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#already paid for. they can’t refund it. they ask you two to go along in replacement for them
stephansen60guerra · 2 years
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hermes pochette kelly 13
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kragconnolly84 · 2 years
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pearcemarcus7 · 2 years
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Web Hosting Made Easy: Some Great Tips For You
If you can't manage to secure the best web hosting plan, you might end up with some rough patches further down the line. Once the influx of traffic begins, there will be more and more strain placed upon your bandwidth. Learning to utilize your host and server functions to better preserve this bandwidth is the core principle in network topology on small businesses. You can almost always save money on your web hosting by paying in advance. Discounts for multi-month and yearly packages are common. However, you don't want to lock in with an unreliable host. Try out Indonesia Data Center Market Size for a month or two before you lock in a long-term commitment, and check out the cancellation and refund policy beforehand. Start to worry if your host site or website goes down for a period beyond 24 hours. Generally outages do not last this long, so it could be a clue that there are bigger problems going on with your web host. You can check other websites to find information about your host site's outages, as well as the reason for the outage. Think long and hard before deciding that you want to launch your own web hosting service. This can seem tempting, until you realize that you will likely spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with this service, rather than focusing on the business that you already have. Use the expertise of those who have been doing it for years, and pay them what they are worth. Read the terms of service when dealing with a web host who offers "unlimited" services. Many times web hosts will offer unlimited bandwidth or sometimes hard disk space. Read the terms carefully, as they may reserve the right to ask you to upgrade your plan, if you are a higher profile customer, that has increased usage. If money is tight or your website has not begun to profit yet, you can always go with a free hosting site. While they may not be the most ideal web hosts, and may not offer the amount of options you would like, free hosts are a good place to start when starting up a new website. If you will be using more than one domain name or run more than one website, it's important to select a web host that allows add-on domains. You can find hosts that allow you to have up to 20 different websites on one account for free which should allow you plenty of options. Consider how much downtime the web host will have when looking for one. These downtimes vary from 10% to .000001%. This means that there could be hours of downtime per week or as little as seconds. Select a host with the lowest amount of downtime that you can find. If you're going to use a web hosting company, make sure it's not in danger of going out of business. Find out how long the company has been in business, and whether they have been profitable. If the company goes out of business, you could also lose access to all of the data that was stored on their servers in addition to having your website go offline. If you are just experimenting with web design, look for free web hosting services to get your feet wet. Although free services come with a number of limitations, if your website is purely experimental and recreational, this might not matter much to you. Go for a paid service when you decide that web design is something to which you want to commit. If you are going to obtain a shared web hosting solution, conduct some research on the websites that you will be sharing your server with. You should definitely avoid sharing servers with websites that participate in spam due to the fact that if any of these websites receive an IP address ban from search engines or internet service providers, your website will be banned along with them. Adult websites in particular tend to participate in these kinds of activities. If you can't manage to host your domains, provide your own fiber-optics, or design the next generation of topology maps; you should stick with finding a good host. A decent world wide web host is the backbone of any professional company and your choice in hosting providers will create a domino-effect throughout your audience.
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Web Hosting Made Easy: Some Great Tips For You
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Text
Web Hosting Made Easy: Some Great Tips For You
If you can't manage to secure the best web hosting plan, you might end up with some rough patches further down the line. Once the influx of traffic begins, there will be more and more strain placed upon your bandwidth. Learning to utilize your host and server functions to better preserve this bandwidth is the core principle in network topology on small businesses. Web Hosting Billing Software can almost always save money on your web hosting by paying in advance. Discounts for multi-month and yearly packages are common. However, you don't want to lock in with an unreliable host. Try out a new host for a month or two before you lock in a long-term commitment, and check out the cancellation and refund policy beforehand. Start to worry if your host site or website goes down for a period beyond 24 hours. Generally outages do not last this long, so it could be a clue that there are bigger problems going on with your web host. You can check other websites to find information about your host site's outages, as well as the reason for the outage. Think long and hard before deciding that you want to launch your own web hosting service. This can seem tempting, until you realize that you will likely spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with this service, rather than focusing on the business that you already have. Use the expertise of those who have been doing it for years, and pay them what they are worth. Read the terms of service when dealing with a web host who offers "unlimited" services. Many times web hosts will offer unlimited bandwidth or sometimes hard disk space. Read the terms carefully, as they may reserve the right to ask you to upgrade your plan, if you are a higher profile customer, that has increased usage. If money is tight or your website has not begun to profit yet, you can always go with a free hosting site. While they may not be the most ideal web hosts, and may not offer the amount of options you would like, free hosts are a good place to start when starting up a new website. If you will be using more than one domain name or run more than one website, it's important to select a web host that allows add-on domains. You can find hosts that allow you to have up to 20 different websites on one account for free which should allow you plenty of options. Consider how much downtime the web host will have when looking for one. These downtimes vary from 10% to .000001%. This means that there could be hours of downtime per week or as little as seconds. Select a host with the lowest amount of downtime that you can find. If you're going to use a web hosting company, make sure it's not in danger of going out of business. Find out how long the company has been in business, and whether they have been profitable. If the company goes out of business, you could also lose access to all of the data that was stored on their servers in addition to having your website go offline. If you are just experimenting with web design, look for free web hosting services to get your feet wet. Although free services come with a number of limitations, if your website is purely experimental and recreational, this might not matter much to you. Go for a paid service when you decide that web design is something to which you want to commit. If you are going to obtain a shared web hosting solution, conduct some research on the websites that you will be sharing your server with. You should definitely avoid sharing servers with websites that participate in spam due to the fact that if any of these websites receive an IP address ban from search engines or internet service providers, your website will be banned along with them. Adult websites in particular tend to participate in these kinds of activities. If you can't manage to host your domains, provide your own fiber-optics, or design the next generation of topology maps; you should stick with finding a good host. A decent world wide web host is the backbone of any professional company and your choice in hosting providers will create a domino-effect throughout your audience.
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kaufmantobin21 · 2 years
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Web Hosting Made Easy: Some Great Tips For You
If you can't manage to secure the best web hosting plan, you might end up with some rough patches further down the line. Once the influx of traffic begins, there will be more and more strain placed upon your bandwidth. Learning to utilize your host and server functions to better preserve this bandwidth is the core principle in network topology on small businesses. You can almost always save money on your web hosting by paying in advance. Discounts for multi-month and yearly packages are common. However, you don't want to lock in with an unreliable host. Try out a new host for a month or two before you lock in a long-term commitment, and check out the cancellation and refund policy beforehand. Start to worry if your host site or website goes down for a period beyond 24 hours. Generally outages do not last this long, so it could be a clue that there are bigger problems going on with your web host. You can check other websites to find information about your host site's outages, as well as the reason for the outage. Think long and hard before deciding that you want to launch your own web hosting service. This can seem tempting, until you realize that you will likely spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with this service, rather than focusing on the business that you already have. Use the expertise of those who have been doing it for years, and pay them what they are worth. Read the terms of service when dealing with a web host who offers "unlimited" services. Many times web hosts will offer unlimited bandwidth or sometimes hard disk space. Read the terms carefully, as they may reserve the right to ask you to upgrade your plan, if you are a higher profile customer, that has increased usage. If money is tight or your website has not begun to profit yet, you can always go with a free hosting site. While they may not be the most ideal web hosts, and may not offer the amount of options you would like, free hosts are a good place to start when starting up a new website. If you will be using more than one domain name or run more than one website, it's important to select a web host that allows add-on domains. You can find hosts that allow you to have up to 20 different websites on one account for free which should allow you plenty of options. Consider how much downtime the web host will have when looking for one. These downtimes vary from 10% to .000001%. This means that there could be hours of downtime per week or as little as seconds. Select a host with the lowest amount of downtime that you can find. If you're going to use a web hosting company, make sure it's not in danger of going out of business. Find out how long the company has been in business, and whether they have been profitable. If Web Hosting Billing Software goes out of business, you could also lose access to all of the data that was stored on their servers in addition to having your website go offline. If you are just experimenting with web design, look for free web hosting services to get your feet wet. Although free services come with a number of limitations, if your website is purely experimental and recreational, this might not matter much to you. Go for a paid service when you decide that web design is something to which you want to commit. If you are going to obtain a shared web hosting solution, conduct some research on the websites that you will be sharing your server with. You should definitely avoid sharing servers with websites that participate in spam due to the fact that if any of these websites receive an IP address ban from search engines or internet service providers, your website will be banned along with them. Adult websites in particular tend to participate in these kinds of activities. If you can't manage to host your domains, provide your own fiber-optics, or design the next generation of topology maps; you should stick with finding a good host. A decent world wide web host is the backbone of any professional company and your choice in hosting providers will create a domino-effect throughout your audience.
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penndahlgaard0 · 2 years
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Web Hosting Made Easy: Some Great Tips For You
If you can't manage to secure the best web hosting plan, you might end up with some rough patches further down the line. Once the influx of traffic begins, there will be more and more strain placed upon your bandwidth. Learning to utilize your host and server functions to better preserve this bandwidth is the core principle in network topology on small businesses. You can almost always save money on your web hosting by paying in advance. Discounts for multi-month and yearly packages are common. However, you don't want to lock in with an unreliable host. Try out llc wisconsin for a month or two before you lock in a long-term commitment, and check out the cancellation and refund policy beforehand. Start to worry if your host site or website goes down for a period beyond 24 hours. Generally outages do not last this long, so it could be a clue that there are bigger problems going on with your web host. You can check other websites to find information about your host site's outages, as well as the reason for the outage. Think long and hard before deciding that you want to launch your own web hosting service. This can seem tempting, until you realize that you will likely spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with this service, rather than focusing on the business that you already have. Use the expertise of those who have been doing it for years, and pay them what they are worth. Read the terms of service when dealing with a web host who offers "unlimited" services. Many times web hosts will offer unlimited bandwidth or sometimes hard disk space. Read the terms carefully, as they may reserve the right to ask you to upgrade your plan, if you are a higher profile customer, that has increased usage. If money is tight or your website has not begun to profit yet, you can always go with a free hosting site. While they may not be the most ideal web hosts, and may not offer the amount of options you would like, free hosts are a good place to start when starting up a new website. If you will be using more than one domain name or run more than one website, it's important to select a web host that allows add-on domains. You can find hosts that allow you to have up to 20 different websites on one account for free which should allow you plenty of options. Consider how much downtime the web host will have when looking for one. These downtimes vary from 10% to .000001%. This means that there could be hours of downtime per week or as little as seconds. Select a host with the lowest amount of downtime that you can find. If you're going to use a web hosting company, make sure it's not in danger of going out of business. Find out how long the company has been in business, and whether they have been profitable. If the company goes out of business, you could also lose access to all of the data that was stored on their servers in addition to having your website go offline. If you are just experimenting with web design, look for free web hosting services to get your feet wet. Although free services come with a number of limitations, if your website is purely experimental and recreational, this might not matter much to you. Go for a paid service when you decide that web design is something to which you want to commit. If you are going to obtain a shared web hosting solution, conduct some research on the websites that you will be sharing your server with. You should definitely avoid sharing servers with websites that participate in spam due to the fact that if any of these websites receive an IP address ban from search engines or internet service providers, your website will be banned along with them. Adult websites in particular tend to participate in these kinds of activities. If you can't manage to host your domains, provide your own fiber-optics, or design the next generation of topology maps; you should stick with finding a good host. A decent world wide web host is the backbone of any professional company and your choice in hosting providers will create a domino-effect throughout your audience.
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roboticspacecase · 2 years
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Writing Commissions! <3
Hello! I’ve decided to open up my writing commissions again! I think it’ll help me get into the groove of writing again and also I could just always use the extra money ;w;
If you don’t want to commission but still want to donate to the cause of me being a broke bitch, I have a Ko-fi ;D Even if you can’t do either of those, reblogs help me out a ton!
Examples of my writing can be found here! Newer pieces/one-shots are the best example of what you will receive!
