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baobaojng · 4 years

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push and pull (jung jaehyun)

jung yoonoh (jaehyun) (idol jaehyun) x (fem! foreigner) reader - idol!au

themes: angst, fluff, smut

summary: you never expected to meet Jaehyun when you study in Korea, let alone fall in love with him. so when you’re faced with the dilemma of the reality of your life - and even more so his, the battle seems difficult to overcome.

notes: kind of established relationship (the timeline’s fucked but haha joke’s on me), reader and jaehyun are honestly super angsty, unprotected sex (wrap it up in real life to stay safe)

a/n: i wrote this on a whim for the past two days and aaaaaaa enjoy

wordcount: 10,152

There are two things Jaehyun always clarifies whenever all the guys were huddled around in the practice room.

“Yes, I’m sure nobody saw me sneak out of the dorms last night. I checked.” Jaehyun usually puts a hand up as if he’s exorcising Taeyong, who usually was very concerned about these kinds of things. This was the first thing that he always pointed out, the other guys knowing that Jaehyun probably went out (in the wee hours of the night) the most. Paps could snap photos at any given time in any given situation, and if anyone caught them sneaking out at night - new outlets and gossip sites would probably kill them in the morning with rumors and scandals.

Which brought Jaehyun to the second point, when Mark and Johnny would expectantly cross their arms together in a teasing manner. “And no, Y/N and I aren’t dating.” No matter how many times he said it, they always hoped that he’d finally say you were dating.

After all, majority of the time he snuck out to see you.

This time nobody pressed him for any more questions, especially since he volunteered to order and pay for the Chinese food they were going to eat. An attempt to avert the guys’ attention elsewhere.

Exhausted after dancing the same part of their choreography for the umpteenth time, Jaehyun checks his phone for any notifications. Hoping that somehow you’d have texted him, but texting him first was something you rarely ever did anyway. He didn’t even know why.

Sometimes you wonder if you’ve been imagining things. Being in Korea for the past couple of years to study (which was a real ridiculous decision knowing you were in for learning how to speak Korean and understand foreign culture while in university), having a pretty good paying part time job, and being friends with kpop idols.

It was a pretty fair thing to think at first - out of the millions of possibilities of how, when, and why you were going to somehow meet celebrities you’ve been following and supporting for years.

You met Mark and Johnny first, the two deciding on a break that day and go out to try a quiet café one of their seniors suggested. Just because it was a little bit more hidden, kind of preferential for idols who just wanted to relax in a space that wasn’t the SM building or their dorm.

Becoming a barista was something you always wanted to try out as a side job anyway, having learned some bar tricks from your cousins growing up. It wasn’t so far off from it. The job paid pretty well too, considering the fact that you were a foreigner and that it was really just a side thing for you to earn money so you could live more comfortably. To your luck, the place your former college dorm mate recommended for you to work with was a low-profile café that targeted audiences like Johnny Suh and Mark Lee. You’ve seen some celebrities come in before, but mostly the actor types.

It was a really quick acquaintance established when the two of them got to the café. You looked a little shellshocked to take their orders because you knew exactly who they were, and they found it a little interesting to find someone like you working behind the counter. Mark ordered twice and Johnny went back and forth with the Korean and the English jokes because it was fun to meet someone new in a place that was as pleasant as the café.

They came in almost every three days from then on, making the same order (after Mark tried almost everything off the menu to make sure he had a favorite), sitting on the same place, and leaving on the same time.

Of course your mind drifted off to many places, thinking about how it seemed so normal and casual for them to treat you like an old friend. For the most part you thought of them in the same way, but a little part of you remembered that they were customers (well, celebrities) and you were the lucky part-timer that took took the afternoon shifts after your classes.

Your existence probably didn’t bother them as much as they did you.

Just when you got used to the normal digital noise of people entering: Mark’s obnoxiously loud hollering to greet you and Johnny’s really lame attempt at trying to ‘step up his intercultural humor,’ they came in with somebody new one time around.

“I’m just getting the usual today, Y/N.” Johnny patted at his stomach, as if you understood the odd relationship he had with his stomach - he fondled it very carefully. A tale of self love that disturbed you just a little bit, but now you were expectantly looking at Mark.

“Sheesh, I don’t know man, I’m probably gonna upgrade sizes on my order today. I haven’t eaten since this morning.” Mark complains to Johnny as you take note of that in the touch screen computer.

Jaehyun awkwardly stood there not really knowing what to say, and you couldn’t bring it to yourself to look at him directly either. But you knew who he was anyway, you’ve probably seen so many pictures of him on the internet to know how he looked like and where his mole was on his cheek. Your peripheral vision wasn’t failing you, and it definitely never has in your lifetime.

While the other two were bickering about food portions, Jaehyun cleared his throat out noticing that you’ve been hovering over the computer screen because you were waiting for them to complete their order. Mark and Johnny were comfortable with you, and Jaehyun felt out of place.

“Just a large iced Americano.” Jaehyun asked in Korean, a little slower and a little bit weirder. He noticed how chopped up his syllables were, but only because you were a little too pretty to be taking his order and because he wasn’t sure if you could understand him. His members outright spoke to you in English.

“Have you eaten?” You boldly asked him referring to Johnny and Mark’s debacle on food, assuming he probably wanted something to eat with his drink because that’s how his members ordered.

He became a little flustered, picking up on the impressive Korean accent you had when you responded to him in Korean, the honorifics perfectly done too. In the same instant his stomach grumbled, and he realized that the answer to your question was no - he hadn’t eaten anything all day actually. Even forgot to eat the apple he brought into his and Jungwoo’s room.

“I— uh,” he continuously stammers, his right hand gripping his left shoulder as a mannerism. Obviously he’s a little overwhelmed by the food choices on the menu. You just flash a little smile to him as encouragement, not even directly looking his way. “What’s your favorite?” He asks and it throws you off a little, you wouldn’t have expected him to ask for a recommendation.

You have to look at him now to be a little more respectful, and when you do— god. Jesus, god, Christ. What was it you said about seeing many photos of him online anyway? Nope, wrong. The millions of photos online didn’t do him any justice whatsoever. He was just unreal in the flesh.

“It’s a little embarrassing.” You’re the one flustered, feeling your cheeks heat up because he’s looking right at your eyes. Meeting your bias in your work uniform wasn’t the ideal situation, it made you feel like putty.

“I’ll take that though, whatever it is.” He hands you his black card (which you find out he does because he offered to pay for everyone’s food, and because he wanted to show off to you), and your fingers brush for a split second. A breathy giggle leaves your lips and you ask him to do the necessary things to have the food credited to his card.

“Thank you.” You mumble under your breath before giving his card back, the three deciding to sit where the two would usually sit. You got to making the drinks while your co-worker served their food to them, a little hyped up that the ‘Cherry Bomb’ dudes brought another member this time around. At this you laugh a little, trying to make a clearer working environment for yourself because your first encounter with Jaehyun had you a little bothered.

It was one thing to say that nobody should have fazed you by now, but you felt like a high schooler - weak at the knees and slowly losing confidence. Stealing the shortest of glances over at Jaehyun, catching him look back at you. Although maybe it was just a trick of your imagination.

But you weren’t imagining things, Jaehyun found himself in a brief state of confusion ever since he saw you when he entered not more than fifteen minutes ago. Having crushes was definitely normal, but you had this very inviting feeling about you.

Mark seemed to notice that Jaehyun was completely out of the loop with the dumb topic Johnny offered onto the table, following where his hyung’s eyes flickered to every few seconds.

“Y/N’s cute, huh?” Mark says, but it sounds less like a question than it’s supposed to be. He knows that Jaehyun never really seems interested in meeting other people, it was probably half the fact that Jaehyun maintained an unamused face in whatever circumstance, and this was a rare instance.

Jaehyun knows he’s caught, but he pulls off the realest fake cough he can. “Yeah, she seems cool.” He plays off like it’s nothing and the other two understand what the answer means even beyond what Jaehyun meant. He was interested.

This time when you try to steal a glance, all three of them are looking at you. But you decide to shoot daggers when you make eye contact with Johnny and Mark, knowing like hell they were intimidated by you at this point. You’ve threatened them jokingly countless of times before for making fun of you or making too much noise, but they always were so genuinely scared. You see the way Jaehyun’s dimples appear when he laughs as he sees his members flinch at you squinting your eyes at them.

“Hoobin,” you call over to your co-worker who was just about to serve the food to the three guys you were having an eye battle with, “I’ll take over, I think you should take an early time out today.” It was a bold decision, and thankfully Hoobin didn’t think twice after being bribed with having to work less. There was no room for you to hesitate, and for some reason you felt a little more confident.

After that you take their food over to their table, Johnny inviting you to pull up an extra chair from the unoccupied table behind. Mark tells you to stay more than five minutes because they “miss you” (as if they don’t see you at least twice a week,) which causes Jaehyun to kick him discretely under the table. That afternoon, Jaehyun sits silently as he eats what he presumed to be your favorite thing off of the menu (which he decided has become his new favorite food order as well) - listening to you talk about your life. Details about how you’re doing well in class these days and this part time job not being much of a hassle.

It was a little unnerving, having him be quiet there. You weren’t so sure if he was uninterested or maybe he didn’t care who you were. All that wasn’t supposed to matter, but something in the back of your head told you that your first impressions should matter. Especially when it came to him.

When you leave to greet the guy taking over the night shift, Jaehyun briefly compliments your food choice because he was looking for some sort of way to say good bye and thank you.

“It’s really no problem,” you chime in, “I’m pretty surprised you liked it.”

Well, Jaehyun was too. He wasn’t the kind to really indulge into something, and he had a feeling that he probably liked it because he was more interested in trying to relate to you.

Johnny and Mark end up not shutting up about how he was so lovestruck by you, even when they got home to the dorms.

Since then Jaehyun came by more often, and to his relief he went there alone. At first always just getting a coffee and quietly sitting down where you could see him, and where he could perfectly see you. Sometimes coming in with Mark and Johnny, and the rare occurrence that they dragged along Yuta and Jungwoo (who quickly became your friends, to Jaehyun’s own disappointment - at not being able to articulate any sense of bravery when he saw you.)

But then he got more attentive and took note to arrive five minutes before your shift ended. The first time he did that, he asked you to stay behind to just have a drink with him because you technically weren’t working anyway.

