#had to stop an idiot from making a multi-billion dollar mistake

[catxsnow]

UNDER THE MASK B.W.

Summary: You and Bruce were best friends your whole life until you grew apart. Seven years later, things changed when Batman shows up. Pre-Robin Batman

Warning: blood, angst, some fluff, mentions of smut at the end but it doesn’t go into detail at all. Swearing. 

A/N: I’ve had this in my drafts for like three months whoops

Word count: 4.3k

You had known Bruce your whole life - literally.

With your parents being best friends, the two of you had been inseparable since you were in diapers. Growing up, he was the one person that you could always rely on and the only person that was able to make you smile when you were sad. Bruce knew more about you than you ever knew about yourself.

When his parents died, your whole family grieved alongside him. For a while, it had brought you even closer. You found yourself staying over at the Manor to watch over Bruce alongside Alfred. Nights that you would hear him crying, you would sneak in and sleep next to him. Even during school when kids would tease him you would stand up for him.

When high school rolled around, you found yourself closer than you ever had been with Bruce. One drunken mistake between the two of you and the next day it was all across the school that you were dating. For the first time in a long time, you saw him genuinely happy.

You weren't going to leave his side for anything, at least that was what you had thought.

As Bruce grew older, he also grew farther apart from you. Less evenings were spent together and soon your weekends went away too. He took over his family's company and disappeared off your radar at the same time. You were heartbroken by his absence. For years you had watched over him, now he had left you.

You had seen him all over the news. Paper headlines about what WE was planning for the future or some fancy gala that he attended with girls hanging off his arms. You couldn't help but think of the pang of hurt that ran through your chest every time you saw him with someone new. He was gone from you life and by the looks of it, he wasn't coming back.

There were the rare times that you would run into Alfred. He had raised you nearly as much as he had raised Bruce by the amount of time that you spent together. You always asked how Bruce was and it seemed to be the same answer every time: he's good, working hard at WE, keeps to himself half the time.

You had lost hope that you would ever get to be close to him again. Maybe you had lost hope when he had broken up with you after high school. Maybe, you out grew him and his life. The reality of it all, was that you had just given up.

If Bruce wanted to be a part of your life, he would have made the effort in the past seven years. Instead, he sat at the top of his Wayne Tower without a single thought of you. Why bother missing someone when they never missed you?

Just like any other night in Gotham, it was cold. You sat in your apartment with your blanket wrapped around you and a hot mug in your hand. Some movie played but it was more background noise than anything. Over the years, you had gained the bad habit of zoning out when you were alone. This happened to be one of those times.

Memories of you and Bruce as kids running around the Wayne Manor. The two of you getting in trouble with his parents and eventually Alfred. Apart, you were both well-behaved children, together, you were hooligans. No matter how many times you had gotten lectures, you would never stop your games.

You missed those times. Free of responsibilities, free of pain, free to do anything you wanted. Those days were long gone, and no amount of wishing would get them back.

A loud thud had brought you out of your daze. You nearly screamed at the sight of your window and if you weren't there to see it yourself, you wouldn't have believed it to be true. A dark figure hovered on your fire escape right outside your window. This was Gotham, you were terrified at first.

It wasn't until the figure turned his head that you realized it was Batman himself. You had heard the rumors of him in the city and what he did at night. You wouldn't have believed them either if you didn't have a run in with him.

It was several months back. You had worked late that night and the walk to your car had apparently been too late to go by yourself. It wasn't even half way there when some creep tried to grab hold of you and do god knows what. If it wasn't for Batman popping in and beating the ever living hell out of him, you weren't sure what was going to happen.

As far as you were aware, his intentions were good, but his methods terrified you. He showed no mercy against that man and you had been unnerved by him ever since. You were thankful for him that night, but you hoped to never run into him again.

Now, he was standing at your window looking like he was about to pass out and smearing blood all over the glass. You didn't know why he was there, or if it was just coincidence that it happened to be yours. It couldn't be, you were five stories up and if he was desperate enough, he wouldn't have gone to yours.

So, here you were debating whether or not to let him in to your home to see what the hell was wrong with him and what he wanted. For some damned reason, you had gone against your gut and unlocked your window for him to crawl in. Batman nearly collapsed against the ground, his hand against his side.

"(Y/N)..." he mumbled out. You didn't know how he knew your name, but that wasn't your worry at the moment. A gash as long as your forearm tore through his skin. He should have been at a hospital, but you suppose that wasn't really an option for him.

"Holy fuck," you breathed out. His eyes fluttered in and out of consciousness until finally resting. If it wasn't for the faint rise and fall of his chest, you were sure that he would have been dead. You scrambled to your pathetic excuse of a first aid kit and went to work on his wound.

With the blood wiped away, you could see that the gash wasn't particularly deep. He had lost enough blood to concern you though and if he lost any more you were sure you were going to have to call an ambulance.

You drenched the wound with alcohol but you couldn't bandage it unless his suit came off. Instead, you settled on cutting away the weakened material and placing long bandage on as best as you could. It wasn't near perfect, but at least he wasn't going to die in your living room anymore.

As the adrenaline started to wear off, you realized just what kind of mess you were in. The great Batman was passed out on your floor by god knows who and you had no idea why. You paced around your living room, blood staining your hands and your heart racing a mile a minute. This was by far insane.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," you muttered to yourself. What was going to happen when he woke up? If he woke up? What if he died and you had to explain to the cops why Batman was dead in your home? That wasn't something that you could handle. However, you knew that if he had risked his well-being to show up at some random person's apartment instead of the cops, then you knew you couldn't call 911.

