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soobiniebaby · 4 years

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Angels & Devils Part XIII : Just Stay

Tomorrow x Together Fanfiction

~ p a r t s : main post || prologue || part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5 || part 6 || part 7 || part 8 || part 9 || part 10 || part 11 || part 12 || part 13 || part 14 || part 15 || part 16 || part 17 ~ p a i r i n g : love triangle involving choi soobin and choi yeonjun ~ g e n r e : high school au | some social media au | some fluff & angst | childhood friends | love triangle ~ l a n g u a g e : English ~ w a r n i n g : contains swearing, alcohol, kissing (?) and may contain mature themes (angst, etc.) ~ a / n : This will be my first fanfic (go easy on me pls) and i’m just writing this as I go along, so bear with me juseyo The setting (place/country) of the story is up to the reader’s interpretation ~ s u m m a r y : What should she choose? Han Baby: the new girl with a troubled past MO Academy: her new high school Choi Soobin: student council president, member of the Ecosave club, volunteer at the Humane Treatment of Animals, member of the Honor Society, a vocalist in the Jazzed club, the school’s all around golden boy Choi Yeonjun: leader of the Dance club, star of the Jazzed club, the school’s it boy with a bad rep 5 best friends, 1 new girl, 1 childhood friendship, 1 epic love triangle? What will this school year bring?

Choi Yeonjun didn’t know when to stop, which was one of his greatest strengths, but now he knew that it could very well be his greatest weakness as well.

Once he had set his sights on something, he’d never stop until he achieved it. Take B for example, the moment he knew he wanted her, he didn’t let anything stop him from pursuing her until she finally said yes. For tonight, a goal he had unintentionally set was to keep himself on Kim Jisoo’s good side, as that’s what his father would have wanted. And because of that, ever since she had arrived at the club that night, he felt as if he had no choice but to follow along with whatever she wanted, even if that meant spending the night entertaining his ex girlfriend.

Park Rose was just as captivating and electrifying as he remembered her to be. Her fiery red hair was just as stunning as her jolting personality, which was one of the things that he had loved about her. She was exciting, even now he could never tell what was going through her mind or what unexpected words would spew out her mouth. She always caught him off guard, and the feeling on being kept on his toes just kept him wanting more.

Tonight was no different. He wanted to believe that the only reason he had been stuck by Rose’s side the whole night was because Jisoo had insisted that he hang around their group for the evening, but he knew that a small part of him was still captivated by Rose’s appeal. He knew that he could easily give Jisoo a plausible excuse to break away from her group, but a part of him didn’t want to.

Maybe it was the 5 rounds of shots that Jisoo ordered up for the group, or maybe it was the 3 glasses of Vodka Redbulls that he had consumed, but whatever it was, Rose felt too familiar, her rose scented perfume overpowering his senses as she leaned in close whenever she spoke to him, the way her laugh resounded above the noise of the blaring club music took him back to all the times she would laugh at all his lame jokes, the way she tilted her head back and laid a hand on his shoulder reminded him of how surprisingly gentle her touch was for someone who was so boisterous and loud, and the way she pouted at him when he refused her offer to dance with her echoed all the times she would pout at him in the past knowing that he would eventually give in and she’d get her way.

With the alcohol overpowering his system and Rose taking over his senses, he lets her pull him through the crowd until they were in the throng of sweaty bodies and booming music, and he watches as she whips her long red hair over her shoulder and starts to move around him. As she rests her hands on his shoulders and slowly moves closer towards him, moving her body against his, he’s reminded of the nights they spent with their bodies entwined and how he memorized every dip and curve in her skin like a map, causing his face to heat up at the memories.

As she notices the shift in his facial expression, she smirks, catching him off guard before grabbing his face and pulling down until their lips crashed together.

She kisses him hungrily, her lips moving fervently as her fingertips dug deeper into his skin, yet unlike the hundreds of kisses they shared before, this one tasted like bitter poison on his lips.

He instantly breaks away, pulling her hands off his body, as he looks at her in distaste. “What the fuck did you do that for?” he hisses.

She looks at him innocently, batting her lashes, before she shrugs. “I missed you, Junnie, and I know you missed me too.” She attempts to lay a hand on his shoulder but he shrugs her off, grabbing her hand and shoving it away.

“You haven’t changed at all, Rose.” he spits out. As he wipes his mouth and turns his back on her, his gaze meets a familiar pair of eyes from across the room, and he freezes, taking in the disappointed look on Soobin’s face, realizing that he had probably seen what just happened.

“Shit.” he says to himself, and as Soobin turns away and shakes his head, Yeonjun quickly darts across the room to meet him, trying his best to navigate through the crowd, keeping his eyes focused on his best friend.

“Soobin, wait.” Yeonjun finally says once he’s within earshot. “I need you to listen.” They’ve reached a less crowded and more quiet part of the club, by the bar, and Soobin had taken a seat on one of the barstools, running a frustrated hand through his hair before downing 3 consecutive shots of vodka. Yeonjun had never really seen his friend like this before.

“What, Yeonjun?” Soobin says, his face going sour as the alcohol slides down his throat. “Whatever it is you have to say, I’m listening now. But I have some things to say too, and when I start talking, you better listen carefully.”

Yeonjun takes a deep breath as he takes a seat beside Soobin, downing a shot of alcohol himself before looking him in the eyes. “I’m not sure what exactly you saw, but I’ll explain everything anyway. And I promise that I’ll listen to whatever you have to say too.” he begins slowly. “Kim Jisoo is here, as in Kim Jonghyun’s successor, the owner of the biggest Technology Firm in the country? Anyway, for as long as I can remember, my father has been very particular about staying on Jisoo’s good side for company relation purposes, and that means practically treating her like a VIP whenever I see her.”

He goes on to explain how Jisoo showed up with her friends and how Rose happened to be one of them, and about how the rest of the night had gone, up until the moment Rose pulled him in for a kiss and he cursed her out.

“Are you done now?” Soobin asks when Yeonjun finally stops talking. He had been quiet the whole time, staring at Yeonjun straight on as he absorbed every word that came out of his mouth. When Yeonjun nods, Soobin sighs.

“Yeonjun, I need you to be honest with me here. I’m going to ask you some questions and I want you to really think about it before you give me any answers.” Soobin says, and after Yeonjun nods, he begins.

“First of all, do you still have feelings for Rose?” he asks. Yeonjun’s mouth opens to flat out say ‘no,’ but upon seeing Soobin’s look of disapproval, he pauses and tries to think really hard about it.

He couldn’t deny that he definitely still felt that familiar spark that he used to feel whenever Rose was involved, but he chalked it up to the fact that she just felt familiar and he just felt nostalgic. “To be completely honest, I definitely felt something when I saw her again, but that was just because I was so surprised after not seeing her for what 2 years?” he says.

Soobin raises a brow. “But you definitely felt something? What did you feel?”

Yeonjun lets out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know, it felt…familiar? She felt the same, I felt like a spark but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Soobin’s brows furrow together. “A spark? That doesn’t sound like nothing, Yeonjun.”

“Trust me, whatever it was, it means nothing to me. Because she’s a lying, cheating, manipulative mess of a person and she can go to hell for all I care.” he said, trying to sound as convincing and as chagrined as he could, but after seeing her again, it felt weird to talk about her as if she were trash.

“Whatever you say.” Soobin says, sounding unconvinced. Yeonjun could tell that Soobin was trying to maintain his composure and trying to remain level headed, but the way he rolled his shoulders back was a dead giveaway that he was close to losing it. “And now for my second question.” he says, taking a pause.

Yeonjun raises a brow. “Yeah? What is it?”

“Do you…” Soobin begins, hesitating. “Do you love B?”

Yeonjun stopped breathing for a moment, the mention of his girlfriend knocking the wind out of his lungs, the guilt of realizing that she hadn’t even crossed his mind the whole time he was with Rose filling his gut. “Do I love B?” he repeats.

Soobin nods, and judging by how tight his jaw was clenched, Yeonjun knew that he had to consider his answer very carefully. But how could he ever admit that she hadn’t crossed his mind the entire time he was with his ex?

“What kind of a question is that?” Yeonjun exclaims. “Soobin, we’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks, I don’t know. How would I know?” Yeonjun was panicking, the words tumbling out of his mouth. “How do you even know when you’re in love with someone after just 2 weeks—” he sputters, until Soobin takes him by surprise and slams a fist on the countertop, making Yeonjun jump in his seat.

“God damn it, Yeonjun. What the fuck are you saying?” Soobin says, his voice dangerously calm but the words coming out like venom, making Yeonjun wince. “It’s either you love her or you don’t, and right now, it doesn’t sound like you do.”

“Soobin, come on! I can’t just decide whether I love her or not. But I think I definitely could be in love with her.” Yeonjun says helplessly. “I mean, she’s amazing. She’s beautiful, she’s perfect, she’s… one of the best damn things to ever happen to me.” he finishes. “And maybe I’m not sure if I love her right now, but I know that I would make a complete ass of myself if I let a girl like her go, so I could very well love her anyway.”

Silence envelops them then, the club music and party goers sounding distant, as Soobin stares at Yeonjun calculating his answers, until he finally says “She saw you, you know.”

“Who? Baby? She saw me what?” Yeonjun asks nervously.

“She said she saw the look on your face when Rose walked into the club earlier. I wouldn’t have believed her until I saw you actually talking to Rose.” Soobin sighs. “I don’t know if it’s cause she was wasted, because believe me she reeked of alcohol, but she was a blubbering mess, Yeonjun. She was devastated. If she finds out that you kissed Rose, it would kill her.”

Yeonjun’s face starts to pale. “Shit, she saw that? And she told you? How did she even know about Rose?”

“Yes, she apparently saw that and yes, she told me all about it. That’s not the point, Yeonjun. Now this is the part where you listen to me. Very carefully.” Soobin says, his authoritative I’m-the-student-council-president voice taking over. “B is in a very fragile state right now. She was a big mess, crying her eyes out on the floor of the broom closet, already questioning her self-worth, insecurities eating her alive. She told me that it hurt to see you with your ex.”

“She said all that?” Yeonjun says, the guilt weighing down his heart. “What else did she say?”

“Maybe it should’ve been you, Soobin.”

Soobin shook his head, trying to forget that segment of their conversation and everything that followed. “She didn’t say much else. But you know what I said? I told her that you would be a complete idiot to let something as insignificant as your cheater of an ex to fuck things up. But I guess I was wrong.”

Now that really hurt Yeonjun. He put a hand on his chest. “You know she’s the one who kissed me, right?” he says. “Yes, I talked to her and all that, but—”

“You cheated on her, Yeonjun.” Soobin says quietly, making him freeze.

“What did you say?” Yeonjun asks, his hands shaking now. “Are you calling me a cheater, Choi?” his voice raised. How dare he? “Maybe what I did wasn’t right, but you know what a real cheater does? A real cheater uses you and fucks other people behind your back, all the while making you think that everything is your god damn fault.” Just like Rose did, he thought to himself. “And that’s not me.”

“‘Maybe it wasn’t right?’ Yeonjun, you were with your ex for almost the whole night. You could’ve left any time you wanted to but you didn’t. What’s worse is that you felt something, you felt a spark while you were with her. And maybe the kiss wasn’t your fault, but the fact that you even gave her a chance to let it happen speaks volumes to me.” Soobin answers back, his breaths coming in heavy as he starts to lose his composure.

Soobin shook his head. “Forget it. It’s your relationship that you’re fucking up, not mine. You believe whatever you want, tell B whatever you want, I’m staying out of it. But let me just say one last thing.” he says, standing up from the barstool. “You better not hurt her, Yeonjun.”

And with that, Soobin gives him one last meaningful look before downing another shot and walking away.

•°•

When Han Baby woke up the next morning, she was made aware of 3 things.

First, she was badly hungover.

She tried to open her eyes but the blinding lights glaring into the room were too bright for her dehydrated body to endure. She rolls over in bed and she immediately feels a wave of nausea shoot through her stomach as her whole world spins. She squeezes her eyes with her hands and stretches her arms outwards until they come in contact with something warm and soft and solid. A person.

Second, she was not alone in her bed. Surprised, she instantly turns her head to face whoever was sleeping in her bed, instantly regretting it when she feels the world around her spin once again, but an endeared smile instantly creeps into her face when she sees who the person was. It was Yeonjun, his blue hair standing out against her white sheets, one hand over his face and another resting on his bare chest, the blanket coming up to his stomach, which was lined with a subtle yet noticeable layer of muscles.

Third, Yeonjun was laying shirtless in her bed. And he had abs.

She felt her face heat up upon seeing so much of his bare skin and immediately peeked at the covers to see if she was still clothed, and sighed in relief when she saw that she was still wearing her dress from the night before. Once that was established, she takes a moment to observe her boyfriend, who looked like an angel with his glowing honey-tinted skin, his plump perfectly shaped lips slightly parted as he let out a few quiet snores in his sleep, making her giggle. She tries to recall the events that led up to having him sleep in her bed for the night, but nothing from the night before comes to mind.

What happened last night?

She remembered arriving at the club with Kai and walking in together with the guys, she remembered meeting Ryujin and Yuna inside, she remembered having a few shots with the group before someone suggested they play that Kiss or Tell game, but her mind was unable to conjure up images of anything that came after. Whatever happened, she figured it couldn’t have been anything bad since she woke up next to Yeonjun the night after his birthday party, and she was a bit curious and excited to find out how exactly it happened.

Remembering the date, she excitedly scooches closer to him, resting on her elbows as she leans over him and plants gentle kisses all over his face, from his cheeks to his forehead, to his nose and down to his lips.

Yeonjun lets out a noise, a sleepy grunt, before he runs a hand through his hair and slowly opens his eyes, surprised to see B looking down at him.

“Happy birthday, Choi Yeonjun.” she whispers, a bright smile on her face as their eyes meet. He smiles back at her, slowly and groggily, his eyes still cloudy with sleep.

He lifts a hand up and strokes her hair, savoring her radiant smile before gently pulling her towards him to let their lips meet once again. “And good morning to you, Han Baby.” he says, their lips still touching. When he feels her smile against his lips, he lets out a little laugh before pulling her in even closer, until she was lying down on top of him, the covers between their bodies. She lets her fingers roam, fiddling with the sheets until her hand comes in contact with the warm skin of his chest.

“Good morning to you, too.” she says, biting her lower lip to stop herself from smiling too much. “What are you doing here, birthday boy?”

He opens his mouth to respond, but his mind is unable to formulate an answer. As he tries to look back on the night before, he realizes that the last thing he remembers was welcoming Kim Jisoo and her friends, which happened to include his ex-girlfriend, into the club. He remembered hanging around them at Jisoo’s request and downing shots and drinking vodka, but after that, his mind went black.

His brows pull together as he responds “I’m actually not sure, the night is a bit of a blur to me, and there’s a lot that I don’t really remember.”

B sighs. “Maybe we can help each other fill in the blanks together? I tell you what I remember and you tell me what you remember?” she suggests, her fingers tracing circles over his torso.

“Are you drawing circles around my nipples?” Yeonjun asks, looking down at his chest where her fingers were. She immediately blushes and pulls her hands away, making him laugh. “Okay okay, let’s fill in the blanks together. What do you remember?”

B tells him about what she recalls, up until the game of Kiss or Tell. “After the game, I hardly remember anything. I think I went off with Ryujin and, knowing her, she’s probably the reason why I got blackout drunk.”

Yeonjun nods. “That sounds about right. I remember I was welcoming some people from my father’s guest list and I ended up tagging along with a few of them.”

“Oh? Which ones?” B asks, her fingers drawing random patterns on his skin.

“Kim Jisoo, heiress to the biggest Technology Firm in the nation. My father insists I treat her like a VIP every time I see her, so I practically have to kiss the ground she walks on. She brought a few friends with her, one of which…” Yeonjun hesitates, before taking a quick breath, “just so happened to be my ex.” he finishes.

B’s fingers freeze on his skin, her mouth snapping shut, as she tries to take in this information. She didn’t want to freak out over it, but a part of her had been insecure about Yeonjun’s past relationship ever since she found out about it. Everyone made it sound like such a big deal, her being his first love and all, and B’s curiosity got the best of her and she even ended up looking her up on social media and stalking her twitter account, which she instantly regretted because all it did was make her feel insecure about herself.

“Your ex?” B asks, trying to sound casual and unfazed. “Your first love, right?”

Yeonjun looks at her surprised and nods. “Yeah, how’d you know about that?”

“Ah, Ryujin and Yuna told me a bit about it. Her name was Rose, right?” B asks.

It felt wrong to hear her name come out of B’s lips, but he nods. “Yeah, Rose. She was with Kim Jisoo last night so I ended up seeing her too. I hope you don’t mind that I spent time with my ex last night.” he says. Granted, he didn’t remember much about what he did when he was with Rose last night, but that didn’t matter to him now.

B nods. “Yeah, it’s fine, I shouldn’t even care about it, I mean it’s your relationship.”

“It was my relationship, but not anymore.” Yeonjun looks at her and notices that she was deliberately avoiding her gaze. “Baby.” he says, trying to get her attention. When her eyes shift to the floor, he cups her face in his hand and gently rubs his thumb against her cheek. “Hey, Baby, look at me.”

She finally looks at him then, and it’s clear in her eyes that she definitely didn’t like the idea of him seeing his ex again. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t avoid seeing her last night. I didn’t know she was gonna be there. If it bothers you or makes you uncomfortable in any way at all, I promise I’ll never see her again.” he says, soothingly tracing her jaw now. He uses his free hand to hold hers and press it against his chest, right where his heart is.

“Do you feel this, Baby?” he asks, the gentle rise and fall of his chest accompanied by the inexplicable beating of his heart. “This is all yours, Han Baby. I am all yours. I promise.” he says reassuringly. She gives a small smile but bites her lip, and he can tell that she was resisting. He uses his thumb to dislodge her lower lip from her teeth, gently brushing it.

“Thank you, Yeonjun.” she says, finally giving him a genuine smile. She knew it might’ve seen strange, and she didn’t want to be that insecure or controlling girlfriend, but it was nice to see that he was making the effort to make her happy, and that was enough for her. “Now I have one question for you…”

Yeonjun raises a brow, wondering what it could be.

She grins. “What happened to your shirt?”

Yeonjun bursts out laughing, his chest rumbling below her, sending vibrations through the sheets. “I think we’ll have to figure out the answer to that together, Baby. You wanna have breakfast before my father inevitably summons me for some bullshit birthday dinner with my family?”

B nods, giggling and booping his nose. “Whatever you want, birthday boy.”

•°•

Turns out that Yeonjun ended up shirtless because someone (presumably B) had thrown up on his shirt, as evidenced by his shirt found discarded on her bedroom floor with puke stains all over. Neither of them could recall how they ended up in B’s bed together or anything else from the night before, but they didn’t mind.

They spent most of the day lazing around B’s apartment, grateful that Kai had conveniently recovered from the chicken pox and no longer needed to stay over at her apartment. Once Yeonjun had received a message from his father telling him to be home by 5PM and a text from his driver saying that he was ready to pick him up and waiting outside B’s apartment, it was time for him to go.

“Um, Baby, as much as I know you don’t mind me being in my shirtless state, I’m pretty sure that my parents would be highly concerned if I came home with a puke-stained shirt from the night before or with no shirt at all.” Yeonjun says after collecting his belongings.

“Oh, right. We probably should’ve washed your shirt when we got up this morning.” B says, slapping her forehead. “Wait, let me check my closet to see if I have anything you can borrow.” she says, opening her wardrobe.

Yeonjun chuckles. “Baby, you are aware of how adorably tiny you are, right?”

B huffs, looking through her cabinet. “I am well aware, thank you.” she says, quickly glaring at him before turning back to her clothes. “But I like to wear oversized clothes, so I might have something in here that could fit you.” she says, looking through the jackets and hoodies hanging in her closet, until she sees a big gray one that definitely looked like it could fit Yeonjun, or even big enough to look oversized on him.

“That looks like it would fit me. It looks like it would be a little too big on me, actually.” Yeonjun observes as B examines the big gray hoodie. “Wow, how big is that on you? It looks like you could wear it as a dress.”

“It goes all the way down to my knees, actually.” B whispers under her breath. “I, uh, I don’t think this hoodie’s any good. I know I have a button down here somewhere that would be perfect fit on you.” she says, quickly putting the big gray hoodie back in and rummaging through the clothes.

“What? Why not?” Yeonjun asks.

Because it’s Soobin’s, she thought. And at the thought of Soobin, her heart aches for some inexplicable reason.

“Because I haven’t really washed it, ah, here it is.” B says dismissively, taking out a plaid button-down shirt and handing it over to him. “I’m sure this will fit you perfectly.”

Yeonjun puts the shirt on and starts buttoning it up, his biceps straining against the fabric. “I’m not much of a plaid guy, but this will do.” he says, fixing the shirt up. “How does it look?”

B giggles. “I’m pretty sure it’s the girlfriend who’s supposed to be wearing the boyfriend’s clothes, but that shirt definitely looks better on you than it ever has on me.”

Yeonjun grins. “Guess we're breaking gender stereotypes then. Alright, you can wear my clothes anytime you want. And thanks, Baby.” he says, giving her a quick kiss. “I really have to go now, Hwall’s been waiting for me downstairs and I don’t think I can keep my father waiting any longer either.”