Pricing:
I charge $20 per every thousand words, up to 5k words. Anything larger than that will be an additional $5 per thousand words, with a cap of 10k words in total. Keep in mind that the more detailed you want it, the longer it will be! Payments will be received through PayPal! Mine is paypal.me/roboticspacecase ^-^
What I’ll Write:
NSFW (with some restrictions), Mild Gore, Fanfics**, OCs, angst, one-shots based off of existing AUs of mine, fluff, and more! For OC content I will require a few examples of what the characters look like/how they act, and they must be yours or you must have permission to get a commission done of them.
**Ships/shows I know well enough to write for, such as Yuri on Ice (Victuri, OtaYuri), Gravity Falls (BillDip, Mabecifica, TadBel), My Hero Academia (Bakudeku, DabiHawks), Genshin Impact (Zhongven, KaeLuc, IttoGorou) are preferred, but please ask about others and I will let you know whether or not I know enough about them/feel comfortable writing them!
What I will not write:
Toilet kinks, noncon, underage, suicide, self-harm, or abuse. I’m sure there are more, so just ask me and I’ll let you know whether or not I’m willing to write it :)
I reserve the right to turn down/stop commissions that make me personally uncomfortable for whatever reason. If you’re rude to me or go against any of our agreements, I will stop working with you and you will not receive your piece unless you’ve fully paid for it.
How to contact me if you’re interested/How the Process Works:
You can email me at [email protected] or you can send me a message here. I require that you give me a general two sentences or more outline of what you want. I will likely ask more questions along the way, especially if you want me to write OCs, so please check for my replies as often as you can!
Once I get started and we agree on how long it will be, I’ll give you the cost of it and at least half of the payment must be given up-front. After I’ve received the first payment, I will begin writing your piece and will let you know the date it will be completed.
If you should need to cancel, I will only fully refund your initial payment if I have less than one thousand words written. If I have one thousand words or more already written, I will keep the cost of what I have already written (20$ per every thousand) and you will receive what I have typed so far as well as a partial refund if you ordered more than what I have already written. 
Once the piece is finished, I’ll send you a preview of it before you send me the rest of the payment. Then I’ll send over the whole piece via email ((Also, if you’d like, I can post the work to Ao3 and gift it to you as well as send it to you!)) in whatever format you’d like :)
I retain all rights to my work. Feel free to post it anywhere you like, but please give me credit!
Thanks so much for reading! Tips are always appreciated! ;D Feel free to contact me if you have any questions/comments/concerns and have a great day/night! :)
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joshslater · 4 years
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Beached
Similar stories and bonus material on my Patreon.
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It's really amazing how the beaches can be so empty when the weather is this good. It's technically winter or spring or whatever, but that just means you can spend all day on the beach without getting heatstroke or sunburn. No one else appears to agree with me though. Someone is walking a dog in the distance in one direction, and some surfers are ignoring the warnings of big waves in the distance in the other direction. Like that would be bad thing in their minds, though just right now it isn't as windy as in the morning. Volatile weather is another drawback of spring weather.
I don't think it is the weather that is keeping people away though. This whole plague thing is really messing with people. The hotel was almost deserted and the room dirt cheap. Flight was cheap too. The plan was to go here with Will, but he chickened out at the last moment. Probably the positivity rates of their "second wave" or whatever. The tickets were refundable, only way they can sell anything these days, but I had already made up my mind to go here. Spring in Rio is better than summer at home, and the summer is decidedly over now, where you are never sure in the morning if you need jeans and hoodie. Here it is shorts and T-shirt every day, and the water is really nice when the waves aren't fatal. I really thought it would be colder the way the ocean looks.
As I walk along the beach in solitude I spot a gaudy, cheap beach chair also alone in the sand. I look up towards the road that goes along the beach. Sometimes there is a bunch of chairs or stuff chained together, waiting for busy days when the owner can charge a coin for a tourist to sit on it, but I don't see anything up there. I take a seat and look out over the crashing waves. There is a zen-like quality sitting on a lone chair on a vast beach, alone in a different country, watching the waves while the warm spring sun smiles down on you. No birds or animals around either, so you just have the white noise of the ocean keeping you at peace. I had fernet and coke in the lobby bar last night and evening has been going slow even before this, but somehow I felt I deserved a break from doing nothing.
I lost track of how long I was sitting there. I have all week after all. I'm taken out of my trance by someone behind me talking agitated in Spanish. No, Portuguese probably, as that's what they speak here. I turn my head and a stereotypical Brazilian beach greaser steps into my view. He wears a loose, pink tank top with Copacabana printed on the front. It reaches almost far enough to hide his green speedos that peeks out every step he takes. Brazilian tan, white teeth, black, slick hair, and a swagger that comes equally from acting macho and years of bodybuilding that prioritized looks over range of motion. "What?" I ask him, mostly just to tell him to speak English.
"This is your chair?" he asks. "Yeah," I say tentatively. At least I'm using it right now. It really was calming to look at the ocean like this. "No. No, it is not your chair," he says in an accusing tone, visibly upset. "You want to sit?" I don't need any trouble. It's soon time for lunch anyway. I start to raise myself from the chair. "No, you sit! You sit!" he almost screams at me, and I fall back into the chair.
I'm confused. Did I sit down again, or did something push me down? He steps towards me, and I again try to get out of the chair, but I'm somehow not strong enough to lift myself. He grabs the front neck of my T-shirt and pulls it up over my head. My arms do nothing to stop him. He then grabs hold of the legs of my shorts and pulls them sharply forward. Again, I can't do anything to stop him. I can move my body, sort of, but it's sapped of all strength.
If things were weird up until now, it just turned impossible. Instead of my Hanes underwear I wear black speedos with yellow print "ca-rio-ca" in front. How the fuck did they end up on me. He doesn't waste any time, but just bunches my clothes together in his hand and angrily marches off towards the road behind me. "Hey! HEY! I don't want this fucking chair." I shout at him while making another failed effort to get out of the chair as he disappears out of view. It's like being stuck with your ass in a big bean bag. I just can't get up somehow. I try to rock sideways to knock the chair on its side so I can roll out of it, but again with no success. Exhausted I fall back into the chair.
It's a cheap-looking foldable beach chair. Some green tubes as a frame with some blue and yellow nylon fabric as a seat, suspended between the tubes. I could see how someone would pick it out for its "Brazilian" colors, but all the shades were totally off compared to the flag. It couldn't be more than $10, probably much less down here. Why would anyone make such a fuss over it? I touch my magically appearing speedos. They appear completely normal. Some type of high tech stretchy fabric with yellow print on top. As I touch the print on the front of the speedos there is like a shock wave through me, like I rubbed the exposed head of my dick. I quickly move my hand back to the dainty armrests, but the damage is already done, at least for now. I can feel the blood inflating my dick, at least partially.
I look back at the ocean, trying to distract myself. I still see the surfers way off in the distance to one side, but I don't see anyone in the other. I'm a bit limited in my field of view though, reclined in the beach chair. Dammit, and I was about to have lunch. Fuck! My wallet is in the shorts. My phone, my credit cards, my cash, my hotel room key, all in the hands of some dude made of muscles and STDs. If he doesn't come back I'd have to walk back to the hotel, wearing only speedos like a fucking douche, tell the lobby staff to get my passport from the room to identify me, and issue a new key card. Then I have to take the laptop and block the credit cards and the phone SIM. I hope you can do that online. If nothing else you can call 800 numbers from Skype, I think. But first I need to get out of this fucking chair.
I make another failed attempt to get up. How can this be happening? Did he poison me somehow? Perhaps I just need to relax for a bit and regain my strength. That doesn't explain how my underwear was swapped out. Perhaps I'm making this more complicated than it has to be. These could be two unrelated events. Perhaps the speedos were somehow in my room, and somehow I put them on this morning without thinking about it. I think I've seen something similar in a store back home. "CA" could just as well mean California. This pair could have been forgotten by someone and then mixed into my laundry somehow, packed in my travel bag by mistake, and then ended up on me without me thinking about it because of the fernet. No, that doesn't make a lot of sense either. If you remove all impossible explanations, the remaining one, however improbable is the right one. It's just so very fucking improbable.
I want to drop it. Thinking about it more won't solve anything, and my current problems notwithstanding the day is still very nice. The slow burn of the spring sun, the smell of sand and salt, the soothing white noise of the ocean, and the wide visuals to go with it all. If I just let go of my predicament it was easy to relax again. That's what I needed to do, right? Just look out and feel the sun rejuvenate me. Despite it being essentially just indoor temperature, I've managed to get a tan. I trace the skin from my knees and up with my eyes. No, this is wrong. I should have tan lines where the shorts and T-shirt ended. I've only been sitting here topless for ten minutes, twenty at the most. There's nothing to tell time. The surfers are gone.
And I really shouldn't look this good sitting down. I don't sit down with a flat belly. I can't remember that I ever did, not that I really paid a lot of attention to how I looked. I try to stand up to have a better look, but only manage to lift a few inches before falling back. "Merda!" I say out loud. Not only did I fall back into the chair, but I managed to pull something. There's a cramp in the abdominal muscles that hurts like hell. I squirm in the unyielding chair and arch my back to make it stop, which results in both my legs cramping at the same time. I let go and fall back into the chair, and raise my legs up and try to shake them. I tense and relax the muscles over and over to make the feeling go away.
When it finally goes away I feel exhausted. I certainly don't want to feel that again. It's like a cosmic force doing everything to keep me in place, docile, and watching the ocean. While I want this to all be over I don't feel like I want to put up a fight. I scratch an itch on my face and feel my beard. I know I shaved less than... I know I shaved this morning, whenever that was. I've done that every morning from when I started to grow facial hair. I know nothing that looks worse. Nothing that looks more like you are taking a shortcut, or don't care. Yet I could clearly feel strands of hair all around my mouth and up the sides of my face. Not just stubble either, but fingertip length beard. The kind that doesn't look like a planned and neatly maintained beard either, but an accidental one. I didn't think I could freak out more when my hand touched the hair behind my ear, and I frantically felt the rest of my head. It was clearly a curly mess, and not just wavy but a tight curl. My hair is straight.
"Olá!" one of the two young surfers greet me. I'd been too preoccupied and had completely missed them walking across the beach towards me. They looked very similar, same height, same short cropped pitch-black hair, handsome white smiles, black and blue Mormaii wetsuit. My startled mind feels blank. I have no idea what to say to them. Somehow, inappropriately I can feel my dick stirring again. "Você quer foder?" I shout back at them. I have no idea what it means. They just keep walking, shaking their heads and ignoring me. What the fuck is going on? Can't I control myself anymore? I haven't since I sat down, I realize. This fucking chair is ruining everything.
I'm angry with it. I start hitting it. At first I'm just feebly pounding the armrests, but then work myself up to start hitting anything I can find. I'm banging the tubes, I'm pulling the synthetic fabric of the seat, I'm trying to pry the joints free. I'm only hurting myself of course, though not bad enough for any visible bruises. After some minutes someone has had enough of my tantrums and I feel a searing pain across my chest, back, and right ribs. I cry out in pain. My noise is met by the constant noise of the ocean. When it stops, just as suddenly as it started I look to either side and all I see is empty beach in both directions.
I'm almost afraid to look, and it is difficult to see well, but the skin has discolored where I felt the pain. On the right side of me is a sentence tattooed in cursive. I can't tell what it says. On my front chest is another large tattoo saying something almost as difficult to read upside down, just below my chin, also in cursive.  "Live fast, die young" I think. I can only imagine what platitudes are on my back. "Carpe Diem?"
My legs are hairy. They've been that for years, but now they are black pubes kind of hairy. Did that happen just now as well? What's with the slow walking? Just do all the things to me and be over with. Arms are hairy too. I'm not even going to be upset anymore. I'll just sit here until it ends, whatever that means. Listen to the ocean and let the sun do its thing. Holy shit, that isn't suntan. I have a different skin color for sure. No. Not upset, just listen to nature and come what may. Let the sun sparkle in the water.
I can also see a sparkle from my right nipple. I feel drained, dazed, and dumb. Did the nipple piercing come with the tattoos and I had just missed it, or did it sneak up on me somehow? I don't really care. I slowly reach for it with my left hand. It feel an explosion of sensations as soon as the vibrations of my touch reverberate into the nipple. It shoots right into my balls, into my spine, into my brain, into my dick. Not quite an orgasm, but definitely not not an orgasm. I can feel the cramp again. The muscles on my front all contracts, but this time it isn't really painful. It's more like when you exert yourself during sports.
