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wwetookovermyllfe · 6 years

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Steel Cage Match

Paring: Seth Rollins X Dean Ambrose (sub!Seth/dom!Dean)

Warnings: smut, angst at the end, language, dirty talk, sir kink, slight orgasm denial

Word Count: 2,566

A/N: Yay okay now that 25 Days of Ambrollins is over (what a huge success I’m so thankful!) I’m gonna get back to posting other fics. Hope you enjoy!

Dean glared at Seth from across the ring, the chainlink fence rattling as his back hit the steel. Seth panted from where he had backed up to gain some distance from the other man, his eyes glued to Dean. Dean took a few breaths and then struggled to get up from where he had fallen in his state. This match had gone on for far too long and Dean had just about had enough of Seth and this steel cage. He was tired and sore and angry at both himself and Seth for neither man being able to finish this stupid match set up by Seth’s mommy and daddy, the Authority.

Dean made a final push, throwing his all at Seth both literally and figuratively. Seth fell to the mat and slowly crawled his way towards the ropes to help pull himself up as Dean did the same, “Just give up!” he yelled as Dean struggled to his feet.

“You first,” Dean yelled back as he lunged for Seth. As they tussled in the middle of the ring, the door was opened and Dean pushed back at Seth to gain some distance between them in hopes to make it to the door. As he dragged himself towards the opening, suddenly he saw a presence in front of him. He sighed, he had a feeling it wasn’t a friendly face. He was right, of course, as he looked up at the face of Triple H. Once again, someone was here to assist Seth.

A flash of anger flashed through Dean at the thought. Not only did it make him angry that Seth never lost matches because he never finished them, but also the fact that Dean knew Seth was better than this, better than needing someone to finish his fights for him. Seth called himself to the future, but in recent months the future sure did get a lot of assistance from the past and present.

The distraction worked in Seth’s favor, of course, and Dean was dragged back into the middle of the ring. Seth rolled out of the way and accepted the hand of Triple H that had been offered to him. He used it to stand and then maintain balance to, what Dean assumed, walk out of the open cage. As Dean went to get on his hands and knees to get up, the foot was on the back of his neck before he even knew what was happening. His face met the mat aggressively and it was lights out for Dean; a curb stomp from his former best friend knocking him into next year.

Dean stayed in the ring, repeatedly shooing off the ref who was trying to talk to him. He wasn’t hurt, not too bad, but he just couldn’t find the strength in that moment to drag himself upright. He rolled over and stared at the stadium ceiling as he listened to the crowd noise dwindle, his match with Seth being the final of the night so people were leaving. He knew he’d have to get up soon, the crew needed to strike the ring and stuff, but he’d get around to that eventually.

He dropped his head to the side and spotted a familiar gold shine on the commentator table and wondered who would come out to get Seth’s MITB briefcase. He contemplated for a moment getting up and snagging the case, making Seth come at him for it again because last time was just too much fun. He shook it off, however, the thought of moving was still just exhausting.

“You still here? Didn’t think I beat you that bad,” Dean head Seth’s snide remark and was suddenly ready to get up. He got to his feet quicker than he thought he could, “Ah, he lives.”

“No thanks to you,” Dean snarked. Seth stood on the steps right outside the cage that still hadn’t been raised. Dean raised a hand to his head, the headache hitting him like a ton of bricks, a small noise of pain leaving his lips; Seth had really stomped him hard.

Seth moved towards him, his arms out as if to say ‘I won’t hurt you’ and his eyes actually seemed worried, “You alright there? Can’t continue this feud and fight you if you’re too fucked up to fight.”

“That all I mean to you anymore, an interesting storyline and the occasional fair fight? I say occasionally because I can’t remember the last time you won a fight without any outside help whatsoever,” Dean snarked. He scoffed, “Wait, yeah I can.” Seth had gotten what Dean was referring to, but he said nothing and just stood a little bit taller.

“Helps to have friends in high places,” Seth defended himself.

Dean gave a small chuckle, “Oh, I’m sure. Never having to fight fair in order to win matches, getting anything you want with minimal effort,” Dean nodded as he listed the things, “Sure sounds nice. I remember when you used to actually work for the things you wanted, never taking shortcuts and laughing in the face of The Authority.”

Seth sighed, “Here we go again. Ya know, Ambrose, when are you just gonna admit that I have the better hand here? It wasn’t personal, Dean, it was just good business. If I want to see my career actually progress, if I truly want to be the best, I have to do what’s best for me. If it just so happens to be best for The Authority's business, then so be it.”

“I’m surprised you can still stand up straight,” Dean replied, “Seeing how you gave it up to mommy and daddy. Do you like being a lapdog, Seth? Do they scratch you on the head just the right way and give you treats when you’re a good boy?” Dean asked as he neared closer to Seth. Seth’s tongue shot out and wet his lips like he did when something was getting to him. Dean smirked, knowing that he still had a way to push Seth’s buttons.

“You think you’re real funny, don’t you? Insult me all you want, Dean. It won’t change the fact that I’m just better than you. I’m the dominant face of the WWE and there’s nothing you can say or do to change that,” Seth spat.

Dean raised an eyebrow at Seth, “The dominant one, huh? Funny, I recall you always being the submissive one.” Seth’s face twisted into a look of shock and a blush took over his look, “Oh yeah, very submissive.” Dean grinned at Seth’s reaction as he edged closer to Seth, almost desperate to show Seth just where his place still was.

“W-what are you doing?” Seth asked nervously but remained where he stood. His breathing had picked up, Dean noted, as he kept his eyes trained on the man before him.

“Reminding you just what being dominant means,” Dean said, almost in a whisper. He pushed Seth back softly and the steel cage rattled as his body met the chainlink. Dean’s body covered Seth’s quickly trapping the man between himself and the cage. Seth’s breath hitched in his throat as Dean’s face hovered mere inches from his own. Dean gazed into Seth’s eyes, a silent question of permission, his body letting up slightly in order to let Seth escape if he wasn’t okay with this. He remained put, however, and even sort of relaxed into the space. Dean just smirked, Seth was so willing, even now.

Dean closed the gap between his lips and Seth’s in a crushing kiss. He grinned into the contact as Seth released a little moan of approval and need, his hands coming up to grasp at Dean and pull him closer. It was Dean’s turn to make a noise, a growl rumbling deep in his chest as his pelvis met Dean’s roughly. He reached between their two bodies and quickly freed his hard member from his jeans.

“We could get caught,” Seth whispered in protest.

“Let them catch us, I dare them to,” Dean growled as he fisted his cock. Seth whined and nodded, a small smile on his lips, “Turn around, now,” Dean commanded. Seth immediately did as he was told and then started working on pulling his jeans and boxer briefs down. Dean pumped his dick a few times as Seth worked and then lined himself up with Seth’s very willing, very ready hole. Going in without lubricant wasn’t exactly ideal, but they had done it more than a few times and by now, the sting of it was rather hot for Seth, they found. Even so, Dean tried his best to slick up his cock, using his spit and smearing the beginnings of his precum in place of their usual stuff.

“Deeean,” Seth whined at the lack of action from his partner.

Dean pressed his chest to Seth’s back, “Did I say you could speak?” he growled into Seth’s ear. Seth instead let out of low moan instead of replying. Dean was ready and he slowly pushed into Seth. He heard Seth suck in a breath and slowed his actions down even more, then continued his work. Dean moved back and forth every so often, not fully entering before pulling out in an effort to make this easier on Seth like they had done so many times before. Finally, Dean was sliding in and out much easier and he finally bottomed out.

Seth reached one hand up and grasped onto the steel cage for dear life as his other hand fisted his cock and jerked it in time with Dean’s thrusts.

“Ah, ah, ah, you know the rules,” Dean said softly as he swatted away Seth’s hand. The man whined in protested but caved, letting Dean take control of his member. Dean’s hand was much slower than Seth’s, dragging out the feeling and teasing Seth. With Dean’s free hand, he reached up and grabbed a fistful of Seth’s hair, yanking it back and burying his face in Seth’s exposed neck. He placed an open mouth kiss to the skin and then bit down, feeling positive he would leave a mark.

Seth moaned at the new sensation and brought his one hand away from the cage and grasped at Dean’s shaggy locks, “Fuck,” he breathed. Dean had been hitting just the right spot for the past minute or so and the orgasmic feeling of Dean’s dick rubbing against Seth’s prostate was building, and quickly. Seth typically finished first when they were together, but combine that with the fact that Seth hadn’t really been with someone like this in some time, he was on the final stretch towards his orgasm.

“You gonna cum for me, you little slut? You like it when I fuck you in the ass, don’t you?” Dean growled against Seth’s neck, “Bet no one has even come close to giving you the pleasure I give you, have they?” Seth whimpered under Dean and Dean tightened his grip on Seth’s hair, “I asked you a fucking question,” he growled into Seth’s ear.

“No, not even close,” Seth said.

“Not even close, what?” Dean whispered huskily.

Seth groaned, “Not even close, sir.”

Dean smiled, his mouth open in delight, “That’s my good little slut. Now, what was it you said about being the dominant one? Remind me again, whose dominating who?”

“You are, sir. You’re the dominant one,” Seth cried out as Dean slightly quickened his pace on Seth’s dick, “God, I’m so close. Please let me cum, sir, please.”

Dean chuckled low, “You’ve been such a little brat lately, do you think you deserve to cum?” he asked.

Seth huffed in frustration, “Please,” he begged.

“You didn’t answer me. Do you think you deserve to cum?” Dean asked again, hips still snapping forward as he spoke.

“No, I don’t but pleeeease let me,” Seth whined, “Dean, oh god please?”

Dean smiled, “You know I love it when you beg. You’ve been taking my dick like a good little slut, so yes. Cum for me, my little slut,” Dean whispered into Seth’s ear. He needed no further instruction, the hot, sticky cum shooting out from his cock and coating his clothed stomach and Dean’s hand. Dean pulled out of Seth quickly, not wanting to overstim the boy, and then turned him around, “Finish me off like the good slut you are,” Dean commanded.

Seth dropped to his knees and welcomed Dean’s dick into his mouth. Dean’s hand once again found Seth’s hair as he pulled it back into a makeshift ponytail to keep it out of Seth’s face as he worked, “That’s right, swallow my dick, just like that,” Dean praised, “Such a good thing your mouth does, sucking me off like that. Fuck, so good.” Dean was close, so close, and Seth could tell. He reached up and softly played with Dean’s balls as his mouth worked its magic. “Seth, I- shit, I’m right there,” he moaned as Seth dug down deep and managed to get the entirety of Dean’s dick down his throat. That was the final straw, Dean came with a low groan and shot his cum down Seth’s throat.

Dean panted as Seth stood and pulled his bottoms back up and buttoned them, “Holy shit,” Seth breathed. Dean zipped up his jeans and gave a small laugh, “We should do that more often.”

Dean felt his mood drop at Seth’s words. They could do that every day, hell, twice a day, like they used to before it all happened. Dean sighed, he was so tired of having the same things to say to Seth, but they kept coming back to each other and therefore kept having to fight. “We could, but-” he sighed, “But never mind.”

Seth’s face fell, “No, what. Tell me,” he encouraged.

“We could if you’d just give up this shit with the authority. Give it up and come back to us, to me,” Dean spoke before he realized what he was doing. God, that made him sound so weak, so needy; to me.

Seth looked like he was about the cry, “I can’t. How could I? I’ve got-”

“Your career to focus on, I know. I’ve heard it a hundred times. Did you ever think that maybe Rome and I-” Dean sighed, “-That I could be your future?” He met Seth’s eyes, waiting for a reply, “Guess not.” He sighed again and made to walk off, his orgasmic high still there but was not a painful reminder of what they used to have.

“Every day,” Seth said softly, stopping Dean in his tracks, “I think about that every day. I think about you every day.” Dean said nothing, didn’t even turn around to look at Seth because he knew if he did it’d be all over. So he steeled himself and adjusted his pants one last time before exiting the ring, leaving Seth alone with his thoughts. Dean knew they’d meet again in that ring, but he doubted they’d ever meet again like he wanted to. Seth had done what was best for him career-wise, so Dean had to do what was best for himself. Meaning, Dean had to swear to himself that this would never happen again, it just couldn’t. Dean still pined at Seth, still wanted him by his side, but Seth wasn’t that guy anymore and Dean wasn’t sure he ever could be again.

#seth rollins #dean ambrose #ambrollins #ambrollins smut #dom!Dean #sub!Seth #dom!Dean x sub!Seth #dirty talk #smut #wwetookovermyllfe

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sharedshield · 6 years

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My first entry for the @badthingshappenbingo! Yay, I finally made it :DD

Please, feel free to request the other prompts with any pairing from Timeless!

Fandom: Timeless

Pairing: Garcy (implied), Flogan (platonic) (... or is it?)

Prompt: Panic Attack

It happens fast. Too fast. So fast that Flynn can't act in time, isn't able to reach Lucy before a bullet lodges itself into her side. She looks at him in wonder, a question in her eyes, before she crumbles.

This time, he's fast enough, catches her before her body meets the ground and cradles her against his chest. She's panting, her hands are gripping her bleeding side, but she doesn't say anything. There's still that questioning look.

Why didn't you save me? He can hear her voice inside his head.

"I'm sorry. Lucy, I'm sorry", Flynn hugs her tighter to his chest, shields her body with his own as the bullets continue to fly.

Suddenly, there's Wyatt.

"We have to take cover!", he calls over his shoulder, "Get her to safety and stitch her up!"

Flynn nods, scanning the area. Lucy is gripping the lapels of his late 19th century jacket.

"Take her to the woods, they won't follow us there. I'll cover for you."

For once there's no discussion, Flynn tightens his hold on Lucy and escapes the bullet rain for the forest, runs until the noises of the fight fade into the background and waits for Wyatt and Rufus to catch up. Together, the Team finds an abandoned hut, enough shelter for the moment.

Flynn himself stitches Lucy up with thread and needle from a minimized first-aid kit Wyatt keeps smuggling into the past ever since he's learned about 17th century medical practices.

They get the bullet out, thankfully it hasn't buried itself too deep into her flesh and has left all her organs intact and Lucy holds her own like a champ. Her consciousness fails her only when they're done and leaves her slumped against Rufus' broad chest.

Garcia's head is filled with white noise as he works, fingers steady, eyes concentrated he works as careful as possible, not even daring to take a deep breath risking hurting her even more. Only when he's done he takes a deep gulp of air, gasps like he's emerging the water after a dive, and squeezes his burning eyes shut. The needle slips out of his bloodied fingers as he staggers to his feet, the world around him tilting and swaying, and he stumbles out of the hut and into the cool night.

Bile is still burning at the back of his throat when Wyatt comes to find him. His jacket, soaked with blood and other bodily fluids, lies discarded beside him and Flynn shivers against the sharp gust of the nightly breeze.

"You did a good job in there", Wyatt says in a way like he tries his hardest not to care.

When he doesn't get an answer, he dares to look at the man he works steadily to despise.