“It’s alright, Yeonjunie.” she says, rubbing their noses together. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Happy birthday.” she says again.

“Thanks, Baby.” he says, kissing her forehead, making his way down to kiss the tip of her nose, and finally her lips before pulling away. “See you tomorrow.”

And with that, she escorts him out of her apartment, watching him make his way down the building and waving him off as he gets into his car.

She sighs as she closes the front door behind her, laying a hand over her chest. Spending the day with Yeonjun was great, but she couldn’t stop thinking of that second of heartache she felt when she thought of Soobin, and how she felt the pain once again as soon as he popped into her mind.

What was that about?

•°•

“Soobin.”

“…”

“Soobin?”

“…”

“Soobin!”

After the third time, he couldn’t resist any longer. He sighs and plasters on a smile before turning to face her. “Hey B.” It was Monday, 2 days after the disastrous events that took place at Yeonjun’s birthday party, and he had been trying his best to avoid both of them. He didn’t know what Yeonjun had told B or how much B knew about what happened on Saturday night, but a part of him was surprised when the pair arrived at school together on Yeonjun’s new motorbike, which was a birthday gift from his parents. “What’s up?” Soobin adds, trying to push away all his thoughts and feign normalcy.

“What’s up? Are you kidding me? You haven’t said a single thing to me today and the first thing you say is ‘what’s up?’” B asks playfully, nudging his arm. That was true, he had gone the whole day without speaking to either of them, which had been easy enough since the 2 of them were practically in their own love bubble at lunch, making it easier for Soobin to stay away. It was currently their last period, their Creative Writing class, and Yeonjun had been pulled out of school for the afternoon by his father so he was absent, leaving B and Soobin alone.

“Technically, the first thing I said was ‘Hey B.’” Soobin returns with a playful tone. “Why? Is there anything you wanna talk about?” he asks a bit nervously. Knowing how wasted she was the last time he saw her, he was unsure about whether or not she remembered anything about their conversation in the broom closet, but he was hoping that she didn’t. Especially the part where he said:

“It’s not like I never liked you, because I did. And I still do.”

To his surprise and relief, B just shakes her head. “Nah, you just seemed a bit off today and I just wanted to know if you were okay. Is there anything you wanna talk about?” she asks.

Soobin’s smile suddenly felt very pained. He wanted to do his best to avoid them and stay out of their relationship, but why did she have to be so damn sweet? And why did she have to look so damn good? He always found her to be rather attractive, from the moment he caught her at the steps on the first day of school, but now she looked absolutely radiant. Her skin was glowing in contrast to her long dark hair, making the blush creeping into her cheeks and her plump pink lips stand out. She looked so beautiful it made his heart ache. “No, I’m fine, but thanks for worrying about me, B.” he simply says.

B raises a brow. “Are you sure? You’ve been looking mopey and sad all day.” she says, concerned. “This something happen? I haven’t heard from you or the other guys all weekend either, except for Ninging.”

Soobin shakes his head. “Nothing’s happened, everything’s fine.” he lies, but then he stops. He knew that something definitely happened and that not everything was fine, but she was acting too cheerful considering what happened last Saturday night. “What about you? How was your weekend? Did anything happen?” he asks, curious now.

“My weekend was nice. I woke up on Sunday morning hungover as fuck, but I woke up and Yeonjun was there in my apartment with me!” she laughs. “It’s actually really funny cause neither of us remember how we ended up together in my apartment. I guess we both got way too drunk last Saturday night. I don’t mind though, cause I got to spend most of Sunday celebrating Yeonjun’s birthday with him until he had to go. It was really nice.” B says with a happy smile on my face.

No way. Did she not know? “Oh that does sound nice. I can’t believe you got wasted last Saturday night though. How much do you remember?” he asks, wanting to know.

She bites her lip, trying her best to recall. “Honestly, not much. I only remember up until we played that Kiss or Tell game then we all sort of went our own ways. Ryujin dragged me along and I’m pretty sure we ended up doing shots, which is probably how I got so drunk. Other than that, the night’s a blank. Same goes for Yeonjun, though he did tell me that he remembered seeing his ex girlfriend there. You knew his ex, right?” she asks with wide curious eyes.

So Yeonjun didn’t tell her? “Yeah, I remember Rose. I can’t believe she was there. Did Yeonjun mention anything else? I mean, it must have been weird for him to see his ex again after 2 years.” he says, the kiss between Yeonjun and Rose clear in his mind and the confrontation that followed after still lingering in his thoughts.

B shakes her head. “I guess it was a bit weird but he didn’t mention anything, just that he ended up getting pretty drunk as well. And I know it sounds crazy, but to be honest, the thought of him seeing his ex girlfriend again makes me feel sick but he promised he wouldn’t see her again or do anything that made me feel uncomfortable. Isn’t he sweet?” she says, laughing.

No fucking way. He didn’t tell her. Now Soobin was mad, and he badly needed to keep himself together. He didn’t want to lose it, especially not in front of B, who didn’t seem to know anything. “Wow, that does sound sweet.” he says, trying not to let the bitterness creep into his tone.

B nods. “He really is.” she says dreamily. Soobin grips his seat tightly, his knuckles straining as he tried to keep his composure. How could Yeonjun not tell her? And how could she sit there and gush over him? The whole thing made him feel sick and he wished he never saw B crying in the broom closet or that he never saw Yeonjun kissing Rose, he wished he could be as blissfully unaware as B was, cause the whole thing was making his blood boil. He just wanted to get away from both of them, to follow Taehyun’s advice and stay as far away from their relationship as possible.

Just as he felt like he was about to combust, their teacher catches the class’s attention.

“Hello class. I can see that a lot of you have been making good progress with your social media project, but I have to say that over the weeks, I don’t feel like there’s much of a story in your posts. I’ve decided to extend your project up until the end of the term, and I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know that you’ll be stuck with your partners until then.” Sir Kim announces, sending the class buzzing.

B turns to Soobin with a big smile on her face. “Hear that, Soobin? Looks like we’ll be stuck together ‘till the end of the term.” she says excitedly.

Soobin gives her a pained smile in return. “Great.”

•°•

“Hey Baba, remind me I need to stop by your place to pick up my stuff.” Kai says as he munches on his egg tarts.

B nods. “Sure thing, Ninging. I already cleaned up the guest room and I left all your clothes folded neatly on the bed.”

It was after school and they were doing their usual hangout at Kang’s café, and Soobin felt like he was going out of his mind. He kept bouncing his knee under the table and shaking his legs, as if something were trying to crawl out of his skin.

Noticing this, Taehyun nudges his leg and raises a brow at him.

In response, Soobin decides to send him a text.

“Ah, my mom just texted me that she needs help lifting some things in the pantry. Soobin, can you come with me? I could use your help.” Taehyun says casually, finishing up his glass of lemonade.

Soobin nods and stands straight up. “Let’s go.” he says, making his way to the kitchen before Taehyun even got the chance to stand up.

Taehyun sighs, leaving the table and following after him. Beomgyu shoots him a confused look, but Taehyun just shakes his head in response, leaving Beomgyu at the table with B and Kai.

Taehyun leads the way into the pantry at the very back of the kitchen, letting Soobin in before locking the door behind him.

“Okay, we should be safe here. Now tell me, what’s wrong? Why do you look like you can’t breathe whenever you’re with B?” Taehyun says, folding his arms across his chest.

Soobin takes a deep breath. “Okay, remember when I found B wasted and crying her eyes out over seeing Yeonjun with Rose last Saturday?” he begins. Taehyun nods, urging him to continue. “Well, there’s more to it than just that.”

“What do you mean?” Taehyun asks. “You know, we still haven’t really talked about what happened last Saturday night, I was too busy to call you yesterday. I need you to tell me everything now.”

“Alright, so I saw B crying because she saw Yeonjun with Rose, she was an insecure wreck so I tried to comfort her and out of nowhere she says ‘Maybe it should’ve been you, Soobin.’” he says, holding up his hands to do air quotes. “So I was like, what’s that supposed to mean? Then she said that people have told her before that she and I would’ve been a good couple or something and then she says something like ‘maybe I should’ve chosen you, even though that wasn’t an option cause you never liked me’ and that’s when I ended up telling her ‘It’s not like I never liked you, cause I did, and I still do.’” Soobin says, groaning as he covers his face with his hands in shame.

Taehyun goes soft and lets out an “Aw, Soobin. That’s how you told her you like her?”

Soobin nods. “Yes, and I know I said that I wished she wouldn’t remember anything, and guess what, she doesn’t remember anything!”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Now you won’t have to clear the air with her about you whole ‘I like you’ confession.” Taehyun asks.

“Yes, but I mean she doesn’t remember anything. All she remembers is up until the end of the Kiss or Tell game and then getting drunk with Ryujin. She doesn’t remember seeing Yeonjun with Rose, she doesn’t remember how devastated she was when she saw them together.” Soobin say, running a hand through his hair.

“Well, that still doesn’t seem too bad. At least now she won’t feel bad about it.” Taehyun reasons out.

Soobin shakes his head. “That’s not all. After you and Gyu arrived and you kicked me out of the broom closet, I started wandering around the club, then I saw Yeonjun with Rose. It seemed fine at first, they seemed like 2 people catching up and having a good time, dancing in the club, but then she kisses him.”

Taehyun’s eyes widen. “Yeonjun and Rose kissed last Saturday night?” he says in disbelief. “When? How? Why?”

“I dunno, I think it was about 30 minutes after I left you and Gyu with B? And it was like I said, one minute they’re talking and laughing, then the next minute they’re on the dance floor, and next thing I know they’re kissing.” Soobin says. “Yeonjun pulled away, and that’s when he saw me and we had a little talk.”

“Wow, that sounds bad. Rose is such a bitch, I’ve always hated her. What did you 2 talk about?” Taehyun remarks.

“I sorta just confronted him about it. I gave him a chance to explain what just happened, I asked him if he still had feelings for Rose and he said he felt a spark or something, I asked him if he loves B and he didn’t seem to know. I told him that B saw him and Rose together and how messed up she was over it. I told him that he cheated on B, that even if Rose was the one who kissed him he shouldn’t have given her a chance to let it happen in the first place. And I told him that he better not hurt B. That’s it.” Soobin says, explaining the gist of their conversation.

“That’s, wow, that’s a lot to unpack.” Taehyun says, trying to absorb everything. “I think you do have a point about it being Yeonjun’s fault that Rose kissed him, he should’ve known and just stayed away from her instead of letting something like that happen. But don’t you think that calling him a cheater was a little bit harsh?”

Soobin shakes his head, looking tired. “Maybe, but it’s how I see it. First, he admits that he still feels a spark when he was with his ex, then he spends a big chunk of the night with her, then he ends up being kissed by her? All while his girlfriend is crying her eyes out just from the mere sight of them together? I don’t know about you, but for me, as long as you have feelings for someone, especially for your ex, while you’re currently in a relationship, it feels like cheating to me.” he explains. “And seeing B like that, I just… I don’t want to see her that hurt ever again.”

Taehyun nods. “When you put it like that, Yeonjun definitely sounds guilty. And I have to agree that seeing B like that really just makes the whole Yeonjun and Rose thing a lot worse.” he says. “But B doesn’t seem to be bothered or anything. She looks very happy.”

Soobin nods. “Exactly. And you wanna know why? It’s cause she doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t remember seeing Yeonjun and Rose together, she doesn’t remember being absolutely heartbroken over seeing Yeonjun and Rose together, and she doesn’t know that Yeonjun and Rose kissed. Yeonjun didn’t tell her.”

“Are you serious?” Taehyun says, his tone still calm. This was one reason why Soobin enjoyed talking to Taehyun, he was always so calm, empathetic, non-judgmental, and logical. He felt like he could talk to him about anything without worry and he’d listen or give great advice if you needed it. “Yeonjun didn’t tell her anything?”

“Well, she mentioned that Yeonjun told her about seeing his ex at the club and he told her that he’d never see her again if it made B uncomfortable, but that’s about it.” Soobin says. “He didn’t tell her about the kiss, and it’s either because he didn’t want to, or…”

“…or he doesn’t remember it.” Taehyun finishes. “Have you talked to Yeonjun about it?”

Soobin shakes his head. “I’m finally taking your advice and keeping myself as far away from their relationship as possible. Heck, I was determined not to speak to either of them anymore, until B started talking to me in our Creative Writing class while Yeonjun was absent. And of course, I’m stuck with her as my partner for the rest of the term.” he sighs. “But I don’t know how I can survive this, I don’t think I can stand to talk to her and smile at her after seeing her so heartbroken over something she doesn’t even remember, after seeing Yeonjun kiss Rose and her not knowing about it. I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s definitely a tough one, Choi.” Taehyun remarks, taking a moment to think it over. “Okay, I’m going to assume that Yeonjun isn’t a complete jerk and that he didn’t tell B about the kiss because he didn’t remember it. Is Yeonjun still in the wrong? Yes, because he put himself in a situation with his ex. But is it a problem? For now, no. Because neither of them know about it, neither of them are currently affected by it. It will become a problem if B finds out about it from someone else, or if Yeonjun remembers the kiss and doesn’t tell her about it.”

“So what are you saying? That there’s no problem here?” Soobin asks, surprised by Taehyun’s verdict.

“Oh, there’s definitely a problem, but I’m just saying that right now, that problem is dormant since neither of them know about it. I’m saying that there’s nothing to deal with yet, since the problem is still dormant.” Taehyun says. “For now, they’re basically living the whole ignorance is bliss thing. Assuming that Yeonjun doesn’t remember, neither of them know about the kiss, therefore it isn’t a problem.”

“So basically it’ll only be a problem if B somehow finds out about it or if Yeonjun remembers it?” Soobin asks.

Taehyun nods. “Correct. If Yeonjun does end up remembering it, the problem will depend on whether or not he tells B about it.”

“So what am I supposed to do? I remember it, I know about it, I saw it, I saw everything. I don’t know what to do.” Soobin says, looking as confused as ever.

“Soobin, if I were you, I’d just sit this one out. It’s gonna be hard, but for now, you’re just gonna have to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist. If you tell either of them what you saw that night, it could only cause bigger problems. My advice for you remains the same, just try to keep yourself as far away from their relationship as possible. That doesn’t mean that you should avoid them, just be their friend but draw the line when it comes to their relationship.” Taehyun says.

“So I just pretend that I know nothing. Got it.” Soobin says, nodding once for covering his face with his hands and letting out a loud groan.

“Are you good now? Come on, we better get back or they’ll start wondering what’s taking us so long.” Taehyun asks.

“Wait, you haven’t told me about what happened to you last Saturday night. You said you kissed your crush! Who is it? How did it happen?” Soobin exclaims, suddenly remembering.

Taehyun laughs. “Maybe another time, Soobin.” he says with a mischievous smile, unlocking the door before leading the way out of the pantry, through the kitchen, and back to the table.

•°•

“Alright, I have to be home in 15 minutes and I still have to drop by B’s place to pick up my stuff, so we have to go now or else Lea will kill me!” Kai exclaims, seeing the text from his older sister.

B laughs, patting him on the back. “Alright, let’s get going then! Lucky for you, I live right across the street.” she says teasingly. “Tyunnie, you wanna walk home with us?”

Taehyun smiles but shakes his head. “No, I have to stay and help clean up today. You guys go ahead and be safe.” he politely declines.

Kai shrugs. “Alright, you be safe too. See you tomorrow!” he says, grabbing B’s arm and practically dragging her along with him as he rushes out of the café.

“I should probably go too, I’ve got a lot of homework to do. Whoever said that senior year would be a breeze was full of shit.” Soobin groans, looking through the checklist of tasks he had on his phone. “Gyu, you need a ride? I can drop you off along the way.” he offers.

Beomgyu shakes his head. “Nah, I’m good. I’ve got a quiz tomorrow, so I think I’ll just stay here and study for a bit.” he says, taking out some notebooks and pens from his school bag and laying them down on the table.

“Wow, I never knew you actually studied.” Soobin remarks, causing Beomgyu to snort. “Good luck with that then, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” he says, waving goodbye to Taehyun and Beomgyu.

For a while, the 2 of them sit alone at the table in silence. Beomgyu was reading through his notes, highlighting a few things along the way, while Taehyun sat across him, finishing up his 3rd glass of lemonade. As Taehyun’s glass becomes empty, he stands up and takes the glass with him. As he’s about to walk away from the table, he’s surprised when he feels someone grab his free hand, stopping him in his place.

He looks back and sees Beomgyu looking at him, his notes sprawled across the table, a sentence remained half highlighted as if Beomgyu stopped midway just to grab Taehyun’s hand before he left.

Which was exactly what he did.

“Yes?” Taehyun asks, turning to face the boy.

Beomgyu looks nervous for a moment, like he was doubting himself and as if he were starting to regret grabbing Taehyun’s hand, but then he takes a deep breath and says “Wait. Don’t go.”

“Why? I’m right here.” Taehyun says, raising a brow.

“I just—” Beomgyu starts, his breathe shaking as he looks down at his hand holding Taehyun’s before looking up at him again. “I think we need to talk.”

“About what?” Taehyun asks, even though he knew exactly what he meant.

“About last Saturday night.” Beomgyu says, his eyes closing as the memory crosses his mind for the millionth time. “About our kiss.”

Taehyun sighs. “Look, I already said it’s fine, you panicked and kissed me on the lips, it was just a stupid game, it was nothing.”

“You know that’s not the kiss I was talking about.” Beomgyu says, a different kiss on his mind. He remembered standing by the bar with Taehyun after game ended, laughing and apologizing about how he had panicked and kissed him on the lips. He remembered Taehyun telling him that it was fine and that there was no need for him to apologize. “And I didn’t panic.” He remembered taking a couple of shots with him, and they asked each other a question every time they took a shot. He remembered asking Taehyun if he minded that Beomgyu had kissed him on the lips, and he said no. He remembered Taehyun asking him if he wouldn’t mind doing it again, and he said no.

“I wouldn’t mind at all.”

“So go ahead and kiss me, Choi.”

He remembered downing another shot and saying “Oh, what the hell.” Before taking Taehyun’s face in his hands for the second time that night, looking deep into his eyes to see if he really wanted it, before leaning in and letting their lips touch once again.

“So, you wanna talk about it?” Beomgyu asks, the memory playing in his mind over and over again.

Taehyun smiles, his heart melting at how unusually vulnerable the usually confident Beomgyu looked. “Alright.” he says, bending down to take a seat at the table, not letting go of his hand. “Let’s talk.”

•°•

Author’s note:

I know it’s a little late :c and I’m sorry cause I’ll be a lot busier these days bc life is suddenly moving again :c but :c Happy Yeonjun day!

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imagine-that-one-thing · 4 years

Text

The Rise Of Glory.

Chapter One. || Loose lips sink ships.

Thursday, November 5th, 2024.

New York.

The grey pavements of New York have barely managed to dry from the morning rainfall that has left the town damp and lingering with a gloomy feeling. I personally feel as though this gloomy greyness will never pass. It has been raining non-stop for the last week, but deep down I feel like it has been raining for months, the flowers inside me have drowned and wilted. When flowers receive too much water, it doesn’t cleanse them or revitalises them, instead, when the soil is constantly wet, there aren’t enough air pockets for the flowers to breathe. That’s exactly how I have begun to feel— my air pockets are filling with everything falling apart around me— and I'm slowly becoming suffocated within my own self.

As I walk along the cracked, and busy sidewalks, I notice how everyone is busy and hurrying around on this early, gloomy morning. I don't blame them, I would be bustling across the pavement too if it wasn't for an almost-three-year-old on my hip, “love? You there?” Harry’s voice echoes through the phone and I draw myself back to the conversation we were just having.

“Yeah, jus’ thinking about how I forgot to turn the washer on.”

“I did it when I left,” Harry responds, picking up the slack for me this morning.

This morning hasn't been the easiest, from the moment Alex woke up, Alex has been whiny and clingy, not allowing me to leave his sight for a second. With breakfast, I couldn't leave him with Harry to finish reading through the daily report from yesterday, and sending out the emails for the day-to-day operations for the next few days. Managing numerous branches of the business definitely keeps me occupied and keeps my mind running at a high speed. Sometimes, I wish it would stop.

“Surprised you know how to use the thing. Been a while, hasn’t it?” I softly banter with Harry. It is nice to be playful sometimes, our lives consist of being structured and CEO oriented and sometimes we forget to just banter.

“Oi, be nice,” Harry chuckles, “though, you aren’t wrong. Just been busy, I’ll do better.”

“I’m joking,” I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see me do so.

Here’s the thing with how Harry and I work when it comes to household chores. We pick up each other’s slack and nothing is entirely assigned to me besides the grocery shopping, he hates the grocery store with a passion. Harry usually does his best with the household, if he sees the laundry in the basket he will fold and put them away and, he does a lot more of the cooking dinner than I do– when he’s cooking dinner, I’m usually chasing Alex around to get him washed up for supper.

Harry chuckles on the other end of the phone, “it is alright, love. I hope you know you're late, by the way," Harry says and I can almost hear the grin to his tone of voice.

I heavily sigh and I bounce Alex, “supervising marketing efforts can wait an extra five minutes, I needed my second tea for the morning and I needed to check on Meyer Enterprise without your new team interrupting my phone calls," I murmur bitterly. Harry’s New York team aren’t as independent as London’s, I have to oversee every damn thing they do, and I don’t get a minute in my office alone because there is always someone needing my help or needing to pick my brains. Teaching a new set of staff on how to run things our way is more time consuming than I had expected. Making a phone call in private is nearly impossible, hence why I had to do it on my morning tea run.

