#incoming 2024

[inmydr3amz]

Could you write a bailey's sister! Make out with benj nielsen?

✮ RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU ✮ ​​

​🇧​​🇪​​🇳​​🇯​ ​🇳​​🇮​​🇪​​🇱​​🇸​​🇪​​🇳​

✦ synopsis: in which benj realizes the right girl has been right in front of him all along

⟡ content warnings: none just fluff!

✦ word count: 1223

✮⋆ a/n: sorry this took me so long ive been busy w school 😭😭 also idk if this is what u had in mind. If not, feel free to drop another request w more details!! ⋆✮

p.2

You hate your sister for a lot of things: the fact that she doesn't let you wear her make-up, or her clothes, the fact that she's embarrassed to be seen with you, the fact that she still calls you her "baby sister" even though you're 15 now and only a year younger than her anyway, the fact that Benj has been in love with her for years even though she has this weird push and pull thing with him where she treats him like shit but then acts like she likes him when she doesn't actually give two shots about her him and just like the attention all the while you've always been right there.

One thing you don't hate about her, though, is the fact that she drops you off at the Nielsens' when she picks Alyssa up to hang out because it comes with a perk—you get to spend the day with Benj.

You've been best friends your entire lives because while your sisters were casting you off to the side, you were hanging out with each other.

And still, the idiot has heart eyes for the one sister who doesn't look his way, when all you've ever done is see him.

Your sister is a stupid jerk, you're sure of it, a damn toxic bitch, too—pulling the sweetest boy you've ever known along for the flattery then tossing him away when she's bored, or finds someone else, or simply when they're at school because she's embarrassed to be seen around Freshmen when she's literally just a Sophmore.

Sisterly love and all that—but that doesn't mean you have to like her.

It's getting to you now, like it always does, and it's bubbling up, up, up, 'till it just comes out—

Saturday afternoon. Rainy. Cold. You're laying on Benj's bed, staring at the ceiling, legs draped over the edge. You're wearing one of his sweaters. You listen to the sound of the rain tapping against the window, the glass cold to the touch.

He's sitting next to you, so close you can feel his body heat, and the mattress dips under your head whenever he bounces his thigh. He has his lower lip between his teeth, muttering little swears. Hands grip the controller, eyes trained on the shooter game displayed on the T.V. in front of him.

He groans and mutters a soft "Fuck." as he loses, tipping back a little.

You just can't take it. You really, really can't—

"Hey, Benj?"

He pulls one side of his head seat away from his ear. "Hmm?" he hums, looking down at you.

"Why do you like my sister?"

His face flushes—not because you're not supposed to know. He knows you know; he told you himself. You still remember the day: 4th grade, when he'd started chasing frogs. His face was red from running around when he met you under the slide at recess. Bailey and Alyssa were on the seesaw. He'd leaned over and said, "I like someone." You got excited because you thought it might be you. And then he said it was your sister. Your relationship with her has been strained ever since.

No, he just didn't expect it. You can tell because he's choking on air when normally he loves talking about Bailey.

He coughs one more time to clear his throat. "What?" he asks, strained.

You sit up to be eye-level with him and play with the sleeves of his hoodie you're wearing. It even smells like him—shampoo and lotion and vanilla.

"Bailey. Why do you like her? She's a bitch."

"Oh, come on," he says, and there's an amused glint in his eyes. He knows you and your sister don't get along. He and Alyssa don't get along very well, either. "I know o don't have the best relationship with my own sister, either, but don't you think you're being a little mean?"

"Benj, seriously." You're sounding upset now.

He was going to start a new game—but he stops short hearing your curt tone. He puts his controller down and hooks his headset around his neck. "Y/N, what's going on?"

You take a shaky intake of breath, feeling tears start to prick at your eyes—and your jaw start to set the more you think about your sister. "How do you like Bailey? She doesn't even like you. Hell, she's embarrassed by you!" you exclaim, throwing your hands around.

His face furrows with confusion, then intense with a flicker of pain. He slumos back. "You're being mean," he says softly, defeated. You hate seeing him defeated. He's too nice to look defeated.

You chew on the inside of your cheek hard to fight off how queasy you feel. "I'm not trying to be mean, Benj. I just don't think you should waste your time on her." When I'm right here.

When I actually appreciate you.

When I actually love you.

Even with that sad, puppy dog face, he still has a little awestruck glow in his eyes. "Because she just . . ." He sighs dreamily. "She's great, you know? She's pretty, and funny, and—"

You've taken this for years now. You can't. Not today.

