounding the corner, eyeing all of us warily. "Do I even want to know?

Baekhyun clenches his jaw. "This,” He gestures to me, “Is Jenny’s friend.”

Both men drop their jaws at the same time. “Oh fuck.”

20 minutes later I’m back in my dress seated between a timid Jongdae and tense Baekhyun at a glass dining table.

“So… Riley was it?” Chanyeol clears his throat awkwardly.

“Yeah.” I can’t help wincing at the atmosphere. The combination of his fearful tone, Jongdae’s curious stare, and Baekhyun’s arms crossed over his chest adding onto my anxiety.

The giant turns around, walking by a watchful Baekhyun to slide the scrambled eggs onto my plate. “I’m sorry about earlier.” He mumbles rubbing the back of his neck, “Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

I quickly shake my head feeling 3 sets of eyes on me. “No no, no need, it’s all good.” Cracking a small smile I focus on his chest only concealed by a tacky baby pink apron. The sight making me chuckle internally. “And thank you for the eggs.”

He shakes his head fluffy blonde locks bouncing at the action, “No problem.” With an equally small smile, he walks off with the pan in the direction of what I presume is the kitchen.

“So…” Jongdae breaks the silence, a mug of coffee between his palms. “How did you and Baekhyun meet?”

That stare I’m growing way too familiar with falls on me again as I pick at my food. “Well,” Subconsciously looking around I spot an unopened Dr. Pepper bottle across the table. Before I think too much on it, I reach over to grab it; stretching farther when it barely grazes my fingertips.

A slender hand grabs it easily, placing it in front of me as my heart picks up. Barely sparing Baekhyun a glance, I open the bottle and take a swig with slightly flushed cheeks. “We met on the floor last night-”

“Really?” Jongdae blinks a bit of disbelief in his voice. “Huh. Usually the bi-” He takes a peek behind me and stops with a cough, bring his mug to his lips. “Women Baekhyun meets end up in his bed by the end of the night." 

Lifting a brow I ignore the obviously glaring man behind me. "I’m not one of those women.”

Jongdae throws his head back in laughter, coffee forgotten as his rambunctious noise fills the air. “Right.” He chuckles. “That’s what they all say till they’re shoving his cock in their mouth.”

Overcome with rage and embarrassment, I throw my napkin onto my cold eggs standing up so fast my chair screeches in protest.

Baekhyun gets up as well as I pointedly march out into the front of the house.

“Riley… Riley!”

I yank my wrist from his hold breathing deeply as he grabs it again, pulling me to face him. “What.”

He looks me over, messy silver hair flopped onto his forehead as I wonder what state my own is in. “I’m sorry, Jongdae is just-”

“Is he right?” I cut him off staring him down even as I have to keep my head tilted up. “Is he right to assume those things about me? About you?”

All Baekhyun has to offer is an unreadable stare. I pull away from his hold and walk back out the double doors I regret ever entering in the first place.

•⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •

Part 1 ✓ | Part 2 | Part 3 P(1) | P(2) | Part 4 P(1) P(2) | Part 5 P(1) P(2) | Part 6

#baekhyun fluff #baekhyun angst #citylights inspired #baekhyun romance

[bisexualstevierogers]

I Want You To Be Happier (Peter B. Parker X Reader)

Fandom: Into the Spider-Verse Pairing: Peter B. Parker X Reader Word Count: 3,226 Warning: Some sexual themes <3  Author's Note: Very much inspired by the song “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille, and I highly recommend listening to it while reading! This isn't a songfic but this fic would not exist without that song 😅 This is my first time writing for Peter B. so I hope I kept him in character! Please let me know what you think 😊 Also: it starts off sad but it ends happy I promise!! Oh, and Reader is essentially Mary Jane in this <3 

Peter knew you were unhappy, and he knew that something had to change.

He could see the tiredness in your eyes, and the enthusiasm you had always greeted him with had waned considerably in the last few months.

Being married to Spider-Man had taken its toll on you.

You only got to sleep next to your husband at night once a week, twice if you were lucky. Even during the day, your schedules never seemed to line up. You'd get called in to work on days you were supposed to spend together, or there'd be an emergency that Peter would have to go take care of during a date.

You knew that being married to a superhero wouldn't be easy, but you never could've imagined just how hard and draining it would be. Still, you loved Peter, and you couldn't picture your life without him, so you were determined to make things work.

Things only got worse when you brought up having kids, and Peter shot you down immediately.

“I'm not ready for kids yet, __y/n__.” Peter admitted, and you crossed your arms over your chest in annoyance.

“We've been married for eight years already, Peter. I'm almost 30. I want to have kids while I still have the energy to play with them.”

“I understand that.” Peter said gently. “But I'm just...not ready.” Peter didn't know how to admit that he was terrified of being unable to keep you and your child safe.

“Peter…” You frowned, grabbing his chin and making him look you in the eye. “Do you want to start a family with me?”

Peter did; he wanted it more than anything. He could picture you pregnant, and he knew you’d be glowing the whole time. He could see you making sure every detail of the nursery was perfect. He could see you cradling the child you’d created together in your arms, and he knew that even though you’d be exhausted from giving birth, you would still be the most beautiful woman in the world. He could hear little feet running around the house, could see your children growing up.

But he also saw Kingpin, Doc Oc, Prowler, Green Goblin, and all the other bad guys he had fought over the years, and he knew exactly what they would do if they found out Spider-Man had a child.

If anything were to happen to you, or your child, Peter would never forgive himself.

So he lied, even though he could feel his heart breaking in the process.

“No.”

You withdrew your hand from his chin like you'd been burned, and Peter could see the unshed tears that you were frantically trying to blink back.

He didn't stop you as you stormed into the bedroom. Peter could hear you throwing things into your suitcase, and he had to plant his feet firmly on the ground to restrain himself from going in there and telling you the truth.

This was better for you both.

You came out with your suitcase packed, and Peter could see the shiny tear tracks glistening on your cheeks.

You stared at each other for a long moment, and Peter knew you were giving him a chance to change his mind.

Above all else, Peter needed to keep you safe. And he didn't feel confident he could do that after he became a father.

So Peter stayed silent and pulled you into a tight hug. You made no move to pull away, relaxing into his embrace like you had for years.

After almost a minute, you reluctantly pulled out of the hug. With trembling fingers, you slid your wedding ring off your left hand and gently placed it in Peter's palm.

You could see Peter's lips trembling now, and you had to remind yourself that you would only hurt yourself more in the long run if you stayed.

You wanted kids. You had always wanted kids, and you thought Peter did too, eventually. But if he wasn't willing, for whatever reason, to start a family with you after eight years, you couldn't stay with him and hope that he might change his mind. It wouldn't be fair to either of you.

You leaned in and gave Peter one last long, lingering kiss. You could feel your tears dripping down your cheeks and off your chin before you pulled away.

“I will always love you, Peter Parker.” You murmured softly, brushing away Peter's tears with your thumb.

Peter's tears started falling faster at your words, and you felt your heart fully split in two.

“I'll always love you too.” Peter responded, his hand clenched tightly around your wedding ring.

“Goodbye.” You said sadly, picking up your suitcase and leaving the apartment without looking back.

You knew that if you looked back, you would end up staying. Even though you knew this was what you had to do, it hurt like hell.

As soon as you were gone, Peter felt his legs give out from underneath him. He cried in a heap on the floor for hours before dragging himself to the couch. He knew that his bed wasn't an option; it smelled too much like you, and he would just end up crying again.

Peter fell into a fitful sleep with your wedding ring still held firmly in his fist.

-----

You were grateful that nobody on the subway tried to talk to you, though a few people did offer you sympathetic looks.

You barely made it through the door to your parents’ house before you were sobbing again.

You vaguely registered your mom and dad pulling you into a hug and asking what was wrong.

“Me and Peter…” You struggled to get the words out. “We split up.” You blubbered, appreciating their soothing touch and comforting words as they led you over to the couch.

“What happened, baby?”

“We...-I….-he...he doesn't want to have kids. At least not with me. But I do. I've always wanted to start a family with Peter but I guess he didn't feel the same.”

“Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want.”

You thanked them, half-listening to the words of support they were giving. You were just so tired, from today, from crying, from everything, and it wasn't long before you drifted to sleep on the couch.

-----

“You want to separate?” Peter asked in surprise as he flipped through the documents. He thought for sure you wanted a divorce.

You smiled sadly at him. “I'm not completely giving up on us yet. If you happen to change your mind...it'll be easier for us if we're not fully divorced.”

Peter felt his heart clench painfully at your words. He wanted more than anything to tell you that he was wrong, that he made a mistake, and that he missed you and wanted you to come home.

But he just couldn't.