"Three strikes and you're out."

"Damn, is the CEO going to fire me?" I chuckle but my chuckle fades to grey and I feel a sudden lump in my throat.

I stop in my tracks as flashes begin to go off in my direction. I stare at the group of unknown individuals in front of me with doe eyes, unaware of what to do. “Uh… Harry,” I clear my throat, “are you aware there’s a mob of people outside the building?” I challenge, settling my phone between my ear and my shoulder while I caress my hand to Alex's back, keeping him safe and secure.

“What?”

“There’s a mob of paparazzi,” I inform him, noticing them circling around me and taking pictures before they’re blurting out one-hundred various questions that I can’t even make out, “damnit, there goes my tea,” I mutter as the warm cup slips from grasp as I accidentally bump arms with one of the reporters. Personal space isn’t worth much apparently. “Harry, can you come and help me?” I question as the phone line seems dead while I am swarmed by vultures trying to get their first meal off of young prey.

I try to keep myself composed as the swarm only seems to pull me further into their hole.

They’re like a riptide, they swirl around you and then suck you under for their own benefit when you’re at your weakest. For a moment, I feel as though my world is spinning at a fast pace that I can’t keep up with, everything is weighing on my shoulders; questions are being thrown at me erratically, and I can’t manage to catch a breath.

The crowd around me is relentless and have no intentions of giving me a second to compose myself.

Without much warning, the mass destruction of the riptide parts like the Red Sea, and Niall emerges in front of me, “you okay? Are you hurt?” Niall questions, placing his hands on either side of my arms and looking me up and down and hiding Alexander from the cameras.

I’m fine— well, I’m not fine— but I will be fine… eventually.

I nod, losing my voice within the commotion of voices still yelling and taking pictures. Before I can blink, the swarm of unwanted guests splits and Harry battles his way through the melee with such ease. "I've got him," Harry takes Alex from my arms. I look at Harry, expecting answers but I’m left with nothing as he looks towards Niall with his sharp eyes.

“Bloody morons, come on, gotta get you inside,” Niall murmurs as he places an arm around me and settles his other arm out in front of him to once again part the crowd and drive his way through with Harry behind us, “give a lady some space, damn. That how you treat all women? Disgrace yeh all are,” Niall shakes his head, making sure his voice is powerful enough for at least a few people to hear.

Niall gets me into the building without a scratch, and the moment the glass doors trimmed with Gold close behind us, I breathe a breath of relief. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?–“ Harry begins to fret and I cut him off gently.

“I’m fine, just fine,” I assure him as he shakes his head and bounces Alex in his arms who is evidently shaken up by the whole ordeal.

I can tell by the way his eyes are a bright green and not grey that he has been crying, and if that isn’t enough to prove it, the red cheeks and the puffy redness under his eyes are.

My heart sinks at the concern laced within Alex's eyes. He didn’t sign up for this.

Harry hands Alex to Niall and wastes no time with pulling me into him, “I’m sorry, you sure you’re fine?” He whispers while he rubs soothing circles on my back and I inhale his sweet scent. Unfortunately, no amount of soothing back rubs and his sweet scent is going to make things better.

I lift my head away from his body and gaze up at him.

I view into his enchanting, clay-grey eyes that are broad with concern, but his concern isn't enough to make me feel better about the situation and what is occurring. “I’m okay. What’s going on? They can’t be out there and do that… surely they can't do this when we have Alex. Isn't it illegal? Where the hell is your security and PR team?" I shake my head disapprovingly, gesturing my arms towards the glass doors that are crowded with the media that are still taking pictures. "Call a meeting with your PR team, now," my voice comes off as harsh and assertive, something I hadn't exactly intended. I don't usually tell Harry what he NEEDS to do, but in this case, it is either he calls the meeting or I will do it myself.

"I don't know what's going on, I called Tara, she didn't answer."

I raise a brow and bite the inside of my cheek before I speak, "well, either you get ahold of her and there is a meeting or we need to find a new PR team, the PR team in London would never have allowed this. Your security is a little late to the party, don't you think?" I question, noticing three men making their way towards us.

"Are you going on a firing spree?" Harry cocks his head to the side with a small smile dangling in the corner of his lips.

Ever since we moved to New York, three months ago, I have had very little luck with finding the right staff, it has been one hell of a roller coaster.

"I'm not amused, now if you don't mind, I will be waiting for Tara upstairs, unless of course, I am going to be swarmed?" I sarcastically question, stepping away from Harry and opening my arms for Niall to hand me, Alex.

✿ ✿ ✿

I stare out the office window, glancing down at the view below me, my eyes following Alex’s as he takes in everything he can see in his view. For some reason, Alex has always been fascinated with the views of the offices’— I can thank Harry for that. While in London, Harry would sneak in extra ‘Daddy’ time and bring Alex into the office with him early in the morning. Harry would stand at the window of his office, with Alex cradled in his favourite blanket and Harry would watch the sunrise with him nestled in his arms.

There have been countless times during the night when Alex wouldn’t fall back asleep, so Harry would drive around aimlessly, and when driving around town wouldn’t calm Alex, Harry would end up at the company where he would hold Alex while observing the darkened city below. Neither of us knows what it is about the view or if it is just something Alex grew accustomed to as a baby, but it has always been Alex’s thing. I still remember the moment Alex was able to crawl, if we ever put him down in the office, he would make his way to the window and watch the city.

I turn around the moment I hear the door creak open and Harry gives me a small smile, “has he finally settled?” Harry softly asks as he looks at the two of us.

“A bit,” I nod, observing as Harry closes the door behind him and shoves his hands in his pockets.

He looks defeated.

He isn’t standing high and tall like the CEO I know him to be, he is standing with a grim expression and lost eyes.

“When did Niall get here?” I softly ask, unsure of whether I want to ask Harry what the problem is or if I want to beat around the bush.

“He landed an hour ago, he and Charles are talking to a client on their business idea, hopefully, the pitch works for them, it’ll be good for Charles,” Harry responds, “but they only have today, they fly back to London tomorrow. We shall see how that all works out,” Harry adds with a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong?” I challenge, struggling to overlook the defeated expression in a man that always stands tall.

Harry takes a moment and looks between me and the iPad in his hand, “this doesn’t look good, not even goin’ to lie.”

“Are the stocks down again? Is the business in London down?”

Harry shakes his head, “I think I would rather have the stocks down and lose money than to have this,” Harry sighs as he holds up his iPad before placing it on the table, gesturing for me to sit down and take a look. I step closer to the table and Alex holds his arms out towards his father, “come here, mate, Daddy needs some extra cuddles,” Harry smiles, taking his son and engulfing him with tight hugs and kisses while I sit down.

I push the cover flap to the left to expose the iPad screen from the case, I swipe on the screen and enter the code before the page Harry was looking at pops up in front of me.

The title alone is enough to make my heart sink and my stomach to turn into knots.

CEO Harry Styles; the aggressive businessman.

❝ The current CEO of Styles & Co has branched out overseas and made wise decisions in stock profits but not so much when it comes to his fists.

A new report alleges that Harry Styles isn’t who we think he is. An anonymous source has revealed gruelling details about how the CEO has a dark side to him. Back in 2020, Harry Styles was involved in an altercation that led the victim almost lifeless. The dispute occurred late one night after Styles attended a business event for charity. He was spotted leaving the event without his soon to be wife at the time, Elise Cartier. Not long after leaving her at the event, he drove across town to meet Charles Taylor, who was meant to be out heading towards the airport at ten-fifteen to catch the next flight out of London. Instead of catching his flight, he found himself at the ragged end of his brother’s fist. Yes, brother. Harry Styles may be a CEO and a family man when in the prying eye of the public, but behind closed doors, he is the type of man who pounds his brother until he is black and blue.

Since his attacking debut with Charles, Harry Styles has reportedly become one of his companies most feared— and his own employers don’t want to work with him, they’re terrified every time he turns down a pitching idea for the company. His London team are mostly transferring to his business located in New York to get away from the monster who intends to stay in London.❞

I glance up at Harry as he sways from side to side with Alex, keeping him relaxed and tranquil, “Harry,” I begin, swallowing hard as my mind attempts to think of something positive and uplifting to say. Granted, finding a positive outcome in things has been gravely hard for me lately. “It’s false media propaganda. Don’t let it get to you.”

“That would be easier if the media wasn’t outside of the building asking questions and if clients weren’t questioning whether to pull out. They now think I am some threatening man who punches people.” … “I’m not that person, Elle. I don’t-" Harry breathes and looks up at the ceiling to catch a moment to breathe.

"We will figure it out, we always do," I assure Harry and I stand to my feet. Harry and I have overcome more obstacles in the last ten years than I can think of, there has been nothing we haven't managed to overcome together. This issue will be no different.

“This is going to mess with my new staff, they’re going to think it’s true, this will compromise the business here and in London. The investors, here in New York, are going to start pulling out once the news travels.”

I wander towards Harry and I lean up and kiss his flushed cheek, "it will be fine, we will figure it out," I assure Harry with a small smile. Before he can reply, or I can speak any further on what is going on, we are interrupted by Charles and Tara walking in.

I suspected Harry's silver-grey eyes to narrow down on his brother and for there to be some sort of cynical energy between them. But there isn't. There isn't any sort of resentment or blame between the two of them. I can't help but wonder if Harry doesn't think Charles could have been the anonymous source or maybe Harry knows he is and he isn't going to act upon it.

We give and receive a few swift greetings and I take a seat while Harry continues to stand with Alex. "Let's get this out of the way, what is going on? Why are these things getting published? Surely you can tackle these and get them taken off the internet?" I straight out challenge Tara, "your job is to maintain a positive reputation and to maintain a strategic relationship with the public, prospective customers, partners, investors, employees and other stakeholders... That isn't happening. This one article is compromising his reputation so easily. How is that possible?"

Tara nods her head, "Elise, this was unexpected, none of us could have known it would be released. I can not control what is written on the internet; what I can control is how we react to this."

"So we do a press release?" Harry interjects, "what the hell am I meant to say, 'thank you for your false words but I am not a maniac who beats the shit out of people?' granted it was deserved, he was involved in the scandals," Harry grumbles and glances his eyes towards his brother.

My eyes grow wide at Harry's comment and I can't help but scold him, "Harry, that is not appropriate right now." Clearly, he still hasn’t learned sometimes he needs to keep his damn comments to himself.

"Yeah, try not to tell the press, Harry, that it was deserved," Tara sighs, staring between Harry and Charles.

"It was deserved, Harry didn't do it just because he felt like it. It is nobody's business what went down before we fixed things, and I am willing to make a press release to say that," Charles speaks up, "I'm not the anonymous source, by the way. I know you probably think that, Tara." Charles glances towards Tara, making sure he clears the air. I don’t blame him, he would be the first one to be blamed for something, it isn’t like he has a clean track record, and part of him still has evilness drawn to him.

"Nobody is making a press release unless it is Harry and written by me. This is what is going to happen, nobody is speaking to the media, do not react negatively, it will make it worse. As for the media outside, they are allowed to be there because it is considered public property where they are standing." ... "I’ll look into making sure pictures of Alex are blurred or taken down.”

“Can we ask them to take the story down? I will pay them for the story rights,” Harry offers but Tara shakes her head.

“The damage is done, taking it down would only make you look more guilty of the accusations.”

“I am guilty of them. That night isn’t false news,” Harry sighs, his eyes doing their best not to make eye contact with anyone in the room.

He’s ashamed and embarrassed with what this day has caused. Perhaps, he’s ashamed of who he used to be and the night he became physically violent in the name of love.

Tara nods, “I know, but if we pay to have the articles taken down, it’ll look like you’re hiding. You have to ride this out, it’s the best option.”

“It doesn’t seem like the best option when my wife and son are getting swarmed by the media.”

“They’re not just swarming over this article, they want info on everything, Harry. You’re a few deals away from being the biggest CEO in London, you’re big news, you branched the company to New York in just a few weeks and made it a highly successful branch, that’s rare.”

Harry shakes his head, “I don’t want to be big news. I want my family safe, and I want my employees safe.”

Tara nods and briefly looks between Harry and I, “you need some good media attention, is there any good news we can release? Any new investments? Donations? I have spoken to your team in London, they are doing damage control the best they can over there.”

Harry shakes his head, “the media is all over my business news, they know everything, I couldn’t even keep NYC quiet.”

“What about family-wise? Is there anything we can use? Your Mum’s organisation? Elise’s father’s business? Her uncle’s?”

“No, there’s nothing new… we aren’t bringing our family into this,” Harry again shakes his head as he continues to bounce Alex in his arms.

He has never wanted either of our family to mesh into the business. Harry would rather rise in glory and befall in defeat all on his own.

“You need to think of something that’ll shine your name in a better light. What about your sister? Isn’t she a writer?”

“I don’t care, I’ll do charity work, I’ll do a press release, whatever it takes. I’m not bringing family matters into this, no.” Harry shakes his head, refusing to use any good news family-wise to shine him in a better light, “no family is to be brought into this, this includes her family’s businesses, I mean it, Tara.” Harry is assertive with his tone of voice.

He has never been one to use the family as a step up or a step down within the business. He has always been stubborn and refused to have himself associated with my family business once he branched out from My Uncle, Jamie, and started his own business that is now known as ‘Styles & Co.’

“What about Elise coming back to work? She was on a break for a little, we could use that as a new story to spin.” Tara offers up another suggestion, one of which breaks my heart and takes me back to what I wish I could forget.

Instantly, Harry shakes his head, “no, her personal leave isn’t a story to spin.”

“You’re not giving me much to work with here.”

“As I said, her personal leave isn’t a media story, drop it,” he firmly responds, narrowing his eyes towards her to get his point across.

Tara nods her head with a slight sigh, “then you need to be on your best behaviour and get in the good graces of the media. There is not much I can do, just… all of you just keep quiet. Loose lips sink ships,” Tara informs all of us and we all agree, “you need to start attending more events and hosting events.”

“Yes,” Harry nods, “keep in mind that I have a family to care for before I take care of my business, I can’t run off to one-hundred different events,” Harry responds, not too fond of the conversation taking place.

I don’t blame him, but it isn’t Tara’s fault, she’s trying to do her job. “I have work to do, this meeting is over,” Harry dismisses the meeting and the others in the room, giving nobody the opportunity to challenge him and continue.

Harry and I are left alone in the meeting room and he closes the door, giving us some privacy.

Harry gives us a moment of silence, more than likely trying to figure out the thoughts running through his head. Harry looks down at Alex and softly smiles at him, he presses a kiss to his forehead before Harry’s eyes glance over towards me, “are you okay?” Harry asks the same damn question he has been asking for the last few weeks, the same question that keeps getting the same answer.

“I’m fine,” I nod, unsure of who I’m trying to convince more, Harry or myself at this point.

The definition of fine is not me, but I will do what it takes to make Harry think it is.

Harry rolls his eyes and takes a breath in an attempt to keep his cool, “so you’ve been saying for the last three months, but it doesn’t feel like you’re fine.”

“I need to get back to work,” I softly respond, avoiding eye contact with Harry as I stand to my feet.

“Elise,” Harry stands in front of me and presses his finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him, “Elle, please don’t push me away.”

“I’m not,” I bluntly lie.

I’m not trying to purposely push him away, I’m just trying to avoid things at all costs. It’s hard to look at the man I love, who gives me everything I could ask for, and in return, I am a failure for the one thing he can’t give me, but I can give him. “I have work to do, supervising marketing efforts doesn’t happen on its own, Harry, nor does reviewing the company’s global footprint.”

Harry heavily sighs and his lips purse like he has been chewing a lemon rind, a sign of his distaste and hidden anger that is more than likely building up. If his pursed lips aren’t enough of a sign that he is frustrated and somewhat angry, his enchanting, clay-grey eyes with contracted pupils are a heavy sign. “The global footprint right now is fine, Elle. Are you sure you want to work? You can take as much time off as you need.” Harry knows I am doing my best to avoid the conversation he is trying to initiate, just like he knows I am trying my best to fill up my time the best that I can so I don’t need to think about things. If I don’t have time to myself to allow my emotions and thoughts to run wild, I can’t feel them.

“Well, I need to get on top of the fact that one of your teams is off-budget, so if you don’t mind, I have work to do, I will talk to you later,” I grant him a lacklustre smile, answering his question on whether I need more time off.

I don’t need more time off work, I have had enough time to mope around the damn penthouse that although is filled with all the furniture we desire and luxurious items, it still felt so damn cold and empty. The thought of being alone in the penthouse again makes my skin crawl. No amount of vintage or expensive items makes up for the bitter coldness I feel when I’m alone in the penthouse.

“I won’t hold my breath on that,” Harry mutters under his breath, his lips set in a grim line while I walk out of the meeting room and lock myself away in my office.

I stare at the documents piled on my desk, documents that can probably wait another week; I have locked myself in here since I started working again and I am on top of everything. I have used work as an excuse to keep me occupied, and as a way to spend hours on end away from the penthouse. The Penthouse doesn’t feel like home, it doesn’t possess the same warm feelings as our home in London does. I take a breath and I pull at one of the files, determined to keep myself occupied, but I can’t help but replay the scenes of this morning in my head: the mobbing, the questions, the meeting, and Tara and her reminder of my absence of leave.

My absence of leave was impromptu and it all started on Monday, August the 26th.

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virzafar · 5 years

Text

From the archives of The New Yorker, 04/21/12: “Stargazers” by Vir Singh

“I’m leaving,” Astrid announces as she unceremoniously plops a camper-style backpack down on her bed.

Moesche looks up suddenly from where he’s lounging on his own bed with a government-issued book in hand. Astrid looks frantic with her hair in her face and the corners of her eyes puffy, looking like she just cried or she’s about to cry or some winning combination of the two.

Moesche puts his book down as he sits up, trying to get a better gauge of the situation. Astrid is unrelentless as she starts packing, grabbing things from the closet without much regard. Too many shirts, Moesche notices, and not enough pants. Is she even packing socks?

He watches her hands move, quick and unsystematic. She’s shivering slightly, keeps pulling her sleeves down lower. Nervous. She’s nervous. She’s leaving.

“Oh,” is all Moesche says in response. It’s not like he hasn’t seen this coming at all. Astrid hasn’t exactly been a happy camper since the president issued a nation-wide containment order, but they’ve been in this bunker for nearly three months now and Astrid’s disdain has almost faded, become background noise for an otherwise mundane life. “Why?”

“Because,” Astrid says as she chucks a first aid kit into a side pocket of the backpack, “I can’t just sit around here anymore doing nothing. If the government isn’t willing to give me some answers I’ll go out and get them myself.”

“Oh,” Moesche says again.

“You sound like a parrot, Mo,” Astrid says.

Moesche doesn’t reply, taking out a lighter from his pocket and playing with that instead. The flame flickers on then off, on then off, on then off – he finds solace in the repetition of it.

“Well?” Astrid asks. “Are you coming?”

Moesche looks up from the lighter at the guards standing by the doors leading outside. He thinks of the large fence towering over the Safety Facility and the unknowns waiting for them beyond that.

“Eh,” he says, running a hand through his curls and gives a curt shrug. “I’ll try anything once.”

Astrid seems to accept that as she tosses an empty backpack towards him.

“I’m still a little lost,” Moesche says. “What makes you sure there’s going to be aliens at this place?”

“No, not aliens,” Astrid tells him. She sounds tired. “Information about aliens.”

“Fine. What makes you sure there’s going to be information about aliens at this place?”

“It’s called ‘Area 51’. The government kept classified information in it years ago, inaccessible to the public eye. It was eventually abandoned once their secrets became too vast to keep confiscated to a single facility, which is when they adopted Island Luesch for use instead. But there’s hundreds of official statements claiming that they never fully cleared out their facilities. All we have to do is get there, break in, and find the right files,” Astrid says matter-of-factly.

“And this is a theory you were just sitting on for a rainy day?”

“Before they rounded us up, I read a ton of books about it as a part of my research thesis,” she says. There’s a tinge of sadness in her tone, an underlying bittersweetness about the studies in history that she had to abandon. Moesche can’t say he doesn’t understand it – there’s very little he wouldn’t do to live just another day in the life he had before the UFOs made the sky black and turned society into a place to be evacuated.

“When was this 51 place shut down?” Moesche asks.

Astrid scratches the back of her head, avoiding his gaze as she answers with a timid, “Around 2050.”

“Almost 80 years ago?” Moesche asks in disbelief. Astrid’s silence is enough of an answer. “You snuck out of the safety of government care to investigate a hunch from a place that shut down nearly 80 years ago? We might as well deep-sea dive to find Atlantis!”

“I know!” Astrid shouts back. “I know, I just – I don’t know. I have a gut feeling about this place. I have to trust myself. I need you to trust me too.”

Silence swallows them. When Astrid meets Moesche’s gaze again she looks decades younger.

“I trust you,” Moesche says finally, and he tries to sound sincere. Astrid smiles at him and the thank you is spoken without a word exchanged.

With that, she gains a new perk in her step, picking up the pace slightly from the casual strides they had been taking. Moesche follows right after, gripping his backpack as if it would fall off otherwise.

“Come on, I want to get through at least another two miles before we rest for the day.”

