#it was all started by a guy who wanted to make money selling an alternate vaccine

[1trash2cats]

Ah yes, the

Presidential Candidates

An orange with a cult of insane old people and yeye cunt-ry bois

A medical conspiracy obsessed and disowned guy from the same family as one of the assassinated presidents (inherent bad luck) and also had a fUCKING WORM IN HIS BRAIN THAT PROVABLY CAUSED BRAIN DAMAGE-

The guy with a stutter who everyone says is senile, but is actually doing a pretty mid job. (Which is better than most presidents)

I wonder who to vote for. -_-

[bruhnze]

Personal records - Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

This is for the pookie that asked. Thank you @okaybronze i had fun writing this, this one is dedicated to you!

Thank you to this, this, this, this and thisssss anon. (you guys sure know how to inspire me)

Summary: This is in an alternative universe where Ona and Lucy are not footballers. Lucy is a personal trainer, Ona is a buisnesswoman.

Wordcount: a bigggggg one 12k+, so i advise to get comfy

Warnings: Minors DNI, smut. It has a lottt of plot bcs i got carried away, but what's new :)

I hope you like it, and i hope i didn't make any mistakes while copy-pasting this thing to here, as this was quite the big one and i proofread in Word so.. if something doesn't make sense, you can ask me, i think i did it right tho :)

Personal Records.

The Batlle family was one of the richest families on the whole planet of earth. In the last years of his working life, Ona's grandfather had completely invested in the internet and technology. His eldest son, Ona's father, had taken over the business and helped it to even greater success. They dominated the tech industry, from hospital equipment to mobile phones and coffee machines.

With so much money and only two children, Ona and her brother Joan were doing anything but bad.

Yet, especially since she had that head start, Ona wanted to create a legacy of her own. Unlike Joan, who filled his time with vacations and his DJ career.

But Ona’s passion wasn’t tech, she liked using her iPhone, yes, but she had no special talent or interest in the subject.

No. Her passion was architecture. She had studied it in college and with her dad paying her tuition,  it gave her all the time in the world to go networking at business events. One thing led to another, and by the age of 20 she already owned 15 buildings.

Now, just after her 25th birthday, she had a portfolio of hundreds of buildings and apartments, and was a very well-known high-class real estate agent all over Europe.

She didn’t like the way her life was filled to the brim with meeting after meeting and the fact that she sometimes felt like she was living in airplanes more than in buildings, the thing she loved most in the world, but it was worth it if she could once again sell a characteristic old building to the right owner.

That was the most perfect thing about her profession in Ona’s opinion, sometimes a house was perfect for a certain type of person, she couldn't explain it, it was just a feeling, but when she closed such a deal, it was one of the few moments that Ona could feel a little bit of satisfaction and happiness flowing through her body.

This had been a problem for a long time, she had been through some difficult years, feeling lonely at times and working far too hard without having an outlet.

After talking to some professionals and trying a few things, Ona discovered what worked perfectly for her: so she hired a personal assistant and got on weekly exercise sessions.

Sophia was a perfect PA, she was a 33 year old woman who was dedicated to work just as much as Ona was and most of all she could speak English perfectly, as she was from the United Kingdom. That was exactly what Ona needed as she got most tired from answering all the endless calls that she received.

The exercising also worked out perfectly. Her PA always found a personal trainer for her, no matter what city they were staying in. The first few months Ona really had to get in shape, but now she always came back with a wonderfully empty head after sweating for those two hours and of course, the six-pack she ended up with was also a great bonus.

This summer she had to spend in London, it was not really her preferred place to be for the next month or two, as English summers were not really something to write home about, but with the deals she had waiting for her, she happily went.

What also helped was the beautiful apartment she had in the center of London, overlooking the bridge, it was one of her favorite houses.

But besides the deals she had to close, she also wanted to relax and exercise a bit. Maybe she would even have time to go shopping.

Wednesday – Ona’s penthouse, London

A week before the big deal, Sophia and Ona arrived in London.

"Miss Batlle," the doorman said, as they walked into the building where Ona ‘lived’, or at least she did for 1 or 2 months a year. She was surprised they guy remembered and greeted him happily.

‘’You sure you don’t want an hotel room?’’ Ona asked as they were standing in the elevator.

Sophia shook her head, ‘’for me it’s easier to be close to you, safes me travel time’’ she sincerely confirmed, ‘’oh gosh, do you want some privacy, I’m sorry I didn’t-

‘’No, no, está bien’’ Ona smiled, ‘’I admire your work ethic, I was just wondering if you didn’t miss privacy’’.

‘’Well your penthouse is very big’’ Sophia smiled, ‘’and it’s not like I have a husband to call or something’’.

‘’Yeah’’ Ona grinned, ‘’our love lives are doomed’’.

A careful smile tugged on Sophia’s mouth, ‘’well, it has been a while since I had to leave space for a date in your schedule’’.

Ona smiled internally at the way Sophia got more and more comfortable with her, she was usually very professional, something Ona admired, but sometimes she felt Sophia and her could be friends a bit more, as she suspected her PA was actually a pretty funny person.

‘’It has’’ Ona confirmed, ‘’i'm basically celibate at this point’’, she added chuckling.

‘’Ona!’’.

At the same time the elevator stopped at the top floor with a ding.

‘’It is true though’’, Ona said as she stepped out the elevator to open the door ‘’maybe I should add searching dating sites to your to do’s’’.

Sophia groaned as she followed her, ‘’I’ll do it if you would really want that, but I do want to show you my current to do list before’’.

‘’I’m joking Soph’’ Ona said as she took of her heels and dropped her handbag, ‘’I trust you a lot, but, I do think love is something that just needs to happen, I don’t believe in dating apps’’.

‘’Well I do think you need to go out to make that happen’’ Sophia chuckled, ‘’or are you hoping to have a really hot woman buying a house off of you?’’.

‘’Hmm’’, Ona said as she walked into the big living area and stared outside of the windows, ‘’that would be the best thing ever, and I’d know she got taste’’.

Laughing Sophia walked in behind her, pulling her suitcase along ‘’do I got the same room as last time?’’.

‘’Mhm’’.

Sophia laughed to herself as she walked to the familiar room she had slept in before, recognizing that Ona had entered her thoughtful mode, something that often happened in places with a good view, and when Ona was thinking it was best not to disturb her.

..

They had ordered dinner, a bit tired from the travel they had decided to eat in and discussing the details of their work trip and calling it an early night.

Sophia had already set up meetings with various clients in a rented meeting room, made a list with properties they needed to visit and when the viewings would be and had booked a personal trainer.