Being without you was awful, terrible, and by far the worst thing he'd ever experienced, but at least he knew you were safe.

Peter just gave you a sad smile as he turned the pages, signing and initialing where necessary.

When he was done, he handed the papers back to you. His fingers brushed against yours, and you sucked in a breath. You still felt the spark that had been around ever since you met Peter.

“I'll see you around.” You said shortly, slinging your purse over your shoulder and making your way to the door before Peter could say anything else.

You hadn't meant to leave so abruptly, but being around Peter still hurt too much. The wound was too fresh. Maybe someday you could be friends, but...not yet.

-----

You were surprised when your phone started ringing and you saw that it was Peter's number. You hesitated to answer it. You and Peter had so far only contacted each other by text because it was easier (and less painful) for both of you. Realizing that Peter probably wouldn't have called unless it was important, you hit answer.

“Hello?” You asked politely.

“May's not doing well, can you come over? She wants to see you.” Peter's voice was rough and scratchy, and you knew instantly that he'd been crying.

“Of course.” You were already grabbing your keys and your purse and making your way to the door. “I'll be right over.”

-----

You frowned as Peter opened the door. There were deep circles under his eyes, and his eyes were red and puffy.

You pulled him into a hug without thinking about it, but you knew it was the right thing to do when you felt him relax into your arms.

“Thank you for coming over so quickly.”

You squeezed his hand gently. “Of course, Peter.”

He led you to May's bedroom. She was laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, and although she did look like she had a bad case of the flu, she looked normal aside from that.

“Hi, May.” You said softly, and her eyes lit up as she saw you.

“There's my favorite daughter!” She exclaimed cheerfully.

“I'm your only daughter.” You teased, sinking into the seat beside her that you could tell had previously been occupied by Peter.

“And that makes you my favorite.” May took one of your hands in her own, and she frowned when she saw the pale strip of skin on your ring finger where your wedding ring used to be. “Peter, can you go make me some soup?”

Peter looked like he suddenly realized that May was not nearly as sick as he had originally believed, but he nodded and disappeared from the room without a word.

You narrowed your eyes at Aunt May. “Peter made it sound like you were really, really sick.”

“I am sick.” Aunt May said indignantly. “But that boy is a mess without you, __y/n__.”

“You let him think you were more sick than you actually were so he would call me, didn't you?”

Aunt May dismissed you with a wave of her hand. “It sounds so evil when you say it like that. But yes, I did exaggerate my coughing and my temperature a smidge.”

“You really scared him, May.” You scolded her gently.

“I know. But I needed to talk to you.”

“You could've just called me. You know I'd be here in a heartbeat if you needed me.”

“I needed to talk to both of you, and I need you to talk to each other. I might be fine this time around, but I'm not going to live forever, and I want to meet my grandkids.”

Your cheeks flushed. “May, Peter doesn't want kids.”

May clucked her tongue. “Yes, he does. He said he didn't because he's terrified of not being able to protect you or your kids.”

“He-what? Are you sure?”

May nodded, and you immediately stormed into the kitchen.

“Is is true?” You asked angrily, hopeful tears brimming in your eyes.

“Is what true?” Peter fidgeted nervously as he looked at you.

“You do want kids, and you told me you didn't because you're afraid you won't be able to protect us?”

Peter sighed, running a hand down his face. “Yes.”

“I hate you so much.” You hissed, crossing the room and pulling him into a fierce kiss. Peter was too stunned to respond, and you couldn't believe you had forgotten how right kissing Peter felt.

“You're sending me very mixed signals.” Peter murmured as you broke the kiss. His cheeks were bright red.

“You are such an idiot.” Peter opened his mouth to protest, and you shushed him. “We are a team, Peter. You're supposed to trust me. You're supposed to tell me the truth so we don't almost get a fucking divorce”

“I'm sorry.” Peter murmured quietly. “I was just scared.”

“That's why you need to talk to me, Pete.”

“I will. From now on, nothing but the truth.”

“Good.” You said, beaming at him before pulling him into a hug and nuzzling into his neck. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.” Peter whispered into your hair. “I'm really sorry.”

“I know. But, fair warning, I’m never going to stop bringing up how you almost DESTROYED OUR MARRIAGE, especially to our kids.”

Peter groaned in feigned annoyance before your words registered. “You still want to have kids with me?”

You rolled your eyes. “I told you I'd always love you, Peter. Of course I still want to have kids with you.”

You weren't expecting the tears that started dripping down Peter's cheeks at your words.

“I love you so much.” Peter didn't let you respond before his hands were on your hips, and he tugged you into a deep kiss. “I don't deserve you.”

“Yes you do.” You disagreed immediately.

“I broke your heart.” Peter said, and just saying the words made him feel sick.

“You broke your own, too.” You pointed out before cupping his cheeks and making him look at you. “Peter, you were just doing what you thought was best. Obviously I disagree with the way you did it, and it'll take some time before we're back to normal, but it's okay. We're gonna be okay.” You assured him, succeeding in making him cry harder.

You let Peter cry against your shoulder, stroking his hair soothingly, until he seemed to run out of tears.

“I'm so sorry.” Peter said again, and you gave him a soft smile.

“I told you Pete, it's okay.” You pressed a sweet kiss to his salty lips. “I'm glad I can kiss you again. I really missed that.”

“Me too.” Peter murmured softly, digging around in the pocket of his sweatpants before pulling out your wedding ring. “May I?” He asked, holding it at the tip of your ring finger.

You nodded before asking breathlessly “You kept my wedding ring in your pocket?”.

Peter smiled sheepishly as he slid it onto your finger. “I wanted to have it in case I needed it.”

You felt several tears escape from your eyes at the gesture. “I love you. I can't believe we're finally going to start a family together.”

“I love you too.” Peter responded, his eyes brighter and happier than you remembered ever seeing them before. “Wanna go practice?” Peter asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and trying to make you laugh.

You playfully smacked his arm at the same time Aunt May called out “I heard that!”, anyway.

Peter rolled his eyes and turned off the stove, pouring May’s soup into a bowl before bringing it to her on a tray.

You could hear muffled angry whispers between the two before May loudly exclaimed “I just saved your marriage and I'm the bad guy?”

You fought the grin from sneaking up on your face as Peter sheepishly trudged back into the kitchen.

“May said now that we're done being idiots, we can leave.”

You chuckled and laced your fingers through his as you made your way to the door.

“Don't come back unless you're pregnant!” May hollered from her bedroom.

Your and Peter's cheeks flushed immediately.

“May!” Peter whined, hastily opening the front door and gently pushing you through it before slamming it behind him. “Sorry about that.”

You shrugged and pulled him into a kiss. Peter kissed you back immediately, his large hands cupping your cheeks while you stepped closer so that you were flush against him.

“I guess we'd better start practicing.” You purred, and Peter's eyes widened before darkening.

“If that's what you want.” Peter said breathlessly, and you smiled mischievously as you began walking towards the subway.

“You'll find out once we get home.” You called out over your shoulder, and your world was turned upside down as Peter snuck up from behind you and tossed you over his shoulder.

He started running, and you just chuckled at his impatience, admiring the view.

“I can feel you staring at my ass, you know.” Peter said smugly, and you rolled your eyes.

“So? It's not like you mind.”

“It's just very flattering, that's all. My view is pretty good too.” Peter said teasingly, and you bit down a moan as Peter's hand smoothed your skirt down.

“Will you just hurry up and get us home?”

“Yes, ma'am. Or should I say Mrs. Parker?”

“I never stopped being Mrs. Parker.” You answered softly, even as your heart swelled at his words.

As you arrived at the subway, Peter finally deposited you on your feet in front of him. There was a gentle smile on his face. “I know. It’s just nice to be able to call you that again.”

“It’s nice to be called that again.” You agreed and laced your fingers with his, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. You were practically sitting on Peter’s lap the entire ride home, impatiently waiting to get back to your apartment.

You and Peter bolted out of the subway the second the train stopped.

“I’ll race you home!” You singsonged, sprinting ahead of Peter. Peter groaned and started running too, but he was panting and huffing as he finally reached the door to the apartment, where you were waiting.

“You’ve gotten slow.” You teased, gently poking his round tummy.

Peter’s cheeks flushed. “It’s been...really tough without you.” Peter admitted, crossing his arms over his stomach. “I’ll get back in shape soon.”

You frowned and uncrossed his arms, splaying your fingers across his stomach possessively. “Who said anything about that? I like the tummy. A lot.”

“Oh. Really?” Peter asked hopefully, his eyes wide, and you leaned in to peck his lips.

“Yes, really. Now unlock the door. There’s another part of you that I like a lot and would love to reacquaint myself with.”

Peter’s hands were shaking as he tried to put the key in the lock. You pressed your chest against his back and helped him insert the key.