Flynn's on the ground, knees drawn up to his chest, head bowed, but he doesn't make a sound. Wyatt isn't sure the other man even breathes.

"Flynn?"

There's a choking sound coming from him now and for the first time in quite a while, Wyatt feels scared.

Bullets don't scare him anymore, he isn't scared of Rittenhouse, because those are things he can dive out of the way of, things he can fight, but this, Flynn struggling not to break right in front of him, he can't just walk away from this. He can't fight this either, no matter how much he wants to.

"Flynn?", he kneels down in front of him, cautiously puts a hand on his shoulder.

Flynn is shivering, trembling like a leaf, and Wyatt can feel how he fights, how he tries to calm his thoughts, to sort the true stuff from his nightmares.

"She's alright, man, Lucy's gonna be fine, thanks to you. Come on, look at me."

Much to Wyatt's surprise, he does. His eyes are wide, panicked, so many horrors unspoken of are shining inside them. There are smears of blood on his forehead and on his cheek. He's wheezing, choking, desperately trying to get air into his constricted lungs.

"Hey, calm down, okay? It's alright, everything is alright", Wyatt grabs his face, forces Flynn to meet his eyes, just like Lucy did with him in the Alamo. "Slow, deep breaths, come on."

He keeps one hand against his face, moves the other one to Flynn's chest, applies some pressure there to ground him, steady him.

A mighty shudder runs through him as the tension releases, Flynn gulps down air like a starving man and grabs Wyatt's wrist likes a lifeline.

"She could have died, Wyatt", he chokes out, "Lucy could be dead, I can't-"

He breaks off as his throat constricts again, now because a sob is pushing against it.

Wyatt doesn't need him to finish. He knows what Flynn wants to say.

I can't lose another person I love.

He gets it, he really does. He loves her too, after all. And he lost Jess once, just like Flynn's lost his wife and daughter, but he got her back.

And for once Wyatt decides to let go of his grudge, of his carefully groomed hate for Garcia Flynn. He decides to see the man, not the terrorist; the widower, the childless father.

"I know, Flynn. But you haven't lost her, okay? We just need to get her home, and then everything will be fine."

Flynn gives a jerky nod, finally taking deeper breaths, easier ones.

Wyatt gets up, rips one of the lapels off Flynn's jacket and rounds the hut to find the small stream they crossed to get here. Wets the fabric (thank god it's running water, he doesn't want to think about what lives in standing water these days) and returns to Flynn, grabs his face again to wipe off the dried blood.

The older man watches him warily, there's caution in his eyes, and a bit of shame. Wyatt doesn't comment on it, hell, he knows the feeling.

He tries to think of something else to say but Rufus steps outside.

"Uh, guys, we probably should go- home", he stumbles over his words when he finds Flynn and Wyatt on the ground. "Are you alright? 'Cause getting back to the Lifeboat with two invalids might be a little difficult."

"We're alright now." Wyatt gets up and extends his hand to Garcia. "Aren't we?"

Flynn looks up to him for a moment, then he grabs the hand and stumbles to his feet. "We're alright."

Flynn doesn't talk on their way back to the Lifeboat, he doesn't answer Agent Christopher’s inquiries either. Wyatt finds him in the infirmary guarding Lucy's bedside later.

She's sleeping now, pain meds and exhaustion have dragged her under again.

"Thank you, Wyatt", Flynn says eventually, voice hoarse and quiet.

The soldier watches him from his spot at the door, waiting for Flynn to face him. He eventually does.

"I was…", he tries, "I couldn't… Thanks."

Wyatt pushes himself off the wall and joins Flynn at Lucy's bedside. His hand hovers over Flynn's shoulder a few seconds, then he lets it drop, squeezes lightly.

"It's nothing."

#timeless #badthingshappenbingo #garcy #flogan #writing #fic

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breyito · 6 years

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Sense of Being

This is my entry for the IronStrange Big Bang! I worked with @thesaintofbowlegs as my artist (stay tunned for the link to the art) and @drxgonstone as my beta.

So sorry for the delay, but I had a really busy day. First day of school an state over, flat shopping all afternoon, schoolwork...anyways, I made it, so, yay!

Thank you @ironstrangehq for putting this together for us!

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Not Team Cap friendly. Adult language.

Other tags: Humor. Fluff. Hurt/comfort. Supremefamily. Cloak ships it. Dum-E & Friday ship it. Peter ships it. They try to help. Team Cap being Dicks, as usual. Cloak & Dum-E teach them a lesson. Pranks.

Summary:

Relics are not something out of the ordinary in the lives of sorcerers. Sentient relics are more unique. But a relic that can express thoughts and emotions as the Cloak does? That's almost unprecedented. There is not much written about the Cloak of Levitation; which doesn't make easier for people to relate to them and understand them. The concept of an object not being a possession, but somewhat their own person is difficult to grasp for many; respect it, even more so.

The fact that Tony Stark, a man who hates everything related to the Mystic Arts didn't even blink when introduced to the Cloak is not something Stephen had the chance to think about when they met (end of the Universe and all that); but it certainly makes him curious now, after things are back to normal.

The contradictions that are part of the Golden Avenger make him even more interesting than he already is; more tempting than he should be. As Stephen and the Cloak start spending more time in the Compound in Tony’s workshop, that is his sanctuary, with his creations; and the two men start opening up to each other. What was only attraction quickly transforms into deeper feelings.

No one saw the implications of what letting Dum-E and the Cloak bond would mean. So really, you really can't blame this one only on Stephen.

Also, Stephen panics. But only minimally.

Read it on: AO3

Finally, the Sanctum was back to its gloomy pre-Hulk-through-the-roof state. Not that it was that time consuming or difficult, but Stephen and Wong had been preoccupied with other matters. Like ensuring the magical shields around the world still held strong and opening lines of communication with the Accords Panel and the Avengers. After Thanos and half the Universe disappearing and reappearing, the Order couldn’t really keep to themselves anymore. More and more threats were showing up every day; and often enough people combined technology with magic, or perverted mystical energy to gain more power. The danger was too big to be able to hide it now. Besides, having backup was actually a nice thing.

Still, many supers were weary of magic. Loki had done a lot to help clear his name; but still, the Avengers first impressions of ‘magic’ as a whole was through Loki and then Wanda Maximoff; both using it to cause harm to others. And while Loki had proved he was under torture and mental manipulation himself (the Mind Stone in Thanos possession was used); Maximoff didn’t had that defense (although she tried to use it, it wasn’t true); and people’s opinion varied a lot from place to place. The world was a bit skeptical, and the hero community even more so. The Panel was logical enough, but Stephen would much rather deal with Rhodes, Danvers or Stark. The meetings at the Avengers Compound were as good an excuse as any to go out, and they provided more than enough social interactions. Many were dull or tense (politicians were really the same in pretty much everywhere and some members were too irritating to talk to for long periods of time); but the Spider kid, Peter, was a delight to spend time with. He was endearing in his awkwardness and was really curious and open to everything Stephen showed him. Besides, he was smart. The kid would grasp concepts really fast and would be an excellent apprentice (if Stephen wasn’t sure Stark would ban him if he thought he was teaching the child magic). The man’s dislike and caution for any type of magic was well known and the Doctor couldn’t really blame him.

Banner and Stark were also very good company. It had been a while since Stephen had indulged in conversation for the pure science of it. He wasn’t studying the Mystic Arts to battle a threat; he was just…chatting with smart people about concepts most humans wouldn’t understand. Peter often joined them, and the kid could relate any topic they were discussing to other things he already knew, rambling about this and that until he noticed and stopped, blushing; to the amusement of the adults.

---{}---

Stephen knew Peter’s intentions were good, but he wished the kid had asked permission before ambushing him with a party.

The teenager had come to visit (as he often did) a day after he and Wong finally ended with the repairs. They had spent a few hours in the library, Peter jumping around like a puppy, going from one relic to the other, asking what they do, who they belonged to, if they were sentient or not and a million other questions. He had turned and asked the Cloak about a hundred things when Stephen told him there were only three registered sentient relics, and only the Cloak was ‘awake’. Those two getting along so well really warmed his heart. It was nice to see Peter’s childish glee when the Cloak took him flying and the Cloak was shivering in excitement the whole time.

When he had to leave to start his patrolling of the city, Peter had asked why he was allowed into the library this time; and when the sorcerer told him why, he had glowed. He started mumbling a mile a minute, about house warming presents (despite the fact that Stephen had lived here for years already) and that a plant could actually ‘live-up’ the place a little, etc. Stephen gave up trying to interrupt him after a few moments and only waved goodbye (along the Cloak, who had given Peter a long hug) when the teen left. He had sighed and turned around with a smile on his face, only to see Wong standing at the end of the stairs.

“That’s going to bite you in the ass,” deadpanned the librarian, before leaving. Strange shared a glance with the Cloak, but they only give him a shrug, so he decided not to take it seriously. After all, he doubted a plant would be that much trouble.

He should’ve known better.

The teen had gone all out for the ‘housewarming party’. He had decorated the stairs, windows, even the ceiling. He had set a table with a lot of food (probably the only reason Wong wasn’t portalling him to an undesirable destination were those delicious deli sandwiches) and even put together a playlist (the Beyoncé songs probably helped too, now that Stephen thinks about it). He had invited people over (a small number, all of them who had been in the Sanctum previously, which both sorcerers appreciated); neither of which was surprised about the fact that the hosts of said party had no idea it was planned.

Going by the mischievous smile on Stark’s face, the Doctor bet Peter’s mentor had indulged this. After all, there was no way a teen without a (paying) job could buy all this food and drinks (some of which were alcoholic, although the soda and juice selection was large too). As of right now, Wong was in deep conversation with Rhodes and Banner and Peter was being dragged around the ‘dance floor’ by Carol and Hope, red as a tomato.

The engineer was standing beside the food table and …conversing with the Cloak? They had dropped Stephen on his ass when the sudden music made the sorcerer appear in the first floor of the Sanctum. The Cloak had launched themselves to the dance floor to ‘show their moves’, and Stephen barely had time to slow down his descent and save some of his pride. Traitorous piece of fabric.

Sighing, the Doctor got up from his seat and walked towards Stark. When the other man saw him a smile spread across his face and the Cloak shook in laughter and dodged him as they flew away. Shaking his head, Stephen let a reluctant smile spread across his lips for a moment. Then he realized the brunette was staring at him and he returned his face to neutrality.

“Capricious, aren’t they?” Stark said, pointing at the Cloak with a tilt of his head. Stephen give himself a few moments to get over his shock.

“They?” he asked, confused. The engineer gave him a funny look and lifted eyebrow.

“Well, yes. Or is it he?” he paused and when the sorcerer didn’t respond, he continued “She? I didn’t want to assume, you know.”

Stephen didn’t answer because he was thinking. Relics were not something out of the ordinary in the lives of sorcerers. Sentient relics were more unique. But a relic that can express thoughts and emotions as the Cloak does? That's almost unprecedented. There was not much written about the Cloak of Levitation; which doesn't make easier for people to relate to them and understand them. The concept of an object not being a possession, but somewhat their own person is difficult to grasp for many people; respect it, even more so.

“Strange?” a hand was in his field of vision, and Stark was looking at him with worried eyes. Stephen shook himself off the zone he was in and gave him a grimace.

“Sorry, just thinking.”

“Just thinking? Jeez, you scared me.” Breathed out the engineer, relaxing. “Also, I don’t buy that you were just ‘thinking’. We discuss science and magic and science all the time, and you never zone out like that.”

“It’s just…you surprised me, that’s all.” The Doctor says, smiling a bit.

“Surprise you…? Oh, because Levi and I get along?” he asks, suddenly all smiles. “They have an excellent sense of humor. Much better than some assholes I know, really-”

“Levi?” Stephen repeats, not able to contain himself. “You gave them a nickname?” he asks, incredulous.

“…yes?” Stark answers, not understanding. “I mean, giving nicknames to people is kind of my thing, you know? And saying ‘the Cloak’ or ‘the Cloak of Levitation’ over and over is such a drag. ‘Cloaky’ is another nickname; although they seem to like ‘Levi’ more.”

Stephen didn’t say anything for a while, trying to come up with something to say. It wasn’t often that the Sorcerer Supreme was left speechless, but it figures that the one to do it would be the so called ‘Golden Avenger’.

“You keep surprising me, Stark. Not many people consider the Cloak as their own being, and those who do never treat it as…well, as a person. And given your experiences with magic, I guess I never expected you to be one of them.”

“Well, I thought, if they were smart enough to know quality and slap me in the ass…” Tony winked, laugh dancing in his eyes. And what an ass, the thought suddenly entered his head and he cleared his throat, the back of his neck suddenly on fire.

“Yes, well…” Stephen grabbed a glass of lemonade to cool him down a bit. Usually, when he was attracted to people, he noticed right away, because it was mostly on a physical level. But Stark? He was certainly handsome, with those doe eyes and fluffy hair (and if he took those words from the post Peter read to him, sue him, because they fit) but also…also, he was intelligent and a sarcastic little shit and could totally sass you to dead. He effortlessly kept up with Stephen, and he was full of contradictions. Stephen was a little afraid of admitting it, but he was…infatuated with the man. God help him.

“Also” the engineer interrupted him “if I can create sentient living and thinking beings out of codes and technology; why couldn’t magic do the same? For all I knew, Levi was Wong’s and your brainchild.” Stephen choked on the sip he had taken, and coughed until he was red in the face.

When the sorcerer got his breath back, he saw Stark leaning back against the table and smirking at him. You could just tell he had timed his phrasing just so Stephen would choke. That little- But before he could say anything, or finish another thought, the other man started speaking.

“Come on, I want you to meet a few people.” He just started walking, not glancing back to see if the sorcerer was behind or not. Still Stephen followed him. “Think you can make a portal to the Compound? I don’t want to take the car and leave Rhodey and the kid without means for transportation. Besides, I promised Happy a few free hours.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to portal inside your Compound.”

“I usually wouldn’t, but I already let FRIDAY know that we might be dropping by, through magical taxi.”

“Please don’t call it that.” Still, Stephen took his Sling Ring out of his robes and put it on. As soon as he did, though, the Cloak came rushing in, enveloping him and making him stumble a little. “Oh, there you are. Bailed on somebody else, uh?” he asked, mock-offended. The Cloak patted him on the cheek as an apology and Tony just smiled, waiting. Stephen sighed and opened the portal in the kitchen of the Compound.

---{}---

Tony (and he was Tony now, the man himself had asked Stephen to call him that instead of ‘Stark’) had offered the sorcerer something to eat and/or drink as soon as they finished walking through the portal; as if they hadn’t just been in a party with an impressive catering.