‘’Sadly she is only available once a week’’ Sophia had said, knowing Ona liked to exercise two times a week for two hours, ‘’but she was the only one available in this period, apparently most trainers have this thing called -summer break-‘’ she joked, ‘’but she is really good, I read a dozen of reviews and she also trains athletes when they’re in between seasons’’.

‘’She?’’ Ona asked after the PA was done talking.

Sophia stilled, ‘’oh is that not-

‘’It’s okay, just surprised’’.

‘’I read she can be quite the pusher, helping people break their personal records’’.

Ona laughed, ‘’well I hope she doesn’t expect such a level of me’’.

Sophia frowned, ‘’you’re well fit, I’ve seen you in the pool, you have a killer body’’.

‘’Aesthetics is different to performance’’ Ona decided, ‘’anyways, thanks for arranging that, you’re the best’’.

..

Friday morning – Ona’s penthouse

‘’Okay I’m heading out to the gym then’’ Ona called through the living space.

‘’Have fun’’ Sophia called back, ‘’don’t break too many personal records!’’.

..

Friday morning - Bronze Fitness Forge

It was a nice building, Ona was pleased as she walked inside to search for the gym owned by one ‘Lucy Bronze’.

Ona thought it was a perfect name for a business owner and she liked the way the nameplates that showed the way were also done in Bronze, it was chic.

The Catalan businesswoman got to the front desk and told the lady behind it her name.

"Ah for Bronze herself" the lady smiled, "you may use dressing room 2, you will recognize it by the number on the door, when you've changed you just go through the other door in the changing room and then you're in the gym".

"Great. Thank you." Ona said in her business voice. It just happened whenever she spoke to people that were working.

"You can leave your bag inside the changing room but we've also got lockers".

"It's okay" Ona said, "only have some clothes with me".

The changing room looked very nice, Ona appreciated the way that this whole place was set up, it was not clinical or characterless, but it was very neat.

After changing, Ona went into the gym.

A dark-haired woman, just a little taller than her stood with her back to the door, the silhouette was muscular built, broad shoulders protruding from the tank top she wore.

Ona cleared her throat, ´´hello´´.

 The woman turned around from what she was doing and met her with a smile, ´´oh hey´´ she said, ´´uhm´´, she strutted over to Ona and offered her hand, ´´Lucy´´.

´´Ona´´, Ona replied as she mirrored the smile Lucy was wearing. Ona was delighted to notice the woman infront of was rather hot, but she didn´t want to be objectifying and most of all, she was here to clear her head, not to drool over a woman. So she shook the thought from her head and focused back on what she was here for.

´´So´´ Lucy said as she retracted her hand.

Only then Ona realized she was shaking it for a little too long.

´´Oh yes, I´m here for a two hour training session´´.

´´Yes´´ Lucy chuckled, Ona thought it made her look cute, ´´so what are we working with, you didn´t attach a schedule or any of your records or something, did you bring them?´´.

‘’What?’’ Ona said confused, ‘’records?’’.

‘’Yeah what field are you in?’’ Lucy tried, ‘’What do you need working on this summer?’’.

‘’Ohhh’’ Ona breathed out with a laugh, realizing what Lucy was thinking, ‘’I am not an athlete’’.

Lucy scrunched her nose and her head turned slightly in confusion, ‘’not?’’.

‘’No I’m town for business and I always train with a personal trainer, my PA booked you’’.

‘’Oh’’.

‘’Do you not train, uh, regular people?’’.

‘’Oh uh, yes’’, Lucy blushed.

‘’But?’’.

‘’Okay no offense’’ Lucy said carefully, ‘’but they’re usually.. a bit.. older’’.

Now it was Ona’s turn to be confused, ‘’why?’’.

‘’it’s expensive’’ Lucy said, hating herself for being so awkward.

‘’ohhh’’ Ona chuckled, ‘’well we better spend those expensive minutes good, shall we?’’.

‘’Yeah I’m sorry, I’m trying to work on that whole -not judging people by their cover- thing’’.

‘’It’s okay’’ Ona said cheerfully ‘’I come to clear my head before I have some important meetings next week’’.

‘’Great’’, Lucy said as she had called herself back to her senses ‘’and how can I help you with that’’.

‘’Well, I always go to a personal trainer because I don’t know anything about training, so I just - listen, do it and enjoy the muscle ache the day after’’.

‘’Hey’’ Lucy laughed, ‘’people always call me crazy when I say - I enjoy that’’.

Ona shrugged, ‘’one of the few things that make me feel alive’’.

“Okay, so you want to get completely worn out” Lucy chuckled, “we’ll make that happen”.

Ona gulped as Lucy took off, damn, this woman was cute.

They had been working out for almost 2 hours without much talking, Ona enjoyed it, Lucy respected the fact that she was doing this for relaxation, not for dumb chit chat, she hated when trainers were like that.

‘’Do you have a neck issue?’’ Lucy asked out of the blue.

Ona looked up, surprised but not in a negative sense ‘’yeah, how did you notice?’’.

‘’It’s stiff’’ Lucy stated, ‘’ I graduated as a sports physiotherapist’’ she offered as an explanation.

‘’Really?’’.

 ‘’Yes and right now I’m working on some injury research, stretching and massages are a great interventions for stiffness’’.

‘’So next time we start with neck stretches?’’ Ona joked.

Lucy nodded, ‘’best recipe is stretching – exercise – tissue massage’’.

''Well then, guess I'll do that next time, sometimes my neck really hurts, so I hope it will help''.

‘’Your neck hurts?’’.

‘’Yes, I always just assume it’s my stress traveling to my weak spot’’.

‘’Do you want me to massage that right now really quick? We’ve got-‘’ she looked at her watch, ‘’-10 minutes left’’.

‘’You?’’ Ona let out before she could stop herself.

Lucy crooked her head ‘’yeah?’’ she laughed, ‘’who else?’’.

‘’Ahh’’ Ona chuckled as she spotted the physio bench in the corner of the gym, ''that's where that thing is for''.

‘’Yup’’ Lucy said as she swayed on her feet, ‘’So cooling down? Or quick rub down of the neck?’’.

‘’Well if you’re offering..’’ Ona said as she looked at the big hands Lucy fiddled with, ‘’I do have to warn you that I’m a bit sweaty’’.

Lucy chuckled, ‘’if you weren’t I wouldn’t be good at my job’’.

...

Friday - Ona's penthouse

‘’Hello’’, Ona called out as she stepped back into her apartment. She felt amazing, Lucy was great with her hands and after the hot shower she took, she felt totally relaxed.