“Relax, Peter, it’s just me.” You said soothingly, and Peter swallowed roughly before turning the key and pushing the door open.

“What if I mess up again?” Peter asked softly, dropping onto the bed with a sigh as you shut and locked the door behind you. “I can’t lose you again.”

“You’re going to mess up.” You admitted, and Peter’s face fell. “I will too. We’re only human, and everyone makes mistakes sometimes.” You climbed onto his lap, delighting in the way his hands instantly wound around your waist. “But you’re stuck with me. I won’t be leaving again if I can help it.”

Peter smiled and ran his fingers through your hair before pulling you into a needy kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You murmured back, and you were pleasantly surprised when Peter flipped you over and began inching his way down your body.

“Let me show you how much.”

“I’m gonna be pregnant by the end of the night, aren’t I?” You asked, your head feeling warm and dizzy at the prospect.

“That is the plan, yes.” Peter answered teasingly and began pressing kisses to your inner thighs.

“Can’t wait.” You breathed out, feeling incredibly excited to start this new chapter of your life with Peter.

You couldn’t wait to start a family with Peter, and although it was happening a few years later than you originally planned on, you were so unbelievably happy that it was finally happening.

End. <3

#peter b. parker x reader #peter b. parker imagine #peter b parker x reader #peter b parker imagine #peter b. parker #peter b parker #into the spider-verse #into the spiderverse #into the spider verse #canon divergent #happier #bastille #marshmello #x reader #reader insert #riverdale fanfiction #kind of #songfic #song fic #inspired by the song happier #lily writes

[loquaciousquark]

Hey, all, I’m probably not going to be around much for a few months aside from queues & TM posts.

Work stress has taken over my life in a way it never has before. A very long story short, my closest coworker (both friend-wise and workload-wise) took another job that began at the end of April. While she knew from November she was going to take this job, she did not inform administration until the very final contractual required moment of 30 days out. This means there has been no chance for admin to be looking for long-term qualified candidates to replace her position, since to get hired on at the school even on a temporary faculty basis takes about six-eight weeks.

(She told me about this job in November, but made me promise at the time not to tell anyone because she was going to tell them soon. Then, as schedules were being planned out for this summer and her time was being allotted under the assumption she would be there, she deliberately said nothing and made me answer the emails so she wouldn’t be “lying.” I have known this hell has been coming for me for five months and haven’t been able to do anything about it because I gave her my word.)

In addition, while not her fault, three other administrative support employees and two other faculty members have left/will be leaving in less than a month as well. One employee’s family member died unexpectedly, one employee was grossly incompetent (although I can’t remember the last time we actually fired someone for that), and the other faculty members are leaving for really good jobs elsewhere. Just very unfortunate timing that means we are all spread excruciatingly thin for now.

This all comes at a time where I am actively beginning that Service Director position for the primary care clinic on top of everything else. This position, while I think a great fit for me, what else I teach in the school, and how I plan/organize/relate to the students, has come at a terrible time because it in and of itself is a massive amount of work, especially getting it off the ground. If I’m going to implement all these new policies and changes I’ve been dreaming of for years, I need to do it at the beginning of my tenure--to try and keep everything going the way it has been and change later once everything calms down would be infinitely more work at that time & have a bunch more pushback from both the students and the faculty I now lead as part of this clinic, many of which have decades of seniority on me.

I’m doing the work of two-and-a-half full-time faculty right now. I do still really love this job, but right now I can’t handle it.

I’m grinding my teeth at night and clenching my jaw during the day. My dentist suddenly wants me to get a bite plate when before a few months ago, I’d never ground my teeth in my life. I’m getting excruciating stress/tension headaches almost every other day from how tight every muscle of my face and neck is. I’ve gained over ten pounds in the last two months from eating like crap because anything that requires more than two steps of prep is mentally, physically, and emotionally impossible, which has the added effect of making me want to cry every time I look in a mirror and see my stomach so far away from my mental “normal,” because I was already seven pounds or so more than I wanted to be. I’m only getting three or four hours of sleep a night despite melatonin because my mind is just reciting checklist after checklist of things I need to do to keep all my sudden responsibilities on track.

I saw my psychiatrist today (which in and of itself was overwhelming--I thought until I was leaving for the appointment that today was my annual physical, and it wasn’t until I was checking the auto-filled address that I realized it was in the wrong building for that. Turns out I’d independently scheduled both the psych follow-up & the physical within a few days of each other, and I’d missed the text appointment reminders for the physical because the psych ones were more recent. I have never straight up no-showed an appointment in my life before this.)

I only had about thirty minutes with her, but part of the problem is that I haven’t taken my meds regularly in over a month because even such a little thing was too difficult. I’m going to try to start back on that, but...

I told her it doesn’t feel like I’m trying to keep plates spinning in the air. It feels like I have them all under control at the moment, they’re just excruciatingly heavy. The only way I’ve been handling this sudden pressure of doing basically two and a half jobs with no margin for error in any of them is being ruthlessly, relentlessly organized. Which is fine, except that I can feel how that changes my personality when I have to go so hard and regimented, and I hate how it feels to have both no margin and no grace.

I had a student the other day email me about a flight she booked for a Memorial Day vacation at 6pm on a Friday, not thinking about how clinic does not always end on the dot at 5pm. We (both students and faculty) are required to stay until the patient’s exam is complete. Sometimes that’s at five. Sometimes that’s at 6:30. On rare occasions I’ve stayed until 9pm in clinical care because that’s what was needed at the time for that patient.

She wanted to get out of clinic with an excused absence. We require three weeks’ minimum notice because when a student leaves without coverage, we have to reschedule all the patients they were meant to see. Her schedule was fully booked, and I had to say no, because right now I have nothing left to try to find an alternative for her. I hate saying no to students, especially when it’s something I truly could help them solve with some investment on my part, but right now--I’m sorry, but I can’t. Why on earth did you schedule a flight for 6pm on a day you have clinic until 5, especially when the airport is a 20-minute drive from the school even without traffic? I can’t fix this for you, not right now. You have to show up to clinic or find your own coverage. I don’t care how you do it, but someone has to be there, and I don’t have anything left in me to help you figure out how to do it.

My mom listens to a guy who sometimes talks about how you have to have a margin in your life to manage your stress. A margin in your work helps you enjoy your leisure time; if you don’t have that margin, even scheduled play feels stressful because you have work playing through your head the whole time.

I’m out of margin. I’m ten feet over the line in every direction I’m so out of margin, and I am constantly being asked by students and other faculty, “How are you doing now that the person who you shared 90% of your work life with is gone? Who’s going to help take over [year-long highly-intensive Methods course] now that Dr. So-and-So is gone? Who’s going to help you teach it since we all know what a gigantic course it is and how it’s always required two people to run full-time, and now you’re down to one who’s also taken on a bunch of other responsibilities at the exact same time?”

and they’re laughing when they say it. and i’m laughing when i tell them the truth, which is “no one.” and we all laugh together and inside my head i am ripping apart under the pressure.

Even if they hire someone by August, it’s not going to mean any relief until September due to onboarding, and even then it won’t be what I really need. This woman I worked with and I had both taught this course together for years, and before that we’d both taken it as students. We knew how it ran inside and out. We knew what the responsibilities were. We had the workload divided evenly and didn’t have to consult over every decision that was made--it just got done. Even if they do hire someone at lightning speed, I still have to train them. I have to show them where the group drive is on the faculty intranet. I have to teach them how it’s organized. I have to show them how to upload quizzes and how to grade them and how to edit the Excel practical documents and the timeframe we expect the grades back and why our grading standards are the way they are and what to say to guest graders and guest lab instructors and show them where the file folders are kept and where the .docx’s are kept and the way things are sorted and how the tests are written and how to extensively edit a PDF file and give them the contact information for faculty IT support (which still ends up being me half the time) and the manual printer and the woman who orders office supplies and the woman who orders clinical equipment and the man who orders building maintenance supplies and when you go to one and not the other and how electronic testing works and how to grade it and how to upload a document with all the specific little requirements the program wants to make sure it imports correctly and how to deal with the errors this program will inevitably throw back because it’s niche software for a niche school and that means it’ll never be user friendly.

It took me almost two years to really feel comfortable being co-coursemaster for this course because it is so unbelievably massive. Even if they hire someone by August, I still won’t have a full-time coursemaster pulling their weight until 2021.

The other metaphor I used with my psychiatrist is that I’m holding on to a cliff’s edge with my fingertips. Right now, I’ve got a pretty decent grip, but that doesn’t change the fact that if you put another pound on my back it might pull me right off the rock.