When Stephen refused they moved along to the elevator and got in. After some throughout checks, it started moving- downwards. Stephen had been on the open labs, a sort of ‘communal space’ for the scientists of the Avengers, and they were impressive. But he had also heard a lot about Tony’s private workshop/lab; where only a handful of people were allowed in (Rhodes, Ms Potts, Harley and Peter were pretty much it; unless Bruce and Tony were working in a specific project). He was surprised to be heading there, to be honest. Even when they were talking through some ideas for the new line of medical equipment and prototypes SI had been developing and discussing what was already in market and how it could be improved upon; it was always in the communal labs. The Doctor never took offence to that, because he didn’t invite (often, Peter was an exception) to the Sanctum, even less to the library. But before he had the chance to ask Tony what they were about to do (or who they were about to meet, more precisely), the doors opened and Stephen was awestruck.

The place was stunning. Stephen couldn’t help himself as he entered; walking further and further into the workshop. From an aesthetic and scientific perspective; the whole room was full of wonders. Three dimensional holograms, data of all kinds filling the screens, armor and prototypes and so many wonderful things. There was much else that he didn’t understand, of course, as his specialty wasn’t engineering, electronics or computer coding (or any of the seven PhDs the man had).

But the most beautiful thing about the place wasn’t what Stephen could see, but what he could feel. There was an energy emanating from every inch of the room: chaotic but controlled, maniac but creative and so, so joyful. This was a Sanctum all on its own, this was Tony’s sanctuary. Stephen could understand why the man would allow only the closest people to him to enter. And whatever he had done to deserve the invitation, he would try and do it again.

(It was a mystery how people could be so wrong about something as obvious as this was. ‘It’s a dangerous place when he loses himself in it.’ Said Romanoff. ‘So secretive, who know what kind of shit he’s doing down there?’ Barton spat. ‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to deal with another of his hand-made monsters’ added Maximoff, grinding her teeth. Rogers opted not to say anything, even if his face showed just how disappointed he was not to be invited along Rhodey, Peter and Vision, as they walked to the elevator).

“So?” Tony asked, shaking the Doctor from his thoughts. “What do you think?”

“I…I think this place is amazing, Tony. I just…have no words.”

“Wow. That much, uh? I knew you guys lived in the Stone Age, but I didn’t think your reaction would surpass Barnes’.” He joked.

“It’s not the tech that has me without words, Tony, it’s…you.” Stephen caught the blush on the engineer’s face and winked at him, which made the blush spread further. So pretty…he thought, then interrupted himself by explaining: “The amount of energy emanating from this place is so great I’m not sure why I never felt it before. It makes me want to smile, to be honest. The pure joy you must feel creating, for it to feel that way.” The blush on Tony’s cheeks deepened even more, but the genius talked before he could continue.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Well! I actually wanted to introduce you to...where are you, buddy?” he called, looking around. A beeping sound came from right behind Stephen, and he and the Cloak (who so far had been basking in the energy of the room) jumped, turning around and taking defensive positions. What Stephen saw next was…not at all what he expected (but then, this whole day had been full of surprises courtesy of Tony Stark, so why should he even try to guess what was going to happen). A big metal…machine, with an arm? Claw? Holding a fire extinguisher was looking at them both through a camera, moving it this way and that, taking them in, as it continued beeping curiously.

“Please don’t kill my son. He might be useless as a bucket,” the beeping went low and sad at this, at the same time the claw moved down “but he’s still family.” Another beep came from the machine as it moved forwards, towards the engineer that opened his arms with a smile and patted the arm. “His name is Dum-E.”

The Cloak came off Stephen’s shoulders at that, floating cautiously towards the machine. They poked the metal and scurried off when Dum-E tried to grab them.

“Dum-E, seriously?” the Sorcerer asked, watching transfixed as the Cloak and the machine circled one another, poking and lightly touching each other, like in a game.

“Hey. I was 17 and drunk off my ass when I first turned him on. He didn’t respond so I…might have insulted his motherboard. The next morning, when he did respond, the only name that he would listen to was that one.”

“I suppose your professors weren’t much impressed with that.”

“Oh, they were impressed alright. By the AI, not by the name.” Tony said, snorting.

A high pitched beep caught their attention. The Cloak had decided to envelop Dum-E and the poor thing couldn’t see.

“Levi! Careful, yeah? He needs the lens to see. The dark scares him.” Tony explained, as the Cloak backed off. The Cloak-Levi, seemed ashamed. “Oh, don’t worry. He’s okay, right Dum-E?” the beeping from the AI, the Cloak cheered up.

{---{---{---}---}---}

They spent hours on the lab, just talking and working and seeing Levi and Dum-E become friends. They both had similar taste in humor, constantly play-pranking each other.

It was probably by this instance when they should have realized that those two spending so much time together wasn’t going to end well.

But as smart as they were, neither Stephen nor Tony saw the consequences coming.

{---{---{---}---}---}

It was already pretty late when Tony’s stomach growled in hunger and they finally checked the time. The Doctor was surprised at the hour: ten pm. Wong must be worried, or at least irritated with him, for skipping on his duties without notice. They decided to head to the kitchen to get a bite first, and then Stephen and Levi would leave for the Sanctum. But Dum-E let out a pitiful noise at the thought of leaving his new friend out of his sight; so Tony agreed to let him follow them to the kitchen, the AI beeping excitedly the whole way.

While Tony set them up with some quick sandwiches, Stephen washed the used utensils and returned the ingredients to their place with a few flicks of the wrist.

“Practical.” Smirked Tony, amused.

“Don’t tell Wong about it. He…disapproves of using our skills in such manner.” Tony snorted, because he was pretty sure he saw Wong that same day throwing some things to the trash can via magic; but said nothing.

After they were through with their food the genius offered him a smoothie. Just as he was about to decline, the Cloak went rigid behind him and Stephen, in reaction, tensed too. A second later Barton and Maximoff came into the room, stopping when they saw that it was already occupied. Instead of leaving though, they continued on; the witch to the fridge and the archer hopped on the counter, insolence pouring off him in waves.

“Heard there was a party today.” Barton said, taking an apple from the plate on the counter and biting into it. He chewed absurdly loud for a few moments, maintaining what he obviously thought was a mean glare, and then carried on: “Curious. I wasn’t invited. Neither was Wanda, Natasha, Sam or Steve.” He finished the sentence looking at Tony’s direction, like daring him to deny it.

The engineer just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“That’s what happens when you are an asshole to everyone; I suppose.” he said, sighing.

“You would know, wouldn’t you?” Barton sneered, taking another bite.

“Maybe, but at least I own up to my behavior.”

“Right,” Maximoff interrupted; “like you didn’t convince the only magic user apart from me on the team to not let me put a foot inside his ‘Sanctum’” she spat, eyes throwing poison.

“It is not ‘mine’ and you know why you can’t ‘put a foot inside’ the Sanctum, Ms Maximoff. We give you a chance to learn how to use your powers properly, but you declined.” A pause. “Rather vehemently.”

“You wanted me to go live in China to get rid of me! And you wanted to control my powers, like that collar did.”

There was an uncomfortable pause in the kitchen, while both geniuses looked at each other with incredulity. Levi was also glaring at the witch, not the she could tell.

“…Nepal is a country on its own right, Maximoff.” Tony said, slowly. The woman blushed, but pushed through.

“That’s not the point! The-”

“-the point is that we refused to treat you in a special way, and you threw a tantrum that destroyed some pieces of furniture and part of the common room in the East Wing.” Strange finished, in a dry tone.

“How are the payments for that going, by the way?” Tony asked, because he knew that all the Rogues (minus Lang, cause he actually has a brain sometimes) were pitching in to pay for the damages; even if it was only her fault.

Wanda sneered and opened her mouth to spit threats at the same time red sparks came off her fingertips; when white foam filled her mouth and covered her whole. There was a shocked, thick silence for a few moments, before a cheery ‘beep’ from Dum-E broke it and both men started laughing; while Barton passed the woman a kitchen rag to wipe the foam off.

“What the fuck is that thing, Stark? Another murder robot with a savior complex?” the archer asked, glaring at the bot.

“This is Dum-E, my first AI. And even though he is not as advanced as JARVIS or FRIDAY; I’m pretty sure he is more mature than you.”

“Oh, fuck you, Stark.”

With that, Barton led Maximoff out of the kitchen. Tony and Stephen turned to watch them go.

“Thing is, I’m pretty sure that Dum-E was just trying to help and avoid a fire.” The engineer said, fighting against the smile that wanted to spread across his face. Stephen snorted.

Behind them, Levi was offering a border of their fabric to Dum-E; to seal their pact.

FRIDAY could have probably said something. But she didn’t, because she didn’t appreciate the comparison between Ultron and her brother. Especially when the only creator of Ultron that did never pay for her part was involved.

---{}---

The Cloak is pouting again; if you can call it that. They are following Stephen around the Sanctum (Levi does not usually do that, unless there’s nothing else to do and/or the Doctor needs help with something); but in a slow manner, dragging their edges along the floor, collar down. Sighing, of all things. They seem sad.

Thing is, Stephen knows why. He and Wong had been watching the news on his laptop, when a report on how Tony Stark and his newest protégés are doing as of late (with the Rogues back in the States; despite the people’s displeasure with them) came on; and Levi had whooshed in to watch it in a second. Stephen was actually gonna watch that segment; because he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the other man the whole week and him picking Peter’s brain to know how the other was doing was getting obvious and ridiculous.

But Wong had looked at him, and so Stephen had closed that window and opened Spotify, to play some Beyoncé songs that would improve the other man’s mood. The Cloak had tried to pull his arm away, but it was already too late. Levi had tried to change it back, but Stephen had scolded them and slapped the fabric away. The Cloak had looked scandalized and hurt, but stopped. Instead, they had followed him all day, behaving pitifully, glancing his way and sighing, still looking hurt.

Stephen was sure it was all a ruse, but he couldn’t stop feeling a little guilt. So, after finishing the book he was reading, he came to a decision.

“Fine, you childish thing; I’ll take you to the Compound so you can make sure he’s fine.” The Cloak had looked up at that, and threw themselves at Stephen, enfolding him in the vibrating fabric. The Doctor allowed the hug and gave them a few pats before shaking them off and putting on his Sling Ring.

He opened a portal a few hundred feet away from the main building, in one of the many green areas. Tony had allowed him to open portals in his property, but never inside the building; except for the day of the party. He claimed that when he was sleep-deprived he couldn’t be accountable for attacking someone that showed up from nowhere. (Stephen hadn’t listened and often portaled himself in the building anyways; until the time he lost a good chunk of his hair to a repulsor beam, to Wong’s and Tony’s amusement. He had never done that again.)

But Levi didn’t immediately fly away, as Stephen was expecting. Instead it twisted around his arm and dragged him to the automatic doors, which opened as the same time FRIDAY greeted them.

“Welcome back, Dr. Strange. Boss is in his workshop, if you want to talk to him. I’m sure Dum-E will be very pleased to spend time with Levi again.” Said garment shivered in excitement, but kept dragging the Doctor through the building towards the elevator.

“Hello, FRIDAY. Actually, I- wait, I have authorization to go to his private lab?” Stephen asked, puzzled.

“Boss added you and Levi to the list of approved people after your visit last week.”

“Figures,” the voice startled Stephen and he turned to see he had entered the living room where a few of the Avengers were present, and they were all looking at the picture Levi and he presented; “the whacky wizard Stark barely knows gets an invitation; but his teammates from years are not allowed to go down the elevator.” Barton finished, spitting out the words.

“Clint, come on.” Bruce says. He was sitting in the couch besides Vision, looking at a Stark Tablet. “That’s not fair.”

“You are allowed into Tony’s workshop?” Romanoff asks, changing her posture from lush against the arms of the loveseat to sitting upright. “That’s an interesting development.”

“Is it?” the archer continued from where he was sitting on the floor. “I feel like it is only natural: two know-it-all, ‘great facial hair’ douchebags get along; what a surprise!” the man had obviously been drinking, even if it was only early afternoon.

“Clint, please stop.” Rogers interferes before the other man can say something that will get him in trouble. Harassment of a team member is something the Council is not in favor of, surprisingly. The reason Wong won’t come around often? He got tired of Barton’s ‘jokes’ and Romanoff mocking demeanor and dumped them in a frozen lake in Alaska (unfortunately the lake wasn’t completely frozen, so when he eventually transported them back they were all wet and cold). The Council had no way of discipline Wong because he hadn’t signed the Accords and witnesses had pretty much agreed they deserved it; so they had asked him not to send team members to possible crippling places in the future. Wong had decided it was easier for ‘decent people’ to come to him in the Sanctum and had reduced his visits (also, the ‘Rogues’ tended to disappear pretty quickly when he came by). “When did this happen, Strange?” he asked instead, like he hoped he could do the same and get an invite also.

“I bet it was when Ultron’s younger brother attacked Wanda with the fire extinguisher.” The archer muttered.

“My brother is in no way related to the entity you refer as ULTRON.” FRIDAY suddenly interrupted. “He was trying to prevent a fire or some other ‘accidents’ that tend to happen when the Scarlett Witch throws a tantrum.” Her voice was cold and flat, demeaning. No one in the room could exactly call foul play, because this common room had been refurnished pretty much entirely from the last of her ‘accidents’. Levi shook in laughter, remembering.

To avoid any other uncomfortable interactions, Bruce passed the tablet at Vision and got up.

“Come on, Strange; I have something to show Tony too.” Together they walked to the elevator and Levi seated themselves on Stephen shoulders.

{---{---{---}---}---}

Turns out, Bruce was just removing himself from a tense situation and had nothing to show to Tony; so he just stood as Stephen and Levi left the elevator and FRIDAY took him to the cafeteria.

Stephen was a little apprehensive to just show up unannounced with no real reason to be there (there wasn’t an emergency, or a project to work on, or heck, an open invitation). It was one thing to portal Levi and leave them to their own devices and another thing entirely to just barge in uninvited. Still, as soon as the doors opened Peter greeted them warmly.

“Doctor Wizard! Levi! Come one in!” the teen said, as he kept throwing a bouncy ball to the wall and jumping to catch it before Dum-E could, much to the robot’s displeasure. Levi whooshed in and joined them, catching the ball before even Peter could.

“Strange?” said Tony, who was under a car. He rolled out and got up, cleaning his hands on his t-shirt. “Oh, great! You brought Levi back. Dum-E has been moping all around the place the whole week.” He joked, amused at the party behind them.

“Yes, well, he wasn’t the only one.” Stephen said “Levi amped up the pitiful act to eleven so I’d open a portal here.”

“Wow. You didn’t want to come back that badly?” Tony joked, although his warm brown eyes seemed sad all of the sudden.

“No! I mean, yes, I wanted to come back, but I…didn’t know if I was welcomed.” Stephen said, blushing. Tony seemed amused by the response, but that smile reached his eyes again, so the Doctor counted that as a win. The engineer turned to one of the screens and started to shut down some things as he continued the conversation.

“You have an open invitation, Doc.” He said, winking. “I was about to take a shower in my rooms, if you want to join me?” he asked, distracted.

“My, how forward of you, Tony” Strange teased, arching one eyebrow. The genius snorted out a laugh.