The curiosity of who was behind the mask was eating you alive. You couldn't fathom who was idiotic enough to try and fight crime in Gotham in a suit based on an animal. He was out cold, there was no way that he would know if you took one little peak under to see who it was.

With a sigh, you went against your desires. Instead, you grabbed one of the pillows on your couch and tucked it under his head. The nervous twitch in your limbs wouldn't go away and you were sure that it would never go away while he was here. With high hopes, you drew your blanket around yourself and took your place on the couch once more.

Not once did you eyes live the unconscious body on your floor. Blood was no longer dripping from his wound but it was still smeared across your floor. This was the last thing that you expected to happen that night.

It was hours that you were staring at the same place. Hours of wondering if he was going to be okay and who he really was. Batman's mask was the last thing that you saw before sleep had consumed you.

><

You woke up the next morning with a start. Sprawled out on the couch with your blanket half on you. Memories of what happened the night before hit you like a freight train. Batman.

The man that had shown up last night was no longer on your floor. The pillow that he had was returned onto your couch and the remnants of his blood was the only proof that it wasn't some fucked up dream. You scrambled off your couch and ran around your apartment to see if he was still within it.

Thankfully, he wasn't. Instead a note was on your kitchen counter that hadn't been there the night before.

'Thank you. I owe you. -B'

Short and brief, it was still more than you were ever expecting from him. However, it wasn't the note that had gotten you shocked, it was the writing. You knew that handwriting from anywhere, you had grown up with it.

From learning how to spell and write, to passing notes in class, and for a brief moment in your life - love notes. This writing was something that you would recognize from anywhere at any time. It was Bruce's.

There was no way, Bruce couldn't be Batman. He was the owner of a multi-billion dollar company he didn't have time to dress up in a costume. Bruce was just some rich kid who slept with any woman he wanted to. Right?

There was only one way to find out - and you were going to make sure of it. You knew your way to the Manor like the back of your hand. Your parents had driven you there hundreds of times and Alfred even more. You knew the ins and outs of that place more than anyone. It had been your home for a long time too.

However, driving up to the gates filled your heart with terror. It had been seven long years since you had been here and you didn't know if you were ever welcomed back. Not to mention that if your theory was wrong, you would look like nothing but a deranged fool trying to get back into Bruce's life.

It was worth the risk, it had to be. When you were kids, you always made fun of how Bruce would write his ‘B’. It drove him crazy but he refused to ever change it - it was exactly like how his father wrote it. Elegant and flawless. 

The gates opened wide before you could even put your car in park to get access. The closer your drove up, the more you got nervous. Seven years without seeing Bruce, far too long for someone you thought was going to be in your life forever. You didn't even know what you wanted to say to him or where to even start.

The door to his home was surprisingly unlocked. You were sure that this must have been Alfred's doing, as well as being the one to let you in. He didn't appear at the front door like he used to upon your arrival. Then again, maybe he just didn't want to get between you and Bruce.

The Manor hadn't changed much since you had been there last. In fact, it didn't look like it changed at all. The study still looked the same. Shelves of books lining the wall and a sturdy wooden desk in the middle. That was always one of your favourite places to be.

You continued your journey, each room bringing back memories that you had completely forgotten about. Times that you and Bruce ran around, nearly destroying everything in your path. Others where the two of you would try and sneak up on Alfred. You felt a sense of longing the farther you went through his home.

It wasn't until you reached Bruce's room did you finally stop. His door was closed and you weren't sure what was going to be waiting for you on the other side of it. You did know, that if you stayed out there for any longer you would have turned right back around and pretended as if this never happened.

So, without even knocking, you had flung his door open. Bruce was buttoning up his shirt of the day. He looked surprised to see you there. Not that you could blame him, it had been close to a decade since you last spoke.

"(Y/N)," Bruce's face lit up. He finished tucking in his shirt as he stalked across the room towards you. "What are you doing here?" Bruce lifted his arms up as if he was going to hug you but you had stepped back. Confusion filled his eyes and he lowered himself back down.

"You have a lot of fucking explaining to do, Bruce Wayne," you snapped. A fire filled your eyes but Bruce had acted as if he was confused. "Showing up to my apartment last night half fucking dead in a bat suit? Are you fucking insane?"

"What are you talking about?" Bruce asked. "I was here last night, ask Alfred." You rolled your eyes at his life and fished the note out of your pocket.

"I know your hand writing, Bruce." You shoved the paper in his face until he grabbed it from your hold. "It might have been a long time since I've seen you last but you still haven't learned how to lie to me."

"(Y/N)," Bruce kept calm. "This is ridiculous, do you honestly think that -" You had cut him off with an attempt to jab at where the wound have been from the night before. Just as your fingers grazed the material of his shirt, he had caught your wrist. Darkness filled his eyes like you had never seen before.

"Take off your shirt."

"I didn't realize that we were going to get so close so quickly again," Bruce tried to joke, but you could hear the strain in his voice. You had too much frustration in you to try and listen to him change your mind.

"Now, Bruce!" You raised your voice. Bruce dropped your wrist and hung his head low. He should have never gone to your apartment last night. However, he was on the street below fighting a gang of men that had him far too out numbered. He knew exactly where your home was, it was the closest place for him to go.

Reluctantly, Bruce did as he was told. It was agonizingly slow as he undid the buttons of his shirt and pull of the material. Just as you expected, a long bandage covered his torso, right where you had patched Batman up the night before. It was changed, this time done much neater than yours.

You jaw was tight as you looked at his scarred skin. With a huff of air, you had stormed out of his room and towards the front door. This had been exactly what you were expecting and yet the truth seemed to sting a wound that you hadn't felt in a long time. Betrayal.

