#Wilson’s Law: Manage Expectations

[directsellingnow]

Network Marketing Tips: ये 14 नियम बदल देंगे आपकी जिंदगी; Dr. Debi Prasad Acharjya

Network Marketing Tips: जिंदगी challenges और opportunities की एक complex picture है, जो अक्सर uncertainties के साथ आती है। सफलता और happiness की हमारी खोज में, हमें countless obstacles का सामना करना पड़ता है जिनके लिए effective problem-solving, critical decision-making और personal growth की आवश्यकता होती है। पूरे इतिहास में, मनुष्य ने अपने collective knowledge को timeless laws में बदल दिया है –…

[reasonsforhope]

"While COVID-19 lockdown will go down in history as a time devoid of in-person gatherings across the globe, in the United Kingdom, one quiet area on the coast of Suffolk became the hot spot for gray seals.

Orford Ness, a spit off of Great Britain that serves as a coastal nature reserve, has become the home of Suffolk’s first breeding colony of grey seals, according to the National Trust.

It is believed that these seals traveled from well-populated colonies in Norfolk and are now the first breeding colony to arrive in Suffolk — likely thanks to its remote location and very limited disturbance from humans.

The first 200 adult seals arrived at Orford Ness in 2021 when visitor access was significantly reduced in an extended period of COVID-19 closures. 

As it turns out, simply being left alone was all they needed to thrive.

Just last month, the first gray seal pup of the 2024 season was born, and this winter’s breeding season has already seen 80 pups on the scene, with many more expected. The site is now home to about 400 seals, up from about 200 just three years ago.

“We’re really happy to see new pups being born here at Orford Ness for the fourth consecutive year,” said Glen Pearce, Orford Ness’ property operations manager, in a statement.

“Despite the seals’ arrival in 2021, we held off talking about them until earlier this year because we wanted to give them the best chance of survival. Being able to talk about them this year, in real time, is a great opportunity to share more about the species and to help people understand how their own actions and behaviours can impact them.”

Human disturbance, which can include any human activity in the vicinity of the seals, is one of the biggest threats to the species, as it can cause them to change their natural behavior.

Gray seals are not listed as endangered and are protected under U.K. law, but they certainly face threats — mostly from humankind — including fishing nets, boat strikes, marine debris, pollution, or disturbance from fishermen and tourists.

Globally, the gray seal is also one of the rarest seal species, with about 50% of the world’s population dwelling in British and Irish waters. That makes this baby boom on Orford Ness that much more spectacular. 

“We’re really lucky,” Matt Wilson, the trust’s countryside manager for the Suffolk and Essex coast, told the BBC.

“They’ve formed a breakaway group, found this site and moved into the space we’ve got here. It's a real privilege to have them on this site and a responsibility, too, for the team here.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, December 11, 2024

[cer-rata]

Fic WIP: "Miniboss"

Talia dabs gently at her eyelids to remove the day's cosmetics. The nights she spent in her youth recklessly falling asleep with a face full of makeup are distant echoes. She has reached a point in her life where the consequences of failing to manage her affairs, even the small ones, weigh heavier than they used to. As one grows, so too does the burden of mortality. It isn't that she doesn't understand her father's desire to transcend those limits, but he taught her through bleak experience what the cost of rejecting one's humanity is. So she chooses to mitigate them though self-care instead.

She finishes cleaning her face and goes to recline on her chaise, intending to sacrifice an hour of sleep to remind herself of the joys of fiction, and the value in dreaming through the perspective of another.

Then comes the voice at her door.

“Mistress Talia! The Lantern is here." They sigh. "…Again.”

Talia groans. She doesn't regret giving the boy her blessing, she is fond of him, and he seems to be just as devoted to her son as he was when he'd been considering killing her. She just…did not expect to see him so often. She spends time with him far more than Damian these days, often without warning, often with questions about history or language or strategy. Damian was also a frequent topic, but that goes without saying. She enjoys the attention, frankly. It has been a long time since she felt valued in that way. She wishes that she could share a similar dynamic with her son, but he doesn't owe her that, and she has neither the desire nor the right to demand it. There's the unspoken hope that Conrad may put in a good word for her, bring Damian with him on a visit perhaps, but she dares not speak that either. She knows that she stands on a lattice of glass and that one unwisely weighed step could lead to ruin.

All that being said, she still does not appreciate him appearing at this late hour. She fixes her robe to ensure modesty, before instructing the orderly to direct him to her chambers.

She feels him before he reaches her door. Since his return from beyond the stars, he's exerted a certain pressure, as if his body can no longer contain his power without it overflowing. It could have been intimidating if he wasn't so goofy still.

So the first thing Talia notices upon seeing him is his his distinct lack of goofiness. His gait is purposeful and businesslike. It is nothing like the vaguely bouncy, idiosyncratically rhythmed, youthful stride that he falls into when he is excited to see her. His face is neutrally pleasant, but the mask still obscures his eyes. He's even hiding his hands behind his back. He's withholding access to his his feelings. He wants her caught off guard for some reason. Her lips tighten.

“Conrad.”

He inclines his head.

“Beloved Mother-in-law.”

Talia rolls her eyes at his cheeky smirk. “I keep telling you, 'Ms. Talia' is fine, 'Lady Talia' is fine, 'Mother Talia' as well…though I do feel that one ages me some. Nevermind, strike that.”

He snorts. “I'm manifesting the future that I want to see.”

“Uh-huh. Well, if you do not have a truly gripping explanation as to why you've come unannounced at midnight, you may be unable to see any future at all.” She allows herself a smirk to match his.

His smile does sour some at that, but she can tell it has nothing to do with her facetious threat.

"It's not midnight in Gotham, to be fair."

"Ah, so I'm the only one sacrificing my leisure hours. Go on then, your gripping excuse?"

He sighs, and she can tell by the way his shoulders shift that he's fidgeting with his hands.

“Gripping might be an understatement. Or too…neutral. I've come across some evidence that a child was artificially created using a mixture of yours and Slade Wilson's DNA.”

He says it so casually that it takes her a moment to fully grasp his words. “...What? How? When?”

“Supposedly about fourteen years ago. He claims that your father created him to use to…harvest organs from and to torture, basically. Has the scars to prove it. A lot of them. Says that he watched Damian from the shadows as he grew.”

Talia shook her head. “Wh…that's…that doesn't make any sense on even the practical level–sorry, ‘he claims?’ The child is alive?”

“Very alive.” His ring glows and constructs a three-dimensional bust of a teenage boy, with stark white hair, tan skin…and her eyes. Her lips.

“Oh my god.”

“Sounds just like Damian, too.”

Talia stands, putting her at a height with Conrad. She looks into his lenses, and he graciously dismisses them so she can see his eyes. They're a little red.

“I've never…I have no knowledge of this. I…what is his name?”

“Respawn.”

“...Pardon?”

“Ra’s didn't name him apparently, so he picked a one he liked.”

Talia grimaces. “...Like I was saying, that doesn't sound right, not from a practicality standpoint for one thing. Growing replacement organs is incredibly easy, there's no reason to create a person just to…my father was not a good man, especially at the end, but that's a level of sadism that I can't see him reaching. Even in his madness the suffering he caused had purpose other than base cruelty. There was always some kind of tangible dividend. “

Conrad nods. “That's what Bruce and I thought too. Respawn is under the impression you were complicit, but he's not sure. Like, I believe you but…there is a complication.”

“What?”

“I looked through his memories of despair and agony. There were…many of them.” His lips tremble and he looks away, taking a moment to regain his composure. Talia thinks she's going to be sick. “Um, sorry. So I looked for evidence of psychic intrusion, chemical alteration, history of the use of substances that could have have made him pliable to suggestion. Nothing. The memories are clear and…and visceral, and correspond to his scars that cover his body. His healing factor wouldn't let him die. Or pass out.”

Talia’s brow knits as she tries to make sense of this information. “So if you can verify the authenticity of his claims, why are you suspicious of the claim and not of me?”

He crosses his arms. “All I know for sure is that he believes his memories and his memories seem real, that his brain wasn't altered. That doesn't mean it happened how he thinks it did. I need a list of doctors your father employed over the past fifteen years.”

“You intend to find people who can corroborate his story.”

“And bring them to justice for their participation.”

Talia holds her chin and thinks for a moment. “I assume Slade is unaware?”

“As far as any of us know.”

Talia grabs her phone from her table and starts pulling up the requested information, forwarding it to Conrad and Bruce when she gets it.

“Alright, you have your list. Is…” She closes her eyes and takes a breath. “Is Damian alright?”

“No.” He replies honestly. She can hear the bitterness on the back of his tongue.

“Right. I'd very much like to meet this, ‘Respawn, and explain to him that I would never have had a hand in this…evil, and that I'm willing to do everything in my power to assist him with–"

Conrad places a gentle hand on her bicep. She can feel the waves of power flowing over his skin. They're roiling, but she knows he's not powered by anger, so he must be charged with... despair? A paternalistic desire to protect? That was the dangerous one for him to pull from, the one that allowed for concerning levels of violence.

“I know, Talia. I know. Um. Let me see what Bruce and Damian want to do and circle back, okay? I'll put in a good word for you, with the kid too. He's...fairly easy to convince if you're kind of him. Which makes everything worse, I think.”

Talia cups his cheek. “Thank you…my…” She sighs. “...Prospective Son-in-law. What…what is your plan if the culprit is not my father, and still lives?”

Conrad looks into her her eyes for a moment before shrugging. "I dunno, I'm kind of a 'crime of passion' guy usually."

[readingsquotes]

The struggle to Stop Cop City is not just a battle over the creation of a $90 million police urban warfare center. It's not just a fight to protect the 381 acres of forest land, known as one of the "four lungs" of Atlanta, currently under threat of destruction. It's not just a conflict over how the city invests the over $30 million it has pledged to the project, to be supplemented by at least $60 million in private funding.

The movement is all of those things. But even more fundamentally, the struggle to Stop Cop City is a battle for the future of Atlanta.

It's a struggle over who the city is for: the city's corporate and state ruling class actors who have demanded that Cop City be built, or the people of Atlanta who have consistently voiced their opposition and demanded a different vision for the city. It is a fight over who the city belongs to; over who Atlanta is run for and who it is run against; over who is welcome to live and enjoy life here, and who is expected to simply labor here for low wages and under constant surveillance.

