#literally everything i bought today was on sale it was great !

[magdalenas]

i spent a lot of money today but i also got three shirts for free soooooo

#2 snoopy shirts 1 blackpink shirt 1 conan gray shirt cuz i didn’t get one at his concert way back when & 1 guillermo del torro pinocchio 😭 #and 2 pairs of shorts !!! #literally everything i bought today was on sale it was great ! #i might share some of it tomorrow esp the snoopy shirt i posted abt earlier lmao

[pbandjesse]

Well today was a bust. Just did not work out. I am trying to not be sad about it but I got my feelings hurt. And I was so tired.

I didn't get enough sleep. I did sleep alright but when I woke up I felt horrible. My eyes were swollen and hurt so much. I took allergy meds and put eye drops in but it was very painful. And I wasn't in a good mood.

James tried to make me feel better. But I was just so sad. I was trying to be positive but it was very hard.

James took me to get hash browns before we went to the elementary school. The hash browns helped. I felt a little more awake. But things were fragile. I felt fragile.

James pulled the wagon and we headed inside. I had a nice space where I could see the door and see people coming in. Which I liked. I got set up and was mostly alright. My sign got scuffed and when James tried to fix it it got worse. Then we tried to cover it with a sticker but it tore when it got placed wrong and I tried covering it up and it was just going very bad. But once I calmed down and delt with that I was alright. James set up some bags with business cards for me. And then walked outside with me to show me where they had parked the car. Before they left to go to work. Hugs and telling them to be careful on their long arduous journey (down the street) and I headed inside.

Everything was alright at first. I had like 40

minutes until people should start coming though so I looked around, and I would do some sewing and made 4 new felt pins throughout the morning.

I found a pair of earrings that I absolutely loved. They were a shop that takes orders though so I got the website and added the to my wishlist.

I was slightly disappointed that there was at least one person drop shipping and there were two mlms. But it was fine. Two crochet sellers. Two books. Some general goods like totesbags and tea towels. A crystal seller. A photographer. Someone selling plants. A baked sale. Girls scout cookies. Candles

It was a good mix.

But I did not have fun. Firstly almost no one talked to me. Including the venders on either side of me. I felt like I was losing my voice again and was having trouble being heard by the few people that were stopping to look at my table. And it was few. I felt like people were aggressively avoiding my table. They would be focused on the table next to me, then make a big U swerve, then go to the next table. At first I was like. Okay that's fine. But then it kept happening. More and more. No one was looking at my table. They were aggressively not looking at me. Im not going to lie I got my feelings hurt.

I get it. You think your kids have to many stuffed animals. But also it's a holiday market. The idea is to buy gifts? I don't just have plushies. I have bags and stickers too. Please just come look. I was becoming more and more disheartened and upset. Literally the highlight of the day was when someone came in with two goats and just walked around.

I tried to just focus on my sewing. Smile at people and try to not show how sad I was. I kept working on my little bead pins.

I would get a brownie and a piece of strawberry cake from the baked sale. I would sell two stickers to some little girls. I was disappointed but I appreciated the sales I did make.

Around noon I finally sold a bear. A girl a little younger then me bought one because she said it made her nostalgic. Thank you! That's exactly it! She liked the birth certificate and made me feel less bad.

But this was a bust. This was a bad day. I didn't even break even with the table cost. I got my feelings hurt. I messed up my sign. I was very close to tears on my drive home.

I also struggled to pack up. Having the two extra crates was great for display but the one for the horses does not fit with the other. I would make it work, and thankfully everything fits in the wagon and I was able to leave in one trip.

I was very upset once I got to the car. I just wanted to go home.

It was foggy and rainy but it would clear up as I got back here. Mr Will and Tina were here putting up Christmas decorations. I love that she does that. She gets fresh pine things. I love it. She was also so nice and said how she was really happy to see me and that my hair looked great.

Will said I seemed very tired. And I was. my eyes were as puffy but I just needed to lay down. After a hug I said goodbye to them both and went upstairs.

I changed into a fleece and put some stuff away. Got cozy in bed and went to sleep with sweetp laying on my side keeping me warm.

It was a good sleep. I woke up a little after 4 because I was cold.

I texted James to check in because the original plan was to go see houses at 5. But it ended up not working out with the listing agent. So we will do that tomorrow. I was only about because I had gotten dressed again.

I ate some cereal while I waited for James to tell me what the plan was. And once I had confirmation we weren't going out I got cozy on the couch. And waited for them to get home.

When they got back here they were all damp from the fog. We hung out on the couch. It made me feel a bit better. They made us a nice little dinner. They would also go walk to get some milk for us.

Eventually I would go take a bath and it was nice. I am tired and still feel a little sad. But I will be okay. I hope next week goes better.

Tomorrow I have a busy day. With my private lesson with Naomi and Kim. Then seeing houses if that works out. And then having dinner with Callie. Busy day but I think it will be good.

Sleep well everyone. Be careful and be kind.

[brightgnosis]

Got pretty much everything I needed to done before noon today.

Doctor's appointment went great. She was really happy to hear that the Meloxicam we put me on a couple months ago has pretty much knocked out my joint pain. So we're going to keep me on that. Aside from that, my labs came back fairly clean.

I do have some semi-self correcting Anemia, so she went ahead and put me on a prescription Iron supplement for when I'm menstruating, just to make sure it doesn't fall too low during those points. Especially since the Iron that I need isn't easily found around here OTC. And she read a study that showed that people with Fibro do better with higher Vitamin D, so since I'm usually deficient in D and have an issue remembering to take my D supplements, she prescribed once weekly D2 for 3 weeks to build up my D storage, and daily D3; we're going to see if having it in a script bottle helps me remember to actually take it, vs trying to remember to take them on top of my usual meds.

Other than that, everything looks great.

Got the original dress I ordered shipped off for return today- and the new one in the correct size surprised me by arriving right afterwards this afternoon (a day early). It still pulls a bit at the buttons in the front, so I'll still have to wear a bit of a compressive bra to stop that. But that's honestly just an issue with button front dresses (and shirts) in general when you're endowed. And I can tell that if I go up one more size just to accommodate my breasts even more, the rest of the dress is no longer going to fit me. So I just have to live with it.

Either way, it's still much more comfortable and I actually fit in it this time. I am really disappointed in the other one I bought, however.

I'd ordered a second, white, dress alongside it because it's traditional to wear white on certain holidays- and it was fairly cheap, being on sale ... But I'm just ... Not loving it on me at all? It shows my weight in a way that makes me look very dumpy and I hate it. I tried taking in the shoulder seams to see if that'd help the issue since the shoulders were too big anyways, and honestly it just made it worse somehow? So I think I'm going to pick out the alterations and return it; I just won't wear white this holiday cycle.

I forgot how badly clothes shopping gives me major Dysphoria in general 😔 This whole situation with both dresses has literally been the worst for my relationship with my body again ... And to think it was finally getting better now that I was stable, and I've been excited to be gaining weight again finally after struggling with my health for so many years.

On the upside, though, we were too tired to cook after errands. So we stopped and got Burger King for lunch today- and the weather was so nice, we decided to take it out to our favorite spot at the lake and eat instead of just going home like usual. So that was really lovely, getting to watch the water and feel the cool air ... We finally talked about the Farm a bit more while we were out there, too.

I want out of this damned house. And if we're going to take the farm as the way of making that happen, then we need to start working on it. Because it's going to be years worth of work to get it back into livable condition again; we can't just sit here on our rear ends every weekend playing Baldur's Gate together and being lazy. So I pushed, and we made our final decision on it: They want someone to take care of the farm, and we want out of here. So that's that.

As far as we're concerned, however, they're the ones responsible for the major financial repairs- especially putting the damned thing back on the foundation. Because it's not only in their name still and they're the ones that have the insurance on it, but they're also the ones that let it fall into that state to begin with. That should be on them in the end- not us ... But we'll help them fix it up and do what we can, as far as we can, so long as the understanding is that we do get it at the end. And I put my foot down, too, about us getting to make any design decisions that come up as well, because we'll be getting it; it's not going to be their house. We deserve to be the ones to make those choices as we go, if we'll be the ones taking it over.

So ... I guess we'll see how this actually goes- and whether or not it'll actually even happen. Because it seems like any time someone makes plans for the farm, they eventually wind up at the bottom of the pond somehow. So we'll just have to see.

#Personal #2023 #ReTaming The Farm #Alphabet Soup #Face & Body #Daily Life #Oklahoma #Fibromyalgia #Vitamin Deficiency

[afr0-thunder]

[Poor Chronicles Pt. 19]

*BEHIND STARBUCKS EDITION*

Chicken Salad and Water Diet: Day Two! I didn’t drink water yesterday, just went to sleep. I picked up a double, so it was tiring. I wonder every day, “Will I have the energy to walk to/from work on this diet?”. Legs a little tired, but I say, “Yes!”. “Will I get hungry and buy something to eat and start a new diet?” and to that I say, “Well I’m not hungry now, so I don’t think I will.”.

My housemate’s hostility may be stemming from her inability to track my income. Over eating too many packs of fucking noodles? Sounds mildly crackhead-ish, but whatever. I just figured if she never asked, I never asked her about hers and we both did our part every month, there should be no issues. Incorrect. She must assume my income means I’d buy her food randomly like she’s done for me (when I didn’t work for the first couple months). Also incorrect. You’d figure after almost a year of offering more than what’s required, she’d catch on…and I bought snacks. Need to put an end to that too. Possibly her grandson (year older than me) mentioned my Instagram story about how when I got rich I was helping no one. Didn’t say her, but things change. Also, he provoked this mindset to be furthered. Before I worked this job, I was at another job (he runs a business, meets lots of famous people, has them buy things from him, takes pictures of them with it), he asked if I was “still working at that lil pizza place?”. Long story short, I know where I’m headed and gave him business advice that would help him save and even make more money going further (mostly ideas). He went back and forth with me. Said I sounded like my grandfather. Ended up almost rolling his eyes because of how persistent I was with proving my point and said, “You right! You just know everything”…because I don’t own my own business, I guess. I’m just saying a consumer would understand sales better than someone “above” them because we tend to notice things that a producer wouldn’t, as we don’t have to tend to hundreds of others. He just ended with “Okay well let’s see where I’m at in 2 years and where you’re at.” like a competition. I said, “Well seeing as though I haven’t gotten started on my career directly and you are about 10 years in on efforts almost, but more than 5 literally, that would almost be unfair.”.

He says, “3!”.

I say, “I would do 2, but okay we’ll see.”

I quit that job almost a year from today after 2 straight days of hostile arguments with the owner’s husband (my last manager). Almost a year later, I am doing better. Look forward to seeing how year two goes. Probably worse because why would it get better. Someone wants to see me doing bad, so they have to get their wish. It’ll still be great, just not to the average idiot, so “bad”.

I clocked in a few seconds too late, aware this means one of my enemies (I’m their’s) wants me to be late to everything or off timing. Endlessly pissed about being a minute off my OWN schedule, but also give no fuck about what they want.

My head coach mentioned how I worked a lot of hours last week and would probably be thrilled when I checked my pay stub. I didn’t check, nor did I get thrilled.

Today, she and my assistant coach asked when I was going to get a phone, so they could text me if they needed to reach me. I laughed and said, “Never.” (Have been laughing about this since I left work, forgot my exact word/words). I said I have a phone, (2, actually) it just doesn’t have service. I said they could always call the number I have on file (housemate’s). She said, “What if you get a hot date?”. I say, I’ll just have to meet her in person. On my walk home I realized, I still needed a method of contact. I decided not to give Mary my tumblr or Instagram like I first thought and will give her my email, so she doesn’t have to give me her email, in case she thinks I’m crazy (I am). I’ll just tell her that though.

My African American manager got pissed when I was washing lettuce and got him wet. I said, “That’s kind of feminine.”…because girls…get wet. I don’t think he caught on. He said, “You were a male cheerleader! That’s the most feminine sport.”

I said, “MALE cheerleader. Also, it’s soccer. They’re literally called ‘grass fairies’.”.

He said, “Female dominated.”

I said, “Cheerleading was started by males. Also, I could knock everyone on the field, off their field. I gave up football to do cheerleading and it got me through college, plus most of the teams I cheered for sucked. They came to see ME!”.

He shortly after explained this to a female coworker when I said, “First you called me a ‘half nigga’, now I’m a fag.”. She didn’t get the “wet” joke either. She thought it was cool that I was a cheerleader though. I’ve been there for almost a year and just never bring it up.

Savings: $29 > $49

I love being a Chicagoan everyday. This city is so beautiful.

There’s probably more, but I don’t remember it all.

My mother just messaged me…for the 6th time. I wish she would stop. Estranged. Eternally.

In short, craving noodles…hard! My unnamed house type constantly gets new ideas. I miss television, film and social media. This will be my last Starbucks post. I won’t be grocery shopping again, so I’ll move my posts to McDonald’s. I used to love coming home everyday now I hate living in hostility and want to move every single night, but I imagine I’ll have a year or two left here and my current job location (love my job, don’t get shit confused). I will check Week 6 scores next week for the NFL. My African American manager has told like 3 of my coworkers and a manager that I was cheerleader. Starving is not so hard.

- MH (2023)

[10/13/2023 - 6:13PM]

#personal #poor chronicles #poor #poverty #life #lesson #life lesson #life lessons #guidance #struggle #chicago #2023 #LilMark #PUNKAssMark #afr0-thunder

[thesquidsink]

“Human actors are all on set,” said one of the crew. David? Davis? Todd couldn’t remember his name. Davey?

Todd yawned and tapped his foot, snacking on a bag of pretzels. He was sprawled out on the couch on a faithful recreation of the living room set of Monster Family, the 90s sitcom that made him rich at the young age of 8. They’d done a pretty good job - even had the rug pattern and wall art matched. Everything was exactly the way he remembered it, only smaller. The colours were as bright and vivid and bold as ever, which he thought might look weird in modern HD. The 4k remaster had made the show look more smooth and sterile than he remembered, but its sales had bought him a really nice boat.

“Human actors,” Todd snickered to himself. Crew were still doing that nonsense? He scooched up a little to check - yep, the security guys were still equipped with garlic, crosses, silver squirtguns, and blowtorches. Absurd. But as he’d grown older, he’d come to realize that the backstage mysticism had earned the show a lot of buzz in the tabloids and forums. Set photos of security guys looking terrified of the ‘monsters’ were good advertisement. 

“Monsters are traveling,” said Davidson.

The ‘monsters’ came through the ‘kitchen door’ into the living room set, to a smattering of applause from the crew. Akhenaten the mummy held the door open for Sandra the werewolf, and Leonora the vampire followed.

Todd frowned. Makeup had done an excellent job. He didn’t think the budget for the 25-year reunion special was very big. His agent thought it was mostly a cash-in after the remaster and streaming views had blown up.

Sandra, Todd’s big sister in the Monster Family - they’d all gone by their real names, to help sell the fiction - looked a lot more mature (and shapely) than Todd remembered. When they shot the series, Sandra had been twelve, or five years older than he was when the show started. Now here she was in a stunning, form-fitting red dress, which accentuated her curves and would show off plenty of skin were it more visible under the cover of the thick straight hairs of Sandra’s werewolf costume. She was talking to Akhenaten, but flashed Todd a quick, canine-heavy smile.

The mummy was Akhenaten, Todd’s ‘dad’, the source of a great many mummy-daddy jokes. Todd leaned forward to try to spot the seams in the costume, but he couldn’t. Akhenaten’s bandages were fresh and clean, and appeared totally continuous from head to toe. The zippers and buttons must be under the ancient Egyptian-styled jewelry and those admittedly super sick sneakers. Akhenaten didn’t pause his conversation with Sandra, but gave Todd a pat on the head just like he used to on the show.

Leonora, the vampire ‘mom’, looked… actually her makeup was the most impressive. Perfect, unlined skin completely devoid of any tan, the exact same hair length and style, the same pendant and rings, not the slightest difference in her ice-sharp eyes. It was… unnerving, actually. Todd ran in circles where plenty of people could afford to age very gracefully, but Leonora looked like she literally had not aged a single day since the last time Todd saw her twenty years ago. It was like she’d stepped right out of Todd’s memories or the HD remaster.

She nodded to him. “Todd,” she said, her voice and accent just as cold yet mildly affectionate as he recalled. “I hear you have… changed… since we last spoke.”

Todd frowned, and tried to laugh it off. “Still playing the mom, huh Leonora? I haven’t read the script yet but I remember you being more tough love than condescending.”

“You haven’t read…” Leonora began, but she was interrupted.

“Todd! How are you, ‘son’?” asked Akhenaten, with finger quotes and a chuckle. “I was just complaining to Sandra about how hard it is to find a good laundry specialist who won’t blab straight to social media about whose bandages they’re washing today.” Akhenaten nudged Todd with his elbow. “But I’m sure you know all about that, huh, rich guy? I hear your agent got you a huge cut of the remaster and streaming numbers.”

“Uh, yeah,” Todd said, trying not to meet Akhenaten’s barely-exposed eyes, which was thankfully not difficult. He’d hoped that topic wouldn’t come up. “I was, uh, actually hoping to catch up with Sandra, because, you know, we used to be so close.”

“Sure thing, bud,” said Akhenaten. “I have to go talk to Daveed about the camera anyway. Leonora?” They walked off together.

“Sooo,” said Todd, looking Sandra up and down. “You’re looking great. Hairy, but great.”

The smile on Sandra’s face faltered. “But? I’m looking great, except for my body hair?”

“Well, come on, Sandra,” said Todd. “It’s just the costume. I’d love to see how you look all cleaned up after the shoot today.” He tried his trademark side-smile. “Maybe over dinner? There’s this great vegetarian place that just opened around the -”

Sandra growled. Like, actually growled, like a dog. “I heard you’d had a rough go of it with the fame from a young age, but I didn’t know you’d become such a dick. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a woman with this much body hair?”

“What? Sandra, it’s just an outfit, I don’t see what the big -”

Sandra howled at Todd. Her hair grew thicker, her face elongated, her muscles and frame bulged until she ripped free of her dress and hunched over, baring sharp teeth and claws.

Todd’s eyes went so wide they hurt, and he stumbled back, falling over the couch. “Whatthefuck-”

Two security guys ran over with little water guns labelled ‘colloidal silver’ and started squirting the monster that had emerged from Sandra. “Bad!” they shouted. “Bad girl!” The enormous wolf growled and postured, but quickly turned away and smashed through the back door of the set.

Todd lay on his back, his head thumping with pain from landing on it. He blinked until things stopped being fuzzy. He heard muffled snippets of conversation. Someone was saying they knew Todd would be a problem, Monica go bring Sandra her dress, get the director.

A gloved pair of hands lifted Todd gently into a sitting position. No, not gloves - bandages. “You okay, kid? That was a real stupid thing to say.”

“Akhenaten? What the hell was that? What just happened?”

The dad mummy sighed. “I warned them this might happen, you know. You were just a kid back then, and the three of us don’t go out in public much. Since we never hung out after the show, I worried that as you grew up, at the age where kids stop believing in monsters, you’d assume that all the precautions around set were just good marketing.”

Todd pulled back. “What? You’re telling me -”

“Yeah, kid. I’m three and a half thousand years old, Leonora’s a real vampire, and Sandra’s a real werewolf.”

“Oh my god,” gasped Todd. “I have so much apologizing to do.”

_______________

From reddit prompt: Todd was the child star of a old 90s sitcom called 'Monster Family', with the actors playing the mummy father, the vampire mother, and the werewolf sister. When he arrives 25 years later to film a reunion episode to cash in on nostalgia, he realizes... they were all real monsters.

#writing #daily writing prompt #writing exercise #writing prompt #dailyprompt #microfiction #creative writing #daily #monsters #vampire #werewolf #mummy #vampires #werewolves #mummies #sitcom

[mimelord1]

Im Obsessed With Colgate Wisp Travel Toothbrushes and Theyre on Sale for 52% Off Today

I’m Obsessed With Colgate Wisp Travel Toothbrushes and They’re on Sale for 52% Off Today https://ift.tt/Sy7z9kH If you need additional insights, here are some rave reviews from more Amazon shoppers. Colgate Max Fresh Wisp Disposable Mini Travel Toothbrush Reviews Colgate Wisps are my new FAVORITE thing. I keep them in my purse, my car, my bookbag….everywhere! I got tired of lugging around my toothbrush in my purse, so Colgate Wisps were the answer to my problem. They give the same fresh feeling as brushing your teeth! I love using one of the Colgate Wisps after I eat when I go out to eat for lunch or dinner. I can’t imagine life without them now. They have become an essential item to my daily life! I carry these wherever I go and use it after each meal. It doesn’t seem to get everything as the pick is softish, and it is not a real toothbrush after all,but with some work it does the trick and freshens my breath nicely. The coolest thing since sliced bread. These hit the spot when you need them. It has a little bit of dissolving mint gel that refreshes you mouth. The head is smaller than a regular toothbrush so it takes a little longer to get everywhere, but somehow it feels like it gets in all the cracks and feels super legit. Built in pick/flosser at the end tops it off. A must have for in the car or in your bag. Will be buying again. Literally everything I’ve been missing for a fresh mouth. Perfect to bring anywhere anytime you don’t feel comfortable smiling or talking. I always use to travel with a small toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag when I got on the plane. I didn’t like the fact that when I used the bathroom in the airport, people would look at me weird when I was brushing my teeth after my flight. This solved everything! Leaves my breath fresh and teeth clean! I also leave some in my car so that I can use it after going out for dinner. These are great for traveling and great for people with braces. I bought these because I was tired of carrying around a bunch of stuff and constantly needing to find a place to brush my teeth/braces! Once I bought these it solved everything. I keep a pack in my purse at all times and they really come in handy! If you’re looking for more amazing beauty deals, check out these 30% discounts on Laneige before these products sell out. The post I’m Obsessed With Colgate Wisp Travel Toothbrushes and They’re on Sale for 52% Off Today first appeared on Suave Media. Tags and categories: Uncategorized via WordPress https://ift.tt/tcuJerj October 11, 2022 at 06:00PM

[postwarlevi]

Farmers Market

Content: It's literally you and Levi at an outdoor market. Enjoy!