You kiss him.

It's mindless, really. Your body leans forward of it's own accord, driven by the way you yearn for him.

His eyes widen and he just freezes, holding his hands up like he's scared to move. When it ends, and you look at him like you're a little shocked by your own actions, it hits him: he's fucking in love with you.

Sure, there's always been that Baily infatuation—but that was always the chase of the unattainable thing. It's easier to want someone you know you'll never have a chance with because then when you're rejected you don't have to confront the forever-hungry fear that maybe you're unlovable. It was never real.

But you? Oh, you . . .

You've always been real.

"Benj—" you go to say when he grabs you by the elbow and pull you into a bruising kiss. There's no hesitation this time, no freezing up. You flow right into it, melt under him as he shuffles, hand on the small of your back as he guides you to lay down. Your lips move against his like they have a mind of their own. The kiss is messy and unexperienced and it doesn't matter because it's good and it's Benj.

God, nothing has ever felt so natural.

You fist his shirt and pull his body against yours. He's half against you, holding himself up with his forearm next to your head, that hand absentmindedly playing with your hair, the other hand grabbing your waist and shifting you in time with his shifts under him and all you can think is hands, hands, hands.

Benj's hands.

Hot hands.

Hand placement.

That hand slipping under your (his) sweater to hold your bare skin.

He lets out a little desperate sound before pulling away, panting and eyes glazed over. You're panting too, loosening your grip on his shirt to press your hands flat on his chest.

Benj blinks, wets his lips. "I really have been wasting my time with Bailey," he quips breathlessly.

[maxpadelchampion]

absolutely in tears this is cinema. my man is on a MISSION

[politijohn]

Source

[ralfmaximus]

A Seattle-area guaranteed basic income pilot gave low-income residents $500 a month to help reduce poverty. Employment in the group nearly doubled, and numerous unhoused residents secured housing. The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County launched a 10-month guaranteed basic income pilot program with 102 participants in fall 2022. New findings by research firm Applied Inference reveal that the $5,000 total payments improved participants' quality of life, housing, and employment outcomes.

Oh gosh look: another successful UBI pilot program.

Not only was employment doubled in the test group, their savings increased, and health & life insurance coverage tripled. Many participants got health insurance for the first time.

It's time to roll this out nationwide and with more money. The return on investment is undeniable and would be huge if it applied to everyone.

[britney-rosberg06]

[tony-loon]

Huxloween 2024 - Day 5 - Mirrors

Thank you so much again  @huxloween ! You really got me out of a multiple year long slump (especially with all the AI stuff going on, I was super demotivated) but now I see the fun again, in drawing more of this dumpsterfire <3

[teehee-vibes]

Hi guys. I’m behind on JRWI-Tober. Here’s my progress so far.

1) Riptide

2) Fave PC

3) Fave NPC

4) Campaign swap

[aro-bird]

Okay, for aro awareness week, I need you all to start recognizing that:

NOT EVERYONE IN THE ARO COMMUNITY IS FROM THE UNITED STATES OR EUROPE.

Please, when we're having discussions about aphobia, allonormativity amatonormativity, and other issues for the love of god STOP PRETENDING THAT WE DON'T EXIST AND LISTEN TO US!

We aren't just your token aros that exist in the other side of the world just for you to prove that we are everywhere or whatever point you're trying to make, we are living, breathing human beings and members of the aro community and we deserve respect and to be remembered not as a point in your discourse but as equals.

I am sick and tired of people just assuming that everyone in the community is either from the United States or Europe and only centering those voices in the discussion. We exist too.

[eviefrie]

hello locked tomb fans. have i got a book (books) for you.

more archive undying propaganda, if this wasn't enough to convince you:

(but also if you've decided to read the archive undying, i don't know if i would recommend the libby edition? i have my libby set to "legible" and there are some font changes in the print version that did NOT show up in the ebook. obv i liked reading the ebook enough to buy the text, but as @urban-sith put it, he was lost and i was in jumanji)

[tippenfunkaport]

That viral post that's going around about how people who write "book quality" mlm fic are too "normal" to publish and have real jobs so only "weird" people publish their "shitty" fanfic is so completely out of touch with reality and I am giving a massive side eye to everyone reblogging it.

Not only is it completely, easily verifiably untrue (you cannot enter any professional writing space without tripping over a dozen grizzled scifi writers who got their start by filing off the serial numbers and publishing their Star Trek fanfic even going back decades ago??? it's a whole thing?? plus how can you look at the mlm category on Amazon right now and say with a straight face that people aren't publishing shitty Spirk and Stucky fanfic??? Oh, honey...) it's also the perfect example of this kind of sneering elitism that true artists would never sully themselves by seeking profit, they do it only for the purity of the thing that always somehow leads back to, "no one should be paid to make art, actually."