‘’How was it?’’, Sophia asked from behind her computer.

‘’fucking amazing’’ Ona said dreamily, before she stepped into the living room and snapped back to reality, ‘’uh yeah, it was good’’.

Sophia chuckled, ‘’whattt happeneddddd?’’.

‘’She’s hot’’ Ona said as she went through the fridge, ‘’and great with her hands’’.

‘’WHAT?’’ Sophia yelped, ‘’did you hook up with her?’’.

‘’Oh dios mío Soph! no, who do you think I am!’’ Ona shook her head amused, ‘’she gave me a sports massage’’.  

‘’Ohhh, hot and handy’’ Sophia chuckled.

‘’You sure you couldn’t book her for more than once a week?’’.

‘’I’ll try again for you’’ Sophia said with a grin, ‘’maybe I can book her for some nightly exercises’’.

‘’Soph!’’ Ona said sternly, ‘’no objectification!’’.

‘’Sorry miss Batlle’’ Sophia answered timidly, ‘’I’ll call them later’’.

‘’It’s okay’’ Ona smiled, ‘’thanks for getting groceries’’ she said as she took eggs from the fridge.

...

Tuesday evening - Bronze Fitness Forge, London

It was a couple of days later, Sophia had bribed Lucy Bronze’s secretary if she could at least ask the woman herself if she could do a couple of more lessons, ‘’Hello, yes, Miss Batlle’s PA, uhm, my boss, she wants to exercise two times a week and I was wondering if you had some more spaces available, she doesn’t mind if it’s outside of office hours, or if it costs extra’’.

Eventually she had persuaded the woman, one and a half times the rate for two hours in the evening, when Lucy actually exercised herself.

Sophia didn't mind making a little effort, she was just happy that Ona was okay with the trainer, that couldn’t always be said.

So this night, at a quarter to eight, Ona walked towards the building with the ‘Bronze Fitness Forge’ logo and headed in.

‘’Hey, miss Batlle’’ Lucy called out from a few meters behind and started jogging towards the door.

Ona held it open for her, ‘’you can call me Ona’’ she said as she let the woman pass.

‘’Oh right, hi Ona’’ Lucy smiled awkwardly, ‘’uhm, to the gym?’’.

‘’Mhmm’’.

Lucy unlocked the door and let Ona in, out of habit Ona walked to dressing room 2, the one she’d used earlier this week too.

Lucy hesitated about what to do, she cringed at herself, she wished she was a bit smoother, ''hey uhm, my stuff is also in 2'' she said as she stopped the door from closing.

''Oh'', Ona looked up, ''i can go to the other-

'''No i'll just take my bag'' Lucy rushed to say.

''Oh no'' Ona said, ''it doesn't bother me, you can change in here as far as I'm concerned''.

‘’O-Okay’’ Lucy said as she looked at the smaller woman, ‘’sure you don’t mind?’’.

Ona looked up with a smile, ‘’should I?’’.

Lucy looked startled ‘’No no, I was just --’’ she mumbled and swallowed the rest of the sentence.

Ona zipped her bag open and got her gym shoes out, she now stood with her back to Lucy, ‘’anyways, had a good dinner?’’ she asked, trying to start some conversation.

‘’Uh yeah’’ Lucy said, now also starting to get her things ‘’I cooked some chicken and vegetables’’.

‘’Nice’’ Ona said as she shimmied down her pants.

Lucy gaze fell on the Spaniards behind, she shook her head, she couldn’t be looking at a client like this, ‘’d-did you have a good dinner?’’ she asked, taking of her shirt.

Ona turned around and sat down on the bench to put her shorts on ‘’yeah I had-‘’  she lagged as she saw the shirtless woman infront of her, who was currently standing with her arms up, struggling to find her arm holes it seemed, she cleared her throat ‘’uhm, I had a business dinner, it was nice but sometimes I get a bit tired of it’’.

Lucy’s head popped up and they looked at eachother. Lucy smiled, ‘’is that why you needed more exercise?’’.

Ona didn’t feel the need to explain anything, frankly, there was not really anything to explain. She had settled for one time a week as she hadn’t known the woman was hot an amazing personal trainer, now that she knew, her assistant had booked her some more time, so she settled on just saying ‘’yes’’.

‘’What branch are you in anyways?’’ Lucy asked as she switched her pants.

‘’Uhm’’ Ona said as she took of her top, ‘’I am a real estate agent’’.

‘’Really’’ Lucy stared at her, partly because she was surprised, partly because the woman looked mesmerizing.

Ona sat up and digged through her bag, it was awkward that she still had to put on her sports bra ‘’yes, I have real estate in a few cities throughout Europe’’ she said and finally found the sports bra. She figured she just had to put no attention to it and quickly get it over with.

Bronze sat down to put her shoes on, ‘’oh.. real estate in a few cities throughout Europe’’ she repeated, ‘’impressive’’.

‘’Thanks’’ Ona said as she took her bra of, ‘’your business is too’’ she turned her head to Lucy ‘’how old are you anyways?’’.

Lucy looked up and blushed when she saw Ona’s bare back, ‘’uhm, I’m 32, and you?’’.

Ona smiled at her, ‘’25’’.

‘’Ah shit, we aren't past your bedtime, are we?’’ Lucy mocked and grinned.

Ona clutched her sports bra infront of her chest and turned around with narrowed eyes, ‘’don’t mock me’’ she said sternly, like how she’d put her workers in place. She had dealt with enough age discrimination, it annoyed her that Lucy did this.

Lucy apologized ‘’oh I’m sorry.. uhm.. I didn’t mean it like that’’. Ona turned around and quickly pulled the sports bra on,.

‘’Uhm, I will start to set up some things, see you in a bit’’ Lucy said before she quickly rushed out of the locker room.

Ona finished dressing up by putting her shoes on and followed her.

‘’Hey I’m sorry, it’s just-  Ona stopped as she saw Lucy carrying a weight plate to the matts.

Lucy smiled ‘’I’m sorry too, I am a bit stupid sometimes, you should take everything I say with a pinch of salt.. i suck at talking to people that’s why I chose sports’’.

‘’-sometimes people do not take me serious because of my age’’ Ona confessed, ‘’it’s a bit of a sensitive topic for me’’.

‘’I am sorry’’, Lucy said sincerely.

Ona shook her head, ‘’you’re aloud to make jokes, I should be able to deal with them’’.

‘’Noted, see if I can help you improve on that front too’’ Lucy grinned.

‘’too?’’.

‘’Oh yeah-‘’ Lucy said with renewed energy, ‘’I mean, I was going to ask you about it - but by the way you move, I think your neck feels better’’.