"Levi, look here!" You call to him from another stall.

It was your favorite time of year, fall, when the weather cooled down. The outdoor markets were starting back up and it was opening day at your favorite one.

"Look at the size of the peppers, only a dollar!" Somehow produce sales just got you excited.

"They look alright." He says, wondering why they're so cheap.

"We got a good crop right on time this year." The vendor says.

"Let's get some." You say, ready to pull some cash out.

"Gonna go any cheaper?" Levi asks the man behind the table.

"Levi! How much cheaper can they be?" You're a bit embarrassed that he's starting in already. But Levi knows that if it were near the end of the day and there's too much left they always give a better deal.

The vendor laughs though. "Maybe. You know what? You were such good customers last season, if you want to buy in bulk, how about half off? Anything you want today." There really was a lot and he remembered how much you always picked up.

"See?" Levi tells you, kissing your temple, looking at what else there is.

You were convinced Levi could talk anyone into anything, and were happy to use it to your advantage.

Soon your rolling fold up cart is already half full with bell peppers, cucumber, cauliflower, bags of kale and a huge butternut squash that Levi was sure you'd make him cut into, even though he showed you how last time.

He handed the vendor the cash as you thanked him and were already off to another stall. It really was a good deal, not that you needed ten peppers.

You were already haggling over dried fruit and nuts, coming away with eight bags for a decent percentage off, stuffing them in the tote you had.

"I got you hazelnuts and beets." You say, seeing a small smile from Levi. When you weren't looking he rolled his eyes a bit, knowing the vendors must love seeing you coming. But you always made sure to throw in his favorites, and since you didn't come as often as you would like, Levi never minded.

"I'm gonna go to the tea stall. You want the cart?" He asks and you nod.

"What kind of fruit do you want?" You indicate where you're headed next.

"Citrus." As if you didn't know. You kiss his cheek before parting for a little bit.

Levi heads to his favorite tea vendor and sees she has some new stuff this year.

"Hi there Mr Ackerman!" She always tries to remember her returning customers.

He gives a polite hello and soon has overspent on not only his favorites but some new assortments he doesn't remember her having last season. He makes sure to get cinnamon as well, one of your favorites.

Levi passes by someone selling hats, the wide brim straw sun hat with with a purple ribbon catching his eye.

He's pretty sure you've mentioned wanting one, especially on warm days. Picking one up along with some long stemmed sunflowers at the next vendor, he goes to find you.

You're no longer at the fruits, thank goodness, so he goes towards the back.

He stops dead in his tracks after he spots you. In the short time you've been away your hair has been done into one long braid and you're currently modeling a blue and yellow sun dress in another vendors mirror.

You're beautiful in anything, and Levi can hear his heart pounding. Truth be told you could probably wear rags and would still outshine everyone else.

"Levi! You like?" You say, bounding towards him and breaking this thoughts.

He can only nod, reaching to pick up your braid.

"Oh! Some young girls are learning about business and charging five dollars and I wanted to support them. Only took a few minutes. They did so good!"

Levi leans forward to give a quick kiss to your lips, place then hat on your head and holds out the sunflowers.

"This is so great! Thank you." You gush about the things he's gotten you.

You go back to the dress stall to pay and pick up the cart, leaving your other outfit in the tote. Levi takes both the cart and your tote bag, leaving you with the flowers and an extra paper bag you didn't put in the cart.

Levi sees you got the oranges he requested, along with apples, pomegranates, pears and a whole pineapple that, again, you'll probably make him deal with.

You both take a seat for a little while, enjoying warm pastries and agua frescas.

"What's in the bag?" He asks as you've not let go of it yet.

"Your favorite tea vendor? Well, her partner is running a second stall full of products." You pull out the things in the bag.

"It's a tea warming plate." You say as Levi examines it. "Charge it and it'll last for days. Now when you get busy with work it'll always be warm."

"Why don't I already have one of these?" He wonders.

You shrug and dive back into the bag. "Well, now you do. And also, Bath Brew Pockets, and socks."

Levi stares at what surely are gag gifts. "You mean, I can bathe in tea?"

"Or we, unless you want it all to yourself." You then hold up the socks. His black pair with pink writing reads 'If You Can Read This' on one and 'Bring Me Tea' on the other. Your pink pair with black writing reads 'If You Can Read This' and 'Get Your Own.'

Levi chuckles. "These are ridiculous."

You grin. "Well yeah. You gonna use everything?"

"Of course." He would always love everything you picked.

After finishing your snack it's on to grab multiple varieties of honey, apricot and also cherry jam, two loaves of fresh bread and some muffins from your favorite bakery stall, a focaccia and a dozen rolls from another one, and a two pound block of feta, which Levi says you don't need, but in the tote it goes.

You can't help but want the hummingbird mosaic wind chime, and Levi agrees if you promise to put it up, and not store it away. He then goes for yet another plush throw blanket for you to cozy up together under while you pretend there's room for coconut bowls with matching utensils in your cabinets.

It's soon clear that your tote, cart, and both yours and Levis hands are full.

"I think that's all we can manage, love." He tells you.

You know he's right but think there's something you're missing. You could pass on the chocolates this time, but there's something else.

"Oh, what about the orange juice? It's always so good!" You couldn't leave without that.

"Right." He sighs lightly. No use reminding you of all the actual oranges you just bought.

Balancing another bag on the carts handle he tells you to wait for him and is soon back with a gallon of fresh squeezed orange juice.

"Yay!" You are happy to see the new bag.

You start back with all your items and suddenly gasp, remembering one more thing.

"No, I'm sorry, there's no more hands." Levi says, trying to guide you forward with just his knee.

"But the soaps!"

"Yes and the candles and the olive oils and the pies and the goat milk." Levi lists off some random things you'll probably want next time you come. "I mean, we have to get through all this first."

"The pies." You frown at what you missed, but there really is a lot of food.

You get to the car and load everything in, settling into the passenger seat for the ride home.

"How about we bake our own pie with the stuff we have? We can always come next week." He says, taking your hand in his. You usually only came once a month during the season since you always bought so much, but there were exceptions. Besides, there were things he'd forgotten about, too.

You look at the sunflowers you're holding in front of you. It's been a lovely outdoor morning with the man who holds your heart. "What kind of pie?" Everyday with him was a good day.

He looks over and smiles, bringing your hand to his lips. "Anything you want, angel. But first, we nap."

You look back and return his smile, wondering if Levi knows how happy he makes you, and hoping you do the same for him.

Silently, he's thinking the same about you.

an- In honor of my favorite outdoor market that just opened for the season! I'll mention again that domestic fluff with Levi in everyday life is my favorite thing. And pairing him and reader with food haha.

#levi ackerman #captain levi ackerman #captain levi #aot #attack on titan #aot fluff #levi x reader #levi x y/n #levi ackerman fluff #levi fic #farmers market #levi fluff #levi fanfiction #levi

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Mon 14 June ‘21

Louis Tomlinson Cooks is here!! Yeah it’s 100% for sure as delightful to watch Louis make himself a sandwich as you might have hoped, but how was his cooking? Well I’ll let Louis rate himself-- “I’m not gonna lie not that appetizing is it, I mean look at it,” he says when it comes time to taste his creation, plus, “chopping peeling slicing not great to be fair- everything else I’m all right” (he’s… not wrong, even aside from the peeler issues has this man ever held a knife??) but- “it probably tastes nice though as I said it’s not about presentation for me… [munches cutely]... it’s actually pretty banging, that’s actually quite nice!” Success! Maybe it’s cause he knows the secret to faking good cooking- “as you can see I don’t have a lot of cooking ability so the more butter the better,” I mean the experts can tell you, that’s advanced stuff right there! #Louis-aChild! Substituting mustard and ketchup for coleslaw is a bit of a bold move, but in a belated attempt to convince the kiddos to eat some healthy veg even though he won’t he does bravely try the cucumber strips despite being “not really a man for cucumber” and makes a pained attempt to be positive- “bit of crunch.” Oh and speaking of crunch I’m relieved to have learned that the waffle is NOT a waffle, it’s a crispy waffle shaped bit of potato; a much more reasonable fish sandwich addition than the American version of a potato waffle! Full Time Meals polled to see what people think of Louis cooking; the two choices are “it was amazing” and “the best,” THEY GET IT. My kind of Louis poll! Helen Seamons rated him a “10/10 for effort and entertainment”, Masterchef acknowledged Louis as one of their own, and Marcus Rashford keeps it simple- “my guy” with a lil heart. YEAH, SAME.

Harry showed up in Italy, where he was papped in Venice being driven around (with PA Luis) on a boat (as you do, in Venice). He’s in a cool embroidered Bode shirt and shades and fancy hair, looking good. He’s seen carrying his suitcase, taking photos, and resting his head on his arms looking like a model. One might think, since we just saw the My Policeman cast and crew on set celebrating the wrap of the shoot, that they were done filming and Harry was off to do something different, but nope, he’s there to film! The book has key scenes in Venice that folks had been wondering about the filming of, and David Dawson is also being boated around Venice for the paps, so, it seems that was just for the wrap of the *UK* filming, which makes sense I guess since it would mostly be different crew I imagine, and perhaps some of the main cast are done as well.

Liam’s NFT sale is happening tomorrow! If you’re confused and want more info, I’M NOT GONNA HELP THAT MUCH… uh but I mean you can check out Liam’s youtube video explaining though I would guess that won’t help much (even Liam thinks so; “there’s probably websites that explain a lot better than me” he admits). There is a roundup now posted of what’s on offer for the buyers of the NFTs but I’m gonna be really honest with you, I’m more confused now than I was before. It’s clear that there are only SIX LONELY BUG NFTs right? They for sure said that I believe. But the packages for each different piece (token bundles) seem to me like they’re available to multiple buyers? Like maybe you don’t get the NFT but multiple top bidders on each get the extras? Like they can’t be selling multiple copies of the NFT... can they?! Isn’t the WHOLE POINT that only one person gets to own it? I DON’T FUCKING KNOW I AM SORRY. What I think I understand to be true: the six NFT buyers get to go to “a once-in-a-lifetime immersive dining experience at Resorts World Las Vegas” (this is the dinner with Liam and “a selection of crypto leaders from around the world” which takes place on display inside a giant glass box) and also “a bespoke commemorative presentation box containing the world’s leading holographic display... with audio... and a custom made Lonely Bug commemorative coin,” and “a unique QR code directing the owner to a special ‘Director’s Cut’ edit of the short digital film ‘Making Of Lonely Bug Collection’ which features unreleased footage from the day of the drop showing the creators' reactions when the winning bids came in” (I mean YEAH I would think it’s unreleased it literally hasn’t happened?) But then there are really a lot of other extras including tickets with Meet & Greet access to any Liam Payne headline show around the world, admission to pool and cinema parties in Vegas with Liam, signed art, non-Liam extras (I will literally bid to NOT have 20 minute phone calls with those crypto entrepreneurs PLEASE… but that’s just me), and access to an online party hosted by Liam; I really get the impression many of these, especially the last one, are just crypto tokens that are for sale that aren’t linked to the main Lonely Bug NFTs and many more than 6 people can buy them but a lot of the extras I’m not clear on which it is. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll understand better WE WILL SEE.

Liam also dropped by the discord last night to say some hellos (after a “long long day”) and that he “bought a piece of NFT art of myself tonight I’m going to give it as a prize Monday night so someone can own a piece of art that was owned by me” (an even less tangible bragging point than simply owning an NFT wow that’s an achievement) and the most important update- “I want a French Bulldog”! Oh and he said “that’s like one I did myself” in his fanart channel to a pic of a tiny crocheted illustration of Louis and Harry holding up a rainbow flag. Didya Liam?? (...Liam is crocheting??) Anyway I recognize who it’s supposed to be because it’s based on a familiar piece of fanart, but Liam definitely might NOT realize it’s meant to be someone specific, and tbh I’m more <eyeballs> at him saying that at the rainbow flag crocheted thing than at it being shippy.

Our Song acoustic version is out this Friday!! And Niall talked about NH3 some in an interview today; “I’m in the studio most days, it feels really good. I’m kinda in the latter stages of it and then I’ll go get a band together and go in and record the whole thing. I’ve just kind of been writing for the past 9 or 10 months and really enjoying it” and “It sounds like a complete album. God knows when it’s coming out because I’d like to be able to get around the world to see all the fans as well” and “It’s different. It sounds a lot more grown up. I’m 27 so it’s about time. I really wanted to kinda cement a sound. The singles I’ve released previously have all been kinda different sounds. I would like to have my ballad sound & like a cemented uptempo sound.” He and Anne Marie also talked about one of the other songs they wrote together saying, “It’s kind of like a, how do you describe it- guitar driven meets Tom Petty meets Katy Perry meets…” but say “We haven’t really decided if we are putting it out yet, the conversations are kinda happening... but it’s completely different (from Our Song).”

#liam payne #whyyyy so confusing #niall horan #louis tomlinson #YES BABE please do bake off now PLEASE #Harry styles #looking so good even though those shorts are AWFUL IMO hilariously frumpy #love that #14 jun 21 #overall I do not think liam should get any more dogs #but a small dog he took everywhere with him would be ADORABLE #(more dogs than he has previously owned I mean he currently has no dogs)

[bisluthq]

Could you explain to me why Dress has gay connotations? I just don’t see it, and it’s been years now.

Yes I can, because that was the song that lead me down this path of sin and insanity. The year was 2017. With more marbles and brain cells and far less COVID, I sat down to listen to the album Reputation. Perhaps I poured a glass of wine first. I don’t recall. I was but a more or less normal, very casual fan who had for many years enjoyed mocking Taylor for her messy ass personal life, supposed hyperconfessionalism and regular PR kerfuffles. One of my best friends and then roommate used to, as I’ve told y’all before, blast Blank Space as a chaos anthem every time we went out. Fundamentally, though I was too cool for Taylor Swift. I was listening for like... general pop culture knowledge because my brain is a treasure trove of entertainment tidbits and gossip. I got through almost the whole album and then I heard the song Dress and I said, “what the fuck did I just listen to?” And I replayed it and I went, “Damn Blank Space. That was gay.”

And that was the fateful day I came to believe in 2+ muses, Gaylor and, I guess, Kaylor as well because my (albeit surface level but even if I’d dug) Googling brought me mostly to supermodel Karlie Kloss’s door.

So why is this song so gay? I’m not even gonna give y’all the Kaylor reading today we’re literally gonna time capsule to 2017 before I knew any of this shit and when the only thing I knew was THIS SONG WAS GAY.

Our secret moments

In a crowded room

They got no idea

About me and you

Okay so they’re out and about. What secret moments? Like looks and stuff? I mean bold of her to assume nobody knows it’s pretty easy to convince people hets are fucking especially if they’re giving each other meaningful looks and shit. Idk like people whisper and gossip about hets just looking at one another all the time. This seems like she’s a bit overconfident in their sneakiness.

There is an indentation

In the shape of you

Made your mark on me

A golden tattoo

Right so whatever is happening between the speaker and the subject of the song has had an impact on her. This isn’t a thirst anthem. Like the secret moments aren’t because they’re just... looking at one another respectfully and kinda doing that “your place or mine” telepathic conversation. No, Tay’s body has a mark, an indentation from the shape of her lover’s body and the whole thing is a golden tattoo - temporary and removable, presumably, shiny and glittery, but visible to the naked eye. So shit’s already gone down. Friends with benefits maybe?

All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation

My hands are shaking from holding back from you (ah, ah, ah)

All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting

My hands are shaking from all this (ha, ha, ha, ha)

Nah, not simply friends with benefits. This is forbidden, right? Taylor can’t touch her lover. All they have are these secret stolen looks in the crowded room that absolutely nobody can tell mean anything. That... sounds like “gal pals” to lil gay me. Like she can’t touch her lover because it’ll be too obvious but as long as they don’t touch it won’t seem sexual at all. It’s not just that they’re friends and nobody knows there’s more going on, because why can’t they be friendly then? Why are they sharing secret moments but they can’t come close to the point where her hands are literally shaking from staying away? Why can’t she do that good old link arms with her good guy friend especially if they’re out and tipsy? And then it ends off with orgasm noises because... it’s this song so of course it does.

Say my name and everything just stops

I don't want you like a best friend

Only bought this dress so you could take it off, take it off (ha, ha, ha)

More nails in the coffin of “friends with benefits” and people just don’t know. This person saying her name makes her world stop. This ties into the forbidden vibe but it’s also so innocuous that it does fuck with the “we’re just friends with benefits but I want more” interpretation that a hetsplanation would require. Like this is clearly a lot more. It’s already a lot more. It’s not that she just wants more, this girlie is gone.

And then we get to my gayest line: “I don’t want you like a best friend.” Now I get saying you don’t want to be “just friends” with a guy. I also do get being best friends with a guy. One of my irl besties is Blank Space Chaos Anthem girlie and the other is a (mostly) straight dude. I also have other straight dude friends like my mate who I was trying to rescue from accidentally having to marry a converting girl a few years back. I’m like a (woke) straight dude whisperer tbh because being friends with me is a big win for their woke credibility and let’s be real I’m 1) irreverent and great fun and 2) give great advice on girls.

Now I can guarantee you my proposition to fucking any of my dude friends from besties to casuals would not be “I don’t want you like a best friend.” They’d be like, “my bitch wut? Are you with Pothead YouTube Ex again? Tell her BE GONE WITCH!” And sure, maybe that’s just me. But if was already fucking a dude I can guarantee you the words “I don’t want you like a best friend” would not exit my mouth. It’s not “I don’t want to be friends” or “I don’t only want to be friends” she says “I don’t want you like a best friend.” The implication is there’s an appropriate way to “want” a friend and the way she wants the person she’s speaking to is not like that. It’s a similie, she’s comparing the subject of the song to a best friend and saying this is not like that. Now, explain to me why that level of clarification is important in a fwb setup? You’re trying to make it more serious, I get it. You don’t want to be “just” friends with benefits (and we know they’re already fucking) I get that too. But why the similie?

Why would a dude you’re fucking ever misunderstand and think you want him like a best friend?

Carve your name into my bedpost

Cause I don't want you like a best friend

Only bought this dress so you could take it off, take it off (ha, ha, ha)

I mean again, if we needed clarity on why this is a sex anthem it’s the first line of this song. And she’s saying “have sex with me because I don’t want you like a best friend” again, they’ve already fucked that was established in the first verse. Why would this be stuff you clarify with a dude? Why would a man who is fucking you get the wrong impression and assume you want to be best friends? Not friends. Best friends. Why would he think that?

And then we get the dress line. Now, I know some people are like “I dress up for my boyfriend!” and sure. But let’s all be honest. 85%+ of the time girls of any sexual orientation wear outfits out - and we established this is an out type situation - it’s for other girls to notice their fashion. Come on, you’re not expecting your dude friend to be like, “nice dress, where’d you buy it?” “Oh, this? Hahaha it’s just Zara, they were having a sale. If you hurry you might get one too!” Like there’s something inherently sapphic/feminine about discussions of buying clothing. And come on, fellow queer ladies, clothes is a great way to get a chat going.

In this song, Taylor draws attention to this feminine article of clothing she bought to wear on the night in question and instead of saying “it’s Zara” she goes “I only bought it so you could take it off” - I’m doing an eyebrow wiggle but you can’t see because I’m just text on your screen. Why would you say that to a guy? Like if you did, if you’re that girl why are you holding back from him? Y’all are fucking and you have a massive thing for him. Surely he should know by now? Why is this dress even featuring in the conversation? Like I say bringing up a dress you bought in a conversation about sex feels pretty fucking gay. It’s either a really bizarre and kinda desperate flex which doesn’t really match the sexiness of the song or... it’s gay.

Inescapable

I'm not even going to try

Girl you’ve fucked why is there a point of trying at this stage? Unless you... can’t do this or it feels in some way wrong?

And if I get burned, at least we were electrified

Why the I/we split? Like why is only one of them burned if they were electrified? Sure maybe it’s a fwb thing and he can turn her down for more than sex and friendship but it sounds more like - given the best friends - this is her female friend and she’s maybe uncertain of the other woman’s feelings. This feels - and again we’re not doing a Tay’s personal life reading here - like one of them can be fully destroyed by this but despite that reality they are both lit up and hurt in the process.

I'm spilling wine in the bathtub

You kiss my face and we're both drunk

I mean this isn’t inherently gay it’s just sexy, get it Tay. This sounds hot.

Everyone thinks that they know us

But they know nothing about

All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation

What do they know about you? Like again we’re not doing the Tay reading thing but like what’s the sekrit? She’s fucking her friend? Why don’t they know anything about this? Surely they can imagine it’s a possibility? Like however unlikely, why does nobody know anything about this?

The next chorus is the same as the one above and I still have no hetsplanation for it. Like especially in the broader context of this, again, very gay song.

Then we get a very straight bridge. It’s like it’s from a different song or was written much later:

Flashback when you met me

Your buzz cut and my hair bleached

Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me

Flashback to my mistakes

My rebounds, my earthquakes

Even in my worst lies, you saw the truth in me

And I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

My one and only, my lifeline

I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

My hands shake, I can't explain this

Aha, ha, ha, ha

Okay but this is a completely different vibe to the... entire song. The rest of the song was about the other person not being sure and that being the issue. “I don’t want you like a best friend.” So why: “I woke up just in time”? Like “if I get burned at least we were electrified” but then... “I woke up just in time” - is the rest of the song like a weird nightmare? That’s not, to me, enough of an explanation. She spends the whole song in sexy anxiety pining after someone who cares about where and why she bought her dress and then she’s like “you’re everything to me” - it doesn’t make sense.