You couldn’t say no, even though you didn’t know what he was asking you to stay for. Only two minutes of awkward silence passed until he took a crack at a lame joke to fill the air, the two of you ending up bursting with laughter just because it was that bad. Somehow, spending the rest of the afternoon up till the evening just discussing all kinds of things with each other. Leaving the details of your personal lives away, but Jaehyun had no intention of not knowing; he took his chance at asking for your number because he liked talking to you. Even if it meant talking about the milk froth the steaming machine created, and how the smell of coffee when he entered the room always soothed him.

You were a bunch of nerves waiting to be spilt out. The idea of hanging out with Jaehyun was fun, but mostly scary.

Being friends with Jaehyun felt a little too much like hiding a secret. Like that time when you got that tattoo and tried to hide it from your mother, scared she’d see when you were too comfortable lazying around the house.

Every time you fell into comfort hanging out with Jaehyun, a voice at the back of your head always reminded you that your relationship wasn’t normal. You had to lay low, be more careful, never a moment where you weren’t vigilant about your surroundings.

Of course it wasn’t normal, definitely not normal for you. There were things you could only plan through words because it meant a lot of risk actually going out to try them in public.

The reality didn’t really bug you that much before; you could say you were content with his company, having so much as prolonged hours with coffee or him going to the cute little studio type apartment you rented near your school’s campus. Now, it was a little bit more bothersome.

Mostly because you swear that it’s the easiest thing in the world— to fall in love with Jaehyun. It was great talking to him, behind what you were used to seeing on camera he’d say things you wouldn’t have thought he’d ever say. Jaehyun had knowledge woven into him in everything he ever mentioned, he tried even in times when he was unsure. There were conquests in his eyes, the way his face would light up in that stupidly handsome dimpled smile. You wanted to try them all, you were sure as hell you wouldn’t hold back if you were given the chance.

But the hard parts of reality always kept you from gambling, from telling him how you felt even though you were sure that he had a good idea of your feelings anyway.

The two of you were having red wine on your living room floor despite the cold of the apartment. He came over about an hour and a half ago, drenched by the rain on his way.

Jaehyun rested his head on the couch, and you notice that his hair is still damp. He’s staring at your ceiling while a sigh leaves his lips.

“You alright?” You ask him, straightening the way you were sitting on the floor.

“Yeah.” He answers anyway, although you know what the fake tone implies. He isn’t.

“Really? You won’t tell me that you aren’t fine?”

It’s not that he doesn’t want to, in fact he’s sure that he always tells you when he feels a little off the rails. Honestly it’s a little hard to trace back the time when he got so comfortable with you, it feels like the two of you just melted into each other’s worlds without ever noticing that you have. Every dumb text and every sneaky hang out.

“I guess I just don’t want to have a heavy conversation with you for once is all.”

You laugh a little, “I don’t care if we both end up screaming and crying, Jae. If you don’t feel good I definitely want to know. How many times will I tell you that it’s much better if you started talking about how you feel?”

Getting rid of that habit was a little hard for him; getting used to always presenting himself on camera as somebody who barely flinched. Somehow it seeped through to who he really was, and it was something that frustrated you when he first talked about this. Bottling up the way he felt just because he thought he needed to be perfect just angered you. You found yourself deeply concerned about him detaching himself with the reality that nobody could ever be perfect, but nobody had to be either.

“I swear this time it’s okay.” His dimples appear in a passive smile, but you playfully shove his arm in response. Careful not to spill any of the wine from his glass to your fluffy grey carpet.

“Liar.” You accuse as you roll your eyes.

To him you look all cute when you’re annoyed. He was going to prolong this for as long as he could; it made a squeezing sensation just between his heart and his lungs. He’d be dumb to say that he didn’t feel anything for you, because he did.

Jaehyun felt a plethora of things.

He felt happy every time he saw you, no matter how rough you claimed to look - even when you admitted you were far too insecure to present yourself to him. Once you called him when you were far out drunk, telling him you believed him to be directly made by God (if there ever was one.) He felt sad when he had to go. When time would have him leave you, because he had this incessant need to be around you for as long as it could. He felt angry too, knowing he wanted to give you so much more. He knew he didn’t just want to be your friend, but what he did for a living prevented him from giving you these things. Possibility of rejection aside, he knew he couldn’t just be around you whenever he wanted and whenever you needed.

“I’ll tell you when I feel like I’ve understood myself.” He promises, admitting you’re right.

That was good enough for you to brush it off; if he didn’t want to talk about it then you wouldn’t press him any further. You weren’t in the mood to put up a fight either, and maybe it was something you wouldn’t understand.

Finishing the wine that filled up half of your glass in one go, you turn to look at him. Not catching how he watched you down the whole thing like a mad man, he tenses because he knows something’s up. You hardly ever shoot down alcohol like that unless you were calming your nerves.

You had something to say, it was the reason why you called him over to hang out in the first place.

“I’m leaving soon.” It’s quick and simple, maybe the one line you chose that delivered the most impact when you were going over how to tell him. You found out you passed the semester a few days ago, and this meant that you had to leave Korea now. A job was already waiting for you in New York - somewhere you always planned on going after you finished up Fashion Design in Seoul. Truth be told, you never expected to pick up friendships— never expected to meet and be as close to Jaehyun when you decided to work in a café. But it became your reality, and the truth of your temporary time in Korea was catching up to you.

“Huh?” He only makes a sound, a little confused when you see his canines just through where his mouth parts. Eyebrows brought together by the lack of context.

“I mean I’m graduating in three weeks, just after other students fix their reconsiderations.” You explain holding in a breath for what you were about to say, even though you’ve practiced it about a hundred times in the mirror, “but after graduation I’m leaving Korea.”

And there it is, the bomb was dropped.

Jaehyun’s mind would like to pretend like he didn’t understand what you just said. In fact he even wanted to play dumb just so you could tell him this was a terrible joke, but you were looking at him the way you always looked at him when you were vulnerable - when you were being completely humanly honest with him.

He doesn’t say anything, not sure how he’ll react. Instead you begin rambling to fill in for the silence, a bad habit you always had. “It’s fine if you don’t want to hang out anymore, I’m not sure how good bye’s are supposed to work,” he doesn’t gloss over what you say, “the possibility of us maintaining this friendship thing is very low anyway.”

“Is that what you think of me? I’d just let go quickly, is that it?” He’s a little hurt; it’s the first time you’ve ever assumed anything of him that actually hurt.

“No,” you shake your head, “but you aren’t the type to forget what life is really like, and who you really are.”

He’s a little burnt, maybe because he knows exactly what you mean. The whole idol thing he got into was consuming. People he used to know were distant, it was even harder to keep up friendships and contact family, they’d meet people all the the time and have them come and go. If anything there was a lot of insecurity and pressure about the way he acted, the way he looked.

He brings his fingertips to scratch over the nape of his head as if he’d be able to claw out answers, or maybe a good response. “Doesn’t mean that I should lose you.” The coarseness of his voice seeps through.

You shrug, sliding your empty wine glass somewhere you wouldn’t knock it over. “People lose other people all the time.”

“You’re really trying to make yourself seem that disposable, aren’t you?” He eyes his glass, the red liquid swirling along with his subtle movements. He can’t find it in himself to look at you, but you’re lucky enough to feel small - not wanting to deal with the scrutiny you were expecting to feel if he did look at you. If he looked at you now and if he tried to memorize every pore, it would make it feel final.

“Jaehyun,” you use his name, swearing to yourself before that you’d rarely call him this so it would set the tone if you were trying to be serious about something, “I got you into trouble the other day because you snuck out again. No, actually I got you into more trouble than what’s good for you.”

“But I don’t mind that; I’m willing to get in trouble for you even if I get scolded for it.” He admits. For you. Words that probably don’t mean what you think they should, but they do.

“See you’re not so good at thinking about how you also get hurt, Jaehyun. Don’t you think about how hard it’ll be for you if you keep doing that for other people?”

He hisses. “I just told you that I don’t care about that.”

Your legs awkwardly shift around, “but I care about that.”

“If you cared about me enough then you wouldn’t mind it, because you know that spending time with you like this makes me happy.” Jaehyun bites down on his lower lip, suppressing a confession from making it any further off his mouth. “I don’t want to be afraid of losing someone, that isn’t the way to live.”

Compared to how he’s holding back, you can’t just help but take advantage of the wine buzzing through from the back of your eyes to the bridge of your nose. Closing your eyes hoping like the dark will swallow you alive after you say it, you shut them tight.

“I think I love you too much to resist saying no.”

It’s not an instance. It feels like years.

It feels like you’re on a rollercoaster with no safety belt on while you brace yourself for the worst. The plunging silence of all the different memories you’ve associated with Jaehyun. The different scents of expensive perfume he bought, the kind that wouldn’t go away even after he showed up after a work out session. How his ears and his knuckles turned a deep shade of red when it was cold outside, winter season passing you by through worn out coats and you’re lame attempts at teaching him how to wear scarves. His tragic attempts at small talk, never knowing exactly what to say - but always saved by your inability to shut up when faced with anything awkward. The deep honey amber of his voice, each uncomfortable slip of the tongue when he mispronounced things and got embarrassed. Those stupid songs you heard in the background that always somehow reminded him of you from those moments on.

It takes these long seconds for you to prepare to lose him. And maybe it’s what you want; if he decides to reject you know and turn you over like a criminal taken down, maybe it would mean that it would be easier for you to leave him.

The rejection doesn’t come, only the pensive silence of his shock.

He’s still trying to process things. Because you could have said ‘I love you too much as a friend,’ but he also knows you don’t use the word love lightly. In fact you’ve argued about the word multiple times. Accusing him of being too loose with the term. Back then he could easily say that he loved his grey bedsheets, that he loved gardens and clay potted plants. But now, after knowing your perspective on the word, he could only really say he really liked them.

He loves his family, his band members, his cat. He loves his piano, loved his hands. He loves the fans. And he loves you.

It’s his turn to down the rest of his drink, and somehow the last drops taste bitter at the end. Maybe because the wine had become warm, and his throat’s burning with the words he wants to say.

“Do you love me the way I love you?” Is not exactly how he planned to confess, but you look at him with teary eyes because you don’t need for him to say it twice to know what he means either.