Ona smiled, ‘’oh soo much, I have had the best days honestly, how could I forget - I wanted to thank you for it, I feel so… loose, uh, supple’’.

Lucy held her hands up, ‘’magic hands’’ she said with a wink. Immediately cringing at herself.

Ona laughed, ‘’they seem to be’’.

‘’So’’ Lucy cleared her throat, ‘’stretching, than exercising, which I will leave you to do a bit more on your own than last time because I need to do mine as well, and then last 20 minutes another tissue massage’’.

‘’Sounds good’’.

The stretching went well, Ona learned a few exercises she had never done before, 'good for the back and neck' Lucy had said, and had followed them all before the real work started.

Lucy finished her warm up a bit earlier than she did, which made sense, as she had been warming up all day and she went to set up some weights for herself.

When Bronze started squatting weights with her back to Ona, she couldn´t help but have peek every once in a while.

After her lunges were done Ona asked what she was doing next.

Lucy proposed for Ona to do a bit of cardio on the stair-master, a machine she hated, but Ona agreed and went on it.

Lucy kept squatting, Ona saw her adding small, little plates to the bar each time she got it.

After a few minutes, the Spaniards thoughts got interrupted, the low grunts were swapped with a yelp, she was startled and almost fell of the stair-master, luckily enough she could jump of in one piece and put the machine off.

‘’What happened?’’ Ona said as she walked towards the English trainer.

Lucy looked up as she undid her waistbelt and wrist wraps, ‘’hm?’’.

Ona came closer, ‘’it sounded like you were in pain’’.

‘’Oh’’ Lucy said as she looked better at Ona, ‘’no I just broke my squatting record’’.

 Ona chuckled.

‘’Wait did it sound like was in pain?’’ Lucy laughed now too, ‘’I don’t know what to think of that’’.

‘’Well I’m glad you’re alive’’.

‘’and broke my PR’’.

Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’how much was it?’’.

‘’139,5 kg’’ (307.5 lbs) Lucy stated as she took out her phone, ‘’let me put it in my notes real quick and then I’m all yours again, I’m sorry for just directing you to the cardio machine, I had this on my agenda for tonight’’.

‘’You have a schedule for when you’re gonna break which record?’’ Ona laughed.

After Lucy had typed it in her phone she looked up, ‘’is that weird?’’.

‘’No’’ Ona shrugged, ‘’I like when people are driven’’.

‘’How much is your squatting PR’’.

Ona laughed, ‘’not even half of what you do, I think 50 kg, and that includes the bar’’.

Lucy chuckled, ‘’want to do 55?’’.

´´Let´s see if I can do 50 first maybe?’’.

Lucy first had her squat the bar alone and with 5kg increments she guided Ona to a 50kg squat.

At 50kg Ona had trouble getting up, her legs shaking as she did a rep for the 3rd time. She felt Lucy stepping a bit closer, ''you can do it'' Lucy said, ''and if not, I got you''.

Instead of feeling more at ease, Ona became more nervous. She felt Lucy's hands hovering just above her skin.

When she remained in her squatting position, with wobbly legs, Lucy held her sides, ''together then''.

With a little help, Ona stood up again, and immediately she racked the weight and stepped forward, shaking her legs.

‘’Legs tired from the stair machine?’’ Lucy asked.

Ona nodded ‘’think so, maybe next time we can try again’’.

‘’Oh we are’’ Lucy smiled, ‘’and now you’re doing 45, 3 sets of 4 reps’’ she said as she started changing weights.

‘’I don’t know if i-‘’

‘’-I believe in you’’ Lucy cut her off, ‘’and I’m spotting you so if you can’t I’ll help’’.

Ona looked at her with dark eyes, ‘’let’s just do something else’’.

Lucy’s head tilted, ‘’no, why?’’.

‘’I’m tired of squats’’ Ona said, mostly because she was and partly because she didn’t want to fail and have Lucy saving her, as she got way to distracted by the way she felt under their skin contact.

‘’Do your other trainers just accept that?’’ Lucy asked as she finished preparing the bar of weights, she stood infront of Ona now, ‘’in 5 sessions I’ll have you squat 55’’.

 Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’I don’t care about how much I can squat’’.

The English woman grinned, ‘’no but you did ask me to help you get sore muscles, If you just listen to me I can guarantee you will not be able to walk the stairs tomorrow, how does that sound?”.

Again Ona rolled her eyes, this time with a little smile ‘’fine’’ she said before quietly adding ‘’molest’’. (annoying person).

They took positions again, but Lucy stood a bit closer then last time. Ona was almost going to make a comment about needing room to breath when Lucy whispered something, ‘’think of your most annoying rival’’.

Ona took the weights on her shoulder, she figured to just ignore Lucy and started squatting, the first 4 went easy.

She racked the bar and stepped forward to shake her legs again.

‘’See, that helped’’, Lucy said ‘’come, another set’’.

‘’Your comment did nothing’’ Ona said, getting slightly annoyed at the woman.

‘’Oh’’ Lucy studied her face, ‘’sorry’’.

Ona took place under the weights again, ‘’okay, let’s get this over with’’.

With two squats her legs started quivering again.

Lucy let her figure it out by herself, she kept close, but didn’t say anything or touch her.

Ona took a deep breath and forced herself up with a deep breath out.

"Good job" Lucy said, but when Ona tried to hang the weight on the rack she was less pleased, "uh-huh, one more rep".

Ona groaned and kept standing there, doubtful about her abilities.

‘’Ona, one more’’ Lucy said sternly.

Ona was allergic to getting ordered around and almost wanted to stop but a fire lit inside her with Lucy’s next comment, ‘’what is it with youth and giving up’’.

She bit back a grumble and did one more squat easily before racking the bar again.

She shook her legs out while still being under the bar and after a few seconds she took it on her shoulders again, squatting with pure annoyance and anger, only at the last squat she had to do she struggled again.

‘’Is your anger already used up?’’ Lucy teased, ‘’I expected more spirit at such a young age’’.

With that she groaned and came up for a last time, angrily racking the weight.

‘’Good, shake it off and we’ll head to leg presses’’.

Ona turned around and looked at her instructor, ‘’more leg exercises’’ she grumbled.

Lucy grinned, ‘’I’ll talk to you on Friday, you’ll thank me’’.

Ona rolled her eyes and followed the English woman to the leg press.

After a long session it was finally time for the massage.

‘’You can take your shoes off, I’ll massage your lower body, back and neck’’ Lucy said.

Ona didn’t respond, ‘’sounds good?’’ Lucy tried.