"(Y/N)! Wait!" Bruce called out for you. He latched onto your wrist once more and stopped your movements.

"Seven years Bruce! You dropped out of my life seven years ago and never tried to see me again! Do you know how much that fucking hurt me? We had been best friends my entire life and you just fucked off without so much as a reason why! I was so lost without you, I was alone!" You felt tears well up in your eyes.

"You don't get to come to my apartment needing my help and then pretend like it wasn't you under that mask!" You ripped your hand out of his hold. "Fuck you Bruce. Fuck you for leaving me. Fuck you for making me wonder what went wrong for so many years. Fuck you for breaking my heart!"

Your voice finally cracked and the tears spilled down your face. Bruce could feel the grief rolling off you. He knew what it was like to be consumed by the pains of your past and he never realized how badly he had hurt you. Leaving you was the only way to keep you safe while he was on this journey to become someone else.

Bruce pulled you into his chest. Sobs racked through your entire body as he held you close, just like when you were younger. One of his hands rested on the back of your head, keeping you as close to his heart as he could.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he whispered to you. You would understand why he did what he did one day. Once this pain was gone from you, you would be able to see that he did it to keep you safe. He never wanted to hurt you, of course he didn't. Bruce loved you his whole life, that was never going to change.

Heart-wrenching sobs echoed through the manor. It broke Bruce to see you like this, to know that he was the one to cause you this pain. He was different now, but his place for you in his heart was just the same as it always was. No matter how cold he got, you were always able to bring the brightness out within him.

"I didn't want you to see me change into the person I am now," Bruce tried to explain to you. Your cries had quieted but the tears continued to flow. "I'm not the same person that I once was. I just... I couldn't drag you through that. I didn't want to. You were the only good thing out of my life and I couldn't bare the thought of tainting you with this... darkness in me."

You pulled away from him and wiped the tears from your cheeks. "Just because you dress up as a Bat at night didn’t mean I didn't want you in my life," you shook your head at his ridiculous train of thought. There was still anger in your voice. "I've known you forever. Don't you think I didn't know that you changed the second your parents died? You've been wearing a mask for a long time before you decided to change it to this one."

"I'm sorry," Bruce averted his gaze. Guilt that he hadn't felt in years consumed him. He always told himself that keeping you away was for the best. It was the only way to protect you and keep you safe against the crime he went against.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time, Bruce," your hands drew into fists. "How the hell did you think I wasn't going to want to be part of this? You never even asked me! You needed me then more than ever! Now more than ever! And you choose to be a selfish asshole instead. You never thought about anyone but yourself."

"I did this to protect you," Bruce tried to argue. He should have known that you wouldn't understand why he did what he did. After all these years, you were right - sorry wasn't going to cut it. He felt terrible for just leaving you, it was the biggest mistake that he had ever made.

"Protect me?" You raised your voice even more. "Nothing could ever hurt me as much as you leaving my life. If you wanted to protect me, you wouldn't have left. It's been seven years since I've seen you, seven years of trying to forget about you.

"I loved you, Bruce, more than anyone. You ruined that the second that you walked out my door for the last time," You scoffed, turning away from him. Your throat felt constricted and tears burned your eyes. Bruce leaving you was the biggest heartbreak you had to endure. No man ever proved to be better than him, you couldn't move on.

"(Y/N)," Bruce's voice went soft. He reached out to grab your shaking hand. To both of your surprises, you let him. His hands were calloused after the years of hard work he had gone through. You felt small in his grip, just like the child that you were when you were his best friend.

"I should have never assumed that you wouldn't want to be part of this life," Bruce went on. You finally turned back to face him again. "I wanted to keep you safe and that was the only way that I knew how at the time. You're one of the only people left that I truly care about and I couldn't bare the thought of losing you."

"I've been with you since birth, Bruce. Don't you think I want to be with you until death as well?" You held hope in your eyes that he would take you back. After all this time, all the anger and frustration that you had at him, it seemed to wash away the second that you looked into his beautiful blues.

Bruce Wayne was a stubborn, arrogant, asshole. He had been for a long time, but you knew that he was still one of the most caring people in the world, even if he didn't show it. Deep down, as much as you didn't want to believe him, you knew that what he did was to keep you safe.

He was a genius man, both in business and in life. He knew how the world worked and fought against it to make it right again. You respected him, even when you were mad at him. Bruce had a way of getting the world to love him, even if it was never the real him that he showed. You were the only person that knew the real him - besides Alfred.

"(Y/N)," Bruce dragged his hands up your arms until resting them at the base of your neck. Though he looked older, more muscular since the last time that you had seen him - he was still the same man you loved. Without another word, Bruce tilted down to meet you lips. It had been years since you had kissed him, yet it only felt like yesterday.

Without breaking your kiss, he led you back into his bed room, slamming the door on the way. You didn't have intentions of this happening - none at all. You came here to get mad at Bruce, finally have so long awaited answered, and leave with a weight off your chest that you had been carrying around for years.

Sleeping with him was not on your agenda.

Bruce was a player, he knew how to get his way. It didn't take him long to master the art of distracting women and avoiding an unwanted conversation. He had managed to do it to you lots when you were dating in high school and by the looks of it, he still had a hold over you. Bruce knew how to get to your heart, and your pants.

Moans of pleasure cascaded through his room. The years apart had left you more experienced and god did it show. Bruce had gave you more pleasure than any other man in your life ever could. He still knew you better than anyone - in nearly every way possible.

"Fuck," you breathed out. A layer of sweat covered your bodies as you laid against his sheets. Heavy breathing filled the room and you were still soaking up the orgasm that he had given you. "That shouldn't have happened. I'm still furious at you."