Yes, you think. You loved him to the stars, to where your heart used to cry at sweet nothings of Instagram fan videos of Jaehyun even before you met him. You loved him as a stranger, a fan, an avid fan. You loved him even more now, as a man who breathes air as any other would (which surprised you at first, you thought gods never needed oxygen - but this one did.) You loved him as a real living fixture of bone, skin - imperfections you looked past.

His lips don’t taste like much aside from the wine, the rare instance that he gets you to drink the red kind and you’re doing this. Kissing him past your faintly stained teeth.

But you can feel his warmth, especially now that his hands have lead you to sit on his thighs - calloused fingers tracing back and forth through your jaw like the first time they’ve ever grazed on skin. Your fingers tread along his damp hair, bunching them up similar to how it looks when stylists slick his hair back for him.

Yes. He knows your answer is yes, because he’s never been kissed like this. So much unspoken gentleness, quiet excuses and hushed moans through and through sending goosebumps along his arm. He’s never been kissed in a way that held words. Nobody had ever kissed a confession into his tongue, never with the swirling and nibbling across the lower lip.

He doesn’t think he’s had time to kiss like this either. Jaehyun knows a lot, he’s touched a lot. But always in the quiet of secret, always rushed plans - thinking about how to not get his members into trouble, how not to make a stir in the public eye.

Jaehyun wants to forget the world in your kiss as he finds himself drowning into yours in a matter of a kiss. No— he knew he dipped a toe into the water when you asked him if he ate that day he first met you. And he dove right under all at once when he realized he couldn’t get enough.

Hands are traveling over your waist, your arms wrapping around his neck so delicately. He thinks you are what beauty demands when you two catch your breaths to look at each other, a smile cracking onto your features when you realize how sappy this all is.

“We need to learn how to stop holding back.” You suggest, and his eyes beam at you.

“Honestly we tell ourselves that all the time, we tell other people that way too much too. It’s just that we’re to scared to let go and just do it.” He says in a deep whisper. “So you love me, huh?”

You want to flick the sly look he has on his face, “don’t push it.”

“But you just said we should stop holding back.” He traces the bone of your jaw, just near where it tingles by your ear.

“We might end up saying I love you too much that we might get tired of saying it.” Lame excuses spill from your mouth, things you don’t mean just pop up into your mind because you’re nervous as hell.

By the first week, Jaehyun proves you wrong. Neither of you grow tired of saying I love you, it seems like you can’t go on not saying it at least once every hour. You can’t get enough of skin on skin in every second you’re together.

And it’s sinful as much as it is innocent, rough as it is loving. The first time he goes too far, tugging at the waistband of your cotton shorts - the too big neckline of your sweater exposing collarbones.

His hands recoil, not wanting to rush you into anything. But you find that you don’t mind, if it’s him then there’s no reason to hesitate.

“Take me,” you whisper, his eyes sincerely looking into your own in case he can find any trace of doubt, “take all of me.” His stupidly manly chin clenches along with his jaw.

Love is a whirlwind and you’re leading him to sweet chaos. Lips on lips like every kiss is the first. He hovers above you so gently, only enough weight to press your heart enough. You feel like you’re going to explode.

Clothes are let go like shedding second skin - but with no pain, no pauses.

You are the first to be completely naked, lying beneath him in the warm dim lighting of your lamp. Only his torso is exposed, and you can’t say you haven’t seen the expanse of skin in posts on the internet - but seeing it only inches away from your own heaving chest makes it look so unreal.

On instinct you try to cover your chest with your arms, but Jaehyun gently pulls them apart.

His thumbs slide from your shoulders, reaching the hardened peaks of your nipples. Jaehyun’s touch lingering a little longer at the swell of your breasts, mesmerized by something he’s seen a lot - but only because it’s you.

“You’re making this impossible for me.” The voice he speaks in is ragged, enamored by how your chest also irregularly rises and falls.

“What do you mean?” You pause, but get caught in surprise when his wet tongue licks at your nipple. A gasp leaves your lips and he responds with an innocent smirk.

“It’s enough that you love me,” he plants a kiss at your shoulder blades, “enough that you let me love you,” another one on your right breast, “but you want to give yourself to me like this too?” he nuzzles into your chest. “Y/N, are you even real?”

He asks you like you haven’t already been asking that question for millions and millions of times, but he doesn’t know that.

When you respond with only an ‘I love you,’ he still doesn’t believe you’re real. Even until he inserts a finger into your core, curling them as he watched your tensed muscles relax under his touch. Adding in another finger, his thumb massaging your clit - only your moans and your sighs fill his ears.

You’re every sensation, every taste he wants on his tongue.

“Jaehyun.” You gasp over and over as he pumps in and out, fascinated with what only his hands can do. Although you’re on a cloud in paradise, feeling your nerves tense up with every centimeter of movement.

“Yes baby?” He coos as he feels you twitch, trying to resist the overwhelming sensations he’s providing. Not stopping until he feels your walls tighten and tighten around his fingers, your hips moving uncontrollably. With the pace he’s going, you find yourself cumming already.

“Jaehyun!” Your back arches, and he rubs at your overstimulated mound just to ogle at you. You feel whole when he slips inside of you after your almost limbless feeling attempt at taking off his sweatpants, feeling up every expanse he was setting in. He’s big, bigger than what you would have thought. “Fu– Fuck!” You curse under your breath, hissing at his girth.

“You’re so,” he grunts as he starts to move, but your pussy has a vice like grip and it won’t seem to adjust to his size, “so so good.”

There’s an impossible adjustment in your core, but he hits your sensitive spots just right. He seems to pull out more and plunge in deeper - becoming bolder with movement. You try your best not to close your eyes and look at his pair of diluted brown ones. Jaehyun’s got his mouth in a tight line, a dimple popping out as he tries to contain his grunts. The pace your heart beats is impossibly fast, and you wonder why even now that you’ve given all of yourself he makes you feel this way.

Even through the way he cups his hand over your hair, stealing kisses every chance he can get, quickening his pace until you’re moving the bed - somehow he causes this unbearable fluttering in your chest.

“I love you.” You whisper and he halts, catching you off guard. But he thrusts again, kissing any spot of skin his lips could find at the same time.

“I love you.” He repeats even as he runs out of breath. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” The vowels and consonants blend together until in your state of pleasure, the phrase starts to deconstruct - to make less sense. But your hips are arching into his and your fingers are crumpling at the fine linen sheets.

It would be the second time you were cumming, grabbing onto the taut muscles of his forearms clenching around his cock in your convulsions.

This made him go even faster, filling you up with his cum and softly laying against you. Grunting at the sensations.

That night he cleans the two of you up, wanting to snuggle up next to you for the rest of the night.

It’s in love, being in awe about loving someone you still thought was universes and galaxies away. It’s in love of him, the gentle caresses of lamp light upon his face - shadows of his lashes casting on his cheeks. It’s in love of you, the most unexpected kind of person he found completion in.

Somehow the two of you forget that you’re running out time.

Guilt is still a foreign concept to you.

It’s something you think about when you sneak out of Jaehyun’s dorm room after a night of making love (after kicking Jungwoo out to sleep in Taeyong’s room, of course.)

You stare at his peacefully sleeping figure, his arms lazily fishing out for your body and you silently thank heavens that he reaches out for a pillow and thinks that it’s you. Because you look at him like this, you look at the mess the two of you have made, and you remember the ‘I love you’ he told you tonight and what it truly implied.

For the past few days of this second week, he’s been telling you he’d do anything for you. Before the prospects of time were realized the two of you were blinded: him by his own selfish denial of wanting to try, and your generous want to wait.

Until you reminded yourself of who you both were. He would never give this life up, you thought thinking about how much he loved what he did. Singing, dancing, performing - being somebody he constantly tried to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild through all the criticism he received. He still loved it; you’d see that shine in his eyes whenever he talked about his job. How he wouldn’t trade it for anything. And you out of all people would know the feeling of loving something you did. And though you’ve thought of the possibility that he would give it all up for you, you didn’t want to make that choice for him.

Imagining him in the future regretting choosing you instead of chasing his dreams.

You think, sure, maybe if you loved someone enough you would consider giving up all your dreams - everything you worked hard for. Being with the person you loved seemed important enough, although you probably wouldn’t say that you were happy to give up the thing you wanted to pursue.

And of course it was different for Jaehyun, it was different by magnitudes.

“I love you, you know that - right?” He asks you by the end of the second week, although he hasn’t been keeping track. His hands are tracing random patterns on your arms as you lay on the couch with you head on his lap.

All the two of you seem to do is talk about love, and deep down he has to admit that it’s his sneaky way of trying to convince himself that you’re always going to be together. Because when you say those three words back to him, the ribbons of skin that creases with your smile tantalize him.

You just nod, too afraid of making him misunderstand you. For all you know he’s ready to jump ship, but you don’t want him to because he has more oceans to explore.

This is your newfound best friend, formerly only really acquainted with: insecurity.

You wonder if you’re the first he’s ever looked this way to. After all, he’s trained to be charming - trained to always look the part of the ‘first love’ persona he has to carry around. You wonder how easy it would be for him if things didn’t work out between the two of you; thousands of girls came pouring onto him anyway.

The feeling made you small, your mind treading through all kinds of green monsters that didn’t actually exist.

It was a little ridiculous, comparing yourself to every other possibility available to him. He could have anyone he wanted. Someone who was prettier, someone who was Korean - maybe they’d understand him better, or an idol - maybe they’d be the perfect combination.

“Fuck.” He whispers into your ear, as he ruts his cock into you. His right hand is tugging at your hair and you’re carelessly panting in pleasure.

You were barely undressed, only covered in one of his very old sweaters. And he wasn’t much naked either, still wearing the hoodie he wore to the studio.

Apparently practice was tiring today, and they got an ear load from the managers about not meeting some kind of quota. You were feeling a little bit annoyed by graduation preparations for the day, so the two of you found yourselves exhausting frustrations onto each other.

Pressed up against his warm white skin like this, you wonder how long you can make this last in your memory.

Convulsing in overstimulation, you choke out some sobs as your hands messily search for something to grab. His thighs, his arms, any inch of him. Like you were grabbing out for something to take with you when you inevitably have to go.