The only reason you're seeing more published fanfic right now has nothing to do with the idealistic purity of your hypothetical government employee written smut of the past vs the debased scribbles of those awful straights of today and everything to do with the fact that a) self-publishing has created a voracious readership that wants a ton of content so it's become a viable, flexible income stream for many, especially disabled people b) anyone can publish now with self-publishing tools so there are less gatekeepers and c) lockdown got a lot of people into fandom and therefore writing who never tried it before.

And if you really think there's no "shitty" published mlm and no "book-quality" m/f writing out there that started as fanfic, then you are clearly not a reader so why are you even talking about this?

[inmydr3amz]

I REALLY freaking enjoyed the benj Neilson one that you wrote... Is there any chance... Where benj Neilson's mom made dinner and the reader, her sister, and everyone else is there (pause for dramatic effect) and Bailey is flirting with benj (but lowkey subtle) and like improv from there😈😈😈 PRETTY PLEASE. 🥹

✮ THAT BOY IS MINE ✮ ​​

​🇧​​🇪​​🇳​​🇯​ ​🇳​​🇮​​🇪​​🇱​​🇸​​🇪​​🇳​

✦ synopsis: in which bailey crosses a line at dinner

⟡ content warnings: none just fluff!

✦ word count: 1343

✮⋆ a/n: I'm literally just using these as excuses to unleash my inner Bailey hater ⋆✮

p.1

Bailey has some fucking nerve. Her audacity honestly astounds you sometimes.

Here you are, sitting at the Nielsens' dinner table, and she, your fucking sister, is shamelessly flirting with your fucking boyfriend.

Granted, she doesn't actually know that Benj is your boyfriend because it literally only happened today. Like, your whole confessional make out session and "we should be boyfriend and gilrfriend" conversation happened a half-hour before Ms. Nielsen invited you to stay for dinner.

But whatever. You still think you have every right to be upset that she's so brazenly flirting with your boyfriend right in front of you. So what if she doesn't know you're dating now? It's still a shitty thing to do. She won't give him the time of day but she'll flirt with him shamelessly? Fuck off.

You're glaring daggers at her and you're pretty sure if you clench your jaw any tighter you'll break a tooth. Bailey is being all bashful and giggling like a fucking pick-me and it makes you sick.

"Oh, come on, Benj," she says all pouty, "don't quit musical theater. You were always so good."

You could deck her in the fucking mouth, the fucking bitch. The only reason Benj even considered quitting musical theater was because he thought it'd make him cooler and Bailey would be less embarrassed by him.

Benj shrugs, picking at his food. He's starting to get a little uncomfortable with her flirting but he doesn't know how to shoot her down now after years of reciprocating. "Maybe I won't, actually," he says because his mom was the one who brought up the fact that he was thinking about quitting. "The only reason I wanted to quit was because I thought it'd make me cooler or whatever. So, yeah, maybe I won't."

Bailey dismisses him with a wave of her hand, cutting into her chicken. "Don't worry too much about that. The nerdy thing is cute."

Oh. OK.

So the girl who's been embarrassed of being seen with him his whole life thinks his nerdiness is cute?

Even Benj is surprised. "You think so?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

You swallow your anger and take his free hand in yours, resting them on the table so she can see. "Yeah, it is cute. I've always thought so."

Now he's blushing a little and you feel a swell of pride because you made him blush and she didn't. You give his hand a squeeze. She glances down and her expression turns sour.

Alyssa snorts. "You're both insane if you think Benj's nerdiness is cute."

Bailey laughs a little and shakes her head, amused, bur you scoff at Alyssa's comment, and you're pretty sure that's the difference between you and her.

"No, it's cute," she reassures him. "Honestly, you've always been cute, Benj. You're a total catch. Any girl would be lucky to have you."

Benj has to hold you down from fucking losing it on her. He caresses your hand with his thumb and leans over to whisper in your ear, "Just calm down, ok? Calm down . . . she doesn't know; you can't blame her."

You could go on a half-hour rant about the fact that you're not fucking fuming just because she's blatantly flirting with your boyfriend right in front of you but because she has the damn nerve to manipulate him and lead him in like this when she's just gonna toss him away after, but you hold your tongue and take a deep breath.