In January 2023, Cop City claimed its first life when a joint task force of local and state police officers marched into the Weelaunee Forest and assassinated Tortuguita Terán, a 26-year-old queer, Indigenous-Venezuelan forest defender. The project has already claimed the lives of trees in the forest, as clear-cutting began in March 2023. Cop City has already stolen the freedom of 42 people who have been charged with domestic terrorism and dozens more who were violently arrested while protesting the project.

As the struggle to stop Cop City has gone national and international, it has also left many wondering: Given so much widespread opposition, why is the city of Atlanta so intent on building Cop City? And if they insist on building Cop City, why build it atop such precious forest land? And why now, when the plans were first proposed as early as 2017 and the city had previously committed to protecting and preserving the land in question?

Making sense of the drive to build Cop City requires understanding the shifting dynamics of class and racial domination in Atlanta, marked by organized abandonment: the state's retreat from the provision of social welfare and the interrelated build-up of policing and imprisonment to manage inequality's outcomes. Or, as abolitionists Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Craig Gilmore put it: "profound austerity and the iron fist necessary to impose it."

....

Expanding police infrastructure to control the masses is certainly not limited to the United States (though the U.S. has long exported and perfected its counterinsurgent police tactics overseas). Israel, for example, is home to the Urban Warfare Training Center known by the soldiers who train there as "Mini Gaza"—a $45 million dollar, 60-acre facility that is "meant to simulate the urban environments in which Israel's soldiers often operate." Beyond urban warfare training to combat so-called terrorism (recall, both Palestinian freedom fighters and Stop Cop City protesters have been called terrorists), the link between Israel and Georgia is even deeper, as the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program has operated since the 1990s as an exchange between Israeli and Georgia police forces.

Cop City is thus part of a historic and ongoing pattern of governments at home and abroad, expanding police and jail infrastructure and honing urban repression tactics in response to, and in preparation for, uprisings and threats categorized as terrorism.

[1rsoldiersince2012]

Bound by Law (Matt Murdock x Reader)

Words: 1993 (chapter 24)

Summary:

You and Matt met in the courtroom. Now, you may think that Matt was a knight in shining armour and defended you in the name of all United States laws, but that was not the case. Matt was totally destroying your client, and you wanted to tear him into pieces right then and right there, because with Murdock as your rival, your head is on the firm's plate with each case. Did Matt care? No, he only cared about bringing justice, he was a human-machine, driven by the need to bring righteousness no matter the cost. Or was he just that? What happens when you get involved in Fisk's business and Daredevil's lies against your will?

UPDATES: anytime during the weekend

Find my other accounts on ao3 and wattpad!

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1rSoldierSince2012

wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/1rsoldierSince2012

24. Time is a Fragile Thing

The day was over, but as poets say, the night is still young. And full of surprises. 

Following the last night's ruined plans, the Russians decided to talk to the big guy themselves, instead of poorly cooperating through his puppets like Wesley. And this turned out to be their worst decision yet. 

Fisk shyly looks at Vanessa, and Wesley from the far corner table feels as if someone was twisting his insides. His boss, looking like a weak puppy, begging for attention, was something he had never expected to witness, yet a thing he always suspected to happen. Wesley's been sitting there, spinning a half empty cup of coffee in his hands for a good 40 minutes, from time to time checking up on Fisk. Not his most serious mission so far. Of course, he was used to spending his free time like this, alone with his thoughts, but unfortunately, no thoughts came to his mind now.

Vanessa smiles again, charming Fisk over and over again, until he stumbles on his words once more, "Are you sure about dessert? They have an incredible Zuppa Inglese." He looks down for a second, painfully aware of Wesley's intense stare across the restaurant.

Vanessa slightly furrows her eyebrows, "Don't children have that at birthday parties?" Both chuckle at the same time, and Vanessa studies the sudden wave of seriousness that washes over Fisk.

"Yes. When I was a kid, I loved it. Probably loved it a bit too much." He looks slightly down and Vanessa understands the clue.

"Well, now I have to know what it tastes like. You wanna split one?" She says so nonchalantly, perfectly aware that Fisk was under her spell like a madman. 

"Yes." Fisk immediately gestures for a waiter, making Wesley to look up from his cup, "We'll have a Zuppa."

"Chocolate was always my downfall. Milk chocolate, not the dark stuff they say is better for you." Vanessa smiles slyly, secretly pulling her blouse down, so her cleavage would be more visible.

"I can order something else." Fisk answers, following the movement of the blouse.

"No, no, it's good to try new things. Get out of the comfort zone." Vanessa protests almost immediately, intently waiting for Fisk's reaction.

"Yes, we get caught up in what we're doing...who we think we are." He finally answers, lifting his eyes to meet Vanessa's, and immediately gets embarrassed. 

"So...who are you, Wilson?" Vanessa leans forward on the table, messing her hair.

"Tonight, I'm just a man... enjoying the company of a captivating woman."

Vanessa doesn't get to ask another question when in behind her, Wesley quickly shoots up from his seat, trying to hold off an angry Anatoly on the stairs of the entrance. "I told you, he's indisposed-" Wesley gets pushed away slightly, but manages to keep his balance.

Half of the people in the restaurant stand up, all men dressed in costumes, and stand around Vanessa and Fisk's table. The other half stare at the scene, hoping that the worst won't happen. 

"Sir, I need to speak with you." Anatoly makes his way towards Fisk, when two men stop him.

Vanessa looks around, feeling overwhelmed and confused, "What is this?"

Fisk grimaces, holding inside another anger episode. "We need to go... now. I'm sorry."

Anatoly continues talking, "I want to tell you, my brother and I, we gratefully accept-"

Fisk makes his way towards the exit, where Wesley was watching the scene unfold, and guides Vanessa outside, "Wesley will take care of you." He tells Anatoly, without turning back to look at the man, and quickly whispers to Wesley, "Put him in a car."

"Understood." Wesley answers briefly, pushing glasses up his nose. 

*** 

Fisk walks with Vanessa, side by side, both silent, until finally they stop in front of the big dark building. Fisk knows that there is a car on the other side of the street with his men, watching the scene unfold. "Will I see you again?" He finally dares to ask a question since they walked half a block from his car.

Vanessa sighs heavily, looking at her shoes, "I don't usually date customers."

"You came out with me tonight." Fisk pushes more, waiting for a different kind of reaction.

Vanessa finally looks up, yet still avoids his eyes, "And here we are, so..."

The moment of silence is interrupted by the slight shuffling of shoes nearby, and from the shadows of the building you emerge, phone on your ear, and a concerned look on your face, "no, I... I don't know why. You might as well ask her" you argue with someone on the phone in a hushed tone, perfectly aware of strangers eavesdropping habits. Focused on your conversation, you never notice the two of them arguing as well. Fisk takes a notice of your unusual attire - jeans, sneakers, warm hoodie and a coat resting on your shoulders like a cherry on top of a cake. So different from the woman he saw in the court, so different from the pictures he has seen on the internet. 

Fisk never loses his next thought and as you disappear inside the building, followed by four sets of eyes, he says, "I can...return the painting, and then I'd no longer be a-"

"I'm not interested in gestures, Wilson, or your money, or...whatever that was all about at the restaurant. I went out with you because...there's something different about you. Not so sure if it's a good thing now." Vanessa finally looks him in the eyes, noticing the confused expression on his face.

"Like you said...I don't do this much. And I'm sorry that our night, it went sideways. But...I enjoyed our time together very much, Vanessa. If you don't feel the same...even a little bit...just tell me, and I promise you won't see me again."

"I...don't know how I feel" Vanessa turns on her heel and walks into the building, where you just went in minutes ago. 

*** 

Wesley finds himself sitting in a backseat of a black SUV, shoulder to shoulder with tonight's start, Anatoly. "And even after all that, you didn't even get a name out of the girl?" Wesley asks annoyed.

"No. The man in black came before our men had finished." Anatoly answers in a thick russian accent, not even imagining how it drives Wesley insane.

"You were right to reach out to us, although...a call would have been more appropriate."

"Look, I...I wanted to speak with him in person. Try to put the past behind us." Anatoly says guiltily, when the car stops abruptly. "Why are we stopping?" 

"They say the past is etched in stone, but it isn't. It's...smoke trapped in a closed room, swirling...changing. Buffeted by the passing of years and wishful thinking. But even though our perception of it changes, one thing remains constant. The past can...never be completely erased. It lingers. Like the scent of burning wood." Wesley says mysteriously, not looking at the man beside him, but somewhere he wishes he could be, until his phone rings, pulling him out of this trance and cutting him off. "Sir? Yes, passenger side." He answers briefly, a shadow of sorrow passes on his face.

Anatoly slightly shuffles in his seat, "Was that him?"

"Hmm." Wesley hums, "He'd like to have a word with you."

Anatoly doesn't get to answer when he gets harshly pulled out of the car and pushed on the ground immediately. Anatoly tries to fight back, pulling out his knife and pushing it into Fisk's stomach, but it does nothing, only making Fisk angrier.

"You embarrassed me. You embarrassed me in front of her!" Fisk pushes Anatoly on the ground and watches how he starts crawling back to the car, begging Wesley for help. Wesley remains in his seat, stone-cold expression on his face, only one thing in his mind - you. Fisk grabs Anatoly's head and starts slamming the car doors repeatedly, until Wesley finally can't take it anymore, the car was shaking too much. James steps out into the cold night and looks at the river for a moment. Such a nice evening for a romantic stroll, unfortunately, there was nothing romantic with the sounds on the other side of the car - grunts of Fisk and Anatoly's blood splashing all over the place. Wesley closes his eyes for a moment, blocking the sounds completely, thinking over his own words that said earlier, the past can never be erased, especially his. Especially yours.

The place becomes silent, and Wesley takes that as a cue that Fisk is done. Turning on his heel, he goes over and offers Fisk a handkerchief, watching how he wipes the blood off of his face. 

"Tell Mr. Potter I'll need a new suit." Fisk rasps out, breathing heavily, noticing a few drops of blood on Wesley's white collared shirt.

Wesley briefly nods, eyes avoiding the horrible sight at his feet, "what about him?"

