#and I’d accidentally gotten a really good balance going while I was at Starbucks because my drinks were free

[stylishanachronism]

The problem with giving up takeout for lent is that I’m not actually up to cooking anything right now and I’m out of instant stuff, which would normally be solved by takeout But

[overeducatedandoverworked]

Accidentally On Purpose: The Sexual Harassment Case

Having gotten out from under SHIELD's wings and into Stark Industry had its advantages. She had an actual salary now, for one, which meant she was now being paying about half of what putting up with Tony Stark was worth. She also had her own office in the middle of the labs, which was pretty sweet. She'd been using it to take micro-naps while working, which she was sure everyone would totally understand. If she told them, anyways.

But there were also a few disadvantages... like having to deal with the jerk in front of her.

"Hey, beautiful. Ever wanted to try turning up the heat a little? Because I'd happily keep you warm."

Ugg. Why'd she always attract these kinds of bozos? Okay, she'll admit that when she heard Johnny Storm and the other members of the Fantastic Four were arriving in Avengers Tower, she had been thrilled. She was a little star-struck, and she was starting to develop a taste for superheroes (she blamed the Avengers, with their perfect biceps and perfect abs that you could shred cheese on), but her attraction had ended the moment that he had opened his mouth and THAT had poured out. He was a complete and total perv. Eww, no thank you!

"No, I think I'd rather go jump in New York Bay first, thanks," she replied, signing the form she'd just finished filling out and grabbing the next one off the stack. "Don't you have a supervillain to go beat up or something?"

"Nope!" He replied, leaning back on her spare chair and crossing his arms above his head, looking for all the world like he was having the time of his life. "Reed's busy sharing whatever stupid idea he came up with this time with Stark, so he's busy for the next couple hours." The door opened behind him, but he was too busy ranting to notice.

"Come on, why won't you let me take you out?" "Maybe you're just not her type," Natasha replied, making Johnny jump in his seat. Darcy couldn't suppress a smirk. He had had a run-in with Natasha earlier in the day, apparently, and he looked for all the world like he was staring into the face of death. Which, in a way, he was. "Ready for your lesson?" Natasha asked, setting her eyes now on Darcy. Yikes, even though she'd know the woman for two months, she still totally understood Johnny's fear.

"Yeah, I'll be down in ten minutes," she oh-so-casually replied, grabbing her sports bag.

"Make it three," Natasha said, then turned and left the room. Darcy turned to Johnny and said, "Looks like I've got a date," and walked out of her office, not even waiting for him to pick his jaw up off the ground.

“So your type is dark and deadly, huh? Well, I say that you could use a little… heating up.” Darcy couldn’t help rolling her eyes when she heard that voice behind her. Johnny had been pursuing her relentlessly all week. She swore that he was taking her blatant refusal as a challenge. She’d dodging him with JARVIS's help, but he kept popping up in the strangest places. Like Jane’s lab, for instance.

“My type isn’t dark and deadly. It’s just that I have standards, ones that are too high for me to consider you,” she tossed out, not even looking up from the equations she was inputting.

Johnny wolf whistled. “That’s quite the burn, gorgeous. See, this is why we’d be perfect together.” She looked up to glare at him, and he grinned, then (oh my Thor) swaggered towards her. “Admit it: you want me.” Was he… was he posing? Odin help us all.

“No, no I do not. Do me a favor, and leave.” She turned her music back on and turned back to the computer, ignoring him as he whined, “Come on, beautiful, give me a chance. Let me take you out—”

“I believe the lady has made her desires clear,” Thor’s booming voice interjected. She turned around to greet him, and saw Johnny visibly shrink. “She does not wish for you to remain, and thus your best course of action is to leave my lightning sister alone, before she requests your removal.”

Johnny, for his credit, nearly ran out of the room. “Thor, you’re my favorite brother from space,” Darcy said, going over to give him his greeting hug.

“The feeling is thoroughly requited, my little friend,” he said, hugging her back tightly.

Darcy sighed as she finally got to the front of the Starbucks line. It'd taken a good half hour of waiting in line, but it was totally worth it. She loved getting out of the tower to do her two favorite things: drink caffeine, and chat with friends. She was just glad that Pepper had declared one late night after she had seen her still awake after twenty-eight hours straight that all caffeine-containing beverages were to be considered business expenses. There weren't many things better than free coffee. Speaking of which...

"Could I please get one venti quadruple-shot half-and-half caramel macchiato, with double syrup, extra drizzle, and extra whip? The name's Darcy, thanks." She gave her sweetest smile and tried to ignore the way the barista's jaw dropped. "Oh, and a grande sugar-free green tea, please." She was digging through her purse to grab her company credit card when a man next to her said, "I'll pay for her drinks."