As before I arch my back to flex the chest and abs differently to make it go away, but the cramps just spreads. I can feel it in my back as well, and my arms, then finally in my legs. It's like those youtube videos where you can see the muscles moving under the skin all on its own. I just turned to the side and rolled in the sand, unable to control anything. It wasn't pain, but definitely not not pain.
When it finally stops I'm on my back in the spring warm sand, exhausted, panting, looking into the blue sky, hearing the waves crash down at the edge of the beach. I somehow know before I see it. My arms are almost twice as muscular as this morning, my chest and abs chiseled, and my legs are massive.
The sun is getting low. It is probably getting close to dinner time, though it sets early. I sit up in the sand, looking in both directions down the beach. There's nothing but sand. I know how to walk back to the hotel, though I can't remember the name of it, and I think I know what my name is, but I'm pretty sure nothing on that passport will match me. I don't feel like going there though. I really, really need to find someone to fuck. Or be fucked by. I don't care.
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Put in his Place
Here is a one-off of Bertrum and Nathan playing a prank on Joey. This is going to be really goofy.
After this, I’m doing the two-part Lacie x Abby story. That’ll be a lot more serious. So if this kind of thing isn’t your cup of tea, stay tuned!
—-
Bertrum’s visits to oversee the construction of Bendyland were rarely eventful. Lacie generally had everything under control, as she did now. Seeing all his men (and women) constructing the rides that he’d designed was like watching the coming together of a masterpiece, or the precise work of a machine.
“You there!” he boomed at one of his men, who turned to him, terrified. “Those bolts need to be tighter. Keep up like that and you’ll get someone killed!”
“O-okay, sir!” The young man replied. Bertrum smiled and nodded to let him know it was okay. And it was- Lacie would have caught the mistake.
Despite the client, coming out of retirement had not been a mistake.
“Oooh, Beertiee!” came a voice.
Oh, the client. Joey Drew. The young man turned to look at the unfolding scene, but immediately turned back to his work once he caught Bertrum’s glare. Bertrum took a deep breath, and turned to the most loathsome part of his job. “Yes, Mr. Drew?”
“A very important person is coming to the studio. I was just wondering if you could make it look... I don’t know... better in here? I mean, the air is just thick with sawdust, and the lighting conditions aren’t exactly the best... and maybe you could have at least a few rides up and going for tomorrow afternoon?”
Bertrum clenched his jaw, took a deep breath, and managed to answer this callow excuse for a business owner in a dignified manner. “Mr. Drew, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a warehouse. There is going to be sawdust everywhere no matter how often we sweep because people are cutting pieces of wood. The lighting conditions of the warehouse you rented are not in my control. As for getting the rides up and going, no, I cannot do that three months before our negotiated deadline. Do you understand?”
“Oh, but I thought you could do it. With all your experience and competence... I kind of thought I’d show it off to my good pal Mr. Arch! He’s coming for a tour tomorrow and I want to impress him. And I mean, what does it say if you can’t pull it off?”
Bertrum was unphased by Joey’s attempt at manipulation. “You do not judge a chef by how a meal looks when it is half-cooked. Wait, did you say ‘Mr. Arch?’” Nathan Arch supplied Bertrum with the steel for his rides, and Bertrum had met him a few times at business conventions and fancy parties and the like. They’d gotten along well enough.
Joey nodded.
“Trust me, Mr. Drew- Nathan knows what a construction site looks like. Because he’s a business man who has overseen a few of them in his lifetime. He won’t see this as a mess but as a well-functioning machine.”
The condesension Joey was used to, but he was stunned as soon as he heard the word, “Nathan” from Bertrum’s lips.
“Yes, Joey, we've met. Perhaps the three of us should do this little tour together.”
“Sounds like a great idea, Bertie! Meet me in my office at nine tomorrow!”
---
Joey was on cloud nine. Nathan had been letting Joey take him on these annual (well, aside from the ones Nathan missed, which was most of them) tours for a decade, and each time Joey had done his best to impress him. This year, he’d wanted to show Nathan some Bendyland attractions, but this was even better! What better way to show Nathan that he was in the big leagues than to have this tour alongside the industry legend he’d befriended. On his way to his office, Joey checked his suit and hair for the millionth time- which was really unnecessary, since he’d decided on black everything to avoid ink stains, but one couldn’t be too careful.
Joey opened his office door to find that Nathan and Bertrum were already there, sitting in chairs facing the door and smiling at him. Suddenly, Joey felt a lot less confident. And he should have- Berturm had been pleased to find out that Nathan thought of Joey as just as much of a try-hard nouveau-riche as he did, and they had made a plan to put him in his place.
“Nathan. Hi. I see you’re already acquainted with my business partner, Bertie. How was your flight from New Orleans?” In hindsight, the fact that Bertrum didn’t react to his nickname should have been the first sign.
“Wonderful. Joey, Bertrum and I were just talking about how you’ve bloomed as a businessman since he started working with you. He’s very proud. I never realized that you were real deal until now, but, well! I have to apologize. All this time I was refusing to treat you like a rich man. Are you ready to be treated like a rich man, Joey?”
Joey was stunned and ecstatic. He’d been vying for Nathan’s respect since they’d met, and he’d finally done it! “I- I- yes! Thank you for finally realizing how brilliant I am, Nathan, old buddy! Now, are you ready for a tour?”
“I am.”
With that, they went. Joey took Nathan on a tour of the animation department and showed off his fancy new technology, the toy department complete with waterfall, the plans for Bendyland (but not the dirty, dusty warehouse), and even snuck in a tour of the music department while Sammy was on lunch- he wasn’t about to let Nathan know that he let Sammy call shots on when he could visit his own music department! Today, he was to be large and in charge.
At fair amount of time into the tour, as the trio overlooked the toy department, Nathan spoke up. “It seems like your company is growing, Joey! When did you start investing in the steel wool of this place?”
There was a pause as Joey tried to figure out how to respond.
“Oh come on, Joey. Steel wool. The thing that all successful businessmen know about. The measurement by which other high-class men will know to judge your business’ future chances of success. When did you start investing in it?”
Joey’s face was beginning to flush with embarrassment as he looked into Bertrum and Nathan’s completely calm, understanding faces. “Um, I, started investing in it in 1936. Can we take a little detour, boys? My company is just doing so well that I think I should go order more steel wool right now. Nathan, how much would you suggest?”
“Hmm... about seventy or eighty tons should do it.”
“Great! Follow me.”
Joey led the two of them to the accounting and finance department and knocked on the door of their director of finance. The door opened to a weary-looking man who did not seem at all happy to see them.
“Grant- I’d like you to increase our stockpile of steel wool. Increase it to ninety tons!”
Grant nodded slowly, trying to work out how much that would cost. When one’s boss regularly asks you to account for items such as coffins and electric chairs, one learns not to ask unnecessary questions.
Bertrum, not wanting his financially precarious client to throw out so much money over a prank, shoved Joey aside and whispered something in Grant’s ear.
Whatever it was, it put a coy smile on Grant’s face. “Wow. Ninety tons of steel wool this year. Well, Joey, it sure is good to work under such a rich man, and with such a promising company.”
Joey beamed. Thank God Grant was playing along with him having bought it previously. But soon, he’d have that important status symbol, and respect amongst his peers.
The door closed, and (over the faint sound of snickering) Bertrum spoke up. “You know, Mr. Drew, steel wool isn’t just an item. It’s also in one’s personal style.”
“Oh? And how would you rate mine, Bertie?”
“Hmm... middling,” Nathan replied.
“Yes, ‘middling’ is a good word for it.”
Joey’s face fell. “Oh. Well, I was about to update my wardrobe. Maybe you could help me find something better?” God, he hated asking for help, but clearly he didn’t know much about being a rich man yet.
“We’d be pleased to!” Bertrum beamed, putting an arm around Joey’s shoulders. “It’s been so long since I had a young, inexperienced, callow little business boy under my wing!”
Given the circumstances, all Joey could do was smile and fantasize about rearranging Bertrum’s anatomy.
Soon, they were in a high-end tailor shop. “Just tell him what you want,” Nathan advised, “he’s a rich man, he’ll know what to do.”
Joey nodded and rang the bell on the front desk. The tailor, who had been at the other side of the room at his sewing machine, came right over.
“Hello, I’d like to buy an outfit that lets people know that my company has a lot of steel wool.”
The shopkeeper squinted at Joey like he was an alien.
“Why don’t we help you find the style he’s looking for while he takes his measurements?” Nathan suggested.
As soon as Joey getting his measurements in the changing room, Bertrum and Nathan explained the situation to the tailor, and by the time Joey came out, they’d selected the perfect outfit for him. It was a glittering silver suit with a purple tie. The light from an open window hit it and nearly blinded Joey.
“What... is that?” Joey asked, starting to wonder if he was being messed with.
“I believe we have found your new outfit,” Bertrum asserted, “the perfect embodiment of steel wool.”
“Cutting edge- in a few months, everyone will be wearing them, but you’ll be among the first,” Nathan added.
“No, it can’t be. I mean, you’re saying this, but the two of you are wearing plainly coloured stuff...”
“No, they’re right,” the shopkeeper interjected, “I’ve actually received many, many orders of these from wealthy business owners. In fact, this is the last one I have!”
Joey grumbled, but he put on the suit, which was stiff and uncomfortable and was shedding glitter into his hair and leaving a trail behind him. He paid the shopkeeper a sizable amount of money and left in a huff.
The shopkeeper stuck his head out the door. “Remember- we do exchanges, but no refunds!” he called.
The summer sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. Bertrum and and Nathan had talked about taking Joey to a party to be laughed at, but Bertrum had decided it would make it too obvious that this was a prank. And anyhow, they’d come up with a better idea.
“Well, Joey, I think I should be getting back to my hotel room. But, maybe you could come with me, and I could show you one more aspect of what it means to be higher class. It’s obvious that you could use the help.”
“I- fine. Whatever. I don’t care.”
“Wonderful idea,” Bertrum said, “and on the cab ride over, I could give you some pointers of my own.”
“Oh, and Joey? Step into the shade, please. It seems that that suit turns you into a blinding hazard when the sun is low.”
After a miserable cab trip listening to Bertrum ramble incoherently about things Joey barely understood and using terms he’d never heard of (which made Joey feel simultaneously even more like he knew nothing and even more like he was being toyed with), the trio pulled up to the hotel that Nathan was staying at. Once they were in Nathan’s hotel room, Nathan kicked off his shoes and socks and laid on the bed with his feet hanging off of it. Normally, Joey would have some sort of teasing quip for him, but he was feeling a little worn down and just wanted to get the rest of the visit over with.
“So, Joey, the last thing we’re going to teach you about acting like you’ve got it, is how to give a good foot massage.”
Joey flinched in disgust. Then, he stopped. “Actually, I think it’s time I taught the two of you a lesson- this one on storytelling. You see, there’s this thing called the suspension of disbelief- and you just broke it. There is no ‘steel wool,’ this suit is a crime against humanity, and there is no way that it’s custom for rich men rub each others’ feet.”
Nathan laughed, and Bertrum laughed with him, doubling over in laughter and using Nathan’s shoulder to steady him once he collected himself. “Mr. Drew, you do realize that the only way you could believe that is if no other rich man had ever offered you a foot massage, right?”
“Humiliating.”
“You really told on yourself there.”
Tears were forming in Joey’s eyes- which was ridiculous because he was still sure that this was fake. He also knew that surviving two plagues had left Bertrum a considerable germaphobe. “Alright then, Bertie, show me your technique! Show me how a rich man does it!” he took off his shoes and threw them one at a time into Nathan’s arms.
“Okay, okay, we were joking!” Bertrum admitted before Joey could remove any more clothing.
“But... I think we made our point.”
“What point could you have possibly made except that you’re a bunch of assholes?!” Joey yelled.