Fisk takes one last pitiful look at what was left of Anatoly, "Take what's left of him and send it to his brother."

"It'll start a war." Wesley furrows his eyebrows.

Fisk's mouth morphs into a menacing grin, "I'm counting on it."

*** 

The morning traffic held you off a little, but you managed to make it to the office on time, right before Karen came in. Foggy and Matt were already there, chatting over their future plans for the firm.

You purposely sat in Karen's chair, opening the email from the auction again. 

"Sorry, I'm late, the traffic is terrible." Karen bursts inside, a pile of paper in her hands, hair covering her eyes, she notices you comfortably sitting in her chair only after she hangs her coat. 

"I know about the traffic." You simply say, turning your head to the right, as if trying to get a better look at the blonde.

"Oh, what's with the change of seats?" Karen tries to joke, but her smile falls when equally disappointed Foggy emerges from the office. 

"What's with the new inventory?" You raise an eyebrow, watching her panic slightly.

"What?" Karen looks for help at Foggy, but the latter just turns his eyes down.

"Where were you yesterday?" Matt asks, holding his side under his jacket. 

"I... Was at the auction. Bought some supplies for the office." Karen says, finally feeling the pressure from the three lawyers in one room.

"I wouldn't call all that junk supplies, Karen." You cross your arms, intently watching her body language. Like a stray cat, approached at its weakest moments, Karen pulls her shoulders forward, afraid that she'll have to turn her defence system on.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what was I thinking." She starts shaking her head.

"Thankfully they got a nice sum after yesterday's win, but I hope that in the future, you won't make such mistakes." You stand up briefly, watching how Foggy and Matt disappear in their offices, without any comments. You stop in front of Karen, looking her in the eyes, that became wider in a matter of seconds, and sligthly lean forward, "I believe that this was no accident, after all, you did work with finances, Mrs Page." You say in a hushed tone and leave her standing in the middle of the room, going to your and Matt's office, loudly closing the doors.

"Weren't you a little harsh?" Matt asks, earning a low chuckle from you.

"If you think that this is harsh, at HC&B they would eat her alive." You plop down on the chair in front of Matt, pulling out your phone, only for it to start ringing. "Hello?" You turn the volume down, as to not disturb Matt, but little did you know that he can hear everything perfectly fine. "Tonight at 8? Yes, of course I'm free." You smile, "not to take my car? Oh, depends on how I'll be getting home later."  Moment passes by, with Matt intently listening to the person on the other side of the phone, and you writing down the address of the place in your workbook. "Okay, I'll see you then, yeah, bye." The phone call ends, with Matt clenching his fists under the table, not even bothering to ask questions, because after all, he knows all the details. 

[causewhywouldnti]

My thoughts as I’m watching 24 seasons of law & order svu:

Season 7

The season is starting off strong with Elliot undercover. He and Fin are just great together. Elliot being made aware of his anger management problems whilst he’s pretending to be a pedophile is ironic.

7x03 “911”, I get why it got Mariska an Emmy, her acting is great in it and the story is set up differently. However, it probably won’t go on my rewatch list. And I’m sorry, but I have to say this, but her chest compressions were more like stomach compressions. They would have saved no one.

Absolutely loved getting an insight into Elliot in 7x04. Also, him finally addressing his anger problems.

7x06, what can I say, nazis getting their asses kicked, Munch getting shot in the ass, Benson and Stabler having a hospital scene and Marcia Gay Harden showing up. Great episode all around.

7x08, I liked their discussions about end of life care or pulling the plug. Did not like the open ending with the rapes.

7x10, good episode, got even better after they were told to stand down. Olivia leaking to the press, Elliot calling her out on it, and Dad mode for Cragen. I do wonder if they ever followed up with Jackson Zane. Or is the dude still held in contempt?

I love in TV, when medical equipment isn't correctly installed, yet the monitor is still normal. Like in 7x11, when the electrode isn't even attached to the body.

Donelly conspiring to have a kid get free was great in 7x12. And their discussion on gun control is still accurate 17 years later.

Elliot hiding in the trunk of the car in 7x13 sent me. I just really was not expecting that. Warner getting her time to shine though.

So I know Mariska was pregnant during this season. So they did the obvious things to hide it: started off with her wearing open coats all the time, then the camera only showed her chest and face. In 7x13, we graduated to big objects for her to hold. Camera work in the last few episodes is creative.

7x19, well let's be honest here, I knew how this episode was gonna play out. It didn't disappoint. Benson and Stabler both choosing each other over the job. My personal favorite moment of the episode has to be the silence of the two of them after Gitano was killed. Just great acting of the two of them communicating without saying a word.

Stabler really misses Benson in 7x20. I did like that she came to him after he and Blaine got into it. Stabler's eyes say so much when Benson hands him the evidence to arrest the girl.

Look how happy Benson is, when Fin and Stabler go to her in 7x21. The season finale was kinda depressing.

Familiar faces: Chandra Wilson, Paul Wesley (the Vampire Diaries), Noah Emmerich (White Collar), Marin Hinkle (Madam Secretary), Marcia Gay Harden (the Newsroom), Cody Kasch (Desperate Housewives), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Castle), Tina Holmes (House), Keke Palmer (Scream Queens), Matthew Settle (Band if Brothers), Tom Verica (How to Get Away with Murder), Zeljko Ivanek (Madam Secretary), Schuyler Fisk (OTH), Rebecca De Mornay (Raise Your Voice), Brian Slaten (Rizzoli&Isles), Michael Boatman (Spin City), Rebecca Wisocky (Ghosts CBS) and Brittany Snow.

Favorite episodes: 7x04, 7x06, 7x10, 7x12, 7x13 and 7x19

Favorite lines:

"You’re not weak. You’re so busy being strong and helping everyone, you’ve got nothing left for yourself.“ - Dr. Hendrix to Stabler in 7x04

"Four-pack of coolers and a box of condoms. What, you plan on getting frisky with the Hamburglar?“ - Fin 7x21

"Your conversation skills are what I like best about you.“ - Donna to Stabler 7x21

[yetisidelblog]

Musk Has Triggered A Corporate Deregulation Bomb

By Luke Goldstein

In an effort to appease Elon Musk, Delaware’s Democratic-controlled legislature is expected to vote on a bill this month that would not only award Musk the largest compensation package in history, but also shield many of the country’s most powerful corporate executives from accountability for their companies’ misbehavior. 

If lawmakers don’t enact the law, which was written by Musk’s own lawyers, the billionaire mogul and his allies are threatening a mass exodus of companies out of the state. This pressure campaign is part of a long-running race to the bottom between states competing to attract businesses with offers to shield corporate executives from scrutiny by their companies’ own shareholders and workers.

Delaware, which has long been perceived as a billionaire playground and corporate tax haven, is the incorporation home to more than 60 percent of all Fortune 500 companies. That means, if enacted, the wide-ranging regulatory handouts in the bill will have sweeping consequences for corporate behavior across the country. 

Shareholder lawsuits — used to hold corporations accountable for misconduct — would become much more difficult to bring to court. The law could wipe out many Delaware legal practices, a major state industry, and it could disempower company stakeholders including regular everyday stockholders and workers via their pension funds.

The law would set an extremely high bar for plaintiffs to obtain internal company documents, records, and communications — the core pieces of evidence needed to build a lawsuit against a company. Corporate executives and investors with a controlling stake in a firm would no longer be required to hold full shareholder votes on various transactions in which management has a direct conflict of interest. 

“This law would basically end civil litigation as a mechanism for holding fiduciaries accountable and to ensure that they act in the best interests of shareholders and don’t just line their own pockets,” said Joel Fleming, a partner at Equity Litigation Group, a boutique Delaware-based firm that takes on shareholder lawsuits. 

The bill amounts to a wishlist of reforms advocated for by a radical fringe of Silicon Valley titans and corporate defense lawyers. If enacted, experts say similar legislation will likely spread across the country as other states like Texas and Nevada compete to hobble their own shareholder protections, fundamentally eroding corporate governance in America. 

“Dropping A Nuclear Bomb To Kill A Fruit Fly”

Delaware is inordinately responsive to business backlash because of its economic reliance on the homegrown “incorporation industry.” Nearly two million LLC entities are registered in the state — double the population of actual residents. 

Most of these companies keep their headquarters elsewhere but exist on paper as a legal entity in Delaware, so they can benefit from the streamlined incorporation process, low taxes, lax regulations, and an extremely business-friendly court system to adjudicate legal disagreements. 

The state’s 200-year-old Court of Chancery system, designed as a specialized court with expertise to handle business cases, is known for being amenable to corporate interests, most notably in bankruptcy cases. After serving in judiciary roles for 12-year terms, many judges go on to work for big law firms representing the very clients whose cases they were previously ruling on. 

For example, former Chancery Court Judge William Chandler now works for major law firm Wilson Sonsoni and helped craft the Musk bill currently before the legislature. Wilson Sonsoni represented Tesla during the 2018 botched negotiations with Musk over his $56 billion dollar pay package, which a judge ruled were not deliberated in good faith, sparking Musk’s calls to leave Delaware. 

The legislature is equally accommodating to business groups. All updates to corporate law that come before the legislature are first pre-vetted and approved by the Corporate Law Council, an arm of the Delaware State Bar Association and voice of the legal establishment and corporate interests. The council is made up almost entirely of defense lawyers at major law firms. Critics say this unelected body gets more say over Delaware’s legislative agenda than its lawmakers. 

Even the most corporate-friendly of judicial systems, however, took issue with Musk’s compensation package, siding in favor of a Tesla shareholder lawsuit that alleged he misled investors about his actual compensation. In her December 2024 ruling, Judge Kathaleen McCormick found that Musk abused his dual role as both the CEO and controlling shareholder of Tesla, posing a conflict of interest. Her ruling states that Musk was not forthright in presenting the full scope of the compensation deal he was awarding himself when it was brought before shareholders for a vote in 2018. 

Musk went ballistic. He berated the judge on his social media platform X, announced he’d move his brain–computer interface company Neuralink’s incorporation status from Delaware to Nevada, and encouraged other CEOs to do the same. Meta and Dropbox along with the activist investor and Musk political ally Bill Ackman followed suit, saying they’d consider leaving the state. Walmart’s lawyers reportedly told lawmakers they might too. But those are the only known high-profile Delaware exits so far. 