She looked up next to her, only to see, "Johnny? You've got to be kidding me." She found her card and handed it to the barista, pushing his hand out of the way in the process.

“Why are you so cold? I was just trying to make sure you got all warmed up!”

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, doing her best to shoot daggers with her eyes, the way Natasha seemed to do so well. He shrugged, following her to wait for her drinks.

"I may have asked around to see where you go in your free time. And when I saw you leaving the tower—"

"You followed me?!" She shrieked, catching the attention of the people around her. She lowered her voice and whispered, "This is really, really not okay. I've told you over and over again, I don't want to go out with you, I don't want to spend time with you, and I just want you to leave me alone. Are you hearing what I'm saying?"

"I know that's what you're saying," Johnny said, still wearing that stupid, cocky smile, "But I know what you really mean is—"

"This guy bothering you, Darcy?" Bruce interrupted, appearing with their drinks and handing her her cup. His body language was perfectly calm, but his eyes were tinged green, and he seemed to radiate anger.

"No, no," Johnny said, "Not bothering her at all. See you at the tower, Darcy."

"No you won't!" She called after his retreating form. She turned to Bruce. "Thanks for that. The guy won't leave me alone."

They sat down at a table and Bruce gazed down at his cup of tea for a few moments before mumbling, "I've never liked men that won't take no for an answer. The other guy doesn't, either."

Darcy couldn't help smiling. "And both of you were my knight in shining armor today! But enough about that jerk. Tell me about your work."

That’s it. Darcy was on the edge of getting a restraining order. Johnny was practically stalking her. She had even talked to Tony, who had passed on the message to Johnny through Reed Richards that he was to stay away from her. She was so glad that the Fantastic Four were going to be leaving today. It had been a long two weeks, and she was looking forward to finally being able to breathe easy. She just had to put up with Tony and Richards’ final lab day together, which all of the other lab assistants had ducked out of, the wimps, and then she was free!

Of course, that was a lot easier said than done. So far she was succeeding, although it had involved a lot of yelling phrases like, “No, don’t try to put JARVIS into that machine!” and “Hold on, Tony, you can’t pour vodka into Red Bull!” and “Stop, Tony, Pepper does not you giving sex advice to Reed and Sue. Yes, she will find out about this. I’ll make sure of it.” Even though Reed was even more arrogant than Tony, which she hadn’t thought was possible, he at least had the sense to follow directions. That was a nice change of pace. He was fairly self-sufficient, although he did lose track of time, much like Banner often did. She could handle that.

At least she had them mostly settled down now. They were just putting the finishing touches on their prototype, while she was running the simulations on the computer with JARVIS’s help to make sure nothing would explode. Or implode. Or create a wormhole. All three were legitimate concerns.

All of a sudden, she felt a hand around her waist, and Johnny’s voice in her ear, saying, “So, baby, you wanna go on that date before I leave?” A cold chill went through her body, and the training Natasha had been drilling into her kicked in. She grabbed his arm, twisted it backwards, and while he was knocked off-balance, kicked his legs out from under him and backed up two steps while he hit the ground. She grabbed her taser, set it for its highest power, and fired it at him before he could get up. As he spasmed on the ground, she ran to the other side of the room, where Tony and Reed were watching the scene as it unfolded.

Reed raised his eyebrows at her, and asked in a half-arrogant, half-amused voice, “Was that really necessary?”

“Look,” Darcy said, still panting from adrenaline, “It was this or a lawsuit. You really wanna go up against Tony’s lawyers?”

Reed looked over at Johnny’s unconscious and slightly-singed body, and said, “It was about time you did it. I was afraid Sue was going to have to. This is probably less painful.”

[itsjayyyy]

July 2, 2018 11:17 pm

So yesterday I went to work and all that jazz, and as my shift was ending rose sent me a text saying she was going to paul’s birthday dinner and they wouldn’t be back at their place until a little later, and I should wait until they come back to slide over. I responded that since it was sunday night (back to school), I was planning on heading back to my college for the night. But as soon as I sent that message I realized that they were offering to let me stay over again, and there was no way in hell I’d pass up that opportunity. So I quickly added “but if yall are cool with me staying over I’ll wait ya sure.” I still drove out to my college after my shift, though, because I still needed to shower. After I got out of the shower, I rearranged my locker, then rose texted me saying they were gonna get boba, so I linked up with them there. I got chocolate milk tea (reminded me a lot of chocolate milk w a lot of syrup) with chili pepper popping boba (not as spicy as I expected it to be).

While we were there, rose mentioned plane ticket costs and how they were predicted to go down and I was like wait. Yall are still planning on going to this music festival. After we literally had a huge fight over that. About how I gave yall $850 because I thought you needed it and now you won’t even help me get off the streets. Okay.

