#how do you not eventually just sort of internalize the layout of the keyboard?

[radiocmyk]

I don't understand the "type _ with your eyes closed" challenges. Are you ALL exclusive phone users or were you just never taught to touch type?? I'm on a keyboard and I typed this whole post with my eyes closed. Just for fun.

[kenzieam]

Not Happening, Doll - Chapter Six (Bucky X Levi)

Rating: M (language, violence, eventual smut, angst, slow burn)

Genre: Drama/Angst

@captstefanbrandt @iammarylastar @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @notimetoblog @captain-ariel-barnes @bitsandbobsandstuff @softlybarnes @lovelybbarnes @buckitybarnes @bucky-plums-barnes  @moonbeambucky​ @badassbaker @citylights221 @empress-of-boujee @chook007​ @shynara51​ @diinofayce​ @casestudy-mw​  @jewels2876​ @damnaged-princess​ @everythingisoverrated​ @allmyfanficfaves​  @clarabella960​  @angryschnauzer​ @wowspideyholland​ @smilexcaptainx​  @shirukitsune​ @cake-writes​  @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123​

If I missed any tag requests, I apologize!!

*IF YOU WANT TO BE ADDED OR DELETED FROM THIS LIST, DM ME*

*****************************************************************************

Levi and Bucky cannot stand each other (or rather, the former Winter Soldier cannot stand to be around the Avenger’s newest member and, like the ass he is, he won’t divulge why) and of course, they get teamed up for a new mission. It’s deep cover this time and not only do they have to work together, they have to pretend they’re MARRIED.

Heaven help them….

****************************************************************************

The sunrise was hauntingly beautiful, both a dying burst of color and transition into dark, which had become his chosen domain. Bucky gave a deep, shuddering exhale before heaving to his feet, leathers creaking, and walking stiffly to his waiting motorcycle. A small photo, faded and cracked from hours exposed to the sun, nestled between the handlebars and Bucky stroked a gentle finger across it, smiling sadly as he remembered what he’d had and what he’d lost.

Just over five months had passed, in excess of 3700 hours, more than 220,000 minutes, uncountable seconds; each one a dull knife blade dragging across his heart. He’d been so stupid, so careless; pulling another into his life, his flawed goddamned life; letting himself believe that he deserved more than the crippling shame that was now his constant companion.

Levi. His beautiful Levi.

He’d failed her. He’d broken his promise to keep her safe. And the last five months had passed both like a blink and an eternity since then.

Kicking the bike to life, Bucky twisted the throttle, rocketing away, trying to leave the ghosts of his past behind, but they followed with reckless speed, whispered in his ears and ran ice-cold fingers up his spine to coil lovingly around his jaw and press lingering, poisonous kisses to his starving lips. Sometimes he could pretend it was still Levi, still touching him so tenderly, whispering eternal love against his skin, nurturing and strengthening his cracked heart, like water to a parched desert landscape.

Had she known? The depth of Bucky’s love for her? The visceral level of his connection? She’d saved his life, in more ways than one, and how had he repaid her?

The screech of tortured metal screamed suddenly through his mind, jolting his muscles and electrifying his heart. It burst into a frantic tattoo and his path down the highway swerved and wobbled; to an observer, he might have looked ready to lay the bike out, but there was no one out here and he was all too used to abruptly needing to control his racing heart, his shaking body, besides, he didn’t deserve something so final and peaceful as death.

He couldn’t stop, he had to keep going; away, away.  

****************************************************************************** “How does that one feel?” Tony mumbled, micro-wrench lodged firmly in his mouth, glancing between a multiple-screen layout and the subject seated in front of him.

“Still a little tight.” Levi replied, picking at the edge of the advanced vibranium alloy that was the topic of their conversation. Tony reached over and sharply rapped her fingers with the wrench, wagging his pointer finger at her with a scowl.

“Quit it, or you’ll get more scars.”

Levi rolled her eyes. There were already scars, mute testimony to the trauma that had led her here, made her Tony’s guinea pig as he sorted through and tried out different solutions to her newest problem. His diligence was touching, and to be honest Levi enjoyed her time with Tony, he’d become like a older brother to her, but the yawning chasm inside her, the great well of emptiness that only one person could fill was rarely ever pacified by his or anyone else’s presence.

The doors to the lab opened with a muted hiss and Levi looked up, a wide smile pulling at her lips. “Hey!” She called, reaching out her arms in search of a hug. “How’d it go?”

Steve shrugged, still decked out in his tactical suit and leaned over, wrapping an arm around Levi and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Same old shit.” He answered as he stood back upright.

“Language.” Tony muttered, not even looking up from his keyboard.

Steve briefly stuck out his tongue at the man and Levi choked on a giggle. His hand trailed down her arm to grasp her hand as he sat in a convenient chair beside the lab table she was perched on. Still grinning, he pressed a kiss to her knuckles then held the back of her hand to his cheek. “We miss you out there.”

“I miss being out there.” Levi countered, mischief gleaming in her eye before she purposefully raised her voice, eyeing the mad scientist currently frowning at a readout. “If Doc Brown here would hurry up with the magic- “

“Oh, shut up, Peg-Leg.” Tony threw back, his words softened by a smile.

Levi snorted in amusement while Steve chuckled quietly, pulling Levi’s hand back down to his lap, his thumb stroking slow circles across her knuckles.

“Seriously, though. How is it?” Steve peered at Levi’s right leg, now a sophisticated prosthetic below her knee.

“Just working out the last kinks,” Tony replied distractedly, bashing at a tablet screen before reaching over and flicking a switch.

Levi dug her finger into the space where the prosthetic and her leg met. The vibranium alloy formed a protective cup around her leg stump, and so while she had a few inches of leg intact below her knee, the alloy stretched up to just below her kneecap, rising on the sides to partially surround the joint. “The molding is a little tight here, but that’s fixable; it’s the internal workings Tony’s having trouble with.”