“That compared to us, you’re new. We know it, you know it, stop trying to convince us or yourself otherwise. You wouldn’t have fallen for any of that unless some part of you realized that we know better than you on some things. And disrespecting Mr. Piedmont isn’t going to change that.”
Anger built up in Joey’s chest. He screamed in rage, punched a wall, and left, slamming the door on his way out. Then, less than a minute later, he knocked on the door. Bertrum opened it.
“Uh, could I use the phone? I need to call my accountant so he won’t buy dozens of tons of cleaning supplies.”
“Oh, we explained it to him. He won’t be ordering a thing. See you at our next weekly meeting.”
Without another word, Joey left. He could never look Bertrum or Nathan straight in the eye again.
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random-blfan · 3 years
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Alsar 67: Furniture Store
"Now that we've accepted the quest, let's go see the bed you were talking about yesterday. I'm sure they'll deliver it, so let's pick a big and sturdy one”
Chris-san, who was holding my hand, said while smiling as we left the guild and headed for the furniture store.
“I hope we find something good"
I wonder how big a bed is supposed to be for four people to sleep in...
To begin with, the bed in my room in Malik's house, which is considered a single size here in Alsar, is quite long.
Well, it makes sense, considering everyone’s average height here.
“Yeah...”
“Well,we already have other things, so we'll get the right one’s when the house is built”
“Yes”
The house we decided to rent was not a long term rental, but a monthly rental, as they say in Japan, and most of the furniture was already there, so we could start living there right away.
“Oh, by the way, you said you paid for the guild room a month in advance, right, and if you started living there on the 1st, you've only been there for about a week, right?”
I wonder if they’ll get a proper refund?
I don't know how much it costs per night, but I've heard before that it's more expensive than lodgings in town, and it would be a waste of money to pay for a room they won't be staying in.
“I didn’t think it would be so easy, and I was sure I’d be staying in Pedrel for a while, there was a discount because I paid in advance. but when I told Nora that I would be leaving early, she said she would refund me the normal rate”
“I'm glad to hear that”
Sig said behind me, I was glad it wasn't a waste of money!
No matter how much money the three of us are making at A rank, we shouldn't waste it.
I turned back to Sig-san and smiled at him, thinking that even though money wasn’t a problem, he was dependable when it came to that. (TN: Not 100% sure but what I interpreted this as was Ren saying that though money isn’t important it’s also good to know they’re well off in that aspect or that it’s good knowing Sig isn’t wasteful when it comes to those things...)
"You're really cute, Ren”
"I was just laughing! anyway you were stroking my hair so hard that it’s all messed up now!”
“That’s right Sig Ren-kun is smaller and weaker than you so be careful with your strength okay?”
“I'm shocked by that…”
To the side behind me Fer-san fixed my hair gently.
Because I’m a grown man I don’t think of cute as a compliment, being called weak and small is upsetting.
But I guess that's what the people of Alsar think of me....
I mean, I seem to look pretty small here, are these three lolicons? shotacons? They are not right? (TN: the translation for this was “are these 3 pedophiles” and I thought of translating as “are these three atracted to minors'' but I settled on leaving “shotacon” and “lolicon”. I’m sure everyone here knows what these words mean but just in case. Lolicon/Shotacon = sexual attraction to young girls/boys- or young looking- respectively. It’s a contraction of lolita complex and shota complex )
Chris-san seems to have had something with Gianna-san, so I guess not.
I don't know about the other two, but if that's the case, I might look at them differently, so I don't want to know.
“I've been told by the guild staff that the furniture store over there is good. I heard that they have a delivery service, too”
After walking for a while, Chris pointed to a big store.
Is that the furniture shop?
I hope we can find what we want.
……………………………………………………………………………..
“It's good that you got some freebies” (TN:おまけ = freebie, extra, bonus but it could also be “discount”)
"Yes, it is. It must be because Ren-kun is cute
“Please don't relate everything to being cute…”
Is the store unique to Alsar? I was surprised, in the store many beds were lined up ranging from single size beds to one’s so big I wondered just how many people could sleep on them.
Among them, I was able to decide on one bed after actually lying down on it and checking its comfort.
For some reason, the owner of the furniture store offered to deliver a night table along with the bed as a bonus.
I'll just pretend that it was my imagination that was being watched with a grin.
I don't know if I should say so myself, but I guess I can only think that in the eyes of Fer-san and the others, I look as cute as an idol because they love me.... (TN:Ren is basically implying he’s cute to them because they are biased toward him because they love him)
"Isn't it about time for lunch?
“it is. ...I want to go to Eva-san's restaurant!”
Sig rubbed his stomach while saying and I looked at my pocket watch and saw that it was past noon.
I just whined and whined to Eva. I ended up showing her something embarrassing... I should go apologize...
I really feel like I got her involved in a lovers' quarrel.
"Oh, that 's nice. It's close, so why don't we?
“Ren's food is delicious, but sometimes it's nice to have a taste of home made by someone else” (TN:I wasn't sure about this one, they're not talking about homemade food but about a taste of alsar’s cuisine and particularly Pedrel, I guess, considering 故郷 = home town; birthplace; native place; one's old home​)
It's true that having someone else cook for you is delicious, but this time I don't want to focus on eating, I want to go and apologize... Oh well.
I've kissed Sig-san right in front of Eva's eyes, so it's embarrassing to see her, but I can't leave it like that.
I'm not sure if it's because people here don't have a sense of shame or because they're more westernized, but they usually kiss in public.
They have flashy hair colors like gold, silver, red and pink, and they have deep chiseled faces, so I guess they are more western.
It seems like Eva and Sig don't mind at all.
"Now that we've decided that, let's get a move on, shall we? hold hands with me this time”
Sig-san took me by the hand and we started walking.
As I looked at our joined hands, I decided to ask them something I had been wondering.
“I've been wondering for a while now, why do you have to hold my hand every time?”
"Hmm? Do we need another reason besides wanting to hold hands? Don't you like it, Ren?
“No, I'm just curious, I don't mind”
Oh, it's that simple?
I thought you were trying to prevent me from getting lost...!
"Fufu, compared to ours Ren-chan's hand is soft and is nice to hold because he doesn't wield a sword like us”
“I'm sure they're softer than yours, but I don't think there’s much of a difference after all a man’s hand can´t be that soft”
Their hands were rough in some parts, with sword calluses forming as if they were the hands of fighting men.
But it doesn't make me uncomfortable to hold hands with them, in fact it makes me happy to feel the result of their efforts.
“It also helps control our surroundings”
"Control?
"Yes, it silently conveys that Ren-kun is ours and anyone who wishes to get close will have to go through us”
"You don't have to do that, no one will come on to me! It's not me people look at, it's the three of you”
There’s no need for you to worry about rivals!
It's true that I can feel a few eyes on me here and there, but everyone from beautiful women and pretty girls to young boys and mature men blush when they see those three.
My fiancées seem to be popular, as expected, but they're planning to have a multiple marriage centered on me, so none of them can get another lover.
If they do, they'll be paramours.... (愛人= lover, mistress.I went with paramour because it conveys the meaning well but isn’t limited to women)
I don't want that.
I've heard that I have the right to get more spouses, but I've got my hands full with these three ,so I don't intend to get more, three is already too many.
But I can't choose one of the three because I like them so much that I can't help it.
It's allowed here in Alsar, and the three of them are fine with it.
“I don't want to be cheated on…”
I muttered to myself, feeling a little depressed at the thought of a paramour.
I don't know if it's wrong for me to think this way considering I’m dating three people.
"What? Where did that come from? I would never cheat on you”
“It 's true. if I can have Ren as my partner. There’s no way I’d look at someone else”
“That's right, Ren-kun. Do you doubt that we are crazy about you?”
The three of them who seemed to have heard the murmur stopped and hurriedly denied it.
“It's not like that, I know that the three of you like me. It's just that I'm not sure if I can keep you around. It's my weakness. I'm sorry” (TN: Basically Ren doubts if he’s good enough for them)
I bowed my head and apologized honestly.
That's right, I shouldn't be suspicious of them.
The three of them are crazy about me so why would they look at someone else? I won't be able to be with this popular trio if I’m not strong enough to believe that.
“You can always tell me if you're worried. I'll always tell you how much I love you, Ren-chan”
"Well...I might ask you to do that once in a while…”
Before I knew it, I released Sig-san´s hand and Chris-san hugged me then kissed the nape of my neck.
I’m not sure if asking them to say that will make me feel more confident.
"...... Can you guys please stop doing love scenes in front of people's stores? It's a major obstruction of business”
"What? Whoa! Eva-san? is this Ken?”
“You get it don´t you? If you want to go in, please do so”
With my face pressed against Chris's chest, I heard Eva's low voice from behind me and hurriedly pulled away.
Before I knew it, we had arrived at Ken's, and I was being hugged right in front of the store´s door.
Oh, just what I needed....
Thinking this, I quietly followed Eva into the store.
TN: I’m so sorry, I’ve been super busy with homework, projects and midterms, but I’m getting two weeks off so hopefully I’ll be able to do two more chapters or even three, no promises though.
Take care!
11 notes · View notes
rpf-bat · 4 years
Text
We Float Among The Wreckage
Pairing: Mikey Way x Reader
Genre: Drama, Romance
Summary: Written for Gothtober 2020, Day 10.  Prompt: “Sirena”. 
Mikey makes big plans to take his girlfriend on a cruise vacation...but, she breaks up with him, the day before the ship is supposed to set sail. Heartbroken, he asks you, if you would like to accompany him, instead. 
You woke up, feeling excited. Today was the day, that your best friend, would finally return from a months-long tour with his band. You’d missed Mikey so much. You couldn’t wait to see him again. 
You dressed quickly, humming one of their songs to yourself, as you wondered, if you should call him, and ask what time he wanted to meet up. You’d bought so many comic books while he was away, that you wanted to loan him, to read. You were looking forward to hearing stories about his travels, too. 
You had just finished brewing a pot of coffee, when you heard a knock at the door. You answered - and found just the face, that you were hoping for. 
“Mikey!” you grinned, pulling your friend into a hug immediately. “Welcome back!” 
“Hey, Y/N,” Mikey smiled weakly. “It’s great to be back in New Jersey. How have you been?” 
“I’ve been great!” you replied brightly, releasing him. The excitement in your eyes began to fade, when you realized that Mikey was frowning at you. 
“What’s wrong?” you asked, realizing something was up. “You look really sad…” 
“I stopped by my girlfriend’s house, before I came here,” Mikey explained. 
“Oh, yeah?” you replied, raising an eyebrow. “How’s she doing? I bet she was even more excited to see you again, than I was.” 
“...Not really,” Mikey sighed deeply. 
“Huh?” you blinked. 
“I don’t want to have this conversation in your doorway,” Mikey said sullenly. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” you nodded. “You want a cup of coffee?” 
“Oh, yes, please,” Mikey said gratefully. He sat down at your kitchen table, and you poured him a steaming mug.
“You like it with two sugars, right?” you asked, handing him the packets. 
“Yeah! Good memory,” Mikey nodded. 
Of course I remember what he likes, you thought to yourself. He’s one of the most special people in the world to me. 
You sat down, across from him, and watched him pour the sugar into the mug, and stir the coffee around with his spoon. Satisfied, he took a sip. 
“So,” you asked softly, “are you going to tell me what happened?” 
“I went over there, thinking she’d be happy to see me, after three months, right?” Mikey groaned. “Instead...she told me, that she thinks we should see other people.” 
“She broke up with you?!” you gasped. 
“Yeah,” Mikey said, burying his head in his hands. “I…I can’t believe it.” 
“Mikey, I’m so sorry,” you said sympathetically. 
“I’m like, in shock,” he confessed. “She said that I’m never home, because of the band, and that she doesn’t want to be in a long-distance relationship.” 
“I’m really shocked, too,” you admitted. Sure, it hurt a little, having Mikey gone so often. But, that just made the days when he was home, even more special. 
“The worst part,” Mikey revealed, “is that I had just bought tickets, for a cruise, to surprise her.” 
“Really?” you gaped. 