‘’Oh yeah’’ Ona said tiredly, ‘’perfect’’ she said as she took off her shoes.

‘’Was I too harsh?’’.

Ona looked up at Lucy, ‘’hm, no’’.

‘’Sure?’’.

‘’Yeah I am, I’ll tell you if you go too far, I’m not shy about speaking my mind’’.

‘’Okay, good’’.

Lucy started massaging Ona’s leg and Ona couldn’t help but closer her eyes at how good it felt.

‘’Okay that was that, how do you feel?’’ Lucy said as she was done.

Ona smiled, ‘’great, thank you, I’m sorry if I came across as a bitch at one point’’.

Lucy grinned, ‘’at one point? Hmm..’’.

Ona slapped Lucy’s shoulder playfully, ‘’oh come on’’.

Lucy chuckled, ‘’I’m kidding, you don’t come across as a bitch’’ she looked at Ona with a mischievous grin, ‘’just a bit spoiled’’.

The Catalans mouth dropped open, ‘’I’m not spoiled!’’.

‘’I’m joking’’ Lucy said as she rested her hand on Ona’s forearm, ‘’I’m proud you finished those sets, that proves character’’.

‘’Oh’’ Ona furrowed her eyebrows, ‘’because I had a choice’’.

‘’Ofcourse’’ Lucy tilted her head, ‘’you just said you would speak your mind if you really didn’t want to do it’’.

Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’okay, maybe I did want to do it’’.

‘’Good’’ Lucy said with a smile as she withdrew her hand, ‘’well, you go shower, I have to clean up this place’’.

‘’I can help?’’.

‘’No’’ Lucy shook her head, ‘’I like to do it myself and I want to do a couple more exercises’’.

‘’You’re crazy’’.

‘’I’ll see you Friday’’ Lucy chuckled, ‘’and then I’ll make you do even more, because you shouldn’t be able to be this much of a smartass if those exercises really were that hard for you’’.

Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’yeah see you Friday’’.

In the dressing room Ona jumped straight under the shower, after quickly washing herself and rinsing her hair out, she walked to her bag wrapped in a towel.

As she dug for clean underwear her phone rang, it was Sophia, she had a couple of questions about a client.

‘’Why are you still working Soph?’’ Ona chuckled but as she looked at the time her smile faded, ‘’no way, 22.45 already?’’.

Now it was Sophia’s time to laugh, ‘’yeah got a bit carried away exercising huh?’’.

‘’So it seems’’ Ona said ‘’anyways, for mister Potter you-

-did you ask her number yet?’’ Sophia interrupted her.

‘’Soph! that would not be professional’’ Ona said.

‘’You think she’s hot, what’s wrong with asking a number’’.

‘’Yeah she attractive’’ Ona confessed, ‘’but I don’t even know if she’s a lesbian, maybe she’s just sporty’’.

‘’So ask’’ Sophia simply said.

‘’No I-

A knock on the door interrupted her.

Ona looked up to see Lucy standing in the doorway, ‘’You forgot your shoes’’ she smiled.

Ona’s face got redder than the 2,5 kg weight plates that Lucy’s gym owned, ‘’oh uh thanks’’.

‘’No worries’’, Lucy said as her eyes lingered on Ona’s body for a second before she redirected herself to face Ona and , ‘’see you Friday’’.

‘’Yeah’’ Ona smiled, ‘’see you Friday’’.

Lucy turned around.

‘’Oh and’’ Ona called out.

Lucy turned back around with a smile.

‘’uh, thanks for my shoes’’ Ona said.

Lucy’s smile faded a little but she nodded, ‘’ofcourse’’.

The dressing room door fell closed behind her.

‘’Aahhhhhhgggg’’ Sophia screamed in her ear, ‘’I felt the sexual tension through the phone’’.

‘’Sophia!’’.

‘’What, you fumbled so hard, you said thanks twice, for a second I thought you were going to ask her number’’.

‘’Yeah’’ Ona sighed as she thought about the fact that she was originally planning too, before remembering she had Sophia on the phone, ‘’and give you a listen in on my rejection, don't think so’’.

Sophia groaned, ‘’she likes you too, why are you so uncertain’’.

‘’Why are you so sure, anyways we’ll talk about that client when I’m home’’.

...

Wednesday morning – Ona’s penthouse

It was the next day, Ona woke up in her big bed as the curtain automatically opened and stretched.

As she was completely stretched out, she suddenly shrank, ‘’merda’’ she groaned as a cramp hit her left leg, she tried to hold the muscle but it took a while before the cramp went away.

After the pain had disappeared she got out of bed, walking to the bathroom, when she wanted to lower herself to take place on the toilet she cringed, she couldn’t just normally take a seat, so she held the wall and let herself plop down.

When she got back to her room after peeing, she grabbed her phone to Google what she could do best in this situation.

A protein-rich breakfast, a warm bath and some stretching exercises later, she felt a little better and started her workday.

...

Friday morning - Bronze Fitness Forge

‘’Good morning Property Princess’’ Lucy said as Ona stepped into the gym.

Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’allright Lucy Lift-a-Lot, what are the plans for today’’.

Lucy grinned, ‘’how were your legs Wednesday?’’.

‘’Terrible’’ Ona smiled, ‘’so perfect’’.

‘’Stairs?’’.

‘’Well, I don’t really take those, but the toilet was a pain’’.

Lucy laughed, ‘’good, I suggest more squatting today’’.

Ona scrunched her face, ‘’not to much please, I have this event tomorrow’’.

‘’Work on Saturday?’’.

‘’Well no, it’s like networking event’’.

‘’Oh, is that one of those thing were you have a stand and promote your business’’.

 Ona chuckled, ‘’yeah, but i’m not there with a stand’’.

Lucy tilted her head.

‘’I got invited to look at peoples stands’’ Ona clarified.

‘’Isn’t that like..’’ Lucy didn’t finish her sentence.

‘’What?’’.

‘’Boring?’’.

‘’Yeah’’ Ona laughed, ‘’but its good for my image to show up, and the event payed me to show up’’.

‘’Really’’ Lucy said with disbelieve, ‘’so you’re actually a big name in the real estate world?’’.

‘’I guess’’ Ona shook her head as she laughed, anyways I’ll be bored out of my mind because Soph is taking this weekend off to see her family’’.

‘’Soph?’’.

‘’’Sophia, my PA’’ Ona clarified.

‘’Oh right’’ Lucy nodded, ‘’she was on the phone bribing me’’.

‘’Bribing?’’.

‘’Yeah, you wanted two sessions a week’’.