You want to memorize all of him that you can. When he whispers praises into your ear, when he grunts and uses a little bit more force when he cums inside of you. But also when he kisses at the base of your neck when he’s done. When he only wants to cuddle for the rest of the night and talk about all that’s weighing on his chest.

“Baby?” Jaehyun whispers when you stir in his grasp as the two of you cuddle up in bed.

Being honest is not in your cards, but you remember what you told him fifteen days ago about not holding back. And you think that you were an absolutely overly positive liar.

“Yuno.” His name is course when it leaves your lips, and it doesn’t go ignored by him. “How are we going to make this work out?”

Eyebrows knitting together in confusion, he doesn’t let his confusion go unnoticed. “What?”

You offer him some pathetic semblance of a smile as you slide your fingertips slowly on his arm. “I’m still leaving for New York, you know?” You want him to react differently. In fact you want him to get angry or disappointed, you want him to let go of you so that you won’t have to deal with him letting go of himself just to manage a relationship.

But he doesn’t.

“I know.” He kisses at your temple, “actually I’ve been thinking about it.”

“What’s there to think about?”

Jaehyun hums, “just say the word and I’ll drop everything for you.”

You manage to free yourself off of his grasp within seconds, turning to face him in disbelief. “Jaehyun, no,” you plead with him through the look in your eyes, “don’t.”

“Why?” He looks even frustrated, because just like you - this isn’t the reaction he expected.

“I don’t want you to leave this all behind just because of me,” you feel the tears in your eyes form already, “you love this job, even if it’s too much at times. Jae— you were made to be up there with the stars.”

“Babe,” he takes you by surprise by wrapping his arms around you again, thinking it will

stop the tears from falling from your eyes but it only makes it worse because now you’re crying into his chest, “I just love you, okay? It feels like it’s all I’ve known, and I don’t want to see you this way.”

You’re sure his shirt is left damp by your tears, and you cry even harder because of how stupidly in love he is. Maybe he’s as stupidly in love as you are.

You’re probably the most insensitive, most selfish bitch to ever walk the planet.

That’s what you think the day after when you’re at the airport - bawling your eyes out like a child who’s lost their favorite toy. You have so many bags packed up and you leave in an hour.

You texted Jaehyun earlier today and told him you’d be busy until late because of graduation preparations, but that was a huge lie. Actually you decided not to attend the graduation ceremony and just get your diploma sent out. When he told you he loved you last night you knew it was dangerous for the two of you now, so you thought to clear out your apartment with the help of your co-worker Hoobin and and a few other friends - then book the earliest flight to New York that you could. The place hiring you was eager to have you in anyway.

The goal was to make sure you wiped out any trace of yourself, just so Jaehyun wouldn’t be tempted to find you.

Months pass by and you haven’t heard a single from Jaehyun, and truth be told you’ve been trying to avoid everything related to Korean Pop music altogether.

You think that you don’t deserve to hurt, or even miss him. You don’t deserve to yearn for a stupid text or a stupid letter. This is what you wanted. Blocking any form of contact you had with him and the guys and made sure nobody from university gave away your information no matter how much they’d bribe. You checked in once in a while with Hoobin if any of the boys still went to the café, and apparently it was only Johnny and Mark who came around.

No one spoke a word about you, no one ever asked.

Disappearing from the face of the earth like you were some ghost. You were able to do it.

New York was different, a little louder. The structures of buildings were definitely different, but you got used to getting around after a month.

Once in a while you’d go on your usual social media run through and see a video of Mark or Taeyong, and you’d skip as fast as you could in case Jaehyun’s face would appear. They would look different in photos - hair colors changing.

On accident you saw a photo or two of their recent comeback because one of your co-workers was into k-pop and you just couldn’t avoid it.

A picture never hurt anyone, but you learned that it could. You saw Jaehyun again in the photos, this time with hints of green in his locks. The world itself seemed to be turning against you when you’d see him in fashion magazines, as if he was shoving it in your face.

Guilt is no longer a foreign concept to you, and each time you’re reminded of him it hurts you so much.

He looks better lately, you think. Although the bags under his eyes say he hasn’t been well rested, but you aren’t around to tell him to get some sleep anymore. He seems to be working out more, the muscles really making themselves prominent under his favorite black shirts. He’s gotten way more popular individually too, and it’s something you think he’s always deserved anyway.

In your head you try so hard to reduce Jaehyun back into a handsome face popular online in a completely foreign country, maybe if you disassociated your relationship with him it would be easier to cope with having to see his face once in a while when you didn’t mean to.

You hope he’s forgotten about you, you hope he’s not as messed up as you are. In fact, you hope he’s decided to hate you with every fibre of his being. You hope he’s found somebody else who’s a much better fit, someone who can be his best friend and his lover.

Work has been good, great even. You’ve already been offered a few shoots to be in charge of in the Spring editorial of the magazine.

“Hey Y/N, a client specifically called for you last night but you already left so I just gave them your cell. They might be calling soon, is that alright?” The girl at the front desk tells you when you get to work that morning, you just nod quickly because the coffee you picked up on the way to work might spill.

True enough the phone at your desk rings about thirty minutes later.

“This is Y/N Y/L/N, how may I entertain you?” You greet casually, getting rid of the pumps you were wearing on your feet as you relaxed in your office chair.

“Hey, my favorite barista.” The very voice you know as Mark Lee’s is very recognizable, and you’re tempted to hang up but you don’t.

“Hey Mark!” You say, a little too enthusiastically, but he sounds like he doesn’t hate you so maybe this was the right mood to set.

“Don’t ask how I got your office number,” he chuckles, “it was so easy to google search your name because it’s on the homepage of the website for the place you work.” He already reasons out but you laugh it off.

“Yeah it’s fine, it’s comforting to hear an old friend’s voice.” You assure him. “So, you want some clothes done or what?”

He laughs and you try to listen in if there’s background noise, you wonder if he’s in his dorm room alone or if he’s with the other members. “Actually no, not really, but if you still have one of those jackets from your catalog two months ago then can I order one? It was lit.” The word choice is casual, so Mark.

“Oh yeah, just send me over your measurements and I’ll get one custom made.” You take note with one of your post its, “but why else would you call me?”

“You know, Jaehyun hyung.” He clears his throat because you know Mark Lee can’t handle more than three seconds of anything awkward.

You dread this conversation already, “what about him?” You bite your lip like you’re ready to get scolded, but thankfully Mark isn’t like that.

“Look, I know you haven’t heard from us and we haven’t heard from you. None of us know if you’ve moved on with your life, but I’m like sure Jaehyun hyung’s still a walking train wreck about it. We all know that he has no plans to move on.” He admits.

“I’m not doing any better here either.” It’s pretty self-explanatory, and Mark knows it means you still love Jaehyun.

“Yeah, I get that. The two of you are just really dumb you know?” It’s like he finds this a little entertaining.

“Why’s that?” You want to ask him, because you doubt he’s going to give any useful advice.

“Your idea of the best possible scenario is making him leave you behind to pursue his own path, and his idea of the best possible scenario is dropping everything for you and to follow you wherever you are. But hasn’t it occurred to the two of you dumbasses that it will work out if you leave each other be? It only matters if you two love each other even if you’re miles away.” He blurts out in one go and you’re pleasantly surprised, “just call him or call me first when you’re ready. You can trace my number back so just do that if you want to.” He hangs up before you can say anything.

You almost choke on your bagel when you see NCT 127 on morning television the day after Mark called you. Yep, you knew you should have put the cream cheese; this bite was hard to swallow now that you were watching them.

So you rush into work again, same hot coffee in your hands as you make your way up to your office floor. Thank god you could hide in the privacy of the office space you had, working in the company meant that they gave you free space to be able to make clothes and relax.

Except when you get there you find out that your concept of having a safe space was completely destroyed. Safe spaces didn’t exist when the things you were running away from

were chasing you from inside your mind. In this case it was made even worse; the thing (person, to be technically correct about it) you were running away from came in the form of Jeong Jaehyun.

He’s just staring there at you, green highlighted hair and all. Same suede shoes, same black shirt, and same olive green jacket.

“What are you doing here?” You’re choking on words but he still stares at you like how Patrick Verona looked at Kat Stratford in that poem reading scene in 10 Things I Hate About You. A look you’ve never thought a guy would ever give to you - but hey, Jaehyun was. In a bittersweet way, he could play that tole.

“Have you eaten?” He pushes your queries aside but he still looks at you like that.

“I almost asphyxiated on a bagel a while ago, actually.” Because of him, you just add in your mind.

“And now you’re drinking coffee?” He chuckles to himself as his eyes shamelessly scan to more than just your coffee cup, “aren’t you tired of that stuff?” You know he remembers that one time you said you were never going near a coffee bean ever again that one time you were tired from your part time job.

That organ in your chest aches, and when you answer with silence it hurts even more.

Why wasn’t he screaming at you?

Why didn’t he look like he was angry?

Why wasn’t he telling you that you were a heartless bitch?

Why was he just standing there looking at you like the first time?

Coffee cup forgotten as you set it down on your desk, Jaehyun standing there looking frozen. He can feel the shift in your posture too, like the two of you have perfected the art of reading each other’s body language.

“This is the part when you tell me you hate my guts, you know?” Your words are teetering uncomfortably, and you’re suddenly hyperaware of all the goosebumps that line your skin.

“I don’t hate you,” he sighs and you notice that he isn’t even running low on patience, nothing angry nor negative replaces his demeanor. Jaehyun remains to be warm, even as you stand far apart. “Why would I ever hate you?” He asks.

When you find it a little bit hard to breathe Jaehyun continues to speak. “I haven’t seen you in so long and you look a bit different in appearance, but I could never be mad at you. I haven’t heard your voice in months aside from the videos I kept in my phone, but I could never resent you. Y/N, I’m standing right in front of you in New York fucking City and I know I don’t have it in me to think a single negative thing about you. I love you even if you’re difficult like that.” He takes five steps forward, but he’s still about ten steps too far away.

Everything rational about you, everything that tells you that this is a mistake shuts down. You want to dissect every single thing about Jaehyun and make all kinds of most probable assumptions about him, but now you know you’re awfully wrong. Every fear you’ve fabricated in your head is the exact opposite thing Jaehyun would have ever done.