“Sorry, was distracted. I mean I am going to my room to shower and want to know if you prefer to stay here with the kids or go up with me and wait for me and then maybe, I don’t know, have a drink?” he rephrased, looking at Stephen from beneath his eyelashes.

This man is truly a menace, the Sorcerer thought. A joyful scream made them both jump, and both turned to watch Levi and Dum-E trying to catch Peter this time.

“I think I will join you, yes.”

“FRIDAY, love, try to let them not completely destroy my lab?” Tony asked, as they walked out.

“I’ll try, Boss; but I make no promises.” She wisely answered.

---{}---

Unbeknown to both of them; the two AIs, the relic and the teenager were planning how to get revenge on the Rogues. No one should compare Dum-E to ULTRON twice and get away with it. Not on Peter’s watch. (Also, they might be gossiping about how Dr Strange and Mr. Stark make the cutest couple).

---{}---

After that night, visits happened more often. Even with their tight schedules, their…friendship developed rapidly. Although friendship might not be the right word. It almost seemed they were…courting each other, old as that term was. (Wong certainly seemed to think that, as well as Rhodes, who had given him a terrifying version of the ‘shovel talk’ that Stephen prefers not to think about).

Tony passed by when he could, but even when he couldn’t, or wasn’t even in the country or heck, the continent, he sent something to be delivered to the Sanctum. Either sweets, or books or some clothing item that he think would look good on Stephen. Wong had been irritated until the deliveries brought food, and now was all for it, eagerly receiving the people at the door. Much to the Doctor’s amusement, whenever those items weren’t food, they would end thrown in a corner until he found them, and Wong would be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Probably the sweetest of all those presents was the vinyl music collection of ABBA that Tony had sent him. He remembered their talk that first night they spent drinking in Tony’s room. Stephen had confided him how much he missed to be able to go home and relax to the sound of this music; because even if he had the songs on Spotify’s playlist it…just wasn’t the same as hearing them from vinyl.

He also remembered Tony’s confession about how much he missed the cooking of Ana, Jarvis’. The pair had raised him while working for his father, basically, and his favorite Hungarian food was difficult to come by. By chance or by fate, Stephen had helped a Hungarian family in the neighborhood to get rid of some nasty demons a few months back; and when he asked the Mrs. Varga for some Pörkölt she was very happy to do so (said something about him being too alone) for him.

The smile that the engineer gifted Stephen when he the Sorcerer presented him with the stew was how he knew that he was totally lost. He had fallen in love with Tony Stark. (Again).

Crap.

{---{---{---}---}---}

The Sorcerer had no idea why he was behaving as a pubescent kid, but his panicking started almost two weeks ago and showed no signs of stopping. Since his realization Stephen had been avoiding going to the Compound. He guessed it had something to do with seeing himself falling in love with the genius in thousands and thousands of alternate universes. And being witness to how beautiful their relationship could become; or how painful it could end.

So, he only appeared in the building for Avengers meetings and prior commitments, which he didn’t bother to re-make, all to avoid going there and seeing the man he desperately wanted to see. Fortunately, he did had work to do, and that stopped him from thinking too much about the genius that had taken hold of his heart. Guarding their reality was a taxing job at times; and whenever that didn’t keep him occupied, there were hundreds of books and spells that he has yet to learn.

Levi, however, had been going there more and more. At first he had bothered Stephen or Wong until either of them opened a portal for they to go through; but the Doctor had been vehemently refusing to do so for days, and Wong had gotten tired of being used as a taxi service. Nonetheless, after Peter passed by one day and offered to take Levi swinging, the Cloak often waited for him. If the teen had to cancel, Levi gave a full-body sigh and flew there themselves.

Levi still tried to convince him to stay a bit longer whenever they had to show up at debriefings, but Stephen had less and less reason to. The last couple of meeting had been filled with complaints from the Rogues about cold showers, tampered leftovers, color-changing shampoo, missing underwear and other things. The Rogues were convinced that someone on the new roaster was playing pranks on them, but after Stephen had cast a truth bonding spell on all new members and found no culprit, they had turned on one another.

It had been amusing the first few times (Rhodes, Peter and Carol were certainly laughing); but it was getting more and more tiresome as things escalated to full-bodied brawls and a ´prank war´ that had no respect for other people. When his cellphone started ringing and he saw it was Peter he answered in a heartbeat; the kid had only texted him so far, never called.

“Peter? Is everything okay?” he asked, already up.

“…I’m not Peter.” Tony answered.

“Why are you calling from his phone?” Stephen asked, suspicious.

“I figured you wouldn’t answer if it was my number. And anyways, I’m calling from the kid’s phone because he broke mine!” he yelled (the Doctor supposed it was to said teen, and this was confirmed when he heard a high pitched ‘Dum-E did it!’ and then ‘He rolled over it because you took it from me and threw it to the other side of the room!’ on the other side).

“Alright. And this has to do with me because…?”

“Oh, did I forget to mention Levi is here with us?” at Stephen’s groan Tony continued “Believe me, this has everything to do with you.”

{---{---{---}---}---}

The Doctor had taken a few minutes to gather himself. He changed into a proper attire and styled his hair a bit. He was nervous. Usually Levi was there whenever he needed someone to distract him or cheer him up; but right now, they were the reason he was being forced to see Tony. Could he still call him Tony, after two weeks of silent treatment for no reason? He hoped so. Maybe this was a good thing, after all. He had to mend their relationship, even if after his stupid panic Tony only offered him friendship.

Now even more nervous; he put on his Sling Ring and opened a portal to the Avengers’ living room, as instructed.

“You sure took your sweet time to get your ass here, Strange.” Barton said in a mocking tone. “Too busy looking in the mirror?”

“Too busy closing doorways into other dimensions that morons such as yourself open and don’t know how to close.” He responded, not missing a bit. He had been doing that earlier in the day. Also, he was done with this man’s attitude.

“Well, your magic cape has been taking our stuff and poisoning us for weeks! Did you order it to do it?” Maximoff snapped from the other side of the room. Now that Stephen turned, he saw the state of the living. It was a disaster.

“One, I can’t order them like some kind of mindless dog. Two, Levi is their own person. Three, Levi is a Cloak. And fourth…I had no idea that was happening. I honestly thought one of you reversed to the mentality of a kindergarten brats (not that it would take much, but still).”

“Oh, you fucking prick-”

“Stop.” The sharp voice belonged to Tony, and Stephen immediately lowered his hands, that went up in position when the archer took the first step forward. “All of you, out.” At the glares of the Rogues, he stood his ground and glared back. “Out. Stephen is responsible for Levi and I am responsible for Dum-E and Peter. These are pranks from children, so we will treat them like that. You have no part in this.”

“We were the ones that had to-” Rogers started.

“Did I ask for your opinion, Rogers? No. Now, as your commanding officer, I am ordering you to leave this area.”

The tension grew exponentially, and it seemed that a real battle would unfold in the middle of the living room, but the redhead spy put her hands on the arms of Barton and Rogers and they shared a long look. Finally, they left the area.

A few moments of silence followed, and Stephen could see the tension leaving Peter’s body along with Levi’s, and even Dum-E lifted his claw a bit. But before Stephen could say anything or ask anything; Tony walked towards the sofa and plummeted on it; supporting his elbows on his knees and hiding his face on his hands. He looked so…tired and defeated. Stephen would have sat down beside him and offer him comfort, but the truth was; he didn’t know if he was allowed to do that anymore.

“Tony?” he asked softly, trying not to startle the man and get his stress higher. “Wha-”

“Did you had to do that!?” he yelled, making everyone in the room jump. The kids (and yes, Stephen was totally including an ancient relic in the bag, seeing as they pranked the Rogues like a child would) looked guilty and ashamed. “Did you had to put bugs in Wilson’s leftovers, and replace Maximoff’s talcum powder with itchy powder” Tony got up and walked to the window, showing his back to the rest of the room; his whole body was trembling with rage “and steal all of Barton’s underwear and-and die Captain America’s hair r-red, white and-and bl-blue?” at this last part he burst out laughing; having to support himself on the glass not to fall to the floor.

Peter and Stephen were left gaping at him, not believing their eyes. Levi remained still for a minute, before he started to shiver in the way they did when something was terribly funny to them. Dum-E, watching his friend, gave a hopeful ‘beep’ that took Peter out of his stupor.

“Mr. Stark!” he screamed, smiling. “I thought you were mad at us!” he mocked-accused.

“Oh, I totally am mad at you.” The genius said, wiping tears away. “And me and May will totally punish you.” Peter stilled again, incredulity and fear seeping out of him. “But what’s done it’s done, and I can at least enjoy it a bit, can’t I?” he smirked.

“Boss, I think-” FRIDAY started, but Tony interrupted her.

“Oh, don’t you think I don’t know what you did. Covering for them and lying (to me)?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Boss.”

“Of course you do. I am sure you helped them.”

“Boss-”

“-As I am also sure you saved me some pictures and embarrassing videos, right baby girl?”

“…That might be a correct assumption.”

Tony laughed a bit more at that, before sighing and sitting down on the sofa again. Stephen hadn’t moved since the genius’ first outburst, but he shook his head to clear it (somehow this seemed weirder than the ‘Pet-Vengers’ dimension he had closed this morning).

“That’s it?” he asked, disbelieving. “You are not going to-”

“To what? Yell at them some more? I scared the crap out of them already.” He answered briskly. “And there will be punishments. Just…not right now. Right now, I’m enjoying this feeling.”

“Feeling of what?”

“Victory.” He paused. “Or something like it. It feels good either way.”

“Ton-”

“Besides, look at them!” Tony exclaimed, interrupting him; it was clear he didn’t want to listen to Stephen very much. The genius pointed at the trio of troublemakers that were playing once more. “They are proud of what they did.”

“All the more reason to lecture them. Maybe the Rogues had it coming, but that’s no reason to just let them get away with it.” Stephen didn’t know why he was even fighting this. He supposed there should be one responsible adult in the room; but why did it have to be him? The last thing he wanted to do right now was fight with Tony.

“I will lecture Dum-E, but at this point I don’t think it’ll matter. He’s had thirty years to learn how to be stubborn and ignore me, really. I will forbid visits from Levi for two weeks, though, that’s the only punishment I can think of that will hit him.” By the sad and angry beeps coming from the other side of the room, the AI had heard them and wasn’t pleased with the news. “Don’t look at me like that, mister.” Tony said firmly. “Peter, come here.” he called. The teen looked like a deer in headlights, and walked slowly towards them, twisting his hands together.

“Mr. Stark?” he hesitantly asked.

“I will call May and tell her what you did-” Peter opened his mouth to protest “-shut it, this is for the adults to decide on. You do deserve a punishment, for lying to me and causing so much damage. I can say, for my part, that your training sessions will be on stand-by for a time, while you help clean and repair the mess that is our living room. I am sure your Aunt will think of something else to add to your penance.” The teen had lowered his eyes once more but raised his head when his mentor called his name again “Is that clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark.”

“Levi is all your, though. I won’t help you there.” the engineer said, quickly. Stephen guessed he deserved that. He wouldn’t want to deal with an ancient relic that can probably wield magic on their own either (he suspected the death and re-appearing spiders on Romanoff’s bed was an old curse that he hadn’t being able to crack yet).

“Alright. I’ll take Levi back-”

“No, no, no. Kids,” Peter, Dum-E and Levi looked up, even if they seemed resentful of the honorific “I want to know why you did this.”

“Really? They wanted payback, isn’t obvious?” the Doctor replied, arching an eyebrow.

“But that’s not it.” Tony said, walking around the trio. The fidgeted on their spots, not looking at either adult. “The pranks could have gone on for weeks before someone finally caught on, and what’s more, actually got evidence. They wouldn’t quit that for nothing.” Tony stopped and stood with his arms on his hips (Stephen had to swallow a snort at the eerily similarity between Tony and his own mother in the same position; sure that the genius wouldn’t appreciate the comparison). So he just crossed his arms and gave the trio his best glare, trying to show an united front.

It shouldn’t take much longer, Stephen thought, one of them will break soon…

“Wejustwantedyoutomakeup!” Peter yelled, giving in. The Sorcerer had to repeat and break down the sentence a couple of times in his mind to understand it, at the same time as Tony, apparently, because both blushed deeply.

“Pete-”

“I am sorry for the mess (not for the jokes, tho, those were hilarious and so worthy) but you were so unhappy!” the teen continued with his rant, not paying attention at his mentor frantically trying to shut him up. The Doctor felt a pang of guilt in his chest.

“Kid-”

“You were miserable. And Dr. Strange wouldn’t visit for any reason so we had to do something that would force him to come and stay for more than five minutes. And the only way we came up with was getting caught.”

“Spiderling-”

“This big mess wasn’t part of the plan, believe me. But we had to get you two together in the same place and-”

“Peter! Enough!” Tony finally yelled, shutting the kid up. The genius sighed and ran his hand through his hair, before grabbing Peter by the shoulder. “Look, I appreciate what you (all of you) wanted to do, but you can’t force people to be in the same space when one of them obviously doesn’t want that. Boundaries, buddy. Just because I was sad and you wanted to see me better-”

“You think I’m only talking about you? Dr. Strange was also moping all over his books. Mr. Wong couldn’t stand his sighs and lost looks anymore.” The teen interrupted. Tony startled a bit at this but blinked it away.

“I’m sure it seemed that way, but-”

“He is right, Tony.” Stephen interrupted softly but firmly. He would not let this opportunity pass. “I was sad and unhappy, although ‘moping’ is-”

“-the right term for a person that spends their time mournfully looking at gifts someone else gave them; and for someone that sighs every five minutes because they are thinking of that special person; and if they are a mess-” Peter was interrupted when the Sorcerer cleared his throat loudly “-shutting up now.”

“As hard it is to admit it; the kid is right.” Stephen said, looking flustered. Tony squinted his eyes and crossed his arms, his body language defensive as hell.

Both adults focused on one another and ignored the audience they had (said audience wasn’t mature enough to leave them alone; more likely to take pictures of whatever outcome came to pass). The engineer looked at Stephen in the eye defiantly.

“I don’t buy it. If you were so ‘miserable’” you could practically hear the comas there “why stay away? I tried calling and texting, I went by the Sanctum and asked you to stay, but you just…ignored me.” He finished, hurt. Stephen closed his eyes and breathed through his closed throat.

“I know. I just…” he couldn’t find the words. The Sorcerer really wanted to fix this, but his brain was drawing a blank right now. How could he explain that he was so terrified of fucking things up that he had in fact, fucked things up?

“You just what?” Tony questioned, exasperated, after a few moments of silence. When the other man didn’t say a word, he threw his hands in the air and turned around, ready to leave.

“I was afraid I was going to lose you!” Stephen blurted out and then cringed. He knew what was coming. Tony turned around again and just looked at him.

“You were afraid you were gonna lose me, so you pushed me away?” he asked.