Then, at the start of this year, the Delaware legislature took up Senate Bill 21, which explicitly seeks to override the Chancery judge’s ruling on Musk’s pay package. Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer urged lawmakers to do so at the start of the year to purportedly “stop the bleeding” of businesses fleeing the state. 

A self-professed movement called “Leave Delaware,” registered as an opaque nonprofit, has mobilized in recent months to defend Musk’s honor while his allies lobby for the bill in the state legislature. Leave Delaware runs a social media account and has a website that offers legal assistance to companies looking to unincorporate from the state. The threats do carry some teeth: Delaware to some extent relies on keeping its business community or risk facing a budget shortfall. 

But political observers in the state believe that the “DE-Exit” phenomenon is overblown. Lobbyists, in their view, are weaponizing lawmakers’ fears about a capital flight to pressure them to pass Musk’s bill. 

“We haven’t been presented any actual evidence to support fears of a mass business exodus,” said State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton’s (D-Newark). “It’s been a lot of anecdotes from leading lawyers who represent firms that would benefit from the recommended changes.” 

For one, the numbers don’t add up. Nearly a quarter of the state’s revenues come from the corporate franchise tax, a flat annual fee capped at $250,000 for the largest companies. That revenue base is pretty evenly distributed across over a million businesses. As Dael Norwood, a history professor at the University of Delaware explained, the incorporation industry is a “volume business, not a value business.”

“Delaware has — or rather, should have — an interest in appealing to the largest number of corporate registrants, not the wealthiest billionaires,” said Norwood in a blog post. Musk leaving the state draws headlines, but it’s not materially different than if a medium-sized company left the state from a revenue standpoint. 

There are other concerns, however. Multiple sources say that lawmakers behind closed doors worry that Musk could leverage his political power as the head of President Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency to cut off federal funding to the state if they don’t bend the knee. At a caucus meeting earlier this month, sources say that Delaware’s Secretary of State, Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, told lawmakers that the state can’t afford any other budget shortfalls given the federal funding cuts they already anticipate will be coming from DOGE. 

Still, critics of the bill argue that its risks outweigh any short-term political benefits. 

“You’re basically dropping a nuclear bomb to kill a fruit fly,” said Christine Mackintosh, a plaintiff lawyer at Grant & Eisenhoferr. 

Other business leaders have threatened mass corporate exits from Delaware in recent years to get what they want, and yet the state’s incorporation rate has only increased with no signs of abating, according to public data cited by Norwood. 

“You Might As Well Burn The Corporate-Law Textbooks”

The real financial headwinds to the state’s existing local economy may come from Senate Bill 21 being signed into law. By gutting shareholder safeguards, the legal industry that makes up a substantial amount of the workforce in the state could take a massive hit, especially plaintiff firms representing shareholders. 

“If this passes, you might as well burn the corporate-law textbooks because they won’t matter anymore, it’ll be an entirely new day,” said Mackintosh. 

Of course, the plaintiffs themselves would also face an extinction-level event. The bill would revoke disclosure requirements for shareholder requests for all kinds of company documents, records, and internal communications. All plaintiffs would be entitled to would be minutes from board meetings, which reveal very little. These alterations would make it almost impossible for shareholders to build any viable lawsuits that could even reach the discovery fact-finding stage of a court case. 

A few law firms closing down may sound trivial, but the suits they bring deliver billions of dollars to shareholders every year and guard against crony dealmaking. For example, one such shareholder lawsuit in Delaware brought $122 million to shareholders adversely impacted by the merger of CBS and Viacom, a deal that had been rigged to favor the parent company. The controller of the umbrella company, National Amusements Inc., had a financial interest in both merging companies and underpaid for the acquired asset. 

While plaintiffs are driving some of the interest group opposition to the law, they’re not alone. 

Even some defense lawyers are spooked by the law’s extremity and how it came to be. 

Musk’s lawyers, for example, initially circumvented the state bar association without seeking the Corporate Law Council’s sign-off on the language. “In Delaware that’s sacrosanct and it’s ruffled a lot of feathers,” said Mackintosh. 

Some plaintiffs have even made the case that this bill goes against the interests of defense councils. After all, you need to have someone on the other side of the courtroom to argue against in order to retain any clients. 

Last week, the Corporate Law Council released a set of recommendations to amend the text of the bill, which will likely be included in the final version of the law. The updates, however, do little to change the substance of the bill and will likely clear the way for it to pass. 

The bill text also strips out basic safeguards currently protecting shareholders. In some ways, say experts, the bill directly undercuts the model of shareholder primacy that’s dominated corporate America for decades. 

In the last several years, there’s been a growing revolt by corporate leaders to take back power, as they see it, from the shareholders who they claim are overrepresented in the corporate governance process. In part, it’s a backlash to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) stakeholder capitalism whose proponents often leverage financial positions in companies to push for corporate governance reforms such as sustainability. 

This power struggle between shareholders and executives has been playing out most visibly in Delaware. Last year, the legislature passed a forerunner to the current bill being debated that similarly overturned a Chancery Court judge’s ruling against an illegal business practice. 

The bill greenlit special privileges granted by corporations for some of their high-value minority shareholders allowing those actors to exert enormous control over the company’s decision-making without actually owning enough shares to do so. These arrangements, which exist in a legal gray area, are often used by private equity firms to stack the deck in their favor in advance of a full company takeover. 

“That bill passing was a dry run to see what they could get away with,” said Fleming. “They got a foot in the door and now they’re trying to tear down the entire house.”

Musk’s bill continues that fight by giving more power to executives over shareholders. 

Companies often want to make transactions where there’s an inherent conflict of interest. Executive compensation is the most common scenario: A CEO wants to award himself money technically owned by the shareholders. Another example are mergers and acquisitions in which an executive or controller may have a financial interest in the targeted asset. Shareholders could thus get screwed by the company either paying too much or too little for the acquisition. 

One recent example involves Jim Dolan, owner of Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dolan wanted to merge two of his own companies, one that owned the Garden and one that negotiated the TV contracts for the events held at the Garden. According to the lawsuit, the acquiring company overpaid for the deal, benefiting Dolan’s bottom line at the expense of shareholders, who eventually settled the case for $85 million. 

When it comes to these forms of conflicted transactions, companies currently need to get approval from two separate bodies: a committee of fully independent directors and then their shareholders. 

The Delaware bill would change state law so that companies only need sign off from one of those two bodies. Naturally, many companies would opt for the independent directors committee, whose members are typically more loyal to executive management. The bill also notes that only a majority of members on these committees need to be independent rather than all members.

The current standards for so-called “independence” on these committees is already quite limited, according to legal experts. That independence is just from the board of directors, not necessarily the controlling shareholder who holds the real power. In the case of Tesla, that would mean Elon Musk. 

Rolling back all these shareholder protections has created growing opposition in the state. Joining plaintiff firms are labor unions such as the state’s AFL-CIO whose members’ pension funds are invested in these large companies. If executives at those firms are shielded from legal liability, Fleming says, it enables them to outright steal from workers under the new law. 

“Erasing forty years of case law would not make Delaware look like a stable or predictable place to do business,” wrote a collection of shareholder counsels in a joint letter to the Delaware General Assembly this month. “It would make Delaware look like a state where Elon Musk can change the law because he lost a case.”

[weather-usa]

Death toll from Debby rises to 7 as North Carolina homeowner killed by tornado

FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue Team discovered the body of a missing person on Lloyd Road in Lucama, North Carolina, according to Stephen Mann, the director of communications for Wilson County, who confirmed the fatality to FOX Weather. The individual's home collapsed on them during a likely tornado early Thursday morning.

Tropical Storm Debby claimed another life on Thursday after making its second landfall near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, overnight. As the storm slowly moves up the Eastern Seaboard, it is creating a dangerous flood and tornado threat for millions of Americans.

FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue Team found the body of a missing person on Lloyd Road in Lucama, North Carolina, according to Stephen Mann, Wilson County's director of communications, who confirmed the fatality to FOX Weather. The individual’s house collapsed during a tornado early Thursday morning.

This raises Debby’s death toll to seven.

Springfield Middle School in Lucama also sustained extensive damage, likely from the same tornado. Wilson County Schools Superintendent Lane Mills described the damage to FOX Weather as heartbreaking. The tornado seems to have hit the 6th- and 7th-grade halls the hardest, with sections of the roof and walls either missing or severely compromised.

Climate and Average Weather Year Round in 18428 - Hawley PA:

"I am thankful that students and staff were not in the building during the time of the storm," Mills said. "This situation will be ongoing, and we don’t yet know the full extent of the damage, but we will be sharing information and next steps with our families and staff as we can."

The National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina, also issued Flash Flood Warnings on Thursday morning for several counties in southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina.

Emergency management reported that thunderstorms were producing heavy rain in Bladenboro, North Carolina, just before 5 a.m. ET, after 5-8 inches of rain had already fallen, flooding all roadways leading into the town. In response, Bladen County Emergency Services issued a voluntary evacuation order for residents in and around Bladenboro.

While patrolling in Bladen County, two deputies narrowly avoided being hit by a large tree that fell across Highway 87. Both deputies escaped without injuries, though the patrol car's windshield was shattered. The sheriff's office reported that the deputies were able to prevent multiple vehicles from colliding with the fallen tree.

"This is a reminder of why it's important to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary," the deputies stated. "Law enforcement throughout Bladen County is always taking extra precautions to keep residents as safe as possible."

Debby's heavy rain and strong winds have also led the PGA to postpone the first round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, until Friday.

Weather Forecast For 59901-Kalispell-MT:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/201158941/Weather-Forecast-For-59901-Kalispell-MT

President Joe Biden has approved emergency declarations for Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida. These declarations authorize FEMA to provide federal assistance to protect lives, property, and public health and safety.

What is the forecast for Debby?

After making its initial landfall along Florida’s Big Bend on Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, Debby unleashed over 20 inches of rain, sent storm surges flooding into Southwest Florida, and caused power outages for more than 300,000 customers at the storm's peak.