It doesn’t take long for them to grow tired of walking. Moesche spends a whole day trying to remember what his father had taught him when he was still certain Moesche would inherit the family body shop, but he eventually manages to hijack an abandoned car with three paper clips and some radio gadgets.

“Impressive,” is all Astrid says before she claims the driver’s seat.

They switch off cars each time they run out of power, sometimes lasting longer if they find a working charging port on the side of the road. They try their best to avoid driving by other Safety Facilities scattered across the countries. Like scavengers, they keep moving out of fear of what may follow them.

At night, Moesche begs desperately for his subconscious to bring him pleasant dreams, memories of what Earth once looked like – greens, browns, blues. Instead, he gets blackness with snippets of dialogue he think he may have once said.

“I want a war,” his voice at age 12 echoes one night. “Life is so mundane. I want the world to see what I’m capable of.”

It seems he’s gotten his wish.

He was most worried about finding food sources when they first left, though it turns out they have more food at their disposal than they could ever consume. With the government promising an endless supply of federally issued supplies in their designated Safety Facility, there was no need for the people to raid supermarkets out of blind panic. As a result, the two of them bounce from town to town and pick up whichever perishables appeal most to them with plenty to choose from.

Today, they sit on the roof of their latest ride and eat lunch in silence. For Astrid, this consists of a can of peaches and a jar of strawberry jam; for Moesche, a stale loaf of bread and a can of corn.

“What’s your theory?” Moesche asks as he rips a bite from the baguette in his hand.

“About the aliens?” Astrid asks.

“Mhmm,” he says. “Where do you think they came from? What do you think we’ll find in those files?”

“You’ll never be able to look at me again without imagining a tinfoil hat on my head,” Astrid says.

“I think we’re well past that.” To make his point, Moesche gives a wave-around at the terrain around them as if to say ‘look where you’ve gotten me’. Astrid laughs.

“I have a few theories,” she admits. Moesche quirks on eyebrow at her as if to prompt her to go on, which she does. “Mainly, it’s that the government did this as a reason to expand their military-industrial complex. A month before the aliens invade, all of Earth’s world leaders finally sit down after a human history spent fighting each other to finally find some international peace and decrease military spending to effectively zero.

“Then the aliens arrive, and after a century of the media brainwashing us to fear them, we’re willing to do just that. The government jacks up its defense spending to more than double of what it was to fight off the immediate threat, and eventually the UFOs leave and the people come out of their bunkers.

“But wait! The government insists that it keep expanding its military to get bigger and better technology in case they ever return. The military is left to stay rich forever, the people feel protected from intergalactic threats at the cost of trillions.” Astrid pauses to express a self-satisfied smirk before adding on, “It’s just a theory though. What do I really know?”

“Maybe a little too much,” Moesche says. He scoops another heaping of corn onto the bread and takes a bite. It goes down dry and tasteless.

“I was going to be an astronaut, you know,” Moesche says. They lie on a field looking at the stars somewhere in Middle America – Kansas, maybe. It’s hotter than where they came from.

“Were you?” Astrid asks.

“I just finished a summer internship with NASA when the aliens came,” he says. “Ironic, no?”

“Bitterly so,” she says with a frown. “Were you any good?”

“They certainly thought so. Offered me a permanent position after my internship ended. I said no,” he admits.

“Why?” she asks.

“There was something else I needed to do.” His voice breaks ever-so slightly at the thought as he clenches the grass they’re sitting on a little tighter. “I told myself I’d come back to it.”

“You still could,” she offers, though it’s laced with a kind of false optimism that neither of them can quite buy into.

“I’m not so sure,” he says. There’s a long pause as he stares up to the stars, and when he speaks again, he speaks with a whisper. “How do we forgive ourselves for the life we never got to live?”

They’ve been on the road for two months now. According to their heavily-calculated, maybe-accurate, please-God-don’t-let-them-down predictions, this means they should be arriving at Area 51 today. Astrid buzzes; Moesche might throw up.

“Maybe we should think a little more about this,” Moesche suggests. “Take some time to really hash out the details, make a more concrete battle plan, consider all possibilities —”

“There it is,” Astrid says. Moesche looks up from the dashboard of today’s car and squints into the distance, only to be met with an imposing gray building barely a mile away.

“There it is,” Moesche confirms. Astrid grins manically and steps on the gas pedal. Moesche holds on tight to his seat and mutters a prayer to a god he stopped believing in long ago.

They pull up as close to the building as they can, and when they step out, Astrid all-but sprints to get to the building as Moesche jogs behind her. He expects an electric fence, a pack of dogs, a well-regulated militia to be awaiting them at the entrance of this place. Instead, a door that’s only just pulling through hangs by a hinge that the two of them can push to the side with ease.

“Where do we even begin to look?” Moesche asks, but Astrid pays him no mind. She’s too busy walking towards a large filing cabinet with a stretch of tape covering it labeled ‘CLASSIFIED’. “Oh. I guess that’s a start.”

Astrid wastes no time, ripping the label off hastily and throwing it away with a kind of dying urgency. Moesche stands warily to the side, watching as she opens cabinet after cabinet and sifts through file after file, only to find nothing. He thinks perhaps this is a good thing, that the government is hiding nothing from them after all, that they can pack their bags and get out of here. With time, he could forget this whole trip even happened.

“Oh my god,” Astrid breathes so quietly Moesche almost misses it. She stands over what must be the hundredth file she’s gone through, and by the look of her wide eyes, it seems she’s finally found what she’s looking for. “Oh my god, Moesche. It’s everything I could have imagined and more. You’ve got to see this, this is absolutely —” Astrid voice cuts off as soon as she turns around. “...Mo? Why are you holding a gun?”

“You never should have come here,” is the last thing Moesche says before his fingers pull the trigger. The first bullet hits Astrid’s rib cage; the second bullet hits her head. She falls to the ground, hands splayed in front of Moesche’s feet.

He steps over her corpse delicately, grabs the file from where Astrid had left it, and proceeds to unlock the bottom drawer of the cabinet. There, an explosive awaits him, which he bends down and programs to go off within five minute. He picks up the holo-phone from inside of his shirt, presses two numbers, then holds it to his ear. “It’s done,” he says. He flips the device closed and throws it behind him.

He doesn’t look back.

#m: about #okay so pretend this is good enough to get into the new yorker even though they have like a .0004% acceptance rate for short stories :/#focus on the essence! the vibe! vir's crushed dreams! etc etc #anyway still cant believe i wrote a fictional short story for a fictional character fuck my life

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taehyungiesnoona · 6 years

Text

01 | radiance

⇢ summary: You never had a purpose in life. The night you decided to end it all, you encounter a ray of sunshine that makes you question your way of thinking. Jung Hoseok’s smile is the reason you’re decide to give life a try again.

⇢ pairing: female reader x Hoseok

⇢ genre: angst,soulmate!hoseok

⇢ rating: SFW

⇢ warnings: minimal use of profanity, depression, attempted suicide, Hobi’s smile (yes I’m included this as a warning because we all know what his smile does to us)

⇢ word count : 4k

⇢ A/N: This idea came to me on my way to work and I had to make it a reality. This may be a little darker than what you may be used to seeing in my writing but as I’ve stated many times, I’m trying to write things a bit out of my comfort zone. I hope you enjoy. Happy Reading~

Chapters 01 || 02

»»———— CHAPTER ONE ————-««

Nothing ever mattered.

You were never happy with your life. You never could understand why. Since you were a child, you constantly thought this way. Multiple therapy sessions, several medications you were put on, none of it seemed to work.

Your parents always questioned what they could have done wrong in raising you. For someone who has so much potential in life, why did you only think of the negative? Why did you have nothing to live for?

When you were in elementary school, it was implanted in all the heads of your kindergarten class that each and every one of you had a soulmate. Someone who you were tied to. That once you reached a certain peak in your life, that person would come to you. That peak varied from each person, so it was uncertain of when it would happen. One variable was certain: that each of you would have met your soulmate before you went out into the adult world.

Even with the idea of your soulmate, that was never enough to motivate you. To be quite frank, you hated the idea of being tied to someone you may or may not know. You loved to isolate yourself from others, being alone wasn’t a bad thing to you. In fact, you even worked from home, proving that you indeed refused having to leave the comfort of your bubble.

Occasionally you would skim through social media, the nights were curiosity would bite your tongue and you’d see what your former classmates were up to. As you would scroll down your timeline, post after post would consist of anniversary mentions, wedding photos, baby bumps. All of them signifying that your teacher was right all those years ago. They did meet their soulmates, and they put on display how happy their lives were because of it.

It made you sick to your stomach at their happiness. You were that cold-hearted at times.

Pushing your phone to the side, you threw your body against the mattress below you. Sighing heavily, your thoughts beginning to consume you. It had been some time since you graduated college, and from what you’ve heard, you were the only one from your class that hadn’t met their soulmate. Which you were glad for since you preferred your singleness, a relationship was something you never thought about.

But there were times, like tonight, were you wondered “what if?”

What if you weren’t such a negative person? What if you actually enjoyed this thing called life? What if...you actually like the idea of having a soulmate? If they actually found you? Or took the opportunity to do so yourself? A cloud of questions formed in your head and you didn’t like it one bit.

“Quit!” You yelled, the echo reverberating against the white walls.

The questions in your head wouldn’t stop, the feeling becoming almost crushing as you reached for the sides of your temples, the headache beginning to form. The pain now excruciating but unlike others, you never cried in your life. You dealt with pain in the way you knew best.

To just endure it.

You got up from your bed, walked over to your closet and slid the door open. Examining the different fabrics before yourself, you reach for a pair of skinny jeans that was folded neatly to the side. Exchanging them for the sweats you were wearing, you buttoned them as you made your way to the front door. Though you hardly left your place, on nights like this one, you would venture off to your secret hideaway that you knew no one would be at.

It was a little past midnight so you were okay with walking amongst others, not too many people were out at that time anyways. As you entered into the cool night, you looked up to see the sky painted with stars. A sight that you hadn’t seen in some time. You were unsure of when was the last time you left your apartment. Weeks? Months? You couldn’t think of the answer as you continued to stroll through the night, taking a few glances up at the sky.

An hour had passed as you made it to your destination, a large field in a deserted part of town. Railroad tracks accompanied it alongside an abandoned warehouse. This was your getaway. You discovered this place as an adolescent, one time running away from your parents after yet another one of your “failed” therapy sessions. Though you rarely came out here, this place was nonetheless yours. Everything remained the same as you remembered it from the last time. No traces of other human life could be detected.

Planting your butt down into the soft grass, you sat there legs criss-crossed as you observed the scenery. The night sky looking more beautiful from when you left your apartment. The stars twinkled peacefully as a soft breeze swept your hair up, causing your bangs to fly across your face. Shifting you head in the direction of the wind, your hair now gracefully swayed off your shoulders as you looked in the direction and heard a noise from a distance.

That noise causing a slight smirk to curl up in the corner of your mouth. It was one of the few things that would get some sort of positive reaction from you. For as long as you had been coming to this spot, you always enjoyed seeing the train pass you by. The sound it made as it traveled along the tracks was like music to your ears. And so you sat there, choosing to shut your eyes as the locomotive and its cargo continued its way past you.

The clicking noise the train made as it traveled down the tracks was soothing for you. The headache that bothered you so much in the last few hours was started to subside. Opening your eyes once more, you watched as it continued to make its way past you. Looking at the rail cars pass you by, each one of them sporting a different amount of graffiti to them. Some were pretty bland and boring, mostly derogatory words used in rebellion to something political. Some were pretty neat and very artistically crafted, the murals that must have taken a lot of time to achieve. But there was one rail car in particular that took a high peak of your interest, it was just a simple saying but the font used to achieve it was gorgeous. It stood out to you out of all the pieces of graffiti you had seen to this day. It flew by you so fast but you were able to make out the words scribbled along the metal container.

You never walk alone.

As you eyes tried to keep up with the moving train, you noticed next to the lettering that a couple was drawn out, shown embracing one another. You rolled your eyes a bit, knowing that the saying was to signify a soulmate. The few times you would step out of your apartment, somehow in some way or fashion you would see something about a soulmate. It never failed.

Your body falling back towards the soft patch of grass underneath you, your attention back onto the beautiful night sky above. The train had already completely passed where you were, the silence of the night welcoming itself once more. The occasional cricket chirping was the only sound that could be heard amongst your slow breathing. Everything was back to your liking. By yourself. Nothing to remind you of a soulmate.

And normally you would be able to get yourself to your “normal” self but there was something about that rail car that just wouldn’t leave your mind. What was so special about it that you couldn’t shake it from your thoughts? Why did it continue to linger on your mind? Why wouldn’t it go away? As you reached up your arm to the sky, palm facing towards the stars, you spoke to yourself.

“Who needs a soulmate? I surely don’t. I’ve been doing just fine alone. Let’s keep it that way.”

Turning your palm towards you now, staring at it a bit before shaking your head as some sort of confirmation.

“Yeah...let’s keep it that way.” a hint of uncertainty could be heard in your voice, throwing you off a bit.

You laid there for what seemed like an eternity, but was only two hours. After the soulmate questions were no longer clouded up in your head, you continued to stargaze. Another train even passed you by and before you knew it, you were getting yourself off the ground, dusting off your butt and made your way back to the confinement of your apartment. You almost fell asleep in the patch of grass, but being in your bed sounded so much better.

What you didn’t know was that your life was soon about to take a very drastic turn.

You laid there staring up at the bare ceiling.

It had been a few weeks since you last step foot outdoors, and since that day your life became more of a dark hole than it had been before. Falling into a deep funk, there was no ounce of energy in your body. The feeling that was sprung upon you, was something you never experienced before. A strange feeling and though you weren’t one hundred percent if it was certain, you knew this had to be one thing that you were feeling.

Lonely.

Once you had returned back home that night, you couldn’t stop thinking of that rail car and the image of a couple. Of a soulmate. Your soulmate. And just like before, the never-ending cloud of questions would fog up your head. What were they like? Would they even have the patience to deal with someone as yourself? What was their favorite cereal? The list went on and was very much repetitive. Thus you found yourself that next morning, not wanting to leave your bed. Despite after multiple attempts, you just couldn’t get yourself to. So you laid there, drifting in and out of sleep never paying attention to the time. When you finally decided to check it, you were shocked to see that weeks had flown by like it was nothing. Though it felt like only a few days had gone by.

The ceiling had been the only thing you came in contact with for the most part. Occasionally you would get up to use the restroom, but once done you were back underneath the fluffy comforter, your head molding to the three pillows underneath. Eating was non-existent to you, causing you to lose significant amount of weight. Over the course of those weeks, water was the only thing you were able to stomach down. To much your surprise, your appetite didn’t seem to be a thing either.

Does feeling alone hurt this much?

You thought to yourself as you continued to look up at the white ceiling. Reaching over to pick up your cell phone, you unlocked it to see several missed calls from your parents. Hundreds of missed calls to be exact. Though you barely spoke with them since venturing off into adulthood, you wondered why they were trying so hard to reach out to you. Had your job contacted them since you hadn’t notified them of your sudden absence? Before your thoughts could continue onto their course, you heard a series of knocks from your front door.

Three knocks.

Your eyes moved in the direction of the noise.

Three more knocks. This time a bit more harder.

Still not wanting to move an inch, you laid there.

The knocking continued, nothing could get you up from the spot at which you laid. Not even the husky voice which could now be heard from the opposite side. Your father’s.

“Y/N? Please open the door…”

His voice sounded shaky, faint almost as he continued to knock on your front door. His knocks becoming softer and softer, he finally gave up. You could hear his footsteps due to the thin walls, he stopped half way thru the hall to turn around and knock one final time. This time, you mustered up the strength to pick up your upper half, your palms clinging onto the comforter. Your father’s voice would echo through your quiet space one last time before he walked away completely.

“You’ve always worried me with this behavior of yours….what could I have done better as a father?”

A short breath leaving your mouth, you began to feel dizzy. The room around you spinning in circles. A pain could be felt in your chest, another emotion that was new to you. For the first time in your life, you felt disappointed in yourself. Heartbroken in a sense that your actions had been such a stress on the lives of your parents. It never occurred to you until now.

Thoughts going back to your childhood. How every time your parents tried to set you up on a play-date, you would fight their attempts. Sometimes locking yourself in your room just so you wouldn’t have to leave. The constant arguing you would hear from them, sometimes your mother losing all hope in you and your behavior. But it was your father who would always stick up for you, defending you countless times. Though before you thought nothing of it, it wasn’t until tonight that everything began piling on top of you. Emotions you thought never existed for.

It became extremely overwhelming for you.

Pushing the comforter off, forcing yourself to get out of bed, you headed to your closet. There was only one place you wanted to be at this moment. To be underneath the starry sky while laying in your favorite patch of grass. So these feelings you were unsure of to handle could subside. So you could get yourself out of this funk and back to a normal routine. To get somewhat control back.

Legs feeling wobbly as you slid on a pair of sweats you picked up, you hurried out the front door. Not caring at all the pain emencing from the lower half of your body, you ran into the quiet night. It was colder than the last time you were out, breaths leaving your lips instantly becoming fog. Thankfully you were wearing a long sleeved shirt so the atmosphere around you didn’t affect you too much. But as you continued to run down the dark streets, your chest heaved from the strenuous activity you placed upon it. It didn’t matter to you, you’d throw your body down into the grass once you arrived at your getaway.

It didn’t take you long, much like before, and you were soon in view of your scared field along the train tracks. Once you found a stopping point, you could feel your legs ready to give out at any moment, trembling as they tried to keep your body up. Giving in, you let them give out, spawled your entire body in the grass as you were panting, allowing your tired body to rest as you looked up at the beautiful stars that once again painted the sky.

It never cease to amaze you how gorgeous it looked from where you where, even under the wave of exhaustion that you were currently experiencing. The pallet of grass beneath you felt oddly comfortable as you stretched your arms, feeling your eyes beginning to shut. Should you be falling asleep out in the open like this? Probably not, but you were certain that no one would bother you. No one knew of this hidden away gem that you called your own. So a little snooze wouldn’t hurt. All that running seriously did its number on your fragile body, rest was pretty much essential at this point. And so you allowed yourself to, eyes becoming heavier than they once were as you slipped away into a slumber accompanied by a soft breeze that tickled against your skin.

Once fully asleep, your mind began to do things on its own. Creating images from the back of your head, the thoughts you tried so hard to keep back. You were dreaming but the dream felt very much real. Too real.

It started with you walking through an open space, the location you were unsure of. A heavy fog was amidst as you carefully made your way through. From a distance you could make out two figures. As you neared closer to them, the fog cleared, revealing your parents standing there.

Their facial expressions pained you. The dull looks in their eyes as they stared at you, words never leaving their mouths. You watched as your mother walked away from you father, leaving him utterly alone as he wept.

“Dad…” you whispered as you reached out to him.

Your call never reaching him as he knelt down to the ground, the tears overflowing from his eyes as he held a stack of papers in his large hands.

Walking over to him, you peeked over his shoulder, gasping in the process once you caught sight of what he was holding.

Divorce papers.

Bringing up a hand to your open mouth, you were in complete shock. In this world where soulmates meant your “happily ever after”, there were a few occasions when married couples would split. Though extremely rare, it was possible. Seeing the two people who seemed to be very much in love, your parents, splitting brought you down to your knees as well. The pain aching in your chest, devastation hitting you. It was all too much for you to handle.

Would your parents fall into that statistic?

Your body shook as you gasped for air, revealing the open field around you. Looking in all directions, your heart was racing fast. That dream, no that nightmare was finally over as you forced yourself to wake up. The crickets chirping in the background was the thing to help ease your heart rate. Breathing coming back down to a normal pace, you brought a hand up to wipe the sweat that was present on your forehead. But after feeling something drop from your chin, you hand travels down your face, fingertips resting below your eyes.

“Huh?” you gaped as your finger trailed down your warm cheek.

Tears fell.

So many firsts were occurring tonight. Aside from the newfound emotions, you cried for the first time in your life. And the tears cascading out would not stop. Vision becoming blurry from the water fogging them, you had no will inside of you to make them stop. Some of the tears produced found its way into your gaping mouth, the taste being somewhat salt like. Thinking back on the dream you had just woken from, you questioned your way of life once more

Why am I like this?

Will things ever change for me?

Am I going to be the reason for my parents downfall?

Is this my destiny? My fate to be miserable alone?

Could I be the only one who was never meant to have a soulmate?

Things would be better off without me.

Interrupting your thoughts was the accustomed sound that was the train making its way along the tracks. Its horn sounding faint and distant, but it a matter of minutes it would soon be to where you were. Without any hesitation, your body found itself getting up from the patch of grass that was once your bed. Tears continuing to trail down your cheeks, your eyes stinging now as your legs began to move on their own.

They would be better off without me...

You stepped onto the train tracks, your sneakers pointing in the direction of the incoming train. You weren’t sure why but this felt like the best thing to do. To leave this world alone the way that you had grown to only know. After having that dream, what you assumed to be some sort of vision of your parents, you couldn’t bear to think of the possibility of those two calling it quits.

You didn’t want to be the reason for their falling out. To be honest, you were so consumed with feelings of devastation and disappointment in yourself that it was too much for your mind to handle. A ringing noise that was now taking over your head, the migraine becoming more intense by the second. You were acting on a whim but in your mind, this was the best option you had.