I just kind of stewed in my anger instead of saying it out loud, though, since paul’s sister was with them and I didn’t want to leave a bad impression on her. When the boba shop closed we migrated outside to have a cigarette and then talk some more. Peter and I sat on the curb and talked about how he was kind of scared he wouldn’t be a good father since he never had one growing up, and then I started to teach him how to ride a motorcycle. Then we stopped by a gas station (where I accidentally spilled gas all over my tank), and then went back to their place to smoke a bowl. Bruh, when I tell you peter has the comfiest bed in the world, I mean it.

The next morning (today), rose told me that apparently in my sleep i reached over her, grabbed peter’s arm, and held it close to me. But I held it in an angle that put his hand right on my titties. I’m a very cuddly person when I’m asleep, in my defense. She also told me that the night before, I swung my leg over her (like a full body hug) and accidentally kicked peter in the balls. I’m so sorry, peter.

So I woke up around 10:30 ish, laid in bed, then rose and I watched another episode of mother. We got to the part where seol ak dies ahhh it’s so sad. I know I’m not supposed to feel bad for him bc he’s an abuser and all but man, with a backstory like that you gotta at least feel a little bad for him. Then I went to therapy, but I got to that side of town about 30 mins early so I stopped at a mcdonald’s for breakfast. And by breakfast I mean a small fries and a medium hazelnut iced coffee. I don’t eat at mcdonald’s that often, but I noticed some things were different: you order on a touch screen, and the workers that bring your food wear very professional outfits, like they work at a hotel or something.

This was the first therapy session that I felt that she was actually giving me some solid advice, instead of just listening to me. But in her defense, most of the times I tell her about my problems, I follow it up with my solutions so she never gets an opportunity to help me. Today she suggested I write a letter to my parents, because it allows me to carefully compile and revise what I say, there’s no chance of them interrupting me, and they can reread it as many times as they need to. She also said that I should ask rose and peter to pay me back, considering that I’m homeless and need money to at least rent a hotel or something. When she first said that (and for the next few hours), I was like fuck yeah give me my money back. But now that I’ve simmered down, I feel bad because rose has two speeding tickets she has to pay for, and she still hasn’t gotten her first paycheck, and her car ran out of gas today. But if she just agreed to not go to lollapalooza, maybe I wouldn’t be so upset.

After therapy I drove out to my college again to chill on the upper floor of the library (my new fav spot). I watched the final episode of mother, and I’m so happy it has a happy ending ahh. It reaffirmed my love of social work. Even though rose said she was going to donate plasma on the east side and then meet up with me, she never messaged me the rest of the day. I’m getting really fed up with that tbfh. I texted her saying “so much for finishing mother today” and she responded about how her car ran out of gas. I just don’t want to think about her and mom talking at home ugh.

After the library closed, I drove right off campus to the gas station to pick up some cup noodles. I also bought a bottle of water since it’s cheaper there, and also a pack of hostess donuts because I deserve them. I remember hearing when I was a very young child something about the average family lives on $2 a day (apparently I misheard, it’s the line of poverty that’s $2 a day), and now I think I want to adopt a similar mentality. I’m not going to go as far as going to $2 a day right now (which would be 2 cups of noodles and nothing more), but I do want to curb my spending on food. Of course, buying prepared meals will always be more expensive than preparing food by hand, but since I don’t have a kitchen that’s a paradoxical luxury I can’t afford. I just want to spend less money on starbucks, mcdonald’s (that breakfast was like $4!!!), etc. and see how much extra I can save. Here’s my plan: buy a box of any cheap super sugary cake (like zebra cakes, twinkies, etc) since they come as a pack of 6 for $1.79 and contain enough calories to be a full meal. That’ll be my mid day snack. That comes out to 30 cents per day. Then I’ll allow, say, a cup of noodles or easy mac or maybe a can of soup from the gas station, which is between $1-2, for dinner. If I currently set a budget of $5 per day, that leaves around $2.70 for breakfast, which could be two donuts at dunkin. 

I also want to start balancing my checkbook, because I feel like that would help me be more aware of my spending. I set it up in the back of my comp sci notebook already; I plan on doing my checking account in black ink, my discover card in red, and my capital one in blue because I feel that if I only do my checking then I’ll just hide all my purchases from my conscience in my credit cards.

I’m really wishing I had taken the 5 packs of chopsticks from my yellow backpack and put them in my blue backpack, because I’m currently trying to eat noodles with a bottle cap as my eating utensil and it is not working out.

I think I might start looking into living on my own if I can’t talk things through with everyone else. I mean, they still want to go to lolla, but literally the month after they plan on moving out and they don’t even have a savings account? And they haven’t even paid for the trip’s expenses? Yikes. I mean, I’m fucking homeless and even my savings account is at least in the triple digits.

We’ll see, though. I just can’t wait until I’m 24 with a stable income, my own house, and a great career in social work.