I don’t see practical relief coming any time soon. “What can we do to help? We want you to know you are very supported right now. You let us know what you need.” What can you do? Hire someone tomorrow who already knows how our computer system works, who can troubleshoot their own IT, who can look at a list of tasks that need to happen to get this Methods course fully ready every single semester of every single year and do them without any handholding from me. Hire someone with as much attention to detail as I’ve had to have because it’s the right way to do the damn job. Hire someone I won’t have to clean up after because to them “the cart in the closet” is the same thing as “the specific place on the labeled closet shelf where the equipment belongs.”

I’m clenching my teeth so hard they’re hurting, so I guess I have to stop. If you see me in-game somewhere, believe me, it’s not because I’ve caught up. It’s because I haven’t and I can’t bear thinking about how much I still have to do.

#quark rambles #optometry / #kindly refrain from reblogging

[afroboydyke]

A VOLTRON PENTATONIX AU?? AKA LANCEYONCE AND CREW

Okay so sit the fuck down everyone I’m documenting this annoying ass dream that has been haunting me for the best few months. 

The Basis: So we all know about Pentatonix, right? (If you don’t, it’s an a capella group that remakes the old songs of famous artists to give them a new sound. They also have a few of their own original pieces). So, basically, imagine the Voltron gang doing this, except not a capella. They remake the tracks and beats to near perfection in order to pull this off.

The group consists of Allura, Pidge, Shay, Hunk, Lance, Keith, and Shiro, with Matt and Coran doing background work. 

Now to the Details.

Lance

Lance is in charge of any and all Beyonce-related performances.

The group itself started with him. He performed to her songs with his own original choreography and everything. Sometimes he would collab with Hunk. 

He picks his own songs

He does nothing half-assed in this group. He’s very nitpicky with lighting and stage set up because he needs to achieve that WOW! factor

Sometimes he goes a little overboard and the team needs to reel him in really quick because they can’t light fireworks on stage

He was disappointed but then he realized glitter and confetti cannons were a much better idea

Because all of Yonce’s songs have a certain feel to him, he chooses based on how his life is going

Happy? Fun? Well-off? TIme to whip out his favorites.

Sad? Had an argument? Where’s his sad stuff at.

Somebody died? Feelings of worhlessnesss? There’s a song for that, too. 

All his outifts are chosen by Shay while Allura does his makeup

These three are besties they do all the styling stuff tgether                

Lance either wears practical shoes or heels there is no in between

Performing in heels is a little harder but he manages because he’s just that good

He was excited to perform “6 Inch” because he had the perfect shoes for that

A lot of the songs he sings are romantic-like so he does a partner dance with Keith

One time the two had gotten into a fight, so he performed the most of the Lemonade album and some of the songs from the 4 album

Keith was in tears and ended up dancing with him again

The crowd went fucking nuts

His favorite songs to perform are probably Partition and any other song with sexual lyrics bc he gets too into it sometimes

Keith loves it but at the same time he blushes really hard

It’s funny to watch

Before a concert he discovers that his uncle died and that hit him hard because they were very close

And yet he still performed but with more passion

And he added the song I Was Here because death is such a sudden thing and he could die any second now just like his uncle did

The others actually played the background instruments for him (cello, piano, ect.)

Lance responds to as many fans as he can on his social media

The boy has Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and he’s the main one who runs the group’s Youtube channel

Sometimes he holds Q and A’s on Periscope 

During interviews he answers nearly everything meant for him

He also makes up the names of his fans and it changes every time

“Sup Lancers”

“How’s it shaking, my Bluebells?”

“What questions are in store for me today, Voltribe?”

It’s out of control

Whenever Lance isn’t performing he’s on back up vocals/dancing

That’s the rules: If it isn’t your turn, you work your ass off with back up and background dancing

If he’s feeling a bit peppy he’ll also certain Jason Derulo songs

Hunk

Let’s establish one thing: If Lance is Beyonce than Hunk is Nicki Minaj

It started off as a joke at first, but Hunk found it really fit with how he felt

And his flow is DOPE so win-win

He performs literally every song out there by her with no shame because Nicki Minaj has been his Girl for Years and she gives him confidence

His outfits slay all the time. All. The. Time. 

They’re pretty much renditions of Nicki Minaj’s own performance outfits, but designed to make him feel comfortable

Shay helps him tailor all his outfits and even designs them sometimes

He prefers boots and sneakers when performing because heels kill his feet

His favorite song to perform is the Flawless remix with Lance because they kill everyone within a 20 ft radius

The choreography is his favorite as well

He even installs fire things to shoot flames up from the stage

He also has a really nice voice, but he prefers to rap than sing since he’s better with low notes

Sometimes he collabs with Shay, who’s the group’s other prime rapper

They’re fire onstage and off

Hunk loves Feeling Myself a lot because his confidence rises

So many people find it odd that Nicki Minaj is his persona

Hunk is so kind and timid?? He’s very smart and not one who curses unless very angry or upset

But when he’s rapping he gets all flashy and bold and suddenly he’s cursing all the time very clearly

His moms come to every concert, along with the McClain parents because they love supporting their sons together

Hunk’s moms always jokingly scold him about how provocatively he dresses and his potty mouth but they really don’t care

They smother him in kisses and gifts and flowers 

Once, for their anniversary, Hunk asked Lance to perform “Ring Off” for his moms while he put together a video collage in their honor

The song fits their relationship so well

They cried very hard

When the Moana soundtrack was released, he got his own night to perform the whole thing with his family

He loved the event; it was the first time his whole family had done something together in such a long time

Hunk also helps Pidge and Coran with technical stuff likes lights and smoke affects

At interviews he takes shit from nobody and likes to brag about all the times he’s been right

Spoiler Alert: It’s a lot

He also shares embarrassing stories of the team 

A lot of the gossip actually comes from him tbh

“Spoiler alert: there may or may not be a surprise performance some time soon.”

“A little birdie told me that two of our members are getting a little buddy buddy, so look out for updates on that.”

“Oh, y’all are gonna LOVE my outfit for the next tour. It’s gonna be lit.”

The outfit was, in fact, on fire.

Allura

To complete the Power Trio, Allura is Rihanna

Sorry I don’t make the rules

Except I do lmao

This role originally was gonna go to Shay but then Shay realized she loved to rap so Allura hopped on it

Allura loves Rihanna fashion choices 

A lot of her outfits are based off of RiRi actually

Her favorite album has got to be the ANTI album

It’s a masterpiece 

Just so well written

Best songs ever

The fans love when Allura comes on stage because she provokes so much emotion and her voice carries so well

Not to mention her British accent gives a different feel from Rihanna’s Barbadian one

She has a very diverse cast of fans and probably recieves the most fanmail out of everyone

Lance and Hunk are second

Lance is Bitter

Shay’s third

 Keith, Pidge, and Shiro are tied for fourth

All of her songs are choreographed by herself

Her makeup artist is either Lance or Shay

Depends on who wins the coin toss that day

With Shay her eyeliner is swoopy and sharp with rinestones 

With Lance it’s artsy eye makeup and glitter

Allura likes both

All of her outifts are planned from the the top to the socks she wants to wear

Her hair is so long that it makes styling it very easy?? Like she has so many options

If she doesn’t style it herself than either Shiro or Coran does because they always have great ideas

For every performance, Allura opens with a quote related to what songs she plans to perform

Everyone thinks their from philosophers or something but really she’s quoting tumblr posts

She has the same social media as Lance, and they often compete for followers and such

All of her stuff is very pastel space

The pink marks under her eyes are in fact tattoos

She got them along with Coran for her 18th birthday 

They’re her trademark

Nobody knows if her hair is natural or dyed at first

It’s naturally really bright she just added highlights to it

When not performing, Allura is Lance’s number one backup singer

Sometimes Lance will let her perform Beyonce songs

Specifically Who Runs The World (Girls) bc that’s her actual anthem and Lance feels disrespectful 

And Daddy Lessons, which makes her emotional

Both she and Lance sing Pretty Hurts together because it applies to both of them 

Allura and Lance have a contest for who’s the Better ‘Yonce

Lance wins

Lance and Allura are constantly accused of being siblings due to their bond

It’s a running gag in the fandom for quite sometime until Lance breaks the rumors

Some of her songs involve couple dances with Shiro

It’s amazing watching them interact with one another because they’re so gentle with each other and their love is so Real that it almost seems like you’re intruding on a moment

At interviews, Allura is constantly bragging about how strong she is 

“Hunk and I are clearly the strongest ones here. We haven’t determined who holds reigning title, however.”

The two them proceed to arm wrestle.

It’s a tie

Everyone is crying. Everyone.