“That doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s the truth.” Said the Doctor, taking a few steps until he was at the edge of entering Tony’s personal space.

“I don’t get it.” Stephen closed his fists and breathed out, reading himself to finally explain what was going through his mind.

“When we were in Titan, I saw millions of futures. In a few hundred thousand, we ended up together.” Stephen could see the barrier in Tony’s eyes breaking down a bit, so he took another step. “And Tony, we have so much potential. We could be so, so happy together.” He whispered, taking one trembling hand and placing it on the other man’s cheek. “Or we could end up so broken. We could hurt each other so much; or lose each other to our duties. Or worse: we could be blissfully happy despite everything the world threw at us, and then one of us would die and leave the other a hollow husk.” Stephen swallowed, and this time Tony took his other hand with one of his own. “I wanted…I didn’t want to make mistakes… and I was so afraid I would ruin everything. And for not telling you and talking to you about it, I ruined things anyway.” He said, dropping his head.

“Almost.” Tony whispered. Stephen looked up. “You almost ruined things.” The genius raised his free hand and cupped the sorcerer’s face, caressing his cheek with his thumb. “I could tell right from the beginning that we had potential, and I didn’t need a shiny rock to do so. I could tell by just looking at us. We…we just fit.” Tony stood on his tiptoes and kissed Stephen’s cheek softly, before breathing on his lips and looking at him in the eye. “We will always make mistakes, Stephen.” He kissed the man in the other cheek without breaking eye contact and went back to breathing on his lips “But hid something like this from me again and I’ll kill you.” He threatened, before smashing his lips against the other man’s. Stephen’s eyes went wide at the threat but closed immediately at the smoothness of Tony’s mouth.

They kissed passionately; Tony taking charge and biting lightly; making sure to prove his threat wasn’t in vain. Stephen let the genius guide the kiss for a few moments, before he closed his hand on the nape of Tony’s neck, hair between his fingers and demanded the brunette to allow him entrance. The engineer groaned into Stephen’s mouth and went pliant.

“Okay, that was cute but now it’s going into the ‘my-parents-are-kissing’ gross level.” Peter said, completely breaking the mood. “You should leave that for the bedroom, really.”

Tony planted his face on Stephen’s chest and groaned. The sorcerer kept his eyes closed despite the beeping sounds and his curiosity. He felt completely at ease.

“You got what you wanted. You couldn’t just leave?” he moaned.

“Nope, no way.” The teen smirked. “We are going to hold this over both of you forever. We were right! We were right!” he sang at the rhythm of Dum-E’s beeps.

The Doctor finally opened his eyes and he found that their three troublemakers were dancing at Dum-E’s beat; Peter with a huge smile on his face, Levi swooshing all around them and Dum-E spinning in circles.

He shared a look with Tony and both chuckled.

Their family might be weird and unique, but it was theirs.

#ironstrangebigbang #ironstrange #breyito writes

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sanrosa · 4 years

Text

10:43pm

A month ago, exactly a month ago, I would not have imagined being in the position I am right now. Because a month ago, I still had uni assignments that were still due, I was still living with my one sister and mom, I had just applied for a learnership which I had hoped and prayed so much for - feeling optimistic because of the responses I gave for the interview, I still had a learner's licence that was about to expire and I was blatantly waiting for it to expire because there was no hope whatsoever anymore that I would get a test before it expires (my punctuality cost me a great amount), I still did not know how I'd really execute my vision of getting into the scenes and finally officially put myself out there as a rapper/artist, I still did not know either how I'd take advantage of the platforms I had initiated but did not carry on with (my blogs, youtube channels, twitter accounts, instagram, etc.) and I still had no full set idea of what I was going to do this year, like exactly what I'm working towards by the end of this unexpected gap year. This was all me, a month ago.

A month later... so much has changed, I'm quite amazed. So... I never quite really finished the assignments on time, and well, in summary: I failed. The hour I spent after reading that email, that hour- in pure shock, is one I will never quite forget. How I had emotions too many, yet none. A state of confusion, shock, heartbreak, deep sadness, then numbness, then acceptance, then happiness, then relief and joy. All in a matter of minutes. At the same time, I was trying not to feel either. I convinced myself that it is not that deep, I am strong and I will get through this. Because in a way, I had also expected it, the way things were going. I could not have expected that I pass with flying colours when the effort I was putting was minimal to none. Literally doing things last minute. So, while I was surprised at failing for the first time in my life academically, I honestly did not have anything or anyone else to blame but myself. The responsibility was completely my own and it is in my doing and way of handling my time that I succumbed to this position (of failure). So, yes, I do know that I am at fault. But fr, it just could not erase the fact that I was in shock hey. But I did move on from that rather quickly. And what I took from that moment were two things... A big lesson, and a big advice. The biggest lesson was (and will continue to be, until I truly learn and master it) - How to take control of my time and manage it efficiently! There will not a lesson as big as this one right here for me. Because it has become my biggest weakness and starting to become my most wounding one, unless I start acting right and learn it. I've been losing too much and too many precious things (opportunities, assets, beautiful moments) to my lack of time management skills. And it hurts! So I have no choice anymore other than to fully commit myself to respecting, cherishing and managing my time the way I'm supposed to, to get to exactly where I want to be. And well, I guess I'd say the advice is actually also in this lesson; Practice, practice, practice! Master the art of doing something when I need to and am able to. There's no better time than now. Anyways, next. Well, just a month ago I thought I'd be living with my sister for the year. But, my aunt and cousin came to visit for a weekend, and my cousin did not have a place to stay yet for his school year (res) so we found out he'll be staying with us. For a month. Jiki-jiki, a month later.. Both my sister and my cousin have left. Gone to their residences and off living their lives. As if I expected that?? I should've, right? No. Because my sister never actually said anything about leaving, and I genuinely thought my cousin was actually going to stay like a bit longer because who starts staying in a place in like the middle of the month, you know? So here I am now, lonely and sad they're both gone and I'm just left with my mother, who besides being a really cool and sweet human, likes to naaagg! about almost anything around the house. from the table not being wiped properly, to the windows, to the curtains, to the food and the way it was cooked, to the. Which, I'm not gonna lie, I understand as she is a black parent. I dislike it (extremely), but I do understand. I mean in any case, she probably has a lot of stress already so this is like her way of taking it out I guess (and lmao that is actually exactly what goes through my mind when she nags. I bounce her energy off, and not let it interfere with my energy, by keeping in mind that she's just trying to air out her 'boiling' thoughts, so i should not let it get to my emotions so that I have a bad vibe because the vibe that's been created. and it works like a charm). At the same time though, I'm not trying to paint a picture of her as an extremely 'complaintive' person lol, it's just i think that i'm not used to this energy anymore. I left the nest last year. Now that I've come back, I'm not sure how the hell I was able to handle such energy... cause it is lame as hell. But anyways, my point actually was how sad I am that my sis and cousin left. So abruptly even. Man. At least my cousin (who actually just left this morning) did leave me with something valuable. A truly valuable gift. He taught me how to make a beat. Just a day ago I didn't know practically anything about making beats. Not even the names of the types of instruments (snares, kicks, hi-hats, melodies). But now, I feel like I've unlocked a whole new world of understanding music. Cause now it feels like I even know exactly what went into the beats that these famous artists (Drake, Kanye, Nicki, PND, Cardi) use for the songs. Of course not exactly what they used, but more or less how they made it. And it looks easier now. My journey on being a rapper now looks more lit up cause bitch I'll even be producing my own hits now. Ah! Lol but okay, honestly, that was fire. And I'm truly and eternally grateful he helped with that. I hope he has a blessed year. Alright... next. (sigh) The learnership. Actually this one kinda still hurts deeply so I won't get too in detail about it, but... I did not get the learnership. Though I genuinely felt like I fit the criteria perfectly when I applied, as well as living very near to the workplace. Heaven only knows why I would be given such an opportunity and have the strength to actually take it, yet the outcome is a complete flop. Like I am honestly trying to understand why I even saw the ad in the first place... At such perfect timing (cause I was not going to be taking a gap year this year anyways)... All to just give me unnecessary hope? Why?? Why break my heart like that??? But ok yeah ... Life and shit. Anyways, the learner's licence. Haha, this one is quite interesting actually. Because to be truly honest, I had almost forgotten that I had a learner's licence. And I think it's because in my mind I had obtained the learner's, took driving lessons and had already planned to take the driver's test in PE, however I was in Gtown for most of last year, so it seemed like something that could not happen until I fully got back to PE, which was December. December came and went with all the fun I had and it completely slipped my mind that I could take lessons and a driver's test during the time. Came beginning of January, I'm preparing for school. Still no 'go book a test' in mind, until the middle/end of January (when it became final that I was not going to school this year) and I thought 'oh damn, this would be the perfect time to actually take lessons and book a test then'. Only to find out I am too darn late; the DLTC is all booked out. Oh, how I regretted wasting my time on idk what. 🙂💔 Fortunately, I was not too bummed out, considering I have another whole year to redo this then. Unfortunately, I stumbled upon a post by one of my favourite artists right now, Saweetie, and found out that she is doing a giveaway (brave of me to enter that world again, I know. I don't know what's my problem really) and well, I decided to enter it. Thing is though, it's a giveaway for a whole Tesla. Yes bitch, a whole entire mthrfking TESLA. And my ass is smart enough to think I would win it lol. Okay, God bless my heart. Anyways, so the catch is.... You need a driver's licence. OBVI! But I don't have one. YET! So, uhm, *cough cough* let me f**king book for learner's as soon as the day it expires!... Okay, done! Now let's go take the test 6 days later!... Okay, done! We passed... Done! Wooh. Now let's book for a driver's test as soon as you get home from writing the test cause we excited asf!... LMAO done! Now let's make sure it's a good date and good time astrologically too (cause that lowkey was the case with you writing the learner's test and boom you passed, even tho you didn't even check).... Done! Okay, we almost there, now go book for lessons at One Way (I'm sure they'll have spots for you cause it's a whole month and 3 days before you take your test lmao).... Done! Yay! I have a whole month to practice. Let's get it! Okay well, that's where I stand so far. Tuesday I'm then going to pay the booking fee and stuff. Then, take lessons from both the driving school and with my mother. Then take the test on Weed Day lmao. So after the test I smoke one up and celebrate victory. 😄 All in due time for the giveaway closing after two days. Wows. Whether I win the giveaway or not though, I'll just be glad that it seriously inspired me this much to finally get a driver's licence. Like, it genuinely pushed me hey. So boom I was able to get a licence this year 😁 Urrrniways... Next. My vision. Oh my dear vision. To be a well known female rapper. Beeeen hiding behind the scenes, you'd never know what I'm up to, whether I'm working, I'm playing, I'm being boring, I'm having a blast... or even having a child, chile (lmao). But one thing's for sure, I am still alive. Okay. And I'm just about to be more alive, and you'll even feel more alive... when my ass starts dropping things. Yasss honeyy, dropping my name, dropping that ass, dropping these beats, dropping this sass. Oh shit, here's the real her. Yes, hi. I been working, and I been playing, now let's get to showinnngg.😁 Lol, okay but on the real. A month ago, I really did not know how to execute my vision. In some parts I still don't really, like the cover for my debut EP (photography-wise), who to really contact for first edition EP-listening, and how much it would completely cost to distribute this whole idea/vision (which I'm actually going to have to start becoming my own professional accountant). But in some parts I now do, including important parts like GETTING THE MIC (😪😁 finally! and guess when it came? March 16th. always a special day for me this one), knowing how to produce my own beats here and there (finally 😁), and how exactly to market to a large number of people (😆more views and stuff), then perhaps less important stuff like the outfit I will wear for my very first performance lmao, and posting my stuff on instagram and tiktok (unexpectedly actually), and actually understanding and lowkey connecting with underrated rappers/singers. It's a pretty dope world to see tbh. Overrall... Babbyy, I see you the see the vision now. It's an exciting time to be in. (Side-note: Lmao I highkey lowkey think the moon being in Gemini just impacted me now. cause suddenly I'm on some other mood within writing this post. lmao shit changed quite drastically than when I began writing). Anyways, next. Last but not least... Taking advantage of these platforms, in conjunction with what exactly I will be doing this year. So, a month ago, I had almost forgotten about my astrology blog. Well, let me actually put it this way... I started to kinda cringe at the thought of my blog because it had been a while since I'd posted, so I wasn't too keen on going on to tumblr again. All the notifs, inboxes and deep cringe from noticing how it's been almost 5 months since I last posted something. Likkke... girl, is you serious or not? Lol, but then... an idea got blessed in my head on the 4th of March (a beautiful idea that will start commencing very soon)... How about I start a small business? :? Selling..... Merch. Based on astrology.😁 It is one heck of a win-win situation for me and the people getting interested in astrology now. But of course... I need an audience to sell to. So, (to the Heavens I thank for the day I randomly posted some astrology thing here on tumblr and it actually blew up and I did not even expect that), now I have some people to at least engage and connect with for this business. And I thank the Heavens even more that my idea somehow got transferred into my mom's head and she popped up a question of "Don't you wanna start selling stuff?" or something like that. And hell to yes, I grabbed that opportunity like no other! (but fr, I was shocked first. like what? you read my mind or sumn?) Lol, and so... Mi lady and I talked business and how she'd invested a K for me to check if I'd really be able to handle it. (Oh and perhaps I might add, my dad also did 'invest' a K for me in terms of my music... cause I was able to buy a mic with the money he gave me. Yes, yes, a whole K went into a mic). So I can only genuinely thank God for the people in my life, and how this path is going for me right now. Like, wow. But yeah. Technically, I haven't received the K from Mi lady yet, but that is good because I'd like to get in touch (and get bigger) with my tumblr astro fam again. Then in a couple of weeks, we officially commence. Just in time for me having a driver's licence. So, things can be easier for me pushing my business. :') Lord God, You are great. The greatest. Otherwise... yeah, then other stuff ke like really building my niche on instagram (posting pics and stuff), starting a music/astrology channel on YouTube (which I released my first video today 😁), and already officiated handles on twitter and insta. I'm not too sure if I care about facebook tbh. but yeah, then all that's left is the website itself and a professional email address. then, digitally, we up!

So yeah man... wooh, what a month passing by. never would've thought of all of these things happening. but I can only thank Lord God because it's none other than His doing that's helping me with all of this. Like I actually cannot explain how grateful I am for how kind and amazing He has been to me. and the fact that I'm able to see and understand why these things are happening. some making me really sad, but it's all just to introducing the next that will make me really happy. I am truly blessed man. wow.

God, I thank you. With all my heart and being. All my existence and soul. I thank you.

#strawberry mint series

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greg38mcall · 5 years

Text

DIY Sliding Closet Door

A while back we did a lot of work on our teen boy's bedroom closet which included widening the doorway to allow for a large, built-in storage unit. His room isn't all that large or "roomy", so maximizing his closet to allow for both drawer and hanging storage was extremely important and has proven to be a great way to give him more space for reading, working on projects, having sleepovers, and doing his homework. We knew there were so many benefits to widening the doorway to his closet, but then the problem solving began in terms of how to cover it all back up.