‘’Oh that’’ Ona nodded slowly, ‘’yeah, I hope she was sensible about it?’’.

‘’Oh yeah yeah, it was not actually bribing, she asked nicely’’.

‘’Good, but anyways, I will be walking around all day, so I need some power left in these legs’’.

Lucy nodded and explained some stretches they were starting with.

..

After the session, where they went a little less extreme as the last time, Lucy gave Ona a massage again. Whilst working her back she broke the silence, ‘’do you not know anyone else in London?’’.

Ona looked at her confused, ‘’what?’’.

‘’For the event, you said you have to go alone, do you not know someone you could take?’’.

Ona shrugged ‘’everyone is on holiday, it’s very last-minute anyways and I wouldn’t drag someone with, I wasn’t kidding when I said it was boring’’ she said into the table.

‘’I think it would be entertaining to see how you talk to everyone professionally’’ Lucy chuckled and acted out a conversation she imagined Ona would have with another realtor. She mockingly acted out the situation, putting on different voices.

Ona’s shoulders shook from her laughter, ‘’I think you will greatly disappointed’’ she laughed.

‘’Yeah?’’ Lucy sad as she put on a pouty face, ‘’is it not like that?’’.

‘’No not at all’’ Ona chuckled, ‘’way more boring’’.

‘’I don’t believe you’’ Lucy challenged.

‘’Well you’re free to join at your own risk’’.

Lucy’s face twisted up in a weird mischievous way, ‘’are you asking me out Batlle?’’.

Ona grinned, ‘’no, I offer you the position to be my plus one to a very boring event so you can entertain me’’.

‘’Well I am free tomorrow’’ Lucy contemplated, ‘’would you like me as your companion?’’.

‘’As long as you don’t publicly mock me’’ Ona rolled her eyes.

Lucy grinned, ‘’I’ll try to keep that for when were alone then’’.

Ona sat up and narrowed her eyes at the taller woman ‘’or like, not do it at all’’.

‘’I’ll see about that’’ Lucy grinned, ‘’what’s the dress code?’’.

‘’uhm, I think you’re best to wear a suit, a light color’’ Ona said as she studied Lucy, ‘’ if you have that’’.

‘’I don’t know’’ Lucy scrunched up her nose, ‘’I’ll have to dig through my closet’’.

‘’Send me a pic, if it’s not good I’ll send some things you could try on’’.

‘’are you going to judge if I look good enough to join your side’’ Lucy laughed, ‘’wow’’.

Ona shrugged, ‘’it’s a cruel world’’.

‘’fine’’ Lucy smiled, ‘’can I get your number?’’.

Ona looked at her with big eyes.

‘’Or do you want me to send Sophia that mirror pic?’’ Lucy grinned.

‘’Oh right, no we’ll exchange numbers, it’s more convenient for tomorrow too’’.

‘’How late is it anyways?’’.

They spoke about the details until Lucy noted that her new appointment would arrive in two minutes. With that Ona went to the changing room and got under the showers, she couldn’t hide the fact that the thought of spending tomorrow with Lucy made her feel giddy.

..

Friday afternoon – Ona’s penthouse

‘’Okay, I’ll see you Monday morning’’ Sophia said as she embraced Ona, ‘’have fun with your hot date’’.

Ona rolled her eyes but didn’t deny her PA’s words, ‘’you have fun at your parents’ house’’ she wished Soph.

‘’Mhm, I will’’ Sophia said as she walked towards the door with her suitcase, ‘’see you Monday!’’.

‘’Bye Soph’’ Ona called out as she got distracted by her phone buzzing.

An unsaved number had sent her texts, she opened her phone curiously.

@ Bronze Fitness Forge: hey, this is Lucy, hereby my outfit, hope you approve 😅

@ Bronze Fitness Forge: *mirror selfie of Lucy in a mint green suit with a white blouse*

@ Bronze Fitness Forge: ignore my bare feet, sorry, I’ll wear shoes tomorrow I promise

Ona changed the contact name to Lucy and texted back.

@ Ona Batlle: Looks good, what shoes do you plan on wearing?.

@ Lucy: sneakers?

@ Ona Batlle: no.

@ Lucy: i don’t have much else

@ Ona Batlle: what size are you?

@ Lucy: a UK size 7

Ona asked her for her address and ordered her a few shoes and a few white blouses, from a store she had great relations with, making them deliver the products before 10 o’clock tonight.

...

Friday night – Ona’s penthouse

@ Lucy: why did I just receive 4 pairs of shoes and 3 white blouses

@ Ona Batlle: fit them, see which you like best

@ Lucy: I have blouses

@ Ona Batlle: your suit is nice, can’t ruin it with a cheap blouse

@ Lucy: how can you recognize that from a picture

@ Ona Batlle: I got taste

@ Lucy: spoiled

@ Ona Batlle: do you want to come still?

@ Lucy: *3 pictures in the different blouses*

Ona admired the way Lucy’s arms looked in the blouses, the woman was well fit, with one particular blouse she swore she could even recognize the outline of abs.

She chuckled when she noticed the shorts Lucy was wearing, Barcelona football shorts.

@ Ona Batlle: nice shorts 😉

@ Lucy: shut up, which blouse.

@ Ona Batlle: deffo the one with the green buttons

@ Lucy: that one feels a bit tight

@ Ona Batlle: it looks good, but if you feel like it will rip, I’ll go for the one with the collar that’s got leaves on the inside.

@ Lucy: what shoe do you like best, they all fit

@ Ona Batlle: blouse got brown buttons so maybe the brown Loafers

@ Lucy: great, they were the comfiest

@ Ona Batlle: pic of the complete fit?

@ Lucy: tomorrow, I don’t want to put everything on again

@ Ona Batlle: lazy

@ Lucy: demanding

@ Ona Batlle: you know me so well

@ Lucy: you send a pic of your outfit then

@ Ona Batlle: no.

@ Lucy: then you’ll just see tomorrow

@ Ona Batlle: fine

Lucy was disappointed Ona didn’t ask her to send a full outfit picture more, she would’ve done it with a bit more insistence, but she guessed Ona wasn’t someone who lowered herself to such things, she was sure Ona would never beg for anything.

...

Saturday afternoon – London, network event.

The event went great, Lucy had been the perfect acquaintance. Making jokes in quiet, boring moments, but shutting up when Ona was talking to people she needed to talk to.

Lucy had on her part also enjoyed the event, there had been going around servers with appetizers and drinks, although they tasted amazing, Lucy tried to stay modest and allowed herself to accept something once in every three time she got offered something.