“When you disappeared, I knew where you were. I cried like a loser all the time, but I thought that if this was what you wanted then I’d try my best to give you that. Maybe we jumped on way too quickly when we realized we were in love and we stopped thinking logically, but I had so much time and space to think. This time I’m sure about what I want, and it’s still you.” He finishes, taking ten slow steps toward you.

Now you’re a mess of tear works. What kind of man would hang onto love for so long without being sure if your love had also stayed?

“You’re not supposed to want me anymore.” It sounds like you’re sobbing on your words.

He scoffs, but only because it’s ridiculous how much you want him not to love you. “You’re all I want, you’re all I ever want.” His fingertips find their way to tuck your stray strands of hair behind your ear, and your head tilts to face him - his figure towering against yours. While you’re aware you probably look like a whole mess, he looks at you like you’re the most precious thing his eyes have ever lain on. “You can tell me you don’t love me anymore and I’ll try to move on, but I know I can’t. Or you can tell me you love me and we can make this work without putting our own lives on hold.” He proposes, and you sniffle.

“Of course I still love you,” you punch softly at his chest, frustrated that he could love you like this, “I could have ended up in the North Pole and I know I’d still love you.” You cry even harder, but he wraps you up tightly in his arms - your head buried in his chest.

You relish in this comfort, the familiar beat of his heart and the warmth he exudes. You feel at home again.

“Don’t leave me again.” He asks of you and you nod quickly.

“God, we’re so stupid.” You mutter, tears are still falling from your eyes but at a slower rate.

“I can’t say it’s stupid if we took the time to learn.” He looks so proud of himself at his attempt to sound wise, but you take your small hands and smooth it over his jaw. Thumb on the dimple that peeks when he smiles down at you.

“I’m sorry.” You tell him, but he nods ever so slightly.

“I understand.” He shushes you by closing the distance between your lips, and your heart feels stuffed.

Flying from New York to Seoul and back again is tiring, but you weren’t complaining.

The stylists that worked with Mark really liked the jacket you made for him (yes, he really did actually order one) and asked where he got it. A few arrangements later and you’ve graduated from a part time working barista, to foreign exchange student in fashion school, to a trusted collaborative designer for the boys’ clothing.

Maybe the greatest acting gig you were ever going to pull off— pretending not to be dating Jaehyun whenever the other staff members were around.

This time the boys were in the office you had in Seoul, getting measurements taken for their comeback outfits. But everyone else was lounging around in the big couches because they were done, so you were left with your boyfriend in the section where you kept your fabrics.

“Stop making my job harder.” You complain as you wrap your measuring tape around Jaehyun’s thighs.

But he smugly lets out a whistle, “you weren’t on your knees when you were measuring the other members’ pant sizes.” He teases, but he’s right - you were on your knees only for him.

To spite him you place your cheek on his thigh to pretend like you were going to do a better job if you switched up your position. “Babe, I know more about your inches than anyone here.”

“Yeah?” He’s excited.

“I even use my mouth so you can slide it in—“

“Woah, guys, language.” Johnny barges in and you immediately pull away and stand up, and Jaehyun’s just as disturbed.

“Yeah we can hear you, you know.” Mark remarks behind Johnny.

“Well then can you please warn us that we’re audible before I make innuendos about sucking off my boyfriend?” You cross your arms at the two boys who just came in, chuckling to themselves.

Jaehyun rests his chin on your shoulders from behind you, wrapping his arms upon your own.

“We made this union happen.” Mark argues, and you continue to send daggers through your eyes.

Jaehyun kisses at your cheek and Johnny and Mark make sounds of disgust, enough to make them scramble away when you kiss Jaehyun’s cheeks back.

The two of you laugh, catching each other’s eyes when you get lost at your close proximity.

“I love you.” You both accidentally say at the same time.

And like always, you pull each other in.

Fin.

#jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun smut #jaehyun imagine #jaehyun scenario #jaehyun fluff #jaehyun angst #nct angst #nct fluff #nct smut #nct 127 imagines #nct scenarios #nct 127 smut #jaehyun x reader #jaehyun imagines #jung yoonoh #jung jaehyun

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Text

Chapter 20: B-word

Grace woke up to the soft glow of Paul’s digital clock on his nightstand: it read 5:02 a.m.. She felt exceptionally warm, a feeling she was coming to be very familiar with sleeping in bed with a member of the pack. Paul’s white t-shirt hung loose on her frame and was the only thing she was wearing. She crept out of bed to the bathroom quickly to pee. When she looked in the mirror to take in the state of herself, she placed a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Her cheeks were flushed red, and she let her fingers caress the red warmth. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes held their half lidded shape somewhere between sleep and a flutter of immense pleasure. Her mind lingered back to just a few hours ago as she and Paul were clutched together, Grace on top of him this time moving needy and quick over him as he cradled his hands on her hips and ass helping her to move up and down on him and sucking softly at her breast.

She pulled the hand across her mouth back to gingerly touch her lips that were swollen and soft from rough, wanting kisses that asked for more and more. She quickly combed fingers through her hair to smooth it down, snapping herself from her reverie, and then crept back into Paul’s room looking for her clothes. She had to get back to the Cullen’s before Bella woke up. She was going to tell Bella about Paul, but she just didn’t want to cause a fuss so early in the morning. As she shuffled quietly around the room gathering her things, she heard Paul stir from the bed.

“Mmm, where do you think you’re going before the sun’s even up?” his deep morning voice made her lower body tingle and she smiled warmly, whispering:

“I don’t want anyone to think I’ve been kidnapped and my honor taken under the cover of night. I have a reputation to remain on this rez,” Grace laughed. As she spotted her underwear just under his bed and leaned close to get it, he reached out with one swift arm and grabbed her. She shrieked trying to turn out of his grasp, but he held fast and pulled her to him, pressing her back against his warm chest. Grace giggled and tried to pretend to struggle against him as the hand he had wrapped around her belly snaked its way up toward her breasts.

“Paul for real, I gotta go!” Grace protested only half serious. He smiled, kissing on her neck and grumbling low in her ear:

“You wiggling is not helping your case here.” She could feel how much isn’t wasn’t helping, alright. Paul hadn’t bothered to put his boxers back on after the third time they’d gone at each other last night, so there was nothing between them—she felt him pressed against her back loud and clear.

“They’re going to worry!” Grace tried again, turning her head ever so slightly so his kisses could land closer to her lips.

“Letting my nearly naked girlfriend leave my bed to run back to house full of vampires does not appeal at all to your short-fuse boyfriend,” his other hand had pushed under her waist and was moving it’s way down her hips, sliding between her thighs and pushing them open. Grace let out a gasp as he gently stroked her there—she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, triggering an eagerness in Paul to roughly kiss on her throat and clutch her breast.

“Say you’re my boyfriend again,” Grace exhaled, eyes still closed. Paul chuckled running his lips across the edge of her ear before saying,

“Maybe later. Don’t want to wear my name out,” he teased before fully cupping her mound and pushing down, causing Grace to instinctively arch her back. He quickly entered her from behind, rushing into her and causing Grace to let out a sharp cry before happily matching his rhythm as early morning light poured through his window.

6:14 a.m.

Grace clicked the front door of the Cullen home softly behind her before hurrying up the steps to her guest room. On the landing, Rosalie was standing at the other end of the hallway, arms crossed and giving her a knowing smile.

“And where have you been all night?” Rosalie asked, not trying to keep her voice down. Grace looked around panicked and held out a hand.

“I was, was, was, uuuuhh, tending to business on the rez,” Grace said quickly and not convincingly.

“Well, your business stinks. I can smell you from here,” Rosalie wrinkled her nose and turned to walk back toward the study.

“Thanks,” Grace breathed to an empty hallway before quickly retreating into the guest room. She made a beeline for the shower, trying to smell herself. She didn’t think she smelled that bad, but who knows.

Grace took her time in the shower, letting her mind wander back to last night as she touched parts of her body that Paul had lingered on, clutched to, or gripped. She knew what would be waiting for her on the other side of all of this. Someone was going to get hurt, but she needed to sit in this moment of happiness for just a moment longer.

Before she had left, much to the continued protesting of Paul, she begged him to do his best not to let what had happened creep into his head during rounds. He gave her a wicked grin and had the audacity to ask why, before she let out an aggravated groan and said: “I’d really like all of this to be a ‘your-eyes-only’ thing.”

She motioned up and down to her body which Paul was aggressively staring at.

“Say no more,” he said seriously. Grace had a feeling that watching a pack member drool over or make a comment about Paul’s picture of her naked body would result in some serious mauling.

Grace didn’t bother drying her hair, opting to let it dry natural and wavy before pulling on some dark wash jeans, a black fitted t-shirt and grey zip up sweatshirt. Grace plugged in her phone and before going downstairs to appear totally normal and not like she had been rolling around in bed with her newly anointed boyfriend last night, she checked her phone.

SMS Text—6:33 a.m.: Paul

Be safe. I’ll call you after rounds tonight

Signed, your boyfriend.

Grace laughed before quickly typing her reply:

I will. Thanks for last night < 3

I’ll talk to you soon, from your very exhausted girlfriend

She clipped her phone shut and left it on the nightstand and contemplated mussing up her sheets to make it look like she had slept there last night. Shaking her head, she left them perfectly made up instead and made her way down to the kitchen, peeking around the corner to scope it out before busting in like she owned the place.

Alice was tentatively at the stove prodding at pancakes when Grace came into view with her hands folded in front of her.

“Good morning!” Alice cried. “Oh my goodness, I didn’t think you’d be up so early!” Alice said, a tone of lilted recognition in her voice.

“Oh!” Grace said a little surprised as she came to sit at the island across from Alice, “Just an early riser, I guess. School’s been a grind lately so I’m used to it I guess.”

“Right,” Alice looked at her with a knowing smile and then back at her pancakes, “Well! Breakfast is not ready just yet, I’m trying to learn the perfect brown of a pancake, but they’ll be ready before you know it! Help yourself to some coffee.”

Bella woke up a couple hours later and stumbled still in her pajamas into the kitchen while Grace and Alice chatted away easily.

“You’re chipper this morning,” Bella said off hand through a yawn as Alice placed a cup of tea in front of her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Grace said aghast. Could Bella really tell so quickly?