There was a bit of planning and troubleshooting and decision making that went on with this project. Here are a few of the things we had to work through: To keep the trim or not? That was the question. I decided that if we kept the trim around the door, that it ultimately should be completely covered by the door when it was pulled closed. But that would also increase the size of the door by about 4-5 inches in width, and the door was already measuring pretty large. The alternative was to remove the trim, but that would require more drywall work and some fussy refinishing. Before making a quick decision, we thought we would install the rail to get a good idea of how far away from the wall the door would hang, and if the trim would interfere with it at all. Bryan easily had the rail installed in less than an hour and didn't even call me in to help (using the included installation instructions). Yay Bryan! Except I was instantly confused by the placement of the rail. He used the large bolts that came with the rail kit and installed them directly into the wall studs. Which made complete sense. But, this meant that the rail didn't go all the way to the corner of the room (it was just an inch or two short). If you want to be extremely specific about the rail placement, then you actually need to install a ledger board into the studs first, and then the rail can be installed anywhere into the ledger. Bryan knew I didn't want to use a ledger board if I could help it, so he just assumed going into the studs was the answer. But then I wasn't sure if I loved that the hardware didn't land exactly into the corner. And that led to another decision to make. We now knew that the door would hang out enough to clear the trim, so the trim was going to stay. But before making any more decisions regarding the rail placement/ledger board, I wanted to construct the door and see it on the rail. The advantage of a ledger board is that it gives you the flexibility to install the rail hardware wherever you would like. It also allows the door to hang even further away from the wall/trim. The disadvantage is that it is another distracting element that adds to the entire setup (although painting the board the color of the wall would minimize that). When coming up with the design for the door, I had a couple of inspiration pictures saved that I continuously referenced. This one and this one were my top two favorites. They both had a diagonal design that was trimmed out in a classic style. My son also really liked the design and gave me the thumbs up. With the hardware installed, we now knew how the rail system worked, where we wanted the wheel hardware to attach to the door, and the maximum thickness the door should be. Quick Tip: We taped a couple of pieces of paper together that were scaled to the exact width of the door that we had planned to build. Then we drew the top trim boards based on our measurements and "installed" the paper on the rail with the hardware. This was a GREAT way to visualize how the door would cover the closet door casing and also allowed us to confirm that the boards we were planning on using to trim the face of the door would line up nicely with the hanging hardware. I like to visualize things before completely committing whenever possible. Finally, my last but largest concern that I had was that the large door would be too overwhelming due to the smaller size of his room. The door was going to be just over 4' x 7' and I just didn't know of any other options in terms of closing off that wonderful opening we created. I told myself that sometimes larger things work best in small rooms to create more visual interest and to help balance some of the smaller accessories and knick-knacks. I also figured I could paint the door a similar color to the walls so that the pattern could be the focus, and the color would more or less fade away. Now that we had worked through all of those points, it was finally time to start building that dang door!

4' x 8' x 1/2" mdf board

1" x 2" x 8' primed boards

1" x 4" x 8' primed boards

5/16" x 5 1/2" pine lattice boards

large paint sticks

miter saw

circular saw

wood glue

brad nailer

paintbrush | paint roller

barn door hardware

door pull

cordless drill

speed square

wood putty | sanding block

Because our opening plus trim was over four feet, we talked through a few ways to achieve that width with as little wood as possible (to keep the door from getting too heavy). We began with a 4' x 8' piece of 1/2" thick MDF because the actual dimensions are 49" x 97". If we were to trim out the edges with 1" x 2" boards, then we would be exactly where we needed to be. With that in mind, we thought we would construct something similar to our son's DIY headboard project.

Because the rail was already installed, we had the exact measurements we needed and began by cutting the height of the door accordingly. Then I got to painting. I decided it would be easier to paint the back of the board, and the edges of the top boards, before assembly. I am telling you, doing this first was a major sanity saver later on! It made putting that final coat of paint on the finished door SO MUCH EASIER not having to get my brush down inside of every last groove.

For the diagonal pattern we used 1" x 4" primed boards that we cut to length. What is hard to see is that we drew a couple of pattern lines lightly in pencil to be sure our first few pieces went in exactly where we wanted, as those pieces would set the stage for all of the remaining cuts.

To affix the boards to the MDF, we covered the back of each board in wood glue and used our brad nailer and 1" brad nails.

We used a speed square along the edge to draw our cut line, everything was cut at a 45-degree angle with our miter saw.

While purchasing material and paint, we noticed some extra-large paint stir sticks and thought that they would make for the perfect spacers. And they did!

After we got going, we cut, nailed, cut, nailed, cut, and nailed... All the way until the entire door was covered in diagonal planks.

You may notice a couple of final pieces where the spacing doesn't look right, and that is because those areas were going to be covered by the decorative trim on the face anyway, we just popped boards in for backing. Also above you can see how we trimmed the perimeter of the door with the 1" x 2" boards we purchased. Bryan ended up ripping each one to be exactly flush with the depth of the mdf board plus the diagonal pieces. Again, we added those boards to get the door just wide enough to cover both the closet opening and the closet door casing. This also added a nicely finished edge on each side of the door. To finish off the design, I found some light-weight pine lattice moulding at Home Depot. It was the perfect width to frame out the door and hit the rail wheel hardware juuuuust right.

I know, I know... This is that awkward middle stage where it is hard to see just how amazing it is going to look until it is all painted in the same cohesive color. But first, I had to fill every last nail hole with putty. And then I went over the entire door a second time just to be sure there were no pits. And then a lot of sanding everything nice and smooth.

This step was worth every bit of time it took to really achieve the best finish possible.

The color I went with is Benjamin Moore Wales Gray. I felt like it was just different enough from the walls (Sherwin Williams Nebulous Cloud), and complimented the ceiling (Benjamin Moore Blue Dusk).

Once the door was up, I decided it wasn't worth it to move the rail to the corner of the wall and add a ledger board behind it. The fact the rail stops an inch short isn't all that obvious because the edge of the door goes right into the corner. Plus, the details on the door steal the show!

The rail is able to support up to 225 pounds, and our door came in under that so we could scratch that worry off of the list, and the stoppers on each end are completely adjustable.

Although the door still cleared the trim without a ledger board, we ended up having to inset the bottom bolt of the door hanging hardware into the back of the door to prevent it from rubbing against the white closet door casing. I found the handle hardware on Amazon here. I like that it is substantial and coordinates with all of the other matte black hardware throughout his room.

I put together a little motion shot of the new door opening and closing because we are just so excited to finally have this project checked off of our list!

As far as the organization goes, you can see that it is maintaining nicely! The only change is that all of his clothes have basically doubled in size. Oh! And we actually swapped the bottom shoe tray with a drawer we took out of our pantry cabinet (hoping to share more about that soon). We like that the drawer hides the shoes (yet they can still breathe), and that it can serve a different purpose all together down the road. You can read every last detail about his closet organization here.

Here is a shot of the door closed. It does leave a blank space to the left and I haven't decided if I want to do anything there yet (we could add something up to the thickness of the door trim without any issues, but are OK just leaving it for now). The color of the door works really great with everything else he has going on, and although the door is quite large, we all love the addition and interest it has added to the room.

I have one more big project I want to take on in this room (a DIY headboard), and then it will be FINISHED. Oh, what a feeling!

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You can catch up on our previous teen bedroom posts below:

Teen Boy Closet Planning

Patching the Walls and Carpet

Bedroom Progress: A Blank Slate

Quick & Easy DIY Drawer Organizers

Teen Workspace with DIY Wall Shelf

Organized Teen Closet w/IKEA PAX System

** Post Contains Affiliate Links **

from IHeart Organizing http://www.iheartorganizing.com/2020/01/diy-sliding-closet-door.html

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castawxayaway · 8 years

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Ever Growing Love

a cute birthday piece today, considering it is my actual birthday. style of this is a bit different but I hope you enjoy it!

- wedif post - day seven now yay :)

(after a few days I will make a new masterlist for wedif and link it in my bio)

masterlist / request / submit (the usual stuff)

It started at an airport about two years ago, it's weird thinking how long ago it was now but time flies, doesn't it? Back then, things seemed easier, going places was a lot less hassle and allowed us more time to meet people- sometimes those dearest to us in the most unexpected of places.

An accidental collision that led to them apologising and mumbling excuses, Michael blubbering on about how he should look where he was going, or that he needs to cut his hair whilst she laughed lightly at his antics. The three of us stood there in the security section just watching the two of them, not sure where it could or would go. He went through the security, he even waited for her so they could talk some more. She pointed in the opposite direction to where we were heading and I saw how disheartened he looked, likewise to her as she retracted her arm.

I remember being the one to do them both a favour, walk over to the brightly red headed Michael and placed my arm around his shoulder, smiling to her. I made a funny remark about his hair dye leaking into his brain and that was when I noticed it for the first time; the glint in her eyes as she glanced to him. As an observer to this there are so many things you can pick up on; the energy that radiates between the two of them, how she struggled to not smile whilst he had issues with confidence when he spoke.

Thinking back I deserve a thanks, considering the fact that I managed to persuade her to give Michael her number. That was when I saw her name written down for the first time, her neat cursive hand writing and number clearly printed just for him. She shyly passed it to him, before giving me a small wave and to him, a heartfelt smile resulting in Michael to melt before me as she walked away.

During the rest of that day he couldn’t stop smiling. Despite it having been in the early hours of the morning and the sun not even being visible he had more energy than the first night performing in a new city. Whenever any of us would ask him what was up he’d shrug his shoulders and smile down to the ground, utterly smitten. Then, on the plane he’d just stare at his phone, holding her number tightly within his fingertips afraid to let it go.

For the duration of our flight he was awake, whenever I’d glance over at everyone in their little pods he would wear apprehension, that smile now fading. I told him to just go for it, how there’s no harm in trying; taking my advice he texted her, and it developed from there.

We then found him texting her whenever he had a spare second. He’d sit and laugh at his phone in the late nights spent on the tour bus or when we’d be going or leaving an interview. Yet when the topic of meeting up arrived he froze, afraid that he wouldn’t be good enough for her, that instead of this humorous guy she’d been speaking to for months he would let her down by being himself. Either way he agreed, he met her in London whilst we had a brief break.

Back home I waited for a message from him, a sign that it went well- and that I did receive. His words laced with joy that she too liked him as much as he had her, I smiled to myself full of pride. Michael had finally got the girl.

His mood improved, his outlook on light got clearer as we continued with tour. Whenever he’d FaceTime her we would all join in, make her laugh and just enjoy her company. Over time she became our friend as and mattered to us as much as she did to Michael.

She was there to witness our first show in the US, she celebrated the holidays with us at different points then went off with Michael on their own holiday. Even today the pictures make me laugh as well as smile, you can see even through an image how happy they make each other. A whole hearted goodness that is a rarity to find today, and as luck should have it they’ve found it.

Although they never saw each other often they made it work, their feelings for each other has always been evident. The way she glances at him when he isn’t aware, or how he smiles when she laughs. How Michael helps her when she was dealing with a difficult time, and the way she understood him, even on his darkest of days. The way they both are so involved and take everything into consideration about each other. Sometimes, you just know when you look at two people together that they are meant to be.

All you have to do is look at the glint in their eyes that never fades.

He was nervous, more so than usual. Michael asked me to come with him to the airport, pick her up as she made a special trip out to Australia to celebrate her birthday with him. Unable to keep still I steadied him, seeing his hand shake with the bunch of sunflowers he had chosen knowing how much she adored the bright colours and life they held.

Everything had to be perfect, or as close to it as he could find. It was the small signs and displays of affection for them both that mattered the most. The little things were the ones that were considered more loving than a private concert any day of the week. She loved the beach during a sunset, watching the stars shine in the middle of the night whilst they discuss stories. He loved going out to the cinema with her, no matter how crap the film could be it was time for them. He loved watching her dance with him in loud clubs, how they’d melt into the music together.

Her flight had arrived, the screens changed their displays and he grabbed onto my hand. The once red haired man had grown, become a more healthy person both mentally and emotionally. Now, hair back to blonde and in a mess he had his doubts, even today.

I told him the same thing I always did, encouraged him knowing how much he loved her. We went through some of their stories, always coming back to their first meeting at the airport.

Michael thanked me, for the first time in a meaningful way I was thanked for helping him. He explained that none of this could’ve started without me, if I hadn’t been the brother he never had then she wouldn’t be a part of his life. Instead, she would have just been another one who got away and the past two years of their lives wouldn’t have happened. The memories, the light shining through the dark days, none of it. But it did, and I smiled to myself knowing what was coming.

The gates opened and she hesitated as she searched the crowds for him. As her eyes connected to his her smile grew, that special one she wears just for him. Both started running towards each other and they refused to let go of one another, they stayed still keeping one another in a tight embrace.

Standing there I glanced around at the people, the families and lovers. Some had been less affectionate, others had been less caring about their displays of affection. Yet as I watched the two of them untwine from each other I could see her eyes lighting up, the same way they did two years ago.

Walking back over to me she held the flowers in one hand whilst the other was in his. She gave him the flowers as she tightly hugged me, muttering how she missed me and the others but looked forward to seeing us all soon. I waved them off as they left, hand in hand.

I knew I’d go home and wait for the phone call from her. Michael kept his public displays of affection minimal, hence why he had planned and waited for this day to come. The day she’d celebrate her birthday with him by her side, hoping it would be the first of many to come throughout the years.

Oblivious to the fact that the ring was in his back pocket she glanced back and waved one last time. The last time she would wave with her left hand vacant of a ring but always the same smile etched on her face resembling his.

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threeunrelateddescriptors · 5 years

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Circus Tents & human folly

The trials and tribulations of setting up a (small) circus tent.

Friday we had camp in the tent, then the performers had an evening show. They lucked out with the weather in one regard: no lightning.

However, a tent is made of thick plastic tarp like material (not so much canvas anymore) that acts like an amazing hot air balloon in the sense that it happily traps heat in and refuses to release it. Tents are bloody hot. We do not have a tent air conditioner, just some lousy fans that move the murky air in circles around the tent. Annnnd we had weather advisories for heat all weekend.

Anyway, show happens and immediately we (the crew) swarm. We just start ripping down sidewalls, grabbing equipment and flinging it out of the tent. Screw photo-ops, screw scenery, you want to look at the cool circus equipment? Great, follow it out of the tent as I fling it!

We have a deadline, i.e., the point at which we can no longer see.

The strike goes well, we get the tent down, the cupola down, everything down. Most of the equipment packed up. Only the mast remains standing like a metal sentinel. I was not around for the final steps of the strike which was taking down the mast and loading all the crap onto the tractor-trailer. I was there when it got dumped off at the new site.

The set up Saturday: It was fun. We were in the blinding heat for hours...driving over 50 stakes into the ground. The ground which was both soft and full of mass amounts of rocks. Stupid ground.