“Well, I didn’t get to monkey with Barnes’ arm nearly as much as I wanted to, so I’m flying blind here in some things.” Tony mumbled, stabbing once more at the screen before turning to Levi and announcing with a flourish. “There, try that.”

Levi hesitated, skin heating at the mention of Bucky. Steve squeezed her hand, offering a small smile when she glanced at him. Taking a deep breath, Levi forced her feelings away; there would be plenty of time tonight, in the dark of her room, for her misery and sorrow to make an appearance; and swung her legs off the table.

Four months ago, Levi had woken up in the medical lab at the Compound; disoriented and in agony. Concerned faces hovered over hers, bleeding in and out of focus, but never the one her addled brain called for, the one her body had been seeking since she’d first stumbled into partial consciousness an unknown time ago, floating in bleak blackness, unable to navigate except by trying to follow the sounds of familiar voices as they spoke to her, told her to keep fighting, to come back to them. After a time, she’d come to recognize most of her friends and teammates’ voices and even the subtle differences in touch as they’d caressed her hands or stroked her face, but the one she truly wanted had never been there, the voice she wanted to hear above all others, the touch she wanted to feel so badly it hurt, never came.

Three weeks she’d lain unresponsive in a coma, they told her. Three weeks lingering between life and death, the only surety of her condition being that her right leg below the knee was mangled, shattered and unrepairable. Thousands of pounds of metal and momentum easily overpowering and destroying mere flesh and bone, even enhanced tissue.

They’d collided with that last SUV, barrel-rolling until they’d hit a tree and come to a bone-breaking halt. The team, alerted by Bucky’s last garbled scream over the comms, touched down into a war zone, debris scattered like sand. No one in the black SUVs had survived, but both Bucky and Levi had, twisted and trapped in the wreckage. Once freed and rocketing back to the Compound, the true devastation of Levi’s injuries had come to light.

Bucky was hurt badly too, but none of that pain touched his anguish when he learned of Levi’s ruin. He’d howled like a dying wolf, sagging forwards and sobbing, taking great, whooping breaths as Steve struggled to patch and stitch his innumerable wounds. The tang of blood was heavy in the air, the slow patter of crimson drops a ghastly white noise as Bruce, Tony and Nat struggled to stabilize Levi. Finally, the severe concussion he’d suffered had mercifully shut him down and he remained unconscious for the next day and a half.

When he’d woke, he’d learned the extent of Levi’s injuries, seen her rent and wrecked body cadaverously still on the bed, hooked to a dozen or more machines; but it was the fact that she’d lost her leg that seemed to be the breaking point for him. Bucky had thrown a small duffel together and fled the compound, still bruised and bleeding; taking his motorcycle and disappearing into the night.

He’d checked in sporadically since, only long enough to confirm that he still drew breath and not a heartbeat longer. Steve’s attempts to reach him remained ignored and unanswered and he never attempted to reach anyone else.

Steve still remembered the way Bucky had sounded when he’d told him that Levi was awake and responsive, that the last three unspeakably terrifying weeks were over. He’d never heard his oldest friend cry that hard, not even in the quinjet when Levi’s fate had been unknown.

“Are you coming back? She’s asking for you.” Steve gripped the phone, heart hammering. Levi was still weak and vulnerable, needing to rest and recover but right now she was devoting the majority of her energy to asking for Bucky, trying to struggle from her bed to dress her still-broken body and search for him, tearful and pleading for the others to help her, saying that Bucky needed help, he was in pain and she needed to go to him.

Bucky had refused, breathing raggedly over the line, his broken heart and why was it broken? Levi was alive, an audible grinding in his chest with every struggling breath.

For a time, Steve had hated his oldest friend.

Levi’s immediate grief had lessened, or maybe just been buried under the desire to recover and she’d been a machine ever since. Her body had healed quickly for a human, even for an enhanced human, but Levi had pushed and pushed herself, never happy with her limitations.

She’d stop asking in the third month if Bucky would talk to her, stopped asking about him completely in the fourth month and, if it wasn’t for the dark shadow of sadness and misery that clouded her amethyst eyes and weighted her limbs when she didn’t consciously fight the pull, you’d think she was over him.

Now, she was almost ready to rejoin the team, all the bugs and surprises worked out of her advanced prosthetic. Shuri and Tony had collaborated on it and its technology equally even Bucky’s cybernetic arm. The new limb was a leading edge graphite-grey, shot through with lines of deep purple and every toe was its own separate joint; with the exception of the color, a point Levi had insisted on because she refused to try to hide or disguise her new leg as if she was ashamed of it, you would be hard pressed to even guess she had a synthetic limb. Levi had worked hard to eliminate any trace of a limp or favoritism and, like Bucky, was now skilled at using her prothesis to her advantage in combat.

“Hey, movie night later?” Steve asked, falling in step beside Levi as she left the lab.

Levi glanced up at him, shadows still clouding her eyes and forced a smile. “Sure, but I get to pick the movie this time.”

Steve grinned and nodded, pausing long enough to lean down and press a kiss to Levi’s cheek. “You got it; I gotta get out of this suit.”

Levi smirked, reaching over and slapping his ass as he turned to jog away and threw him a friendly finger when he glared mock-seriously back over his shoulder.

********************************************************************************* The Compound was quiet, almost alarmingly so as Bucky entered the building from the garage level and he glanced around, frowning. Was the team out on a mission, the support staff engaged in the control rooms? The building was akin to a bunker and was just as jealously guarded, no doubt his approach was monitored and reported miles ago, his entrance captured on innumerable security cameras.

His leather jacket creaked as Bucky walked down the corridor, and he was struck with the compulsion to slink along, like the assassin of his shadowed past. He was an outsider by now anyway, he’d deserted the team almost six months ago, abandoned the woman he promised to protect and love, the teammates who’d bled for him just as much as he had for them.

He’d been expecting to be met with anger, rage, indignance; a lynch mob baying for his blood but there was nobody, not even a janitor. His skin began to crawl as he entered the private elevator reserved for the team’s suites and, as the doors closed with a muted hiss, he shivered with a sudden chill.