Sometimes, if she’s feeling it, she’ll do Marina and the Diamonds

Everyone takes a back seat to her then because she absolutely slays

Pidge

Pidge doesn’t normally sing but when she does it’s Hayley Kiyoko

Pidge loves her 

Very much

She probably dresses the most simple out of them all 

Her main style is shorts with stockings or knee socks and a loose fitting top

She let’s her hair grow out to her shoulders

She appreciates both long and short hair, and finds this a happy medium for her

She sports an undercut and the fans go crazy

Everybody finds Pidge adorable and most girls her age want to be her

Glitter! All over her eyes! Brings out the green!

Is either wearing glasses or contacts but mostly contacts

Pidge’s style is definitely K-Pop Idol

She’s a great dancer and does tons of flips 

Everybody loves throwing her in the air

Pidge is in charge of all music and technology and such. Everything must be run by her  

She adds the best effects to performances and is constantly praised

Pidge has social media too but it’s limited to Twitter and Instagram

Her livestreams are by far the fan favorite

It’s full of her pulling pranks and giving sneak peeks into practices and making bets

“Lmao ten bucks Lance is gonna be tripped by Allura”

He is, in fact, tripped by Allura

“You all owe me at our next concert

She films bloopers for the YouTube page

Most of the bloopers are of her and Keith screaming about aliens and Shiro favoriting her

Sometimes it’s Matt being an idiot

One time she temporarily dyes her hair a pastel green color

She loves it

Keith

Like Pidge, Keith doesn’t sing much. He mainly aids in choreographing performances

He’s been perfecting his dancing for years and has the smoothest rhythm 

When he does perform, Keith’s specialty is P!ATD

He’s emo okay

And Brendon Urie is his first celebrity crush so why not pay tribute to him

Keith gets an undercut with Pidge

It’s not his favorite style so when he grows his hair out again he grows it out long

Longer than originally

Keith’s makeup is limited to eyeliner done by Shiro

His outfits have to be the exact ones in all of Brendon’s videos

“You guys don’t understand if I don’t have the top hat and red suit how can I do “I Write Sins Not Tragedies?”

“Keith, you’re going overboard”-Lance

“You have N O ROOOM TO TALK”

When doing interviews, he also has the KPop Idol look

It drives the fans insane

He secretly loves the attention

He probably has the loudest songs out of everyone but he appreciates it

Everybody loves dancing to his choreography

He doesn’t like social media but still has a Tumblr and Instagram

They aren’t for the group though they’re for his conspiracy theories

Pidge Co-runs the tumblr account and has her own cryptid Insta

His live streams consist of the group cryptid hunting together 

If he does post to the group’s YouTube account it’s for cryptids or a sneek peak of some choreography

Sometimes he lets Lance do his makeup and post it on the channel

He loves to choreograph for Lance specifically because it always somehow involves him

Partition is probs his favorite too for obvious reasons

Shay

Shay’s the universal rapper of the group though she mainly does Drake

Shay just seems like a Drake fan so-

Still she does other rappers since she isn’t very picky

Shay’s outfits mirror Drake as well, though adding her little twist and touches to them

Most of the time Lance and Allura help her with clothes

Her makeup always deals with earth tone or stars there is no in between

She lives for glitter and small jewels

And she’s always wearing a necklace and earrings

Shay’s flow is even better than Hunk’s can you believe it

Hunk can

ANYWAY

Shay loves collaborating with others, specifically Hunk and Allura

She’s very loud and boisterous on stage but off stage she’s kind and quiet

Kinda like that friend who’s very meek in public but wild at parties with close friend

Very passionate about her dream

She’s also in charge of keeping everybody on schedule because nobody follows schedules like she does

Sometimes she’ll do small rituals to ensure good luck for performances

They have yet to fail her

At interviews she’s always really peppy and happy to answer questions

One of the fans asked if  she’s dating Hunk

“Oh no, I’m just a rock he admires very much”

The crowd is confused but the group gets it and starts picking fun

Shay bonds with everybody on the team and it’s great 

She and Matt talk about space for long periods of time on end it’s crazy

With Shiro it’s how pretty Allura is and how much he wants to fling himself into the sun

Also about the other team members

Allura literally politics and makeup and 

Lance it’s Spanish dancing and the ocean

Keith it’s Lance and like random shit

“What if Coran was in a gang”-Keith probably

“Dude,,, we have to investigate”-Shay

Hunk it’s lovey couple stuff and rocks and food and really cool movies

Pidge it’s plans for the next concert

Coran it’s schedules and stories

She loves having such a big and supportive family

Shiro

Bruno Mars. That’s it.

Shiro bops to Bruno Mars like it’s his religion 

Wears rolled up sleeves and jeans with sneakers forever 

His eyeliner is sharper than everyone elses and he takes pride

Fans eat him up

They love his “dad-like” personality

Sometimes some of them bring him cookies and such backstage

He takes them because who passes up free food??

Seems like dad, is actually 12 

Seriously, he causes most of the food fights 

And he’s always making bets with Pidge and Matt

But he’s still responsible when needed

He does his own choreography and everything what a man

Once he did a split in the middle of Uptown Funk and everybody lost their shit

Even the group

They just all started laughing while Shiro continues to strut his shit

Shiro’s snapchat is full of videos of him and the team

Half the time he’s screwing around with Matt

Other half he’s posting death jokes

Nobody is phased by this anymore 

They’re so used to it

“I want a light to fall from the cieling, knocking me out instantly”

“Yeah Shiro we get it you wanna die now help me stretch”

He probably has the most questions asked at interviews

Most of them are “Will you be my daddy”

“…I’m everybody’s dad”

“But only Allura’s daddy”- Lance

“Say your goodbyes to Lance because he done fucked up, kids”

His favorite album is probably 24k Magic bc he feels fly as fuck

Imagine him proposing to Allura with “Marry You”

Everybody knows except for Allura and she literally sobs when he gets down on one knee and pulls out a ring

It’s epic

Pidge once suggested putting a confetti canon in his prosthetic

Although he would like to Allura said no so-

He still does it anyway

Matt

Matt’s a fucking Meme

He handles booking places and unwanted press

And he co-owns the YouTube Channel with Lance

The place is meme central nobody can believe it

He also has a snapchat and Twitter

Live streams happen every week

Most of the time he’s just screwing around the tour bus/ hotel rooms it’s hilarious really

He dresses like a tired college student all the time it’s great

He’s friends with everybody

With Shiro he’s literally goofing off half the time

They rival Hunk and Lance for best bros of the year

Half time time his story is filled with ugly pictures of Shiro

With Allura he’s spreading Shiro gossip and doing her hair

Lance + Matt = Hardcore memes and suffering

Pidge it’s the normal sibling stuff

He once picked Pidge up and threw her

“Y E E T”

Hunk it’s techno stuff and like animals

Keith it’s sharing stories about Shiro and how he’s not from this planet

They plan “experiments” to expose him for the alien he is

They fail

With Coran he helps to clean everything because these people are pigs it’s terrible

And when he’s with Shay they’re literally memeing together but on a lower scale

He helps her withh her style and stuff

When Pidge is on stage he’s handling the lights and shit

One time he got stuck in the lights for the whole concert

When asked where he was, he fell straight into Shiro’s arms

Shiro dropped him

Makes the most jokes

Coran

Team Aunt

Takes the group out for victory dinners

Buys sweaters for everyone

Let’s you do whatever you want as long as it’s legal

Because he’s a retired dancer he’ll step in sometimes and lend a hand

Cooks when Hunk doesn;t

And it’s not bad

But Hunk is just better sorry Coran

The group’s body guard

Literally he dropkicked a loser for eyeing Pidge the wrong way

“Coran was that necessary”

“Not but, as Lance would say, it was dope”

Groan

He also handles press coverage and makes sure all venues check out before Matt goes to book them

Lance is his favorite and it’s insane

Lance: “Hey Coran can I have like fifty dollars?” 

“Of course!!

Allura: “Hey Coran can I borrow 20 dollars”

“Sorry I don’t have any money.”

Will treat everyone to a shoppinf spree every once in a while

Loves everybody like they’re his own and assures parents that they are Okay and In Good hands

Also almost blew up the tour bus and ran like three red lights

Extras

Lance, Shay, and Allura went through a KPop phase

BTS, EXO, GOT7, Red Velvet, MAMAMOO, TWICE, BLACKPINK

They freak out all the time and scream

Meanwhile Keith and Shiro are KPop veterans

“Hah, losers.”