“Yeah,” Mikey said sadly. “I was going to make it up to her, for my long absence, by taking her on a four-night cruise to Bermuda. It’s a really cool ship, called the SS Sirena. They’re supposed to set sail, from New York Harbor, tomorrow afternoon.” 
“Oh, no,” you grimaced. “Is it too late, to get your money back?” 
“Yeah, I already called the cruise line,” Mikey confirmed. “They said that the tickets are non-refundable.” 
“Fuck,” you swore. “What are you going to do with them, then? There’s not enough time, to try and sell them.” 
“Exactly,” Mikey nodded, seemingly at a loss. “I mean, I guess I could take the one ticket, and go to Bermuda by myself. But that sounds….really depressing.” 
He was right - no matter how sunny the beach might be, traveling alone, would probably suck. 
“Well,” you offered, “what if I went with you?” 
“Are you serious?” Mikey asked, eyes widening. 
“Yeah,” you nodded. “I mean, Bermuda sounds really nice, this time of year. We could just have fun, hanging out as friends. Hopefully, it will take your mind off her.”  
“That actually sounds really nice,” Mikey agreed. “Will your boss let you take off, though, on such short notice?” 
“Yeah, I have a bunch of unused vacation days, so it should be fine,” you assured him. “I’ll start packing tonight.” 
“Thank you, Y/N,” Mikey smiled softly. “I was really bummed out when I got here. But, the idea of taking a trip with my best pal, makes me feel a bit better.” 
“No, thank you!” you chuckled. “I’m really looking forward to it!” 
You only hoped, that the vacation, would be able to help him get over his heartbreak. 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
He picked you up the next day, and quietly helped you load your luggage, into the trunk of his car. You could tell, by the absence of his usual chatter, that he was still feeling down. 
“What time does the Sirena leave port?” you asked, trying to distract him, from his thoughts of her. 
“Three o’clock,” Mikey replied listlessly, getting in, and buckling his seat belt. “But, they start boarding people, at one.” 
“Ok, it’s noon now,” you calculated, checking your watch, as you climbed into the passenger seat. “It only takes about half an hour, to get from here, to the Port of New York. But, there might be some traffic, when we go through the Turnpike. So, it’s probably smart, to go ahead and leave now.” 
“....Yeah,” Mikey said. His eyes, seemed a thousand miles away. 
“Mikey,” you said seriously, putting a hand on his shoulder, “listen...are you sure you want to do this?” 
“What do you mean?” Mikey asked, looking over at you. 
“I know I invited myself along,” you frowned, “but, if you’re really not feeling up to this, and you want to just stay home, I get it. It’s not too late to call the whole trip off.” 
“No, I don’t want to do that,” Mikey insisted. “If I go home now, I’ll just sit around my house, and cry about her. Besides, it’d be a waste of nine hundred dollars.” 
“That’s how much you spent on her?” you gaped. “And she just ditched you, like yesterday’s trash…”
“Her loss,” Mikey said defiantly. “Screw her….let’s go have a good time.” 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
You arrived at the port, with time to spare, and completed the check-in process, without any issues. Now, you were officially on the ship. 
You looked down at the card in your hand, that the cruise liner staff had given you. 
“That’s your room key,” Mikey explained, “and also, like, a credit card, that you can use to pay for food and drinks.” 
“Oh, okay,” you nodded. You had never been on a cruise before, so this was all new to you. 
“We’re gonna be on the lower decks,” Mikey added, directing you towards the elevator. You followed him quickly. 
The elevator took you one floor down, and Mikey led you to a door, at the end of the hall. 
“This should be it,” he decided, using his card, to unlock the door. 
You entered the room, apprehensively. It wasn’t much different, you found, from a hotel room on land. But, you noticed one glaring problem, immediately. 
“Mikey,” you pointed out, reddening, “there’s only one bed.” 
“....Oh,” Mikey blushed. “Fuck, Y/N, I didn’t even think about it.” 
He originally booked this room, for him, and his girlfriend, you realized. So, of course he planned on them sleeping in the same bed. 
Bringing you instead, had been a last minute decision. So, even if it had occurred to him, he probably wouldn’t have been able, to swap the one-bed cabin, for a two-bed one.
He’s already having a really rough time, you considered, so I’m not going to pitch a fit about it. 
“There’s no couch, or anything,” Mikey noticed, looking around the room. 
“It’s fine,” you decided. “You paid for this whole trip, so, you take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.” 
“What?” Mikey protested. “No way - my grandma raised me to be a gentleman. If I told her I made a girl sleep on the floor for four days, she’d never forgive me! You can have the bed.” 
“I don’t want to make you sleep on a cold, hard floor for four days, either,” you argued. 
“Well, what other choice do we have?” Mikey shrugged. 
“Look,” you sighed, “how about we just decide this later? I’m hungry. I think we should go have lunch.”
“Alright, fine,” Mikey acquiesced. “I heard that the ship restaurant is actually pretty good. Let’s go.”
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
As soon as the hostess seated you at your table, Mikey started looking over the drinks menu. 
“It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?” you frowned. 
“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” Mikey shrugged. “We’re going somewhere tropical, so why not order one of those fruity little tiki drinks, with the paper umbrella and stuff?” 
“Yeah, why not, I guess,” you agreed. You had a feeling, that he was still depressed about his ex. But, who were you, to tell him he wasn’t allowed to drown his sorrows? 
“What can I get for you guys?” asked a smiling server. 
“Two Bahama Mamas, please,” Mikey said quickly. 
“....And we’ll try the coconut shrimp, too,” you added. You didn’t want him drinking on an empty stomach. 
“No problem,” the waitress smiled. “Coming right up! By the way, Karaoke Hour starts at four o’clock!” 
“Good to know,” Mikey said absently. 
After the woman walked away, you turned to him. 
“Would you want to try the karaoke thing?” you asked. “It sounds like it could be kind of fun.” 
“I don’t know,” Mikey hesitated. “I’ve been playing music every day, for the last few months in a row.” 
“Yeah, you’ve been playing bass,” you reminded him. “Not singing.” 
“Bass is what I’m, like, actually good at,” Mikey said nervously. “All the singing talent in the family went to Gerard.” 
“Nobody’s expecting you to be perfect at it,” you pointed out. “It’s just for fun. But, if it would make you feel better, I could do it with you.”
“Like, a duet?” Mikey asked, seemingly comforted by the idea. 
“Yeah!”, you grinned. “I think it would be fun!”
“I need a couple more drinks in me, before I get up on that stage, even if you’re gonna go with me,” Mikey insisted, reddening. 
“Alright,” you laughed. “Let’s make this night interesting.” 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
After the Bahama Mama, Mikey downed a pina colada, and a Blue Hawaiian. He became more chatty, and less sad-looking, as the empty cups piled up beside him. 
“Alright, what song do you wanna do, Y/N?” Mikey grinned, flipping through the karaoke booklet, that the waitress had given to him. “We need somethin’, with a guy part, and a girl part…” 
“What about ‘Interlude’?”, you suggested. 
“You mean, the song that Morissey did with Siouxsie Sioux, back in ‘94?” Mikey guessed. 
“Yeah! That one!”
You knew that Morissey was one of Mikey’s all-time favorite musicians, so, you were hoping, that singing one of his songs, would cheer him up. 
“Yeah, let’s do it!” Mikey agreed. He swayed slightly, as he stood up, to walk over, to the karaoke stage. You took his hand, to keep him from stumbling. 
“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” you asked, biting your lip. 
“I’m awesome,” Mikey slurred, swinging his hand in yours. “C’mon….please sing with me, Y/N?” 
You found that you couldn’t resist, his puppy dog eyes. 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
You stood on the stage, clutching your mic nervously. There were a few curious people, milling about, watching you. It wasn’t a huge crowd - then again, the trip had just started. 
“You ready?” you asked, looking over at Mikey. 
“Born ready,” he said, with liquid confidence. “Let’s go.” 
The staff member, who was running the event, queued up the music for you. You began to sing Siouxsie’s part: 
Time is like a dream
And now for a time you are mine
Let's hold fast to the dream
That tastes and sparkles like wine
Mikey stepped closer to you, as his voice joined yours, singing Morisssey’s verse:
Who knows if it's real
Or just something we're both dreaming of
What seems like an interlude now
Could be the beginning of love….
Something about the way he looked at you, when he sang the last line, made your heart race. You wondered what the hell you were thinking. He had, after all, just gotten out of a two year relationship yesterday. 
You told yourself to focus on the song. Your voice harmonized with Mikey’s, as the chorus kicked in:
Loving you is a world that's strange
So much more than my heart can hold
Loving you makes the whole world change
Loving you I could not grow old
You chanced a look at Mikey again. You realized, with a start, that something in his expression, seemed off. Was he….crying? 
“N-no,” Mikey stammered, choking up, as he sang the next line, “Nobody knows, when love will end….” 
He stopped suddenly. The background instrumentals went on without him, as he failed to sing the next lyric. 
“....Shit,” Mikey swore loudly. The onlookers all stared at up at him, confused. “Shit, I’m sorry….I can’t do this….”
He dropped the mic, and suddenly ran off the stage. 
“Whoa, Mikey!” you gasped. “Where are you going?!”
You motioned for the staff member, to kill the audio track.
“....Uh, sorry, everybody,” you said awkwardly, into the microphone. “I think this performance is over….”
Without further adieu, you took off running, after your friend. 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
You found him in the cabin, sitting on the bed, sobbing. 
“Mikey, what happened back there?” you demanded. 
“I didn’t know that my love was gonna end, so suddenly,” Mikey said, sniffling. 
“Oh,” you realized, feeling guilty. “The song just made you start thinking about her again, didn’t it?” 
“I...I don’t wanna think about her,” Mikey slurred. “But, I can’t stop, Y/N. It hurts.” 
“Hey,” you said gently, sitting down on the bed beside him. “It’s gonna be okay.” 
“No, it’s not,” Mikey sobbed. He dove into your arms, and pressed his face, into your shoulder. His frames poked against your collarbone. 
“Sssh,” you soothed him, stroking his hair. “Mikey, c’mon, you’re gonna bend your glasses up.”
He picked his head up, for a moment. You gently pulled the glasses off his face, and set them on the bedside table. 
“Now, you can put your head back down, if you want,” you told him softly. 
“O-Okay,” he stammered, and lay his head against you again. With the barrier of the glasses removed, you could feel his tears, wet against your collar. 
“....Why doesn’t she love me anymore, Y/N?” Mikey asked, his voice muffled, by your shirt. 
“I don’t know,” you confessed, stroking the back of his head again. “I think you’re a really lovable person.” 
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Mikey wept. 
“I’m not,” you insisted. 
“How am I lovable to you?!” Mikey demanded, picking his head up. “I made you babysit me all night….I got drunk, and emotional, and I ruined your karaoke song. Everybody was staring at us, when I just took off like that. I know they were…” 
“I don’t care what they think,” you shook your head. “I care much more about you, Mikey. I just want you to be okay. I thought taking this cruise would make you feel better. But, it doesn’t seem, to be helping you at all.” 
“Nothing’s gonna help me,” Mikey said dejectedly, flopping backwards onto the pillows. “I’m hopeless, now. Nobody is ever gonna love me, ever again.” 
“That’s not true!”, you told him. “I know you loved your ex, but she’s not the only girl in the world!” 
“There’s no girl on Earth,” Mikey said, staring up at the ceiling miserably, “who would want to date a guy, who is on the road, all the time. How do you love somebody, that you never even see?” 
“I love you, Mikey,” you said emotionally. ”I’ll take whatever time I can get with you. Even if it’s short, it’s special to me.” 
“You love me, as a friend,” Mikey spat. “That’s not the same.”
“No,” you shook your head. “Mikey...I’m being serious. I love you, in the same way, that you loved her. I have, for a long time.” 
“....What?” Mikey gasped, picking his head up, and staring at you in open shock. “Y/N, what are you saying?!”
“You were with her,” you confessed, surprised to find yourself, speaking these feelings aloud. “You were taken, so I kept my feelings quiet. But….the truth is, I always wanted you for myself. I don’t care, that you tour a lot. Four days with you, is better to me, than four months, with anyone else!” 