The doors opened on one of the resident floors and Bucky stepped out tentatively. His room was at the far end of the corridor, a minefield of three other teammates’ doors to pass before he got there. Fighting the urge to scurry like a rat, Bucky strode forwards, gripping the handle of his worn duffle tightly, until the straps almost cut into his calloused palm.

Almost there, just a dozen more steps-

“Hey.” Steve’s voice called, but there was no friendliness in it. It was like he was hailing a stranger in a warzone. His shoulders tensing, Bucky turned, prepared for the worst. Steve stood just outside his door; arms crossed over his chest and feet spread shoulder-width apart. His face was expressionless, and his eyes were hard. “Just going to sneak back in. Like you left, without saying anything?”

Bucky fought a wince. If Steve was showing no mercy, then he damned sure wasn’t going to get any from anyone else. Steve huffed out a breath and leaned his shoulder against the wall, relaxing his stance but not his expression.

“What are you doing here, James?”

Ouch.

He was never ���James’ to Steve.

Bucky glanced back over his shoulder, measuring the distance to his door if he just took a crazy flying leap to escape this tension and Steve took the opportunity to march towards him, not bothering to move quietly, instead sounding like a grizzly bear charging. Bucky turned his head back in time to feel Steve’s finger poke him hard in the chest, pushing him a half-step back.

“I asked you a question.”

“I.. “Bucky sighed, he hated feeling this way. It was like he was falling again, clawing for Steve’s hand on that train; like he was being torn out of the freeze, dragged around while still fighting the crippling weakness and disorientation, the only surety in his world the fact that it was about to be filled with agony. “I don’t know.”

“Are you back?” Steve’s question was clipped. “Because, if you’re planning on just running out again, do it now. Levi doesn’t need to see- “

“How is she?”

“Who? Levi?” Steve’s glared bored into Bucky’s eyes and he fought not to look away. “You’d know yourself if you’d stayed.”

“Steve… “ Bucky held up his hands, palms skyward, giving Steve what little he had. “Please.”

The solitary word, the plea behind it, the simple misery in its single syllable caused a shadow to flash through Steve’s hard glare and he exhaled heavily. “She needed you, Bucky.” He stepped back, shaking his head, then turned and disappeared into his room, slamming the door behind him.

Bucky stood there for a beat, knees unsteady before turning and striding to his door.

********************************************************************************* Levi glanced up as Steve entered the common room and searched his face carefully. He’d texted her earlier today to inform her that Bucky was back and locked in his room, then had come over when Levi asked him to. He’d sat on her bed and watched her pace back and forth before snagging her hand and pulling her down beside him.

“You don’t owe him anything, Lev. You can completely ignore him if you want.”

Levi gazed up at him. “I don’t know if I want to just ‘ignore’ him.”

“Just give it some time. He just got back; you’re not obligated to do anything- “

Levi leapt to her feet again, resuming her pacing. “I know! But… Jesus… I still- “she scrubbed a hand roughly over her face and then through her hair, the bob long since grown out.

“Do you still love him?” Steve asked quietly, watching her carefully. Levi stopped her frantic movements and looked over at him, her expression miserable.

“Yes.” She whispered. “But I don’t know if I can ever trust him again.”

Steve nodded sadly. Forcing a change of subject, he smiled up at her. “Movie night, anything you want, with all of us. Let him stew in his room, we’ll have some fun tonight.”

Levi managed a tight smile.

“Ready?” He asked, brandishing a large bowl of popcorn in each hand proudly.

“Yeah, everyone else on their way?” Even as the words left her mouth, voices reached her ears and the rest of the team filtered in, Bucky conspicuously absent, but Levi wasn’t even sure if Steve had told him about tonight.

Sam snatched a bowl from Steve, sputtering in surprise when it was just as quickly taken from him by Nat. Wanda settled the spat by pushing a bag of chips into Wilson’s hands and rolling her eyes at the redhead.

“Alright, sit down asshats.” Levi called, scooting sideways on the couch to make room.

The sound of the television and the team’s sporadic laughter drew Bucky out later. He quickly narrowed it down to the common room and realized it was one of their infamous movie nights; nights he’d usually shunned unless dragged into it, usually by Nat, and now wished, deep down inside, that he could still be a part of. He’d imagined joining in when he and Levi returned from their mission, snuggling together on the couch, sharing a blanket and maybe getting secretly naughty, but his snub tonight was clear enough.

He was no longer part of the team.

He hesitated at the edge of the room, watching; Clint was sprawled on his stomach on the floor, a pillow fort half-finished around him; Sam was spread-eagled on the armchair, with Nat perched on the arm and over the back, her stomach a convenient pillow for him. Bruce had a small TV tray pulled in front of him at the loveseat and was tinkering on something in addition to various other tools and parts scattered over the rest of the couch as he half paid attention to the screen. Tony had procured some large beanbags at some point in the last six months and he and Pepper were sequestered there, giggling together and not paying attention to the movie at all. But his eyes were drawn to the couch and his heart sank. Levi sat at one end and Bucky could just see the large form of Steve laying beside her, his head on her lap and powerful arm resting across her knees. Levi’s fingers carded gently through his hair and he was half-asleep, his fingers trailing an unconscious mirrored path of her touch along her thighs.

Bucky’s blood boiled even as his chest felt like it was caving in. What had he expected? Steve had had Levi first, at the safe house; when she’d gone into his room and they’d both eyed him nervously the next morning. He’d not smelled Steve on Levi that morning, but that hadn’t ruled out a good shower and, until he’d been unable to fight his own urges anymore, he’d simmered with jealousy at the possibility that Levi had chosen Steve over him. Any headway he’d made on the mission had obviously been overridden by Steve’s presence now and they looked downright cozy on the couch together; the punk in the exact position that Bucky was supposed to be in, it was supposed to be Bucky feeling Levi’s fingers in his hair, him feeling her thighs beneath his head, her sweet smell surrounding him.