"I know," Bruce kept his voice tight. The wound that he had gotten the prior night was flaring up with pain but it had been worth it to be with you again. "I know that nothing I do will change the past... but I'm giving you the choice now. All I want is for you to be back in my life, but once you're in, there's no going back.

"This new life I have is dangerous, you need to know that. But if you're willing, I'd love to have you be a part of it," Bruce asked. He wanted you back, he always wanted to crawl back to you and beg for forgiveness. The better part of him always stopped himself.

"Why did you come to my apartment last night?" You changed the subject. "Why not back here? Or a hospital, or anywhere else?"

"Because I knew I could trust you no to reveal who I really was."

"Then why leave the note?" You barged on. There were so many questions that you had for him, but these two were the ones that were bothering you the most. He was smart enough to have known that you could have figured it out. Batman was far too cautious to be so stupid to leave a note for a stranger.

"Because I was hoping you would figure out that it was me all on your own," Bruce confessed. He had one arm rested under his head and the other resting on his chest. He didn't look at you, too afraid to see what your reaction was going to be with his words. "And you did."

"I'll join you, Bruce. You can't shut me out again, I can't handle another heartbreak like that," You decided. Being back with Bruce, even for this short time had filled the emptiness in your chest that had been void for years. He was the missing piece in your life, and as much as you knew it, you tried to fill it with anything else.

"I promise."

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

@geekgirl101

Also putting under a cut cause LONG ASS POST Link to the former post

Heh- me and my brother were going to do a video about this and explain that both Tony and Cap are in the wrong during Civil War- it was just who was more so we were going to argue.Then we both got drunk and he forgot the camera so yeah. Nope.

Wanda and Tony do get a long of shit yes they don’t deserve, but Wanda is not that young. I am 23 years old, and from what I understand she is older than me. Steve was 19-20 when he enlisted, much younger then Wanda yet he is treated as having been more responsible then she is. The thing is with her owning up to her mistakes though is that she has only owned up twice and only once was told: Yes, you made a mistake- here’s how you can fix it. When you do not hold people responsible for their mistakes then that is a problem. Here is the literal statement from Steve: 

Wanda Maximoff: It's my fault.

Steve Rogers: That's not true.

Wanda Maximoff: Turn the TV back on. They're being very specific.

Steve Rogers: I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it.

VERY TRUE. Steve and Wanda are both at fault- Wanda for her actions. yes, accident- but going back to the other argument I have: If a police officer shoots someone while aiming to disarm but kills them instead, still their fault. Here is the same thing. You are right that Steve as well is to blame as he does have combat experience and should have known not to follow the guy through a civilian space and tried to move it to an unoccupied space.

 But Wanda also had options- she could have moved him over the open space of the market. She could have moved him up first instead of trying to contain the blast which she looked like she had no experience with. But she didn’t. If she had no experience with a bomb she should have made a different choice- not contain it.

Steve Rogers: Rumlow said "Bucky" and… all of a sudden I was a 16-year-old kid again, in Brooklyn. [He sits beside Wanda.]

Steve Rogers: And people died. It's on me.

Wanda Maximoff: It's on both of us.

Steve Rogers: This job… We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, next time… maybe nobody gets saved.

 This is not saying she is responsible. This is legit all the accountability and responsibility Wanda owns up to in the movie other than at the Compound when she says she made enough trouble. She did- but she’s not accepting she needs to change. Steve is not being a good leader here.

Accountability is when you say that you messed up, you’re going to fix it. There is none here- there is no proof they are going to fix this, that they will do better.

 If a police of chief told you- after a shootout where seven innocent people died because of his men accidentally firing at them- that they’re sorry, they can’t save everyone without saying: Here is what we are going to change to make sure it does not happen again- would you be okay with it? 

This is all the accountability Wanda takes on- and most of it is brushed off even if it is her fault. Tony though? Again- 

“Ultron, my fault.”

“I killed the Avengers.” (A VISION)

 Tony Stark: He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.

“Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong.”

He even says Sorry to Wanda for locking her in the compound.

Wanda does it twice- maybe three times.

Tony does it the entire movie. He admits his wrongdoings.    

1-Okay- one thing I hate about Civil War from a law student perspective is the utterly fucked up way they handled the Accords. They do have a small blurb concerning them posted- with one part having me going: Are you idiots? This makes it illegal in two countries that signed at the least and the UN makes it illegal to (which is detaining without a trial. Very illegal, you can’t put it in a law but they do.) I think this is honestly because of the fact that most people don’t like law. I do. As well, it feels shoehorned in to me to make it seem bad. But... do they know how law works? Oh my god. Why?

 The rest of what I read isn’t bad, it makes sense. Here is the link: 

But also- yeah they don’t get a say because cops and the army don’t really get a say in their own agreements. It’s made up, people can submit new ideas and new thoughts to it but they don’t get a say because most of them don’t have political training. But- again- there can be changes made. NO LAW IS SET IN STONE. Tony says it himself- there can be changes. He agrees with Steve there can be. But it takes time- and after a situation like Lagos? You’re lucky if it’s anything less then a year.

2-You do say bringing in the greater powers- but the Accords are about that. They are about making the Avengers a power that can be used for global reasons. I’m also very sure most countries would go: Captain AMERICA? Ewww. About him being in charge. I mean, sure he’s a Hero but... for America. He saved the world? More like he saved New York. New York blowing up wouldn’t affect Canada. Or Russia. Yeah, Red Skull but... most of what he did could be done with a special task force. He was used because Red Skull was interested in him, but... he doesn’t really use his strength or his serum enhanced skills from what I remember. And he had a team of unehanced people behind him. Are you American? Because I’m saying as a Canadian I would not be comfortable with that.