One time they all learned the choreography to “Monster” and posted it to the YouTube channel

Matt sat in the background and screamed random things

Slumber parties all night every night

When they tour they literally get one giant hotel room

Couples each get an hour to themselves throughout the day and then they meet at night to sleep

It’s not even sleeping it’s taking ugly pictures and face masks and nightly rituals and love

They wake up: Shiro, Coran, Shay, Allura, Pidge, Keith, Hunk, Lance, Matt

They go to sleep: Coran, Hunk, Matt, Keith, Lance, Shay, Pidge, Allura, Shiro

Every award they win everyone’s family comes together and they have a very large dinner

The group is called Voltron (how original lmao)

Fans are part of the Voltribe 

I’ll add more if I come up with anything else

#voltron au #pentatonix au #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld shay #voltron shay #vld allura #allura #vld coran #voltron coran #lance mcclain #keith kogane #takashi shirogane #hunk garrett #pidge gunderson #matt holt #lanceyonce #lanceyonce and crew #text post #queue you see the stars

[followmetoyourdreamhome-blog]

Episode 13: What to Expect For Home Showings

We have been discussing in our seller series what it takes to sell a house in the last few podcasts, so if you haven't tuned in and downloaded please do … we have some great episodes for you to hear!! 

Previously we went over what to expect when your home is going to have a photoshoot. Now we are stepping into some reflection time on where our very own “house” has grown and the importance of a good foundation.

Sellers, not sure what to do or ask when it's time for showing your home now that it's open on the market? IN THIS EPISODE Lori breaks down what to expect, how to prepare, and answers some common questions about the showing process.

Takeaways:

You don't need to be home

Make a home welcoming

Unexpected things happen

Hear some more of the tricks, trips, wisdom, and stories that we didn’t summarize. Listen to Episode 13 of Lori Alvarez’s Real Estate With Soul: What to Expect For Home Showings

The Questions

What do we do?

How do we do it?

What happens when our house is shown?

What does that really mean?

What’s a Real Estate Showing?

A real estate showing is when Buyers come in to look at your property and either say, "Wow, I love it, or it wasn't a good fit for me. And these are the reasons why it wasn't a good fit for me."

Showings During COVID-19

Check out Lori's video to see what Buyers can expect.

So we already got your amazing photoshoot completed. We have your home listed on the MLS. And now it's time for Buyers to schedule showings and to walk through your home.

First we install a SUPRA Lockbox.

What's a SUPRA Lockbox?

A lockbox that we place a key to your home in that tracks everyone who goes in an out of your property. A Buyers Showing Agent will have a log in to access the key to unlock your house.

Why is this important to do? It makes them responsible for that happens to your property during that time of entry. Lori explains, "So if a buyer were to walk away with something during that time, your realtor who will logged into that Supra because that Supra is directly related to my code, my information, my real estate license, I'm responsible, I'm liable. I got to make sure my license is watched protected, which means I got to watch protect your house during that time."

Some sellers may not want a SUPRA lockbox on the property, and we highly suggest that you use this tool for your showings and protect yourself. It's super easy to install on the property within minutes and are super user friendly.

What if someone tries to open the lockbox during the night?

No need to worry. The lockboxes can be controlled and locked all night so someone can't access and open them.

Private Showings

Should you as the owner be present during the showing?

We know. You know everything there is to know about your home and you can't wait to share everything with the buyer as they walk through it. But no, don't do that.

Lori said, "Here's the reality: you need to be gone from the property during showing time. This just lets the buyer have the opportunity to feel the house, experience the house, see their family in the house. You don't want to be there."

You're not their experience guide. Let them guide themselves.

Are private showings required?

No, but it's highly encouraged to help sell your home.

"You want to just allow for them to just walk through the space and imagine their family there."

Can children attend the private showings?

"I think one of the biggest services we do right now during this COVID-19 time is we're not allowing mom's and dad's to bring their children with them to showings, and it is hurting our market right now."

Kids need to feel the space too. They need to dream, to play, to enjoy the space.

"I love this room, I want it!"

Lori said, "it feels great when you hear your 12 year old go, "oh my gosh, this is my room Mom, I love this room. I want it!""

Should I allow children to attend the showings?

We highly encourage it if you're comfortable with it. Safety precautions are being taken, and we aim to follow them.

It really helps buyer's determine if a home is for their family because they all have an experience and an opinion on it.

How do you prepare your home for the showings?

Clean. Organize. Put away your valuables. Put away your important documents. Declutter.

Check out this episode Top 10 Things To Do To Sell Your Home For More Money for more details.

What if I have pets?

Secure them and ideally remove them from the property. People can be afraid of them, cats, dogs, and any other crazy pet you may own or even be allergic.

Lori had an experience where the Buyer trying to view the property changed her mind the moment they walked in and saw cats. She exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, there's cats. I can't even look at this house because there's cats. [...] So we automatically disqualified that house because there was a cat loose and we weren't aware of it."

Do I have to disclose that we have pets?

While it isn't required for everyone, we highly encourage you to share that information if they Agent doesn't ask first. It allows everyone to be prepared and to make arrangements to still see the property comfortably. It also ensures that your pets don't go running out the door and Lori having to chase them down in heels!

Fun fact: Lori was attacked by a dog when she was two years old--hence the scar on her nose.

Do people have to register to see my home?

Yup! At least with Lori Alvarez and Team. Everyone that wants to view the property must sign in (even before the COVID-19 PEAD days) so we can ensure a safe open house and hold people liable if a situation arises, such as something going missing from the home.

"It's all about protecting the seller, your property."

Lori shared, "I've had some people get really grumpy about me because they're like, I'm not registering. And I say, great then you can look at the photos online. We appreciate you."

It's all about protecting the seller, your property.

What about where my furniture goes?

That's all apart of staging. Basically, make the best use of the space for the buyer to experience! Listen to the episode for more.

Will we know when someone is coming to see the house?

Yup! Lori Alvarez and Team use a handy dandy app that will notify everyone in the home. It will text everyone and say that a showing has been approved for such and such time to see the property. And that means don't be home at that time! You don't want to be there, remember?

What about the buyers touching everything during COVID-19?

We have practices for that. We have wipes, masks, gloves, booties, and disinfectant available. Lori said, 'Every time someone comes in to see the property and then leaves the property, we need to do a wipe down of the things that we're not supposed to be touching."

What about electricity and gas usage?

You want to make the home feel like home. So if it's hot outside you'll want to have your Air Conditioning running, and if it's cold you may want to safely have your fireplace on. You want your home to feel light, open and airy, so you may want all the lights on and all the ceiling fans on too. Make the electrical and gas expense and look at it as an investment in the return you will have on the sale of your home.

Do I have to have a "for sale" sign in my yard?

Not required, again, highly recommended. Why? Because! You should be excited! Let them know it's for sale. It's a great house for a family and someone should buy it. Get the conversations started and let those around you aware of all those random people showing up to the home, parking, and waiting outside. And if you have someone house-sitting, like your neighbor, make sure they know so the Police don't show up awkwardly. Listen to the episode to hear that story.

What if my house has an alarm system?

Make sure it is deactivated for the showing or inform the Agent about it so they are prepared to deactivate it and reactivate it when they leave.

What if I want to list as For Sale By Owner (FSBO)?

Truthfully, we understand that's your attempt to save money. But professionals are professionals for a reason. We know how to get you the most value for your home, potentially above and beyond the amount you tried to save. Professionals make buyers feel comfortable attending a showing and we will follow up with all of them to get you that great offer.

The best thing you can do is make a family feel welcomed into the home.

Lori said, "Allow for them to have their time to experience it, feel it, see if it is the 30 year commitment they really want to make. That's really what's needed."

Will you be on time to the showing appointment?

Truthfully, not all the time. Typically Agents are showing about six houses to a client at a time. Lori mentions, "So give us a little bit of grace if we're not right on time. Because sometimes things happen to slow us down."

Will I be notified if someone cancels their showing appointment?

Ideally, yes you should be notified if someone cancels. Lori Alvarez and Team absolutely contact you to inform you of a cancelation if they are aware of it. However, not all agents remember to do so, and Lori reminds, "That's super inconvenient, and it's super inconsiderate. And unfortunately it does happen. And we need to just let it go. Because it's part of the process of selling a house. We're not perfect, and yet we do our absolute best to make it as easily transitional for you."

Closing Thoughts

What do you need to do? Make the house available look and feel great. Make it a welcoming experience.

Want a PDF Checklist of the things you should do to prepare and get your house sold for the most amount of money?

Now, are you ready to show your home?

Lori Alvarez has been in the Real Estate Industry for almost 15 years. If you’d like to contact her call her at 909-227-4196. She loves helping families find their home sweet home.

Our podcast is geared towards our current clients. We love to give our buyers and sellers great information. Wondering about something we haven’t covered? Send us a message. 

Thanks for reading. What’s going to be your next step to finding your home sweet home?

Real Estate is an ongoing, beautiful story. That’s why we love to share ours and to help you begin yours! Tune in to the next episode where we will continue the conversation.