The rest of the song is the chorus again. As I’ve said, I don’t see a hetsplanation for it.

This is a gay song. The bridge isn’t and the line about the bathtub isn’t inherently. But the rest of this song is gay af.

#sapphic themes in tay’s music

[crystalstar8]

Eye of the Sky

Ch. 2

Pairing: Namjoon x oc

Genre: heist au, action

word count: 1,791

warnings: action, violence, gun violence, car chases, car crashes, swearing, blood probably

notes: heist au, action, adventure, crime, enemies to lovers, ooc namjoon, because he has his license lol

Summary: Ten years ago, Namjoon's father was killed by his best friend and partner in crime, A man who now goes by the name Hawthorne. Now, Namjoon wants to get into the family business in order to avenge his father's death. After finding the man who killed his father, Namjoon builds a team and creates an elaborate plan to finally take the man down.

But will they be able to get through Hawthorne's state-of-the-art security system? And will they succeed with a mysterious assassin chasing them? Let's just say, it's a good thing Namjoon's team members keep surprising him with useful skills.

@mozy-j  @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @daechwitad-2

In the top floor penthouse in downtown Seoul, Taehyung stood in his walk-in closet, tying his tie in front of the floor length mirror. He checked the time. Five minutes before he had to leave. A text from his driver let him know that his ride was downstairs. After pulling his jacket on and checking himself one last time, he left his penthouse and made his way downstairs.

               The drive was quiet. Taehyung appreciated his early morning drives to the museum; it was a moment of peace before getting to work.

               His museum was his pride and joy. The building was all white marble, Grecian in design with a massive atrium dome in the center of the roof. He built it himself, without his father’s help. Not that his father would have helped him even if he were alive. His father was killed when Taehyung was a teenager, but the man was never very present in Taehyung’s life. He was almost always overseas on business, a business Taehyung was now in charge of.

               Taehyung never minded. He loved what he did. The thrill of it was almost as great as the wealth that came with it. The only thing he wished was different was the fame. He was the owner of the biggest private museum in Korea, not to mention the youngest, and with that title came press. He passed a billboard on the way to his museum, his own face looking down at the expressway.

               Stealing famous art and priceless artifacts would definitely be easier if his face wasn’t on every Louis Vuitton cologne and Rolex advertisement.

               His museum came into view and he was pleased to see he already had a line outside, waiting for the doors to open. There was a new exhibit opening today, and he was just as excited about it as the people waiting along the sidewalk.

               Once he was in his office, his assistant came in with a frazzled look on her face.

               “Sir, there’s a big problem,” she said.

               Taehyung took a deep breath before saying, “What’s wrong?”

               “One of our tour guides called in, he said he came down with something,” she said, frantically riffling through the disorganized mess of papers in her arms. “Which leaves us with only five guides. We’re going to be overloaded. There’s going to be children running around like monkeys, putting their filthy hands on the new exhibit-“

               Taehyung grabbed his assistant’s shoulders and fought against the smile threatening to come out. This was just like her, panicking every time something small didn’t go according to plan.

               “I will take his place,” Taehyung said.

               “But, sir…”

               “It’s my exhibit after all,” said Taehyung. “Who better than me to give the tour?”

               “Are you sure? People will recognize you,” she said. “Your most recent photoshoot for Hyundai is currently trending on Twitter. You’ll distract from the exhibit.”

               “I am sure,” said Taehyung. “I don’t think I’ll be a distraction.”

               His assistant gave him a skeptical and not at all placated look as she left his office.

               The museum doors were finally open and visitors were pouring in. The crowd was split up into six different tour groups, and Taehyung began his speech throughout the new exhibit. Quite a few eyes were glued to him rather than the exhibit, but he paid them no mind.

               A few tours later and something caught Taehyung’s eye through the crowd. He stuttered in the middle of his speech and stared wide eyed at the visitors waiting for him at the entrance.

               “Everyone, if you would please pardon me for a moment,” he said. “Please be responsible and follow the signs through the exhibit. Another guide will find you in a moment.”

               Taehyung pulled his earpiece and microphone off and pushed through the crowd of visitors. He made it to the front doors of the museum and stopped in front of two men, his smile dropping.

               “What are you doing here?” Taehyung whispered.

               Jin smiled and said, “What, we’re not allowed to visit an old friend?”

               “I’m working,” said Taehyung. “You can’t bring this here-“

               “Meet with us tonight,” said Namjoon. He handed Taehyung a slip of paper. Taehyung took it and slipped it into his inside coat pocket without tearing his eyes from them.

               “I will speak with you later,” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was in the middle of a tour.”

               Taehyung backed away from them and then made his way back to his tour group.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

               “How do you know he’ll actually show up?” Jin asked as they drove back to Namjoon’s apartment.

               “He will,” said Namjoon. “He lives for this kind of thing. Literally. He does jobs like this for a living.”

               “I thought his museum was honest now,” said Jin. “Doesn’t he do modelling now too?”

               “Oh, sure. His museum is honest alright,” said Namjoon. He took the turn into his parking garage. “If by honest you mean every single piece on display there was stolen one way or another.”

               “Doesn’t he buy or…” Jin began.

               “Sometimes. But most of the time, he acquires them himself,” Namjoon said as he parked the car. Jin’s Mercedes was parked beside them.

               “I’m glad we have him on our side then,” said Jin. They sat in silence for a while before Jin said, “Well, I will see you later tonight. Tell your mother I say hello.”

               “I will,” said Namjoon. Jin opened the passenger door and stepped out, getting right into his own car beside them. Namjoon waited a few minutes after Jin drove off before leaving the parking garage himself.

               The prison loomed over Namjoon as he stood in front of it, leaning against his car. He didn’t have to wait long before he saw his mother step out of the double doors. He smiled as they met in the middle. His mom wrapped her arms around him and held him in a crushing hug.

               “My son,” she said, her voice wobbly. “My beautiful son. Look at you.”

               She pulled back and held his shoulders.

               “You’re so handsome,” she said. “I mean, you’ve always been handsome, but there was that weird awkward phase you had-“

               Namjoon scoffed and rolled his eyes as she burst out laughing.

               “I missed you, mom,” he said.

               “I missed you too.”

               They got into the car and Namjoon began the drive back home.

               “How’s your sister?” his mom asked.

               “She graduated yesterday,” said Namjoon. “She wants to be a school teacher.”

               “Good. I knew she’d be successful,” his mom said. “She’s a smart girl. You both are. How are you? What have you been doing with your life?”

               “I work for a tech company in Seoul but I’m planning on leaving them soon,” said Namjoon. “I have a lot of work to do for my new job. Jin says hi, by the way.”

               His mother narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized him. “You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

               “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Namjoon, keeping his eyes on the road.

               “Well, I suppose it’s none of my business, as long you keep me out of it,” she said. “Whatever you’re up to, you know I won’t stop you. I just want you to be careful.”

               “I will,” said Namjoon. They drove in silence for a while before he said, “I’m taking us out for dinner tomorrow to celebrate Geongmin’s graduation.”

               “I can’t wait to see her. Why didn’t she come with you today?”

               “She’s busy with interviews today,” said Namjoon. He chuckled at his mother’s shocked face. “I know, she doesn’t waste any time, right?”

               “Good for her,” his mom said.

               After getting home and helping his mother settle into her new apartment he had bought for her next door, Namjoon spent some time getting ready for his own meeting. Jin arrived early, then Taehyung shortly after. Namjoon served them drinks and then sat with them around his dining table.

               “So, tell us the plan,” said Jin.

“Hawthorne’s collection is underground,” said Namjoon. “Behind a safe door that only opens with a password and thumbprint.”

               “How are we going to get Hawthorne’s thumbprint?” asked Jin.

               “We won’t,” said Namjoon. “Because that’s not the print we need. The only thumbprint that will open the door belongs to his son, Laurel Hawthorne. Laurel is the heir to the entire collection.”

               “Ah! Laurel Hawthorne!” Taehyung exclaimed. “I’ve worked with him in the past. Not a fan.”

               “You’re going to have to meet with him one last time to get the prints,” said Namjoon. “We’ll set up a meeting with him, where you’ll fake a sale. We’ll have someone hiding nearby with a tranquilizer gun. Once we take him out, you’ll nab his prints and we’ll be out of there.”

               “This sounds dangerous,” said Jin.

               “Inside the collection room is where the real trouble begins,” Namjoon continued. “Hawthorne uses a state-of-the-art technology to protect his collection. The security system inside uses gaseous detection. Once the door is opened, the room fills with a harmless gas. If there’s any kind of movement behind the barricades of the artifacts, another gas is released into the air, turning it toxic. From there, the person inside the chamber will only have a few minutes before dying. Once the security system is neutralized, and the cameras are placed in a loop, we’ll be able to just go in and take what we want. We’ll obviously replace everything with fakes, especially the Sky’s Eye, the item we need to leave with.”

               “Ah, the Sky’s Eye,” said Taehyung. “I had a feeling the necklace was what this was about. But I thought only one man has been in possession of the Sky’s Eye for ten years.”

               “You are correct,” said Jin. “Hawthorne is the very same man.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened as he made the connection.

“Hawthorne is Montgomery,” he whispered. “So, this job isn’t just for the necklace.”

“We’ll do all of this on the day of Hawthorne’s party, while he’s distracted,” said Namjoon. “We just need to find a way to get an invitation.”

               “Yes, that will be difficult,” said Jin.

               “Do you know anyone who’s going?” Namjoon asked Jin.

               “I might,” he said.

               “Do you think it’s someone you might be able to go with as their date?” asked Namjoon.

               “Oh, trust me. I would die to be this man’s date. He is the most handsome man in the world, after all,” said Jin. Namjoon narrowed his eyes. Jin burst into laughter, slapping his knee and pulling an envelope from the pocket inside his jacket.

               “You had an invitation all this time?” asked Taehyung.

               “Of course!” said Jin, laughing and slapping his knee. Namjoon shook his head but couldn’t help a fond smile from pulling at his lips.

#bts #bts fanfic #kim namjoon #kim seokjin #Jimmy K #min yoongi #jung hoseok #park jimin #kim taehyung #jeon jeongguk #namjoon #rm #jin #captain kirk #yoongi #suga #jhope #hobi #jimin #taehyung #v #jungkook #crystalstar #eye of the sky #star trek #heist #heist au

[shawnssongs]

Do You Remember?

Pairing: JJ Maybank x reader

Reader and JJ get a little wasted after a kegger and try to figure out what happened the night before. JJ worries the reader will regret it.

Warnings: Lots of drinking, obviously. A little bit of language. A bit of poorly written smut... also it’s 4k...

Check out my masterlist!

gif from @rudypankows​

You never approved of getting blackout drunk, unable to control your actions or remember them the next day, but sometimes things just happen.

You’d had a really bad day. While that wasn’t an excuse, you used it as one anyway. You lived with your mom, and you found out your store wasn’t doing very well. If sales didn’t pick up soon, you’d lose the store. You’d lose everything.

That’s when you found out the pogues wanted to throw a kegger in the bone yard, and honestly, that was great news. Not only could you let loose and relax after hearing such bad news, but since the bone yard was so close to the cut, everyone always stopped at your mom’s store to get supplies. Kooks would buy some hard liquor with their fake id’s. People would buy ice, candy, chips. Honestly, you didn’t even want to know what the use of certain things people bought before parties were. You never asked. You were just glad to get that rush of income.

Today, you’d decided to help your mom out at the store since you knew there’d be a rush. You worked the counter, letting kooks buy alcohol despite knowing they weren’t of age. I mean, you weren’t of age and you drank alcohol, and you never wanted to be a hypocrite, so who are you to stop them from doing the same? Either way, the fact that they never had to try too hard to get alcohol from you was kind of nice. Despite hating them, you got along with most of the kooks. They liked you. You knew it was only because of the alcohol, but you didn’t care. If the kooks started trouble with the pogues, or the other way around, you usually had a pretty good chance of stopping the conflict.

The party had been going on for about an hour by the time you were able to make your way down the bone yard.

“Hello, my very best friend in the whole world,” Kiara greeted, pulling you in for a side hug as she helped John B and JJ serve beer from the keg.

“Why hello, my very drunk best friend in the whole world,” you laughed.

“I’m not drunk!” She defended. “Just buzzed and happy.”

You smiled at her before looking to John B and JJ.

You glanced to the keg. “I’m gonna need some of that.”

“Alright.” JJ smirked, handing you a solo cup full of beer.

You shook your head. “No. I want up.”

John B and JJ both looked at you in shock, and JJ’s expression soon turned to amusement.

“No way.” He smiled in disbelief.

“You sure?” John B asked. “You just got here...”

“Oh trust me, Johnny boy, I already started.” You pulled a flask full of whiskey out of the back pocket in your jean shorts and tossed it to him.

He opened it and took a sniff, as if in disbelief that you’d actually been drinking alcohol.

You’d charged all the kooks extra when they purchased alcohol tonight, claiming that if they didn’t pay extra, you wouldn’t serve them. You left all the extra money at the store to help out your mom, but you did grab a little bottle of whiskey for yourself on the way out.

“Hell yeah!” JJ cheered after he took a sip from your flask and reached his hand out for yours. “Come on, girl.”

He helped you get situated with your hands on the side of the keg.

“John B, help her out. Grab the hose.”

John B nodded and did what he was told.

“Alright, you ready?” JJ asked, waiting for you to smile back at him and nod.

“You sure?” John B asked again, not wanting you to do something you’d regret.

“I’m sure.”

“Alright. 1, 2, 3!” JJ counted down and you kicked your legs up, allowing JJ to grip your thighs and keep you balanced upside down on top of the keg.

John B held the hose to your mouth, him, and the rest of the crowd that had gathered all counting how many seconds you stayed up there.

JJ couldn’t help but let his eyes wander while you were upside down. Your loose shirt was fairly sheer anyway, but it had fallen around your shoulders and neck, allowing him the perfect view down your toned stomach all the way to your bikini. JJ hadn’t seen this one before, and he had to say he was definitely a fan. It seemed to be pretty skimpy, and it was an emerald green color, complementing your tanned skin perfectly.

You gave a nod to John B when you heard him reach 22, unable to drink anymore.

You felt a little light headed as you stood upright again, but the cheering kept you going. You threw your arms up cheering for yourself along with everyone else.

JJ’s arm made its way around your shoulder and you felt him pull you into his side.

“Fuck yeah!” He yelled, holding his free hand out for you to high five.

The crowd around the keg started to disperse, but you weren’t really paying attention, your eyes locked on JJ’s.

“That was hot.”

“Really?” You asked. “I can’t go as long as you.”

JJ shrugged. “You can go longer than most. Bet John B can’t hit 20.”

You chuckled at that, knowing JJ was probably right.

JJ knew you weren’t the type to drink so much though, and since you were such close friends, he knew this meant something must be up. He also knew you wouldn’t tell him, but he asked anyway, just in case.

“So, what happened?”

You looked at him in question.

“I mean, why’re you drinking? Something wrong?”

You shook your head. “No, J. Just in the mood. Where’s my flask?” You changed the subject quickly, obviously hiding something.

JJ grabbed your flask out of his pocket and took a sip before handing it to you.

“Y/n, that’s strong,” JJ pointed out as if you were unaware.

You smiled. “I know.”

JJ watched as you swallowed way more than he’d expected you to be able to handle. He wasn’t sure if he was more turned on or worried, but he wasn’t going to question it.

“Let’s party!” You cheered, running back to meet some of your other friends.

JJ watched from afar as you got completely wasted. He kept up with you for a while, but he also wanted to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid or dangerous so he started to pace himself. He knew John B was looking out for you as well, but selfishly, JJ wanted to be the one to protect you.

JJ couldn’t have been happier when you made your way, on your own, back to him later on in the party.

You’d drunkenly sauntered up to him, wrapping your arms around his neck as you fell into his chest.

“Mmm.” He felt you mumble into him. “Take me home?” You asked, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

Of course, he could never say no to you.

“Wait!” You stopped, pulling away. “I’ll be back.”

JJ watched as you ran off again, approaching a group of kooks who were all sitting around, sharing a couple bottles of alcohol and smoking as far as JJ could tell. He watched as you got a little too close for comfort to one of the guys, practically sitting in his lap.

JJ felt something in his chest drop when he watched the guy start to kiss down your neck until his face was out of view and all JJ could see was your back.

He was about to head over and intervene when he noticed you standing up, bottle in hand.

You skipped back to JJ, happy as can be as if you weren’t just macking a kook.

“What was that?” JJ scolded, refraining from the profanities he wanted to use.

“Just gettin’ this.” You held up the bottle so JJ could see, smiling giddily.

It was an almost full bottle of sunset rum.

“Fucking shit...” JJ trailed off, taking the bottle to look at the alcohol content. This stuff was hard... and expensive.

“When he bought it, I knew they wouldn’t drink it.” You explained. “Kooks aren’t into rum. Not unless it’s a daiquiri or a mojito. They sure love their specialty cocktails.” You took the bottle back from JJ, opening it and taking a sip before wrapping your arm around his shoulder this time. “Now come on! Take me home.”

JJ took you to his place, knowing his dad was probably either gone or passed out. He didn’t want your mom to see you like this because he knew the two of you had a close relationship. Plus, Luke Maybank was smart enough not to mess with JJ in public. He knew how to get away with everything he did to his son. If he happened to be home and awake, JJ would be safe because you were with him.

JJ watched as you stumbled into his house after you pushed his arms away, refusing his help. You said you were a strong, independent woman, and you could take care of yourself. JJ only let you go a few steps on your own before he placed his hands on your hips, steadying your form until the two of you made it into his room.

“Ooh, comfy!” You cheer, jumping onto his unmade bed. He would’ve cleaned up if he knew you’d be coming over... Eh. Probably not.

“You’re a mess, Y/n.” JJ admitted, trying to keep himself calm even though you were literally in his bed. He had dreamt of this happening a few more times than he’d like to admit.

“No! I feel good!” You argued, that perfect smile still adorning your face. You were definitely a happy drunk.

“Yeah, you won’t tomorrow.”

JJ opened his drawer, pulling out a pair of sweats and a tee shirt.

“Here,” he offered, tossing the clothes towards you.

“No!” You complained, throwing the sweats back at him. “Too hot.”

JJ turned to look for a pair of shorts he thought might fit you, not noticing that you’d stood up from the bed until he heard you unzip your shorts.

“What are you doing?” He knew exactly what she was doing.

“You gave me clothes. I’m changing.”

JJ just turned around. He knew you weren’t going to stop, and as much as he wanted to watch, he couldn’t take advantage of you like that while you’re drunk. He listened as he heard clothes hit the floor, and he didn’t turn until he felt your finger tap on his shoulder.

JJ turned, and he had to keep his mouth from watering at the sight. You had picked up the previously discarded bottle of sunset rum up off the floor, and there you were, standing in front of JJ in only his shirt and your bikini bottoms. And he knew you weren’t wearing anything underneath his shirt because he could see the bathing suit top he had been so enamored with earlier in the night sitting on the floor just a couple feet away.

“Never have I ever?” You suggest, and JJ can’t keep himself from agreeing, so he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed two shot glasses before returning to his room.

He should’ve just put you to bed or something. He knew that, but something kept him from doing so.

He watches as you plop down on his bed, your toned legs crisscrossing in front of you, giving JJ a perfect view of your covered heat since his tee shirt that you were wearing rode up. He was spending most of his attention trying not to let his eyes venture downward, so he hadn’t even realized you’d been talking.

“JJ!” You snapped him out of it.

“Uh, huh?” He asks, meeting your eyes.

In his attempt to look away from the tempting sight in front of him, somehow JJ had ended up staring anyway, and he knew you realized what he’d been doing when he noticed the smirk on your face.

“Never have I ever been caught staring at my friend.” You spoke in a tone JJ couldn’t interpret, but that was probably just because his mind was a bit foggy.

“Ha ha.” He responded unenthusiastically, taking a shot of the strong liquid, wincing despite his efforts not to.

“Never have I ever...”

Apparently, the two of you continued to play the game until the bottle was empty, because you woke up with probably the worst hangover you’d ever had, your face hanging off the side of JJ’s bed, staring right down at the bottle of empty rum.

You roll over to see if JJ’s next to you, and that’s when you notice nothing is covering your bottom half. You’re completely naked under this tee shirt you knew was JJ’s.

You close your eyes, unsure if you really want to see the state JJ is in, but when you finally open them, you notice he’s curled up in his comforter. What a gentleman...

You pull yourself out of the bed, careful not to wake JJ, but not too careful because by the sounds of his snores, he’s not going to be waking up any time soon.

You find your bathing suit bottoms a couple feet away from the bed and inspect them. No rips or tears. That’s a good sign, right? Your shorts, top, and shirt are all together in one pile just past the end of JJ’s bed, and you briefly remembering taking all of that off when JJ gave you his shirt. You don’t really feel like re-dressing, so you just decide to slip on those sweatpants JJ had offered you the night before. You knew he wouldn’t mind.

You sneak out of JJ’s room, closing the door behind you lightly to not wake him up.

“Well, hello there.”

You jump, startled by the voice.

Luke Maybank.

“Hi, Mr. Maybank.” You speak awkwardly, turning to face JJ’s father with a shameful look on your face.

“You’re not a tourist are you?” He asks knowingly.

“Um...no.”

“Yeah, I know. I recognize you.”

“We’ve met a few times.” You explain.

“You screwin’ my son?”