His metal fist creaked as he balled it, his nails biting into the palm of his flesh one. He was ready to bail, back out of the room and leave when Sam glanced over and saw him.

“Hey, joining us?” He asked, a hard edge of challenge in his voice. It was hard to decipher exactly which option he preferred, and Bucky froze as the rest of the team swiveled their heads to look at him. Steve’s head lifted from Levi’s lap and he eyed Bucky briefly before turning his head and murmuring something to Levi. Sitting up, he scooted closer to Levi and gestured to the now open end of the couch.

Bucky hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to sit next to Steve and Levi, but there was no where else to go and what final, frail strands of friendship would he snap by turning and leaving them again? The muscle in his jaw clenched briefly before he schooled his features and strode forwards, sitting stiffly on the unoccupied end of the couch. Attention returned to the movie, after a few long, appraising gazes at him and Bucky forced himself to relax. He glanced over and immediately regretted it. Steve and Levi were practically in each other’s laps, the blond man leaning against Levi, his head on her shoulder. They’d pulled a blanket up over them and Bucky’s glare burned there, trying to see through the fabric, to see what was going on beneath it.

Levi giggled at something Steve whispered and Bucky’s fist creaked again as rage boiled through him. Every instinct in him screamed to stand and tear Steve away from his girl, crush his mouth to hers and brand her until there was no mistaking his claim on her.

But could he ever call her that anymore? His girl? Hadn’t he shattered that bond when he’d abandoned her at her most vulnerable?

No one offered him a bowl of snacks and any appetite he might have had was shot anyway, watching Levi and Steve out of the corner of his eye. The bastard had his head on her shoulder, tucked right up against her cheek and she had her head tilted to rest against his. Levi studiously ignored him, focusing solely on the movie, giggling every now and then at something Steve muttered to her.

Bucky’s nostrils flared as his temper ratcheted up and the only thing that kept him from acting on his simmering rage was the certain knowledge that he no longer had a right to. He’d waived any and all rights to Levi and her body the minute he’d straddled his bike and roared off into the night, and he’d only expounded on that every single time he refused to speak to her.

But it hurt too much, to hear her voice and not be there to touch her; to sense the pain and discomfort she was most likely in. She had been hurt badly by the crash, the wreck he’d put her through; she’d lost her goddamned leg, and it was all his fault. The last thing he was entitled to now was her love and attention.

The movie dragged, and Bucky had no idea what was playing anyway. He kept catching covert little glances his way, sidelong little looks that flicked between Levi and Steve and him as if expecting him to snap and tear the two of them apart, like he absolutely wanted to. The credits were barely rolling before he couldn’t stand it any longer and leapt to his feet, scurrying down the hallway like someone was chasing him.

Levi watched him run away, a curious feeling of satisfaction and shame coursing through her. She and Steve weren’t an item, they never had been and never would be, he was like a brother to her and their awkward fumbling in the safe house had only confirmed that for each other; but he had become a major pillar of support for her these last six months and their closeness during the movie had not been a show for Bucky’s benefit. Steve was a snuggler, a serial cuddler and so was Levi; no one else on the team liked to be spider-monkeyed while they were trying to pay attention to the movie so it always turned out to be just the two of them; hell, it wasn’t unusual for Levi to outright crawl into Steve’s lap anymore, his arms circling her and his head resting on top of hers. Their closeness tonight had not been to try and drive Bucky crazy with jealousy, if anything, it had been an attempt by Levi to continue on with her new life, with what had become a deep and important bond with Steve, the man who’d been there even when the man who owned her heart had not been.

But seeing Bucky again had stirred more than just anger and hurt in her heart. She missed him, every bit of him, the way he used to tease her through texts, amping her up while she was still at work and could do nothing but rub her thighs together to try and calm the heat rising between them; she missed the way he’d touch her, draw her close as they sat on the couch at night, the way he’d trail gentle kisses along the curve of her neck to wake her in the mornings and the way he’d pull her to him at night, snuggling close and wrapping himself around her, a protective cocoon of hard muscles and warm flesh.

But they’d started out as adversaries, Bucky’s misguided attempt to keep distance between them and had been drawn together anyway; and now they were apart again, and again, it had been Bucky that had chosen that, forced that on the both of them and Levi wasn’t sure if she had the strength to fight for them a second time.

[universalfanfic]

*tears streaming down my face*

I ... did it. ... I wrote something. There is relief in my soul. 

Here is my continuation of @gracieinanovel‘s Wedding Planner AU, because I love it and I needed to join in. :) 

Cora belongs to her, of course. 

Sutton froze over the table, fingers reaching, and Cora wasn’t sure if the woman had meant to try and flee the room or attempt strangling her. Her face was blooming the most vibrant red, and it appeared it took some effort to remove her tongue from the roof of her mouth. 

“Steve!” Sutton finally managed to squeak. “Hi. I’m- I’m good. You? I mean, how have you been?”

“Good. Good.”

Cora almost felt bad about springing this on her. Almost. But if Sutton had gone the entirety of her Paris trip without contacting Steve, then this was on her. She obviously needed a push. 

Steve still looked morose and longing as he shifted further into the room. It must have still been raining, because he looked just as wet as Cora did coming in. 

“Perhaps Steve would like a drink?” Cora prompted. 

Sutton jumped at the direction and opportunity to have something to do. 

“Right; of course! I have some coffee. Coffee good?” 

There was a coffee pot behind the counter; it was still half full and probably should be either poured out or drank before it burned. 

“Do you want a sweet too,” she called out over pouring a mug. “I have a new cupcake-” 

“Oh, just coffee is fine. Thank you.”

Steve rubbed his hand through his wet hair and pulled a chair over to their table. Sutton’s expression flickered before settling back on a forced smile. 

“Ok.” 

Cora internally groaned. 

Watching them interact was like watching two junior highers dance around each other. She’d thought after Steve’s confession things would move forward between them, but Sutton’s doubts about his sincerity and then her internship felt like it’d dragged them three steps back again. 