3-Tony doesn’t think things through?! He’s a genius. he’s always thinking things through. He’s also a businessman who understands that when something like this is in play, you make sure you’re in on it. Because there is nothing stopping this as the public does not feel safe. Politicans are jumping in on it, so he is trying to make sure it’s not as bad as it can be.

  Steve is the one who is only focusing on what he thinks is best- he’s focusing on the now. Now Wanda is locked up- this is bad! She is a kid. Well, no she isn’t for one. Two, she has green card issues which she needs to be detained for because she caused an international incident while she was on her visa/greencard/whatever and used to be HYDRA. She’s lucky she wasn’t tossed on the Raft right off the bat- I bet Ross would love to do so but she isn’t.

Again- maybe Tony should have but if she really does distrust Tony, I doubt she would listen. So, someone she trusts should do it. Vision or Wanda. As well, again, at this time, Tony is across the World dealing with Steve, Sam and Bucky. He most likely does not have time to sit down and talk with her. He’s dealing with making what Steve and Sam did legit as well as rounding up psychiatrists for Bucky.

Steve is focusing on Bucky. He’s focusing on the Winter Soliders. He is not thinking about the Accords, he is only focusing on what he wants here. He’s not thinking: Maybe I should not call in the girl who has visa issues because this means she will be in volation of another law. He isn’t.

 You can’t say Tony doesn’t think things through when he is someone who has run an international multi-billion dollar industry. He was making it before Pepper became CEO- he’s not the guy who can’t think things through, his entire history proves he does.

4. Straight jacket- I think this was more because she uses her hands to use her magic so they wanted to double check it to make sure she couldn’t use her powers? Dunno. Going with the congress thing- this means there can be more changes done to the Accords which can be kicked back to the UN. It does seem like they just want backing for the Accords right then- but if they can still have changes done to them (which is stated in the movie) that means they are still being made. Hell- the conference that got blown up from what I understand was the start of the various talks. it’s still in it’s infant stages. They’re probably still figuring it out, meaning the Raft may be in the process of becoming an international prison. We don’t know.

5- You don’t get any say when you’re on house arrest. It’s arrest for a reason. But I think it would have boiled down to a cell or the compound- not only is she dangerous, she’s also under a lot of public scrutiny. And the public can be nasty af. So... I wouldn’t want to be her and leave the property.

Yes, it should have been told to her but... I think if Clint hadn’t gone in to try to get her out she would have stayed and things would have been okay. We don’t know otherwise.

Bruce and Tony are accountable for Ultron- as is Thor and Wanda. Steve as well is responsible for the fall of SHIELD. Yes- it was his resort but he is responsible. I have never said otherwise- we just don’t see it. This is the first time- other then Iron Man 1- that accountability is brought up.

 I do think Tony does pay off a lot of the damages though which is holding himself accountable.He’s paying for his mistakes. Maybe it should be more but there is no system in place in the MCU to do so. Which is what the Accords theoretically should do.

YES. THE MCU needs to figure out her powers, it’s ridiculous. But I feel that people brush is off as ‘she’s a kid’ to much. No she isn’t. She is older then 18- not a child. The accepted age of understanding what you’ve done and accepting the consequences in most countries is 12. She is much older then that. If a 12-year-old can understand why stealing is wrong, Wanda can be held accountable for her actions.

 I liked Ragnarok, it was fun, but I think for characterization it should have been Wanda and Vision instead.

[cyanidefilledcandy]

Definitely. And shame on higher ups for indulging this type of behavior and not standing up to them. I've known several managers who actually stood up for their employees. At a movie theater I worked at, a customer was yelling a brand new employee for making a simple, easily fixable mistake they had made. (Note, this employee was literally a 16 year old girl.) This customer was screaming at them and calling them an "idiot" and such. My manager came over and told the customer that he would get them taken care of but please refrain from talking to his employee like that. They did and the manager received no repercussions for this. In fact, he runs his own theater now. I also knew of a manager who asked a customer who was harassing an employee to actually leave the store, otherwise he would call the police to have him escorted away. That man I'm pretty sure is now in corporate office. None of these million dollar/multi-billion dollar companies suffered because one person throwing a temper tantrum was set straight and I wish more companies and managers would see this. People do this shit because they're allowed to get away with it.

If more and more companies started nipping this type of behavior in the bud and stop rewarding this type of behavior, things would be a lot better for both the employees AND other customers.

Quite frankly, it's something I got tired of really quickly, and when a customer behaves this way, I either ignore them and walk away or just stare at them. I also decided that if I was screamed at, I would threaten to call the police. That's harassment. That's verbal assault.

I don’t want to live any longer in this world of “the customer is always right.” This is a world that shows the aggressive, the bull-headed, the cruel that they have full license to behave like beasts to get what they want. Half the time, they’re even rewarded for it; “here, ma'am, so sorry for the trouble, please accept this gift card–no charge.”

I want to live in a world that punishes these childish adults as you punish a toddler throwing a tantrum. No candy for you, Jimmy; you’re going home to bed if you can’t mind yourself in public.

Throw a hissy fit because your cashier isn’t moving as fast as you’d like? Find yourself gently escorted from the store until you can show some basic compassion and patience.

Hurl a pen across the table at your signing agent? You’ve just forfeited your right to refinance your mortgage this week. Try again when your temper is managed.

Scream obscenities at the Taco Bell rep because you know it’ll earn you a free soft shell? Here’s your money back; please feel free to play again when you’ve realized fast food is not worth more than the price of human dignity.