“You...really mean that?” Mikey asked, eyes wide.  
“....From the bottom of my heart,” you vowed. 
Suddenly, Mikey grabbed your hand, pulling you forward, on top of him. 
“Wh-What are you doing?” you breathed. 
He cupped your cheek with his hand. 
“Kiss me,” he breathed. 
“I shouldn’t,” you hesitated. “You’re drunk, and you’re emotionally vulnerable, and…”
“And I want you,” Mikey insisted. “Y/N, I should have chosen you from the beginning. I’m sorry, that I never realized how you felt about me. You’re more loyal to me, than she ever was.” 
He raised his lips, to meet yours. He tasted like rum and coconut, and maybe it was wrong, but you kissed him back, savoring his sweetness. 
He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you tighter against him, and kissed you again, with greater ferocity. Your hands roamed each other as the kiss deepened. How far was this going to go?
“....There’s nowhere else, for you to sleep tonight,” Mikey panted, “so, please, please, Y/N, stay with me all night.” 
You pressed him down harder, into the bed, that you no longer had any problem sharing. 
“There’s nowhere else, that I’d rather be.” 
51 notes · View notes
kenzieam · 3 years
Text
Want to Waste - Chapter One
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Rating: M
Warnings: Drama, angst, language, smut and bad language
Word Count: 1768
Tags: @jewels2876​​  @moonbeambucky​​  @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123​​  @iammarylastar​​ @captstefanbrandt​​  @badassbaker​​  @pinknerdpanda​​  @oliviastan17​​ @mizzzpink​​​
***************************************************************
Lev and Bucky don’t get along but always seemed to get tossed together when their respective fiance’s, Steve and Nat, have to work on another project together. The last straw comes when Steve and Nat have to bail on a long anticipated vacation and Lev and Bucky decide to go anyway. What could possibly happen between two wounded people in paradise?
***************************************************************
“Oh, its only you.” Lev remarked, dropping into the booth.
“Yup,” Bucky drawled, leaning back insolently and resting his arm across the back.
“Nat late again?”
“You know it. Steve too?”
“You see him stuck to my ass?”
“Touché, Red.”
“Sorry.”
“Have a drink, maybe you’ll actually loosen up and sound sorry.”
Lev stuck her tongue out at him, rolling her eyes and he curled his lips in a wolf smile back.
The server appeared, having already brought Bucky his first drink a couple minutes ago.
“And for the lady?”
Lev considered something snarky, the guy was eying them like they were together or something equally outlandish. “Sea Breeze.”
“Ooh, doesn’t that, like, have sugar in it?” Bucky quipped, affecting a surprisingly accurate ‘Cali from the Valley’ accent as the server left.
“Thought I needed that.”
“Take more than sugar to sweeten your salty ass up.”
“Fuck off.”
“You fuck off.”
“Aaannnndddd I see they’re getting along just perfectly without us!” Nat announced, dropping in beside Bucky with a smirk.
Bucky forgot his glower across the table for a minute and leaned over, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend’s cheek. “Work?”
Nat gave him a side-eye. “Of course, baby.”
“Sorry, sorry!” Steve sing-songed, bouncing Lev slightly when he fell beside her. He pressed a loud kiss to Lev’s cheek while Bucky made a face at her, which she returned with a curled lip. “Patterson keeps dropping these new projects on us.”
Lev swallowed her irritation and forced a smile. “That’s alright, we only had to share the same table for a few minutes.”
“Yeah, Lev didn’t even have time to really unsheathe her claws.” Bucky added helpfully.
Nat and Steve traded a look before dropping it, this argument had gone so far past old it was almost new again.
“So? What did the old man unload this time?” Bucky asked, pulling his attention away from Lev and looking again at his girlfriend.
Nat shared a look with Steve. “Another realignment of assets.”
Bucky growled, sounding displeased. “Like what… that one a few months back? You didn’t get home any time before ten for like two weeks!”
Lev felt her heart sinking, the same displeasure Bucky was showing heating her skin. That was the trouble with dating someone high up in their profession, one Steve Rogers, compounded by the fact that they worked with your best friend, Nat Romanoff, and so you were always getting left with their asshat boytoy, James Barnes, Nat’s long-time plaything, whenever they got held up at their office.
“It won’t be like that.” Nat replied, flicking a glance at Steve, who replied by dropping his head to Lev’s and nuzzling into her hair, trying to tease out a smile.
Lev bit back a reluctant giggle, still feeling irritated. Bucky was right, Steve had been AWOL too, and always tired when he finally did come home. “Can’t you pass it on to someone else?”
“Not if you want that fancy wedding.” Steve murmured, his voice tender, lips tickling her ear, making her shiver.
Lev leaned back, pushing at Steve’s chest. “That’s not me, I told you I wanted small, you keep adding people to the list.”
“You too?” Bucky chuckled, glancing across the table before looking fondly at Nat. “Every time I think we have the guest list settled; this little minx thinks of five more people to add.”
Nat flicked him a mild glower before rolling her eyes at Steve.
“What are you all having?” Steve changed the subject, lifting the menu to peruse it.
*************************************************************************
Three Weeks Later
Lev raised a brow as Bucky approached, looking past him with an increasingly disbelieving scowl. “No, not this time.”
Bucky shrugged as he reached her side, drawing his compact aluminum wheeled suitcase to a stop beside him. “She said she’d meet us here directly from the office.” The overhead announcements continued above them, announcing incoming and outgoing flights in a brisk monotone.
“That’s what Steve said! Dammit, they better not be late, this is the first vacation we’ve had in forever.”
Bucky lifted his shoulder again. “They cancelled on us last time.” He reminded her.
“Yeah, with two days notice, not when we were standing right in the damn terminal!”
“Easy, Red.”
“Stop calling me that!”
Bucky smirked, looking past her and gesturing with his chin. “Go have a drink, calm down.”
Lev fixed him with a glare. “You talk like that’s all I do, throw fits and drink.”
For the briefest second, something besides a smirk hovered on his face. “Sorry, I just like teasing you. You’re cute when you get pissed, like a wet kitten.” At Lev’s surprised look he hurried on. “I mean, I have to entertain myself somehow, sometimes it seems like I spend more time with you waiting for my fiancé than I do with her.”
Lev looked away, too weary to continue the spat. It was true, it seemed like lately she and Bucky were always getting dumped together when their significant others had to bail, but that didn’t mean Lev was going to just accept it happening again.
“Not this time.” Lev growled, wondering vaguely if the sheer power of her thought vibes would be enough to hurry Steve along and get his ass here in time.
Glancing at her, Bucky strode past, his case trundling behind to sit near a large wall of windows, various jets visible on the tarmac beyond and, sighing, Lev turned to follow.
******************************************************************                               Lev glanced at her phone screen, knee bouncing agitatedly. She stopped in surprise when Bucky’s hand appeared and rested briefly on her leg, pulling away before she could slap it.
He glanced mildly at her and Lev swallowed her angry retort. It wasn’t Bucky she was pissed at anyway.
“Want a bottle of water or something?” He asked casually.
In answer, Lev’s cell began to ring, and Lev focused on it, holding her breath; then, as Bucky’s began to chime as well, she fought not to moan.
With a quick glance at each other, both answered their respective phones, a mix of frustration, anger, resignation and sadness growing on both their faces for anyone watching to plainly see.
“Whatever, Steve.” Lev mumbled, hitting the end button. She glanced over at Bucky, staring down at his phone, having already hung up with a similar goodbye.
“Nat?”
“Who else?”
“Gotta work?”
“Yep.”
“Dammit.” Lev snarled, taking several long, deep breaths to calm back down.
“Well,” Bucky declared, struggling to sound airy, “this was fun, see you around, Lev.” He stood, straightening his shirt and glancing back towards the terminal.
“Wait, you’re just leaving?” Lev asked, a kernel of an idea forming in her mind.
“Yeah,” Bucky answered, frowning down at her. “Nat’s not coming, the vacation’s off.” He spoke slowly, as if Lev was somehow mentally deficient. Anger tightened his jaw, he wasn’t letting on to the same degree as she was, but Bucky was just as disappointed and pissed off as Lev.
“No.” Lev replied, mind racing. “No.” She looked up into Bucky’s wary eyes. “I paid for a vacation, I took the time off work, I’m going on my goddamn vacation.”
Bucky’s frown deepened. “But Steve’s not coming.”
“So? I hardly see him anymore, anyway, how is this any different?” Lev began to speak faster, warming to the idea. “I’m going.” She announced simply, standing, Bucky’s startled gaze lifting to follow. “Steve can waste his ticket, but I’m not. I’ve been looking forward to laying on that beach for months.” She started to march towards the gate then turned to eye Bucky. “What about you?”
Bucky shook his head, confused. “What, go on this vacation with you instead?”
Lev shrugged airily, feeling strangely free. “No, not with me. It’s a big beach, we have separate hotel rooms; we don’t even have to see each other after we land, but are you going to let Nat wreck another trip for you?”
A shadow passed over his face and he looked out through the windows, watching the planes for few beats. “No.” He replied, almost curtly. “No, I’m not. Let’s fucking go.” His face was all hard determination when he looked back at Lev. “You’re right, not again.”
Lev faltered, suddenly rethinking her previous conviction. What was she saying? Go to a tropical resort with someone not Steve? As quickly as the hesitation hit, it melted away. She wasn’t going with Bucky, she was simply flying in the same plane, staying in the same hotel, beyond that they would be entirely separate. “Not again.” She replied firmly.
A surprisingly attractive grin flashed across his face, stunning Lev for a moment then he grabbed his phone, a trace of annoyance bleeding back into his eyes. “Gonna tell Nat.”
Lev grabbed her own phone, tapping Steve’s icon. “Yep.”
******************************************************************************              Lev relaxed back into her seat, grateful that she’d paid the extra for the upgrade. In the row in front of her, Bucky rummaged for something in his carry-on.
“What?” Steve asked, sounding supremely confused. “You’re going?”
“Yeah,” Lev grinned at the flippant tone in her voice. “It’s non-refundable, maybe you’re fine losing your money, but I’m not.”
There was a beat of silence on the other end and Lev could imagine the thoughts running through Steve’s head, all being rapidly dismissed for sounding too selfish or privileged. Finally, he replied. “Well, if you’re sure.”
“I am. I have Bucky for company anyway.” Lev blinked, where had that come from?
Steve huffed faintly.
“C’mon, Steve. You leave him with me all the time. Besides, we’re not going to do anything.”
“No, I know.” There was something in his voice, the beginnings of guilt. “Lev, I’m sorry.” He sounded genuinely remorseful. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
She’d heard that before. “I’ll call you when we land, okay?”
“Okay, and Lev? I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Bucky’s head appeared over the seat. “Do you have any gum?”
Lev smirked, pulling out a pack and tossing it his way.
Later she drowsed, lulled by the sound of the engines, the comfortable seat, the warmth of the sun through her window. She didn’t regret leaving, not yet anyway but she did genuinely miss Steve beside her.
A body thudded into the aisle seat, Steve’s seat, startling her. Bucky grinned merrily back at her bleary glower.
“C’mon, Red. Don’t be like that. It’s weird sitting by yourself, besides, my screen’s not working.” He reached up, flicking on the viewing screen in the headrest of the seat he was just moments ago sitting in.
Lev grumbled and rolled partially away, her eyelids growing heavy again.
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pigtownchronicles · 3 years
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Chapter 2.8 - The Friday Night Party
Thursday evening, after work, Barry was on the corner where Hugh had told him to wait. Depot was down the street, and he watched the nearly unmarked door keep a steady traffic going in, even this early. Barry was surprised that a club would ever be that busy on a weeknight, but he found himself thinking about the dance floor again, thinking about how he’d almost gotten lost there, but lost the feeling instead. That sense of doubt almost made him abandon his plan, but he held on. Hugh showed up a few minutes late, and they walked down to a bench outside a rather unkempt park, and chatted.
“Alright, so here’s what you asked for,” Hugh said, and passed him a little baggie with two pills in it. “Have you used those before?”
“No!” Barry said, a bit defensive. 