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue across southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina through Friday, resulting in significant flooding, according to the National Hurricane Center. The NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center has issued a Level 4 flood risk, the highest on its scale, for parts of southeastern and north-central North Carolina and western Virginia on Thursday. This flood risk will shift to the Northeast on Friday.

As Debby moves further inland on Thursday, it will bring the worst of the flooding, with widespread rainfall of 3-6 inches expected and localized amounts reaching up to 15 inches across portions of southeastern and north-central North Carolina, including Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, and Fayetteville. A few tornadoes are also likely in central and eastern North Carolina and southern and central Virginia. Numerous rivers are predicted to rise to moderate or major flood stages.

In response to the threat, a Tornado Watch has been issued for much of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina through the evening, including the nation’s capital, which will remain under the watch into the early hours of Friday.

See more:

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-32026

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-32030

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-32033

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-32034

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-32035

Starting Friday, the storm system will finally begin to move northward, with heavy rain spreading into the Northeast, according to the FOX Forecast Center. Significant flooding is possible on Friday and Saturday, from the Carolinas up through Maine.

[ulkaralakbarova]

Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightly. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Emma Woodhouse: Gwyneth Paltrow Harriet Smith: Toni Collette Mr. Elton: Alan Cumming Frank Churchill: Ewan McGregor Mr. Knightley: Jeremy Northam Mrs. Weston: Greta Scacchi Mrs. Elton: Juliet Stevenson Jane Fairfax: Polly Walker Miss Bates: Sophie Thompson Mr. Woodhouse: Denys Hawthorne Mr. Weston: James Cosmo Mrs. Bates: Phyllida Law Mrs. Goddard: Kathleen Byron Robert Martin: Edward Woodall John Knightley: Brian Capron Isabella: Karen Westwood Miss Martin: Rebecca Craig Mrs. Cole: Angela Down Mr. Cole: John Franklyn-Robbins Bates’ Maid: Ruth Jones Dancer (uncredited): Lee Boardman Film Crew: Set Decoration: Totty Whately Producer: Patrick Cassavetti Production Design: Michael Howells Director of Photography: Ian Wilson Casting: Mary Selway Novel: Jane Austen Screenplay: Douglas McGrath Casting: Sarah Trevis Art Direction: Joshua Meath-Baker Costume Design: Ruth Myers Editor: Lesley Walker Executive Producer: Bob Weinstein Executive Producer: Harvey Weinstein Producer: Steven Haft Executive Producer: Donna Gigliotti Art Direction: Sam Riley Thanks: Giorgio Armani Script Supervisor: Jean Bourne Makeup Department Head: Tina Earnshaw Assistant Costume Designer: Morgan Elliott Original Music Composer: Rachel Portman Hair Department Head: Simon Thompson Makeup Department Head: Susie Adams Property Master: Danny Euston Unit Publicist: Sara Keene Associate Producer: Donna Grey Sound Mixer: Chris Munro Still Photographer: David Appleby Production Coordinator: Fran Triefus Assistant Costume Designer: Sharon Long Dialogue Editor: Derek Holding Gaffer: Norman Smith Supervising Sound Editor: Colin Miller Location Manager: Bill Darby Assistant Editor: Jeremy Hume Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Paul Carr Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Robert Farr Choreographer: Sue Lefton Grip: Richard Broome Assistant Hairstylist: Kay Georgiou Assistant Makeup Artist: Sian Grigg Second Assistant Director: Alison Begg Third Assistant Director: Russell Channon Third Assistant Director: Caleb Menges First Assistant Director: Davina Nicholson Construction Manager: Andrew Golding Scenic Artist: Jason Line Scenic Artist: Stephen Scott Assistant Sound Editor: Geoff R. Brown Foley Artist: Lionel Selwyn Foley Artist: Jason Swanscott Clapper Loader: James Bloom Electrician: David Bruce Electrician: Mark ‘Rocky’ Evans Electrician: Wayne Leach Focus Puller: Roz Naylor Electrician: Ricky Pattenden Wardrobe Supervisor: Michael O’Connor Negative Cutter: Sylvia Wheeler Production Accountant: Kevin Trehy Movie Reviews: Peter McGinn: This is a fine production of the Jane Austen novel, though it is not among my top two favorite adaptations. Not for any serious problems, but rather due to minor decisions that were made in the script. I expected to see more of Emma’s visit to Miss Bates, for example, after she is shamed into repenting her treatment of the silly woman. Other than that I enjoyed the movie well enough. The acting and the script were consistently good except for those moments I mentioned, and I would probably be willing to watch it again someday. Filipe Manuel Neto: **A futile and silly Emma to be taken seriously, but entertaining and has some good moments.** Jane Austen is one of the great writers in the English language and her work has been fertile ground for adaptations and reinterpretations in theatre, television and cinema. From trash to luxury, there’s no shortage of options, and each one stands out for one reason or another. This film was inspired by one of the author’s novels about a charismatic and dreamy young woman who takes pleasure in gathering acquaintances and friends, and playing matchmaker. The problem is that, deep down, she herself feels lonely and doesn’t really see a man capable of making h...

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Practice Makes Perfect Book Review

❓ #QOTD What movie do you wish you could live as your life's story?

[ Find my review below. ]

🦇 Annie Waker is ready to find her happily ever after; someone she can start a family with, like something from one of her favorite romance movies or novels. Unfortunately, that's harder than it seems when you live in a small town where everyone knows EVERYONE'S business. After a date calls her "unbelievably boring," Annie wilts like one of the sunflowers in her flower shop. Luckily, the perfect learning opportunity presents itself in Will Griffin, bodyguard to Annie's sister-in-law-to-be, Amelia Rose. Inspired by Audrey Hepburn's Funny Face, Amelia recommends that Will (sexy, tattooed, has-no-interest-in-getting-married Will) tutor Annie in the way of saying. Can they fight their obvious attraction to one another amid steamy practice dates?

💜 I don't know how, but I managed to hit a streak of fake/practice dating romances (not complaining one bit -- it's a cute trope!). This story is as sweet as a bouquet of tulips with quick wit and sass tossed in between. Will (William? Wilson? Wilbur?) is a stern brunch daddy (a guy who looks scary but is actually all soft and sweet to the person he loves) for Annie from the get-go, quick to fall despite the traumatic upbringing that made him reluctant to let love in after all this time. Will encouraged Annie to be herself, defying the angelic reputation the entire town as pinned on her since childhood. With Will's coaxing, she learns more about herself, begins to take risks, and eventually stands up in a show of character development. The character development for both Annie and Will is beautifully flawless; proof that two people can bring out the best in one another, all while staying true to themselves. Will constantly coaxes Annie to speak her thoughts, even despite her self-consciousness and self-doubt. They defy the miscommunication trope that too many romances fall prey to.

💙 First, I want to express my gratitude for the lack of a miscommunication trope here (there's an itty bitty one, but it only lasts a few pages). Unfortunately, there is a bit of tension lacking in this book. Annie remains steadfast in wanting someone she can start a family with until the end, while Will has convinced himself he isn't worthy of love. While these internal conflicts are consistent, the only external conflict is the town's petition to keep the two of them apart. I expected to see that as a catalyst for small roadblocks the two would need to navigate. Instead, it's pure fluff and cuteness; a sweet romance, for sure, but lacking in substance. There was so much opportunity to explore mental health (Annie's social anxiety, all of Will's issues, the pressure Annie feels because of her reputation, grief), but other than the mention of therapy in passing, it's not given the attention it deserves.

🦇 Recommended to fans of soft, closed-door romances. This is a sweet, quick, fluffy, cute af romance (and Will is definitely worth swoony over).

✨ The Vibes ✨ ���� Contemporary Romance 🌺 Part of a Series 🌻 Small Town Romance 💐 Grumpy vs Sunshine/Opposites Attract 🌹 Dual POV 🌷 Closed Door Romance 🥀 Fake Dating 💬 Quotes ❝ “It seems to me, Annie, that you are just waiting for someone to give you permission to be yourself out loud.” ❞ ❝ And the thing that scares me the most is how desperate I am for her to know all of this and believe it. ❞ ❝ This one is for the softies. The tenderhearted sweeties. The introverts who are afraid to shine. ❞ ❝ For introverts like me with social anxiety, the process of dating is equivalent to waxing your bikini line. Menstrual cramps on day two of your cycle. An emergency dental procedure you weren’t expecting—and guess what: they’re fresh out of novocaine. ❞

[vintertsarn]

@drekkavac - [MAFIA AU]

There were very few things in the world that were still capable of FRIGHTENING Bucky. He had faced down the barrels of more guns than he could count, he had taken hundreds of hits and managed to get up and turn the tide of countless fights. Arms Dealers, Drug Kingpins, Mafiosos, Would-Be Assassins...by that point in his life, he didn't blink an eye in the face of CERTAIN DANGER. After all, he had managed to survive THIS LONG without the long arm of the law OR the Reaper managing to wrap around his neck.

Bucky had ONE VULNERABILITY; his FAMILY.

Normally, anyone that had two braincells to rub together would KNOW BETTER than to try to go after anyone within FAMILIA NASULUI. Now though, there were two bullets that had been extracted from Anya's bodyguard that had been meant for THEM. Had it not been for Wade Wilson, Bucky would have been planning TWO FUNERALS that would have left him a shattered man. Beyond repair.

Instead of that horrific outcome though, the Patriarch of the family was simply being met with the MADDENING TASK of waiting for Anya to walk through the door so he could wrap his arms around them and reaffirm to his own mind that he hadn't LOST A CHILD.

It was to be expected, the loved ones of those in Bucky's line of work were almost always within someone's crosshairs, but that didn't make the threat of it any less HEART-WRENCHING when it was made to be a little more tangible than usual.

He had been within the kitchen for a while, but even given that, the number of dishes that were in the process of being made was impressive. Bucky had set out to make Anya's FAVORITES, and he intended to follow through. When the sound of their SURE AND STEADY FOOTSTEPS begun to echo within the hall, he had stopped briefly in his cutting of the vegetables that rested upon the stone cutting board.

Before Anya had even made it into the room, Bucky had managed to set the knife down on the counter and wiped his hands off. He was no fool, and he knew that the plane tickets would draw a bit of ANNOYANCE from them, but that was what the abundance of FOOD was also for; both an apology, and a PLEA TO STILL LISTEN TO HIM.