“N-no!” You shake your head rapidly, your eyes wide in shock and your cheeks blushed in embarrassment. “I was... uh, drunk, and JJ brought me here so my mom wouldn’t see.”

Luke smiled, much to your surprise. You hadn’t had much interaction with the man before. JJ never really allowed it to happen, but from what JJ told you and what you assumed, you weren’t expecting a smile.

“He’s a good boy, isn’t he?”

Welp, if you weren’t blushing before, you were now. “The best.”

“JJ and I don’t have the greatest relationship-”

Yeah, I know.

“-but I love him. I do. I’m glad he has friends like you.”

You really didn’t know what to say to that. You barely even knew the man, and you were pretty sure he didn’t know your other friends either.

When he didn’t continue to speak, you waved an awkward goodbye and walked to the door.

Just as you were about outside, Luke Maybank’s voice stopped you in your tracks.

“One more thing.” You turned to face him, allowing him to continue. “Don’t lie to me again.” Before you even got the chance to question him, he pointed at his own neck. “You’re all marked up.”

Shit...

“Uh, I’m sorry,” you apologize, turning to leave. “Bye, Mr. Maybank.”

You walked as fast as you could to your own house, completely and utterly embarrassed. A reminder of something you couldn’t even remember happening was currently staining your neck. Did JJ remember? Maybe you just made out, right? Hopefully.

When you made it home, you weren’t surprised to be met with an empty house. Your mom was probably at the store opening up.

Breaking the threshold into your house also seemed to break whatever spell you were under for the whole walk home, because your hangover came back hard. You’d been so occupied with your thoughts on the walk that you hadn’t even noticed it.

You made sure to grab a few pills and a glass of water, downing them before going to the bathroom to take a shower.

“Shit...” Hickeys were plastered all over your neck, and there was probably more bruised skin than clean skin. You knew this didn’t happen at the party, so it had to have been JJ.

When you brush the tips of your fingers over the colored skin, you remember part of last night.

“Never have I ever... wanted to kiss my friend.” Your drunk self giggling at your own question and drinking along with JJ. When your shot glass went down, you leaned forward, drunkenly shooting your shot.

You were shocked when JJ’s hand immediately met your jaw and he leaned into the kiss.

Fireworks. It was cliche, but that’s what you felt in that moment. JJ’s lips on yours sent tingles all the way down to your toes, and after this, you couldn’t imagine not kissing him ever again.

You couldn’t help but let your mouth hang open when JJ clumsily places kisses down your chin and jaw until he reached the hollow of your neck, kissing and sucking as if he couldn’t get enough of you.

Eventually, you pulled him back up to your lips, and after what felt like hours of kissing, the two of you finally pulled apart.

“Never have I ever... kissed my friend.” JJ smirked.

Despite your best efforts, the memory ends there, and you’re stuck wondering. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe you guys made out, JJ gave you a ton of hickies, and then you continued the game until you fell asleep. There was no reason to believe yet that anything more happened last night. Not that it would be the end of the world if anything had happened, but if you really had sex with JJ, you kind of wanted to be able to remember it.

While you were taking a shower, JJ’s day began. He woke up on his own, taking a second before opening his eyes. His head wasn’t pounding, but he still definitely had a hangover, and the light coming through his window - since his blinds were cheep and broken - was giving him a headache. It took a second for his brain to turn on, but once it did, he immediately rolled over, checking for you.

Of course, you weren’t there. He wasn’t surprised, though. You were usually an early riser, and maybe you had to help your mom out at the store. However, unlike you, JJ remembered the night before... for the most part. That’s what started to worry him, and his mind immediately assumed the worst. Maybe you regretted what had happened and you left because you didn’t want to face him. Maybe you didn’t like it. Maybe you thought it was a mistake.

As much as JJ wished this had happened under better circumstances, he could never regret it. First of all, it was incredible. The connection between the two of you was just so strong. He’d been feeling it for months, and finally getting to be with you so intimately was one of the best feelings of satisfaction and relief he’d ever felt. He wouldn’t take it back for anything.

Well, maybe if you didn’t remember. That would make him feel terrible. It would mean he took advantage of you, right? JJ didn’t want to think about it, sh he shook it out of his thoughts and got dressed. He has to talk to you about this.

You were just finishing up drying your hair when you heard a knock on your front door. It was likely JJ, but for some reason your mind refused to believe it was him, making excuses like it’s too early and why would he ring the doorbell. Honestly, you didn’t really want to see JJ. You couldn’t remember all of last night, and it was embarrassing. Maybe he didn’t remember either though, right? He drank just as much as you did. You knew that wasn’t the case though since JJ’s tolerance was much higher, but when you heard the doorbell again, you knew you had to answer.

When you finally made it to the door after making sure you looked presentable, you were met with an empty porch. You were confused for a second until you noticed JJ standing out by the street. He must’ve been walking away and turned around when he heard the door.

“Hey. I thought you were at the store or something.”

You smiled, a bit awkwardly. Why were there butterflies in your stomach? It’s just JJ...

“Nope. I’m here.”

JJ has now made it back up to your porch, and he stood a couple feet away, looking awkward as ever.

“H-how are you?” He asked, running his hand through his long blonde strands of hair. JJ had never been good at talking, especially if it was a serious conversation.

“I’m good,” you chuckle. “And you?”

“Good.” He nods, refusing to meet your eyes with his own.

Yep. Awkward.

“Um, you wanna come in?” You ask, being polite, but JJ has other plans. He decides to just dive right in.

“Do you regret last night?” He bursts out, unable to contain his nerves. “D-do you remember last night? I-I know we were both drunk but you, were yo-”

You reached your hand out to grip his, trying to get him to calm down, but you get a different effect than planned. Touching him sent sparks throughout your body, and you flashed back to last night once more.

Skin, sweat, touch. It was messy. It was sloppy. It was wonderful.

Sometime during the game, that heated make out session turned into a lot more. You could feel JJ’s weight pressing you into the mattress, his hot breath palpable on your neck. The pressure was suffocating, but somehow you craved it. His length was thrusting into your heat roughly, but not too hard. Never too hard. It was perfect, like your bodies were made for each other and JJ knew exactly what you liked.

You would’ve gotten lost in the memory if JJ hadn’t been standing in front of you.

“Y/n?” He asked, wondering why you’d zoned out.

Instead of answering him, you took a step closer and tugged on his hand that you were holding, pulling him into a kiss.

Shocked at first, JJ took a few seconds to reciprocate, but once he understood the gesture, he wrapped his hands around your waist, pulling you impossibly close to him without breaking the kiss.

As great as it was while you were drunk, you wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world.

You struggled for your breath for a second before finally pulling away from JJ, a nervous smile on your face, but the nerves dissipated when you saw JJ’s expression.

He was staring down at you with the most genuine smile you’d ever seen on him.

“I take that as a no?” He asked, his arms still around your waist.

You moved one of your hands up to cup his jaw, not wanting to ever look away from his face again. His sky blue eyes accented by his blonde lashes, his perfectly imperfect teeth, and the sun freckles dispersed around his cheeks and nose. He was such a beautiful sight.

“Never, JJ. Though, I wouldn’t mind trying it again when neither of us are under the influence.”

JJ smirked at that. “How soon is too soon?”

“You’re a dork,” you laugh, and JJ lifts you up so you can wrap your legs around his hips.

“Your dork.”

“Yes.” You smile, leaning forward to rest your head on JJ’s shoulder as he carries you the rest of the way to your room.

You liked the sound of that. JJ was yours, and you were his.

Though you didn’t approve of getting blackout drunk, maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world...

Send me an ask! I always love feedback, + requests are open :)

#JJ Maybank #jj maybank x y/n #jj maybank x you #jj maybank x reader #jj #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank imagines #jj maybank fanfiction #jj imagines #jj imagine #jj fanfiction #jj fanfic #obx #outer banks #outer banks imagines #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks fanfic #outer banks fic #obx fic

[notespeed]

Mortgage Note Case Study With Eddie Speed - Real Estate Investing

PROPERTY overview: - Class D- property that was neglected and very distressed - termites, bad roof, no heat or AC, bad wiring and plumbing 

- Original plan was to remodel for a rental (would have lowered the rehab costs by perhaps $5k) but a visit in Jan '19 changed our plans 

- Upon joining NoteSchool in Jan '20 we flipped to selling this house and holding the note 

- We did the demo and gutted it and used our contractors to add a new roof, added HVAC, repair termite damage, new electrical, new plumbing) and remodeled the entire interior 

 - Highly stable workforce neighborhood with long term home ownership and few rentals 

- Low crime, excellent elementary and middle school within the community

- Purchased the property in 2017 using money out of pocket and a small 2 year note and which we paid off prior to closing

- At the time of sale (July '20) we were at $88,770 (in the property) = $58,250 (purchase) + $30,500 (rehab)

NOTE TERMS overview:

- Sales price of $145,000

- PBB Buyer, D-F Qualified, $4000 down, escrowed T&I

- Note Price $141,000 which we papered using a Title company as $98,750 (sales price to lower tax basis) + $46,250 (repair cost) @ 6.5% for 360 months

- PI of $891.22 - Secured a PLEDGE at the time of closing for $40,000 for 4 years at 6% to recoup the rehab costs and 10k above that

- We plan to secure additional Pledges when this one expires as well as consider Partials

FINANCING overview:

-$88770

- funds in the house+$4000

- down payment+$40000

- Pledge+$141,000

- 30 year Principal over time+$179,838

- 30 year Interest over time-$45091

- Pledge payments over time

======================== 

+$226,977 Profit 

Uncover Why Savvy Investors Use Proven Mortgage Note Strategies for Massive Monthly Profits In Today’s Ever-Changing Market… Risk-Free!

Discover more about Note School and profiting without Tenants, Toilets and by taking our FREE one day class: 

https://new.noteschool.com/TV/ 

 Latest Class Information: 

https://noteschool.com/3-day-classes/pop/ 

 Download a Brand-New eBook by Eddie Speed It’s A Whole New Ball Game With Creative Financing

https://lp.noteschooltraining.com/moneyball-getstarted 

Follow us:

https://youtube.com/c/noteschool

https://noteschool.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thenoteschool

https://www.linkedin.com/company/noteschool/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/colonial-funding-group-llc/

https://twitter.com/thenoteschool

https://www.instagram.com/thenoteauthority/ 

-------------------------------------------------------

Brian Lauchner (00:01):

Can you really be the bank versus being the landlord stay tuned.

Brian Lauchner (00:16):

That is the question, ever noticed that banks happen to own the tallest buildings in the cities? And sometimes being a landlord can come with some unique challenges I would say. And so we're going to talk about what that looks like to maybe make a shift from being a landlord over to being the bank and taking advantage of some of those things. Welcome to NoteSchoolTV. My name is Brian Lauchner I'm on the teaching team here. We're going to be here every single Wednesday. And if you're brand new to NoteSchoolTV, we are here Wednesdays at 11:00 AM, central time, every single Wednesday live where you can engage with us as we kind of dive into some of these topics and kind of go after some of the questions that I think a lot of people have in their heads, there's trying to figure out what those answers are.

Brian Lauchner (01:01):

If you're wanting to learn a little bit more about NoteSchool or NoteSchoolTV, even you can go to www.NoteSchool.com/TV, to learn a little bit more about what we do, what we're about, and even how you can get engaged moving forward from here. We would really love for you. If this video is of value to you, please like the video, subscribe to the channel. And probably most importantly for this show specifically, if you are someone who is wanting to get engaged and ask some questions, make sure you are clicking that notification bell. Down next to the subscribe button, that's going to alert you when we go live so that you can jump on with us, listen to what we're talking about, texting your questions, typing your questions there. And we're going to try and do our best to get those answers. We are actually going to have an after party at the end of NoteSchoolTV each week, where we take a look at all the things that have been posted on all the social channels and try to answer these, these questions almost like a Q and A but we're going to call it an after party because let's be honest, that's way more fun. And so we're going to get into the meat of today. It's going to be fun, and we're going to start by jumping straight into the news

Brian Lauchner (02:20):

And I am joined here by Mr. Joe Varnadore. And as he gets un-muted here, we will get him going. And how are you, Joe?

Joe Varnadore (02:29):

You know what? I am great, Brian, how are you?

Brian Lauchner (02:32):

Doing great, my man, what's going on in the market, man, fill us in. What's going on in the news?

Joe Varnadore (02:37):

Well, hot off of the wire service man. So we talked last week about Fannie, Freddie, Genie. They extended the moratorium on foreclosures from the end of December from the 31st of December out to January 31st, well hot off the presses here, FHA, HUD and the federal housing finance agency has just granted another extension. And they're extending that out to February 28th. So now we've gone from December 31st to January 31st, and now we're out at the end of February. So that is.

Brian Lauchner (03:20):

What does it mean? What does that mean for the average landlord? Well, for the average homeowner, what that means is the foreclosures cannot be started, right? If it is a loan that is insured or guaranteed by one of the GSE's, the government sponsored enterprises. And it, if it is a loan on a rental property, that is not that is in that there's a loan from one of those agencies that, that extends that moratorium as far as being able to evict as well. Right? So it literally is more pressure on the landlords out there.

Brian Lauchner (03:58):

Uh-huh.

Joe Varnadore (03:58):

So you also know that the big stimulus package is kind of popped out and there's some things going on with that. But the CDC, the center for disease control has also extended their moratorium out on evictions. And that's just basically CDC did that because of the, you know, the COVID thing. And so, and in that package, there is another $25 billion to help those folks there. And then the big news as well is that Zillow is predicting Brian a 21.9% annual growth in housing in 2021, which is the biggest since 1983.

Brian Lauchner (04:48):

Man.

Joe Varnadore (04:48):

Now that's just a prediction by Zillow in the National Association of Realtors is kind of jumping on board that as well, but that is the news for this week.

Brian Lauchner (05:02):

I love it. I love it. So tell us, what are we going to be talking about today? I already kind of gave a little bit of a teaser here, jumping straight into it. What do you got for us today, Joe?

Joe Varnadore (05:11):

Well, I'll tell you what, we have two very special guests today. They are from Houston, Texas, Lois Meyer and Cynthia Sterling. They are two of our rockstar NoteSchool members, and they well, Brian, they were very big on the landlording thing, right.

Brian Lauchner (05:31):

Okay.

Joe Varnadore (05:31):

And you know, your teaser was can you really be the Bay versus being, you know, versus being a landlord. And so Cynthia and Lois, Cindy and Lois joined us joined NoteSchool back in January of this year before the lockdown. Right. And so we've got a great case study, where they do what we've been teaching them, right? They were landlords, they were interested real passive income. So they had bought a property that was pretty trashed out that they were going to use fix it and use it as a rental. But after, and that was the last fall. But after joining NoteSchool in January of this year, they decided we really would start like to being the bank. Right. So we're going to talk about that as we, as we move forward, let's bring Cynthia and Lois on and maybe we'll bring on Mr. Eddie as well. Well, good morning, Cynthia and Lois. Thanks for being here.

Cynthia (06:35):

Hi.

Joe Varnadore (06:35):

Good morning, Eddie, How are you?

Eddie Speed (06:37):

I'm great. How are you ladies? By the way. Welcome.

Lois (06:41):

Excellent.

Joe Varnadore (06:42):

So you guys, you know, we love you. We love what you've done. We love the spirit, everything that you guys bring to NoteSchool, Lois, you're a retired recruiter for a big national company. I think you retired last year, right?

Lois (06:56):

Yes. About that. Uh-huh.

Joe Varnadore (06:57):

And you're trying to get Ms.Cindy here to retire as well. Right?

Lois (07:04):

That is our plan for sure.

Cynthia (07:08):

The last couple of weeks.

Joe Varnadore (07:08):

Good job with the company called Solar Winds as well.

Cynthia (07:16):

Yeah.

Joe Varnadore (07:16):

So very good. So let's talk a minute about the, you know, you guys, what you were doing prior to NoteSchool and learning how to be the bank, so tell us about yourselves.

Cynthia (07:30):

Oh, we started in rentals and land ownership about five to eight years ago. I don't remember the exact timeframe. And we had collected about what 12 rental properties and about five or six land properties. And we were pretty well going down that path when we were introduced to notes and NoteSchool about two and a half years ago, we bought our first note just to try it out and see how it works.

Cynthia (07:58):

And then when we'd set off on a course of a lot of due diligence to make sure that everything was a good investment for us to kind of switch our plans. And we sort of made a decision to do that last fall. And especially with this one property, we thought we'd try one property off. And we started going down that path instead of remodeling it for rental were remodeling it for resale, but we wanted to be the bank. So in January of this year, we joined NoteSchool with a commitment that that was how we were redirecting all of our real estate investments.

Lois (08:35):

And our retirement plans.

Cynthia (08:37):

Yes.

Joe Varnadore (08:37):

Yeah. That's very important today. Is it not?

Lois (08:41):

Yes.

Joe Varnadore (08:44):

So you did your due diligence on notes, right? I heard you say that you did your due diligence on NoteSchool and you found out we were good. Right. So.

Lois (08:51):

Yes, we were very impressed.

Cynthia (08:53):

Yes. We had some access to some of your titanium members, so that helped a lot too, but we wanted to do our own due diligence, not on buying a specific note, but on the process, the, just how would it work? Long-Term, so not a short term gain, but something long-term for us.

Joe Varnadore (09:13):

Right.

Cynthia (09:15):

We have found out that you a pretty trustworthy guy.

Eddie Speed (09:16):

Look at that face. How could you not say that? Right.

Lois (09:21):

That was our first thought.

Joe Varnadore (09:21):

I don't have a comment here.

Eddie Speed (09:27):

It's funny. They do do a great job. You know, we get to spend time with them because they come on these labs with us on a regular basis. And great bring great questions. And the particular case study they did today. I really appreciate it because you know, a lot of people look at seller financing and it's like, I'm going to take a house that is sort of in a substandard condition and I'm going to sell it to some buyer and I'm going to cross my fingers. They're going to go fix it up. And you wake up and realize that you really can't attract the right, the buyer you're looking for, or you can't attract you don't really own a bank. You own like more of a pawn shop when you're doing that. Is that a fair statement? And so I really appreciate the fact that you ladies really listened to us and listened to the direction. So I'm interested in kind of like how you went through that process and what you needed to do to fix the house up and what that sell that property with seller financing look like?

Lois (10:32):

We purchased the house for a 58,250.

Joe Varnadore (10:35):

Let's do this. And let's I'm gonna have let's, I've got a PowerPoint here, so let's go.

Lois (10:42):

Alright, sure.

Joe Varnadore (10:42):

Real quick. And so the first shot here really is you guys bought bluntly when you sold it and closed it to your penalty box buyer. Right. We'll talk a little more about that in just a second. That's your penalty box buyer, right. And she had had an a crazy you know, worked for the United States postal service. And she just had, she had some bad, bad medical issues, didn't she guys?

Lois (11:11):

Very much so. And it really put her in a position where she felt she would never be able to own a house on her own.

Cynthia (11:19):

And it was a, it was a goal she'd had for all of her life. And I she's in her fifties, but couldn't, isn't bankable. Wasn't at all. And yet she after all the medical issues and three years of not working and all of that, she was able to get us feedback underneath her. But by that time, the damage is done.

Joe Varnadore (11:39):

Right.

Cynthia (11:40):

Credit score. And we were able to help her achieve her dream and have us begin to achieve ours, quite frankly.

Lois (11:50):

Sure.

Joe Varnadore (11:50):

You know what I like to say, ladies, that you know, we can kind of help folks achieve the dream of home ownership, one person at a time, right.

Lois (12:00):

Exactly.

Joe Varnadore (12:00):

As we move forward. And just for our viewers out there this lady was, you know, she was just, she was unbankable, right? Because of a situation, it wasn't that she had, you know, bad credit or ugly credit or Eddie was saying we're selling an ugly house. And that kind of thing, as a matter of fact, this house has a current market value of $150,000. Right?

Lois (12:23):

Now It does. Yes.

Joe Varnadore (12:28):

Earlier, you said, well, you know, it was pretty nasty, so, let's talk just a little bit about this, right. As we kind of go through it. So you're the kind of the deal points, right? You guys tell us a little bit about that you had purchased this house and you were just going to rehab and fix it. And then that was kind of last fall, wasn't it?

Cynthia (12:47):

Yeah, it was last fall and we started to work on it and it's like, I mean, Eddie can tell more horror stories than we have, but every house we've ever bought in neighborhoods that are what we call working class neighborhoods, right? So they're more of the blue collar working class people, one to two, home, one to two jobs per, per adult living in the household. So these are, these are hardworking people, but their houses are not always in the best of neighborhoods. But one of the things we've always tried to do is take a house in a neighborhood like that and make it the best house in the neighborhood, and then get people into those homes. And this is historically one of the of the most, it's the highest voting percentage neighborhood in the state of Texas. Oh my gosh. And you've tried to find a house for sale or for lease in this neighborhood is difficult at best. And so when we found this opportunity, we jumped on it, but the house had been in some disrepair because of the age of welders. So.

Joe Varnadore (13:57):

So you found it, you totally gutted it. And again, you're going to rehab and flip it. So you purchased it for 58,250, and I think you use your own funds for that.

Lois (14:09):

Uh huh.

Joe Varnadore (14:09):

And then you rehab the property. And again, you had some funds and I think these were some funds that were in retirement account or something like that.

Cynthia (14:19):

No, not really. They were just funds that we had set aside actually to buy another property. And we just pulled them back from that to go into this property.

Joe Varnadore (14:27):

Got it. So you get it rehabbed and you would look like the picture before, right. So total out of pocket, you guys had in this was 88,750.

Lois (14:36):

Correct.

Joe Varnadore (14:39):

So once you did that and I, you know, when we were talking yesterday, you were saying that you guys had actually started advertising for a penalty box buyer prior to actually finishing the house, right?