The only option you thought to be feasible.

Underneath the soles of the sneakers you wore, a vibration of some sort could be felt, signaling that the train was getting closer to your location. You closed your eyes as a breeze swept your hair off your back and out of your face, revealing more tears stringing the sides of your cheeks. Though you kept your eyelids shut firmly, you could see the train was nearing, the bright light could be felt against your skin.

You were ready to meet your end.

Taking in a large deep breath, you exhaled slowly, ready to meet your demise.

“I’m sorry..” you whispered as the train’s horn rang through the open field.

A large thud could know be heard as you felt your body being thrown to the ground, the whooshing sound of the train rushing by. Eyes remaining shut, your head bouncing back up from the impact it made against the grass. The ringing sound in your ears was piercing and made you unaware of your surroundings.

Am I dead?

You thought to yourself. But just having the thought confirmed that you were still living..breathing. But the question that bounced around in your head now was how? That’s when you felt heat radiating against your bare skin, breath hitting your smack in the face. A pair of arms were at your side as you slowly opened your eyelids to reveal a man on top of you.

The first thing you noticed was his orange hair, bright and vivid. Catching your breath, your sight trails down to his face. He was completely out of breath, his chest heaving up and down. Sweat was now protruding down the sides of his temples onto the shirt he was wearing underneath his leather jacket. He was looking past you, still trying to catch his breath. That’s when he looked down upon you, the two of you locking eyes onto one another.

Your head began spinning as he looked to you and smiled, flashing his amazing set of teeth. The rush that came over you was one like no other. Colors dancing around in your head, visions once again being shown to you. But not of your parents but with the man that was hovering over you. The two of you holding hands, living life with one another. This euphoric sensation took over you as if you were floating on a cloud. Your life with this man flashing before you.

You shook your head, pushing him off of you. You looked to this stranger in utter shock. What was that you had just experienced? What did he just do to you? The man sat up and dusted the bit of dirt that collected on his jacket.

“Wow, you’re pretty strong” he chuckled as he finished patting his shoulders.

Your eyebrow arched at how optimistic his voice was. The way he talked seemed too casual for your liking, who was this man? The last rail car passed the both of you as you soon realized what had just taken placed. This man, this stranger, stopped you from doing the one thing you were set on doing. He walked over to you, offering an extended hand towards you. Once again he flashed that smile towards you, entrancing you a second time. But you wouldn’t let it get you this time around. Your only reaction was to aggressively swat his hand away, yelling at him in the process.

“Who the fuck are you?!”

[TO BE CONTINUED]

A/N: omg! if you made it to the end let me say, thank you! this was really different to what i am used to writing and i was glad i got to experiment with angst. hopefully it wasn’t too much? as i’m writing this and thinking of hobi’s smile, i am in a daze. ahhhhhh i’m so excited to continue this series. i do hope you enjoy this first chapter! if you’re up to it, feel free to leave feedback, though appreciated, it is not mandatory.

♡ masterlist

#thebtstown #bangtanwriters-net #bangtanbuds #bangtanarmynet #bts fanfics #hoseok fanfic #reader x hoseok #soulmates!au #soulmate!hoseok #sfw #angst

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secondsineternity · 6 years

Text

The Saved - S.R.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x female!reader

Warnings: Pre-Civil War, graphic descriptions of violence, cursing, a bit of self-hatred/self-blaming, brief description of vomiting

Word Count: 1.2K

Requested: Yes

A/N: Surprise, I’m back! Since a bunch of you requested for a part two, here it is! This picks up about right after where The Savior ends. I hope you love this one just as much!

This is part two to The Savior, so please read that if you haven’t already!

There was one thing that absolutely sucked about living on your own: you had no one around to help you when you had a hangover.

You began to regret never advertising for a roommate after you woke up with your head pounding and your stomach not willing to cooperate with you. A sudden surge of nausea had you running to the bathroom, heaving up the contents of what you had consumed the night prior.

“Fuck,” You whispered to yourself as you reached up to flush the toilet wearily. You rested your head on the cool porcelain of the toilet, not in any state to stand up. You rested a moment while you tried to recall last night’s memories.

Drinking, lots of drinking. A really creepy guy who wouldn’t stop hitting on me. Being saved by… by some guy. Fuck, I can’t remember his name…

You squeezed your eyes shut as you tried to remember him, the memories rising from the fog in a hazy flashback. You could remember the clothes he wore and the words he said, but the image of his face, the sound of his voice, and fuck, his name were long gone from your mind.

You, having eventually given up, rose up from the floor and made your way to the kitchen to find some painkillers. Your feet shuffled on the tile as you rummaged through your kitchen cabinets for the pills. Finally finding them, you pulled yourself up on the counter and downed the pills with water.

Leaning your head back against the cabinet door, you closed your eyes, the TV you had left on the night before chattering incessantly on the news and other topics you had no care for. You absentmindedly reached around for a remote to turn it off, not bothering to open your eyes until a particular string of words caught your attention.

“…Captain America, saving hundreds of civilians in the recent attack…”

You opened your eyes to look at the screen. You watched as the broadcaster spoke more on the incident, the screen showing footage of a burning building, citizens running amok and screaming for help, and finally the man who had saved you last night you last night carrying a child out of the fire.

Captain America was the man who had saved you last night.

“Holy fucking shit,” You whispered.

You grabbed your keys and raced out of your apartment, headache and hangover be damned.

- - -

You knew this wasn’t a good idea. You knew that going there wouldn’t be a good idea, but stalking up to the Avengers tower didn’t seem any better.

So here you were. In the exact same bar you were in yesterday. Waiting around for Captain America to show up. Like a fucking hungover idiot.

You had gotten strange looks from the bartenders as you walked in, most of them having seen you here yesterday. You ignored them and sat yourself down in a booth- the same booth that Steve had been sitting in the night before. You cursed yourself for not getting his number last night. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

As you sat and waited for what felt like hours, you scrolled through social media on your phone, ignoring the dirty looks from the hostess when you had only ordered water. You had told her that you were waiting for someone to which she only rolled her eyes and walked off to her other customers.

Sudden screams echoed through the bar, causing you to jolt up. Gunshots rang through the bar and chaos erupted, customers and employees alike ran amok in the bar. You ducked underneath the table, hoping it would hide you away enough. Fire erupted

A face emerged through the crowd and the flames holding a gun with a drunk and malicious smile on his face.

It was the creep you were with last night.

“What the fuck,” you whispered to yourself, your head beginning to spin. You could only watch as the hostess you had spoken to not only moments before slumped down to the floor and curled up, having been shot. Many other bodies were lying on the bloody floor either dying or dead. People you had seen chatting and laughing only moments before.

All at once, the door slammed open and a silhouette ran in. You could barely see through the chaos, but you could hear the muffled sounds of fighting. Soon, you heard a groan and a body slam on the floor. You could see the silhouette begin to help victims out of the bar, and you could hear sirens approaching. The fires were being put out and you began to breathe normally again.

Eventually, when you felt that the dust had cleared long enough, you crawled out of your hiding space and stood uneasy, but a strong arm wrapped around your torso and kept you from falling over.

“Woah,” A familiar voice remarked, a light chuckle rumbling his chest against yours, “Do you come here often?”

You looked up, and proving your suspicions, Steve had saved you again.

No, not Captain America, your thoughts chided, Steve. Just Steve.

“Hey,” you said, suddenly breathless. “I… I-”

“Let’s get you out of here first,” Steve interrupted hurriedly but politely. He scooped you up bridal style and carried you out of the disordered bar.

“It’s all my fault,” You spoke quietly, clinging onto Steve’s arm.

“It’s not, (Y/N). You didn’t know.” Steve assured you as he set you down gently outside the bar. You looked at the aftermath, paramedics rolling stretchers and treating victims, police talking to bystanders and SHIELD agents taking the now handcuffed man away from the bar.

“The premises has been secured and the offender is in custody,” A woman you knew as the Black Widow said to Steve. “We’re thinking that this is the guy who caused the three other fires.”

“Thanks, Nat,” Steve said gratefully. She only nodded to Steve, and then looked at you. She simply gave you a once-over before going to the other SHIELD agents.

“I think she likes you,” Steve said, and you could hear the slight amusement in his words.

“How do you know?” You asked incredulously, “She only looked at me.”

“She would’ve done much worse if she didn’t,” Steve let out a breathy laugh, but his mood turned serious when he looked down at you, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“I’m glad you saved me.” You smiled tiredly and leaned against Steve for support.

“What were you doing in the bar anyway?” He asked as he pulled you closer to him, if only to comfort you.

“It’s really stupid but…” You gulped and looked down at your feet in embarrassment, “I was waiting to see by if some chance… you’d show up?”

“Well, I did,” Steve chuckled, “I only wish it had been under different circumstances.”

“Me too,” You sighed, playfully poking at his arm, “Do you think that was fates’ fucked up way of telling us that we’re meant to be?”

Steve didn’t answer, he only scooped you up in his arms again and began to walk away from the swarm.

“Where’re we going?” You asked, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“On our first date, to a hospital. Then I’m taking you home.” Steve said firmly, then a blush spread across his cheeks, “If you don’t mind, I mean.”

You giggled and leaned up giving Steve a soft kiss on the cheek, making him blush harder. “I don’t mind at all, my savior.”

Want a part three?

- - -

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artificialqueens · 6 years

Text

A Triple A Christmas: Part One (Group Fic) - NymphCAMP

Nymph’s A/N: It’s the festive season aka the best time of the year known to mankind and thus we are writing another continuation in the Mean Queens lives for our best buds/everyone who read and supported Mean Queens this year. This one goes out to the AQ Brits, Doots, Candle, Thursday, Adrian, and HoLA3 <3

Merry Wankmas’ A/N: HEY BABY WHY DONT U BEND OVER AND LET ME STICK A CHRISTMAS TREE UP UR ARSE AND LET ME CALL U ANGEL HOHOHOHOHOHO

Something Sharon would never understand was how people managed to be happy early in the morning. Granted, she’d never been an early riser, so a 7am class that required waking up at 6am wasn’t completely ideal, but she just about managed it. The fact that there were students already out, smiling and singing Christmas songs and throwing goddamn snowballs at each other was mind-blowing.

Sharon had stumbled out of bed, unsure whether she was still drunk or just hungover, and pulled on as many layers as she could find. Of course, naturally, it had fucking snowed and frozen overnight. Just on the way to the main part of campus, she’d slipped over three times and was convinced she’d done permanent damage to her hip. And yet people were smiling, some draping tinsel around random trees, others walking through the snow as though it were nothing. It was disgusting.

Then again, it was fair to say that the closer it got to Christmas, the more pissed-off Sharon became. By December 24th she was usually a downright Grinch. The only difference with this year was that she was erring on the side of Scrooge, and much earlier than usual.

A few scattered voices behind her suddenly burst into song, startling Sharon so badly that she almost slipped again. She caught a few words of the tune, vaguely recognising it but unable to place it in her mind.

Wait.

Christmas sweater?

Two thoughts entered her head; the first of which being why the fuck are they singing Christmas Sweater? No one knew that song. Admittedly, Sharon didn’t even know all the words, and she’d been there throughout the entire writing process and video shoot, laughing at Alaska in the middle of a jumper for three when she stood head and shoulders above both Willam and Courtney. She certainly wasn’t singing it, so there was no reason for anyone else to be. And she knew for a fact Willam would still be passed out in bed, based on the sheer amount of alcohol she’d consumed the night before.

The second was just sheer irritation. Fucking really? IT’S TOO DAMN EARLY FOR THOSE HIGH-ENERGY BITCHES. How had they managed to follow her from home to college? Was this a deliberate sabotage of her only escape from their combined bubbliness?

Too much mulled wine the night before had made very sure that Sharon wasn’t in the mood to even ask why people were singing the AAA Girls fucking song. All she knew was that she was getting away from the festivities, and fast. Fuck Christmas, she had a class to get to. She clamped the cheap earmuffs against her ears and picked up the pace - risking yet another fall on the ice just to get away.

By the time Sharon arrived at the room her first class was held in she’d managed to put the entire incident out of her mind, instead thinking about the incredibly clever way Shakespeare had managed to comment on society at the time without getting arrested, and wondering if she could ever do something similar. Granted, free speech made it much less likely that she would, but damned if she didn’t want to be like her hero.

“Sharon?” the all too familiar voice startled the girl out of her thoughts, and Sharon had to take a second to compose herself before she turned with a forced smile to face the guy who had sat in the seat directly behind her.

“Julian, hi,” Sharon said, her voice as cold as she could make it, praying that he didn’t try anything this morning. It was entirely too early to have to fend off the interests of someone she didn’t even know the last name of, let alone have the energy to give him the time of day.

“Have you seen this video? It’s everywhere,” he continued, pulling out his phone and turning the screen towards Sharon, before lowering his voice. “They’re all really hot,” he added, Sharon rolling her eyes in disgust before turning her attention to the screen, figuring that the sooner she did what he wanted, the sooner she could get him to fuck off and shut up.

To begin with, she didn’t really register what was happening. If she was honest, she wasn’t that interested, nor did she really care. It was just gonna be some annoying viral video that people would quote for months. Besides, it was a guy showing it to her. That was an automatic red flag.

So far, so boring. A regular old guitar riff. A cheap white door in a set that was obviously on a very low budget. A “to-do” list reading xmas lights, AT5000 + CA and douche. Willam appearing through the door. Alaska in those stupid green Christmas glasses-

Wait.

Alaska?

Sharon did a double take. Why was she being shown a video of her friends singing? If this was another one of Julian’s shitty jokes in his attempts to impress her, it wasn’t working. She had been expecting a viral video, not her friends…

“How many views does this have?” She demanded, practically grabbing his phone out of his hands to look for herself. “Where did you even find this?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s all over social media. You haven’t seen it yet?”

Sharon fought back the urge to tell him that yes, she had seen it - several weeks ago when they were filming it and she’d spent the day keeping them company on set, half helping out and half writing essays.

“Seven hundred and fifty thousand?” Sharon hissed, checking and rechecking the view count to make sure she wasn’t just seeing things. And sure enough, every time she refreshed the page it jumped up by a few thousand more.

Julian glanced at Sharon in surprise, not entirely sure why she was reacting the way she was.

“Sure, it’s a viral video,” he shrugged, pulling his phone back off of her. “And I told you, the girls are hot and it’s kind of funny.” Resisting the urge to break his skinny little neck, Sharon grabbed her bags and jumped up out of her seat. Shakespeare could wait, she needed to phone Alaska.

******************

Finding a quiet spot in one of the lesser used buildings, Sharon settled down with her bags piled around her and pulled out her phone. She quickly logged onto twitter and scrolled down her feed, her eyes widening further every time she saw someone retweeting the video, or commenting on it. Julian was right, this was definitely viral. And she didn’t think any of the girls knew anything about it.

Exiting the app, Sharon quickly punched in Alaska’s number and held the device to her ear, praying that the blonde would answer.

“Sharon?” Alaska’s voice sounded from the other end of the line, rougher than usual. Clearly the phone call had woken her up, but Sharon didn’t have the time to worry about the implications of that yet.

“Hey babe,” Sharon replied, before quickly moving forward. “Have you been on twitter yet?” “Twitter?” Alaska asked, her voice tinged with a sleepy confusion.

“Yeah, that app you spend entirely too much time chatting shit on?” Sharon continued, trying not to let her frustration show in her voice.

“I know - no, I’ve not been on it.”

“Babe, you’ve gone viral,” Sharon couldn’t hold in the news any longer, and was waiting for the squeal of excitement from the other end.

But all she got was silence.

“Alaska?”

“Are you- I’ve gone viral? I’ve got a disease?” Alaska’s voice rose several pitches with fear, and Sharon resisted the urge to slap her forehead.

“No, Lask,” Sharon said patiently. “Your video has gone viral.”

Another beat of confused silence. Sharon wanted to scream. This had the possibility of being the big break the girls had been waiting for, and Alaska didn’t even get it.

“Babe, I’ll phone you back,” Sharon said quickly, before hanging up. There was only one person now who could help her capitalise on the success of the Christmas video. Looking down at her phone screen again, Sharon clicked on Jinkx’s name and prayed she was more awake and alert than Sharon’s beloved girlfriend.

***********************

Alaska stared down at her now blank phone, Sharon’s words echoing in her mind. If she didn’t have a disease, that had to mean-

“COURTNEY!” Alaska gathered all of her early morning strength to yell out her friends name. “GET IN HERE NOW!” Willam was a lost cause this early in the morning, but Courtney would be awake, as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as always. Whilst she waited for her friend to appear, Alaska idly clicked onto twitter, her eyes nearly falling out of her head as she saw the number of notifications blinking at her. Scrolling down her feed, their video appeared time and time again, people sharing it and talking about it and talking about them.

This had never before happened to them. They’d done a couple of music videos at this point, released several songs, but the success had been minimal. And if Alaska was entirely honest, mostly their friends. But now - she wasn’t entirely sure how this had happened or where the sudden success had come from, but she wasn’t about to start complaining.

“Lask?” Courtney’s Australian tones sounded from the doorway, her confusion apparent.

“We’ve gone viral!” Alaska almost squeaked, thrusting her phone at Courtney. “Look! People are talking about us!” Courtney’s confusion morphed into excitement as she scrolled through Alaska’s twitter feed. People were tweeting lyrics, sharing the link, even a few online magazines and social media sites were beginning to talk about them. Even just the words ‘Christmas Sweater’ were trending!

“How is this happening?” Courtney asked eventually, passing the phone back over to Alaska and staring at her with wide eyes. Alaska shrugged.

“I don’t know, but it’s so cool. People know who we are!” She squealed, pressing play on their video.

Courtney disappeared back out of the room, presumably to alert Willam to their new status as viral sensations. Alaska turned her attention back to her phone, not able to keep her excitement to herself.

[From: Laskybean. To: Noodles<3]

OMG!!

[From: Noodles<3. To: Laskybean]

I know ! I told you. Yer famous !!

[From: Laskybean. To: Noodles<3]

wait, ur in class ??? stop txting! bad girl

[From: Noodles<3. To: Laskybean]

Stop texting me then ! It’s yer own fault.

[From: Laskybean. To: Noodles<3]

im famous!! u cant blame me for anything

Alaska put her phone aside, hearing celebratory yells from the living room where Willam and Courtney had been camping out. She immediately rolled out of bed, pulling the thinning dressing gown around her shoulders and pocketing her phone, before dancing out the door.

“We’ve made it!”

Willam levelled her gaze at her, laughing at the sheer excitement on Alaska’s face.

“Not yet my overgrown friend. We’ve made it to the internet, people know who we are, but-”

“We have to make the most of this so people don’t forget about us,” Courtney finished Willam’s sentence, having already been given this talk. Despite all Willam’s shortcomings, she had the best business brain out of all of them.

Alaska’s excitement dimmed slightly. She’d forgotten that this would mean that they’d have to work even harder to make sure people kept remembering who they were, but before she could get too maudlin, there was a knock at the door.

“Jinkx!” Alaska grinned as their ‘manager’ stepped through the door, throwing her arms around the older woman. “Have you seen?” Jinkx nodded, bustling over to the small table in the corner of the room and setting herself up with laptop and phone. “Sharon phoned earlier, and my email has been going crazy. We’ve work to do ladies,” she told them, not entirely convinced any of them would be much help.

Alaska grinned.

“We’re famous!”

********************************

Being famous had its shortcomings, Alaska was quickly finding out. Jinkx had put them all to work, inviting Katya, Violet, and Ophelia over to deal with the sheer volume of messages and calls and emails they were all receiving. All of them knew if they didn’t capitalise on this success, and show that they weren’t just a one video pony, they’d fade back into obscurity as fast as they’d risen into the public eye. Luckily for Jinkx, although Alaska, Courtney, and Katya were about as useful as a chocolate teapot and had busied themselves with Instagram stories (which were a lot more fun now people were watching), Willam, Ophelia, and Violet were proving to be a massive help.

“Girls, you’re promoting, right?” Jinkx checked in briefly, nodding over in their direction from where she was sat with the more competent of the bunch.

Alaska nodded. “Sure are!”

As soon as Jinkx was no longer paying attention, she was giggling again. “I love this one. This was… her college stairwell, I think? She wasn’t even drunk here, just tired.”

What Alaska was calling ‘promotion’ was essentially an excuse to scroll through her social media pages and look at all her posts, remembering fun days and happy memories. For the past ten minutes, she’d been giggling hysterically with Katya and Courtney over an ongoing saga of photos of Sharon asleep in odd places and positions, with the occasional snap of Courtney every few minutes so that they could claim they were still working.

She scrolled further and laughed again. “Oh this one is amazing. Definitely drunk-”

Katya was screeching. “Face down, ass up! She’s got class!”

“Girls! Come on you three, get something done.” Jinkx reprimanded gently.

They ended up making Katya film a short segment of them singing, but soon enough had gone back to simply looking at photos, retweeting video links, and making short clips of themselves acting like idiots - telling Jinkx that they were trying to be ‘relatable’.

Despite the utter commotion that had taken over the tiny flat, no one missed the sound of the front door opening, nor the sigh of relief when it shut. Although none of them could see who it was, her trademark loud voice served its usual purpose of announcing her arrival before her appearance did.