Regardless of the irritation written across their features though, he was grateful just to be able to see her face again. Even as Anya all but DEMANDED a justification for the plane tickets, he was shaking his head slightly and approaching her.

"Oprește-te, oprește-te, oprește-te, stai, fetiță, te rog…" He moved his hands slightly in front of him in an equally soft but halting gesture. Once he stood before them, he place his hands upon her shoulders and leaned in to kiss their forehead. After that, he hugged his child close and used any remaining energy he had left after NOT SLEEPING, in order to keep himself together emotionally for the sake of being a strong presence for Anya.

"Sunt recunoscător că ești în siguranță, Anya…" Bucky's voice just barely managed to remain steady. "Copiii mei sunt viața mea…

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he finally moved back from the embrace, giving their shoulders one last reassuring squeeze before his hands fell. He would give her the explanation, but he knew that they weren't going to want to agree.

"He was one man, yes, and he's now DEAD...but whoever hired him for this attempt on your life is STILL OUT THERE." One of his hands moved to rest on the counter as he leaned slightly on it, his other hand moving loosely to his hip.

"I know you understand why I'm doing this. It's the same reason you're letting YOUR CHILD come home to the protection of that fortress."

[ ENCRYPTED MESSAGE. ]    plotted starter for BUCKY BARNES. @vintertsarn.

Being home should have been a RELIEF  ,  considering what had just happened.  Maybe it was a testimate to how well prepared she was thanks to BOTH of her parents … Or maybe it was just the relief that this was all ACTUALLY over. Couldn't really cause problems for someone if you were a dead man.

Maybe that was the reason for her FRUSTRATION over the tickets to Romania that had showed up the morning after arriving in New York.  She knew this was her dad  ,  & could even get behind sending her son their until things cooled down … But as much as her parents were … She was far too much of a WORKAHOLIC to be ready to take an extended trip home.  More importantly , Wade hadn't been extended an invite there yet … & she doubted he was getting fast tracked to that position.

Determined feet in heeled boots MARCHED down the hallway of the New York family estate , heading straight to where she knew he would be at.  The kitchen.  He always liked having family dinners after something like this happened. Something about remembering what was IMPORTANT.  It was something that they found set him apart from most people in his business.  This all really was for his FAMILY , & he took every opportunity to make sure they all knew that.

❝ Got some plane tickets in the mail this morning , ❞   Straight down to business upon walking into the room , she let the itinerary DROP on the counter , pausing for a moment before gesturing to them with her hand.   ❝ Is this really necessary?  The man's dead , I don't know how he's going to do much damage anymore that we have to run away to hide in a fortress. ❞

[kimi-level-of-idgaf]

This project is going to be so bad - Luca Fantilli

a/n: okay this is a first and i’m nervous but whatever. hopefully it’s not too bad

Last year was rough, between the softball season and the demanding major that is Architecture, I was having a hard time balancing all of my work and my mom brought up the valid point that my major shouldn’t stress me out this much in just my freshman year. 

After a long discussion with my parents over the summer, I decided to pursue another interest of mine, athletics. While i’m still technically undeclared, i’ve signed up for all the course work for a sports management degree, figuring I can do whatever I want with it in the future. I loved Architecture but it wasn’t working out. Besides, the students in this major are much more my speed than the Architecture students who will gladly spend a Saturday night working on a model over a party at one of the off campus houses. 

I had known Luke Hughes last year. We were friendly and often attended the same parties, both of us being athletes. I didn’t really know what to expect walking into my first Sports Law class of the year, but a row of four hockey players turning their heads after Luke called my name was not it. He sent a smile and waved me over “New major, eh?” he asked me. 

“New me,” I replied with a smile, I figured most of the boys with him were the new freshman as I only recognized Luke and Dylan. 

“Here, take the seat next to Luca, on the end. “ 

I look at the closest of the boys and am met with the smiliest brown-eyed boy i’ve ever seen. “Hi, I’m Luca,” he said reaching his hand out as I drop my bag on the table in front of my seat. I sit and shake his hand smiling. 

“These are some of the new froshes, Luca, Adam, and Rutger.” Luke explains. I smile and peek over towards the door, waiting for MY softball freshman to show up. Seconds later and my new teammate, Claire walks in. I wave her over and by the time class starts the row of us seven we’re getting along just nicely. 

Flash forward four weeks and we have our first partner project in the class. We were assigned our table partners and due to the odd numbers, Luca and I were partners, Claire being put with the girl sitting on her other side. “We can try to move things around if you want to be with Claire, I don’t mind.” Luca says with a smile. I snort, “I think I’ll be fine putting up with you for one project Luca.” I respond with a smile. “Do you want to try and knock this thing out sometime this weekend? I’m free whenever.” I ask while we all make our way out to the hallway. 

“Hmm yeah, Saturday work?” he says, I nod. “Alright I’ll text you. Have fun at practice, bopper.” A slight blush covers my cheeks at the nickname as Claire and I turn to head towards the Wilson complex for some lifting with the team. 

It’s now Saturday, a little bit before noon and Luca has just texted me asking if I wanted to pick up some lunch on my way over to his dorm. 

I stop at the cafe on campus and grab two lunches before making my way to Luca’s. 

“Hey,” a smiley Luca opens the door before I can even knock. “Oh- hi,” I look up with probably just as big of a smile on my face. “Ready to grind out this project?” he asks. 

A smaller smile fills my face “To be honest, I don’t even know what the project is supposed to cover.” I say bashfully. 

“Hmm, well I guess we better start then.”

After a grueling one and half hours of explaining things we didn’t understand  to each other, I let out a sigh and flop onto my back across from Luca. “I still don’t understand all of these stupid labor laws. Why are there so many and why does the NCAA have to change them every year!” I let out with a sigh. 

Luca chuckles, “Yeah, I think I’m done trying to understand injury protocol. It’s way easier when a coach just tells you you’re out.” Luca sighs. 

“This project is going to be so bad. Why’d he even put us in a group together, we have one working brain cell working together.” I mutter. 

Luca let’s put a loud laugh, “I don’t mind being partners with you. Makes it fun at least.”

I blush for probably the millionth time that week due to Luca and he smiles over at me. 

“Really, I like hanging out with you, it’s a nice break from Adam for sure.” he continues. 

“You’re not that bad to hang out with either, Fantilli.” I sit up and close my binder full of notes. Luca looks down at his computer but just stares, as if in thought. 

I myself, was only slightly enjoying the view of the boy who’s bed I was currently in. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so subtle. 

Luca looks like he’s thinking for a couple more seconds before he lifts his head and catches me. With a soft smile he says, “I like being your friend and all but would you want to go out sometime?” He mutters the last part and I have to lean in to hear him. 

“Oh my god, I didn’t know if you were ever going to ask.” I let out a laugh as I nod my head,”Yes, Lu, I’ll go out with you.”

 He breaks out in a huge smile before surging forward to kiss my lips. I kiss back immediately. The kiss was soft and sweet but soon turned into teeth on teeth as we both start smiling and giggling. He pulls away and stands up off the bed, taking my hands in his. “Come on, I didn’t even think you’d agree, but I’m sure going to start right away.” He says with his dazzling smile. 

“Where are we going? Wait, I need to grab my stuff.” I say as he drags me to where my shoes are by the door. 

“Just leave it, we can come back later, I’m taking you out on a date, don’t worry where.” he responds. 

I give him a playful side eye as I slide my ugg’s on and walk out with him, hand in hand. “Better not be planning on murdering me or anything like that, Fantilli.”

a/n: let me know what you guys think of this one. i love this story line and could come up with more parts if they’re wanted -soph

[tarithenurse]

Accidental Partners - 7

Fandom: MCU Pairing: Sam Wilson &/x fem!reader Contents: Are those...feelings? Eew! A/N: Not quite done getting my brain back together, but managed to finish a chapter nonetheless. Here ya go. Be gentle, please.

7. A way out

...  Reader   ...

“So the good thing is the trial will be in New York,” Sam begins, “which means you can be in your own home at least.”

You’re lazying in a hammock with a law book and find absolutely nothing of what he’s telling you reassuring. Knowing where the trial will be held means that there’s a date for it and you’re not prepared enough. All of your notes are written on paper and your arm is cramping most nights...but you’re not ready.

“It’ll be another month at least before we know the date and your defender has finished reviewing the case but at least -”

“Wait what?” you interrupt him, unsure you heard it right. “Defender?”

He looks perplexed. “Well yeah...y’didn’t expect to be just left to sort this out on your own, did ya?”

“I...kinda did...”

Now you think about it, it seems a bit unrealistic that you should be able to run your own defence but you’ve had very little information. Why didn’t I just ask? The answer is simply: being told ‘no’ after hoping would have felt worse than just assuming. So instead you’re blessed with a surprise as Sam explains about a lawyer that has taken the case pro bono and apparently is looking forward to seeing you.

“He’s a good guy. Got him out of a pinch once so he felt that he owed me a favour,” Sam explains. “But anyways, he’ll be coming to your place on Monday, so we have a bit less than a week to get you home. SHIELD are taking care of tickets and I’ll be coming along for the trip...unless you rather want one of the othe-”

“No please, I’d like it to be you!” It just rushes out on a breath, quicker and more desperate than you intended, but you can’t stand the idea of returning to New York and a gruelling trial without Sam nearby. Trying to avoid his piercing gaze, you start fidgeting with the book in your lap. “I mean...if it’s not too much trouble...” Of course it is! But you’re floundering now, babbling like a fool about how you can accommodate him in your apartment: “...it’s a pull-out, the couch, so it gets fairly comfy to sleep on and or if you prefer you can have the bed and I’ll take the couch that way it probably makes more sense actually -”

“Y/N...” but you don’t let him interrupt you until, “babe! Breathe!” Following order, you gasp for air and Sam grabs the chance, “relax. I’ll be happy to come along, to be honest. I uhm would like to see this thing through, you know?” You nod mutely. “But c’mon, girl...you sleep in your own bed and I’ll be fine on the couch.”

...