I am so sick of accepting–and, in truth, rewarding–these callous behavior patterns in customer service industries. The fact is, the customer is not always right. The customer is often just testing to see what he can get away with. Stop pandering to spoiled children, and show your employees they have more value than their red polo, or how much abuse they can withstand in a 40-hour week.

We are here to provide a service and to make a living.

We are not your punching bags.

[thehipperelement]

Are design tasks ethical in a job interview?

Young designers often complain about doing design tasks to get a job. It can feel like doing "free work" or “giving away ideas”. Some designers even think they should be paid for their time. Ok, wait... you want to be paid to do job interviews?! Let’s back up a bit, because if you agree with that, you're making a big mistake.

Before we get into this: what is a “design task”?

Let’s say you apply for a job, and the company picks your CV from the pile, likes your portfolio, and they contact you. You like them, they like you, great! This could be your next career move! Exciting, right?

But instead of asking you to come in for a face-to-face interview (or maybe after the first interview), they ask you to do a bit of design before moving forward. For free. And they get to pick what you will design.

What the hell?!

On the surface, this might seem like a shitty deal for you, but only because you don’t see the big picture.

Note: this does not apply to freelance work. This article is only about design tasks to get a job. If you are a freelance designer and someone wants a “taste” of your work before they “decide” to hire you, tell them to fuck off. But be polite. Say “please fuck off, good sir, and have a nice day.”

The reason this "free work" conversation comes up over and over is, ironically, because designers are only thinking about their own time. If they considered the big picture, designers would realize that there is actually no risk of doing “free work” regardless of whether it is ethical or not.

(For now, I will ignore the fact that a UX designer’s job is to see things from other people’s perspective, and focus on the practical bits.)

****

Quick Story...

Once upon a time, I was being interviewed for a senior design position at a multi-billion-dollar company. After 5 individual interviews with people from several countries, they asked me to put together a presentation, and flew me to another country to meet the team. 

After the presentation they wanted to debate some thinking that was more concrete, so they gave me a second design task on the spot — a simple registration flow for an app. Yes, in the meeting. If you think that design tasks are just a way to steal your work, then you must believe that this company are the worst idea-thieves in the world. They weren’t squeezing me for free work — they had spent a lot of money to get those free ideas — they wanted something to discuss!

After discussing the second task, they were interested in hiring me, because they understood the value I could bring to the company.

Imagine if I had said “you just want free work from me” or “ok, but you have to pay for my time.”

After several interviews, and bringing the team together, and flying me somewhere?!

Really? Diva, much?

****

Let's break this down:

1.) If your ideas are worth stealing, you’re worth hiring. There is more where that came from! If they already knew you were the best candidate, they wouldn’t give you a design challenge. They would save themselves some time and give you the job. The design task is your time to shine.

2.) It’s not “real work” because you are designing in the dark. In reality, you are designing with very little information information, no user testing, no business input, none of the confidential stuff you will know when you work there, no sense of the technical challenges, and a very short time to think about it. You will almost definitely design things that are not practical to build, that are based on false assumptions, and are not as good as they could be if you had more time. And everybody knows that. Just relax, and do your best. That’s all they want to see.

3.) If the hiring manager isn’t a designer, they need something concrete to discuss. They want a demonstration of what you do! In real life, you will work with non-designers a lot, and they want to make sure you can do that. It’s like if you had to hire a stock broker, or a carpenter, or a drag queen party host. Do you feel comfortable giving someone a permanent job based on their “long-term market analysis” or their artistic feelings about woodworking, or without seeing them perform? No because, you don’t know enough to discuss it. Non-designers want you to do a task so they have something realistic to talk about, and something they can discuss with their team. Help them hire you!

4.) The better a designer gets, the less they care about “giving away” trivial ideas. Designers have lots of ideas. Every day. Great designers will brainstorm and ask questions over lunch, just because it’s fun to discuss the problem and there is no chance that you can execute their ideas like they can. And, if you really think your best work will happen in a job interview (no chance), you’re probably not that good. Nothing you design for a job interview is going to change the business. Sometimes the best thing you can do in a design interview is think of something clever that they already thought of. You are showing that you are insightful and that you understand the business. Therefore, relax. If you do create a design that can change the business, see #1.

5.) If you are afraid to share your ideas, you’re probably not right for the job. If I was interviewing a candidate and they didn’t want to talk about design unless they were being paid, I would assume that they either a) have no idea what they are doing, b) only care about the money, or c) are too self-centered to be thinking about other people for a living. Either way, you’re not gonna get the job. When they hire you, are you going to hide all your best stuff? Are you only going to do your best work for a ridiculous salary? If you really like designing stuff, and problem-solving, and discussing design, and — most importantly — if you really want the job, get your hands dirty! It’s a small price to pay for years of working on cool shit. 

6.) Remember: a design task means you are being taken seriously. If I give you a task, I am creating work for myself, because I have to review your task when you’re done. That means you will only get a task if I am seriously considering you, and probably only if you are one of the “finalists”. I don’t want to see work from people who seem like they suck... so the design tasks are for the people who might actually get the job.

In my opinion, those are 6 excellent reasons why you should not be afraid or offended by design tasks in a job interview process. That being said, it’s not always worth the time and effort to create one of these tasks.

****

There are always a few idiots out there. DON'T do the design task if:

1.) The task or job is very vague. If the job description covers a wide range of tasks, from front-end coding, to user research, to advertising design, to marketing automation. Run, don’t walk, away. The company has no idea what they are looking for, and therefore they have no idea what “good thinking” looks like. You don’t want the job anyway.