Lois (14:57):

Yes.

Cynthia (14:58):

We had a couple of people that had already approached us initially about, did we have any rental rentals?

Lois (15:07):

Rentals right.

Cynthia (15:07):

And we just flat out said to them, have you ever thought about owning? And because the cost of a monthly lease versus an owning the house, there's not that much difference. And we've had several people go, well, I can't qualify to buy a house. And we said, well, put that aside for a moment. If you did qualify, would you be interested? Right. And they said, yes. And we pursued them. And this particular buyer went through all of the process, which we'll probably talk about, but we put them through a Dodd-Frank process because we wanted to make sure that they in fact were legitimate people to own the home.

Joe Varnadore (15:49):

So just for everybody that's out there. So you advertise this and you actually had people as you were redoing it or contacting you from the neighborhood as it was a real desirable working class neighborhood.

Lois (15:59):

Right.

Joe Varnadore (16:01):

You found the right buyer, and then one of the things you said there, I want to make sure everybody understands is you made sure that the borrower on this lady that was buying it you had her qualified under the safe act, which is Safe Act compliant, right. Safe Act compliant by using a vendor that checked her out and made sure that, you know, she could afford, she had the ability to repay on this.Right?

Cynthia (16:28):

Absolutely.

Lois (16:29):

And that came from, from NoteSchool and Eddie talking about, you know, you have to qualify them. And so we used a vendor from NoteSchool CTU and then they did the whole processing for us. And then we closed through a title company and we explained to her at the very beginning, you know, this, the everything was going to be done legally. And you know, cause she'd never bought a house before. And so every one thing was going to be done according to law and regulations so that she didn't have to worry that she was being taken advantage of either, which I think is important. And I think that's something we don't talk about is they need to know that this is legitimate as well as we need to know that they're the right people.

Joe Varnadore (17:15):

Right. Well, you know, it's like Eddie Speed says, right. He says, Joe you know, the loan that you don't make is not the one that'll keep you up at night. Make sure that everybody's good. Right?

Lois (17:27):

Yes. Right.

Joe Varnadore (17:27):

So you sold it. So you had, you guys had 88,750 and you were good with that, guys. You could have borrowed the money from you know, a private lender, but you guys were good. You had some money that you wanted to deploy, so you were good with that. So your buyer had a small down payment, but that was okay. Right. That was okay with you guys. That was your decision.

Cynthia (17:52):

We are, we feel confident that we could have gone and gotten a more traditional penalty box buyer that we could have asked for a higher down payment and all of that. But we there's a, there's an element of not only this being a financially solid thing for us, but we also wanted to do a community and, and a best work. We're blessed enough to be in the jobs and the careers that we've had. And if we can help people one house at a time, you know, we have this thing about having, helping one house on wall street on one block, in one neighborhood at a time, then we're good with probably not making as much as maybe somebody else might be making, but we're also, it's a business and we absolutely want to run our business smart, but we also want to feel good about what we do.

Joe Varnadore (18:46):

Well. and just for our viewers out there, typically when we're selling to a penalty box buyer, we're going to get somewhere between 10 and 20% down. That will show that, you know, over the last several months, the average penalty, the average buyer has a 750 plus credit score. Plus has, have been putting at least 19% down on their on the price here. So let's talk about this. So 145, $4,000 down. So you get seller financing of the 141.

Lois (19:17):

Uh huh.

Cynthia (19:17):

Uh huh.

Joe Varnadore (19:17):

At six and a half percent, which is a very good rate for this penalty box buyer, which made the payment $891 a month for principal interest. Now you did, she is escrowing the taxes.

Lois (19:32):

Absolutely.

Cynthia (19:32):

That's kind of our requirement we have for our properties, even the notes we're buying. And it's probably because we're fairly new. I mean, we're literally only coming up on our one year membership, but in the 20 plus notes that we own, that's the criteria that we kind of put in place.

Joe Varnadore (19:53):

So you guys have bought 20 notes this year.

Cynthia (19:55):

yeah a little, 20, 21, something like that, we could have.

Lois (19:59):

Right. Since May

Cynthia (19:59):

Since May, this year actually.

Joe Varnadore (20:02):

Because you said, I'm going to join in January, but we can't do anything until May. So.

Lois (20:07):

Correct.

Joe Varnadore (20:10):

Seven months. Very interesting.

Cynthia (20:11):

Yeah. Uh huh.

Eddie Speed (20:14):

Yeah. Well, one point I wanted to make is, you basically in your business called an Audible. I mean, you know that we say that you can get 10 to 20% down on a consistent basis.

Lois (20:24):

Uh huh.

Eddie Speed (20:24):

But the story of the customer and the stability of the customer said, I, as a business owner and the bank.

Lois (20:34):

Uh huh.

Eddie Speed (20:34):

I can call an audible, say, I'll take less than that down. And by the way, her payment, including taxes and insurance is less than a rent payment or it's is as equal to.

Lois (20:48):

Yes. Uh huh.

Eddie Speed (20:48):

It"s a win-win deal. You got 88,000 in this deal.

Lois (20:51):

Yep.

Eddie Speed (20:51):

You got 4,000 cash. And, now all of a sudden, here's the difference. If you would have owned a rental property, would you really be netting 900 bucks a month?

Lois (21:03):

No.

Eddie Speed (21:08):

Oh, So this makes more money than a rental?

Cynthia (21:12):

Quite a bit.

Eddie Speed (21:17):

Okay. Now.

Lois (21:17):

We're believers Eddie, No worries.

Cynthia (21:19):

We've been converted.

Joe Varnadore (21:25):

Hallelujah. So this is what the note looks like. You've got a payment track of 360. So let's talk about, let's tally up some of the money. Eddie. I've been talking a lot here. Why don't you talk about this a little bit.

Eddie Speed (21:38):

Well, I mean, the thing that we like about the first year, you make $14,000. Now you can take that off your cost basis of 88 right? Now you're in the low seventies, right? below 75,000. And then for 75,000 our investment, you have an in thing that throws off true income, not income minus expenses, but real income.

Lois (22:04):

Yes.

Eddie Speed (22:04):

Growing off of cash flow of 10,000, almost $700 a month. A year.

Lois (22:13):

Yeah.

Eddie Speed (22:15):

Probably economics says seven years, you get your money back in for the next, you know, 23 years after that is profit.

Lois (22:21):

Yep.

Eddie Speed (22:21):

Now, that's kind of pile boy economics, but it's pretty good economics.

Lois (22:27):

It is. And we can put pledges against it and everything. So I mean.

Cynthia (22:31):

Partials, we can do whatever we want. And that really works well for us given, building this retirement plan and what we need, because right now I'm still working. So that still works well. But in that, after that seven years, that's when we're really wanting these notes to kick in for us.

Eddie Speed (22:52):

So let me clarify what they're saying, because that's really important. Like you're like, you're looking at your current deal, but you're also strategizing about what could be done. What they're saying is they have a good first mortgage on a good piece of property and a good payer. They could take that note and just go borrow money against it. Just like you'd borrow money rent. I was thinking about your money against note. They said they can pledge the note, right? Teach this strategy a lot and how to do it. The other thing is they could just go sell a stream of payments so they could sell not the whole note, but they could sell a stream of payments. And what that would allow them to do is to recapitalize. So you heard them say something, a lot of you caught and they're like, Oh my God, these ladies have bought 20 over 20 notes this year already. And you're like, how do they do that? Because they understand when they run out of capital, whatever is, and have strategies that they can go recapitalize other private investors, money to go to go recapitalize the notes that they have. So they have more money to spend. And now they're walking themselves up the ladder. And that's what I love.

Lois (24:00):

Uh huh.

Joe Varnadore (24:02):

That's where you build your bank. Right guys?

Lois  (24:03):

Absolutely.

Cynthia (24:03):

Absolutely we love it.

Joe Varnadore (24:08):

We call that a NoteSchool, Eddie, coined that the Capital Recoupment Plan, let's do some quick math. And then I'm going to jump off the PowerPoint here. So you guys had 88,750 out, right? You received a $4,000 down payment, yearly income over the period of the loan, you know, for a long time is 320,760. So literally your total profit on this over time is 232 and a half thousand dollars basically.

Lois (24:37):

Uh huh.

Eddie Speed (24:39):

Yeah. That's well, you know what I like to say at that don't light your fire, your wood's wet. Right?

Joe Varnadore (24:48):

Alright, Scott, pull that down and let's, I'll go back on screen here.

Eddie Speed (24:52):

Listen, you ladies that I want to compliment you are you, for Joe and I and Brian who are on the training team and working at training people here's, there's, you're smart. You brought some real estate experience to it, and you applied that real estate experience that let you get going with your note strategy.

Lois (25:18):

Uh huh.

Eddie Speed (25:18):

But the most important thing that you did is you took action. You put massive action. And we talk, and you know, we talk about this a lot. Like we can be so smart, we can almost talk ourselves out of a deal. Right. We can just analyze it to death and you ladies are good. You're smart ladies. You you're really good at analyzing, but you have a good balance. And you've been highly coachable for us because you've not just done it, but you've taken action. And I salute you for that, really.

Lois  (25:51):

Thank you.

Cynthia (25:53):

We should rightfully salute you. I think that's you have to take the credit for some, a lot of this is because we just to remind you of what we said was we bought our first note two and a half years. We studied you and note school, and that's correct for two years. And, but once we made the commitment, because we had done that due diligence up front, we were all in, but that comes to you. I mean, you're, we didn't just invest in any notes. We had invested in NoteSchool and NotesDirect.

Eddie Speed (26:22):

Yes. Well, thank you for doing that. And I think you probably would tell people you could have pulled the trigger a lot quicker.

Cynthia (26:29):

We could. Yeah. I don't mean to discourage. We could have done it faster. It just happened to be where our careers were.

Lois (26:36):

Yeah. Our lives were far too stacked for that, but because we wanted to be able to concentrate on it and do it right. And so we told you when we joined that May was our time.

Cynthia (26:46):

Retirement.

Eddie Speed (26:46):

I completely remember that conversation.

Lois (26:51):

And I know that you say sometimes, well, you know, people tell me, Oh, I'm going to join and I'm going to do all of this. And you know, some of them do some of them don't. And so I thought, yeah, he doesn't really know what we're going to do.

Joe Varnadore (27:07):

22 notes in. We think you're doing okay.

Eddie Speed (27:13):

Let's just say the coach is happy.

Cynthia (27:15):

Good, cause we did our job too.

Lois (27:18):

Yes.The players are happy.

Joe Varnadore (27:23):

Stick around with us guys.

Lois (27:24):

We will.

Joe Varnadore (27:24):

Cause we're going to have a little after party here,

Joe Varnadore (27:26):

After this thing.

Lois (27:28):

Okay.

Joe Varnadore (27:28):

So guys Brian, why don't you jump on and let's talk about Feeding Frenzy Friday.

Brian Lauchner (27:38):

I like it.Thank you so much, ladies. Yeah, I think this is this is a great time transition. One of the cool things is that I think everybody needs to know is NoteSchoolTV is sponsored by NotesDirect and Feeding Frenzy Friday.

Brian Lauchner (28:02):

So each week we put together a little video kind of breaking down a note from NotesDirect on Feeding Frenzy Friday, you can go to NoteSchool YouTube channel. There's a playlist called Feeding Frenzy Friday. And if you're wanting to just learn more of the details and really learn how to master notes, that's a great place to get started. Just last week, we broke down a Michigan home that has a season note since 2002, the person has been living there for 18 years. What do you think the chances are? They're going to keep paying if they've been there for 18 years, right? It had a $19,000 balance with a loan value under 60%. So with a double digit interest rates. So just really, really great stuff. And we got to talk about the ins and out and the pros and the cons of these notes to again, to help equip you better, to learn how to buy something from notes direct and get a note in your portfolio.

Brian Lauchner (28:52):

As always, we're going to be here on Wednesdays live at 11:00 AM central time, so that we can dive into some of this content and get you more value for your business in this you know, in these market conditions make sure you are liking these videos, subscribe to the channel. And again, like I said, at the beginning, click that notification bell, because what that does is that alert you, that Hey, we're live. And that allows you then to jump on and putting your questions and things like that and engage with us. Cause we're going to have a little bit of a shindig here in a minute where we kind of go through some of those questions for those of you who, Hey, you're brand new, you're wanting to know how to get started. Here's two things I'll tell you, first of all, go to www.NoteSchool.com/TV. That is a great place to kind of take a next step. If you're trying to figure out what that next step is. The second thing is I want to invite you to join us next Wednesday

Brian Lauchner (29:42):

For a special new year's NoteSchoolTV of it, where Eddie speed himself is going to give a state of the industry type of an address. And so that kind of wraps us up for today. We're running a little bit out of time, but I tell you what, you know, what time it is, Joe, it's time for the after party. So bring it.

Brian Lauchner (30:15):

I love it. All right. Well, one of the things that I saw come up in the comment you, as you post in your comments on Facebook or YouTube or wherever it is, you are you're joining us from, we had several come in. One of the things that I saw, Eddie, that popped up right away was just talking about the best rentals to sell via seller financing. Why don't you kind of walk us through that a little bit?

Eddie Speed (30:40):

Well, one of the things that I see all the time, a lot of landlords end up at NoteSchool and the reason they end up at NoteSchool and Lois and Cynthia were great examples of this was that, how do you scale your business, right? I mean, could you really have bought 20 rentals?

Lois  (31:02):

No, I don't even want to think about that.

Eddie Speed (31:05):

And so the avail, the scalability being the bank is much different than the scalability of being the landlord. And we really, it means a lot to us because it means that, because you heard Lois and Cynthia talk about retirement, and what they want to be able to do is be the bank and be on the beach, not at Home Depot.

Joe Varnadore (31:31):

Well. Eddie, You didn't, want to, since you're the one that's already retired, You didn't want to be retired as a full time property manager. Right?

Lois  (31:40):

Right. But the other thing to think about is that this allows us to diversify our holdings. So instead of just having rentals basically in Houston, and we actually have one in another state as well, but this allows us to have diversification nationwide, urban and rural. So it, that I think is important in building a portfolio of any kind for retirement as well.

Eddie Speed (32:08):

Yeah. And we, one of the things that we talk about is like, what house is, it makes a good note house. So I tell landlords like Lois and Cynthia, when they get involved with us and they kind of get to know us. There's some, there's some training, there's some preparation for this that makes the answer make sense. Right, Brian? You can't just, you can't always understand a punchline answer if you have no base of knowledge to run. So we'll go lay out some math and we'll say, what house doesn't really, it was a good house, but it doesn't really throw off the income you're looking for. Right. And so we'll take that house and say, okay, then what if you noted it like this house that you just showed us, you're getting 900 bucks a month net income. That's impressive. And by the way, you probably could have, you could have probably carried it a little higher interest rate. You probably could've gotten a good bit better down payment. You made a, you made a social choice.

Lois (33:11):

Yes.

Eddie Speed (33:11):

Help somebody. You're still going to make really good money. And I just cannot tell you enough that, you know, I've probably spoken literally through the Seller Finance course. Listen, I've probably spoken to, gosh, no. I mean to over 200 Congress people in Congress, and we talk about the physical responsibility that people seller financing, do you provide home ownership to somebody that otherwise wouldn't have experienced it.

Lois  (33:37):

Absolutely.

Eddie Speed (33:39):

And you got to make really good profit helping them experience affordable home ownership.That's a win win.

Lois  (33:48):

Yeah. She would have never, ever gotten a loan from a bank or a traditional lender ever. Yeah.

Joe Varnadore (33:52):

Yeah.

Brian Lauchner (33:54):

I think too, when we're talking about the best kind of properties to seller finance, one of the things that Eddie said that it thinks is important to understand is that, there is a specific criteria that we're really looking for, but there are more of those houses than there are of the distressed homes that you might be thinking about as a wholesaler or a flipper or even a landlord. There is more opportunity in this space to find the deals than in the other space. And that's something that I think we take for granted because of how we've been trained to focus on these distress, torn up houses. Right?

Lois (34:24):

Right.

Eddie Speed (34:26):

Yeah.

Lois (34:26):

How did you, M asked how did you find this house in the first place? What was the source of this, this deal?

Lois  (34:34):

I think we just, we do a lot of driving in neighborhoods that we think have a lot of potential. So we have been buying properties and working class neighborhoods now for, as Cindy said, six to eight years and we drive the neighborhoods, we start on one street and we go up and down the grid pattern. And then when we find houses that we feel are you know, meet our criteria. So they have to be able to be standing, you know, they have good bones to them, but still in the distress price. And then we're able to go in and get it. So we've done that on in quite a few neighborhoods here in Houston. And like you've said Eddie, you don't make money on rentals from the rent, but you can make money on the rentals from than selling them if you've bought in the right neighborhoods. So we have purchased distressed properties in a lot of neighborhoods and lots, and we will be doubling and tripling our income on them just from the sale because of those locations.

Eddie Speed (35:36):

Yeah. So if somebody is listening and they're wondering, that's called a farming technique, right? Like it could be a highway or major streets and you say within that zone, that's my area. And you're just cruising for, you know, yuck houses, right. And or something that needs fixing and that's all a farming technique. So it's an kind of an old school tech, I don't know who you learn that from. I know some old guys and Houston has a long time, but that you don't hear many modern day new guys in the business talking about that, but that is, that's an old, effective technique.

Brian Lauchner (36:16):

And kind of to the other side of the coin, there was a question about how did you find the buyer? How did you pick the buyer? I saw a theme there and I will say, this is really the other side of the coin. There's not a farming technique necessarily here because of the people we're targeting. We call them penalty box buyers. We teach them all about who they are, but this is the underserved part of the community. And here's a little fun fact for you. I did the math on this. This is a trillion dollar marketplace of buyers, a trillion dollar marketplace. There are more penalty box buyers, especially today than there were this time, last year.

Lois (36:51):

Absolutely.

Brian Lauchner (36:51):

And so finding the buyer is not the hard part. You just need to kind of learn how to tailorin that criteria and then the marketing piece that Eddie teaches so well.

Lois (37:00):

Uh huh. Yes.

Brian Lauchner (37:00):

Let me see, we got time for one more question here. Oh, this is about Eddie, you had mentioned talking about some of the the difference between the Rental Cycle versus the Qwner Finance Cycle or the Seller Financing Cycle, Note Cycle. Tell us a little bit about that before we wrap up here.

Eddie Speed (37:21):

Well, I think it's relevant to a couple of things. So the one thing I would that one thing that I say is that from 2015, to around 2019 or 20, we were in a market where you couldn't really go wrong buying property cause it was going to have an escalation in value. And Joe, I totally got your headline while I go about Zillow. And I've heard a lot of other forecast and stuff, but let me just tell you this, I believe the next five years is going to be a lot more of a Note Cycle than a property is going to grow to the sky cycle. Right? And the reason that I say that when a Note Cycle is really good is when buyers, when there's a lot of people that otherwise could get a conventional mortgage that can't, they have a super big down payment and they're super qualified.

Eddie Speed (38:19):

And so we talk about this a lot, you know, as far as the mortgage banking calls it, the Mortgage Credit Availability. And right now that is about 35% of the people that can get a mortgage in February. Can't get one today. So, Lois and Cynthia can take a house and find a buyer with an inordinately high down payment. I know that their case study had where the, because of the variables we discussed that particular case that it wasn't as big a down payment. I can get 10 to 20% down if they can owner finance, that buyer who otherwise were probably just gotten a regular mortgage back in January of 2020, January, 2021. They can't do that.

Lois (39:02):

Right.

Eddie Speed (39:02):

Now. All of a sudden you got a win win. You put, you made home ownership that big down payment has let either let you get some money at closing, or it's reduced your cost base that you can apply, however you want to. So you didn't, you, you could even make theoretically some transactional money upfront running over time, just depending on what somebody's particular model is. So that's why I say that we've entered a Note Cycle is the market is so rich today to do seller financing. And then once again, Brian, you, the next piece of that puzzle is teaching people. Once you end up with a bunch of notes, somebody says, Oh, well, my money's tied up. How do you go recapitalize it? And boom, boom, boom. You just keep climbing that Hill and building your own bank. Hey, let me ask you a question. Would you rather be a landlord or the bank?

Brian Lauchner (39:58):

That is, well, thank you so much. Lois and Cynthia, thanks to Joe and Eddie. Another great NoteSchoolTV. We will see you all next week, again, stick around. We're going to be having these after parties. So join us, hit that notification bell so that you know, to join us and bring your questions so that we can engage with you and have you on the show. We'll see you next week.