“PUMPKIN, I’M HOME!“

Alaska leapt up in the middle of a shot, Courtney grumbling that she’d ruined a pretty photo in her excitement. Moments later, she was dragging a rosy-cheeked, snow-covered Sharon into the living room and practically squealing down her ear.

“Sharon we did it! People are talking about us! They - They like the song, and the video, they know who we are!” She enthused, bouncing up and down.

Sharon couldn’t stay frosty. “I’m so proud of you! I told you your day would come, I always believed in you!”

Still filled with frenetic energy, Alaska busied herself with taking off Sharon’s coat and scarf, dusting the snow off her and chatting away as though there was nobody else in the flat. She was desperate to hear Sharon’s thoughts on everything, her eyes shining at every word.

“People have been singing it on the way to class, and in class too. I think even my professor has heard a snippet of it. Julian tried to show me the video.”

Alaska screwed up her nose. “Fuck Julian. So it’s not just an internet thing?”

Nobody else in the room understood half of the rapidfire speech that the two exchanged, but judging by Alaska’s expression, nothing had put a damper on her mood. She had resorted to dragging Sharon further into the flat, right into the centre of the chaos, and draping herself over her lap.

“I can’t believe we’re famous,” Alaska marvelled, dragging out her words and shifting to rest her head comfortably on Sharon’s thighs. “We’re gonna get paparazzi. People will recognise us!”

Sharon grumbled. “They’re already fucking recognising me, thanks to your stupid photos. Do you know how embarrassing that is?”

Alaska let out a tiny giggle. “From my Instagram?”

“Yes!” Sharon replied, half laughing herself. It wasn’t like she could stay mad - this was the biggest thing that had happened in the career of the AAA Girls so far. She was too excited to be mad. “A group of girls on my course wandered up to me asking if I’m the girl asleep with her ass in the air on the stairwell. Fucking embarrassing!”

“You love it.” Alaska teased. “We’re all gonna be famous! All of us!”

Everybody fell back into their respective groups after the initial shock died down - Katya filming Courtney singing some Christmas classics, Jinkx discussing plans for more recording and possibly advertising with Willam, Violet and Courtney’s sister Ophelia, and Alaska cuddling into Sharon who was mumbling about how proud she was.

“So,” Katya began. “This requires a celebration. We are in the Christmas season and things are going well, so we have to have a party. Who’s down?”

All hands save for Jinkx’s went up. “I think I’m a little too old for that. But have fun! You deserve it.”

Katya clapped her hands together. “Excellent. We need alcohol, warmth, food and more alcohol.”

“I’ll take tonight off work and make cocktails here instead. I’m not going to that shitty bar when I could be here.” Sharon added. “Someone crack open the champagne, we at least have to do a toast before I kick you all out so we can celebrate.”

Violet laughed, pulling out their glasses and champagne as though she lived there. She’d gotten drunk at their flat often enough to know where everything was. Sharon took over from there, having to push a complaining Alaska off of her in order to make use of her bartending skills to quickly fix everyone a glass of bubbly.

“To the AAA Girls!” Someone yelled, holding up their glass. The cheer was echoed, followed by the satisfying clink of the glasses touching.

“I guess Christmas miracles really do happen.” Willam shrugged. “It’s no virgin birth, but it’s a miracle.”

#sharon needles #alaska thunderfuck #katya zamolodchikova #violet chachki #mq ever after #courtney act #willam belli #witney #shalaska #group fic #nymphcamp #rpdr fanfiction #submission

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cophoenixseo · 4 years

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Digital Marketing Company Peoria

On an annual basis Google issues at least five hundred search bot tweaks to its search engine, and with more than 200 ranking factors, keeping track of what is working for SEO is an important task every marketing manager or business owner must be doing.Following is an overview of the ranking factors to keep a close eye on if you desire to be # 1 ranked on Google in Peoria Arizona. To start, learn what SEO can do for your small business website.Video: See what a Peoria premier search engine optimization agency can do for your business. SEO ranking company in Peoria partners with Arizona local business owners who want to improve their position on Google.

Grab a zero cost SEO analysis.

In our experience, an integrated search strategy that uses both search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per click (Pay Per Click) is a highly efficient technique. To assist further inform service owners, executives and marketing directors on the virtues of Pay Per Click and SEO, continue reading for more extremely valuable information as it relates to paid advertising and search engine optimization. To start, Pay Per Click uses laser focused visibility.

Top SEO factors:

# 1 – Optimizing for mobile search is everything.More than 50% of standard searches are now happening on a mobile device. Isn’t it time that you made your site mobile responsive? Do this work, and there is a guaranteed SEO and conversion benefit.Video: Why mobile website optimization matters.# 2 – The value of AMP pages is growing.Accelerated mobile web pages (AMP) allows a website on mobile phones to load more quickly than standard HTML rendered in a mobile browser. Google has been suggesting that AMP compatible websites will perform better in search. Don’t wait, you need to have your website mobile ready with AMP.# 3 – Better design means enriched UI/UX and deeper engagement.Google prefers websites that give search users the best experience, and those which make finding the information the user is requesting easy. If you wish to rank higher in the SERPs, the design of your site is a growing ranking element, and attention should be paid to it. To learn more about the role of video in marketing, watch this video.# 4 – Page load time matters.Be certain that all your images are correctly labeled, and metadata fields such as the ALT tag are completed, the extra time to scale your photos and reduce their size, will be worth the expense. Google increasingly is taking into account website load times, as a condition for ranking. In addition to using a photo optimization solution like JPEGmini, a fast and effective method for reducing image sizes is to make sure that all your images are scaled appropriately. Don’t upload images that are larger than the web design requires. Example- you do not need to use a 1000px tall image if the window in your design only supports 300px.# 5 – Google RankBrain and artificial intelligence now control search.With artificial intelligence behind everything Google does, whether developing self-driving cars or a next generation search engine, AI, starting with RankBrain is the power behind the search engine results pages (SERPs) served by Google. Local Peoria SEO consultants must now invest even more R&D budget to discover the most effective ways to optimize websites for ranking performance and discoverability.# 6 – New content dominates Google.Google is rewarding differentiated content even more than ever. In order to rank rank your business website, you must create captivating, original, good quality text. The days of reposting someone else’s content as a method to drive relevance and traffic, are gone. Google tracks, nearly every website on the Internet, which means, content that is copied or doesn’t add value to a subject will have a more difficult time getting discovered. This fact places pressure on websites to become content creators, which is why marketing teams are investing in content development efforts.# 7 – Longer content ranks higher.If you are still authoring short form posts you should reconsider your approach. Research is showing that Google now rewards posts of 1,500 words and more, with higher rankings. However, in the area of SEO, it can be difficult to make a hard and fast rule on the preferred length of an article that is required to rank.# 8 – SERPs are now factoring in rich snippets, schema, FAQs and pre-populated information fields.For searches where Google can identify common questions, FAQs, or other key information, they are beginning to fill more and more of the home page with data lists, including FAQ blocks so that the consumer can get their question answered without needing to select a search result. For this reason, the correct use of schema on your website must not be overlooked.# 9 – Social variables carry lots of weight with respect to website ranking results.At SEO Ranker Company our team has found that social shares from the referring page are now a top 100 ranking signal. This fact is proven by the sheer volume of rankings that Peoria SEO Ranker Agency has delivered where traffic from social media networks, backlinks, and shares, were demonstrated to be a major ranking factor.# 10 – Voice search and IoT devices will likely remove SERP ranking order at some point.As voice user interfaces are expanding on mobile devices, vehicle infotainment systems with gadgets like the apple iphone, Amazon Echo, Google Home as well as others, more individuals will be getting solutions from a search inquiry expressed by voice. Not just will remaining in the top issue a lot more and now, if you are not in the initial or perhaps 2nd position, you are not going to obtain any one of the search query outcomes.# 11 – HTTPS will certainly come to be important for ranking.Web safety and security professionals see Google pressing HTTPS ever before harder as cybercrime and hacking continue to provide an actual threat to the globe. Google as well has spoken concerning the prioritization of HTTPS in such a method that it can be a ranking factor not to neglect.# 12 – The Facebook search engine will certainly acquire increasingly more individuals.All Facebook customers are using the Facebook search engine. Anticipate this pattern to accelerate as individuals do not wish to leave the Facebook app just to look up something on Google.# 13 – Titles as well as Summaries with better click thru prices will place higher.Google will continue rewarding authors who’ve gone the additional mile to produce appealing titles that obtain clicked. Google is now tracking engagement, click thru prices (CTR) and also time on web page.# 14 – A growing number of users are searching for video clip, infographics, images and also multimedia web content.Individuals are currently coming to be mindful of the indexing capabilities of Google, Bing, as well as Yahoo! – and also they are doing searches for video clips and also scenes inside of videos.Video: See the value of SEO compared to PPC.If you are wondering, “how can I get my website on the first page of Google?” then you will want to read on.Peoria Search Engine Optimization – totally free Google web traffic, is the most inexpensive promo technique for any organisation that delivers their goods and also solutions to local consumers. Just what is better, Search Engine Optimization or Pay Per Click? Honestly, we can not address this inquiry without checking out the business’s objectives as well as objectives.A securely niched down business with little competitors in an extremely tiny solution location as well as a demand for just a couple of leads weekly might create solid visibility in the local as well as organic search results with a fundamental SEO consulting plan.An e-commerce store completing with first web page SERPs from Amazon, eBay.com and other major on the internet sellers, is most likely going to battle in natural search.An electronic advertising and marketing and Search Engine Optimization method with concentrated short- and also lasting goals is necessary. Does your company need leads currently? Exactly what is the paid search (Pay Per Click) cost per click for your targeted search phrases? Does your site have authority? Are you playing the lengthy video game online or seeking short-term results only? Exactly how challenging is your natural search competition?CTR and trust favor organic search, so why would a business consider paid search? Here are a few Pay Per Click benefits:Paid search controls the material are above the fold. In short, on a smaller sized screen, you will not have to scroll to see the ads, but you will need to scroll to see all the natural search listings. Bear in mind that PPC advertisements are just that: ads, which suggests as a marketer you will have more control and space readily available for delivering your marketing messages.Google provides the alternative of a visual shopping advertisement that can assist a user visualize what they are selecting/clicking. This ad type improves greatly the advertisements CTR by offering a function (visual carousel) that is not available in organic search.By running paid search advertisements, you will be seen by the ideal individuals and make sure brand visibility. Furthermore, PPC allows for a much tighter control of the spending plan. Identify just how much you are willing to invest daily and this is all you will be charged. PPC also gives the small business owner a highly targeted method to get in front of possible clients or customers. Organic traffic is a bit more scattershot while advertisements might be targeted by search keywords, time of day they will be served, the day of the week, location/geography, language, gadget and custom-made audiences based upon previous check outs to your website.Establishing a strong organic search presence can take time, making SEO a medium to long variety play. In contrast, a Pay Per Click project can be ramped and return favorable results in weeks. Given that there is no faster method to get in front of your audience than with PPC, numerous business use Pay Per Click while the authority of their site is being built up and SEO tactics take a firmer hold.Where organic search obscures keyword information, there is no restriction with paid search (PPC). Speed offers dexterity and allows rapid feedback on new mottos, messages, product announcements, with the use of brief PPC advertisement campaigns.If you are an organisation targeting a local service location with a restricted set of keywords, you will find that PPC can produce more than enough leads without going over budget. Careful usage of match types and analysis of the search term reports enable for the removal of junk search and an increase in return on investment.The benefits of Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization could not be so apparent, yet they include the following factors of consideration.1. Conversion data from Pay Per Click keywords can be practical to identify the most effective natural search (SEO) strategy.2. PPC can ramp site traffic by targeting clicks in paid and organic for high-performing keywords. E.g. If you are winning the Google AdWords auction and rank in the top 3 SERPs for the very same keyword, you can anticipate approximately 50% or more of the overall search volume.3. A/B screening of Pay Per Click landing page and marketing copy can be fed into your organic listing and landing pages.4. Use PPC to evaluate your keyword technique prior to committing to seo project efforts.5. Talk to users in all phases of the consumer journey from initial item research to the competitive comparison, through to the purchase decision phase, with commercial intent keywords.6. Look big online and increase the confidence and awareness in your brand name and company with a robust organic and paid presence.7. Retarget your site visitors on other properties by using the Facebook and Google pixel on your site. This is an extremely effective technique that permits you to stay in front of visitors to your site even after they have actually left.There are numerous advantages to paid search marketing, but there are also risks marketers need to be cognizant of.1. PPC is fairly simple to copy which means your rivals can quickly imitate your ad copy, images and contact us to actions. Effective Pay Per Click campaign management requires monitoring bids, Quality Scores, keyword positions and click-through rates (CTRs). A few of this work can be done with automation, but no matter the method, you need to ensure that a system remains in location to track this critical info.2. Paid search marketing (PPC) requires an upfront and ongoing financial investment. When you stop paying for advertisements, your lead generation engine immediately stops. There are numerous alternatives offered for PPC that can influence your outcomes. If item listings dominate the screen for the keywords you are targeting; then text based ads may not transform. At the very same time, if you run item advertisements when Google is mainly revealing text advertisements, the odds are good that these ads will also not carry out.For this reason, it is essential to do some research prior to you release your PPC project. Ensure to Google the keywords that you are targeting and be particularly careful to watch what type is being shown. Also, make sure to take a look at the words they are utilizing. Do not copy the advertisements, but you would do excellent to replicate them.Improve search traffic to your company website with SEO.A major reason to purchase SEO is due to the power of search engines to enhance your awareness. If you have exposure in the online search engine results pages (SERPs) for the keywords that you are targeting, this will put your business in front of a tremendously high variety of possible customers. The best way to think of SEO is that SEO drives brand name awareness and is complimentary Google marketing.Branding is another benefit of local SEO because search terms and informational inquiries related to your organisation can have a positive branding advantage. As your brand name is returned in the search results page, it can (and normally will) become more connected with and relied on by searchers, and this will result in a purchase choice. Content marketing is the foundation and foundation of SEO. The more that your content, for this reason brand name, is associated as a professional in your field, location or industry, you will become an authoritative voice which will lead more Internet searchers to discover you and work with your company.Research studies have actually shown that online search engine users trust natural outcomes as being more reliable than paid advertising. Many users skip over the ads and go directly to the organic results as they assume that Google also rates the organic sites more highly. Showing up on the first page of Google will offer your company a stamp of approval that can be the difference between someone clicking your listing (ranking) or your rivals.Do not forget the role that positive evaluations play in getting your target customer to call you. It’s a fact that even if you rank higher than your competitor if they have more stars revealing outstanding evaluations, this can make all the distinction in your conversions. For many service based services, evaluations are essential.search engine optimization increases site traffic as the higher you rank, the more visitors you will have to your site and the more opportunity to own awareness of your organisation. Traffic from organic search is free, establishing visibility takes time and effort, as Google has slowed down ranking results significantly over the last couple of years.As an outcome of the points above, natural search engine traffic by way of seo can offer a better ROI over conventional kinds of paid media consisting of PPC. While search engine optimization is at first not inexpensive or simple, it is in the long run much more cost-effective than the majority of other marketing strategies and delivers more powerful brand name awareness and traffic to your business website. Unlike paid search marketing or Pay Per Click, complimentary traffic from Google does moist up the moment you stop paying.There is a tactical benefit to applying SEO techniques for improving your website rankings due to the fact that once you have actually established yourself in the organic results, your rivals will be not able to purchase their method as they can do with Pay Per Click. Also, a higher portion of users click on the natural results as we formerly discussed. This suggests that SEO will create more clicks from a natural search listing than from a highly positioned paid advertisement. To make the most of exposure and clicks, you will want listings in both paid and natural outcomes. Keyword-level experimentation is had to make certain that you are not spending for clicks that you might get for free, but to take full advantage of results and that is certified leads, some businesses find that visibility in both paid and natural listings are required.Because of the constantly changing and vibrant nature of the web, many company owner and marketing executives discover that working with a professional digital marketing and SEO consultant is the best method for them to make sure the best results. Organic traffic can require time, and the competence had to beat those above you in the SERPs is substantial. Which is why, if you are just beginning, and the keywords you are targeting are currently “owned” by high authority websites, you may need to reconsider your strategy.A proficient SEO expert ought to be able to help your group in establishing content properties to search engine ranking supremacy. A # 1 rated search engine optimization company will show their worth by helping you construct safe, sustainable links so you can attain the site rankings that will propel your company to the next level.Click here to receive a free SEO AUDIT and discover how search engine optimization can impact your business.Watch what local SEO in Peoria Arizona can do for your business website. Watch this video:

Digital Marketing Company Cave Creek

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jonathanalumbaugh · 6 years

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Weekly Digest

Dec 9, 2017, 2nd issue.

A roundup of stuff I consumed this week. Topics this week leaned heavily towards design, design thinking, with a smattering of research methods-related articles.

Read

5 Prototyping lessons from a BMX backflip

The false art of the feed has been deconstructed before (see: the excellent recent expose by The New Yorker’s Rachel Monroe that reveals the depressing reality behind the bohemian #vanlife movement), but less has been said about the deeper effects it’s had on our collective mental health. For designers and other people who work digitally, the so-called “internet effect” goes particularly deep, but just how deep, and what that might mean for our waking life is hard to tell at this point.

10 Creative Women Reveal Their Deepest Feelings in RoAndCo’s New Romance Journal—Here’s What We Learned

Echo’s voice-activated features are great for seniors with dementia:

Instantly answers questions, like “what day is it?” or “what time is it?” — it’s a machine, so it will never get annoyed or frustrated!

Plays music and read audiobooks and the news — no need to fuss with complicated controls

Looks up information about anything — like, “what’s playing on TV tonight?”

AMAZON ECHO FOR DEMENTIA: TECHNOLOGY FOR SENIORS

[Mies Van Der Rohe,] pioneer of modernism discusses the Bauhaus as well as his own individual work, all of it interesting to anyone with an inclination toward midcentury European-American architecture and design, none of it ultimately more relevant than the final words the master speaks: "I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good."

An Oral History of the Bauhaus: Hear Rare Interviews (in English) with Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe & More

Persuasion is at the core of norm creation, emergence of collective action, and solutions to ‘tragedy of the commons’ problems. In this paper, we show that the directionality of friendship ties affect the extent to which individuals can influence the behavior of each other. Moreover, we find that people are typically poor at perceiving the directionality of their friendship ties and that this can significantly limit their ability to engage in cooperative arrangements. This could lead to failures in establishing compatible norms, acting together, finding compromise solutions, and persuading others to act. We then suggest strategies to overcome this limitation by using two topological characteristics of the perceived friendship network. The findings of this paper have significant consequences for designing interventions that seek to harness social influence for collective action.

Are You Your Friends’ Friend? Poor Perception of Friendship Ties Limits the Ability to Promote Behavioral Change

Creation knows no multitasking.

Before I Begin

For decades, policymakers have been concerned that poor people will waste free money by using it on cigarettes and alcohol. A report on the perception of stakeholders in Kenya about such programs found a “widespread belief that cash transfers would either be abused or misdirected in alcohol consumption and other non-essential forms of consumption.”

The opposite is true, according to a recently published research paper(paywall) by David Evans of the World Bank and Anna Popova of Stanford University.

Definitive data on what poor people buy when they’re just given cash

Some blame human beings’ basic optimism, if not egocentrism, for the disconnect between perceived and actual friendships. Others point to a misunderstanding of the very notion of friendship in an age when “friend” is used as a verb, and social inclusion and exclusion are as easy as a swipe or a tap on a smartphone screen. It’s a concern because the authenticity of one’s relationships has an enormous impact on one’s health and well-being...

[Ronald Sharp] recalled the many hours he spent in engrossing conversation with his friend Eudora Welty, who was known not only for her Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction but also for her capacity for friendship. Together they edited “The Norton Book of Friendship,” an anthology of works on the topic. “The notion of doing nothing but spending time in each other’s company has, in a way, become a lost art,” replaced by volleys of texts and tweets, Mr. Sharp said. “People are so eager to maximize efficiency of relationships that they have lost touch with what it is to be a friend.”

Do Your Friends Actually Like You?

Dina D. Pomeranz tweet

The next step is this: you have to commit to make a proportional investment in corrective action at every level of the analysis. So, in the example above, we'd have to take five corrective actions...

Because the most common problems keep recurring, your prevention efforts are automatically focused on the 20% of your product that needs the most help. That's also the same 20% that causes you to waste the most time. So five whys pays for itself awfully fast, and it makes life noticeably better almost right away. All you have to do is get started.

Five Whys

We started with a simple wiki page with a few bullet points of things that new engineers had tripped over recently. As we kept doing root cause analysis, the list grew. In response to Five Whys that noticed that not all new engineers were reading the list, we expanded it into a new engineer curriculum. Soon, each new engineer was assigned a mentor, and we made it part of the mentor’s job to teach the curriculum. Over time, we also made investments in making it easier to get a new engineer set up with their private sandbox, and even dealt with how to make sure they’d have a machine on their desk when they started. The net effect of all this was to make new engineers incredibly productive right away – in most cases, we’d have them deliver code to production on their very first day. We never set out to build a world-class engineering-training process. Five Whys simply helped us eliminate tons of waste by building one.

How to conduct a Five Whys root cause analysis

On social media, it is easy to mistake popularity for credibility, and that is exactly what the fakers are hoping for. To most people, a Twitter account with tens of thousands of followers is an easy-to-read indication of personal success and good reputation, a little like hundreds of good reviews on Yelp or a long line outside a restaurant.