We used a stake-driver this time. A stake-driver comes in many forms but most often it looks like a jack-hammer. It also acts like a jack-hammer. It also sounds like a jack-hammer....ok, so it’s pretty much a jack-hammer. You put a cup on the bottom of it to fit over the top of the stake, then press the button and ta-da! the machine starts banging down on that sucker with its mechanical intensity.

It is loud. It is monotonous. It is HEAVY. Out of curiosity I tried to use the stake driver by myself on one of the stakes.

Physics laughed at me.

The stake is 1.25m tall, the stake driver is ~1m tall. I am 1.58m tall. I could get the stake driver on top of the stake, but I could not stand it upright and certainly couldn’t reach the handle to depress the button.

I could not help unless I had a stepstool. So I assisted with placement of stakes and everything else I could. I felt useless (though I logically know I was not).

We had a glitch in that one of the grunts (”Grunt10″, by the by, I am mostly in the grunt category too with some expections) decided to bail on the last minute for Saturday but said he’d be on for Sunday. TPTB (the powers that be, aka the bosses) decided to ask Grunt8 if he could come back Sunday, and called new Grunt6 if he could come in Sunday. Both said they were good for Sunday (although Grunt8 had just pulled an entire day of using the stake driver, bless him).

Sunday Sunday SUNDAY!

What a day! What a glorious day. It was lovely and breezy. It was sunny but not terrible. We had a crew coming of me, tent master, Grunt10 bringing a few others, Grunt8 (G8), and Grunt6 (G6). Fabulous!

Except...I arrive at 8am, Tent Master (TM) arrives with TPTB1...and no evidence of G10 yet or the crew he agreed to bring.

Ok, maybe he is lost. The site is not totally easy to get to.

About 4 phone messages and 7 unasnwered texts later, it is clear that G10 has flaked.

And TM and I have just found out that TPTB decided to put all their eggs in the G10 basket and called off G6 & G8.

So now we have: me, TM, TPTB1, TPTB2

We need, minimum, 6 people to raise the mast. TM has to leave for another tent job at 3pm. It is now 8:45am. TM has declared that the absolute latest we can start getting the mast up is 11am, any later and we won’t be anywhere near close to being done before he -must- leave.

TPTB are calling everyone they can, no one is answering. But then! G8 answers and says he can come in and will bring some guys with him!!

The problem is, G8 does not drive and is 45min away. But wait! He’s got a guy who can drive him, he just needs to wake the guy up and then gather the other people he can bring.

So G8 roused the driver, gathered the guys, and apparently got on his way.

TM & I have decided we will do as much as we can around the site because we can’t bear to just sit on our asses waiting. And there are things to be done, small things; things nonetheless.

One such thing was the bit that makes me slightly not a grunt: rigging. I decide that we can prop the cupola of the tent on two large boxes and I can crawl under and rig all the equipment while we’re waiting. TM grabs the forklift and we move it into position. Yay for being organized.

Finally, TM & I have done as much as possibly can be done. Everyone is getting nervous because it is now 11am and we haven’t hear from G8.

Lo! What’s that one the horizon? It’s G8 and two other grunts in a livery cab! Right in the nick of time! Hurrah!

We meet G5 & G12. Immediately TM puts everyone on mast duty and the mast is raised with minimal fuss.

We work, for hours, none stop. The group of us grunts run around doing whatever TM tells us to do. It is somehow mutually agreed among the other grunts that I somehow have a greater amount of authority than they do. This is a lie. I have little idea as to what needs doing. But TM has also decided I am more informed than I think I am. Surprisingly, I am somehow more informed than I knew I was. It was a revelation to me.

Finally, I see something I have not yet seen: TM is losing his cool. TM, from my limited interactions with him, is one of the most laid-back, grounded individuals. He rolls with every punch, he kindly verbalizes everything he’s doing so you can follow along, he answers endless questions, he is 100% happy to work with layman crew members (i..e, me and other people who are on the job for the first time ever & don’t know shit from shinola). But now, he’s getting frantic.

See, he has to leave. It is 3pm. He HAS to leave. But the job isn’t complete. TM abhors leaving a job unfinished. But we started late, we ran into complications along the way, and he must get to his next job. He is frustrated and short. He apologizes every moment of his frantic escalation. None of us fault him in any way. He pretty much yells last second instructions to us grunts as he tuck and rolls into the car and TPTB2 drives off with him.

We are left to our hastily yelled orders. And then there were five.

Luckily the vast majority of the work is done.

TPTB1 and G8, G5, and G12 take a break. I use that time to climb up the masts and do the last pieces of the rigging. The tent is not horrible yet because the sidewalls aren’t attached. But I am still sitting ~3.7m up, in the sun, surrounded by thick tarp. It’s great.

I complete the rigging, the other grunts come back in the tent and I have them help me test the systems. I do not die & the systems work. All good things.

Then the side walls. Oh the side walls. There’s a cable that runs the circumfrence of the tent. The side walls have S-hooks that hook onto the cable and hang.

Easy enough. Except the side walls are 3m long, 4m tall, weigh easily 100lbs, and work with you about as well as a fresh corpse. There are techniques to make hanging the sidewalls easier...we know none of them. We make it up.

We get the walls on (luckily they are in sections but 8 sections is still 8 sections) annnnd the back two portions are not proximating. And I can see that there’s too much sag...starting at the very beginning. Piss and hell. So I get up on a ladder and start on one side of the tent, dragging canvas along the cable, moving S-hooks, trying to get the slack moved toward the back.

Immediately, without prompting, G5 jumps on another ladder and works on the opposite side walls.

Unfortunately G5 started in the middle. We did not get all the slack worked through. So I go back to the beginning of G5′s side, and start again. I did not ask anyone to help because I knew they were working intensely all day. And while I knew this needed doing, I figured I had worked less than they had. But again, G5 jumps on a ladder to work the slack with me.

We leap frog our ladders along the side wall until SUCCESS! We get the back panels to meet.

My face is pouring sweat, I am completely drenched. I would later see that my light blue bra was dark blue now :P

I had drunk a 1liter gatorade, a 1liter ionized water bottle, & 1liter water bottle plus various glasses of water starting from 11am to 6pm. I did not pee once.

Sunday was a super fun day.

Lessons of the day: G8 is a fabulous human being, I would 120% work with G5 & G12 again, and G10 can sit on a barbwire dildo.

#work #my job #let me tell you it

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cearyfloyd · 7 years

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REVEAL: #JuniperStudioDeckMyHalls Living Room Giveaway with Overstock!

Eeeeeeeps!!!! I’m bursting with excitement over here because on Monday we gave a beautiful, sweet family a brand new living room, dining room, entry and kitchen makeover!!!

Here’s a little back story: In early November I sat down with my team and we talked about how everything was going after moving to the new studio space and with all the additional projects we took on this year. It’s been SO good and fun, but admittedly, it’s been a little crazy. We brainstormed some ways we could edit a little for next year and refocus on the areas of the business that are the most rewarding (and fun!). We thought it would be so great to do something now in 2017 to sort of wipe the slate clean in preparation for the new year’s mentality. We came up with the idea of doing a huge, HUGE giveaway for a local family for the holidays. I mean, what better way to press the reset button than to figure out a way to give back, right? We were all VERY excited.

I knew we could handle everything with the design and renovation work but that we were going to need some help getting a lot of the furniture together in time for a reveal before the holidays. I loved working with Overstock.com for their Design Challenge and #OverstockStyle Weekend and they obviously have the most ENORMOUS selection of beautiful furniture, that can adapt to any style, which was a must for a project that had to adapt to fit every family that entered. I crossed my fingers and toes and emailed them to see if they would be up for donating the furniture for this giveaway and Overstock was as excited about giving back as we were. I knew we had found the right partner! They have truly been amazing to work with this whole project. Asking a team to rush a whole house worth of decor and furniture during the holidays is such an oversized request, but they (literally) delivered in every way. Yay Overstock!

When it came to picking a winner, our team combed through the hundreds and hundreds of local applications through Instagram and talked for DAYS about each of your beautiful posts! (We laughed, we cried, we want to be your real life friends.) There were so many that we loved and that we wanted to help with! In the end, each of us on the team picked three applications (and, to keep things fair, they couldn’t be people we were related to or that we knew well) and then the final winner was selected at random.

The family whose name was drawn turned out to be the SWEETEST, most gracious people in the whole wide world. They could not have been easier to work with or more grateful! They are both teachers and they recently bought this cute little ranch home. They put in a new kitchen after moving in, but they were ready for some additional updates and new furniture and lighting! We met with them, took some measurements and notes about what they wanted in their new spaces and then we were off! We made our design plan, ordered all our items on Overstock in a snap and then it was time to get to work!

For starters, the homeowners don’t love their tile floors, but we had some good tricks up our sleeves for making the tile less of a focal point in the space and I think we really pulled it off! The color of the walls was a good starting place. They had picked a really pretty bluey-gray wall color when they moved in, but it seemed to only exaggerate the yellowy-brown color of the floor. So we painted the walls a bright, clean white and instantly the floors felt more neutral!

After the walls were painted, I got to work installing floating shelves in the living room. I recently discovered a local lumber yard (Timber in Mesa) and realized how much better the selection was compared to the big box hardware stores! For just a little more than the cost of construction grade pine boards, I found 2″ thick boards of 14′ long pine that were perfectly straight and had a lot less knots. And best of all, the lumber yard milled and sanded the boards for only $20 extra! AMAZING. I picked them up basically ready to stain!

The nice people at my local lumber yard also recommended this gel stain for pine, which can be finicky about accepting stain evenly. Gel stain sits on top of the grain more and worked beautifully for this project! I used a clear sealer as a top coat and after a night of drying, the boards were ready to install!

I picked up corner metal braces at the hardware store along with L-brackets. I found the studs and marked out my entire wall, drilled in the brackets, set the boards and secured the boards to the brackets by screwing them in place from underneath. Can I tell you, I was pretty confident this method would work well, but it worked SO WELL. Those heavy boards are so well supported and are so sturdy!

You could only slightly see the metal braces from underneath the shelves when you were sitting on the sofa, so later we decided to touch up the brackets with a little bit of matching acrylic paint which helped a lot.

These shelves were such a win! I spent only a few hundred dollars in materials and Michael and I hung them together in a night. They make the space look so much more finished! And how about this new lighting?! Isn’t it amazing?! We hired an electrician to come in and install this chandelier and these three sconces along the bookshelf wall. I LOVE the look. Never underestimate the power of great lighting! It’s even better when the fixtures are as affordable as these from Overstock!

I was SO excited to style those shelves and get all the furniture moved in the next morning!

And here is the gorgeous space now, after all of our Overstock finds were moved in!

The sofa was our starting point for the design. Our homeowners wanted something a little more traditional but with clean lines. We found this BEAUTIFUL roll arm sofa from Safavieh on Overstock that is upholstered in a heavy weight oatmeal color linen. I have a similar fabric on my sofa at home and it has held up to my kids’ abuse wonderfully!

One of my favorite things to do in a living room is to use one large round table with a big lamp rather than two small side tables. I think it adds interest and height to the space and helps break up the boxiness that can sometimes happen in a living room layout. We used this small dining table from Overstock (with the coolest legs ever) and I love how it looks with our sofa while floating in front of the pretty shelves!!

We also knew we wanted a few leather benches to layer under the new shelves. These tufted benches from Overstock with those gorgeous modern legs completely fit the bill!

From there we picked a rug. This was another way we helped to minimize the presence of the existing brown tile in the room. We layered two large sisal rugs with this gorgeous 9×12 rug. I LOVE all the colors in this pretty rug!

I had my seamstress make the gorgeous blue linen blackout curtains and loose woven linen sheers. This large front window gets a LOT of full sun. The homeowners had only blackout curtains hanging here before which made the whole house feel dark. The double curtain rod that allowed us to hang blackout curtains and sheers together gave the homeowners a lot of flexibility and the most light and privacy possible. I love the look too! Isn’t that blue color so pretty?

I love how the pale blue curtains play with the colors in the rug and the gorgeous navy tweed arm chairs we got from Overstock. They’re comfortable and sturdy and I love the dark fabric that brings some much-needed contrast into the space! On that same note, the white coffee table played an important role in really lightening the room up! We also loved that this table was round (no sharp corners for the little one!)

The circle shape ended up being a bit of a recurring theme in this home. I found these vintage frames (you can see them in the first photo here below), sanded off the glossy finish on the frame and spray painted the old circle cut mats for a fresh new look! LOVE!

The homeowner sits at that desk every morning to teach English to online students, so she requested an alphabet print on the walls. I commissioned Angela Hardison, a local graphic design genius, to design it and she knocked it out of the park! The file is available today in the print shop! I love this for a children’s room or play space obviously, but I also love it for main living areas for a graphic pop!

The desk was a vintage find that I painted off-white (the little brass knobs make my heart sing!). The desk lamp and leather chair were both Overstock scores.

In the entry we had these gorgeous sconces installed and we hung a vintage brass mirror over my favorite wooden bench from Overstock. It has a slim profile and is PERFECT for small entry ways! I love it!

I’m SO happy with how this giveaway space came together. It was one of those whirlwind/stressful/exhausting/completely amazing experiences that I will forever treasure! Seeing this sweet family’s reaction to the space was THE BEST. So many happy tears!

Side note: I laughed so hard when I realized I was full-on twinning with the homeowner (literally, right down to our shoes) on reveal day. But I also had the thought it was a pretty good sign that she was going to like the things I picked for her house. :)

Wouldn’t it be weird to walk in to YOUR OWN HOUSE and have everything completely changed? I mean, pretty cool, but also a little weird, right!? We tried hard to incorporate family heirlooms and colors and themes that were meaningful to this family so they could feel at home as soon as possible! We tucked some wood blocks in this little basket on the bottom shelf for their young daughter so would maybe be distracted by all the changes in her spaces for even a minute! :) Ha! She was a champ though and I think she liked it all as much as we do!

Right before they got to the house for the reveal on Monday, we rushed to put up a Christmas tree and doesn’t it just complete the space? We couldn’t be happier for this sweet family! They were the best in so many ways and I hope they love everything we put in their new living room and entry! NEXT UP: the dining room and kitchen reveal!!!!

SOURCES LIST:

Sofa

Navy Side Chairs

Leather Benches with Metal Base

Rug

Coffee Table

Round Side Table

Double Curtain Rod

Chandelier

Wall Sconces over Shelves

Lamp on Desk

Leather Desk Chair

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Entry Bench

Entry Sconce

STARLITE print

DAHLIAS I print

DAHLIAS II print

BUTTERFLIES print

ALPHABET print

This entire giveaway was made possible and sponsored by the EXTREMELY generous, kind friends at Overstock, a company I love and fully stand behind! Thank you, Overstock!!