The last days in the south are filled with an unaddressed tension that only seems to swell and choke everything by the time you’re sitting on the airplane to New York. What should have been an exciting first time flying is marred by silence and nervousness that has nothing to do with the flight itself. You feel it in your chest, weighing down and making it hard to breathe properly; but it’s also in your shoulders that creep upwards and your jaw that seems to be glued in place.

If only that had been all to worry about.

You come home with Sam in tow to an apartment with police tape crossing the front door. Angrily, you swipe at it, allowing it to flutter to the ground only to find that the door itself has been replaced and the lock is new...your key doesn’t fit.

“I’ve got it,” Sam mutters behind you, handing a key forward over your shoulder.

That fits. Stepping through the door, you hold your breath at the sight of the place that has been turned upside down in search of...something, you don’t know what.

“What...?”

It feels wrong. Someone was in your home and went through everything with a fine-toothed comb to find something incriminating on you – they went through your home that was supposed to have been your safe place even if you had to run away. And no one had warned you. Not even Sam.

“I’m sorry,” he says as if reading your mind, “I didn’t think of this.”

“Me neither,” you manage to whisper.

And it’s true: through the months you’ve been living at Sarah’s place, your home and everything in New York was somehow in a time capsule in your mind, supposedly safe from everything because what they (the prosecutors and their clients) wanted was you...and they knew where you were.

It takes hours to clean up even if it’s a small place. Sam can’t help much apart from throw out the dead plants and the spoiled food from the fridge although he does go to work with sponge, cloths and soapy water to restore some of the former glory to your kitchen and bathroom while you’re busy returning things to their places. You hate it. Hate the silence that fills your place and the fact that you can’t put on any music because, oh yeah, you used to use your PC for that and that’s gone!

“Will I get it back?” you ask Sam, knowing that he probably doesn’t have the answer.

“Depends on how they handle evidence,” he admits.

Fresh groceries are delivered, after Sam has ordered them for you, seeing how you can’t leave to do them yourself. That’s when the next setback comes slamming into you: without cash, you’d planned to pay with debit card but the card is declined and Sam has to come to your rescue once more to your chagrin.

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, embarrassed to cause such troubles.

“Don’t be, just give me time to sort this out, okay?”

He spends all of the next day on the phone with lawyers and bankers, sometimes involving you directly, until your accounts have been freed once more.

...

You watch the man sitting before you with a mixture of curiosity and distrust – he has done nothing to earn the latter, it’s just a mouthful to trust a stranger with your future all of a sudden. Well...that sounds like something I’ve done already.

“What do you need?” you ask tentatively.

The man smiles a bit too brightly under the sunglasses. “How about we take it from the beginning so I can get an idea how this all came to be. What’s your occupation?”

...  Sam   ...

Sitting in the kitchen, Sam tries to keep himself distracted from the conversation in the other room by fiddling with his phone. But he can’t help but smile at himself as [Y/N]’s voice answers each question without hesitation.

They’ve talked about it. Discussed how important it is to play each card open and down to earth so a jury won’t get any wrong ideas.

“But there’s nothing to get wrong ideas from,” she had moped, trying to hide how nervous the idea made her.

Now the lawyer is sitting, telling her the same exact thing and Sam can’t help but to be proud of how well prepared she is for anything the guy throws at her. Life and work history, hobbies, how she got her current job, how she first found out something was wrong. All of it is noted down after each answer has been given with barely an ‘uhm’ or an ‘er’.

“What’s your relationship to Sam Wilson?”

Sam sloshes the coffee down his shirt, scalding his chest but he barely notices it compared to how hard his heart is thumping against the rib cage. Get a grip, we’re just in this because of work.

“Our...our relationship started out of my need for help and safety...I had nowhere else to turn and Sam had been put on the case. So I guess...I suppose it’s just work for him,” there’s a slight pause and he knows that she knows he’s listening, “but for me...now...I’d like to think of him as my...my friend.”

“Mhm,” the lawyer hums, probably stone faced despite the confession he’s just witnessed.

Out in the kitchen, Sam can’t help but feel, well, elated if that’s at all possible while also feeling a creeping sadness. The confession is more than he could have hoped for, more than what’s fair to ask...but a part of him would have loved to get just a smidgen more than something platonic. No...that’s not how it works, he chastises himself, I ought to forget about it!

Tiptoeing to the bathroom, the man digs out the t-shirt from the day before from the hamper, his fingers brushing past the worn clothes of [Y/N] and stirring up the scent briefly. Sweet – the smell of the deodorant is floral and fresh even now. Then his hand finds what he’s looking for and pulls out his own shirt, the one he had spilled coffee down being whipped off and rinsed under the faucet to get the worst of the stain away.

Is it really that stupid? He knows the answer is a resounding ‘yes’, but there’s just...something. The way she looks at him sometimes but mostly it’s what Sarah had commented on the day he’d come back from the last mission.

“Good, I couldn’t stand the moping about,” Sarah had smiled.

“Boys been missing their uncle? Aww!”

Normally it was not something they commented on, but it was nice to know...that was until Sarah had laughed and shaken her head. “Not them, oh no. Your little rescue project has been worried.”

“[Y/N]? She’s not a rescue project!” He’d taken a beat to reconsider her words. “And what do you mean she’s been worried?”

He never got an answer to that but he’d started noticing the way [Y/N]’s eyes lit up when they talked or the way she’d orbit closer to him when both loitering in the garden. Some little corner in his heart felt warm and aglow whenever Sam allowed himself to think that maybe it was because she wanted more...but nothing ever came of it and it was too little for him to dare act on.

So now he’s standing in the bathroom belonging to a girl he really likes, pouting over the fact that she sees them as platonic material. Well, Sam decides, if that’s all it is then that’s how it’s gonna be.

…   Reader  …

After the lawyer is gone, you sit and stare at the glass in front of you, watching the drops of condense gleam in the sunlight that comes slanting in the window and the odd clink and wobble of the ice cubes as they melt in the drink. An outsider would think you found it fascinating. Someone inside your head would know that you aren’t actually seeing it at all but rather watching your common sense crash and burn.

Why did I say that? You question yourself again and again. It was stupid. Mindbogglingly idiotic. And you know he must have heard it. It’s a small apartment so there’s no way Sam is still oblivious that you consider him more than a random hero.

Random hero. In what world is that a normal sentence? Apparently in your world because there he comes, swaggering into the living room with an apologetic grin on his face and you know what’s about to happen.

“Spilled coffee down my good shirt,” he gestures to the t-shirt which you only now realize is different from the one before, “didn’t want to disturb you guys so I just went through the hamper…it’s getting full.” Huh? You blink at him owlishly while your mind tries to progress what the conversation really is about. “I’ll run a load tonight if you want?”

Honestly, your first thought is that it would be helpful and kind of him. But as it turns out, that notion is quickly overpowered by the awareness that it’d mean he’d handle your underwear too and you just…can’t.

“Nonono, it’s okay,” you sputter, “I’ll do that myself.”

It should be possible even with the house arrest.

“Oh,” he accepts, “okay.”

For a moment none of you say anything, just stay there in an awkward silence while you consider asking if he heard anything…or if you were lucky enough that he was changing while you confessed to the lawyer. Well…confessed is an exaggeration, to be fair. You said that you see Sam as a friend…but you didn’t admit to how you would like to see him.

[samwilsonshandsandass]

Evening Date

Pairing: Sam Wilson x reader Summary:  After a long day at work, Sam pampers you Warnings: none Word count: 1024

Usually you loved your job. You liked coming into the store, redecorating the store to show customers what they could do with the assortment you sold. You liked your colleagues and the solidarity among each other. You liked talking with the customers, helping them and bringing them joy when they left the store with something to embellish their home with or with a little gift for someone.

But there were some days you didn’t as much. Because of the same customers. Today was one of those days. One customer accused you of something you didn’t even do, you just hadn’t greeted him in an entirely fake bubbly voice he most likely thought to be owed by “lowly retail staff”.

One customer broke several things and when you went over, she was all like she actually wanted to put it away. Spoiler alert, she didn’t and she actually had put the things, one snow globe and other things, back where they came from. And it would have taken minutes for a different customer injuring themselves and the store being faced with a law suit.

And then there were the customers that apparently thought retail workers didn’t even deserve basic respect. Talking on the phone and ignoring you while you needed them to do things like paying, not saying what they wanted and expecting you to read their thoughts or just ignoring your very existence. Not even a hello or goodbye.

After eight hours, you were done for and just glad to close up the store with your youngest colleague. The way home went by quickly to your relief. You entered yours and Sam’s flat and just let your bag fall down next to the coatrack before even closing the door.

“Hi baby!” You heard Sam from the kitchen. “Do me a favor and don’t go into the living room, please? Or the kitchen?”

“Uh. Okay? I’m taking a quick shower!”

Afterwards, you donned your finest sweatpants and sweater (the ones without holes from the many times of washing them) you stood in the hall.

“Sam? Can I now come into the kitchen? Or the living room?”

Sam didn’t answer. Instead, he came out and took you by the hand. “Long day?”

You nodded.

“I did something for you. Hope you like it” He kissed your forehead.

“I’m curious.”

Sam wrapped his arm around your waist and led you into the living room that also housed the dining table. It was laid and decorated with cutlery, plates, candles and whatnot that looked familiar to you.

“Don’t tell me you used the candles and candle holder and just everything that’s on the table for decorating purposes from my store?” You laughed.

In the middle of the table stood said candleholder, black with gold accents, with long black glittering candles in it on a golden tablet. On the tablet laid fake flowers, mostly roses and some orbs in different colors. The tableware and cutlery gleamed in the candle light and the glittering candles reflected the flames as well.

Sam smiled. “You know it. And you know your store’s assortment better than others. Maybe except your manager.”

“Because she’s the one who orders the stuff.”

“And still, you’re one of the best in that store.”

You smiled and took Sam’s hand in yours. He stroked it with his thumb. “Thanks.” You mumbled.

“How did you get your hands on the stuff without me knowing it? I mean, I work there. Almost every day.”

“I chose the one day I knew with certainty you didn’t work and slipped in. And when your colleagues recognized me, I made them promise not to tell you anything.”

“My, aren’t you smart” You teased him.

“I do have my moments” Sam smiled at you. “Now, what do you say to baked salmon on leaf spinach with Hasselback potatoes?”