2.) You aren’t given a reasonable amount of time. Personally, I like giving design tasks that can be done badly in an hour, or fantastically over a weekend. If the design task takes more than a few days worth of free time, ask for something more reasonable, or don’t bother. One little feature is fine. One standard page, like a registration form, is fine. Something like “how would you solve problem X” is fine *IF* the problem is specific, simple, and realistic, like “how would you add a field for a phone number in our existing checkout page?”. But if someone gives you a task like “how would you change our app to attract more power users?” or “design a new on-boarding flow that is smoother” or “draw the customer journey for our product” or “wireframe a design that will get people to spend more time on our site?”... that's too much.

3.) They don’t know what they want to see. To test this, just ask what they are looking for! A good, normal answer is something like “we just want to understand how you think” or “we want to see how you normally work” or “we want something to discuss with our team”. All totally reasonable and practical. But if they say something like “we want to get some external input on this problem” or “we have never worked with a UX person before and we need some examples” or “you won’t get paid for this audition, but we’ll send this video to producers and get you jobs that pay $1000 to $4000 per day” or something like that... you might be in the wrong place. 

4.) They want you to sign something first. No, no, no! If they don’t want to pay you, and the job isn’t yours yet, and you have to sign some kind of agreement or contract before you can do the task, they ARE trying to steal your work. Get the hell out of there. (Although, for the record, I have never heard of this happening in real life.)

If you really, truly, genuinely think they are trying to squeeze work out of you for free (very unlikely), and you have given them detailed examples of your previous work, and they pass the simple tests I explained above, and you have offered references that can vouch for your skills: be open about it. Say you’re not down with that and make your exit in a puff of smoke.

****

In summary: Stop worrying about someone stealing your ideas! Go get that job, where you can learn to multiply your ideas every day!

Still worried? Ask me about it on Twitter.

[moredickpics-blog]

The Dick Pic Generation And Why We’re Still Stupid About Nudity

Millennials are what I call “The Dick Pic Generation”.

We’re the Dick Pic Generation because we have the technology. If the Baby Boomers had the technology, they definitely would have tried.

Instead, Boomers vacuumed up the wealth and polluted the Earth so now the dubious honour of polluting the world with terabytes of our junk has fallen to us Millennials.

But make no mistake, it’s not because of our horned up culture that makes us do it, it’s nature. Older generations, if given the opportunity would have done the exact same thing.

My question is, seeing as how there is this compulsion for humans to be gross, should there really be such an outrage we share pictures of our naked bodies?

To be clear, I don’t mean sending out other people’s nudes, or sending/receiving them uninvited. I mean that people lose their jobs and get tarnished for doing something that yes, is primarily a private matter, but also a deeply human experience: being gross with other people and using what technology we have available to enable that.

There’s plenty of stories of people getting canned for what they put out on social media, and we all more or less understand when you mock a war widow or post a photo of you urinating on a plate of nachos that it’s not something your employer wants reflected on them.

But the same goes for a teacher drinking alcohol, or having sexy bikini pics, or an ex-boyfriend posting their nudes online. And that’s fucking bullshit.

“Teacher fired for bikini pics” came back with over 9 million results on Google. Progress against revenge porn is slow, but ongoing, thankfully. But the attitude is still largely, “well, you took the pictures in the first place, that makes you the idiot.”

Nudity has power because of its scarcity, and because there’s a deep shame forced on all of us to think of it as both precious and perverted. While there are terabytes of naked people floating around the world, and porn is a multi-billion dollar industry, and strip clubs bring in $7 billion in the US alone, there persists this bloody hypocrisy about the naked body or near-naked body.

Let’s understand why this isn’t working.

Sexuality often takes the brunt of cultural hypocrisy. I’m certainly guilty of it. I cringe anytime someone points out “what, we’re all naked under our clothes, we’re all sexual beings. It’s natural.”

Being a bit of a prude, I get it’s a true statement but still operate with the bias that it’s gross to point out. “Come on, it’s natural, it’s natural.”

Yuck. Stop that… Unless they’re hot.

But being open about it is punishable by ostracism not because it’s gross in the same way braiding armpit hair is (come on, it’s natural) but because there’s some deeply fucked up psychology that punishes sexuality. Especially as a woman, you’ll be called a whore in places if you express sexual agency and experience worse if men even suspect it.

It doesn’t change anything though. Our DNA is older than our belief systems. People are sexual, and people are gross. What we should try not to be however, is a hypocrite about it.

As a couple examples, they did a study that found sexting occurs mostly on weekdays between 10am and Noon. On Tuesday specifically.

A study by Drexel University found a majority of teens engaged in sexting without knowing it technically counts as child pornography.

In 2012 the Pentagon had to tell its employees to stop looking at pornography at work. The Pentagon, the monolithic symbol of American military might, had to ask its employees to stop using work computers for porn.

I know exactly what you’re thinking right now, “But Mark, why the penis which is objectively ugly?” Here’s my rule: All genitals are ugly until we want to put our mouths on them. We can’t escape that. We’re not Gods.

If you’re in an increasingly erotic chat with someone and it eventually gets to nude shots of their bum, tits, vaj or cock, it creates excitement and anticipation. It makes you cry out “O Joyous Occasion!” as you rub yourself through your sweatpants (be honest). You get into talking about what you’re into and it’s hot and titillating. That’s hormones and nature, not culture. Ask Weiner. But don’t text him.

But those interactions are about two people who are into it. What about one party who’s unwitting and unwilling about the whole thing?