The post REVEAL: #JuniperStudioDeckMyHalls Living Room Giveaway with Overstock! appeared first on Little Green Notebook.

from Home Improvement http://littlegreennotebook.com/2017/12/living-room-reveal-with-overstock.html/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

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coconutseaways · 7 years

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September - overnight sailing and new islands 🌴

Sept 2 Where did I leave off? Oh ya, we were leaving Horta. Which we did. We took off in the afternoon and had a quick sail over using just the genoa. There was a steady breeze and we had no problems getting there. We decided to anchor in the basin area instead of our fishing pier spot because the swell was minimal and it seemed to be pretty steady. We went for a snorkel right away and I am super stoked because I am having a way easier time getting down to the bottom now with my ears. I know you have to equalize the pressure on the way down but even when we were back in Winnipeg, training in the pool, I had a hard time making it to the bottom. The pressure in my ears would hurt and even when I tried to equalize, they just wouldn't go. So I've been restricted to about 15 feet or less. When we were snorkelling I went down and before I went back up, I looked to the surface and was surprised at how deep I was and that I felt no pain in my ears. So that's a big achievement for me. Anyways we had a nice swim and then we headed for the Chinese store to stock up on some LED's and then to the grocery store for some fruit and veggies and beer. Well the grocery store was out of the 1L bottles we like to buy, and we didn't want to buy a case of these tiny bottles (like 200 mL bottles) because it's just too much glass on the boat. So...no beer for Courtney :( oh well. We stocked up on food and went back to the boat. We had considered leaving that evening and sailing through the night, but Mike had to re wire the navigational lights that we had changed to LED's so we decided to stay for the night, get up real early (like 5 AM), do the wiring and head out first thing. So we went to sleep around 9 or 10 PM. Well of course, the swell picks up around 1AM. Not too badly, but enough that I woke up. So I laid there trying to go back to sleep, but after 2 hours, Mike was awake now too. So we decide to lift anchor and head over to the good old spot between the fishing piers, where there is no swell or wave action at all. We were able to haul anchor, motor over, drop anchor and row the dinghy out to drop the second anchor in about 10 minutes. Then we were totally still, and went to sleep. The alarm went off pretty early, and Mike groaned, let's just sleep more. Which I was in total agreement since the night had been so restless.

The next morning, Sept 3, we finally woke up around 9 and had coffee and got to work. Mike worked on the wiring and it took a little while to get everything done. I flipped the dinghy in the water and scrubbed the bottom clean before we put her on deck for our voyage. In the end we didn't end up leaving Madalena until 12:30 PM. I knew we had a good distance to go to get to Terceira, but I don't think I realized how far and how long it would take. It's about 65 nautical miles for reference sake.

So we headed out with a good breeze, doing a steady 6 knots and we were cruising. We got to the corner of Sao Jorge and went up the northern side of Sao Jorge in order to avoid the shadow from Pico mountain on the southeastern side. As the day progressed the wind got lighter and lighter and lighter...until there was no wind. I didn't mentally prepare myself for an all nighter but that's what we ended up doing. We did 1 hour shifts until about 10:30 and then switched to 2 hours to try to sleep. I didn't get a wink of sleep because the northern swell was so big and rolly, there was no way to sleep. Then we switched, and I think Mike got a little sleep. We literally had zero wind for so long!! It is one of the most frustrating things. At least the waves and current were pushing us in the right direction, and we weren't going backwards haha. We finally got a breeze around 3 AM and although it wasn't much, it was enough to make us feel like we were getting somewhere. Mike was sweet and very good to me, he took the wheel for 4 hours and let me sleep. Although it didn't feel like I got any rest, I'm sure I fell asleep for a while because I couldn't believe 4 hours had gone by. When I woke up we were sailing along the southern coast of Terceira and the sun was rising. We passed the commercial fishing harbour that we had thought about going to, but decided to keep going to Angra do Heroismo, which was for the best because we later found out that the fisherman would call GNR (not guns n roses, the police lol) and have them come to tell us to leave. Only in emergency situations would be allowed to go in there. We pulled into the marina and luckily there were a bunch of open slips. We pulled in beside a boat we had talked to in Horta called Silver Cloud. They are a cool couple from Florida. So we got tied to the dock around 8 AM. It was a long night but we made it. We went to the harbour master and checked in. He was a nice guy and gave us a map of the island and showed us some good places to check out and where the store was and was very helpful. We went back to the boat and decided it was time for sleep. We napped for probably 3 hours or so, and during that time it downpoured like crazy, probably the hardest it's ever rained here since we've been here. So it was good we chose that time to sleep instead of going walking around.

After our nap, I was hungry, and a little grumpy. I was feeling groggy and blah, so we went for a walk to the supermarket and to get lunch. We found an awesome restaurant where they serve kebab meat - which is a big round chunk of meat that is slowly spun around with a hot grill cooking the outside. Then they slice off the cooked part on the outside. It was very similar to a shwarma, but was called a doner. It was absolutely delicious. I got one with garlic sauce and it was so tasty. Mike got one with a spicy sauce and that one was also super tasty. We decide to treat ourselves to dessert and the strawberry cheesecake could not be resisted. A slice each and we were feeling a hundred times better.

After we had full bellies, we walked up to the supermarket where they had beer (yay!) and it was on sale (even better!!). They had a Sport store similar to sportchek connected and Mike was finally able to find himself a speedo. I was not super stoked about the idea, but his free diving is hindered so much by wearing shorts, I agreed he should get it. One day when we went to the beach I just wore board shorts because I had them on and I tried to dive down and couldn't believe the drag on them. Mike can still get down to 30 feet on one breath with shorts on so I know if he had a speedo he would be able to get even further. I was gonna get him to get the shorts style, instead of the brief cut, but the regular speedo was €3.50 and the shorts cut were €10 so it was a no brainer. All I could think of was Mr. Bean trying to put on his speedo over his pants on the beach.

Anyways, we finished shopping and as we were leaving it decided to start raining again. Mike suggested a cab but I said no, it's not that bad. Well we walked up in flip flops and you would not believe how slippery cobblestone gets when it's wet and you are wearing flops. We had a very careful walk down the hills and even buses were burning rubber trying to get up some of the roads. We made it back to the boat and I could feel the burn in my very well defined calves that I have developed from walking up and down these hills.

We relaxed on the boat for a few hours and I might have taken another short nap, before we decide to go for another doner at the same restaurant. They were so cheap and so good, we couldn't cook for that cheap. We had a beer with it and that topped off the evening. Mike and I passed out that night pretty quickly. We laid down with the lights off and we were talking a little bit, and as we talked our answers became more and more delayed until we both just fell asleep. I had a very deep sleep, but the surge in this marina is crazy. All of a sudden the boat is trying to skit sideways and then back and when it happened our spring line would slap the hull and it kept waking me up. Luckily I was able to fall back asleep almost immediately but I remember waking up so many times. Mike also said he kept waking up from the rope slaps, so that pretty much made the decision that we would only spend one night in the marina. That and the €12 a night. No thanks. We are pinching pennies where we can until we get to the Caribbean. We are not hurting at all, but we don't want to spend more than we need to. Plus we prefer being at anchor where you have so much space to yourself and we can go for a snorkel in nice clean water instead of marina scum.

Sept 5 I slept pretty late, like 10 AM which was so nice. Mike had coffee made for me when I woke up and we enjoyed a couple cups while chatting with our Florida neighbours. We did a little laundry and then headed for another hike. Mike went and talked to the harbour master about where we could anchor and just outside the marina there's a nice bay, but there's chop from northeast wind that we have. But he told us on the other side of the big hill that we are on, it will be like a lake with the northeastern wind. So we walked over to check it out, and sure enough it was super calm. Then we continued our walk to go back to the supermarket to buy a little bit more food to keep us fed while we are anchored out for a few days. While we were walking we came across a car, with 3 people laying under it and I could hear a cat meowing. Turns out that a cat crawled up into the car and I guess it got stuck. We knocked on a bunch of doors trying to find the owner of the car, but had no luck. We put out a little food and water for the cat and tried to coax it out. We ended up leaving a note on the windshield of the car and the people that lived near the car were going to watch out for the owner. There was nothing we could do without damaging the car so we had to leave it. Poor thing. We just needed to pop the hood and the cat would be there, so hopefully all went well. We walked a super long walk across the city to the market, stocked up on the essentials and made our way back to the boat. Man my legs are feeling it! When we got back from the store, there was a very large white round fender floating beside our boat. We picked it up and later found out it belonged to a German boat that had left a day or two before we arrived. We decide to hold onto it, and maybe we would run into the boat that had lost it.

We pushed off the dock around 6:30 and made our way around the hill. We are perfectly anchored in the clearest blue water. We went for a swim and I made it down to the anchor, 22 feet, without fins and without ear pain!! It's exciting and I'm feeling good. We spent 3 days anchored in that lovely spot, just relaxing and taking it easy. We snorkelled everyday and even did some beach scavenging. I collected a good haul of beach glass, with lots of blue pieces which are so pretty. We also found a round pink fender ball stuck inside a crevice in the rock wall. Mike was able to get it out and it's in great condition. He also found a tractor tube and now we have a tube to float on in the water. Haha it pays to anchor off and scour the area.

Sept 8: It's Friday, and our friends from silver cloud suggested they might head for Sao Miguel today since the easterly wind is coming and is staying for at least a week, which means it will be a difficult sail to go if we wait. Mike did some checking on the weather and the wind and decided we should go too. So around 12 PM we lifted our anchors and started heading in a south east direction towards Sao Miguel. There was a little breeze, enough to blow us about 5 miles offshore, and then it died. Like totally died. We bobbed around and flapped a bit and it was pretty tedious. We thought of maybe just heading back towards Terceira, to Praia instead of Angra but as we were talking we could see white caps on the waves on the horizon. When the waves got to us, there was still no wind and we thought maybe it was just current chop. But another minute or two later and the wind began to blow. It was so strange how the waves came before the wind. Anyways it was a good breeze so we got back on course to Sao Miguel and we were doing a steady 7 knots. The waves were very choppy and it was hard to tell which way the swell was coming from. We were on a beam reach (the wind was coming straight across our side, 90 degrees) which is a good angle for sailing. However, not so much for my stomach. I think beam reaches make me feel the worst and with the choppiness of the water I was actually sick for the first time since we left Nova Scotia. 🤢 It was pretty bad, but I was still able to help Mike steer every couple hours to give him a rest. He wasn't feeling great before we left, with his stomach cramping, so I kind of think it might have been something we ate. But who knows. Either way, I was sick. The wind kept up all night and 7 knots was our average speed. But the night went by sooo slowly. I would lay down for an hour or two and come up to steer and couldn't believe it was only 11 o'clock. We had 90 miles from Angra to Ponta Delgada, and we did it in good time, but the sail was not very pleasant. As we were getting closer to the city, the wind died off and we decided to motor in, instead of bobbing all morning. It was a good hour and a half of motoring or so, and when we finally got into the massive harbour, it was around 6:30 AM. We passed the bar in the harbour and they were pounding music and people were outside drinking and still going hard from the night before. I couldn't believe it. They yelled and waved at us and we waved as we went by laughing. We tied up in the marina and went straight to sleep. Unfortunately the surge in this marina is worse than Angra. It's so big and there are so many large ships you get a lot of energy from them. We slept though, and finally got up around noon. When I looked out I noticed a huge cruise ship had arrived. This place is massive and clearly a huge tourist destination. I thought Horta was touristy, but it's nowhere close to this place. We went and checked in and inquired about me getting an extension. The guy told us where to go and said it should be very easy and that I should go the day before my 90 days is up. We grabbed a bite to eat and both enjoyed a cold Coca Cola to help replenish some of sugars. I was feeling much better but Mike was still feeling something in his stomach. We came back to the boat and napped some more.

Being such a huge marina and tourist centre, you would think the marina office would be open 7 days a week, like Horta is. But it's not. Closed on weekends and therefore we couldn't even get access cards to get back to our boat once we leave the enclosure. We asked a fishing boat to let us back in and he did but we wanted to get some shopping done and we were kinda worried we wouldn't be able to get back in, in the early evening since the fishing places would be closed. Anyways, we were so beat we decided to make do with what he had, we had supper and I think we were asleep before 9 o'clock. We slept until 9 the next morning and finally started feeling a little normal again.

Sept 10: We noticed one of the boats from Angra were here, and went and asked them to borrow an access card so we could do some grocery shopping. They had two, so they were nice enough to let us use one. As we were walking down the dock, we saw our German friends from Taniwani. We had tied up to them for 3 nights while we were in Lajes, and they were really nice people. When we left them in Lajes they said they were headed for Praia in Terceira. We said hellos and they told us that they had lost their biggest round ball fender in Angra. We walked back to the boat, grabbed the fender and gave it back to them. We had no idea it belonged to these guys and didn't even know if we would see them again. They were so grateful that they gave us a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey in return. I'm just glad we found it and were able to return it to them. Those things cost a fortune. If they hadn't lost the fender, they said they wouldn't have even come to Sao Miguel, so it all worked out. We went for our walk to the grocery store and I was actually shocked to find out they have fast food restaurants like Burger King, McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut here. Every other island we have been on has been very Azorean and only had local cafes and restaurants. The grocery store was in a mall...which is the first mall we've seen too. It's such a change to see something like that after being away from it for so long. The mall had free wifi and since it had been over a week since I had connected, we ended up spending half an hour just sitting around checking our phones. We did a good haul of shopping and returned to the boat to clean up and get some jobs done. We resealed our galley sink...which was never sealed in the first place. Whoever installed it did a shit job and just dropped it in quickly. So Mike took it apart and cleaned it up and we sealed it all nicely. I hate this marina. It's too big and noisy and way too commercial. The planes fly right overhead because we are right by the airport. The container ships are constantly in and out causing wave action and our boat is constantly pushing up against the dock, wearing out our fenders. It's convenient to be along the dock, where it's easy to use water or go to the store but this is absolutely my least favourite marina. We want to do some tourist stuff and perhaps rent a car to go to the Sete Cidades, the beautiful lakes in the volcano crater. But we don't want to do it at anchor in case the wind changes direction or we start to drag. So we have to choose. I don't really care. I am ready to leave this marina and there are other ones along the coast line that are smaller and nicer to stay in. But I know I don't want to stay here.

Until we get our self steering we kind of have to stay around this island, and in 10 days I will go to get my extension. We are still listed for St Maarten on Airbnb, even though they have been obliterated by Hurricane Irma. We will also be available in Anguilla, St. Bart's, St Kitts and Nevis. So your Caribbean vacation can still happen with us! Within a few months I'm sure a lot of the island will be repaired but if anything, we will set the boat up for accommodation and Mike can work on fixing boats and whatever else when we arrive. That's it until we get wifi again. It's been a long 10 days and you can tell the summer is coming to an end here. The evenings are cooler and there are less people walking around. But soon we will be on our way south, and then west and into the beautiful hot Caribbean islands. Looking forward to it!! Keep following us on Instagram and Facebook. And book s with Airbnb to stay on our boat while in the Caribbean. Lots of love to family and friends!!

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