But there was time for the both of them later. Cora reorganized the paperwork she’d brought and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. This was still a business meeting, after all.

They ought to get something done.

Sutton sat awkwardly between Steve and Cora, unable to scoot her chair away from him without being obvious, and she passed over his mug as she cleared her throat. 

“So, you probably know who the wedding is for.”

“I might,” he said. “But I might have also signed a non-disclosure.”

Both Cora and Sutton groaned in response. 

“I suppose that just leaves us to figure out the details,” Cora relented. “So, which rooms will we be using, and what are our times?”

They discussed timing and plans and room ambiance. The wedding ceremony was going to be held on the main balcony overlooking the bay, with plenty of twinkling lights and foliage covering the space. The reception would be held in the estates most lavish room, fondly referred to as The Fondue Room due to the high rental costs. 

Eventually, one of them yawned and they noticed the time. The rain had pittered to a spitting mist and the moon rose higher. Sutton collected their empty mugs while Cora collected her files.

“Well, that’s more progress,” she said, forced cheer in her voice. 

Steve and Sutton both nodded, sneaking a look at each other before turning away again quickly. 

“I guess we’ll see each other at the wedding.” Sutton glanced between the pair, rubbing nervously at her sore knuckles. “Unless Fury gives you a free moment before then,” she added hopefully, directed towards Cora.

“Oh, I wish, but I’m afraid I can’t count on it.” Cora smiled ruefully. “You know how Fury is, and with this wedding booked he’s been more frantic than usual. Obviously, because I’m here at this time of night.”

Sutton looked disappointed, but not surprised. 

“I’m telling you,” she said, “you have to start your own business. You’ve got the talent for it, and it’s probably the only way you’ll get your freedom.” 

Cora made a face and shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she said. “At the rate I’m working, anyway, it’d be impossible to find the time.” 

Steve cleared his throat and Sutton finally looked at him, shifting on her feet. 

“It, uh, was nice seeing you again too. Steve.” 

“Yeah. You’ll have to tell me about your trip sometime.” 

“Right, sure!”

Cora winced, but luckily the expression went unnoticed by the other two. She and Steve exited together and Sutton bid them both a goodnight, locking up before moving through the shop to prep for another early morning. 

The quiet night air settled around them and Steve let out a long sigh as he ran his hand through his hair again. 

“Well,” he said, “that… happened.” 

Cora placed a hand on his arm. 

“Hey, everything is going to work out.”

“Three months,” he said. “I just- is it because we-?”

“What? Went on one date?” Cora laughed lightly. “Steve, please. Sutton can just be a nervous person. She thinks-”

At her pause Steve looked over, his eyes prompting her to continue, and Cora shook her head. 

“You both will have to talk if you want this worked out. Now, I better get at least a couple hours of sleep before Fury decides to blow my phone up again. I’ll see you at the wedding.” 

Steve sighed and dug in his pocket for his keys. 

“Drive safe,” he said. 

He waited until Cora was in her car with the doors locked before he started up his own car. Their headlights disappeared into the night and the low lights in the bakery popped off shortly afterwards.

[]

The bell in the shop rung as Sutton pushed open the door to Banner’s Botanicals; the smell of soil and fragrant flowers were heady in the air. 

“I’ll be one moment!”

“Take your time, Bruce.”

A head of dark wavy hair popped up from behind a shelving unit holding some sort of flowering cacti, and Sutton reached her hand up to wave.

“Long time, no see. Not going to lie. I thought you were really done for good this time.”

Bruce Banner pushed around some nearby ferns as he made his way to the front of the shop. 

“Hey Sutton,” he said. “So did I. But apparently I can still be coerced.” 

He frowned at that, and Sutton suppressed a wry smile. Bruce could be stubborn, sure, but he was also a bit of a peacekeeper. It took quite a bit to actually get him to explode. 

“I’m guessing they at least weren’t asking for lil-” “Don’t.” He cut in sharply. “Don’t mention the lilies.”

Sutton held her hands up in surrender and chuckled. 

“Ok. But I would like to see what they did ask for. I’m supposed to incorporate some floral aspects into their cake.” 

He sent her a look before letting out a breath of air and waving her to follow him to the back of the shop. 

“You and Cora,” he said. “You know there’s a thing called email? You can attach pictures? Or maybe even use google?”

“Sure,” said Sutton. “But this gets us out of our offices for a bit. And anyway, isn’t technology just ruining face-to-face interactions?” 

Bruce rolled his eyes.

The further back in the shop, the more expensive the plants got. And for a man who’d sworn to only work with succulents from now on, he sure had a selection of flowers at his disposal. 

“The bride wanted whimsical but elegant,” he said. “And for once, there was even a list of suggestions to work from. We decided on white wisteria, some assorted peonies, and a few gardenias sprinkled throughout. And greenery, of course. I’m thinking mostly ferns. Probably some Israeli Ruscus.”

Sutton ooh-ed over the samples and took out her phone to get some pictures. His selection of plants were second-to-none. No doubt that was the reason this mystery couple chose him. And they certainly had some cash on them, because he was making an example bouquet as well. 

“Can I get a few small samples to take back? Are you still selling individual stems?”

“Do you have any samples?”

Bruce flashed her a cheeky grin and Sutton returned it. 

“All my friends are opportunists,” she lamented. Still, she pulled a small paper box out of her purse and taunted him with it. “I thought you might like some inspiration as well.” 

They exchanged goods, one looking a tad more excited than the other. Sutton sighed as she eyed the delicate petals and the complicated layering of the wisteria. 

“I might be ordering some of these from you. Their order expressly stated little to no fondant on the cake. And these?”

She made a tsk-ing sound against her teeth and shook her head. Bruce spared her a pitying glance until he looked back to his set of cupcakes, and grinned. 

“At least you know they have good taste. Fondant is gross.”

Sutton raised a stern pointer finger as she sucked in a breath.