How to become internet famous for $68

It’s important designers aren’t the only people in the product organization to feel responsible for the user experience. I’ve made it a point to work with our field team to get more employees visiting clinics, and looking into ways to make patient stories and issues known throughout the company. I love having a team of engineers who will often jump in and defend our user before I’m even aware of an issue (one developer, in particular, handled a lot of debates against requests for a particular modal, dubbed by him: “the nuclear option.” Knowing he was there to defend the user, I didn’t even need to get involved.)

Interviews aren’t the only way to gain empathy

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Pareto Principle

"I think harm reduction is not giving up on people," said Goulão. "I think it is respecting their timings and assuming that even if someone is still using drugs, that person deserves the investment of the state in order to have a better and longer life."

Portugal’s Example: What Happened After It Decriminalized All Drugs, From Weed to Heroin

The 5 Whys Process We Use to Understand the Root of Any Problem

People are “groupish,” and we tend to form groups automatically. Some have argued that this is due in large part to humans’ tribal past and evolutionary development. Regardless of why we are this way, the descriptive truth is that this is how we are.

The Office Finale’s ‘Miraculous’ Quote — The Scientific Truth Behind It

We share stuff that ignores wider realities, selectively shares information, or is just an outright falsehood. The misinformation is so rampant that the Washington Post stopped publishing its internet fact-checking column because people didn’t seem to care if stuff was true.

The “Other Side” Is Not Dumb

Providing cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to women in rural Pakistan who were suffering from perinatal depression has had persistent positive effects on their mental health, their parenting behaviour and their financial empowerment seven years later.

TREATING MATERNAL DEPRESSION: Evidence of the impact on mental health, parenting, financial autonomy and child development

One useful technique is to map ideas on a risk/reward space. Those that score high on both risk and reward are considered moonshots, the high potential ideas. Ideas low on both risk and reward are safe bets. Moving along ideas in the different quadrants of the risk/reward space (with the possible of exception of high risk/low reward) preserves innovation potential.

When brainstorming fails, throw an imaginary cat

Last month, the Pew Research Center released a study showing that nearly a third of those who went to graduate or professional school have “down the line” liberal views on social, economic and environmental matters, whereas this is true for just one in 10 Americans generally. An additional quarter of postgrads have mostly liberal views. These numbers reflect drastic change: While professionals have been in the Democratic column for a while, in 1994 only 7 percent of postgrads held consistently liberal political opinions.

Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?

A wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. The use of the term "wicked" here has come to denote resistance to resolution, rather than evil. Another definition is "a problem whose social complexity means that it has no determinable stopping point". Moreover, because of hard interdependencies, the effort to fix one part of a wicked problem may open or create other problems.

Wicked problem

Looked at

Satire and Social Activism Come Alive in Images of Death

Watched

youtube

How small a hole can a mouse get through? Experiments.

vimeo

Mies Van Der Rohe - Architecture as language

youtube

Mouse trap maze experiments

youtube

Pride and Prejudice, Antidote and Antivenom

youtube

See How Easily a Rat Can Wriggle Up Your Toilet | National Geographic

Free stuff

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aterryben · 4 years

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15 Things That Will Likely Disappear in the Next 20 Years

Dinosaurs. Latin. Smallpox. Typewriters. Phone books. container tapes. Parachute pants. Pagers. These are simply a couple of the infinite things that wont to be commonplace however has since dwindled, declined, or altogether disappeared. whereas it had been, at one purpose, arduous to imagine a world while not them,

They have been relegated to relics. With a brand new decade on the horizon, one can not help however surprise what is going to be next to slip from presence into oblivion. Here are fifteen predictions of things that may seemingly disappear by the year 2040—if not sooner.

1Credit and debit cards

Next to your permit, your credit and debit cards are most likely the foremost vital things in your pocketbook. Soon, however, the plastic you employ to shop for everything from gas and groceries to vesture and concert tickets can be for good declined. Instead, expect digital payments to dominate. Not solely are they quicker and additional convenient than physical payments—there's nothing to hold, lose, insert, or swipe—but they are conjointly additional secure: Digital payments have intrinsic authentication, monitoring, and encryption that physical payments do not. If you have ever used Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, Google Pay, or Zelle, you recognize the transition is already current.

2Smartphones

Eight in 10 yank adults currently own smartphones. If you are one in every one of them, you most likely think about your phone your lifeline. you employ it to remain connected to your friends and family, to capture reminiscences with photos, to consume news, to order food, and even thus far. however if you think that regarding it, smartphones are not extremely as convenient as they appear. they are massive, as an example—clunky and arduous on each your fingers and your eyes. For that reason, tomorrow's smartphones won't be phones the least bit.

"Carrying around a mobile device could also be a rare sight," predicts Saint Andrew Moore-Crispin, director of content at mobile service supplier Ting Mobile. "Instead, users can be equipped with tiny, connected devices on their head, wrist, etc., permitting them to remain connected and perform each conceivable task while not having to press a button."

3Drivers

Although there is a considerable dialogue regarding once, exactly, they're going to roll into our lives, it's clear to see: Autonomous vehicles are returning. Ford, for one, expects to launch self-driving cars by 2021. therefore will Volvo. Tesla, meanwhile, says it'll have a completely autonomous vehicle by the top of 2020. And BMW and Gottlieb Daimler need to unharness their driverless vehicles by 2024. though it'll seemingly take decades for autonomous vehicles to replace standard cars on roads, it's attainable that drivers—including not solely average, everyday motorists, however conjointly professionals like taxi drivers, truck drivers, and auto drivers—will feel as antediluvian in 2040 as cobblers waste 2019.

4Traffic

Drivers are not the sole things that may go the means of the dodo as a result of autonomous vehicles. therefore can traffic jams, the frequency and severity of that can be greatly reduced by driverless cars that move endlessly and at a continuing speed. as a result of humans ar the leading reason behind traffic accidents, autonomous vehicles would possibly even eliminate fatal traffic accidents.

5Keys

They're significant, bulky, inconvenient to repeat, and simple to misplace. that is why additional and additional folks are putting in electronic door locks that permit them to ditch their keys. With a sensible lock, you'll lock and unlock your door victimization your smartphone—from anyplace. Cars are going keyless, too. Tesla, as an example, has an associate degree app that permits you to unlock you're automotive and begin it victimization your mobile device rather than a standard key or key fob. These days, you do not even want keys (or key cards, rather) for building rooms. It thus appears seemingly that by 2040, you will be able to lose your keys and ne'er trouble trying to find them once more.

6Privacy

In his dystopian novel 1984, Orwell foretold the increase of the police investigation state, whereby citizens' every move is monitored. Seventy years once the book was printed, his predictions feel ominously correct. In major cities, for instance, cameras monitor each crossroad. In sensible homes, cameras associate degreed voice assistants keep an equally open-eyed watch. (Although their makers promise they are secure, there is the reason for doubt.) life science, meanwhile—including facial recognition—is on the increase.

"We board associate degree age wherever digital identification could be a norm and customers appreciate hyper-personalized engagement. For this purpose, constant police investigation compromises sensitive activity information on a day after day, either within the kind of biometric identifications or digital training," says Damien Martin, a promoting govt at reconnaissance professional, a London-based supplier of artificial intelligence-based biometric identification services. "I believe this level of property can place associate degree finish to public obscurity as we all know it."

7Passwords

If there is any shred of privacy left in 2040, here's smart news: you most likely will not have to be compelled to study one more watchword to shield it, as a result of passwords are getting unstylish.

"Today's user authentication ways are getting archaic and impractical for each shopper and businesses," says choreographer Keve, chief revenue officer at Simeio Solutions, associate degree Atlanta-based supplier of identity and access management solutions. "New password-less technologies are commencing to seem … that may facilitate ease the management of authentication and access whereas making certain larger protection of private and company information."

8Cable tv

High costs and poor service ar simply 2 of the many reasons that folks detest their cable TV suppliers. Folks hate cable TV such a lot that solely common fraction of U.S. households presently subscribes it, that is down ten % from simply 2 years agone. of this UN agency have cable TV, one in 5 say they are seeming to chop the wire at intervals a future year. Meanwhile, nearly sixty % of American citizens currently subscribe to a variety of streaming services. alongside Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, there are new entrants like Apple TV+ and Disney+; the previous is anticipated to possess one hundred million subscribers throughout its initial year, whereas the latter attracted ten million subscribers at intervals one day. At this rate, cable's wire can be for good cut well before 2040.

"With the power decide|to select|to opt for} and opt for the TV services you are interested in—and then pick and choose precisely the shows and flicks you wish to watch—paying for a rich, wide TV arrange will not add up," says Or Goren, editor of wire Busters. "Netflix, Disney+ and also the alternative massive ones can become the 'new' cable corporations, however with completely different technologies, and loads cheaper than what we tend to wont to pay the 'traditional' cable corporations."

9Remote controls

Speaking of television: Your device would possibly find yourself within the garbage aboard your cable box because of voice computing. After all, you already will use your voice to vary the channel on your TV victimization your cable provider's voice remote; it's solely a matter of your time before you'll chuck the remote altogether and visit your TV—and the rest you management by remote—directly.

10Plastic luggage

Single-use plastic luggage ar impeding streets, sidewalks, streams, and oceans like hair in a very stopped-up shower drain. In response, cities, counties, and even states have enacted bans designed to rid of the globe of this environmental scourge. though there is the dialogue on the advantage of such bans, the growing urgency of demand world climate action and also the speedy development of plastic alternatives predict a future during which plastic is prehistoric.

11Charging cables

Thanks to wireless net and Bluetooth, you'll connect all of your favorite devices—your laptop, smartphone, printer, sensible speaker, and fitness hunter, simply to call a few—to the net and every alternative while not the necessity for cumbersome cables. If you wish to charge identical devices, however, you will find yourself swimming in cordage. By 2040, the tangled mess in your bag, on your counter, and below your table might finally be unraveled because of omnipresent wireless charging.

"In twenty years, or less, charging cables are a far off memory," predicts Chris Chuang, founder, and chief executive officer of mobile service supplier Republic Wireless. "Everything can all be wireless. No additional checking out missing phone chargers. Also, we're seemingly to appear back at this point and tease however the short battery life was for electronic devices. I predict a breakthrough with a charge lasting quite each day or 2."

12Checkout counters and cashiers

Amazon is that the company equivalent of an orb. Its on-line bookshop foreshadowed the increase of e-commerce, its Prime service helped popularize streaming media, and its Echo home assistant ushered in a very new era of sensible home technology. Amazon yet again donned its illusionist hat in 2018, once it debuted its Amazon Go chain of checkout-free convenience stores. rather than waiting in checkout lines and paying cashiers, customers scan their smartphones upon coming into, obtain their desired things, then merely exit the shop, at that purpose Amazon—which uses in-store sensors to trace purchases—automatically charges their Amazon account. If the remainder of the retail business follows Amazon's lead, checkout counters, money registers, and cashiers all can be extinct by 2040.

13Brick-and-mortar banks

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of American citizens access their bank accounts most frequently via online or mobile channels, in step with the yank Bankers Association, that says just one in six (17 percent) accesses them most often via a physical bank branch. It ought to return as no surprise, then, that banks are closing branches at a speedy clip. though that does not mean banks can disappear, it can be a signal that their physical premises can. Of course, some innovative banks could also be able to save their branches by reinventing them. It appears even as seemingly, however, that by 2040 the sole banks left are digital ones.

14Farmers

Us wont to be blanketed with family farms. Now, it's made-up of urban development and community sprawl. Between 1992 and 2012 alone, the state irreversibly lost nearly thirty-one million acres of farmland to development. that is like losing most of Iowa or big apple. Since then, of course, the bulldozers have unbroken on bulldozing—and therefore, ironically, have farmers, whose work has scoured soil such a lot that it's depleted a 3rd of the world's cultivatable land within the past forty years. If development and agriculture still cannibalize farmland, farms as we all know them would possibly stop to exist. rather than sprawling fields with rows of crops picked by hand, imagine big warehouses full of food that is big vertically below artificial lights and harvested by robots. If you raise indoor farmers, it is not simply possible; it's probable.

15Glaciers

Just this year, Iceland aforementioned good day to Okjökull, its initial ice mass lost to the worldwide climate crisis. at the same time, heat temperatures caused Kalaallit Nunaat to lose twelve.5 billion heaps of ice in a very single day. If global climate change continues at its current rate, scientists predict Arctic summers can be nearly iceless by 2040.

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batterymonster2021 · 5 years

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The price of shame | Monica Lewinsky

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-price-of-shame-monica-lewinsky-7/

The price of shame | Monica Lewinsky

You’re watching at a girl who was publicly silent for a decade. Obviously, that is transformed, but most effective not too long ago. It used to be several months ago that I gave my very first principal public talk on the Forbes 30 beneath 30 summit: 1,500 exceptional humans, all underneath the age of 30. That supposed that in 1998, the oldest among the many staff have been only 14, and the youngest, simply 4. I joked with them that some could simplest have heard of me from rap songs. Yes, i am in rap songs. Almost 40 rap songs. (Laughter) however the night time of my speech, a stunning thing happened.On the age of 41, I was once hit on through a 27-12 months-ancient guy. I do know, correct? He was once charming and i was flattered, and i declined. You already know what his unsuccessful pickup line used to be? He would make me think 22 once more. (Laughter) (Applause) i noticed later that night, i’m ordinarily the only person over 40 who does now not wish to be 22 again. (Laughter) (Applause) on the age of twenty-two, I fell in love with my boss, and at the age of 24, I realized the devastating consequences. Am i able to see a exhibit of fingers of anyone here who failed to make a mistake or do whatever they regretted at 22? Yep.That is what I suggestion. So like me, at 22, a couple of of you could have additionally taken flawed turns and fallen in love with the unsuitable person, possibly even your boss. Unlike me, though, your boss by and large wasn’t the president of the united states of america. Of path, existence is filled with surprises. Not a day goes by using that i’m not reminded of my mistake, and that i remorse that mistake deeply. In 1998, after having been swept up into an unbelievable romance, I was once then swept up into the attention of a political, authorized and media maelstrom like we had not ever obvious before. Take into account, only some years earlier, information used to be consumed from just three places: reading a newspaper or magazine, paying attention to the radio, or watching television. That was once it. However that wasn’t my destiny. As an alternative, this scandal was once brought to you via the digital revolution.That meant we could entry all the information we wanted, once we wanted it, each time, wherever, and when the story broke in January 1998, it broke online. It used to be the first time the normal information used to be usurped through the web for a foremost news story, a click on that reverberated all over the world. What that meant for me personally was that overnight I went from being a utterly private determine to a publicly humiliated one international.I used to be patient zero of dropping a private repute on a world scale nearly immediately. This rush to judgment, enabled by using science, resulted in mobs of virtual stone-throwers. Granted, it used to be earlier than social media, but men and women would still remark online, e-mail stories, and, of path, electronic mail merciless jokes. News sources plastered pictures of me far and wide to sell newspapers, banner advertisements on-line, and to hold persons tuned to the tv. Do you recall a exact photograph of me, say, sporting a beret? Now, I admit I made errors, certainly sporting that beret. However the awareness and judgment that I acquired, not the story, but that I individually received, used to be unparalleled.I was branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo, and, of course, that lady. I was seen by way of many however surely known via few. And that i get it: it was once effortless to put out of your mind that that woman used to be dimensional, had a soul, and was once unbroken. When this occurred to me 17 years ago, there was once no identify for it. Now we call it cyberbullying and on-line harassment. Today, I need to share a few of my experience with you, speak about how that experience has helped shape my cultural observations, and how i’m hoping my prior expertise can lead to a transformation that outcome in much less suffering for others. In 1998, I misplaced my status and my dignity. I lost just about everything, and i virtually lost my life. Let me paint a photo for you. It’s September of 1998. I’m sitting in a windowless place of business room inside the office of the independent suggestions underneath buzzing fluorescent lights. I am listening to the sound of my voice, my voice on surreptitiously taped mobile calls that a supposed buddy had made the year earlier than. I am here due to the fact i’ve been legally required to personally authenticate all 20 hours of taped dialog.For the earlier eight months, the mysterious content material of those tapes has hung like the Sword of Damocles over my head. I mean, who can don’t forget what they mentioned a year in the past? Scared and mortified, I pay attention, hear as I prattle on about the flotsam and jetsam of the day; hear as I confess my love for the president, and, of direction, my heartbreak; take heed to my routinely catty, normally churlish, sometimes silly self being merciless, unforgiving, uncouth; hear, deeply, deeply ashamed, to the worst version of myself, a self i do not even appreciate.A few days later, the Starr report is launched to Congress, and all of those tapes and transcripts, those stolen phrases, kind a part of it. That persons can learn the transcripts is horrific enough, however a few weeks later, the audio tapes are aired on tv, and big parts made on hand on-line. The public humiliation was once excruciating. Lifestyles was just about unbearable. This was once no longer something that occurred with regularity back then in 1998, and via this, I imply the stealing of individuals’s personal words, actions, conversations or graphics, and then making them public — public without consent, public without context, and public with out compassion.Fast ahead 12 years to 2010, and now social media has been born. The panorama has alas become way more populated with situations like mine, whether or not someone virtually make a mistake, and now it can be for both public and exclusive individuals. The penalties for some have turn out to be dire, very dire. I was once on the cell with my mom in September of 2010, and we had been speakme concerning the information of a young school freshman from Rutgers university named Tyler Clementi. Sweet, touchy, ingenious Tyler was secretly webcammed by using his roommate at the same time being intimate with an additional man. When the online world realized of this incident, the ridicule and cyberbullying ignited. Just a few days later, Tyler jumped from the George Washington Bridge to his loss of life. He was once 18. My mother was beside herself about what occurred to Tyler and his household, and she or he was once gutted with affliction in a way that I just couldn’t really recognize, and then eventually i spotted she used to be reliving 1998, reliving a time when she sat via my mattress each night time, reliving a time when she made me bathe with the lavatory door open, and reliving a time when both of my father and mother feared that i would be humiliated to demise, actually.Today, too many mother and father have not had the hazard to step in and rescue their cherished ones. Too many have learned of their baby’s suffering and humiliation after it was too late. Tyler’s tragic, senseless death was once a turning point for me. It served to recontextualize my experiences, and i then began to appear on the world of humiliation and bullying around me and see some thing distinctive. In 1998, we had no approach of figuring out where this brave new technological know-how referred to as the web would take us. On account that then, it has related individuals in unattainable approaches, becoming a member of misplaced siblings, saving lives, launching revolutions, however the darkness, cyberbullying, and slut-shaming that I skilled had mushroomed. Daily on-line, persons, in particular younger folks who are usually not developmentally organized to manage this, are so abused and humiliated that they can’t imagine living to the next day to come, and some, tragically, don’t, and there may be nothing digital about that.ChildLine, a U.Okay. Nonprofit that is enthusiastic about serving to young humans on more than a few problems, launched a striking statistic late final year: From 2012 to 2013, there was an 87 percentage increase in calls and emails regarding cyberbullying. A meta-analysis executed out of the Netherlands showed that for the primary time, cyberbullying used to be main to suicidal ideations more drastically than offline bullying. And what stunned me, despite the fact that it do not have, was once different research final yr that determined humiliation used to be a more intensely felt emotion than either happiness or even anger.Cruelty to others is nothing new, however on-line, technologically improved shaming is amplified, uncontained, and completely available. The echo of embarrassment used to prolong best as far as your loved ones, village, institution or community, but now it is the web neighborhood too. Hundreds of thousands of people, traditionally anonymously, can stab you with their words, and that’s a lot of discomfort, and there are not any perimeters round what number of individuals can publicly notice you and put you in a public stockade. There’s a very personal price to public humiliation, and the progress of the internet has jacked up that price. For close to two a long time now, we now have slowly been sowing the seeds of shame and public humiliation in our cultural soil, both on- and offline.Gossip web pages, paparazzi, reality programming, politics, information retailers and sometimes hackers all site visitors in shame. It is led to desensitization and a permissive environment on-line which lends itself to trolling, invasion of privateness, and cyberbullying. This shift has created what Professor Nicolaus Mills calls a culture of humiliation. Do not forget just a few distinguished examples simply from the past six months on my own. Snapchat, the service which is used in general by way of more youthful generations and claims that its messages only have the lifespan of some seconds. That you may imagine the range of content that that will get. A third-social gathering app which Snapchatters use to maintain the lifespan of the messages was once hacked, and a hundred,000 private conversations, portraits, and movies were leaked online to now have a lifespan of without end. Jennifer Lawrence and a number of different actors had their iCloud debts hacked, and confidential, intimate, nude graphics were plastered across the internet without their permission. One gossip internet site had over 5 million hits for this one story. And what concerning the Sony photographs cyberhacking? The documents which bought probably the most concentration were confidential emails that had highest public embarrassment value.However in this culture of humiliation, there is an extra form of price tag connected to public shaming. The price does now not measure the rate to the victim, which Tyler and too many others, in particular ladies, minorities, and contributors of the LGBTQ community have paid, however the price measures the profit of individuals who prey on them. This invasion of others is a uncooked fabric, effectually and ruthlessly mined, packaged and bought at a revenue. A marketplace has emerged the place public humiliation is a commodity and shame is an industry.How is the cash made? Clicks. The extra disgrace, the more clicks. The extra clicks, the extra advertising bucks. We’re in a harmful cycle. The extra we click on this kind of gossip, the extra numb we get to the human lives at the back of it, and the extra numb we get, the more we click on. The entire even as, anyone is being profitable off of the back of anyone else’s suffering. With every click on, we make a choice. The extra we saturate our culture with public shaming, the more authorised it is, the more we will see habits like cyberbullying, trolling, some varieties of hacking, and online harassment. Why? Because all of them have humiliation at their cores. This conduct is a symptom of the culture now we have created. Simply suppose about it. Changing behavior starts offevolved with evolving beliefs. Now we have visible that to be proper with racism, homophobia, and plenty of other biases, today and in the past. As we have now transformed beliefs about equal-intercourse marriage, more men and women were furnished equal freedoms. When we started valuing sustainability, more people started to recycle. So so far as our culture of humiliation goes, what we want is a cultural revolution.Public shaming as a blood game has to stop, and it can be time for an intervention on the net and in our tradition. The shift starts offevolved with anything easy, but it surely’s now not easy. We must return to an extended-held price of compassion — compassion and empathy. Online, we have received a compassion deficit, an empathy drawback. Researcher Bren Brown mentioned, and i quote, "disgrace cannot survive empathy." disgrace cannot live on empathy. I’ve obvious some very dark days in my lifestyles, and it was once the compassion and empathy from my family, buddies, experts, and usually even strangers that saved me. Even empathy from one individual could make a difference. The idea of minority influence, proposed through social psychologist Serge Moscovici, says that even in small numbers, when there may be consistency over time, trade can happen. In the online world, we can foster minority impact by becoming upstanders. To turn out to be an upstander way as an alternative of bystander apathy, we will submit a confident remark for any individual or document a bullying quandary. Trust me, compassionate comments support abate the negativity. We are able to also counteract the culture through supporting firms that deal with these types of disorders, like the Tyler Clementi foundation in the U.S., in the U.Ok., there’s Anti-Bullying professional, and in Australia, there is undertaking Rockit.We talk so much about our right to freedom of expression, but we need to speak extra about our accountability to freedom of expression. We all wish to be heard, however let’s acknowledge the change between talking up with intention and speakme up for concentration. The web is the superhighway for the identity, but online, showing empathy to others benefits us all and helps create a safer and better world. We have to keep in touch on-line with compassion, consume information with compassion, and click on with compassion. Simply think running a mile in any individual else’s headline. I’d like to end on a individual note. In the past nine months, the question i have been asked essentially the most is why. Why now? Why was I sticking my head above the parapet? Which you can learn between the strains in those questions, and the reply has nothing to do with politics. The highest word answer was and is considering that it’s time: time to discontinue tip-toeing round my prior; time to stop residing a life of opprobrium; and time to take back my narrative.It is also now not just about saving myself. Anyone who’s affected by shame and public humiliation wants to understand one factor: that you could live to tell the tale it. I realize it’s rough. It might not be painless, quick or easy, however you could insist on yet another ending to your story. Have compassion for your self. All of us deserve compassion, and to are living both online and off in a more compassionate world. Thank you for listening. (Applause) .