#Real Estate #Real Estate Investing #Notes #Mortgage #Mortgage Notes #Eddie Speed #NoteSchool #NoteSchoolTV #Note School

[y0itsbri]

hi bri! 🎳 daily check in time! 🎳

i had a great day todayy! my friends and i got our routine testing done on campus and we noticed they were having a big sale on posters, prints, and tapestries!! i picked out four posters that i loved and i’m SO excited about them! (i’ll send in pictures tmr bc i haven’t had the energy to put them up on the wall yet lmfao)

after that, we went bowling!! i feel like i’m pretty decent and i actually managed to win one game out of the three we played?? i was very proud of myself 😌

my friends and i ate at in-n-out and i’ve just been chilling out at home since then!! i got a bit of work done, managed to draw a s4 ian, and i think i’m gonna turn in early tonight because i have to wake up at 6 am tmr 🤢

alsooo i’ve just been staring at your new art which is GORGEOUS btw. your style is so colorful and diverse and cooool, ughhhh. i love it ❤️

how was your day??

hi twisha!! ahh i’m so glad you had a good day ☀️ i’m honestly impressed that your school is doing routine testing! i’m used to things 100% based on the honesty policy and hopes & prayers 🙃 poster sale my beloved!! i cannot wait to see the ones you chose 😍 bowling!! 🎳 i haven’t been in so long but yesterday i was literally just talking to my roommate about how bad i am at it lmaooo. winning 1/3 is very impressive 😌 i’ve only had in-n-out once but now it reminds me of cg ian and mickey and ian’s early trips to LA <33 s4 ian art 🥰 also plot twist (kinda?) — my ‘new’ art is actually from last year but i just re-edited it for sara’s side blog 🥲 still my art tho!! so i very much appreciate your kind words!

my day was pretty eventful! so my mom is super into the vampire diaries and yesterday she finally bought some 'brother's bond' bourbon, which is the brand the actors created -- and i'm so happy for her :') she looked so cute cheesing in a picture next to the bottle <33

today i found a grocery store closer to my house today and that was exciting! truly! and it had everything i needed <3

then there was a power outage! for the whole neighborhood! so i ended up taking a shower in the dark and then did some reading by candlelight. felt like jo in little women with all the autumn 19th century vibes. it was cute seeing my neighbors with their flashlights and candles. everyone meeting outside in the Dad Stance with their hands on their hips trying to figure out what's wrong :') my roommate and i took advantage of the no electricity/internet and actually planted some mums in the front of our house!

enjoy these pictures of a cool leaf i found, a squirrel sprawled out on a branch, and my candlelit study vibes 🕯

#ask #dcit

[florenceandthemachine]

Christopher probably showing off his dads at his school's bake sale and raising the most money in his class.

we all have a hunger on AO3

When Buck’s phone rang on a Sunday morning, he had barely said ‘hello’ before he was steamrolled by the tiniest little force of nature in Los Angeles.

“Buck, Daddy and I need your help. It’s an emergency.”

“Chris, what’s going on? Are you okay? I’ll get my keys, I can be there in—“

“Wait, Chris, no, give me the phone!”

Buck was half out of bed, half dressed, and frantically looking for his keys when Eddie finally took over the phone, nearly hanging up in his haste. “Buck, no, there’s no emergency. Everything is totally fine, we’re fine.”

Buck froze halfway down the stairs, eyes narrowing suspiciously as he pulled his phone away from his head to finish pulling his shirt on. “See, that sounds like something a hostage would say, you’re really not helping your case here Eddie—“

“We are fine.” Eddie insisted, clearing his throat as Chris loudly voiced his disagreement in the background. “We’re just… baking. Chris has a bake sale tomorrow at his school, it’s one of their annual fundraisers. There’s a bake sale, and I’m making brownies, and we’re doing fine.”

Buck resumed dressing as soon as Eddie mentioned the work ‘bake’—it may not have been a true emergency, but he knew enough to know that anything involving Eddie with an oven was a mess and a half, waiting to happen. He hummed, pocketing his keys as he closed his door behind him, already making his way to the garage. “Well, I love baking. Maddie taught me everything she knows. Mind if I swing by and join you?”

Buck knew that Eddie still struggled with asking for help when he needed it—especially when he was asking someone outside of the Diaz crew—but thankfully, Buck knew how to work around that. He had learned early on that the best way to ease any guilt that Eddie might feel where Chris was involved was to completely reshape the question. In this case, it was easy; Eddie was no longer asking for help with one of Chris’ activities, Buck was asking to join them.

Even then, he heard Eddie hesitate. “Well… I mean, I don’t want to take up your Sunday, but—“

“Eddie, you’re not going to seriously deprive me of spending time with Chris, are you?” Buck said, his voice teasing as he slid into his car, delighted to hear Eddie laughing on the other end of the line.

“No, I wouldn’t dare. We’ll see you soon. Drive safe, okay?”

After a quick pit stop at Foods Co., Buck pushed through Eddie’s front door easily, arms laden with grocery bags. Chris was the first to greet him, his high pitched joy never failing to warm his heart. Dumping his bags on the kitchen counter (and looking away from the burned remains of… something in a pan), he scooped Chris into his arms, dutifully ignoring Chris’ cry of “Buuuuck, stoooop!” until he was basically a giggling mess.

Setting Chris back down, Buck was all smiles as he approached a very defeated looking Eddie in the kitchen, giving him a quick kiss of his own. “Hey, come on, cheer up. It’s basically impossible to bake in a bad mood.” Buck said, pulling Eddie into his arms easily. “Now, how about I break open the family recipe book and show you and Chris how to make the world famous Buckley Cheesecake Brownies?”

-

Halfway through the Pixar movie of Chris’ choice, Eddie had a third batch of cheesecake brownies cooling in the fridge, and Buck had Eddie tucked under his arm on the couch. He was basically on cloud nine, riding out a pleasant sugar buzz, feeling supremely comfortable in his own skin, though he knew that was more his proximity to Eddie than anything else.

His attention strayed from the… caterpillars? Grasshoppers? He honestly couldn’t follow what was going on, but it didn’t matter as Eddie culled closer up to him, angling his head up to press another kiss to Buck’s lips, voice low as they broke apart.

“Thanks for today, Buck. We… I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Buck smiled, a small, soft look that was strictly reserved for his Diaz boys, arms tightening around Eddie’s middle as he buried his nose in Eddie’s hair, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head as Eddie’s head rest on his chest.

“Yeah, Eddie, you could have. And you would have, you’d do anything for Chris, and I know that. But you don’t have to do it alone.”

-

Let it be known that Eddie Diaz was a fucking snack.

Buck knew it. The 118 knew it. Hell, even Carla knew it.

And the gaggle of moms milling through Chris’ school gymnasium? Well, they definitely knew it. And if they didn’t? Buck was 100% there to remind them.

He had all but insisted on joining Eddie and Chris to the bake sale on Monday, not even bothering with excuses, just happily loading Chris up into Eddie’s truck before he slid into the passengers seat himself. He wasn’t going to pass up the chance at scoring some new recipes, first of all, and second of all, he absolutely loved seeing Eddie in full dad mode. And there was no better place to see Eddie in dad mode than in the gymnasium of an elementary school.

Eddie in full on dad mode was fucking hot, okay? Sue him.

Once they had set up Chris’ booth—with a full banner Chris had insisted on painting himself, two tiered display tables stacked high with cheesecake brownies, and a place to make donations to the school, like every other booth had. They may not have been able to keep any of the money they raised, but Chris had more than enough incentive—the booth that got the most donations won their entire class a pizza party. Thankfully, Chris was adorable, and Buck had a secret weapon in his arsenal… the insistence that Eddie wear his LAFD tee shirt, turnout pants, and used an overturned fireman helmet as Chris’ donation bowl. He wasn’t a fool, okay? He knew that the competition was real.

So… he may or may not have had slightly less-than-altruistic intentions when he slipped away from the booth, kissing both Eddie and Chris on their foreheads with the excuse of scoping out the competition as he started to make the rounds.

He was having the absolute time of his life, slipping easily in and out of conversation, his worn henley and comfortable jeans better than any disguise as he eavesdropped, making fast friends and faster business as he made his way around the gym.

“I don’t know, I saw her tossing a few treat boxes into the dumpster outside. You think those cookies are store bought?”

”Oh, I’d steer clear. I think Maria might have mixed up salt and sugar. I mean, I donated of course, but save your tongue.”

“I just think it’s so great, the things that he does with his son. A single dad and a firefighter to boot?”

Obviously, as much fun as sabotage was, Buck’s real talent was talking up Eddie and Chris.

“Honestly, I feel so lucky to even know them. Chris is such a great kid, and Eddie really does go above and beyond.”

It was so much fun because he wasn’t even lying. He got to be as exaggerated and over the top as he wanted—whenever he got a little over the top with Chris, he was usually cut off by a pained groan and an adorable, blushing boy. Whenever he tried to get in depth with Eddie, well, Buck could barely get a few words out before Eddie found a much better use for his lips than talking (with his own adorable blush).

“The last fire we were in, Eddie singlehandedly saved a mother and son who were stuck beneath some debris. He’s an all around hero.”

He was talking now, though—and he had an entirely different approach planned out, depending on his audiences. For all the single moms, easily identified as those who couldn’t take their eyes off of Eddie? All he had to do was mention the word “fireman” and he had them eating out of the palm of his hand; and more importantly, racing over to buy a brownie.

For the parents who were more focused on cooing over the kids at the booths, well, Buck had a trick up his sleeve for them, too—it was as easy as pulling out his phone, scrolling through any number of the photos he had taken the night prior. His personal favorite was one of Chris, eyes bright with laughter, a blob of brownie batter at the end of his nose. He didn’t have to say anything—as soon as they saw that, they were shoving money into Eddie’s helmet.

Eddie looked more and more pleasantly confused as the morning carried on, but Chris looked absolutely delighted, and that was all that mattered as far as Buck was concerned.

-

“Wait, Buck, wait. You’re telling me you actually conned donations out of people by showing them pictures of Chris?”

Eddie had tears, literal tears in his eyes as he tried to inhale, gripping his half full beer bottle like a lifeline as he wheezed. Buck probably should have looked a little bashful, but Eddie’s laughter was too good to ignore, warming him from the inside out.

The parents had been thoroughly thanked and sent home before lunchtime, and Buck had taken no small pleasure in peppering Chris with kisses before Eddie pulled him out of the gym. They had both taken full advantage of their weekday off—namely, by napping and watching terrible daytime television—and Chris had barely made it a half hour after dinner before the day (and the sugar rush) caught up with him, crashing hard as Buck carried him to bed.

“Hey, Chris won the pizza party for his class, and trust me, that is a one way ticket to be the most popular kid in class. And I wasn’t lying, some of those cookies were store bought—everyone else in his grade can suck it.” Was it mature? No. But Buck stood by it. He was team Chris, ride or die.

“Buck, you can’t say ‘suck it’ about a bunch of kids.” Eddie tried to get out, but he was laughing again, leaning heavily against the wall for support as he clinked bottles with Buck. He still couldn’t believe how lucky he was, to get to be in Eddie’s space like this—so easily bumping shoulders and elbows and touching so casually, physical signs of affection that Buck had never allowed himself before. Eddie finally got a hold of himself as Buck pushed some of the curls back from his forehead, leaning into the touch easily, his expression nothing short of heart-eyes.

“Well, thank you for saving me from myself yesterday. And, of course, for cracking open the family recipes to help Chris and his school.” Buck blushed again as he sputtered on his mouthful of beer, struggling to swallow, looking up as Eddie cleared his throat.

“It, uh, I found that recipe on the internet.” He said, chewing on his lip, suddenly feeling a little nervous as Eddie smiled at him—and if Buck didn’t know better, he could swear that there was a pink tint to his cheeks..

“Well… I mean, it could be a family recipe now. After all, we made it together, you me and Chris… right?”

Buck’s eyes blew out wide as Eddie laced their fingers together. He hated the way that Eddie’s voice tilted at the end, like he was unsure of himself, and Buck literally had no choice but to pull Eddie into his arms, erasing any doubt from his mind. He had already known that Eddie would be it for him—that he and Chris were the best thing that he was ever going to get, that he would rather die than give this up, but hearing Eddie call them a family?

Holy fuck, Buck was in love.

#eddie diaz #evan buckley #chris diaz #i would die for christopher diaz #no doubt #soft eddie #soft buck #just so fucking soft omg #buddie #911 #flospeaks #floreplies #Anonymous

[houchlife]

Top 7 Law Of Attraction Tips To Manifest More Of What You Want!

By Heather Mathews Author of Manifestation Miracle      “Everything is within your power, and your power is within you.” ― Janice Trachtman Charlie, a stay at home dad, works out of his living room while looking after his three-year-old toddler. As a social media consultant, he depends on his laptop to make a living. The problem is that his beat up computer was as old as his kid, and it was always glitching on him. So Charlie kept focusing on getting a new computer – a 13-inch Macbook Pro in particular. Eventually, his old laptop gave out, which made him panic a bit. So Charlie went online to look for another one while having the shiny new Macbook in the back of his mind. After hours of searching, he couldn’t find a reasonably priced model. So he was about to settle on another type of laptop and was close to closing the sale. But at the last minute, Charlie decided to check the price listings for a used version of the computer that he REALLY wanted. And just like that, someone was selling a six-month old Macbook Pro for a price significantly cheaper than a store-bought one. So Charlie got what he wanted, and at a better deal than he had hoped for! Now, Charlie’s incredible stroke of luck seemed like a fluke to him at first, but then another awesome thing happened shortly after. You see, Charlie was also looking for a new job because he felt stuck in his current one. So he had his sights set on another company with a position in mind. The truth was that he wasn’t all that confident he was even qualified for the position, but he went over the job description again and again. Charlie even printed the job ad and put it on his refrigerator door so he could see it every day. A couple of weeks after his interview, he got a call from the company and said he got the job. On Charlie’s first day, his new boss told him, “Honestly, your skillset isn’t an exact match for what we were looking for. But I really liked how you did at the interview…and besides, we can train you for the other things you need to learn, anyway. You have a great attitude and that’s more important than being 100% qualified for the job.” Click Here To Discover the Lazy Person’s Secret To Get Everything You’ve Ever Wished For      Is It Coincidence - Or Something Else at Work? It’s easy to brush off Charlie’s streak as plain dumb luck, but could he have WILLED his good fortune to happen? After all, the common element between getting his new laptop and the new job was that he focused on both things intensely. Charlie kept it in his thoughts all the time. More than that, he created a detailed picture of his desired state in his mind. He imagined what it would be like to hold his new laptop and how he’d feel working in the new job he was aiming for. Charlie visualized both scenarios so vividly that he could almost taste it. Whether he knew it or not, he was putting the basic principle of The Law of Attraction to work - and it served him well. As the name implies, this law decrees that “like attracts like.” There’s a global movement behind this belief, and it says that the kind of thoughts you send out to the Universe emit a certain frequency – be it helpful or harmful. And you have the power to control the wavelength you operate on, which in turn attracts circumstances that match your energy. So by focusing on positive outcomes and giving out positive vibrations, you can turn your thoughts into a tangible force of good in your life! On the other side of the coin, dwelling on the negative aspects of life and focusing your attention on the things you resent attracts even MORE negativity into your world. Like Charlie, you can think of something specific you want, and hold that image in your mind. Create all the details that bring the picture to life, then believe that you already have it. When you go about your day thinking that the object of your desire is already a matter of fact… …this sends out a clear, strong message to the Universe that you truly WANT and BELIEVE it. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; there are other ways to raise your frequency even higher. By following these 7 Tips to Create the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of, you’ll naturally attract everything you’ve ever wanted – and MORE:

#1: Set aside time to focus on what you desire

    The first habit is simple enough: give yourself at least 5-7 minutes daily to visualize the things you want to turn into reality.

You can do this by finding a quiet place to contemplate, then sit upright with your eyes closed. While keeping your desires front and center in your thoughts, breathe deeply in and out.

Focus on your breath and the sensations your body is feeling, and use that as anchor to keep your thoughts from straying.

If your mind does go on a tangent, gently bring yourself back to your breathing AND your desired future state.

You’ll get a lot of benefits from doing this for just a few minutes every day. For instance, many studies have proven the stress-reducing properties of meditation.

A study at the Massachusetts General Hospital showed that people who tried their meditation program experienced significantly less health problems than before.

They ended up not having to see a doctor or go to the emergency room, saving them about $2,300 in medical costs for EACH person!

On top of that of course, meditation also helps you keep your eye on the prize and give you the determination to make it happen.

Some people however, have trouble meditating and get easily distracted.

If you need a little guidance with this habit, I’ve got a special gift for you – but more on that later…

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#2: Be grateful and practice gratitude

    Ever hear the expression “Thank your lucky stars”?

Back in ancient times, people believed that celestial bodies played a huge role in someone’s destiny.

Today, many still believe that these same external forces affect our lives.

The Law of Attraction draws from this belief, and it states that we should be gratefull whenever the Universe sends something good our way.

This is another way of fine tuning your frequency. When you actively pay attention to the positive things that happen around you, it acts like a magnet that attracts similar things.

And by being thankful for your blessings, you’re sending a powerful message to the Universe that essentially translates to:

“Thank you, that was awesome! More please!”

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#3: Take a leap of faith

    The main challenge that people have with manifesting their desires is dealing with the world of the intangible.

It can be daunting (and even discouraging) to imagine a future outcome that hasn’t happened yet.

It takes some faith to push past that hazy uncertainty, and not everyone has it in them to do so.

So you need to check your inner Doubting Thomas at the door for a moment and appreciate how other people have used the Law of Attraction to succeed.

Consider the great figures from the past: Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Marie Curie, Vincent Van Gogh and Nikola Tesla.

All of them were shining examples of how they used their mind and willpower to create something valuable in this world.

They raised their own frequency and as result, had a different energy from the rest of humanity.

Even though they’re gone, their legacy lives on, and we can still feel its impact today.

It’s all because they took a brave step into the unknown.

Even though they couldn’t see how their work would ripple through the next several decades, they still powered through.

The skepticism that people have is the result of growing up.

As you get older and have more experiences, a certain amount of jadedness sets in.

That’s why you won’t find any of that in kids. Just think about how children play make-believe.

When they yell, “The floor is lava!” you can bet they’ll be scrambling for the nearest couch or chair to avoid getting “burned.”

On a certain level, they TRULY believe that the floor is literally molten rock.

They can see the hot, glowing lava, burning everything its path…

…and they do everything to stay out of its way.

That’s the power the mind and imagination in action.

Learn how to see the world on this level again. That way, you can see a bright future before it happens – then go on to make it a reality.

Click Here To Learn How to Force the Universe to Manifest Your Dream Life 

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#4: Keep on keepin’ on

One of the realities of this world is that you can’t eliminate adversity.

It’s always going to be an uphill climb at some point, especially when you’ve just taken on a new challenge.

You’ve been eating right and working out, but the pounds aren’t quite flying off as you’d hoped.

You started a side income project, but your cash flow hasn’t been anything more than a trickle.

You’ve tried beating your depression with exercise, therapy and medication, but the dark thoughts still charge at you like a freight train.

That’s called RESISTANCE.

It will always be there, even as you dig deep and do everything in your power to manifest the reality you want.

Being a grown-up means expecting those external circumstances to work against you.

Your best response? PUSH BACK.

Keep your inner world together, and the outside world will follow suit.

Dumbledore once told Harry Potter, “Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”

Remember: the hero of the story is never a one-person army.

Harry had Hermione and Ron.

Luke had Obi-Wan and Yoda.

And you don’t have to fly solo in YOUR journey.

Think about the people in your inner circle – are they giving you the energy, motivation and inspiration to succeed?

If the company you keep sneers at growth and being better, maybe it’s time to look for other friends to round out your squad.

Seek people who lead by example and can show you how to overcome that resistance in your life.

Learn from them and let their enthusiasm rub off you.

While you’re at it, use technology to connect to like-minded folks who can help you in your quest. Open your phone or laptop and fire up YouTube, Vimeo or any other video streaming site.

TED talks, self-help lectures and tons of other empowering content are literally at your fingertips.

The Universe has too much abundance for you to ignore.

We’re part of a vast human network, and our collective energy affects everyone else in ways we can’t yet fully comprehend.

This network has always been around; the Internet merely accelerated it. Tap into it and unleash its power.

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#5: Tune out your Negative Ned (or Nancy)

    There’s always that voice in the back of your head that kicks in when life gets tough.

It loves whispering things in your ear, usually at the height of your frustration and despair:

- “You totally blew that one, why do you even bother trying?”

- “You had one job and you screwed it up like always…I’m not even surprised.”

- “Getting back on the horse, are we? I give it a week before you go back to your old ways. Better to quit while you’re ahead!”

- “You actually thought he was complimenting you? Oh, bless your heart…it’s called ‘small talk’ and ‘being nice’.”

If you’re like the rest of the human species, you’re going to run into those nasty folks called insecurity, self-doubt and fear.

They’re going to take up space in your head and try to drown you out with their noise.

Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet and scholar, knew this well. It his poem “The Guest House”, he spoke an ancient truth about the human condition.

He likened all our thoughts and feelings – both good and bad – as visitors who stopped by the guest house of the soul.

And this line struck me the most:

“The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.”

Once I understood what it meant, I realized that I didn’t have to resist it. I could simply let my obnoxious guests do their thing, and see them out.

It’s not about covering your ears and going, “La la la la! I can’t hear you!”

Acknowledging their existence in your head is NOT the same as letting them win.

The world’s greatest achievers go through bouts of darkness and anger like everyone else.

The main difference is that they use their failures as material for an instruction manual called “What NOT to Do and How to Do It Better The Next Time Around”.

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#6: Ditch your story

    You shouldn’t stop at managing your negative thoughts, however. You need to peel back another layer and go deeper.

Here’s the thing: you grew up on a set of beliefs, whether you’re aware of it or not.

Your parents, teachers, friends and pretty much everyone you knew growing up contributed to your programming.

You don’t know it, but you operate on this programming on a daily basis.

And it influences every decision you make – and how you choose to see the world.

Now this can be a good thing if you grew up around people who were positive, motivated and had a good outlook on life…

…but this is the real world we’re talking about, so NOT everyone had that kind of effect on you.

Somewhere along your journey, someone discouraged you in a subtle way, or put some sort of label that you can’t shake off.

Words like “Underachiever”, “Oddball”, “Loser”, “Nerd”, “Small Fry”, “Ugly Duckling” and “Black Sheep” come to mind…

…and each one is damaging in its own toxic way.

Sadly, most people carry this invisible weight their whole life.

But starting today, you can lay those bricks on the ground and walk away for good. You don’t have to carry that weight for anyone, especially not for THEM.

Stop living your story based on the false narrative that your negative programming created.

All those preconceived beliefs need to go if you want to attract happiness and prosperity in your life.

I’ve seen people achieve INCREDIBLE things – even the impossible – just by doing this one thing.