“Ok, listen-” 

[]

Cora nibbled at her bottom lip as she used a spare, quiet moment to do some personal research. It wasn’t that this particular wedding was giving her an odd feeling, she’d worked a few weddings that had demanded discretion, but generally she could accurately guess who it was for. 

There wasn’t anything in the celebrity gossip tabloids that mentioned possible weddings coming up, no matter how thoroughly she looked. Boo. She supposed she’d just have to wait for the big day to find out the big secret. She pouted and drummed her fingers on her laptop as the digging stopped at a dead end. 

Her notebook was just to the left of her computer and she could see that name amongst the rest of her notes. 

Loki Laufeyson.

She still didn’t understand how one person could’ve garnered such a negative reaction out of Sutton, and so far she hadn’t had the opportunity to really pry into why. Cora cocked one eyebrow and tilted her head as her fingers danced over her keyboard.

Well, she still had a moment. Why not look?

His website was sleek and clean, with accents of dark green and gold adding a sense of wealth and elegance to the layout. He was the sort of wedding coordinator that you had to call to ask about his rates, which generally meant the average person shouldn’t even bother. 

From his gallery, it seemed he’d been involved in some high profile weddings and other various events. Cora hummed. There wasn’t anything that she could glean from his about page to give her any hints.

Even if he was wildly arrogant and obnoxious, Sutton probably would have just said he was a character, or annoying. 

“Are you sitting? At a time like this?”

Cora jumped at Fury’s voice as he swept into the room, camera bags and a tripod precariously cradled in his arms. 

“Do you know how many jobs we have to complete? There’s the party on the seventeenth, the charity event coming up, and that mo-”

“Yes,” Cora cut in. “The wedding, I know.” She hopped up and closed her notebook, gathering all her things and making herself busy. “I have everything under control, sir.”

Fury shot her a piercing look, which was always impressive given he only had one eye. 

“Under control isn’t good enough. This wedding could be what really launches this business into the public eye. Everything has to be perfect. Which is why you’re going to meet up with that Laufeyson and get all the details sorted out. Got it?”

Cora wanted to give him a flippant salute, but she still did need the paycheck. Instead, she grit her teeth behind closed lips and forced a smile. 

“Crystal clear, sir.” 

Well, perhaps she’d get some answers about this guy sooner than she thought.

[ethelbertpaul444-blog]