“Pink cheeks, happier than I’ve seen in weeks,” Bella said sleepily as she leaned into her cup. Grace looked at her over her second cup of coffee and raised her eyebrows. “You’re happy is all, jeez,” Bella laughed.

“Thank you, I am. Very happy.” She enunciated the last two words and broke out in a giggles as she made eye contact with Alice. Grace had found it very easy to get along with a feel close with Alice. She understood now why Bella liked her too. Alice was easy to love, warm, knowing, but always true.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bella echoed Grace’s earlier statement. Alice finished cutting some fresh bright peppers and scattered them elegantly across Bella’s stack of pancakes before sliding it in front of her.

Alice looked to Grace for permission who gave a short nod and eye roll before Alice blurted out excitedly, “She’s got a boyfriend. A real official boyfriend!” She finished the announcement with a squeal of utter delight. Bella almost choked on her tea.

“What?! Oh my god, really? Jake?!” Bella said wide eyed. It was Grace’s turn to choke on her coffee. Between cough and sputters that she got out she shook her head no.

“No! No, no, no. Paul!” Grace said before clearing her throat and saying, “Paul Lahote is my boyfriend.” The words rolled off her tongue easily and she liked the taste of them. Paul Lahote was hers. Her boyfriend. She crossed her legs to help quiet the throb that had returned when she thought about last night. Get a grip, Grace. She told herself.

“Oh Paul!” Bella said somewhat surprised before she changed her tone and said, “That’s so great! You guys are-are great together.”

“Yikes, Bella,” Rosalie said as she entered the kitchen and sat next to Grace. Bella squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

“It’s an easy mistake to make,” Grace interjected. “Honestly, I get around,” she toasted herself and bust out laughing. Bella relaxed and laughed to shaking her head.

“So what happened?” Rosalie asked, her eyes curious and invested. Grace wasn’t sure why Rosalie seemed to like Grace as much as she did. The entire night before when they were in the girl’s night part of their sleepover, she had doted on Grace, fixing her hair, pushing back her cuticles, tending to her like a doll. Curious.

“Uh, well,” Grace looked from Rosalie to Alice. They of course knew that she had snuck out the night before and now it was clear where she had been.

“You don’t have to say,” Alice suddenly waved it off.

“Nooo!” Both Rosalie and Bella chorused, surprising each other.

“No secrets, remember?” Bella said. Grace looked to her and then bit her lip, holding back a smile and said:

“I went to see him last night. He texted me and well, he gets under my skin, you know.” Grace said, suddenly getting nervous at all of the eyes on her. “And…”

“And?” Rosalie prompted.

“We… we had sex,” Grace finally got out closing her eyes tight and letting the exulatations from the others rush over her. “Like a lot...of sex.”

“Oh my god,” Bella said, blushing profusely. She was suddenly hiding her face in her tea.

“Oh, I forgot, Bella’s a little virgin. Not too many details now, Grace,” Rosalie chided. Bella’s face flamed hot as she looked up with a grimace.

“Rosalie,” Alice groaned. Grace looked quickly to Bella.

“Bella, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Grace started to which Bella became even more embarrassed.

“Oh jeez, please don’t apologize. I’m not some innocent little baby. I know what sex is. I grew up sharing a house with Renee, remember? She wasn’t entirely secretive about her conquests.” Bella stammered trying to gain some composure.

“Okay,” Grace said still apologetically. Rosalie leaned in and said quietly.

“So how was it?” Grace blushed and tried to hold in her giddy laughter. She was a woman possessed. And she leaned into Rosalie, while Alice tried to feign disinterest but still leaned toward them while Grace tried to spill some details.

Bella speared a strawberry and looked out the window.

Back at home, Grace unpacked her bag and started a load of laundry. When she returned to her room, Bella was sitting on her bed picking at the tips of her fingers.

“Bella?” Grace asked. Bella looked up suddenly and said.

“You can tell me stuff, you know. I’m not a total prude.” Bella said a little dejectedly.

“Oh my god,” Grace said as she dropped her laundry basket and moved to sit next to her. “I know! And it’s not a big deal really. I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. You just seemed….uncomfortable.”

Bella fidgeted some more. “I wasn’t. I just-” Grace looked to Bella’s fingers. “I know me and Edward aren’t there yet, but I can still talk about these things.”

“I know! And hey, it’s totally okay to go at your own pace okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel left out. Come here,” She pulled Bella into a hug, “You’re like my sister. Okay?”

“Okay,” Bella mumbled into her hair letting out a light laugh. They each pulled back from the hug.

“No secrets,” Grace said holding out her pinky. Bella let out a laugh and looped her pinky with hers.

“No secrets.” They sat quietly for a second swinging their pinkies back and forth before Bella shyly asked, “So...what was it like? Was it your first time or?”

Grace broke into an overwhelming bright smile.

“So, if I’m being totally honest, no it wasn’t my first time. Brad Boychen was my first, ugh,” Grace stuck out her tongue and pointed to the back of her throat indicating a gag, “But this time, everything felt so new and right and he was so sweet.” Grace felt her hand creeping up to hold around her neck. “And I honestly can’t stop thinking about it. He just knew what to do, and I felt like with him, I knew what to do too. We just clicked together.” Grace flushed and let out a sigh before looking at Bella who was enraptured.

“How did you know he wanted to...you know?” Bella blushed and then forced herself to proceed, “I mean, how did you know that you were ready to have sex. With him i mean.”

“Well, I honestly did not know when I went over there last night that that was the plan. Like at all. But when I got there, I just felt like something had changed between us and we acknowledged something in each other we knew had been building for awhile. It was definitely a mutual decision. He waited for cues and I responded to those cues I think. Does that make sense?” Grace cocked her head to one side.

“Did he initiate it? Or did you?”

“Definitely him, he said he was tired of the ‘back and forth’ so he was making a decision. And then he just kissed me and-” Grace paused smiling again, shaking her head. “It just happened. And it was so wonderful.” Grace watched Bella’s face carefully for the next few minutes. It seemed like she was mulling something over so Grace went out on a limb, “Are you and Edward thinking about….you know?” Grace nudged Bella with her shoulder.

Bella’s gaze shot up and her eyes were wide, “Oh no! No definitely not. I mean….Edward is….very old fashioned,” she scoffed. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to.” she admitted.

Grace paused before asking her next question. “Can I ask? Ummm, like how will that work? I don’t claim to be an expert on the mechanics of vampire-human sex, but...I don’t if you had..thought about it?” Grace stumbled over that last bit and blushed profusely. She really didn’t hope Bella thought that she was thinking about how her and her boyfriend would have sex.

“I think it works like normal?” Bella said a little unsure. “I mean, we’ve definitely gotten to a point where I thought things were about to go farther, but he always stops. It’s so….” she made a face, “Frustrating. I totally get that he wants to wait, but if it was up to me…” Bella stalled there, letting her curtain of hair cover her face.

“Woah, Bella,” Grace said jokingly, “You’re a total sex freak.”

Bella’s jaw dropped before she made a sound of protest and smacked Grace with her history binder.

“Whatever,” she laughed, “I’m not the one having wild all nighter sex with a half human, half wolf.”

“Hey, he’s fully human when we do it,” Grace laughed. She heard a car horn honk out in front and looked over her shoulder.

“Who’s that?” Bella said. Grace crawled across Bella’s bed and opened her window that looked over the front yard. Paul was leaning against the passenger side door of his forerunner, arms crossed in a cream colored crew neck sweater and jeans, smiling up at her when she leaned out.

“What are you doing here?” She called out, a smile breaking over her face and her belly swelling with warmth already.

“Come down from your balcony, Juliet so I can say hi to you the right way.” Paul called back up. Delighted, she pulled back from the window and bolted toward her door saying over her shoulder, “It’s Paul!” to Bella. Once down the stairs, she pulled on her boots and bounded out the front door, running full tilt toward him and crashing into his open arms.

They’re lips collided effortlessly and he kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in weeks, holding her to him and lifting her body up off the ground. When she broke away from the kiss she said, breathy: “Hi.”

He put his forehead to hers, kissing gently at her nose before saying softly, “Hi.”

“Was that the right way to say hello?” Grace asked, cocking her head to the side and feeling her feet touch the ground.

“To your boyfriend, yes,” Paul laughed, leaning down to softly kiss her again.

“What are you doing here, again?” Grace asked.

“It’s bonfire night babe. Go get dressed.” Paul patted her hip and let another hand come up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “We’re ‘coming out’ tonight, so I want to show you off a little bit”

“Oh!” Grace said, her eyes widening nervously. Did everyone already know?

“Word gets around the rez,” Paul said shrugging and letting his hands move up and down her arms instinctively to warm her up. “Don’t worry, your rep is cleanly in tact. Pack’s honor.” Grace laughed at this and kissed him again, relishing in the feeling of getting to do it anytime she wanted.

“Okay, just give me ten minutes?” Grace said stepping back. Paul nodded and Grace turned to jog inside.

In her bedroom she got dressed quickly, pulling on a cream colored chunky knit sweater with a thick turtle neck to match Paul’s and some black, tight jeans. She ran a brush through her hair a few times and opted to tie half of it up in a loose knot, letting the rest fall down around her shoulders. It was getting long, she’d need to get it cut soon. She patted some orange red lip tint on that blushed against her warm brown skin.

“Can you do me a favor?” Grace said over her should to Bella who was propped on her bed with a book.

“Yeah, sure.” Bella said.

“Can you cover for me? I might be getting home kind of late tonight.” Grace said smiling knowingly. Bella smiled.

“Of course!” Bella replied.

“Are you going to be okay tonight?”

“Oh yeah, Edward should be here soon.” Bella said. Grace came over and kissed the top of her head before waving goodbye and hurtling down the steps, pulling on her boots once more before she skipped down the steps toward Paul.

He broke into a wide smile and when she reached him again, he bent his head down and kissed her softly before whispering, “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” she smiled up at him. He opened the passenger door for her and when she got in he closed it behind her.

When he hopped into the driver seat, he took her hand into his and said “Ready?”

“Ready.” She breathed. She hadn’t been this excited since her junior prom. Something about declaring her and Paul as a couple to the rez felt so satisfying and nerve wracking and thrilling.

He pulled her hand up to his lips to kiss and then they were off, the sun just beginning to set behind them.