Lionel, a heroin addict from Michigan, was in and out of jail for the longest time.

But after overdosing within an inch of his life, he decided to ditch his old story.

Even after everyone gave up on Lionel and called him a “screw-up”, he turned it all around.

He let go of the labels that people had been putting on him for YEARS…

…and Lionel decided he didn’t have to be any of those things anymore.

Lionel created a NEW story for himself – one where he was finally free of his crippling addiction and lived a clean, sober life.

What kind of story do YOU want to live out?

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#7: Make your affirmations “pop”

    You might have heard of people making declarations about themselves to manifest them as truth, and not just as an opinion.

When you affirm some truth about yourself, it validates the awesomeness within you.

Words of kindness heal the soul and help forgive past failures.

In short, it’s about LOVING yourself.

After all, you can’t give what you don’t have.

However, saying “Boy I sure love myself!” doesn’t quite do the trick.

To make your affirmations stick in your subconscious, it needs to have a little something extra.

Don’t stop at “I love me!”- take it up another notch to really drive the point home.

Try these on for size:

- “I love myself so much that I want to use my gifts and share them with the world. I want to take this love inside me and use it to lift other people up.”

- “By sharing the love I have, I possess the power to change myself for the better, and the world around me.”

- “I am love, light, peace and prosperity. Anger, hate and scarcity have no power over me.”

- Aside from loving yourself, you can also infuse a dash of humor in your affirmations. Who says you have to be so grim with his Law of Attraction stuff, anyway?

When you add a bit of levity while you affirm yourself, it shushes your Negative Ned (or Nancy) into silence.

Try coming up with statements like these:

- “I’m so awesome that I kick mediocrity in its big fat butt!”

- “I’ve come here to be awesome at everything I do and kick major butt. And I’m all out of butts to kick.”

- “Did you say something, self-doubt? Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of my awesomeness!”

It’s all a matter of finding the right attitude and tone that suits you. Take a crack at making these affirmations, and you’ll soon find your true inner voice.

What matters is that you inject your affirmations with a serious amount of attitude, and above all, ENERGY.

Without that energy, you won’t give your messages enough “juice” to reach the Universe and show up on its radar.

Those who practice the Law of Attraction often combine these affirmations with their meditation sessions to hit two birds with one stone.

And the results are nothing short of phenomenal.

Now, about that gift I promised you earlier…

To make the MOST out of your meditation, I’ve got a series of audio tracks to help you manifest incredible benefits in your life.

If you want to be the picture of health…

…naturally create wealth wherever you go…

…and enjoy authentic, fulfilling relationships…

…you can achieve ALL of that by simply claiming your FREE gift below:

100% FREE Meditation MP3 Audio Tracks – DOWNLOAD THEM HERE 

#Law of Attraction #Attract Abundance #Attract Wealth #Attract Prosperity #Get What You Want In Life #Attract Anything #Attract More Business/Clients #Manifest More Money #Manifest Wealth and Abundance #Law of Attraction Business #Manifest Health #Manifest Your Desires #Manifest Snything You Want #Weight Loss #Law of Attraction Money #How to be Positive #How to Visualize #how to think positive #how to be more positive #how to think positive thoughts #how to think positive thoughts about yourself #how to manifest money quickly #how the law of attraction works #how to attract abundance and prosperity #how to get what you want out of life #how to get what u want in life #guide to manifestation #rapid manifestation book #how to attract clients to your business #how to manifest anything you want

[blossom-hwa]

Arc [Coming Home] - MARK |Swing!|

Again, this part contains many events in Spiderman: Homecoming, so spoiler alert! The timeline has also been changed so Civil War happens after Homecoming. Thanks again to @deathbykpopboys​ for inspiring this series :)

Pairing: Mark x fem!reader

Genre: fluff, angst, Spiderman!au

Triggers: a lot of cursing, violence (esp. in this chapter), PANIC ATTACKS IN FUTURE CHAPTERS (I in no way meant to romanticize these triggers. If you feel I did, please let me know and I will fix it.)

Word Count: 7.8k

A school dance takes a backseat to bringing down an illegal weapons trade.

Attach >> Arc { 1 - Drifting Apart | 2 - Coming Home } >> Fall { 1 - Spiral | 2 - Rise }

NCT Masterlist | Swing!

If things were chilly before, they’re freezing now. You and Mark won’t even talk to each other.

Surprisingly, not a lot of people ask about what’s going on between you two. Maybe it’s because they can already sense that you don’t want to talk about it. Maybe it’s because you already told enough people off last year after they decided to pry into your nonexistent love life.

Anyway, even if they did ask, what would you say? Oh, Mark didn’t want to find the root cause behind the group dealing illegal fucking weapons made from alien material, and I did.

You’d get placed in a mental institution.

Patrols aren’t peaceful anymore. You go earlier now since the university labs need to be fixed up, which just means more hours of strained silence as you help people with directions and beat up muggers. The two of you still patrol on the same schedule, but you watch completely different sides of Queens.

You rarely, if ever, call on him for help anymore. It’s not like there’s that much going on anyway.

One week passes like this, then two. You skulk around the university every day after school, trying to find out literally anything about the weapons dealers, but the explosion blew everything up. You come to realize just how lucky you and Mark were to have made it out alive.

Still doesn’t mean you think he’s right.

You head home from the university one evening, ready to go out and patrol for a bit. Normally, you keep your suit at school now – it’s easier to just pick it up to change right after visiting university. Today, though, you wanted a snack, so you came home first.

To your surprise, just as you’ve pulled out your suit, you hear Johnny walk through the apartment door.

“Hey, Johnny.” You walk out of your room and give him a tired smile. “Did you get out early?”

“No, right on time.” Your brother gives you a quick hug. “There wasn’t any extra work to get done today, so we all left on the clock. I was just going to go out and get some food for us – give me half an hour?”

No patrolling tonight, then. That’s fine. “Sure.” You smile.

“Are you all right?” Johnny frowns slightly, leaning in slightly. “You look a little sick.”

You force a laugh. “Not sick. Just tired.”

Johnny still looks unconvinced. “You’ve been like this for a while,” he says carefully. “I know school’s stressful, but you didn’t used to be this tired.” He looks closer, eyes narrowing. “Have you been getting into fights? You look a little beat up.”

“Johnny, what?” You heave a sigh of (faked) disbelief. “I can’t even beat anyone in an arm-wrestling match. How do you expect me to get into fights? I yell a lot, but I’m not stupid. I just get bruises from moving around when I sleep.”

Your brother acquiesces. “Well, if anything’s going on, tell me, all right?” He smiles.

“Seriously, dude.” You smile back. “It’s just a little drama at school, that’s all. If you get me my favorite Chinese, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine again.”

“If you say so.” Johnny starts turning around, then pauses. “How come Mark hasn’t been around in some time?”

Right. That.

“He’s, um, working on a project for Tuan,” you say quickly. “It’s taking up a lot of his time. Tuan wants a paper and presentation done before next month is over.”

“Shit.” Johnny whistles. “You kids just keep getting smarter and smarter.”

“As if you aren’t smart enough,” you scoff.

“You flatter me.” Your brother laughs, ruffling your hair. “Be back soon.” With a quick kiss on your head, he leaves the apartment and you throw yourself onto the couch.

And not two minutes later, there’s a knock on the door.

“Johnny? Did you forget some –”

It’s not Johnny.

It’s Haechan.

“Oh, hi, Haechan.” You smile. “Why’re you here?”

“Hi Y/N! I just wanted to ask you some stuff.” He smiles blindingly. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure. Leave your shoes here.” You close the door behind your friend. “My brother’s out for a bit, but he’ll be back soon. You can come into my room.”

Haechan follows behind as you walk across the small apartment to your bedroom. You open the door.

And you realize your mistake.

“Fuck, wait –” you panic, trying to close the door again. “Um –”

Too late. Haechan’s already seen the black hoodie and pale mask sitting on your bed.

Utter silence reigns in the apartment.

“You’re Spiderwoman?” Haechan finally shrieks, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you. “What the fuck, Y/N?”

You wince, lurching out of his grip. “Don’t call me that,” you groan, sinking to the floor. “Not Spiderwoman. I don’t like that.”

Haechan doesn’t even hear you. “How the fuck did that even happen?”

“God, okay, please just shut up and calm down before the entire neighborhood hears you.” You shove Haechan into your room and close the door. “Do not interrupt me while I explain.”

So you tell him everything – OsCorp, the spider bite, deciding to fight crime. You pause a little after talking about the alien weaponry, unsure whether to go into the details of your fight with Mark.

Haechan looks blindsided. “Jesus Christ,” he mutters. “So on top of school and lab work and AcaDec, you’re patrolling Queens until, like, two a.m.?”

You shrug. “Yeah.”

“Man, what the fuck.” He flops down on your bed. “That’s just…”

Silence comes over the room once more.

“Okay, I’m just going to file away all this information for processing later, I’m too sleep-deprived for this. Keep your phone on, I’m going to send you so many texts later. Anyway, I’m just here because I wanted to ask you what your and Mark’s deal is.” Haechan sits up again. “Because Mark’s being a little bitch and won’t say anything. You know he asked Lia to homecoming?”

Something stings in your stomach at the mention of Lia. “Yeah, I know.” You heard the news last week. “Well, I guess it’s easier to tell, now that you know.”

By the time you’ve finished talking about all of your fucked-up adventures with alien weapons and the vulture man, you think Haechan is going to have an aneurysm.

“So you’re pissed at Mark because he doesn’t want to fight alien guns, and he’s pissed at you because he thinks you have a death wish,” he eventually summarizes.

You nod.

“That’s a mess.”

You snort. “You think?”

More silence.

“So, are you going to homecoming?” Haechan asks, randomly changing the subject.

“The fuck kinda topic change –” You sigh. “I don’t know.”

You have a dress, bought on sale at a department store with Jihyo, Yeri, and Lia. The whole time, you wanted to just curl in on yourself and disappear because you’d already known Lia was going to the dance with Mark, but you somehow survived. It’s relatively cheap, but according to the other girls – even Lia, who seemed very uncomfortable every time she looked at you – it looks great.  

So you have a dress. You also have shoes, a pair of low heels that Jihyo lent you. Yeri has also promised to do your hair. You could definitely go to homecoming.

Whether or not you want to is another question.

“Hey, just go.” Haechan flops onto your bed again, jostling your blankets. “You don’t have to talk to Mark. Just go with Jihyo and Yeri. It’s junior year, might as well celebrate before the year goes to shit.”

“Are you going?” you ask.

“Duh.”

You picture the dress hanging in your closet. You imagine putting on Jihyo’s heels, Yeri’s smooth hands tying back your hair. You imagine laughing in a way you haven’t in weeks as you watch people whirl around stupidly on the dance floor.

With a sigh, you nod. “I’ll go.”

. . . . .

Mark hasn’t felt this nervous in what feels like forever. It’s not the terrifying kind of nervous, the kind that he feels when he’s breaking and entering secure university labs. This is a good kind of nervous – heart pounding not in terror, but with anticipation.

Aunt Mei drives him to Lia’s house after cooing over how handsome he looks in the suit they rented. It isn’t anything special, really, but Mark thinks he looks good. With a last reminder to “have fun!”, Mei drives to her night shift at the hospital, leaving him to ring the doorbell.

Lia’s mom opens the door. She’s a beautiful woman with a wide smile, and she immediately makes Mark feel welcome. “Come in, come in,” she says, waving him into the house. “You can wait for Lia in the kitchen, she’ll be down in just a minute.”

So there he stands, fiddling around with the corsage box in his hands. The house is a lot bigger than he thought – at the party, with the rooms so full of people, it seemed much smaller. He likes this change.

“Oh, hello. You must be Marcus!”

Mark turns around so fast it feels like he got whiplash.

Standing in front of him is who he thinks is Lia’s dad.

Which is bad, because Mark knows him as the vulture dude.

Belatedly, he realizes the vulture man – Lia’s dad? Jesus Christ, now he’s shaking – is holding out a hand. Gingerly, Mark reaches around and shakes it with fingers clammy with sweat, hoping his smile doesn’t look too fake. “M-Mark, actually,” he stutters.

“Well, it’s very good to meet you, Mark. Lia’s talked about you a lot. I’m Adrian Toomes.” That’s all he gets out before Lia comes down the stairs.

Mark is sure she looks beautiful. Her dress sparkles and she’s smiling widely as she takes the corsage and he takes her hand like he’s supposed to. But on the inside, he’s freaking out.

What do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do what the fuck do I do –

“I’ll drive you two there.” Mr. Toomes’s voice breaks through Mark’s swirling thoughts, turning them into a pool of existential dread. “I’ve got a flight in two hours, but I think I can spare the time to send my daughter off.”

“W-where’s your flight, sir?” Mark asks, hoping he sounds politely interested and not deathly afraid.

“New Jersey.” Mr. Toomes smiles at him. “I’m a parts collector, see, so I’m going off to inspect a new shipment.”

Alarm bells start ringing in Mark’s head. “I see,” he says faintly.

He’s pretty sure he’s sweating as he enters the car. Lia goes on her phone, still holding his hand, and smiles at him. He tries to smile back.

“So, Mark, Lia tells me you’re pretty smart.” Mr. Toomes smiles into the rearview mirror. “Considering you go to Midtown, that must be a pretty big compliment, huh?”

“He’s seriously smart, Dad.” Lia smiles back. “He’s probably going to be valedictorian.”

Mark laughs nervously. “Well, there’s still some competition…”

“Oh, hush.” She squeezes his hand. “He’s the best at physics on the AcaDec team, and he works in Professor Tuan’s lab after school! You know, the lab at… was it NYU?”

Mark’s eyes go wide. He knows he spoke during the confrontation at the university, but until now, vulture man hasn’t connected the dots yet. Maybe he just didn’t recognize Mark’s voice.

“This is the vulture dude?”

He winces.

Please don’t make the connection, please don’t make the connection, please…

His stomach plummets as Mr. Toomes’s eyes narrow. “Really? NYU? What do you do?”

“Oh, um, I help Professor Tuan build things, test material strength, write some simulation programs…” he trails off. “Not much.”

“Oh, shut up!” Lia starts talking again, but Mark can’t even think properly. Terror blurs his vision and fills his mind.

What should he do?

He told you he was going to give all of this up. He told you he didn’t want to die because of this mess. But there’s a clear lead right in front of him, the guy definitely recognizes him, and if he doesn’t do something tonight, this new shipment of whatever it is will probably escalate things to a whole new level.

Dimly, he registers the fact that Mr. Toomes has pulled up in front of the school. “Lia, darling, you go on first. I want to have a little talk with Mark here before I let him go.”

Mark feels sick.

Lia just rolls her eyes, oblivious to the turmoil occurring in his mind. “Don’t roast my date, Dad,” she warns playfully.

“I won’t.” He laughs, letting her kiss his cheek. “Now run along.”

Lia’s dad’s eyes turn blank immediately after the car door slams closed. Slowly, he turns around to face Mark.

The coldness radiating off his expression freezes Mark in place.

“Does she know?”

Mark almost squeaks. “Know… what?”

“So she doesn’t.” Mr. Toomes nods. “That’s good. Good boy.”

That shakes him to the core.

“I thought I knew your voice.” The man smirks slightly. “It’s all right. I’ve got a few secrets of my own. And I’ll tell you one thing – everything I’ve ever done was for my family. Every. Single. Thing.”

Outwardly, Mark doesn’t change his expression. Internally, he finds his resolve hardening.

How is selling illegal weapons something to do for your family? How is making crime even more prevalent something to do for your family? How is threatening to kill two sixteen-year-old kids something to do for your family?

If Toomes wasn’t the leader of this operation, Mark might back down. But his fancy house? His clear wealth?

That doesn’t give him much in Mark’s book.

“Lia likes you a lot. Likes Spiderman and Spiderwoman too, or whatever you and your little friend call yourselves.” He smirks again. “She’s my daughter. I love her. So for that, I’ll cut you a deal.”

Mark stays silent.

“You walk through those doors. You forget all of this ever happened. You and your buddy Spiderwoman never interfere with my business ever again.” His eyes narrow. “Or I will find every single person you hold dear and kill them in front of you.”

Silence.

“That’s how far I’ll go to protect my family.” Mr. Toomes smiles again, but it’s not a pleasant one.

More silence.

“Hey. I just saved your life.” His voice takes on a sharper edge. “What do you say?”

Mark swallows. “Thank you,” he mutters.

“You’re welcome.” The smile comes back, wolfish this time. “Now you go in there and show my daughter a good time.” He chuckles slightly. “Just not too good of a time.”

Mark nods. He opens the door, steps outside, and closes it.

He leaves his phone in the backseat.

. . . . .

You’re in the corner with Yeri, waiting for Jihyo and Daniel, when Lia walks through the door. Your eyes narrow.

“Where’s Mark?” Yeri expresses your question for you.

A barbed insult rises on your tongue, but you swallow it. Mark, whatever he said to you and you said to him, isn’t a bad person. He wouldn’t leave his date hanging. And sure enough, a few minutes later, he walks in too.

Only he doesn’t head for Lia.

His eyes search the room, clearly looking for someone else even though Lia’s almost directly in front of him. They settle on you, and he immediately starts walking – almost running – over.

“Why’s he coming here?” Yeri mutters. Annoyance starts building up in your chest as well, until Mark gets close enough for you to see the panicked but resolute expression on his face.

“Y/N,” he breathes once he reaches you. “Y/N, please, can we talk?”

The petty part of you wants to say no, but the rational part of you pushes it back. Mark looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. You’ve only ever seen him like this before when he’s full-on panicking.

Like that first anniversary of his uncle’s death.

You nod. “Yeah, sure. Let’s go. Now.”

Yeri makes a noise of concern in her throat, but you flash her a quick smile. “It’s fine, Yeri. Have fun with Jihyo and Daniel, all right? I’ll find you.”

You have a feeling you won’t.

Mark all but drags you out of the decorated cafeteria and into an empty, dark hallway. “Mark?” You grab his wrist, forcing him to turn around. “Mark, what’s wrong?”

“Lia’s dad is vulture man.”

Your knees go weak. “Run that by me one more time.”

“Lia’s dad is vulture man,” Mark says again, looking more and more panicked by the second. “He drove us here and when Lia mentioned I work with Tuan, he made the connection. He heard me talk that night with the explosions, remember?”

You do. All too well.

“He let me go if I promised not to say anything and now he’s going to pick up a fucking shipment somewhere in New Jersey and I left my phone in his backseat so one of us could stay behind and track it –”

You cut Mark off before he starts hyperventilating. “Haechan.”

“What? What does Haechan –”

“He came over one day and accidentally saw my outfit,” you explain. “He knows, Mark.”

Mark just takes it without further explanation. That’s how you know how frazzled he is. “Okay, so –”

You’re already calling him. Haechan picks up after two rings. “Y/N?”

“Come to the hallway just behind the cafeteria.” You hang up.

Haechan appears a minute later, looking extremely ruffled. “What’s going on?”

“Go to the library. Disable the cameras. Track Mark’s phone. We’re going after vulture man.”

“Wait, what –”

“Go!” you snap.

He goes.

“You keep your suit at school, right?” You don’t wait for an answer, just start sprinting down the halls. “Go get it and meet me at the back exit.”

Five minutes later, you’ve stripped out of your dress and are pulling on your mask as you race outside. Mark’s already there. You call Haechan. “Where’s Mark’s phone?”

“On 116th, heading north.” A keyboard clacks in the background. “If you go now, you can catch him. Traffic’s a bitch.”

Mark looks at you. You look at him.

Together, you swing onto the school rooftop and start running.

. . .

After fifteen minutes of nonstop sprinting and swinging and cursing when Haechan tells you to change directions, Mark finally spots the tail of the car. “There!” he yells, pointing to the streets as it takes a sharp turn and disappears.

Something doesn’t feel right. That road doesn’t go to the airport.

In fact, now that you think of it, you’ve been going in the complete opposite direction this entire time.

“The fuck?” you yell, leaping onto a streetlight. “That’s not the way to the airport! Haechan! Where’s he headed?”

“Don’t fucking know!” Haechan hisses into the phone. “Just keep going or you’ll lose him!”

You lose the car five minutes later. Haechan gets you back on track after five more. Fifteen excruciating minutes pass before Haechan finally says the car’s stopped.

“He’s at the old industrial park! You know, the one with the building that’s abandoned and shit? The one that everyone thinks is haunted?”

“Mark!” you screech above the noise of traffic. “I thought you said he was going to New Jersey!”

“I don’t fucking know! That’s what he told me! Obviously he lied!” Mark yells, still sprinting. Cursing under your breath, you follow.

Finally, you can see the park up ahead. The last few steps you take are more like stumbling than running. You almost collapse onto the ground right then and there.

“Okay,” Mark gasps, picking up the phone you’ve dropped. “We’re good, Haechan. Thanks. Just –” he wheezes – “be ready in case we call again.”

“Got it.” Haechan coughs slightly. “Be careful.”

The line goes dead.

The abandoned building looms ahead, dark and foreboding. You swallow.

“Let’s go.”

. . . . .

There’s a very clear reason why everyone thinks this industrial park is haunted. One: it looks haunted. Two: it used to house a very dangerous, non-law-abiding factory, and multiple people died in it. Three: it fucking looks haunted.

When Mark was younger, someone once dared him to come here and stay in the building alone for ten minutes. He didn’t take it, because he was a coward, but he also wasn’t stupid.

Now he’s just as much of a coward, but he’s obtained the stupid. Which is why he’s about to walk into the building that no one willingly goes into because they’re not stupid.

“I’ll go first,” he whispers. “It’ll be better if he thinks I’m alone.”

You nod. “I’ll be on the ceiling.”