Follow us on:

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and check us out at Lorialvarez.net

Instagram.com/boldlylorialvarez 

Instagram.com/Lorialvarezandteam 

Facebook.com/FollowMeToYourDreamHome

YouTube.com/c/LoriAlvarez

www.lorialvarez.net

909.227.4196

KW Realty, DRE 01794115 

Know someone interested in buying, selling, or investing in Real Estate? Let us exceed your expectations! We love serving the Southern California Foothill Communities!

Be boldly blessed.

Disclaimer: Please verify all information with the licensed professional of your choice.

[yasminaszvoelkerqj73insuran-blog]

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[onlinemarketingcourses]

How To Grow Faster With Less Work

Yes, yes … I know.

  “If only I make more newspaper ads …”

  “If only I asked for more referrals from clients and friends …”

  “If I can just somehow reach out to more people and spend more of my time doing so…”

  … I’ll finally respark my business growth.

  This is the monomyth we’ve taught ourselves.

  The Gary Vaynerchuks of the world tell us to “hustle” but they don’t give us direction … they just tell us to go. And for a while that works. For a brief period of time that “hustle” drives growth.

  And then we get tired. We wear out … our seemingly “superheroic” drive runs out of gas … and so does our bank account.

  So what gives? How does a business owner reignite the growth they need to survive?

  They have to drop the “Superman” approach and move towards the “Nick Fury” approach.

  If my girlfriend ever reads this, I’m going to be eating crow (I’m a major DC fan and rag on Marvel) but I have to give credit where credit is due …

  Nick Fury’s approach to organizational development is exactly the approach we need to adopt in order to build a successful business.

        “The idea was to bring together a group of of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could” – Nick Fury, The Avengers (2012). 

  As business owners we become these mythic leaders in our communities … and mostly for good reasons.

  We solve problems that others can’t through skillsets others don’t have.

  But as a culture, we try to be too much for too many people. Instead of building the right team to solve the right problems, we try to do it all ourselves …

  Accounting

IT work

Development

Partnerships

Fulfillment

Legal

Marketing

HR

PR

  We try to be all these things and wonder why we are successful at so few of them.

  In order to truly and sustainable grow a business, leaders and owners need to step outside of themselves and either find or train the right people to gradually replace them.

This is what I learned the hard way over the last six months.

  I had some of the best months EVER in my organization …

  I brought on a surge of new accounts and tried to keep the momentum up …

  But I failed miserably.

  Not because I’m not talented, or I don’t have skillsets … but because I became Superman, fighting all forces at once, when I needed to be Nick Fury and put the right people around me.

  So what did I do to correct this? It’s a radically different approach …

  In January I changed business models. I used to be 100% paid ads and organic marketing … which isn’t bad … but it overwhelmed be because I’m just one man.

  So I began to build a sales team … but not in the way you’d expect.

  I began hiring stay at home mothers.

  WHAT?!?!

  Crazy right!

  I hired stay at home moms to reach out to business owners and set meetings for $15 an appointment and 10% commission of what I sell.

  And they love it!

  And I’m also training people from the ground up to be salesmen and women for me …

  Using systems and processes that have stood the test of time and allow me to take my hands off this portion of the business.

  And here’s what the calendar now looks like for me …

        I average 3-4 sales calls a day now with this system, which is MUCH more than I previously had …

  All because I put the right people in the right systems and processes.

  And now my business is growing faster than ever!

  Stop being Superman and exponentially grow by documenting processes and handing them over to the right people

  If you’re like most people I talk to, you’re burnt out because you do everything yourself.

  You feel like you can grow your business, but there’s a mountain of work in front of you first.

  So how do you get to the place where you can slowly hand portions of the business over to the right people?

  Start by documenting everything.

  Write down your processes, and your thoughts behind those processes.

  What I’ve discovered is that many times it’s a specific detail that makes something work, or run more effectively.

  EXAMPLE: In my approach to outbound sales I have a team member set an appointment. The first time I jump on the phone with a lead, the first thing I say is “I’m glad my assistant set up this time for us to talk.”

  This gives me authority and puts me on an even playing field with the decision maker … like them I have a position in my company … I’m not some freelancer or grunt in the business.

  Write down what works …. and more importantly, why it works. If you don’t understand why it works you likely won’t be able to teach someone how to do what you do and have them get good results.

  Find the right people to train

  This is the more difficult part of the process. If you don’t find the right people to help you, your documentation is useless.

  So what do you ideally look for in a new recruit?

  Here’s a list I go by …

  #1 – They don’t necessarily need experience, but they need to be willing to learn

  This was the hardest thing I had to learn when I was hiring appointment setters. I wanted people with experience … people who could already hit the ground running. But that was the worst thing I could do because the way I do sales is far different than 98% of companies in the marketplace.

  I actually had a few appointment setters come on board who had experience … and they were without a doubt my worst performers … and biggest time consumers.

  I was hit with multiple accusations of “this is not the right way to do it” and “why would you EVER do it this way?”

  Instead of doing what worked they questioned everything and brought no results.

  So I tried another approach – stay at home moms who were looking for easy part time work.

  They had NO experience …

  But once I showed them how easy it is to do appointment setting, and provided them with a complete training course and personal coaching, they hit the ground running!

  It wasn’t long before they out performed the “seasoned pro” who had done it before.

  #2 – They need to be coachable

  Find people eager and willing to learn a process and dedicate themselves to it. My appointment setters succeed because I work with them to find the roadblocks and help them overcome the obstacles in their way. No one ever succeeds by themselves. Lone wolfs die.

  To build a great team you need to find people eager to be taught … we live in a skills economy. If you think otherwise perhaps that’s one of the reasons your business is not growing the way you want.

  #3 – To need to be reachable

  You must be able to find these people with relative ease.

  For me, I found my appointment setters on Craigslist. I put an ad under the “Admin Jobs” section and pushed them to a pre-recorded webinar explaining the role, breaking any false beliefs, and showing them why they should join us. After that they fill out an application, and I interview them over the phone.

  Since the process is 80% automated all I have to do is jump on the phone with them and say “ready to go?”

  In the past I also used Facebook Groups – but those took too much time and effort. I’d rather use a $20 craigslist post to get 20 applications a week.

  By sticking to these three guidelines, I’ve created a sales team that allows me to grow

  In reality, because of automations and systems I’ve built, hiring and training a highly effective team is a breeze … as long as you document and follow your process! Don’t think that this system works just for sales … I could easily build a customer service team, or fulfillment team using a similar process.

  So many businesses suffer because they don’t delegate or automate their systems … and that’s why they struggle.

  The solution is to either hire and train an in-house team to help you, or to recruit an experienced company to solve your problem. A good service provider will be able to help you solve problems like prospecting, IT consulting, and accounting so you can focus on building the portions of your business that will help you grow and scale.

  If you’re like many businesses you try to do your own IT work …

  And marketing …

  And Sales …

  But if you aren’t careful, it’ll pull your business down …

  It’s one of the pain points we solve with our services.

  If you’re interested in learning how we do this for businesses, sign up for this free training now.

  Bonus tip: combining the right software and team will double your productivity and effectiveness

    No matter what, there are tasks that your team will not be able to do without the proper software.

  It doesn’t matter if you’re building sales funnels …

  Or sending out lots of emails at once …

  Or building automations that will save you time and effort …

  You need to have the right tools.

  But there’s so many out there! How do you choose the right ones?

  Simple: Buy the tools that solve the BIGGEST problems for your business and boost the productivity of your team. For us, we use ClickFunnels to build out the process to hire and train our team (double whammy!). We also use it to build sales funnels and systems to help our clients grow. This makes it a necessary element of our company on multiple levels. We also use ActiveCampaign to automatically send out emails and texts to leads and contacts. It also tracks where they are in the sales process for us!

  Since we have a cold call team setting appointments, we use LeadCarrot to build out the territory sheets. This saves HOURS of manual time assembling lists. It only takes 5 minutes! We’d spend hundreds of dollars in labor fees each month … but LeadCarrot saves us from that.

  If a software makes your existing work more efficient, use it to help you grow faster.

  It’s as simple as that. Don’t go into shiny object syndrome “ooohhhh that would be nice to have … but it doesn’t help me grow.”

  Stay focused. Stay simple. Unnecessary complexity is the enemy.

  How do you use teams and tools to grow your business? Let us know in the comments below!

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[mysteryshelf]

SUMMER OF MYSTERY BLOG TOUR - Scene of the Crime

Welcome to the “Summer of Mystery Reads” happening July 9th to August 17, 2018, at THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF!

DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by Pump Up Your Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.