And then you fucking snap because she starts running her foot up Benj's pant leg and playing footsies with him. He jolts and chokes on his food.

His mom looks up. "Are you OK, sweetie?" she asks.

Benj is coughing and clearing his throat. You squeeze his hand. Well, more like death grip it.

"Could you stop?" you ask Bailey, staring through her. Your voice is even but anger drips off of every word.

"Stop what?" your sister asks innocently, taking a bite of her food.

"Flirting with my boyfriend. Could you stop please?"

And there it is.

Ms. Nielsen drops her fork and it clatters against her plate. Benj finally clears his throat and looks at with wide eyes because you agreed to tell everyone the news later, maybe during desert, and he definitely didn't want it out because of a fight between you and your sister.

Alyssa laughs, a shocked yet amused kind of laugh because what do you mean he's got two girls fighting over him right now? Two girls with eyes. And who are relatively intelligent. And know Benj.

The color drains from Bailey's face.

"Boyfriend?" she asks, and she sounds horrified. And pissed. A little betrayed, even though she has no right to feel that way.

"Boyfriend?" Ms. Nielsen asks, excited.

"Boyfriend?" Alyssa asks, laughing, disbelieving. "Really? You're choosing to date that? You?"

Benj rolls his eyes. "Oh, fuck off, Alyssa!"

"Benj, language!" his mom scolds. He turns red and sinks back in his seat. She turns to you and smiles. "So, boyfriend?"

You shrug, a shy but proud grin on your face. "It happened earlier today."

Bailey scoffs. "You're dating Benj?"

He squeezes your hand again, silently asking you to stay calm.

You push your food around on your plate. "Yeah, I am. So I'd really appreciate it if you would stop flirting with him."

"He was mine first!" Bailey blurts out. It's quick and she doesn't think it through. An uncomfortable silence falls over the table. The color drains from her face again. Benj's hand goes limp in yours.

You laugh. A cruel, bitter, humorless laugh. "He was 'yours first'? Are you fucking kidding me? Sorry, Ms. Nielsen," you add, giving her a quick glance. "He was never 'yours'. You never wanted him! You never liked him! You liked the attention he gave you! You lead him on and treated him like shit! Sorry again, Ms. Nielsen. You could've had him, but you didn't want him. That was your own decision. You're only upset because you don't have anyone to give you attention whenever you want it, anymore, not because you value him, even as just a person."

Bailey tongues the inside of her cheek. She's tense. "Mom and dad aren't home tonight. I'm in charge. When we get home, you're grounded," she says calmly.

Wow. OK. She's playing that card.

You pull your hand away from Benj's and stand. "Thank you for dinner, Ms. Nielsen. It was delicious. But I need a minute," you breathe, walking out onto the porch through the side kitchen door.

"You're grounding her over a boy? Not even a boy—Benj?" Alyssa almost laughs. "A little harsh, dude."

Bailey sucks her teeth and rolls her eyes. "Whatever. She had attitude."

Ms. Nielsen sighs. "She didn't have attitude, sweetie," she says softly, like she's talking to a child. "She's just upset that you're flirting with her boyfriend. It's . . . a little unfair to ground her for that."

Bailey just sulks in her chair.

"I'm . . . gonna go check on Y/N," Benj announces, desperate to get out of there and avoiding Bailey's eyes the entire time. He could not step out and close the door behind him quicker.

You're standing under the porch roof, watching the rain pour down in sheets, hands tucked into the pocket pouch of Benj's hoodie you're still wearing. When you hear the door creak open and shut close, you turn around, ready to keep arguing with Bailry, but soften up when you see him.

"I'm sorry. I ruined dinner," you start. "She was just pissing me off so much and I couldn't—"

Benj cuts you off with a kiss, hands holding your face. You're shocked at first but melt into it, hands going around his waist.

When he pulls away, he rests his forehead against yours and sighs dreamily against your lips. "No one's ever defended me like that," he whispers. "You're incredible."

You're dazed and a little lightheaded. "You're not mad?"

He laughs breathlessly, shaking his head. "I could never be mad at you."

He kisses you again.

[mapsontheweb]

Average net salary in US dollars in country capitals, 2024.

by geo.universe

[sideaccount512]

Is there a Realistic way to Remove Big Money from Politics?

[mara-xx]

Oscar Piastri had a “disappointing” race last weekend, went silent on social media, got a haircut and turned up to media day ready to serve cunt. I fear he’s locked in for this weekend.

[slutforpringles]

Daniel's thoughts ahead of the Dutch GP

[libertyhelll]