It was also fun to be around Ona, the woman was classy, she looked beautiful in the emerald colored dress she wore. She wore white heels and had a white bag with her, Lucy didn’t know if she had seen anyone walk as comfortable and elegant in heels as Ona did.

The event had gone by quite quickly, it was already passed eight o'clock.

‘’Oh fuck’’ Ona whispered, pulling Lucy from her thoughts.

They were standing together after Ona had just finished another conversation with an old guy, Lucy had introduced herself too and Ona had told the man they were working on a project together, it was not true but Lucy didn’t mind, and the guy didn’t ask any questions about it anyways.

‘’What?’’ Lucy asked, turning towards Ona.

‘’Don’t look’’ Ona said discretely, ‘’my ex is there, I didn’t know she’d be here’’.

Lucy suppressed her curiosity and kept looking at Ona, ‘’didn’t end well?’’.

‘’No she cheated’’ Ona grimaced, ‘’she’s the worst, she plays unfair both in business and in her private life’’.

‘’That sucks, how long ago-

-oh my god’’ Ona interrupted her, ‘’she’s coming over’’.

As Lucy stood straight again to prepare for an uncomfortable encounter, Ona leaned in and whispered something to her ‘’It was a year ago, if you like you could act like my girlfriend, that would be funny’’.

Lucy grinned and looked at Ona’s face ‘’ofcourse babe’’.

Ona chuckled at the way Lucy took on the role immediately, ‘’if she questions us we answer one after the other’’ she quickly whispered when the women almost had reached them.

‘’Ona!’’ the woman said as she looked at the pair, ‘’nice to see you again’’.

‘’Evelyn’’ Ona said coldly, ‘’how are you’’ she said as the woman forced a greeting with two kisses on her.

‘’I’m good’’ Evelyn said as she directed her gaze to Lucy and eyed the woman, ‘’you to it seems’’.

Lucy extended her hand to the woman who was also wearing a suit, Lucy giggled a little inside at the fact that it was a dark colored suit, since Ona had asked her to wear a light colored suit, ''Lucy, Lucy Bronze'' she introduced herself.

‘’Evelyn Thomas, Thomas real estate’’ the woman said, ‘’what do you do’’.

Lucy smiled, ‘’I am a sports physio, I help injured athletes with their recovery, I am currently also doing research into knee injuries''.

‘’Charity work?’’ Evelyn rudely asked.

Lucy replied with a smile, ‘’well the research doesn’t really bring in money, but that’s a passion of mine, no, I earn my money with my gym, but I get if you’ve never heard of it, it is an quite expensive membership’’.

Evelyn huffed, ‘’sure’’ she turned to Ona.

Lucy stepped closer to Ona rubbed the small of her back before she let her hand rest there.

‘’How long have you two been together?’’.

Ona smiled ‘’about half a year, right Luce?’’. She asked sweetly as she turned to Lucy, who already had her eyes on her.

‘’Best half year of my life’’ Lucy smiled, ‘’It feels like last week that we met’’.

‘’Right babe?’’ Ona sighed out and reached to pet Lucy’s face and kept looking at her, hoping Evelyn would just take the hint and leave.

‘’Allright’’ the woman said, but the pair didn’t look up.

‘’Well, great saying you again Ona’’, she tried.

Ona let her hand glide from Lucy’s face and turned back to Evelyn ‘’oh yeah, I’ll see you around’’.

Lucy smiled, ‘’nice meeting you Evelyn’’ she said in an overly sweet voice.

Lucy took two glasses of champagne from a server that passed them, ‘’here you go darling’’ she joked as she handed Ona one.

‘’Thank you’’ Ona sight as she looked around, ‘’wow, this bitch is still looking at us’’ she whispered in Lucy’s ear.

‘’Behind us?’’ Lucy asked quietly, getting a bit more into Ona’s personal space.

‘’Yeah, don’t look’’.

‘’No I was curious if I could get your consent’’.

‘’For what’’ Ona chuckled.

‘’Touch your butt, I bet she would eat herself up, she is so hung up on you still’’.

Ona grinned and leaned in to kiss Lucy’s neck softly, ‘’do it’’.

The Catalan peeked from Lucy’s neck at the woman a few meters behind them, she saw the woman had her gaze already fixed on Lucy’s hand, the hand that had rested on her lower back until now, smoothly Lucy let her hand travel south and squeezed Ona’s bum. Ona looked back at Lucy’s neck, she didn’t feel the need to watch Evelyn’s face a second longer then necessary.

Ona chuckled as she felt a shiver run down her spine from the way Lucy’s strong hand dug into her clothed flesh.

Lucy rubbed the place she had just squeezed gently and let her hand rest on the small of Ona’s back again, just a bit lower then she had been before.

‘’Thank you’’ Ona quietly said.

Lucy looked at her with a wicked grin, ‘’it was a pleasure’’.

Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’not that, for playing along’’.

‘’I was talking about that’’, Lucy said with raised eyebrows, trying to come across honest, ‘’okay squeezing your butt was fun too I guess’’ she sighed.

Ona’s mouth hang open to act as if she felt offended, ‘’liar’’.

‘’No I feel a bit like a cheap whore’’.

Ona chuckled, ‘’a cheap whore?’’.

‘’You buy me clothes in exchange for physical services’’.

‘’You make it sound like I’ll make you sleep with me’’.

‘’are you not?’’ Lucy said acting disappointed.

‘’Lucy!’’ Ona said in disbelieve, ‘’are you proposing to come home with me’’.

‘’I mean, the house of the best realtor is probably very impressive, maybe you can give me a tour’’.

‘’I thought you joined me to distract me from work, not give me more’’.

Lucy shrugged, ‘’okay, worth a try’’.

Ona grumbled on the inside, she wanted Lucy to come with her, but she wasn’t about to beg, ‘’fine’’ she stated, ‘’let’s go then, this event is dead anyways’’.

..

They were stood in the elevator of Ona’s building, ‘’how are you so bold all of a sudden?’’ Ona asked.

Lucy smirked, ‘’bold, how?’’.

‘’You straight up asked me to sleep with you’’ Ona said as she studied Lucy.

Lucy held her hands up, ‘’I’m confident in my abilities to break personal records with you in several areas, the bedroom being one of them’’.

Ona’s jaw dropped, ‘’does that work on all the girls you hit on’’.

‘’No just the one that are attracted to me’’ she answered with a smug smile.

‘’I’m not- i- how do you-

Lucy grinned, ‘’the dressing rooms are not call-proof, or at least, if it’s a private call, you should probably choose another place from now on’’.

Ona blushed and groaned, ‘’you heard that?’’ she said with a scrunched up nose and palmed her face.