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news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog · 5 years

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The Hostess Snacks Instagram account dedicated to weird memes is actually good

Even Twinkies are wearing AirPods these days.

And that's because whoever is behind the Hostess Snacks' Instagram page is a meme genius. A very kooky, imaginative genius. Or maybe geniuses? OK, it must be a panel of geniuses, eating Twinkies while Photoshopping AirPods onto Twinkies. Right?

View this post on Instagram

What?… Like you’ve never seen a Twinkie with AirPods before 😏 #SorryNotSorry ... #Airpods #Apple #Music #Superior #Trending #EarCandy #TrendSetter #Twinkies #Snack #Tech

A post shared by Hostess Snacks (@hostess_snacks) on Jan 15, 2019 at 9:06am PST

SEE ALSO: You can now wear avocado toast on your feet for $130

The popular pastry-snack company has a very interesting presence on Instagram. They post daily photos of their classic pastries in whacky scenarios to their 123,000 followers, who are literally hungry for the content.

Like a candy shop, their Instagram feed is colorful and full of things the dentist wouldn't approve of. But it's also full of images that look like things you'd encounter in a post-birthday-cake fever dream. Regular things, like car tires and snow boots, are rendered to resemble Hostess's famous pastries instead. And their followers eat it up. Comments from fans range from, "you certainly know how to catch my eye" to light-hearted confusion.

Image: hostess snacks / instagram

After struggling with bankruptcy in 2012, the giant snack company made a splashy return a year later. 100 million Twinkies, CupCakes, and Donettes hit shelves within the first two weeks of their comeback, prompted by public demand. "...Hostess has a very exciting future," said Dean Metropoulos, the company's CEO in a press release.

Regardless of the company's business, the Hostess Snacks Instagram account is thriving. I'd be lying if I said that scrolling through the absurdly wonderful page didn't invoke both hunger and nostalgia in me. But who is behind it all? The processed-sugar-craving 7-year-old in me needed to know.

View this post on Instagram

Double stack of Double Chocolate Donettes. This is when a double mouth comes in particularly handy. ... #Double #Chocolate #Donuts #Fun #Chocoholic #Snacks #SnackTime #More #Need #MustHave #Craving #Cravings #LoveChocolate

A post shared by Hostess Snacks (@hostess_snacks) on Feb 17, 2019 at 4:27pm PST

A little bit of sleuthing led me to the creative masterminds behind the weirdest corporate page on Instagram. Hostess Snacks works closely with Tattoo Projects, an ad agency in Charlotte, North Carolina, to ensure that their social media presence is as delicious as the Donettes and Ding Dongs they sell.

Buffy Kelly is the creative director and president of Tattoo Projects. I caught up with her about how the Twinkie magic is made for the ‘Gram. She’s been entrusted with the task of creating a “fun brand voice” for Hostess— and along with two other designers— she’s doing just that. She’s quick to mention that it takes a small village to pull the whole operation off without a hitch, though.

“The actual creative work is just one part... don’t forget the strategy, account service, analytics, community management, and client partnership. It’s a huge team effort, and makes the feed what it is,” Kelly told Mashable via email.

View this post on Instagram

“You M U S T try Twinkie No. 5.” #NationalFragranceDay @chanelofficial @sephora ... #Hostess #Yummy #SnacksOnSnacks #Snacky #Twinkies #Perfume #Smells #MustHave #No5 #Fragrance #TryIt

A post shared by Hostess Snacks (@hostess_snacks) on Mar 21, 2018 at 6:05am PDT

Tattoo utilizes monthly content calendars in order to develop a sweet social strategy. Though they focus on their target audience and the products they want to promote the most — obviously Twinkies — they also leave room for spur of the moment ideas based on trend reports.

“We’ll see or hear something cool and text each other in the morning and say something like, ‘Bring your martini shaker and a leaf blower, I have an idea!’” Kelly says.

That’s how they came across the somewhat-dubious Vans challenge. Naturally, the viral trend was ripe for the addition of Twinkies flying through the air. Essentially, the phenomenon began when Twitter user @lanacutherlip posted a video showcasing the fact that no matter how they tossed their Vans shoes, they always landed right side up.

Capitalizing on the trend, Hostess posted this:

View this post on Instagram

#VansChallenge Hostess style 😎 ... #Vans #Challenge #Twinkies #HoHos #CupCakes #Shoes #Trending #Trend #Snack #Style #Throw #Winning #Sneakers #Kicks #VansOldSkool #Experiment #Testing #Truth #Believe #Whoa #Seriously

A post shared by Hostess Snacks (@hostess_snacks) on Mar 5, 2019 at 2:57pm PST

Of course this isn't first time we've seen brands leveraging their social media followings to appeal to a younger, more internet-savvy demographic. It's practically necessary in 2019.

The fast food chain Wendy's has most famously developed a social media voice that registers with their followers; it's snarky and quick, easily retweet-able. Sometimes, it's downright brutal.

Anybody: *says literally anything at all* Me: https://t.co/tBpRnN7FWb

— Wendy's (@Wendys) March 9, 2019

Instead of taking the all-too-generic route of emulating Twitter culture, Hostess has developed a unique social media strategy that puts its products front and center without sounding like an echo chamber. The latter of which is more suitable for sharing burger deals, anyway.

Keith Peterfeso, Hostess’s brand director, works directly with the team at Tattoo. He describes the company’s social media presence as “deliciously unapologetically irreverent." Peterfeso's job is to oversee everything that Tattoo is producing and to make sure they’re highlighting specific products, especially during the launch of a new snack.

For instance, when Suzy Q cakes were re-released with 50 percent more cake and 50 percent more cream, he made sure at least one post a week was dedicated to conveying that information. Of course, pair that information with Kelly's vision, and well, it becomes messaging that works on a content crazed consumer base.

View this post on Instagram

Enter to win a free Suzy Q jetpack. Disclaimer: There is no such thing as a Suzy Q jetpack. We’ll stick to the 50% more cake and 50% more crème in these bad boys. ... #Chocolate #Cake #Fast #JK #Jet #JustKidding #Joke #Wish #Need #Want #MustHave #BlackFriday

A post shared by Hostess Snacks (@hostess_snacks) on Nov 23, 2018 at 7:05am PST

“At the end of the year, Suzy Q had grown over a hundred percent from what it had been the previous year,” Peterfeso says. His enthusiasm matches that of the many people buying Hostess Snacks. “We also just put out a great product,” he chuckles.

But it's not all about just posting fresh new memes, Kelly shares that follower engagement is a huge priority. She says they respond to about 6,000 comments each month. And they always manage to turn these quick digital exchanges into friendly banter revolving around the snack-in-question, no matter what people are saying.

Image: hostess snacks / instagram

"It’s our job to create conversations, entertain and engage people with the fun of Hostess," Kelly said.

Image: hostess snacks / instagram

Kelly notes there’s no shortage of inspiration when it comes to mining Hostess Snacks for content. In a time when pop culture and consumerism are so intertwined, they've done a solid job of incorporating memes of the moment into their content rolodex. By doing so, the creative team has cemented their position as a relevant brand in a saturated market.

“There are enough funny ideas around here that we could be posting several times a day,” Kelly said.

View this post on Instagram

Come play with us. #Twinkies for #Halloween.

A post shared by Hostess Snacks (@hostess_snacks) on Oct 24, 2013 at 1:36pm PDT

Over the three years that Tattoo has been working with Hostess, a cornucopia’s worth of whacky branded content has been posted consistently. Peterfeso says his favorite from the page is an ode to Game of Thrones involving Sno Balls, one of the company’s famous treats. Kelly leans towards the whackier side, citing a photo of a woman with Twinkies for lips as one of her favorites.

But the creative director doesn’t rule out the future of Twinkie content and the multitudes it contains: “Who knows what we’ll come up with this week ...”

WATCH: Deep-fried Twinkies are coming to a freezer near you

#_uuid:016553b8-194e-3a4d-8f45-44c6cd047695 #_category:yct:001000002 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_author:Harry Hill #_revsp:news.mashable

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unixcommerce · 4 years

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Dave Isbitski of Amazon: Voice Tech Knows No Generational Bounds

In 2016 I did my first presentation on Amazon Alexa and Echo, and at the time there were about 700 skills available. Today there are over 100,000. And hundreds of millions of Alexa-enabled devices. So, since most of us are spending more time than ever in our houses, I wanted to catch up again with Dave Isbitski, Amazon’s Chief Evangelist for Alexa and Echo.

In a pretty extensive chat we had on LinkedIn Live recently, Dave shares some of the stories of how people are using Alexa/Echo and smart assistants in general during the Covid-19 pandemic, why he thinks voice technology is uniting generations, and how he sees voice playing a major role in the PC (Post Covid) era.

Below is an edited transcript of a portion of our conversation. To hear the full convo click on the embedded SoundCloud player.

smallbiztrends · Dave Isbitski of Amazon – Voice is first technology my parents are as excited about as my kids

Small Business Trends: How far have things come with Alexa and Echo devices?

Dave Isbitski: In 2014, if I would say, who has an Echo? I had to explain what that even was. Now in 2020, most people know what Echo is. I mean, there’s even the Saturday Night Live skit. They get what Alexa is. They probably have multiple devices. They’re just smart assistants and AI across the board. That’s really changed as part of the vernacular. It’s part of people’s daily routines.

What people may or may not know is that you have the ability to teach these AIs. So it’s just not Alexa, it’s any of these smart assistants. What we do at Amazon is we make that free, open and available for everyone. So whether they want to have Alexa in things, so that could be automobiles, it could be car stereos, it could be your phone. Windows has Alexa built in now, or you want to teach Alexa how to have conversations about things.

And when you have a conversation about something, we call that a skill. So you’re teaching Alexa a new skill and you can have a conversation about anything. And that could be stuff like ordering your Domino’s right now, right? When we’re sitting at home in a pandemic, they deliver. You could do an easy order or it could be just pulling up games. Just go to Amazon… If people are curious, because I do hear from people that are, “Hey, my kids are driving me crazy. Are there games?” There absolutely are games. Go to amazon.com/skills. You’ll see categories up there, Brent, that we didn’t have like a while ago. So you’ll see all these categories, just like any other Amazon product, you can sort, you can say, show me four stars and above ratings. Some of these have tens and tens of thousands of ratings now.

One of the things you can do right now as an Amazon customer is you can go to blueprints.amazon.com and you can create these things visually. So I hear from parents their kids are creating their own stories.

Small Business Trends: Yeah.

Dave Isbitski: Maybe you’re taking care of someone else who’s at home. You want to remind them to do things. You want to create the ability for them to ask questions. Like what medication do I take? What time do I take it? All of those you can do and then you can assign it to their Amazon account.

I’ve done that for my parents, where I’ve set up things. And so that’s something where we’ve tried to create the process as seamless as possible for you to start teaching Alexa to be able to have conversations, to create content you want, whether you have the ability to write code or not.

Small Business Trends: Are you seeing a lot of behavioral changes and folks leveraging their speakers to do things that they just weren’t really doing before?

Dave Isbitski: Well, one of the things I hear and you’ll see this online, you may even see this come across in your Facebook feeds and Twitter is that it’s so important to connect during all this. We actually have… We try once a week to connect with my parents over video, just to see. And one of the things we consistently hear… If you go here. That’ll take you to a blog post around Alexa and devices, and what’s going on. You’ll hear us talk about some of this.

I don’t think this was available when we last talked, but a popular feature is the ability to drop in. And so you set up people in your life and then they just say, “Alexa, drop in on grandparents.” Or “Alexa drop in on mom.” Or “Alexa drop in on kids.” And it’s incredible how seamless that becomes. And especially during this pandemic is the ability to just communicate like that without needing a phone, without updating apps, right? This is an experience. It’s just there. And voice is seamless. It’s inclusive. Everybody can do it. Voice is the first technology my parents are as excited as my kids are, right? And my dad still doesn’t use a computer, but he can pull up things on-

Small Business Trends: Really?

Dave Isbitski: Yeah, I know it’s crazy, right? Both my brother and I are tech, my mom prints out emails for him. He never logs… Yeah. But I was talking about where we’ve donated these devices in the hospitals and people have the ability to just talk through at any time and connect, right? Because you’re not touching it either, which is an important thing. We’ve been giving them to hospitals where nurses have the ability to check in and talk through that, all completely hands-free.

I was just talking to the folks at Johns Hopkins. And I won’t mention his name. He’s a surgeon out in New York. And it was very heartwarming. He just said, “I just want to thank you. Two years ago, my mother, she had dementia and Alzheimer’s and we used Alexa all the time. She had the ability to call for help. She had the ability to call us at any time. And it’s the way that we were able to communicate with her.”

So a couple of things we added. One of the themes is feedback from customers about making Alexa more personal. For example, anybody at any time, you can just tell Alexa to remember things, which is the first thing I did was remember the Wi-Fi password, right? And so if we have guests over, they can be like, “What’s the wifi password?” Right. And she can tell you, or it could be things like for my parents to remember dates and birthdays and things like that.

We all have different personalities. If you go look at Myers-Briggs, if you look at NBTI and five core personality types, like I’m in INFJ. I don’t know if you’re familiar with those types. A lot of times I can’t get out of my own head, but I can juggle multiple ideas in my head. I can live in cognitive dissonance. Other people aren’t like that. And mobile and web is one size fits all. It’s like, here’s our design. And if you don’t like it tough, and then we train our brains, right? We build up these neural pathways and how to use an interface. And then if you change that interface, it’s staggering to people. If one of these social media sites changes the way their feed looks every day.

Small Business Trends: Right.

Dave Isbitski: What’s great about voice is it could be the way that you want to consume that. You can decide what type of person you want to hear. In fact, we have a service called Polly Brand and it creates voices. KFC, we worked with them and you can get the Colonel’s voice. This is my absolute favorite is right today, with the Alexa device, you can say, “Ask Sam.” So Samuel L. Jackson, and he’ll tell you weather and jokes. And all of that is using a technology called Neural TTS (text to speech), right?

There was a breakthrough using neural nets in order to reproduce sound. So now through Neural TTS, if you use a computer and you’ll look at it that it’s computer generated, but to the human ear, it sounds like a human being and you can change inflection. You can make it excited. We’ve done that with Alexa where, when you’re creating these experiences, I mean, you choose what the voice sounds like. You can make her sound excited. We added the thing for customers where we’re hearing like we’ve got little ones and I go play a lullaby or I shut the lights off at night, right? Because a lot of people that are using Alexa with smart home, they’ll be like, “Turn off the lights.” And she’s super loud and wakes the baby, right? Like never wake the baby.

So you can whisper to Alexa and then she’ll be like, “Oh, it sounds like you’re whispering. Would you like me to whisper back?” And you say, “Yes, it’s whisper mode.” And so you’ll be like, “Turn off the lights.” And she’ll be like, “Okay, I’ll turn off the lights.” Right? But it’s very human. Another area you can say is, “You know what, talk faster, talk slower, slow down.” And so she’ll say things slower, or she’ll say things faster.

We have the ability to detect tone, right? So it’s very different. If I say, “Alexa, shut up.” Versus, “Alexa, thank you. Stop.” And we have all sorts of things. Like we’ve always had the ability… I think we talked about this on your last show. Since day one, since we launched, you had the ability to delete everything you’ve ever said to Alexa. You had the ability to go in and see things. And if you didn’t want to deal with technology, you can just call up Amazon, have it done. But people wanted to hear and have the ability on the fly. So we’ve opened that up and you can say things like, “Alexa, delete what you just heard.” You could say, “Alexa, what did you just hear?” And then she’ll repeat it back. You could say, “Alexa, delete everything you’ve heard today.”

And it’s interesting. You can even say things like, “Alexa, why did you do that?” And she’ll be like, “Well, this is what I heard and this is why I did that.” And so it’s very empowering because it helps people understand, because even as human beings, I’ll say one thing, but it’s not necessarily what you heard or processed the same way, right? And so giving people that ability, they’re like, “Oh, she keeps hearing this word. Or maybe I’m saying this way.” It’s very empowering in an open set up.

Some of the other things is bilingual. So you can switch between English and Spanish in the US on the fly and behind the scenes, we’re taking that, putting it into a lexicon. And so that both language models are working and you can switch between same thing with… In Canada, French Canadian, Hindi and English in India. Because that’s how we speak as human beings. If you’ve grown up in a bilingual family, just moving back and forth between words and languages and she’ll be able to do that.

And so it’s those types of things because nothing’s faster than just being able to ask for it. And so that’s where I would say, we’re evolving like in present day, that’s where we are and we can talk about future looking.

Small Business Trends: Are you seeing some of the interactions that typically would have taken place with your phone starting to take place with your voice devices?

Dave Isbitski: Well, I look at it this way. The mission of our group has always been Alexa anywhere that you want it to be. And so right now that’s in the house. But if you go for a drive, you should be able to say, “Alexa, read my book.” And it was the audio book maybe you were just listening to in your den, right? It’s just, it’s seamless. I’ve been quoted saying this before, and I think it’s still the best analogy, is that voice is the new HTML.

So think about when the web first came out and the internet first came out. How did you contact companies? Right? It was like, you wrote a letter, you walked into their lobby or a phone call. And suddenly through HTML, right? And I didn’t want to say voice is the new web, because web is so encompassing with social and everything too. Because it’s the interface. So HTML suddenly became the interface to connect with anybody, anywhere in the world, any brand in the world to learn, right? To ask questions about anything. It was really how HTML brought the web together. And that’s the way you should look at voice. It’s the HTML for everything.

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Dave Isbitski of Amazon: Voice Tech Knows No Generational Bounds

Below is an edited transcript of a portion of our conversation. To hear the full convo click on the embedded SoundCloud player.

smallbiztrends · Dave Isbitski of Amazon – Voice is first technology my parents are as excited about as my kids

Small Business Trends: How far have things come with Alexa and Echo devices?

Small Business Trends: Yeah.

Small Business Trends: Are you seeing a lot of behavioral changes and folks leveraging their speakers to do things that they just weren’t really doing before?

Small Business Trends: Really?

Small Business Trends: Right.

Small Business Trends: Are you seeing some of the interactions that typically would have taken place with your phone starting to take place with your voice devices?

This article, “Dave Isbitski of Amazon: Voice Tech Knows No Generational Bounds” was first published on Small Business Trends

source https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/05/voice-technology-and-covid-19.html

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