#twilight #twilight fanfiction #twilightfanfic #twilightfanfiction #new moon #eclipse #jacobblackxoc #paul lahote #paul lahotexoc #the cullens #bella swan #edward cullen #the pack #jacob black #paul lahote pairing #a monster lives here #chapter 20

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hereticpriest · 5 years

Text

Bury a Friend Chapter 2

Warnings: Descriptions of stalking

The following two days were torture. Will had handed off his classes to take care of Rosalind, which ended up being difficult considering she didn’t want to be cared for. Her thank yous came through gritted teeth after the first couple of hours of Will not even letting her get her own glass of water. She went outside to sit on the porch, and he bundled her up in blankets even though she was perfectly fine with the dogs huddled around her for warmth. He wouldn’t let her cook, so all of her meals ended up being… satisfactory, at best. Will could cook a bit, but she had certainly got the bulk of the cooking talent. He took her further into Wolf Trap to get groceries, and she had gone into another aisle to grab only to turn back when Will began to call out for her in a panic. She was tempted to hold onto his shirt for the rest of the day just to reassure him that she was still there, and so he could stop looking for her every five seconds.

When Hannibal showed up on day three, he could hear the fallout of overprotective siblings going on inside. He approached the porch, listening in to see what exactly he was walking in on, watching the siblings through the front window.

“You were just attacked, Rosie, you can’t blame me for being a bit worried for you.” Will’s voice was raised, but he wasn’t shouting. Yet.

“Will, we are in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, Virginia. I think you can take your eyes off of me for five whole minutes without me getting raped and murdered.” Rosalind’s voice was raised slightly though not as loud as her brother. She was clearly trying harder than Will to keep her cool, and showing she was breaking by swearing.

“Jesus, Rosie!” Will slammed his hands down on the kitchen table, back to his sister so he couldn’t see how she flinched at the sound. Hannibal watched her shoulders stay tensed up, her chest fluttering with her rapid breathing.

“Sue me for being worried about you.” Will snapped, then breathed in harshly, “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

“You’re smothering me, Will. You sat outside the door while I bathed. You know, that’s almost creepier than if you’d just sat in the goddamn bathroom. I opened the door and you scared the hell out of me.” Rosalind’s voice was steady again, but Will turned to face her looking almost angry.

“Rosie, I’m not trying to smother you, but you used to sneak out through the bathroom window when we were kids and I remember that. I’m trying to protect you!” Will’s voice was raised again. Hannibal began to climb the porch stairs.

“Do you think I’m stupid enough to do that considering what happened? You know what? Don’t answer that. Why don’t you go pick out a collar and lead for me, huh?” Hannibal smirked a little at the thought, “Get me one of those ankle bracelets they give criminals. Or have you already tagged me with something?”

Will tensed, and Rosalind growled, “Oh my god, Will, did you fucking tag me with something?”

“No!” Will shouted, and Hannibal took this chance to knock on the door and interrupt the argument. The door swung open to reveal Rosalind, her face flush with contained rage, and Will standing not too far back with an almost identical flush.

“Have I come at a bad time?” Hannibal asked, and he almost smiled when Rosalind took his hand and led him in like he was her saviour.

“No, of course not. Thank you for coming, Dr. Lecter. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Hey Hannibal, I wasn’t expecting you.” Will slumped down into an armchair, while Rosalind sat on the couch with Hannibal.

“I apologize for not calling in advance. I got out early from my appointments and decided to head up to visit and see if you would like a change of scenery.” Rosalind’s face brightened at that, and Will sighed as if both relieved and infuriated.

“I would love a change of scenery.” Rosalind replied, softening up immediately, “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I do not have any patients tomorrow, and then we have the dinner party arranged. I thought you could spend the night tonight, and perhaps we can go out tomorrow to find you something to wear for the party. If you have any interest, you can help me prepare food. If not, you could practice dancing, perhaps.” Hannibal offered, and Rosalind nodded enthusiastically.

“Oh that sounds lovely, thank you.”

“Hannibal, are you sure you can take care of Rosalind in public? We don’t know if he’s here yet, if he knows where she is.” Will shoved his hands in his pockets, and Rosalind shrugged.

“I’ll just have to get a gun, then.” Rosalind replied, “I’ve got bear mace and a legal knife, so that’s something.”

“I will take care of your sister, Will. I’m confident I can handle it.” Hannibal replied, and Will nodded.

“Keep your phone on you, and turned on, at all times.” Will said to his sister, “No ifs ands or buts. Not silenced, not left in the car or in another room. On your person. Do you still have the lockpick blade I gave you?”

“Yes dad. And yes, it’s still my waistband.” Rosalind replied sharply, though she looked cowed when Hannibal tutted.

“Your brother is looking out for you. You’re being too hard on him, just as he is being too hard on you.” Hannibal chastised her gently, “Go and pack a bag for a couple of nights. Will, you’ll still be attending the dinner tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” Will promised, stopping Rosie as she passed him to give her shoulders a squeeze. She hugged him firmly.

“I’m sorry, Will.”

“Me too, Rosie.” Will gripped her tight for a second, then let her go and watched her ascend the stairs. He sat back down in the armchair with a heavy sigh, giving Hannibal a tired sort-of smile.

“She’ll be safe with me, Will.” Hannibal promised, and he meant it. He found himself surprisingly reluctant to even entertain the idea of hurting her. He’d only just opened the box, he didn’t want to break the toy before he’d even begun to play with it.

“I know. I know, I just wish seeing her again could’ve been a happy thing, you know? I made sure to keep her out of things for a reason. I didn’t want her getting hurt. It feels like I gave up a lot of time with one of the only people who really understands me… for nothing. For her to get stalked, hide it from me, and then get attacked.” Will grabbed a folio from one of his side tables, holding it out to Hannibal. He took it, opening it to find a file on Rosalind Graham. It began basic, typical information in a case file, but once he got past the outline, he found copies of emails, letters, and texts sent to Rosalind. There were transcripts of phone calls that were unnerving even with just a cursory glance. Last was the photos. They started out public: Rosie getting coffee, dancing at the ballet studio, group yoga in the park, and running by the water. They soon turned to what he figured was her house, first from afar, but soon closer. Pictures of different rooms through the windows, close enough that he must’ve been standing right outside. The last were the worst. A series of photos of Rosalind changing, naked from the shower, and even one of her masturbating that had been covered with a post it to warn of the content.

“This is…” Hannibal trailed off, closing the file and looking up at Will. He felt a bit of a stir seeing the details of her stalking, intrigued by the depths this man went to, and even more so by the reaction of the woman so far. He was excited to get her talking and having her rely on him.

“It’s a lot, I know. I made that copy for you because I was hoping you’d take a look and give me your thoughts. I have another copy upstairs.” Will removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, “I’ll send you the digital files. There’s audio for the phone calls, a couple of videos he sent her, and a mixtape he made for her. Uh, I’ll warn you though, there’s apparently a video of her getting undressed and… uh…”

“Like the last picture?” Hannibal asked, to save Will from dying of embarrassment.

“Yeah… Like that. He uh… recorded it and occasionally filmed himself… enjoying it.” Will nodded, clearing his throat.

“I will give you my notes after dinner on Friday.” Hannibal replied, standing and buttoning his jacket again as he heard Rosie descending the stairs.

“I’m ready when you are, Dr. Lecter.” Rosalind approached the sofa, touching Hannibal’s shoulder delicately as she passed him to sit on the arm of Will’s chair. Will steadied her with a hand on the small of her back as she leaned down to hug him. Rosie pressed a kiss to his forehead, cupping his cheeks.

“I love you, big brother. I promise you I won’t do anything stupid, and I won’t leave Dr. Lecter’s side unless it is to sleep. I won’t do anything to endanger myself.” Rosalind promised, laughing at Will’s gentle attempts to get her off of him.

“Rosie, stop kissing me, you’re so gross.” Will complained, which only made Rosalind laugh and kiss his forehead again. She knew he was mostly fighting the affection for show. He’d been starved of it for some time, as had she.

“Aww, Will, I don’t have cooties.” Rosalind laughed as Will put his palm to her face and pushed her away. Hannibal stood, and Rosalind stood with him, obediently getting off of her brother like the doctor’s mere movement was a command.

“Come Miss Graham, I would like to get you settled in before dinner.” Hannibal placed a hand on her lower back and slowly guided her towards the door, taking her bag with the other hand to carry it himself. Rosalind toed on her shoes and followed him out the door, tossing a quick “Bye Will!” over her shoulder. Hannibal led her to the car, opening the door for her, and she smiled fondly at him. Another stir. He put her bags in the back seat, along with her file.

“Thank you. I apologize, I didn’t ask before. May I call you Hannibal?”

“As long as I can call you Rosalind.” Hannibal replied, settling into the driver’s seat and starting his car. He pulled back onto the road and began the long drive home.

“Of course, Hannibal.” Rosie rolled his name on her tongue, then offered him a small smile, “Lithuania?”

Hannibal raised his brows at her, looking first confused, then impressed, “Yes, I was born there.”

“My form teacher was born in Germany, but she grew up in Lithuania. She has a seriously thick Lithuanian accent because she only moved to the US a year before she started teaching me. Yours is quite pleasant. Though, that may also be because you aren’t slapping my thighs and telling me my posture is horrific.” Rosalind laughed softly, while Hannibal raised his brows and contemplated the image.

“I’m glad my accent is pleasing.” Hannibal teased, offering her a little smirk that had her smiling in return, “I’m also happy that you are comfortable around me. I had worried, considering the circumstances.”

“I’m good at reading intentions. And while I don’t think you’re half as innocent as you want to appear, I don’t think you have any sort of interest in hurting me.” Rosalind replied, looking over at him to watch how he reacted to her comment. He looked over at her, catching her eyes and offering a slow smirk before he returned his gaze to the road.

“You have nothing to fear from me.” Hannibal confirmed, feeling a stirring inside of him that he hadn’t felt before. A pleasing warm buzz that made him feel strangely good. It was similar to how he felt when he met Will, but not identical.