Apple’s Software Chief Details How iOS Apps Will Run on Macs

Near the end of yesterday’s WWDC theme, Craig Federighi, Apple’s elderly vice president of software engineering, to be recognised that beings have been asking for a long time whether Apple “wouldve been” merge the iPhone and Mac operating systems. His short answer? “No.” The word “No” appeared in giant white-hot letters on the enormou screen behind him. Within hours, screenshots of the “No” had colonized Twitter, some with memes attached. Except, that “No” should have had an asterisk after it, because while Apple still plans to ship two different operating systems–one for portable, one for desktop–the company has been working on generating iOS apps to Mac hardware. In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Federighi said the frameworks for porting iPhone and iPad apps to the Mac have been in development for two years. He revealed some of the technical details around how this will work, and shared some of the types of iOS apps he concludes make sense on the Mac. Federighi was also dismissive of touchscreen laptops–a make category that would seem like a natural addition to being able to Apple’s line once laptops begin running touch-first portable apps. Double Standard The point of this is not to create a single unified OS, Federighi said. But the fact that Apple spoke frankly about an initiative designed that could arrive as late as a year from now is a clear nod to how the tech monstrou sees the future of apps. It also says something about the health of the Mac’s App Store, which has tens of thousands of apps but remains dwarfed by the the mobile App Store, which boasts millions of apps. Behind the backgrounds, Apple has been building implements third-party developers can use to port their apps from iOS to MacOS with what Federighi claims will be minimal effort. At WWDC on Monday, Apple said some of its homegrown iOS apps, including Home, Stocks, News, and Voice Memos, expected to be available afterward this year on MacOS Mojave, the next explanation of MacOS. On the surface, it seems obvious that Apple might establish some of its own apps available across different platforms. But behind the scenes, Apple has been building tools third-party developers can eventually use to port their own apps from iOS to MacOS with what Federighi contends will be minimal effort. Apple began such an initiative around two summers ago, and its own internal software engineers ought to have beta testing the tools. These four iOS apps for Mac are the products of that testing. These struggles had been rumored before. Bloomberg reported at the end of last year that Apple was working on some kind of solution to let app makers build a single app that could run across both iOS and MacOS. But there were still a matter of how these multi-platform apps would be developed and how specific interactions would work; exploiting an iPhone touchscreen vary between exerting a mouse on on a Mac, for example. Native Tongues At a high level, Federighi describes what Apple is doing as fetching an iPhone software framework over to Mac and inducing it native to Mac, rather than employing some type of simulator or emulator. Both iOS and MacOS share a common kernel and have common initiates of frameworks for events like graphics, audio, and layout exhibition. But over go, each platform has derived differently. The most important and most well-known framework is UIKit, but that was built for iOS practice back at the start and wasn’t designed to address mouse and keyboard holds. With MacOS Mojave, UIKit will be updated. Just like developers are currently able to target an iPhone or an Apple TV as the design where their app will pass, they’ll soon be able to target the Mac as well. Even though the apps are being shared between operating system, Federighi emphasized that your Mac won’t start behaving like an iPhone. For app makers, some aspects of app porting will be automated and others will require additional coding. Squandering Xcode, Apple’s app-making software that runs on Macs, a developer will be able to indicate they want to write a variant of their iOS app for MacOS. Certain interaction UIs will happen automatically, like turning a long press on iOS into a two-finger click on a Mac. App makes may have to do some extra coding, though, around acts like menus and sidebars in apps, such as making a Mac app sidebar translucent or uttering share buttons a part of the toolbar. Even though the apps are effectively being shared between operating system, Federighi has been suggested that your Mac won’t start reacting like an iPhone. “It’s still MacOS, you still have the Terminal, you are able to append four monitors to it, you can still hook up external drives, ” he said. Not different kinds of portable app will clear practical sense on a Mac. You’re not going to gather up your Mac and walk down the street using action sensors to move your physical pleasure, for example. But Apple believes that countless competitions will easily be able to see the change; Federighi specifically mentioned Fortnite as a candidate for porting. He also said he could illustrate certain websites like IMDB, Yelp, or DirectTV having native desktop Mac apps. Of course, developers are able to stir these apps for MacOS now. It’s just more run, given the current toolset. And on the user feature, there would have to be some sort of value compute, whether it’s specific app aspects or even privacy concerns, for a person to want to download and hangout in a desktop app rather than speedily look up a eatery or a movie in the web browser. I asked Federighi whether the fact that iPhones and Macs run on different chip buildings would affect how the same app fees across both machines. “At this position , not so much, ” he said. “In a lot of our core APIs, happens like Metal, we’ve done the hard work over the years of procreating them roll well on both Mac and its affiliated CPUs and GPUs, and on iOS.” Touchy Subject When addressing my question of determining whether iOS apps moving to MacOS is a natural precursor to touchscreen Macs, Federighi told me he’s “not into touchscreens” on PCs and doesn’t apprehend he ever will be. “We genuinely feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are remained on a surface area, and that face-lift your weapon up to poke a screen is a reasonably fatiguing circumstance to do, ” he said. Federighi added that he doesn’t think the touchscreen laptops out there today–which he referred to as “experiments”–have been compelling. “I don’t think we’ve looked at any of the other guys to appointment and said, how fast is impossible to got to get? “( It’s worth noting that Microsoft’s Surface laptop, which has a touchscreen and is considered a top MacBook rival, has received primarily positive remembers .) Universal Future Speaking of race, Apple’s biggest adversaries in portable and desktop software are both once offering some version of portable apps that can run on laptops and desktops. Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform, interposed back in 2016, causes makes write precisely one app and have it run across PCs, tablets, mobile phones, and the XBox One. That same year, Google said it was imparting the Google Play app accumulate to Chromebooks, which imply parties could download and use Android apps on their ChromeOS computers. Microsoft and Google have different technological approaches to loping similar or the same versions of apps across different devices. But both systems are an acknowledgement of a basic truth: While parties really adore portable apps, it can be inefficient and costly for developers to have to build perfectly disconnected apps for various platforms. Also, the concept of world-wide apps, or portable apps on PCs, have not been unilaterally embraced. Shortly after Microsoft announced UWP, one make spoke out against what he saw was an vigorous and overly controlling move on the part of Microsoft. Epic Activity cofounder Tim Sweeney wrote in an op-ed that the company was “effectively telling developers you can use these Windows boasts only if you submit to the switch of our locked-down UWP ecosystem.” There’s also the question of what world-wide apps means for income divides, since Apple gets a 30 percent piece of all income from apps sold in the App Store( or in the incidents of long-term due apps, 15 percentage ). Right now Mac developers can disperse their apps on the web and avoid Apple’s fee structure. Will developers have the same statu of self-restraint if they’re creating a MacOS app from an iOS app? Federighi was of the view that how an app is distributed and how much it costs will be followed by up to the developer. But again, all of this isn’t happening until next year, so there are a lot of details still to be shared, and likely much more conference in the best interests of desktop apps versus web apps. I queried Federighi when, exactly, third-party developers would get access to these tools. He declined to say. But when I asked if it would be reasonable to think that this is something we’d providing information about in a year–at WWDC 2019 — he responded: “That would be a reasonable thought to think.” More WWDC 2018 Coverage Here’s everything Apple announced at the WWDC 2018 theme Now Safari is the good privacy browser The best part of Apple’s keynote was all the stuff that wasn’t in it Apple’s regulations aren’t helping tech craving How one Apple programmer got apps talking to each other With a new software update, Apple’s HomePod starts wreaking more like it’s supposed to do now Fed up with Apple’s programmes, app makes formed a “union” Hungry for more? Sign up for the Gadget Lab newsletter for report and refreshes you can use http://dailybuzznetwork.com/index.php/2018/08/17/apples-software-chief-details-how-ios-apps-will-run-on-macs/

[ethelbertpaul444-blog]

Apple’s Software Chief Details How iOS Apps Will Run on Macs

Near the end of yesterday’s WWDC theme, Craig Federighi, Apple’s elderly vice president of software engineering, to be recognised that beings have been asking for a long time whether Apple “wouldve been” merge the iPhone and Mac operating systems. His short answer? “No.” The word “No” appeared in giant white-hot letters on the enormou screen behind him. Within hours, screenshots of the “No” had colonized Twitter, some with memes attached.

Except, that “No” should have had an asterisk after it, because while Apple still plans to ship two different operating systems–one for portable, one for desktop–the company has been working on generating iOS apps to Mac hardware. In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Federighi said the frameworks for porting iPhone and iPad apps to the Mac have been in development for two years. He revealed some of the technical details around how this will work, and shared some of the types of iOS apps he concludes make sense on the Mac. Federighi was also dismissive of touchscreen laptops–a make category that would seem like a natural addition to being able to Apple’s line once laptops begin running touch-first portable apps.

Double Standard

The point of this is not to create a single unified OS, Federighi said. But the fact that Apple spoke frankly about an initiative designed that could arrive as late as a year from now is a clear nod to how the tech monstrou sees the future of apps. It also says something about the health of the Mac’s App Store, which has tens of thousands of apps but remains dwarfed by the the mobile App Store, which boasts millions of apps.

Behind the backgrounds, Apple has been building implements third-party developers can use to port their apps from iOS to MacOS with what Federighi claims will be minimal effort.

At WWDC on Monday, Apple said some of its homegrown iOS apps, including Home, Stocks, News, and Voice Memos, expected to be available afterward this year on MacOS Mojave, the next explanation of MacOS. On the surface, it seems obvious that Apple might establish some of its own apps available across different platforms. But behind the scenes, Apple has been building tools third-party developers can eventually use to port their own apps from iOS to MacOS with what Federighi contends will be minimal effort. Apple began such an initiative around two summers ago, and its own internal software engineers ought to have beta testing the tools. These four iOS apps for Mac are the products of that testing.