“I’m not in the shame business, calm down. Look, it’ll take a bit for them to kick in, and when they do, he’s going to be, well, useless. You have a plan on how to get him to the lab?”
“I was gonna get him to my car and drive him.”
“And when people notice?”
“I mean, it’s not perfect, but it’ll do, right?”
Hugh dug around in his pocket with a little smirk. “Alright, I had a chat with Ian, and he agreed to let me slip you a little something extra. If you play your cards right, you might not even need the roofies. Here.”
Barry looked at the vial Hugh pressed into his hand, and it was similar to the shimmering dust he’d sampled back at the house, which had given him those...visions of being a little club twink. “I don’t think he’ll be doing coke at the party, if you want me to try and give him this shit.”
“It’s not for him, it’s for you. It’s not that club drug you sampled before. Ian has all kinds of homebrew back in the lab. Most of it is just, well, waste product, I guess you could say. Little bits and pieces from his work that get pulled out with everything else. The buyer might not want them, or they might not fit in afterward, so he’s left with the stuff. Ephemera is what he calls it. Some of it works...like a vision. That was what the dust at the house did for you. Other stuff he makes gives you little boosts, or temporary shifts. I keep telling him to market the shit, call it Prestige or something, but he says he can’t guarantee supply, so whatever. His loss, your gain.”
“So what’s it do then?”
“It...makes you important. People want to listen to you more, they’re more willing to do what you say. You can’t make someone jump off a building, but I don’t think you’ll have a hard time convincing your friend to take a ride with you if you’re on it.”
“How long will it last?”
“That should get you through the whole evening, no problem.”
He paid Hugh for the drugs, and was assured that if he didn’t end up needing the roofies, he could return them for a refund later. All day Friday, it was impossible to focus. He couldn’t believe he was really considering this, that any of this was really possible. He’d considered taking a little bit of what Hugh had called prestige that morning, just so he could get a grip on it, and figure out if it would be helpful, but chickened out. Part of him sensed he was going to chicken out tonight too, that he wouldn’t make an opening, that he would, once again, sabotage himself like always.
Anticipating the party, most everyone at the office was taking an easy day, getting a little work done, but mostly chatting and planning out their weekends. Richard seemed to mingle with all of them so easily, and knew more about some of them than Hugh had ever bothered to learn, and he’d only been with the team for a week. It was effortless for him. But then, Hugh had always felt like he needed to guard himself, hide part of him away out of shame. He couldn’t really talk about his family, or what he got up to on weekends, because no straight person would look at him the same way afterward. No wonder they’d picked Richard over him. They all probably thought he was an asshole who didn’t want anything to do with them, when really, he was the one terrified of them all.
He almost bailed at that point, and skipped the party entirely. What drove him to push on was fear. It wasn’t really the promotion he wanted. It wasn’t even really the respect. It was the fact that, if he didn’t pursue this, if he didn’t follow through, he knew he’d be right back with Ian, agreeing to cash it all in. He’d spend the rest of his life as some stupid circuit bunny, without a thought in his head other than the pulse of the beat, and maybe he’d be happy. Maybe. But he’d never be satisfied with that. It was time to swallow that fear and seize something for once in his damn life. Maybe it was time for these straight fucks to be afraid of him, instead.
They went to the bar near the office, the same sports bar they always went to for events like this. It was just as despairing as every other straight bar Barry had ever gone to. He did his best to mingle and fit in, but it was clear he’d already been frozen out. Word had gotten around that he’d been turned down for the promotion, and it seemed like everyone was rather pleased about it. He suspected that the dislike from them he’d always thought might be paranoia was more likely real. Again, his resolve shook, he ended up in the bathroom, making a line of prestige on the counter, knowing that this would probably be his only shot.
After all, none of those people would let him just take Richard with him. They’d all probably think he was going to rape him or something. He snorted the line, expecting a sensation similar to the one he’d had at Ian’s office, a vision of...something, but instead, he just felt this warmth suffuse him. It wasn’t a rush, and it wasn’t a high. He just felt centered, and confident. In the mirror, he straightened his jacket, and realized he hadn’t had a jacket on a second ago. He was wearing a rather sharp suit now, and while he recognized his reflection well enough, his face was just a bit sharper. His jaw was a bit more defined, the pimple on his nose had disappeared, his stubble gone, hair filled with highlights. He looked damn good. Like Hugh had said, he looked important.
He stepped back out into the party, and it was like meeting a bunch of strangers, somehow. They all gravitated towards him, wanted to talk to him, wanted to be seen with him. The conversation came easy, and Barry found that the forced congeniality Richard had been treating him to was stripped away, replaced by a genuine curiosity. He ordered a round of pitchers that came on the house, and everyone drank at his urging, especially Richard, who never had an empty glass. Just like Hugh had said, he didn’t even need the roofies. The party ran longer than they usually did, and as he made his way around the room, multiple people confided in him that they thought he should have gotten the promotion, not Richard. He just didn’t have the same charisma. Barry was always gracious, but just that little bit of ego stroking made him eager to move onto the next step.
Richard was nearly falling over, and in no shape to drive. Barry, who hadn’t been drinking at all, offered to drive him home, and everyone thought that was a great idea, he was so kind and generous, a terrific human. He just smiled, nodded, and helped Richard out of the bar and into his car, and they drove off.
“Don’t you need my address?” Richard asked.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you there just fine.”
“You know, I...didn’t really like you at first, Barry. I kind of thought you were a stuck up asshole. But you’re a real good guy, you know that?”
“Thanks Richard, that’s nice of you to say,” he said.
“Are we heading into town? I live out by Butte Creek.”
“This is a shortcut, you can trust me.”
“Alright.”
A few minutes later, Barry pulled into the little driveway in front of the house where Ian ran his business, and drove around into the back yard. Ian and Hugh were waiting for him there, and helped Richard out of the car, and down into the basement. “I don’t...where are you taking me?” he mumbled, but couldn’t put up much of a resistance.
“Don’t worry Richard, the real party is about to get started,” Barry said, and followed them down into the lab.
***
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rachelkaser · 3 years
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Stay Golden Sunday: Vacation
Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose go on a Caribbean vacation and everything goes wrong. Back at home, Sophia flirts with the gardener.
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Picture It...
Dorothy is gathering suitcases in the living room, fussing over Sophia. Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche are going to the Caribbean for vacation, meaning Sophia will be home alone. Sophia protests she’ll be fine. Rose fusses about traveling abroad, which drives Dorothy insane. Blanche has packed a ton of luggage. After leave for the airport, Sophia greets the Japanese gardener, Mr. Mitsumo, and tries to flirt with him. He doesn’t understand very much English, but he flirts back with her.
The Girls get to the hotel, and find their supposedly luxurious hotel room is a grungy shoebox. Not only are the telephone and the air conditioner not working, but their “ocean view” is a brick wall seen through a window the size of a porthole. They ask the very hostile porter to send the manager up. The Girls complain some more. The very slimy manager enters and claims their room does have an ocean view if you lean extremely far out of the window. When the Girls protest, it turns out Rose pre-paid for the room and they can’t get a refund, meaning they have no choice but to stay.
DOROTHY: You call that an ocean view? You have to be a contortionist to see! MANAGER: Hey, it doesn’t say “great ocean view.”
Back at home, Sophia is having dinner with Mr. Mitsumo, who asks that she call him Toshiro. He plays Japanese music and has made sushi for Sophia, also showing her how to eat with chopsticks. Sophia’s a little grossed out at eating raw fish, and puts most of it in her purse when Toshiro’s not looking. She still compliments his cooking and tells him she thinks he’s cute. He says she’s cuter, and I just can’t with these two.
Back in the hotel, the Girls get set up in the bathroom and Rose talks about how she’s planned out their day as mosquitos bite them up. When Rose tries to enter the bathroom again, the door is locked. They discover that there are three men in the bathroom, as it’s shared with another room. Dwayne, Rick, and Winston are all obnoxious 30-somethings who try to be rude to the Girls, but Blanche isn’t having it. She tells them off, saying to go into the jungle to relieve themselves.
ROSE: You... you... you rude person! DOROTHY: Go easy on him, Rose.
The Girls are sitting in the hotel lobby, having just eaten an awful dinner, when the boys rom the other room enter. They apologize for being rude earlier, and offer to buy the Girls drinks. When they ask how their vacation is going, the Girls admit they’re having a terrible time. Winston says he’s rented a sailboat and offers to bring the Girls along on an evening cruise, which they agree to enthusiastically. Dorothy goes to call Sophia before heading out.
Sophia and Toshiro are now eating Italian food, which he’s enjoying. She tells him that she’s attracted to him, which he understands, but there are still some communication issues. These two are honestly adorable. Sophia goes in for a kiss but is interrupted by the phone call from Dorothy. She’s not pleased, and gets the phone call over with as quickly as possible. This time, it’s Toshiro who initiates the kiss.
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Sometime later, Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose are on a beach with the three young men. They sailed into a storm and are now shipwrecked. Naturally the Girls are not pleased with the boys and Blanche and Dorothy start a huge argument. It’s Rose, of all people, who stands up and takes charge, citing her survival knowledge as a Scout. She starts barking orders, telling the other Girls to make a campfire, and Dwayne, Rick, and Winston to follow a path that might lead to a waterfall. Everyone leaps into action, with Blanche and Dorothy being a little scared at how commanding Rose is being.
Hours later, the Girls are grouped around the campfire and the men haven’t returned. Rose, now considerably less confident, thinks they might die and confesses that her confidence earlier was mostly bravado, and she can’t actually help them survive. Under the pressure, the Girls start confessing secrets to each other, including Rose once read Blanche’s diary, Rose once had her nose done and she and Dorothy hid it from Blanche, and Blanche and Dorothy both slept with Rose’s cousin Nolan. Finally they all shout each other into silence.
BLANCHE: You don’t think anything happened to them? DOROTHY: No, I think they probably just stopped to rest. BLANCHE: Yeah, or maybe they’re looking for something to carry the water back in. ROSE: Maybe they were clawed to death by bloodthirsty animals.
After a few moments they start apologizing to each other and say that, if they’re going to die, at least they’re together. Rose bursts into song -- specifically “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing” -- and suddenly the boys emerge from the trees with tropical drinks. They discovered that they never left the resort island and were in fact wrecked next to the actual resort. The Girls agree to keep their confessions to themselves, and they all go off to the Hyatt Regency together singing “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.”
“If I put cracked ice and an umbrella on your head, you’d be a Mai Tai.”
This is a really hard episode to judge, because it’s got very funny parts even if I find the scenario kind of silly. Several of the individual scenes make me laugh, but the episode doesn’t hang together terribly well, and it kind of sucks that the B-plot, as cute as it is, doesn’t last for very long. I would have enjoyed seeing the Girls come home after their ordeal and finding out exactly what Sophia had been up to while they were gone.
ROSE: *on her millionth question* Did you call a cab to take us to the airport? DOROTHY: No Rose, I called two cabs. One for Blanche and me, and one for you, cause you’re making me crazy with all your questions! ... ROSE: Now whose cab is this? Is this yours or mine? DOROTHY: Rose, there’s only one cab. ROSE: Well how am I gonna get to the airport? DOROTHY: Run behind it!
This is one of those “away” episodes where we spend the majority of the episode somewhere other than the Girls’ house. The Girls are off to what they think is a luxurious Caribbean resort, only to find everything not exactly as advertised. Oh the days before online reviews, when you just had to trust that everything was as it looked in the brochure. That’s not to say this couldn’t happen today, but it does make this episode feel like a product of its time.
So much of this episode is memorable, even if in a weird way: The argument over the girls’ “ocean view,” the porter stomping on the bed, Rose snapping and taking charge after the shipwreck. Even if the whole episode doesn’t make a lot of sense, those scenes stick in the mind. And the final scene plays out like one of those single-scene arthouse plays, and it’s always great to see Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy just sit down and talk, as it capitalizes on the actresses’ tremendous chemistry with each other.