#hannibal #hannibal lecter #will graham #hannibal lecter/oc #hannibal lecter/original character

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anakinsbugs · 3 years

Text

SMS Marketing Doesn’t Suck: Here’s How to Use it To Generate Revenue

New Post has been published on https://walrusvideo.com/sms-marketing-doesnt-suck-heres-how-to-use-it-to-generate-revenue/

SMS Marketing Doesn’t Suck: Here’s How to Use it To Generate Revenue

Did you know the average person checks their phone

160 times a day

Which is just one of the reasons SMS marketing no longer sucks.

Forty-six percent of people

say they check their phones before they even get out of bed.

The point is that people keep their phones handy and are always ready to use them to find information or check the latest social media updates.

Plus, open rates for texts vastly surpass email —

98 percent versus just 20 percent for email.

Mobile advertising works, but only if your message makes it to the consumer’s inbox, and only if your ad is mobile-optimized.

It’s the only way to steer clear of the noise and get a positive return on investment.

Most online marketers laugh at the idea of SMS marketing because they think it’s more regulated than email marketing. But that’s a

myth

Watered-down, mobile-targeting tactics are costing you conversions, clients, and revenue.

Meanwhile, SMS marketing is lurking in the background, waiting for you to capitalize on it.

Here’s why (and how) you should revisit SMS marketing to generate revenue.

The Many Advantages of SMS Marketing

Do you think

Instagram

has good engagement numbers?

Wait until you see what text messages get.

SMS Marketing Advantage #1. Texting Has The Best Engagement Rate of Any Marketing Medium

Emails can sit unread for days, phone calls can go unanswered, but text messages are almost always read immediately after they’re sent.

We already talked about the comparatively dismal open rates for email. The average CTR for PPC ads is even worse at

The point is that SMS marketing is underrated and underappreciated.

But nothing great comes without its catch.

It’s neither ethical nor legal to send unsolicited messages with text-message marketing.

You need a written opt-in.

Fortunately, customers have an easy way to opt themselves in — or out — straight from their mobile phones with most text-marketing services.

Using

Attentive’s

patent-pending “two-tap” technology, customers can opt-in to a brand’s text messaging subscriber list seamlessly from their mobile website, social media, or other digital channels.

With one tap, a message will populate in their message inbox. They simply press send on the pre-populated text message to opt-in and receive a welcome message.

Here are some of the advantages of mobile text messaging.

SMS Marketing Advantage #2. It’s Trackable

There are countless texting platforms that allow you to manage your campaign all from your desktop.

Find a solution that will give you access to detailed analytics that lets you track each step in the conversion process, starting with the initial delivery and opening.

SMS Marketing Advantage #3.

You Can Leverage Interactive Content

Mobile messaging makes it possible to get feedback from your recipients quickly via a quick tap on the ‘reply’ button or a click on your link.

You can deliver quick, simple messages that direct subscribers back to your site.

For example,

Chipotle

excels at using mobile messaging to drive sales.

It’s short and sweet. It gets straight to the point with “free chips and guac” if you play their game.

Not a bad deal, right?

Especially since they have queso now, too.

Get creative with your text-marketing campaigns and take a page out of the Chipotle playbook.

SMS Marketing Advantage #4. Immediate Delivery

Overall, mobile marketing is fast. Once you press “send,” your message goes out instantly.

You can set up a campaign and have hundreds of clicks within minutes.

SMS Marketing Advantage #5. Add a Personal Touch

Sending a text message via your mobile device gives you an informal opportunity to personalize the message.

For example,

the Banana Republic

often sends text messages that include words like “friends” and “your.”

Using words like “you” and “I” is one of my favorite techniques for driving engagement.

The Banana Republic also does an excellent job of tapping into local events that are relevant to the recipient.

See? The opportunities with SMS are endless.

You can personalize your message, direct users to fun games where they can win coupons, and track every step of the conversion process.

Here’s how it works.

The Basic Components of SMS Marketing

The two basic components of a typical SMS-marketing campaign are the keyword and the shortcode. Here’s an example:

Text “POPCORN” to 555555 for our weekly list of flavors!

“POPCORN” is the keyword that gets placed in the body of the message.

“555555” is the shortcode that gets put in the recipient box.

When a customer sends that message, they’re “opting in” to your campaign. It’s as easy as that.

From there you can do a few different things.

Go ahead and send them a single, automated response to follow up and let them know what to expect next. Or you can just add them to a list that will send additional texts over time.

There are other ways to get customers to opt-in. Let them check a box on an order form or

submit their phone numbers online

Numbers received this last way have to be confirmed, however, since a customer could always enter a number incorrectly.

So before you add them to a campaign, you’ll have to confirm their participation with another message.

For example, you could send. “Text ‘YES’ to receive weekly coupons.”

Once they’ve opted in, customers can also respond to your messages with sub-keywords.

For example, sending the phrase “Hours” could trigger an automated text to send business hours, and “Stop” could remove the subscriber from the list.

Allowing customers to use sub-keywords gives them a way to interact with your business. It also enables them to opt-out of your campaign if they wish to stop receiving messages.

Once you’ve got the basics down, you can tap into creative ideas — like Chipotle’s game, which we covered earlier.

SMS Marketing Strategies to Try

Mobile texting tactics are diverse.

However, they should be pretty familiar if you’ve already run

social promotions and contests

For example, you can send coupons, drive traffic, or engage people through fun, simple games.

Here are some of the best potential uses for SMS marketing.

SMS Marketing Tip #1. Coupons and Exclusive Deals

Start by creating uniquely-generated coupon codes to prevent non-subscribers from taking advantage of your deal.

That way, people have to subscribe to save.

Check out this example from

Redbox

Redbox also takes advantage of “add to wallet.”

It’s giving you a simple one-click option to hook up your phone’s payment system with its offer.

Plus, the subscriber gets an extra incentive for taking this additional step. Customers don’t have to take an extra step to pay when they want to rent movies.

SMS Marketing Tip #2. Use Drip Campaigns

Drip campaigns

are automated messages sent based on specific factors, such as how long someone has been a customer.

Think of this as just another form of

marketing automation

You can create triggers or tailored responses depending on each individual’s status.

In the context of coupons, for example, you could send a 5 percent off coupon right after the subscriber signs up, a 10 percent coupon after three weeks, and a 20 percent off coupon after two months.

The longer they stick around, the bigger the potential bonus. So you’re incentivizing the action you want.

Best of all, you can schedule these to run automatically.

One will be sent as soon as a customer signs up or opts in. That way, you don’t need to keep sending individual messages.

SMS Marketing Tip #3. Poll Your Customers

Polls let your customers text different keywords to cast a vote.

With most services, you can

run polls

to collect responses over a period of time and graph the responses from your online dashboard.

These are relatively simple when you think about it.

However, they offer an interesting content piece.

You can use the results internally to improve your operations.

Or you can reuse the results in both blog and social content to leverage your unique, proprietary information.

The people who left an answer will also be more eager to find out what the eventual results were and even help you share them.

SMS Marketing Tip #4. Run a Sweepstakes Contest

You can have customers sign themselves up for sweepstakes by texting a particular keyword.

Once again, this is a standard promotion tactic.

You can select some winners from everyone who opts in. Or you can also give away a smaller prize to every person who texts your keyword.

You can even use it as an opportunity for cross-promotions.

Sterling Vineyards and Uber did that to give away free rides to Sterling’s customer base.

SMS Marketing Tip #5. Send Photos and Videos

In addition to actual text SMS messaging, you can also send photos and videos.

Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say you wanted to send an eBook preview or another image-style CTA.

Check out this example I created to see what’s possible with just a few minutes worth of work.

Want to create this type of marketing message? I’ll show you how a bit later in this piece.

Use Facebook to Grow Your SMS List

Instead of putting all of your eggs in one basket, use multiple channels to segment subscribers.

SMS and

Facebook Ads

are excellent on their own. But they can be even better when you use them together.

I recommend checking out Facebook’s

lead ads

to integrate with your SMS campaigns.

Lead ads are great for collecting data and information to build up a large subscriber base.

Here’s how to get started.

Head to the Facebook Ads Manager and create a new ad, selecting lead generation as your objective.

After you’ve set your target audience, budget, and placements, head down to the lead form option to set up your ad and collect phone numbers.

Here’s what the finished product should look like.

Now you get a multi-step form that doesn’t bombard the user with an instant information grab.

Instead, it uses multiple steps to warm them up to your offer.

Pretty cool, right?

Here’s what the second step of the form looks like.

Once you’ve configured your settings, you’ve got a simple way to collect phone numbers immediately.

That means you’re almost ready to start getting your first SMS campaign off the ground.

How to Automate SMS Marketing

Since we’re into the idea of working smarter and not harder, I suggest automating the SMSM marketing process.

Let’s face it: Marketing automation saves precious time you can spend

growing your business.

For example, you don’t have to manually export and import lead data. Instead, you can use a tool like

Zapier

to quickly build out an automated process.

Zapier connects with just about every marketing software you can think of, including MailChimp, Gmail, Facebook Ads, Slack, and many of the biggest CRMs on the market.

So if you get a few people submitting phone numbers in your Facebook lead ads, you can send them directly to your CRM, your messaging platform, and even various SMS marketing platforms. All at the same time!

Here’s a few of the texting apps they work with, or you can

search here.

Let’s dive straight in, shall we?

First, select Facebook Lead Ads from the workflow ideas list.

Next, select it as your trigger.

So whenever a lead fills out your lead capture form, it will trigger the following action that you want to set.

I’ll show you how to set that up in one second. But it could be anything from sending that lead form information to your CRM to connecting it to your SMS marketing software.

Now, let’s select this action once you’ve connected your Facebook account to Zapier’s workflow.

The action determines what happens with the data from your lead forms.

For example, you can instantly add a new lead to your SMS app of choice. Then you can even automate the first message that will go out to them after they’re added.

All of this automation saves you countless hours of manually transferring data and information.

Conclusion

Let’s be honest: SMS marketing can be kinda spammy.

It has evolved a lot over the past few years, though.

People are attached to their phones more than ever, and SMS marketing allows you to get direct access to your customers.

If you can get them to opt-in, they’re never going to miss an update or offer from your company ever again.

Especially if your SMS are

personalized for the recipient!

Find an SMS app

and start sending coupons, polling your customers, running sweepstakes, sending photos, and driving sales. The options are limitless.

Get creative with your text offers and

watch your ROI grow fast.

Have you received any SMS marketing messages that you just had to respond to?

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Go to Source Author: Neil Patel

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