These struggles had been rumored before. Bloomberg reported at the end of last year that Apple was working on some kind of solution to let app makers build a single app that could run across both iOS and MacOS. But there were still a matter of how these multi-platform apps would be developed and how specific interactions would work; exploiting an iPhone touchscreen vary between exerting a mouse on on a Mac, for example.

Native Tongues

At a high level, Federighi describes what Apple is doing as fetching an iPhone software framework over to Mac and inducing it native to Mac, rather than employing some type of simulator or emulator. Both iOS and MacOS share a common kernel and have common initiates of frameworks for events like graphics, audio, and layout exhibition. But over go, each platform has derived differently. The most important and most well-known framework is UIKit, but that was built for iOS practice back at the start and wasn’t designed to address mouse and keyboard holds. With MacOS Mojave, UIKit will be updated. Just like developers are currently able to target an iPhone or an Apple TV as the design where their app will pass, they’ll soon be able to target the Mac as well.

Even though the apps are being shared between operating system, Federighi emphasized that your Mac won’t start behaving like an iPhone.

For app makers, some aspects of app porting will be automated and others will require additional coding. Squandering Xcode, Apple’s app-making software that runs on Macs, a developer will be able to indicate they want to write a variant of their iOS app for MacOS. Certain interaction UIs will happen automatically, like turning a long press on iOS into a two-finger click on a Mac. App makes may have to do some extra coding, though, around acts like menus and sidebars in apps, such as making a Mac app sidebar translucent or uttering share buttons a part of the toolbar.

Even though the apps are effectively being shared between operating system, Federighi has been suggested that your Mac won’t start reacting like an iPhone. “It’s still MacOS, you still have the Terminal, you are able to append four monitors to it, you can still hook up external drives, ” he said.

Not different kinds of portable app will clear practical sense on a Mac. You’re not going to gather up your Mac and walk down the street using action sensors to move your physical pleasure, for example. But Apple believes that countless competitions will easily be able to see the change; Federighi specifically mentioned Fortnite as a candidate for porting. He also said he could illustrate certain websites like IMDB, Yelp, or DirectTV having native desktop Mac apps.

Of course, developers are able to stir these apps for MacOS now. It’s just more run, given the current toolset. And on the user feature, there would have to be some sort of value compute, whether it’s specific app aspects or even privacy concerns, for a person to want to download and hangout in a desktop app rather than speedily look up a eatery or a movie in the web browser.

I asked Federighi whether the fact that iPhones and Macs run on different chip buildings would affect how the same app fees across both machines. “At this position , not so much, ” he said. “In a lot of our core APIs, happens like Metal, we’ve done the hard work over the years of procreating them roll well on both Mac and its affiliated CPUs and GPUs, and on iOS.”

Touchy Subject

When addressing my question of determining whether iOS apps moving to MacOS is a natural precursor to touchscreen Macs, Federighi told me he’s “not into touchscreens” on PCs and doesn’t apprehend he ever will be. “We genuinely feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are remained on a surface area, and that face-lift your weapon up to poke a screen is a reasonably fatiguing circumstance to do, ” he said.

Federighi added that he doesn’t think the touchscreen laptops out there today–which he referred to as “experiments”–have been compelling. “I don’t think we’ve looked at any of the other guys to appointment and said, how fast is impossible to got to get? “( It’s worth noting that Microsoft’s Surface laptop, which has a touchscreen and is considered a top MacBook rival, has received primarily positive remembers .)

Universal Future

Speaking of race, Apple’s biggest adversaries in portable and desktop software are both once offering some version of portable apps that can run on laptops and desktops. Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform, interposed back in 2016, causes makes write precisely one app and have it run across PCs, tablets, mobile phones, and the XBox One. That same year, Google said it was imparting the Google Play app accumulate to Chromebooks, which imply parties could download and use Android apps on their ChromeOS computers.

Microsoft and Google have different technological approaches to loping similar or the same versions of apps across different devices. But both systems are an acknowledgement of a basic truth: While parties really adore portable apps, it can be inefficient and costly for developers to have to build perfectly disconnected apps for various platforms.

Also, the concept of world-wide apps, or portable apps on PCs, have not been unilaterally embraced. Shortly after Microsoft announced UWP, one make spoke out against what he saw was an vigorous and overly controlling move on the part of Microsoft. Epic Activity cofounder Tim Sweeney wrote in an op-ed that the company was “effectively telling developers you can use these Windows boasts only if you submit to the switch of our locked-down UWP ecosystem.”

There’s also the question of what world-wide apps means for income divides, since Apple gets a 30 percent piece of all income from apps sold in the App Store( or in the incidents of long-term due apps, 15 percentage ). Right now Mac developers can disperse their apps on the web and avoid Apple’s fee structure. Will developers have the same statu of self-restraint if they’re creating a MacOS app from an iOS app?

Federighi was of the view that how an app is distributed and how much it costs will be followed by up to the developer.

But again, all of this isn’t happening until next year, so there are a lot of details still to be shared, and likely much more conference in the best interests of desktop apps versus web apps. I queried Federighi when, exactly, third-party developers would get access to these tools. He declined to say. But when I asked if it would be reasonable to think that this is something we’d providing information about in a year–at WWDC 2019 — he responded: “That would be a reasonable thought to think.”

More WWDC 2018 Coverage

Here’s everything Apple announced at the WWDC 2018 theme

Now Safari is the good privacy browser

The best part of Apple’s keynote was all the stuff that wasn’t in it

Apple’s regulations aren’t helping tech craving

How one Apple programmer got apps talking to each other

With a new software update, Apple’s HomePod starts wreaking more like it’s supposed to do now

Fed up with Apple’s programmes, app makes formed a “union”

Hungry for more? Sign up for the Gadget Lab newsletter for report and refreshes you can use