A survey found 53% of Millennial women have received a dick pic. 24% of the men in that same survey admitted to sending a dick pic without being asked. The survey doesn’t head on address the question “but was it heavily implied it was okay or just totally out of the blue?”

This was my reaction, because dick pics can be contextual in the same way any nudes are. They can be tastefully and appropriately submitted into conversation, or like a ham-fisted joke can be just bad writing and timing.

Well, of the 53% of women who received a dick pic, three out of four say they received it unsolicited and unwanted.

Apparently God’s gift to man is man’s shockingly poor gift choice to women.

In another article on AlterNet, they surveyed seven types of reasons men sent dick pics. These reasons included an exhibition kink or thrill they experienced, or a swelling of pride, thinking it’s what women want to see, thinking it was a cheeky sexual invitation, or doing it for dominance and control, or for positive feedback, or simply because they can because hey it’s magical Internet and we’re anonymous.

Most of these reasons are just sad. Doing it for domination and to stress someone out is just a dick move. Doing it because you’ve been ignored by countless women and just want to get some kind of reaction is, well, sad. It’s sad that guys feel driven to this, and that their loneliness and alienation makes them bitter and resentful. I’m pretty sure this fuels a lot of the misogyny we see today in these Men’s Rights Groups.

Quick aside: In that earlier article linked to about revenge porn, a woman ended her relationship with her possessive boyfriend and he angrily accused her of sleeping with at least three male friends based on looking at her Facebook pictures. He threatened to sell her nudes online unless she was honest about how many guys she slept with.

Ooof.

On the more forgiving side of things, philosopher Alain de Botton says we guys share dick pics to share something vulnerable about ourselves as the genitals can be a source of disgust and shame. By sharing our bodies we are both vulnerable and connected, and because sex is a major fact of life there is something theoretically tantalizing about genital shots.

To artist Whitney Bell, who turned unsolicited dick pics into an art exhibit, sending dick pics is also an expression of power. She creatively robbed the power of those unwanted pictures by turning them into art (more “Piss Christ” art than the Sistine Chapel kind).

Bell believes it’s a way for men to terrorize women, like “screaming at a woman from a car. You’re just doing this because you can, and because the world has taught you that that’s OK.”

This Everyday Feminism article calls unwanted dick pics “sexual assault”.

Then again…

Watch out! Patriarchy!

I frankly think this gives men too much credit. Men tend to be visually inclined, they respond to filth and think others, particularly women, do too. Have you ever looked at personal ads on Craigslist? It’s better than charades at parties. What you’ll find though is both earnest ads looking for monogamous love and depraved ads looking for sex, and both are accompanied by cock shots.

Because, for as many men that are terrible there are just as many that are kinda clueless. Never attribute to malice what you could attribute to lazy, horny, socially inept, one-handed texting.

Men are not smart enough to be cruel enough—most guys anyway. Maybe some men think that perhaps out of a hundred sent dick pics the one person that actually bites and wants to meet up to get some of that sweet dick is worth the ninety-nine who feel violated looking at impromptu genitals?

But what do I know? I’m one in a hundred.

Of course this doesn’t mean there aren’t assholes out there who know it can be distressing for a girl to receive a dick pic and do it anyway. They exist. The Internet exaggerates that capacity, empowering men to be more flagrant and direct with harassment at the same time being anonymous. And there certainly is a power dynamic when one sex has their genitals normalized enough they can send it willy-nilly and the other sex is so thoroughly demotivated they could never send pics of their vulvas or whatever they’re called. Vaginas.

So let’s make a distinction: There’s a dick pic, and there’s an unsolicited and unwanted dick pic. I have never received an unsolicited dick pic and thought “Ooh! Future husband!”

But never say never. I’m open to it, is what I’m saying.

Thousands of people have lost their jobs because their  nude photos wound up on the Internet, and there’s an oppressive and stupid shame that perpetuate this arrangement. Here’s one such list article that basically repeats itself on items 2, 3, 4, and 5:

It Can Ruin Your Career

The Photos Can End Up On The Internet

Or They Can Up In The Wrong Hands

They Can Live On Forever

What articles like this say is that your naked body has negative power over you. But nude photos have only as much power as we give them, and they have been drastically inflated.

We kneecap people’s potentials for what they can do with their lives because there’s evidence they’re naked under their clothes. Nude bodies should not be leverage against their owners.

At least when we ostracize someone for pooping in public there’s actually a good many reasons to. But calling a girl a slut, or believing her unlovable because she has nude photos on Tumblr?

We got here because our sex education was terrible. We weren’t taught human nature properly as a kind of capacity for different beliefs and actions, sometimes at odds with each other. We weren’t taught about biology, upbringing, cultural imprinting and institutional enforcement.

But without that we are far likelier to be worse hypocrites. It’s how we’ve become hypocrites about something that, come on, is natural.

We’re at war with our nature and we’re worse for it. Society is deeply unhappy. Relationships end badly and frequently, antidepressants are prescribed in ever-more numbers.

Lastly I have to ask, what is going to change first though, human nature or our attitude towards our nature?

What do we have power over? Humans are always going to be perverted apes on some level, but we don’t have to be hypocrites.

We have power over our education systems if we choose it, and that’s how we can be less hypocrites about such fundamentally human experiences.

Obviously it’s our attitudes that need to change, as it slowly has been.

In many parts of the world, women can show ankles. Praise God. Women can vote, hold public office, and even marry who they choose. That’s because our attitudes changed.

Cultural change is slow and nebulous, but it’s an aggregate of a thousand interactions and decisions by individuals trending toward sometimes vaguely outlined normatives. We can outline those normatives because we can control our attitudes.

Repeat that five times and send nudes.