“Ha- what?” You looked at the fan like potatoes.

“Hasselback. Originally from Sweden you cut the raw potatoes and put oil and butter on them and then put them in the oven. But I added some spice, so I hope they turned out good.”

“Not using spices would be torture for you. I’m sure they’ll taste incredible!”

“Tuck in then” Sam grinned and gestured for you to start eating.

You ate in comfortable silence and sipped on the exquisite wine Sam had decided on to compliment the fish. After everything on the plates was cleared and the wine was entirely drunk, Sam steered you towards the couch. The couch table always had some kind of centerpiece on it but at first sight you thought it looked different.

“Sam…?”

“Do you like it? Did the guy who doesn’t spend his working hours in between decorations do a good job of decorating?” Sam looked at you hopeful.

“Wonderful. We could use someone with you eye. Ever thought of a career change?”

“You like it, really?!”

“Really. Although-“ You stretched out the ‘although’, “this one ornament looks a little too straight in its placement.” You moved something half an inch to the left.

“Little critic” Sam bumped your shoulder gently before he pushed you by your shoulders down on the couch. “I’ll be right back.”

“Right back” meant “right back”, because you didn’t even have the time to lean forward and inspect your man’s decorating, Sam was back with a big plate. On it were several desserts. You spied panna cotta and lava cake and several other things you couldn’t yet make out.

“Scoot over baby.”

You did and cuddled into Sam’s chest. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you up. He turned his head to kiss your temple. Sam took a fork of the panna cotta and you opened your mouth. It was the best you had ever had. Bite after bite, Sam fed everything on the plate and interspersed kisses all over your face and top of your head.

“Satisfied?” Sam looked at you.

“Mhm” You mumbled with closed eyes.

“If you scoot any closer you gonna be in my skin” He chuckled.

“As if you’d complain” You mumbled, sleep creeping in more and more.

“Never said that.” Sam kissed you on the lips softly.

[themculibrary]

AU Fics Masterlist 2

Links Last Checked: April 13th, 2024

part one, part three, part four

All I Ever Wanted (ao3) - alby_mangroves, seratonation sam/bucky, steve/tony G, 14k

Summary: Florist/tattooist AU. When Steve and Tony decide to get married Bucky and Natasha volunteer to organise the wedding for them. As it turns out the florist is one Sam Wilson and Bucky really didn’t stand a chance.

A Pirate's Tale (ao3) - Marvel corner (PinkGold) bucky/steve/tony M, 35k

Summary: Pirate AU where Bucky, Steve and Tony have a past, a present and a future together. Not everything is easy, in fact, easy may not have been in their vocabulary to start with.

Catfish (ao3) - L1av steve/bucky E, 28k

Summary: Catfish /ˈkatˌfiSH/ - A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.

Steve Rogers is a famous movie star, known for his role as Captain America. Bucky Barnes is a bored law student who drinks too much wine. Bucky gets on match.com to boost his confidence. What he doesn't expect is a guy using Steve Rogers' pictures on a dating profile. Bucky decides to mess with the guy. After all, what idiot uses Steve Rogers' pictures on a dating site?

Not like it's really him, right? Bucky may need more wine.

Clueless (ao3) - Nemerosa                                                                      scott/hope M, 40k

Summary: A high school AU in the Ant-Man 'verse. I wasn't able to find many and I thought this might be worth a shot... Inspired by Clueless, my general love of Paul Rudd and the Ant Man part of the MCU.

In which Scott is generally still the handsome goof we all know and love, he's just younger. An intelligent slacker who could be something if he only applied himself more.

Hope is the new transfer student who arrives and challenges him, academically and in other ways...

Countdown (ao3) - ShesLikeTexas steve/tony, pepper/happy, bucky/natasha E, 96k

Summary: Mob Boss Steve Rogers kidnaps Tony Stark and gives him 365 days to fall in love with him.

Dishonor On Your Cow (ao3) - mandarou steve/bucky E, 111k

Summary: “Sergeant Barnes?”

“Oh, hell no, don’t call him that, man,” Sam warned.

“Captain Fuck Off!” Barnes shouted over him. “Fight me!”

Steve didn’t know whether to laugh or just slink away. He managed to combine the two by pacing two steps and snorting instead. Like a bull.

“I’m gonna need you to calm your ass, Barnes,” Sam said as he went limp again, obstructing Barnes’s struggling under him. “This is so undignified. That is Captain goddamn America.”

“Captain goddamn America!” Barnes repeated, louder. And angrier.

Steve cleared his throat again. “I’ve been looking for you,” he told Barnes.

“I hope you brought lube this time!” Barnes shouted.

Gonna Marry That Boy (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor clint/tony G, 6k

Summary: Clint runs a coffee shop with his best friend Natasha, and he has a crush on one of the customer's, but he's never actually talked to this boy. He's awkward enough as it is, and things get even more difficult once he learns who the customer is.

Heart of Fools (ao3) - Claudia_flies steve/bucky E, 55k

Summary: Bucky spots the leaflet under some old magazines as he eats. It’s crumpled and worn. He’s looked at it several times in the past seven months since he found it in the Omega center. It has pictures of smiling couples holding hands, sitting on picnic blankets under willow trees. They’re outlined by slogans like “Serve Your Country” and “Your Contribution is Needed”.

Into the Open Air (ao3) - SilverSlashes bucky/steve/tony E, 30k

Summary: Steve is a werewolf missing his mate. Tony is a retired hunter desperate for a cause to take up. They’re both looking for something out in the idyllic, Victorian Irish country-side. They both find it. But the entanglements of love and honor, the bonds of pack and family, and the capricious nature of fate and forgiveness could force three hearts together or tear them all apart.

Lakeside Retreat (ao3) - spacebuck steve/bucky M, 16k

Summary: When Bucky Barnes (writer, sometimes) is sent to Lake Placid to relax and work on his next novel, he's not expecting his trip to get off to such a bad start. Anything that could go wrong, has - until he's rescued from his own misery by his handsome neighbour, who looks mighty familiar.

Last Stop Before Malibu (ao3) - justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday) steve/tony E, 31k

Summary: Steve stands under the hot sun, hoping that the next trucker to roll in will bring him enough money to eat tonight, enough to save a little, to get out of this place and go somewhere new.

What he doesn't expect, is to meet a man who changes everything.

When Tony leaves, Steve follows and finds a place in his home, his bed, and maybe, his heart.

Pythagorean Expectation (ao3) - trickdaggers steve/tony E, 182k

Summary: Steve turns, feeling his heart fall out of his chest at the figure walking towards them. This has to be a dream. A nightmare— one that Steve has definitely had before.

Tony Stark walking towards them does not compute. Even with his eyes shrouded by orange-tinted spectacles, there is no mistaking that lopsided grin and casual strut onto the field even from a distance. Steve's head is swimming with questions. Tony holds so much notoriety right now that it would be near impossible to keep him transferring teams a secret, especially considering the team he would be leaving is owned by his own family.

(Aka, the fic in which Steve and Tony are rivals both off and on the baseball field— until they aren’t. And it’s also in the 90s, because why the hell not.)

Straight on till Morning (ao3) - Sineala steve/tony E, 109k

Summary: Tony Stark resigned his commission in Starfleet five years ago, after a disastrous away mission, and he swore he’d never go back. He just wants to be left alone to build warp engines in peace. But the universe has more in store for him than that, as he discovers when Admiral Fury comes to him with an offer he could never have expected and cannot possibly refuse: first officer and chief engineer aboard the all-new USS Avenger, a starship of Tony’s own design. What’s more, the Avenger’s captain is Steve Rogers, hero of the Earth-Romulan War. Believed dead for over a century, Steve is miraculously alive… and very, very attractive.

But nothing is ever easy for Tony. As he wrestles with his secret desire for his new captain and his not-so-dormant fears, another mission starts to go wrong, and Tony becomes aware that Steve has secrets of his own – and the truth could change everything.

The Ballad of The Three Legged Werewolf (ao3) - The Notorious Trollop Vo the Terrible (Voishen) steve/bucky E, 84k

Summary: Funny how the perfect time to begin again is right after you realize everything you had is gone. After being a test subject and a weapon in the hands of the humans for fifteen years, Bucky is finally free. His first order of business is finding his own kind and maybe some answers about the holes in his memory. When he meets the pack's First Alpha, he quickly realizes there is something irresistible about him that has nothing to do with his pack standing. With mating season on the horizon, it's time to pick a partner and he knows exactly which alpha he'd like to keep his den warm. Now if only he could remember how seduction works.

the bruises that we share (ao3) - haveufoundwhaturlookingfor steve/bucky T, 3k

Summary: Soulmate AU. Sharing the same injuries/bruises. Pre-War. Skinny!Steve doesn’t like bullies, and often finds himself getting beat up, leaving bruises littered all over his body. Steve doesn’t really think about his soulmate when he gets himself in these situations, figuring someone like him won’t end up with his soulmate. Then, Bucky enters the picture.

The Mating Habits of the Modern Falcon: A Field Guide (ao3) - chicklette bucky/sam E, 48k

Summary: Samuel Wilson has his shit together.

Not in this fic though. In this fic, Sam has a roommate (Steve), a fuck-buddy (Bucky), a full class load (and some student loans), an internship at the VA, a tense relationship with his sister, and no idea what he's doing.

But he's working on it.

To Forgive a Murder (ao3) - SpacePunkStevie steve/bucky M, 24k

Summary: The issue of the Winter Soldier is, truth be told, a dire and intractable problem for Steve Rogers (and, indeed, for at least one powerful government and at least one frustrating millionaire). But this was a dire and intractable problem that had been handed to Steve by fate - or something like it - when he was given Bucky Barnes as a soulmate.

There were a lot of complaints that Steve would like to lodge with fate.

(You’re) The One That I Want (ao3) - eriot, tisfan bucky/tony T, 24k

Summary: Billionaire genius Tony Stark meets and falls in love with tough guy and heart-throb Bucky Barnes during a summer’s fling at a beachside resort. Thought to have been parted forever, they discover they’re both attending Avenger’s Academy, a prep-school for superpowered people. With a different social circle, different goals and different dreams, will Tony and Bucky decide that the other is “the one that they want.”

An Avenger’s Academy/Grease mash up fic.