Mark steps into the abandoned factory without you by his side. He can hear you stepping quietly above, which comforts him slightly, but it’s still strange to be walking through the empty halls all on his own. Your outline is barely visible to him in the dark.

The inside actually looks clean. Clearly, Lia’s dad has been using this place for some time. Parts and pieces of machinery litter tables spread out between several rooms. Some of them glow.

Mark moves faster. Hopefully he hasn’t left yet, hopefully he’s still here…

He rounds one more corner and turns into a humongous empty room. At the other end, Toomes stands, back to Mark, tinkering with something on another table.

Web strands streak out of the shooter on Mark’s wrist, pinning Toomes’s leg to the floor. The man looks around, barely fazed, and sighs. “Hey, Mark. Didn’t hear you come in.”

“It’s over,” Mark calls, stepping forward. “I’ve got you.”

Despite his words, though, he feels he couldn’t be further from the truth.

“You know, Mark, I really do admire your grit and perseverance.” Toomes turns fully, leaning against the table. “I see why Lia likes you. Gotta admit, at first, I kind of thought, ‘really?’ But I see it now.”

“Why would you do this to her?” Mark presses.

Toomes chuckles. “To her? On the contrary, young man, I’ve done all of this for her.”

Sure.

He must sense the nonplussed look on Mark’s face, even behind the mask, because he just sighs. “Mark. Listen. You’re too young. You don’t know how the world works.”

“Yeah, but I do understand that selling high-powered weapons made of alien materials that could potentially do more harm to citizens than a crate of machine guns combined is wrong,” Mark snaps.

“How do you think people like Stark paid for their shit? Their toys?” Toomes gestures broadly with one hand. “Those people up there, they don’t care about the underdogs like you and me. We clean their messes, fight their wars, and what do they do? They’re powerful. They just do whatever they want. They don’t care about us.” He sighs again. “That’s just how it is.”

Real anger starts to boil in Mark’s stomach. “Do not lump me with you,” he snarls. “On the contrary, I do know what you’re talking about. My uncle died when someone shot him in the stomach, and no one could find the shooter to bring him to justice. Just closed the investigation and let it rot. My best friend’s parents died after some drunk rich kid crashed their car. Daddy just paid off the courts, let the kid go free on probation. You think I don’t know how the world works?” He heaves in a breath. “The difference is, we – ” he catches himself before revealing he isn’t alone – “I’m trying to make it a better place. You’re so rotten that you think making the world worse is setting things right.”

Silence.

Mark sighs. “Why are you telling me all of this, anyway?”

“Because I want you to understand.” His eyes flicker upwards, and he smirks. “Oh, and I needed a bit of time to get her airborne.”

Her?

There’s a whizzing noise, and then you yell. A loud crunch sounds before Mark can even blink, and then you’re landing on the floor amidst a cloud of concrete dust.

“Should call her Raid, huh?” Toomes pats the flying metal device affectionately. “Pretty good at flushing out the roaches.”

“The only roach here is you,” you spit, standing up. “And the difference is that Raid kills.”

Toomes just lets the thing go.

The next few seconds are a blur. The device moves faster than he ever imagined anything could. Pillars crunch as it zooms through concrete. React or die – there’s no time to even think.

“I’m sorry, Mark.” Toomes’s voice carries through the room.

“The fuck are you talking about?” Mark yells. “It hasn’t even touched us!”

“True.” Toomes shrugs. “Then again, it wasn’t really trying to.”

Several more pillars crunch. Mark’s danger sense goes off like nuts.

Concrete blocks start crashing down all around him.

“If you get out of here, tell Mr. Stark I said hello,” Toomes laughs.

The last thing Mark hears is his voice screaming your name.

. . . . .

Trapped under several chunks of concrete, the first coherent thought that runs through your mind is where is Mark.

Then: how do I get out of here.

Panic bubbles in your chest when you finally register that concrete blocks have you encased on all sides. One pins your legs down. Two more flank your sides. Another rests on top of the others, giving you just enough air to breath but not nearly enough to move. A last block pretty much locks your head in.

You’re fully trapped.

Hysteria builds in your throat. You breathe faster. “Mark?” you yell as loud as you can. “Mark?” Your words turn to dry, choked sobs as you struggle underneath the blocks. “Anyone! Someone, help – Mark? MARK!”

There’s no reply.

You lie there for an untold amount of time, trying to calm your breathing. A few seconds? A few minutes? An hour? You don’t know. All you can think of is that you need to get out of here.

Come hell or high water, you’re finding Mark.

And then you’re going to hunt a vulture down.

Another deep breath. And then another. Your legs are pinned to the ground, not hard enough to break them – another block must be in the path of the more immediate one – but not enough for any movement at all. There’s a little space between your chest and the block above it, though.

You push.

The block shifts.

You push harder.

It shifts some more.

You scream as you shove your hands upward with all of your remaining energy. There’s a loud crumbling noise, a rush of dust that makes you cough and sneeze, and then your torso is free.

Moving the block on your legs is easier, though you’re far more drained than before. Throwing off the other concrete chunks, you stand up and start screaming Mark’s name again.

Time passes far too quickly and far too slowly as you stumble through the mess of rubble, hoarsely shouting for Mark. At some point, the shouts devolve into loud sobs and pleas and prayers to whatever god is listening to please, please help me find my best friend, I can’t live without him, I’m sorry for everything I thought about him these past few weeks, I love him and I want him back, please –

“Mark!” you scream, ready to sink to your knees with exhaustion. “Mark, please!”

You can’t live without him. You can’t. He pulls you from the earth when you get too jaded, softens your rough edges, smooths you into something beautiful that you wouldn’t be without him.

He can’t die.

“Y/N?”

It’s faint, but it’s there. You whip around in that direction, stepping lightly around the rubble to not bring more blocks down on him. “Mark?” you call.

“Here!”

You zero in on a pile of slightly moving blocks. With a chest nearly bursting with relief, you race over and start shoving them away. Slowly, Mark’s face becomes visible beneath a cloud of dust.

The sound of coughing never sounded more like a blessing in your entire life.

“Mark,” you sob, pulling your friend out of the mess. “Mark, holy fuck, I’m so sorry – I shouldn’t have yelled at you about pursuing this – I’m so fucking stupid, I thought you died –”

“Y/N,” he whispers hoarsely, wrapping his trembling arms around you. “Y/N, you’re here.”

He sounds so disbelieving, like he thought you were dead or dying. Maybe he still thinks that. It breaks your heart. “I’m here, Mark.” You bury your face in his shoulder. “I’m here.”

For several seconds, the two of you just sit there, exhausted, crying into each other’s necks. “I’m sorry,” Mark finally mumbles into your skin. “I shouldn’t have lied. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I’m so sorry.”

You let out a choked laugh. “I’m sorry for overreacting. Sorry for yelling about you not wanting to continue – just fucking look where this got us.”

Mark pulls away. “No, don’t apologize for that.” He wipes his eyes, looking determined. “We’re alive. We’ve got Toomes.” You follow his gaze to an empty billboard just beyond the rubble. Metal wings, pressed together like a vulture’s, glimmer in the city lights. “We’re going to finish this.”

“You sure?” Not that you don’t want to. You’re itching to push that stupid scavenger off of a cliff, but you worry about Mark’s injuries. “You’re not hurt or anything?”

“No more than you.” Mark sets his jaw. “Let’s do this.”

You nod. “What was the last thing Toomes said? Something about Stark?”

Mark bites his lip. “Yeah. Something about telling Stark hello…” His eyes widen. “Isn’t Stark Industries moving a lot of stuff to the Avengers compound?”

Your heart stops. It’s all the news has been talking about for the past few weeks, how Stark is moving business to the Avengers headquarters. Stark Industries stock has been going nuts, apparently. You never remembered the exact date because you didn’t care, but…

“Today’s moving day,” you say grimly. You pat the pocket of your pants, surprised to see that your phone is still there in one piece. A quick text to Haechan tells him to track your phone, if he can.

Mark swallows, looking at the vulture glinting on the billboard. “Let’s go.”

. . . . .

The two of you stumble out of all the rubble just as the vulture is getting ready for takeoff.

A desperate shot of fluid and a leap gets Mark onto the billboard. Another string of webbing attaches him to one of the vulture wings. You stick yourself to the other.

Only pure instinct keeps Mark holding tight to the webbing, praying to the heavens that your synthetic webs will stay strong. He prays that you can hold on. He prays that Toomes won’t notice the two of you dragging along behind him as the webbing torturously swings him around. He forces himself not to look down, even as Toomes flies up higher and higher past skyscrapers and low-hanging clouds.

Mark looks over slightly, just to check on how you’re doing. Even in the dark, he can tell your eyes are squeezed completely shut, fingers gripping your string of webs as tightly as possible. Your lips are pressed together. Probably so you don’t scream.

Good idea. Mark shuts his mouth and looks ahead.

Then he sees the thing that Toomes is aiming for.

A huge jet looms ahead. To anyone down below, it would look like just like the passing clouds – there’s a sort of camouflage on it. But Mark’s close enough to see the outline of the plane, to notice the clear Stark seal on one wing.

His heart plummets even lower, if possible.

Then there’s no time to think because the vulture is landing and Mark is being bumped against the side of the plane and ow, this fucking hurts, this is such a mess –

A purple rectangle glows farther ahead on the belly of the jet. Mark registers you lashing out another string of webbing onto the plane as Toomes disappears into the glowing patch.

He’s inside the plane.

Mark starts sliding backward before he can fully process that thought. He thinks he hears you scream his name but he doesn’t have time to register it. His heart races as he scrabbles awkwardly on the underside of the plane until a lucky shot from his web shooter latches him into place.

And he doesn’t even have the time to take a fucking breath because Toomes is inside the plane and now he has to find a way to fuck around with the plane to take it down. The two of you are going to have to try to get the vulture’s attention.

Somehow, Mark finds himself splayed upside down on the bottom of plane. His palms stick to the jet – he’s never going to take being sticky for granted now – but his feet are scrambling. He finds a foothold in a tile or a bar or something and sighs in relief.

You yell something that��s garbled by the wind. “What?” Mark shouts.

“KICK!”

Without bothering to question you, he does.

His foothold disappears. Mark screams, curses, then steadies himself again. Why did you…?

Toomes climbs out of the purple patch, spitting mad.

Oh, fuck. Whatever his foothold was, it must have disappeared through the purple opening when he kicked it.

Well, it got the vulture’s attention, all right.

Wings shoot past Mark with blinding speed, nearly taking his scalp off. He ducks just in time, but when he lifts his head again, the vulture’s picked you up and is speeding off.

“NO!”

Mark raises an arm, not caring how precarious his position is, and shoots a web into the vulture’s wings.

It stops Toomes, especially after you shoot your own web onto one of the plane’s engines, causing his momentum to slam him backward into the plane right next to said engine.

And then you fly into the engine itself.

. . . . .

You can feel the engine literally trying to tear your clothes apart. One web keeps the engine far enough away that it stops trying to eat your skin, but you can still feel the pure heat and energy radiating off of it.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck –

With a loud cracking noise that you can hear above the whipping wind, the engine begins splitting off from the rest of the plane, nearly taking you with it.

Your anxious scrabbling rewards you with one hand on the edge of the plane, but the engine’s still trailing behind.

An idea springs into your mind. A plane is more likely to go down without an engine, and most of Stark’s planes don’t have human pilots.

If you can get the plane to crash…

Your legs slam down once, twice, three times, breaking the engine off completely. You haul yourself into a more stable position, ducking just in time for Toomes to come racing over your head.

Mark shouts something unintelligible. Vulture wings race over to attack him instead. You shoot webs wildly, trying to immobilize the wings, to hold you to the plane, to do something, anything.

One of the vulture wings sinks into the top of the plane.

“Those things were sharp?” you yell, unable to contain your thoughts anymore.

“The plane’s heading –” wind whistles as Mark shouts – “city!”

With wide eyes, you catch on. The plane is literally on course to crash into the buildings just off the beach.

Fuck fuck fuck how do we get it to land on the beach instead –

You lash out with another shot of web fluid, latching onto one of the plane’s wings. “PULL!” you shriek, motioning wildly for Mark to do the same.

Turn turn fucking turn PLEASE turn –

And somehow, as the jet plummets down so fast you can feel it scraping the tops of the roller coasters and buildings lining the beach’s pier, the two of you pull it off course enough to crash land on the empty beach.

You slam onto the sand. Your head throbs. Webbing is still attaching you to the plane.

Everything’s on fire. You can’t breathe. Slowly, with trembling fingers, you pull off your mask, beyond caring if Toomes sees who you are. He already knows Mark. At least he doesn’t know your name.

Air comes a bit easier then, even if the smoke finds a quicker path to your lungs too. Coughs rack your body and you turn to your side, trembling.

“God, what the fuck,” you mumble. Everything sounds muffled, like you’re underwater. Your sit up slowly. A small, dark lump swims into your vision.

Mark.

Something gets you to stand fully and start wobbling towards your best friend. By some fucking miracle, he starts to stir, sitting up just as you fall to the sand next to him.

There’s a second of silence.

Then vulture wings snap out and toss the two of you back into the air.

Toomes stands as you slam back into the sand, barely fazed, with a manic smile on his face. “Hey, Marcus and friends,” he sneers.

“Friends shouldn’t be plural,” you mumble. “I’m only one friend.”

Fast. He moves too fast. You barely lurch out of the way of his leap in time.

Toomes flies out of reach. Mark cries out, snapping out a string of webbing to bring him back to earth.

Mistake. Toomes lets the momentum bring him down.

And starts punching Mark in the face.

A guttural scream rips from your throat – literally rips, it feels like your throat has been torn apart and remade with blood and smoke and ash – and you launch into the air with some fucking hidden reservoir of strength fueled by pure rage to knock the metal-winged man over. Mark groans, rolling out of the way, only for the wings to pick him up again and take him to the sky.

And then he drops.

“MARK!”

You scramble under your best friend’s path, hands up as though you’re saying a prayer. Mark lands on you hard and maybe something snaps, but you don’t care because he’s breathing, his eyes are open, and he’s not dead.

But vulture man decides to play with you next. Before you can even blink, you’re being tossed up, landing hard between the sharp metal wings. He plucks you out of the air as you begin to fall and slams you back onto the earth.

Sharp pain claws through your chest and you just want to give up and lie down forever. But Mark is rolling away, somehow keeping out of reach of the winged man, and you pick yourself up so he doesn’t have to do it alone.

Two claw-like contraptions jet out from the engine on Toomes’s back, snagging both of you by your hoods. The neck of your hoodie digs into your throat.

Is this it?

Is he just gonna fuckin – you wheeze – fuckin watch us choke to death on fumes?

Apparently, he isn’t. He lets you go. You and Mark drop like stones.

“Pathetic.” Toomes stands over your bodies. You can’t see his face between his helmet and your blurred vision, but you know it must be twisted in that terrifying smirk. He takes off the helmet, laughs, and takes off, snatching up one of the less-battered boxes from the plane along the way.

That’s it.

You’ve failed.

You were too late.

You open your mouth to scream some fucking obscenities, but your voice dies when you hear the crackling. It’s not a good sort of crackling, like popcorn.

Electricity.

Mark raises his head and points. “He…” He coughs. “Going to explode.”

Blue sparks rise from the engine pack and shower off the metal wings, like a bizarre show of fireworks. And Mark, lovely selfless wonderful Mark, drags himself up and starts screaming.

“Wings!” he yells. “Your wing suit! Wing suit’s gonna explode!”

A jet of web fluid streaks from his shooter, pulling Toomes down. As Mark starts stumbling, Toomes pulling him along, you send out your own line of webbing. The two of you stand your ground with the last remnants of your strength.

“Time to go home, Marcus!” Toomes laughs wildly.

“I’M TRYING TO FUCKING SAVE YOU!” Mark screams. Tears streak down his face.

A sharp wingtip slices through your strings of webbing. You fall to the ground. From the sand, you can’t do anything but watch the disaster about to unfold.

It’s bizarrely beautiful. Purple-blue sparks rain down onto the beach, illuminating the sand and bits of the still ocean. Lightning arcs along the wings like a miniature, destructive storm.

Next to you, Mark tries to throw out more webbing. You can’t even find the energy to lift your arms. But his webbing misfires, lands on something else, flails in the air. It can’t reach Toomes, who’s now cackling wildly.

There’s an explosion. You’re thrown back further into the sand.

And then the vulture falls.

. . . . .

Mark knows how badly Toomes has hurt him. He knows how badly Toomes has hurt you. Cuts line his arms and face, there are bruises all over his body, and his head aches like it’s been smashed against a solid surface, which it has. You’re in at least the same condition, if not worse.

But he can’t just let the man die. He can stand trial, get life behind bars, but he can’t just die.

So from somewhere, he drags out a final burst of strength, and starts running through the fires to where the vulture fell. His feet fall unsteadily on the sand, but he keeps forcing them on.

Coughing sounds nearby. Mark looks over to see you following, head twisted to the side as you hack out cough after cough. He wants to tell you to go back and rest, but he knows you won’t.

Instead, he slows down for a second and takes your hand before forging on.

The wings have encased Toomes in a sort of shell. With your help, Mark shoves them off to get at the battered man lying beneath them. He grabs his chest. You grab his legs. Together, you carry him off to another part of the beach.

The three of you collapse, groaning and coughing and wheezing on the sand. Mark stares at the black night, stars invisible from light pollution.

Nothing feels real. The sand under his hands glitters ominously in the firelight. The ocean shimmers like a threat. Toomes hacks and coughs, each sound scarier than the last.

And then something warm, something dirty and rough and soft, lands on his hand. Your fingers curl around his palm and squeeze lightly.

Oh.

That feels real.

Your touch grounds him, keeps his thoughts from floating away and disappearing into the void of the sky. He wants more of it. He wants to pull you close, feel your body against his, real, solid, whole, keeping him planted on the earth. But he doesn’t have the strength to, so he just takes what he can from your warm touch.

Mark doesn’t know how long the three of you just lie on the sand. He does know that at some point, you and him gain enough strength to sit up and then stand. You look at Toomes, who stares back, unseeing.

“It’s over,” you mumble, almost staggering into Mark’s side. “We’re done.”

He nods. “Just one more thing.”

. . . . .

Pictures in newspaper articles show up the next day of Toomes, webbed up and immobilized against a still-standing box from the wreckage of Tony Stark’s plane. In most, the photographer has taken great care to keep the ragged note, stuck on Toomes’s forehead, clear in the frame.

The note is messy, written in trembling handwriting on the back of what looks like an inventory sheet. Black soot stains the page, but the writing is still visible.

FOUND: flying vulture dude trying to steal alien weapons and stuff

  - Spiderman and Silk (sorry about the plane)

You don’t care much for it. The day after homecoming is Saturday, which you spend curled up in your bed. At some point, after you’ve finally gained the strength to shower off all the grime and blood and sweat, Johnny makes a joke about how hard you must’ve gone that night. Thankfully, you don’t have many cuts on your face. They’re all hidden under layers of clothing. His eyes don’t linger too long on anything, so you feel a bit safer.

But, Jesus Christ, if only he knew.

By Monday, you feel refreshed enough to head back to school. Johnny doesn’t have an abnormally late shift that day, so you give him a hug before you leave. If it’s a little tighter than normal, he doesn’t say anything, just kisses your head and hugs you back.

You spot Lia in the hallway, pulling stuff out of her locker. Her eyes are puffy and red. Guilt rises in your stomach and threatens to swallow you whole.

Even though Toomes tried to kill you, he was still her father. And now that she knows what he’s done…

That can’t be easy.

“Lia,” you call, walking over cautiously. She turns her head and gives you a weak smile.

“Hey.”

“I…” You shuffle your feet. “I heard what happened. I’m really so sorry. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now.”

You are sorry. But Lia won’t take it in the way you mean. After all, she doesn’t know that you’re one of the two vigilantes who took her father down.

Lia’s smile turns bitter. “Yeah. Well, we’re moving to Oregon. Mom says it’s nice.” She rolls her eyes. “I think –” she chokes – “I think Dad doesn’t want us here during the trial.”

More guilt washes over your entire body. You can’t think of what to say.

“Look, I know we don’t know each other very well.” You swallow. “But if there’s ever anything I can do to help, please just know that you can reach out.”

Lia looks at you. Scrutinizes you through puffy, narrowed eyes. “You know, I really did think that the night of homecoming, you and Mark snuck off together.”

What?

“Oh my god, no.” You shake your head wildly. “No, no, no. That didn’t happen, I swear –”

Well, it kind of did. Just not in the way she thinks.

“Yeah, I know.” Lia smiles half-heartedly. “Mark already told me. He called, after. His aunt had an emergency, you were the only one he could reach out to in the moment…” She trails off.

It’s a lie. Obviously. You just nod, heart sinking.

“But yeah.” Lia looks at you steadily. “He’s a good guy.”

You nod, throat tight. “Yeah.”

“I thought he might’ve actually liked me, but…” She wipes her eyes. “It’s pretty clear who he really does.”

At that, your eyebrows furrow. “Lia, I promise you that he really did like you.”

“Maybe. Just not as much as he or I thought.” She gives you one last smile. “Take care of him.”

You really don’t have the mental energy to process everything behind that statement, so you just smile slightly. “I will.”

Lia reaches out for a hug. You accept. It isn’t super awkward, like you would’ve thought. She trembles slightly in your hold and you pat her back.

“Good luck,” you whisper.

She pulls away. “Thanks.”

#starryktown #nct #nct 127 #nct dream #nct mark #nct scenarios #nct mark scenarios #mark #nct 127 scenarios #nct dream scenarios #nct u #nct u scenarios #fluff #angst #triggers #violence #panic attacks #cursing #spiderman!au #swing! #arc #arc - coming home #scriptura-delirus