SCENE OF THE CRIME by Jennifer Chase, Mystery, 300 pp., $.99 (Kindle)

  Title: SCENE OF THE CRIME Author: Jennifer Chase Publisher: JEC Press Pages: 300 Genre: Mystery Suspense

A calculating cold-blooded predator closes in…When a community has barely recovered from a ruthless serial killer six months earlier; now two more horrifying murders hit the radar again. It leaves police burdened with two of the most shockingly contaminated crime scenes ever documented in California’s law enforcement history. The Slayer works behind the scenes as a sinister puppet master, precisely pulling the strings, taunting the police without leaving any viable evidence, and orchestrating his killer hit squads.

The sheriff and district attorney bring in the best investigators. Reunited again, Dr. Chip Palmer, a reclusive forensic expert, joins DA Inspector Kate Rawlins to sort through the crime scene aftermath in search of the truth—all without a probable suspect or a solid motive. Complicating the investigation—sparks reignite between the two.

Ratcheting up the suspense, Chip suffers a nasty fall hitting his head, impairing his perception and giving him a mind-blowing ability for specific detailed recall. Palmer and Rawlins assemble an unusual team including a rookie detective, a forensic supervisor, and an ex-military operative turned bodyguard. After one of their own is kidnapped and the investigation is taken over by the FBI, the now rogue team must pull together their own resources—alone—with a killer waiting to take each one of them out. Scene of the Crime takes no prisoners and leaves everyone fighting to stay alive.

ORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon

Chapter 1

NOTHING CAPTURED HIS ATTENTION. IT wasn’t as if he wasn’t looking for anything specific or that he didn’t care about anything, but everything became like white noise. Looking down, he spotted a couple squashed beer cans, which had resulted from the constant compression of car tires repeatedly running over them. Now they lay in the gutter unnoticed—as discarded litter. Out of boredom, he kicked the aluminum pancakes with his worn out running shoes. The compressed disks clattered a ways before landing back in a different part of the same gutter, just as his life.

Roger Case was in one of those moods where everything seemed futile. It was a time when his temperament plummeted; he entertained the spirit of defeat, which was becoming more common these days. His concentration slipped farther into the dwindling mindset of drugs and crime to the point of mania. Rationalizing his motives, he preferred to enact self-medication.

He needed something strong to take away his thoughts of negativity. The repetitive movements of his hands and arms worsened. He wanted anything that would take away his fears, his depression, and his unrelenting obsession for the next quick fix. Roger knew that even when he felt the most empowering high that there was a high price to pay—and it was predictable and inevitable—the hard, downward crash.

Roger hadn’t always been teetering on that slippery slope, dangling over the life of crime; in fact, he still remembered when things were normal and even mundane. He grew up in a typical middle class family with his mom and dad, along with his older brother and sister. Reflecting on those memories now, he would trade just about anything to have those times back.

Now he waited with anticipation for his contact. It was going to make everything better—at least for a while. He convinced himself that just a little bit of crystal meth would help him get back on track—to see things clearly again. It wasn’t as if he was a full-blown addict, he just needed something to help motivate and push him in the right direction.

He heard a hollow scraping noise and stopped to listen. Standing quietly, still straining to hear, but that sound never repeated. He looked around. Curious. The sound seemed to resonate in his head instead of around the street. Upon further inspection, he realized it came from inside the cement structure.

The old water treatment plant had been decommissioned by the county some time ago, now outdated, and was nothing more than an eyesore gathering the grime and deteriorating aspects of time gone by. Something loomed in Roger’s vision and waited in darkness—he strained his eyes looking into the long structure that seemed to lead to nowhere.

Maybe his connection made a change of plans and the meeting place was at the cement sinew, and out of sight from any onlookers, or cops happening by on their route. It was possible. At this point in Roger’s life, anything was possible.

Roger contemplated his options for a moment and then decided to check it out. He turned toward the water treatment plant and headed inside. The first thing he noticed was the temperature difference—cold and damp compared to the warmer street areas.

He slowed his pace, unsure if he should call out or announce his presence. Fidgeting nonstop with his hands, pressing his fingers tighter and then releasing them, Roger moved farther into the tunnel.

A shuffling sound came from the other end.

“Hello?” he finally said, his voice weak and tinny which made him unconsciously twitch.

A muffled dragging sound was the responded answer. It resonated from the back-left area.

“Hey, I don’t have time for this… you either want the money or not.” He tried to sound tough but his nerves were frayed. It wasn’t something he was used to feeling. In fact, Roger couldn’t remember the last time he felt scared, frustrated, angry or anxious.

The damp cement tunnel seemed to pull him closer to the heart of it—into the bowels of no return. Instead of turning around and leaving, Roger slowly moved deeper into the cavern. It was as if someone or something else had control over his body. His insatiable curiosity had put him in troubling situations throughout his life. It contributed to him getting into deep trouble with a growing rap sheet to prove it.

Most memories had a calming effect on Roger, which had initiated his fidgeting to cease and his hesitation to subside. He didn’t understand many people’s fears and phobias, most things were just benign and didn’t amount to anything remotely scary or debilitating.

There it was again—a dragging sound followed by what he thought were hushed whispers.

Kids.

He would smack a kid if they jumped out at him or gave him any crap. Most likely, they were tagging gang symbols and looking to get into trouble.

There was the distinct sound of two people whispering to each other.

Roger tried to sharpen his vision but the darkness played tricks on him with weird shadow figure apparitions. He blinked his eyes quickly trying to concentrate on the area and where the kids were hiding; his eyes began to water from the extreme effort. Wiping away the aggravated tears, Roger felt his surroundings close in tightly around him as his perception changed. The darkness seemed to give a strange rippled effect.

The voices became louder. There was nothing sinister about the voices, but they were speaking faster with more of an urgent tone.

“Hey, you little maggots, I know you’re here,” stated Roger.

He stopped and stood still.                                                         

The darkness still loomed around him, but there was a quietness that overcame him.

A brief hundredth of a second, a peculiar whizzing noise filled Roger’s ears and then a brutal blow struck his head and knocked him off his feet. With a ringing in his head and a groggy consciousness, he tried to sit up but more savage blows pummeled his body. It sounded as if a tree splintered just before it fell in the forest. His breath caught in his lungs. Everything went dark.

The anonymous whispers stopped.

All buzzing in his ears stopped.

Roger Case’s heart stopped too.

    Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent sociopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling.  She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.

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        GUEST POST BY THE AUTHOR

Can Bare Feet Benefit Your Writing?

You know that exhausted, tired feeling after a long day of standing on your feet? You come home and immediately kick your shoes off and peel away your socks—now that’s relief.  You even feel a little bit lighter and brighter in spirit once you have shed your shoes.

My writing quirk is working in my bare feet. I don’t really know if it’s a quirk rather than a preference. When I’m writing in my home office, I do so without shoes or socks. Why you ask? The only answer I can convey is that I like it. I feel more relaxed and ideas seem to flow easier.

I wanted to find out if there was really something about being more productive with bare feet. Once something grabs hold of my curious mind, I cannot seem to let it go until I’m satisfied with the answer. I began to research the “barefoot syndrome” and here are a few things that I found out.

There is actually a society called Society for Barefoot Living founded 1994 with over 1,400 members from around the world. Here is a quote from their homepage, “Set your feet free and your mind will follow…”

That’s interesting.

According to an article written in the New York Magazine, we walk wrong and we’re hurting our feet by wearing shoes. This immediately caught my attention and I probed a little bit further into this phenomenon to find out exactly why.

“Natural gait is biomechanically impossible for any shoe-wearing person,” wrote Dr. William A. Rossi in a 1999 article in Podiatry Management. “It took 4 million years to develop our unique human foot and our consequent distinctive form of gait, a remarkable feat of bioengineering. Yet, in only a few thousand years, and with one carelessly designed instrument, our shoes, we have warped the pure anatomical form of human gait, obstructing its engineering efficiency, afflicting it with strains and stresses and denying it its natural grace of form and ease of movement head to foot.”

There are definite health benefits of going bare foot. I was amazed to find out that my quirky habit when I write actually has some scientific merit to it. Think about all of the cultures and martial arts disciplines that involve being barefoot.

Kicking off your shoes can actually:

Keeps your feet properly exercised, agile, and in shape. Stronger feet help to make a stronger body. Wearing shoes can actually make your feet lazy and potentially increase the risk of injury.

Fights varicose veins by improving circulation.

Relaxes the body and mind.  It changes the mindset that we associate when we are wearing shoes.

I don’t know if I’m ready to toss all my shoes for the barefoot lifestyle, but I know that when I’m writing I feel more relaxed and ready to take on any storyline challenge with ease.

  Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and best-selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent sociopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling.  She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists, and member of the International Thriller Writers.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

  Visit us at Pump Up Your Book!

    SUMMER OF MYSTERY BLOG TOUR – Scene of the Crime was originally published on the Wordpress version of The Pulp and Mystery Shelf with Shannon Muir

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