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I guess if I have one problem with this episode, it’s that the writers felt like they were trying to cram too many different ideas into one episode, any of which would have made a perfectly satisfactory A-plot on their own: The Girls go on a vacation that turns out badly; they end up having to share a bathroom with three men; they get shipwrecked on an island. The young men are a good example of this. For starters, how did the Girls not notice another door leading out of their bathroom when they arrived? They’re in very little of the episode comparatively speaking, and are a plot convenience to get the Girls shipwrecked. Also, if the Girls can’t leave their crappy hotel because they already prepaid, how do they expect to afford a room at the Hyatt Regency?
It’s almost a pity Sophia couldn’t accompany them, because I can’t picture her putting up with even half of the hotel’s foolishness like the rest of the Girls do. This is yet another one of those episodes where Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy go away for some reason and leave Sophia out of things. They do invite her along, but she actually turns them down this time. Turns out there is one reason why Sophia won’t complain about being the “Tonto of the group:” She’s trying to get herself a date.
DOROTHY: Ma, I hate leaving you like this, I really do. Why don’t you come with us? BLANCHE: Yeah, come on, Sophia! It’ll be fun! ROSE: *taking out the brochure* Oh, and the resort is absolutely gorgeous. Look here, here’s our room. Isn’t that beautiful? You can have the king-sized bed. SOPHIA: There’s already two people in it.
I almost wish that B-plot took up a little bit more of the episode. One, because I hate it when Sophia is in less than half of the episode and disappears before the final third. Two, because this is the first time Sophia’s had a romance plot in the series, and it deserves more screentime. I always enjoy how this show makes it so clear that women can have love lives no matter what age they are, and while we’ve been aware that Sophia dates around from her saying as much, this is the first time we’ve seen it happen onscreen.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Toshiro Mitsumo, Sophia’s Japanese gardener love interest, was played by Keye Luke, the actor who played Lee Chan in the Charlie Chan films. Those films may not have aged well in terms of a white actor playing the role of a Chinese detective, but I always enjoyed Luke’s performances as Chan’s “Number One Son.” Here he doesn’t get much to do as Mr. Mitsumo, but he still manages to look very cute flirting with Sophia.
RICK: So, how have you ladies been enjoying your vacation? DOROTHY: As a child, during the Depression, I had to have my wisdom teeth extracted by a shoemaker. That was more fun than this.
I mean, part of me finds it ironic that the episode acts like sushi is exotic and disgusting, to the point where Sophia slips it into her purse rather than eat it. I know that, at the time, most people probably weren’t as familiar with sushi, so it probably didn’t sound appealing to the average Golden Girls viewer, but it’s hilarious considering you can now get sushi very easily in most major American cities (including Miami), and probably a lot of minor ones too.
In the end, while I do love parts of this episode and they gave me a few laughs, it’s a hard one to judge. Still, if nothing else, it gave us some very memorable scenes of our favorite Girls out of their element, and Sophia her first love interest of the series.
Episode rating: 🍰🍰🍰 (three cheesecake slices out of five)
Favorite part of the episode:
The Girls contend with their poor accommodations and Rose has another of her flights of fancy:
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danishmiilk · 3 years
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PART TWO. --- RENJUN
previous // next // masterlist
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summary || a collection of crack stories from y/n and nct working together in taeyong’s pizza shop - ncity pizza. written from povs of different characters.
note || wow!! double update!! who am i!! also this is another mess aha- uh disclaimer i think none of us work in pizza shops with nct so- fiction!! pure fiction!!
genre || crack
pairings || none
warnings || swearing, joking references to a car crash, fake death of someone that never existed, one mention of bleeding
word count || 1.7k
taglist || @teasysan​ @hannie-dul-set​ // send an ask or a dm to be added to the taglist! though i have no idea why you’d want to be.
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Renjun wasn’t paid enough for this. Taeyong, seeing that Renjun was off his (five hour long) break, immediately got up gratefully and passed the post of cashier (Yuta had already disappeared to who-knows-where) and online order/call handling over to him, assuming that he’d come to take things off Taeyong’s shoulders.
“No, hyung-!” Taeyong had already walked away. Renjun cursed himself internally for walking over to the counter to find his pen. It was understandable why everyone else avoided the place like the plague- once you got the post, it was impossible to pass it on to anyone else, and it was the most tiring thing to do in the place.
Face lighting up upon spotting the girl crouched under the counter, Renjun called out to her excitedly. Y/n only looked up at him pityingly, returning to sipping soda out of a cup he was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to have taken for free, “Nope. You’re on your own.”
“What are you here for then?”
“Damage control.” Renjun snorted. Y/n L/n? In damage control, of all posts Doyoung could have given her? She must be kidding. That or Doyoung really was going senile. The girl couldn’t control her temper or convince people that she hadn’t stolen their Pocky biscuits without scowling at them, though she was an excellent actress, so Renjun supposed it could work. After all, according to the older and therefore wiser Mark Lee, the possibility of all those possibilities being possible was just another possibility that could possibly happen.
“Ugh, stop laughing. I hope there aren’t any rude customers wanting to call the police on us for robbing them again, or you’ll have to call the police to report murder.” It was funny, really, that the bad things we say have an odd way of turning into truth.
Renjun sighed, recognising the lady stalking toward the counter as a customer he’d just cashed out a few minutes ago. Looks like this would be a fucking waste of time for everyone involved, seriously.
Putting on his best fake-chirpy voice, he forced a smile, “Hello, how may I help you?”
The lady slammed her pizza box down on the counter so hard that Renjun winced. “I want you to redo my pizza.”
Renjun frowned, “What’s wrong with it?”
The lady stared at him like he’d just suggested that Fancy by Twice was not the greatest bop of all time (it obviously was). “It tastes sour! I want a refund, and I want you to redo my pizza for free!”
Renjun cocked his head, confused, “Okay, so I think that’s against our refund policy-” The lady’s face grew more and more red, before finally throwing down the dreaded phrase, “I want to talk to your manager.” Renjun shrugged, tapping on Y/n’s head with his right hand, glad this matter was out of his hands.
Y/n could have stood up and pretended she was searching for something to keep up the facade of professionalism, but of course. Of course she had to crawl up like she was from the Walking Dead and flip her hair before turning to give her attention to the customer. Renjun winced even harder at her non-standard greeting- what the fuck was “Yeah. Go on.” and where the fuck was “Hello, how may I help you?” He hadn’t expected anything less- god, he’d prefer if the show unfolding before his eyes was more amusing. Though he was a tad more responsible than Y/n, at least pretending he was writing out something while biting the pen to keep his laughter back.
The lady looked enraged, to say the least. “I said I want to talk to your manager!”
Y/n raised her eyebrows, taking on a look of surprise, “I’m the manager.” She was not. Renjun bit even harder on his pen.
“Is this your shop’s rules? Managers sit under counters and sip on soda they didn’t pay for?” Y/n was getting irritated with the customer. Renjun could feel it. Oh, this was going to be one heck of an interesting show.
“I paid for this, thank you. And are you discriminating? I was in a car crash a few days ago and my husband died. My leg was injured, and I can’t even sit down?” Y/n put on a pained expression that somehow looked real. Renjun snorted around his pen. Y/n definitely had not paid for the drink, and he was even more certain that she was neither a widow nor the victim of a car crash. She turned around and gave him a look that very clearly said do not give this game away or I’ll make you supervise Chenle for a week. The threat was clear. Renjun bit his cheek so hard blood flowed and he didn’t laugh anymore.
“Oh,” the lady’s eyes softened for a second, but she stubbornly went on, “But you still have to redo my pizza.”
Y/n’s eyes flared in annoyance, jumping up onto the counter with more ease than someone who had “injured her leg” should have enjoyed. “Look here, lady, it’s against our store policy. And if you send this back, our chef might poison it.”
The lady slammed her hands down on the counter, “I WILL CALL THE POLICE ON YOUR CHEF! AND YOUR STORE! AND YOU!”
Y/n wrinkled her nose, “What’s your name, Karen? Anyway, you asked for fucking lemons and anchovy on this pizza, of course it’d taste fucking awful. Just like your attitude.”
The lady threw a pen at Y/n’s head, then turned and walked away without her (untouched) pizza, making sure to slam the door of the restaurant on her way out. Renjun hummed, “I think that’s assault, man.”
The door behind them slammed open, Chenle walking out to see what had gone on with all the screaming and shouting. Y/n turned around to look at him with a blank look, “What did I do wrong?” Chenle turned and stared at Renjun with concern. “What’s wrong with her?” he whispered loudly in Renjun’s ear. Thank god Y/n was still staring blankly into space, or Chenle wouldn’t live to see the light of day ever again.
Personally, Renjun could think of a number of things Y/n did wrong, and a number of things that were wrong with Y/n, but that was a story to tell the entire shop after they’d closed, so he just shrugged.
A mere few minutes after Y/n had sat down with a new cup of soda, another dissatisfied customer walked in. “I want a refund. I don’t want you to remake my pizza, I just want a refund. It tastes awful.”
Renjun turned to the side with a grin, ready to see another show. Y/n looked up at the boy on the other side of the counter and pushed her tongue into the side of her cheek, shooting Renjun a glance. The boy is cute, Renjun. Renjun shook his head at her. Whatever you want, Y/n. Whatever you want.
Y/n smiled flirtatiously at the boy, knocking her hip against the counter, “Sure. Name and number, please?” If the boy didn’t know she just wanted his number, he must really be quite daft. Renjun turned his head to make eye contact with one of the waiters, Jungwoo, and rolled his eyes affectionately toward Y/n. Jungwoo, all too used to her antics, only shook the cloth he was using to wipe the table in Renjun’s direction.
The boy blinked. “Han Jisung, and XXX-XXXX-XXX.”
Y/n very unsubtly wrote it down on a piece of paper and tucked it into her jeans pocket, then pushed a cup of soda across the counter, “Here’s a soda for you along with your refund.” She pulled the exact amount he’d paid for his pizza out of the cashier. Renjun’s eyes widened - surely she wasn’t actually going to give it to the boy just because she was enamoured?
The boy stretched his hand out expectantly, but Y/n just turned and dumped the entire amount into the tip jar. “Thanks for the tip, man! We really appreciate it.” Right. How could he have expected better? Though Renjun supposed it was better that she did this; he didn’t care who she dated, but he did care about his share of the $10 (which would probably be shared by him and Y/n anyway as self-payment for manning the counter.)
Han Jisung - that’s what he said, right? - sputtered and blinked, not having expected Y/n to do that right after flirting with him. Y/n prodded his arm with a finger, “Well, what are you waiting for? Off you go, and come back again!”
“I certainly won’t be.”
She shrugged, “Oh well, we have enough handsome regulars. Don’t really need you.”
The wind chimes on the door jingled, signalling Doyoung’s return from his lunch break. Eyeing the full tip jar suspiciously, he frowned down at Y/n, “What did you do?” Y/n smiled up innocently, “Oh? Oh, nothing! Whatever did you expect me to have done?” As Doyoung had come to realize, the more innocent she looked, the more guilty she was likely to be.
Catching the message in Y/n’s eyes, Renjun tapped on Doyoung’s shoulder. “See, this is what happened, [...]. But no harm was done, hyung, so don’t worry!” He put his thumb up and gave his best chirpy salesperson smile, only halting his speech when he’d seen that Y/n had finished pilfering the tip jar to get enough money for both of them to share.
Doyoung looked so furious that, and Renjun quotes from a later discussion with Y/n, he could probably have eaten up the entire tip jar if he tried! Although truth be told, Doyoung didn’t look all that scary. It’s not hard to look scary if you’re in a way too oversized white t-shirt and jeans, but Doyoung looked even more like a rabbit than he already did, so Renjun was more amused than scared.
“Y/n! I’M TAKING YOU OFF DAMAGE CONTROL, NOW AND FOREVER. AND YOU, RENJUN, YOU FUCK OFF AS WELL! SEND YUTA AND DONGHYUCK OVER!” Hm. Would Yuta and Donghyuck really be better choices to man the counter? I mean, Renjun was sorta skeptical about that, but whatever Doyoung said, he guessed.
Giggling and laughing, Renjun dragged Y/n into the back room, grabbing half of the tips before anyone else could see them and steal some.
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©danishmiilk, 2020.
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