The elevator stopped and with an elegant tone it indicated the arrival to the top floor.

Lucy smiled as the smaller woman walked away with cutely blushed cheeks and opened the door, Lucy followed Ona who stepped in to her appartement.

When she took of her shoes Lucy did the same.

‘’wow’’ Lucy gasped as she walked over to the windows, ‘’this is amazing’’.

‘’Thanks’’ Ona said, ‘’do you want something to drink?’’.

Lucy turned around with a smile, ‘’maybe after the tour? I had some drinks there already’’.

‘’Okay’’ Ona said as she got herself a sparkling water ‘’Okay this is the kitchen, that is the living-

‘’nooo’’ Lucy pouted and walked back to Ona, ‘’the fun way, make me want to buy this place’’ she said as she discarded her jacket on one of the bar stools.

‘’You already would’’.

Lucy rolled her eyes ‘’Like how you-

‘’don’t roll your eyes at me’’ Ona blurted out before she knew it was happening.

Lucy’s mouth fell open, ‘’says you! You roll your eyes every once 10 minutes’’.

Ona walked around the counter and stepped into Lucy’s personal space, ‘’shut up, I can do what I want’’ she said with a grin.

Lucy looked her, quiet from the sudden closeness, ‘’you shut up’’ she said, coming out clumsier than she wanted.

Ona chuckled, ‘’make me shut up then’’ she said as she traced her hand along the row of buttons from Lucy’s blouse.

‘’If you don’t stop me I’ll kiss you’’ Lucy said as she leaned in.

Ona smiled against her lips, ‘’if you don’t kiss me I’ll book you a cab home’’.

Their lips crashed in a hungry, exciting kiss, Lucy was the first to introduce tongue in their facade and Ona cupped the back of her neck as she gladly accepted it in.

Lucy’s hands travelled to the hips she had been eyeing all afternoon, the smaller woman looking delicious at the way the dress hugged her figure just right.

The English pressed herself closer against the Catalan.

Ona broke the kiss.

They both panted as Lucy tilted her head in confusion, ‘’not okay?’’.

‘’How about a quick tour of the bedroom?’’ Ona answered instead.

Lucy gulped, ‘’please’’.

Ona grinned as she took Lucy’s hand and guided her to her bedroom, ‘’wow’’ she gasped for a second time this evening.

‘’Is this enough light for you?’’ Ona asked, ‘’if you want more light we have to close the curtains’’.

Lucy quickly turned to face the woman, ‘’yes, lights on and curtains closed please, I’m not about to be on display for everyone in London to see’’.

‘’that’s why you keep the light off’’ Ona chuckled, ‘’and it can be fun you know, exciting’’.

Lucy shook her head, ‘’nah, as much as I like the view, I bet the view in here will be way better’’.

‘’Oh quite the charmer’’ Ona said as she pushed the button and the curtains started closing, ‘’ let's see if you can live up to all that big talk’’.

Lucy walked over to her and went in for another kiss, much shorter this time, ‘’just give me the green light and I’ll make you experience things you have never before’’.

‘’sure Bronze’’, Ona said as she started to undo to buttons from her blouse, ‘’you have permission do what you want, just stop if I say so’’.

Lucy grinned, ‘’always princess, your wish is my command’’ with that she attached their lips again.

While they were kissing Lucy shook her blouse off, figuring Ona wanted that as she had been tugging on the ting for minutes now. She walked with Ona towards the bed, making her walk backwards. When they were almost there Ona broke the kiss ‘’take my dress off’’ she said breathlessly.

Lucy grinned, ‘’not yet, you look so pretty in it’’ she said before planting her tongue back in Ona’s mouth, a few small sounds escaped the smaller woman as Lucy deepened the kiss and reached to pull up Ona’s dress.

She pushed Ona on the edge of the bed and started kissing her neck, ‘’do you want this’’ she asked between kisses ‘’want me to make you feel so good’’ she asked before licking and sucking the sensitive spots on Ona’s neck.

Ona whimpered, ‘’yes’’.

‘’Allright pretty girl’’ Lucy said she dropped to her knees, she looked up to meet Ona’s eyes as she started to kiss the insides of her thighs, ‘’I bet you taste so good’’ Lucy said as her hands travelled along the skin of Ona’s legs, giving her goose bumps.

‘’Can I taste you?’’ Lucy said as she latched her mouth to Ona’s other leg, she saw the Catalan fighting to keep composure, ‘’y-yes’’ she said with a breathy voice.

‘’Are you so worked up already?’’ Lucy playfully asked as she redirected her gaze to Ona’s thong, a dark-green piece of lace, with an even darker green spot right between the Spaniards legs.

Lucy kissed closer and closer towards the woman’s heat, until she could smell her wetness. Lucy groaned and sat back, ‘’up’’ she ordered as she hooked her fingers in the underwear.

Ona quickly cooperated.

Lucy dropped the thongs on the floor and went back to kissing Ona’s bare legs.

‘’Fuck Lucy, get your mouth on me’’ Ona said jaded.

With a smug face Lucy looked at her, ‘’you still think you’re calling the shots here?’’ she said as she let two fingers glide along Ona’s slick.

‘’Please’’ Ona whimpered.

This was all Lucy needed to hear, the rest of the begging could be done later, now she needed to get a taste.

She spread Ona’s leg wide with her hands as she dove in, letting her tongue glide softly along Ona’s core to make her get used to it.

She reached out for Ona’s hand and placed it in her hair as she kept up the gentle exploration.

When she had found a spot that she felt made Ona quiver, she grinned and kept Ona’s legs apart more strongly before diving in completely.

Ona’s eyes rolled back in their sockets, she head never experienced head like this before.

The skilled tongue rippling against her clit, the strong hands, making her spread out for the English woman on the edge of her bed.

With the hand that was guided to Lucy’s hair she gripped the woman’s dark brown hair, pushing her deeper against her, Ona felt the orgasm building up already. If it didn’t feel this good she would surely have been embarrassed about it.

‘’merda, se sent molt bé’’ (feels so fucking good) Ona moaned before she bit her lips as she struggled to keep herself up, leaning with one hand on the mattress.

Lucy didn’t know what the woman above her was muttering about, but she figured the words were positive. With two fingers of her right hand she teased Ona’s entrance, at this her legs shocked. Lucy looked up.

Ona groaned at the loss of stimulation and looked down at Lucy, ‘’fuck, you can use your fingers’’.

Lucy smirked as she put the fingers inside Ona’s mouth, as Ona sucked at them, covering them in her saliva. Lucy returned to what she was doing, she let her tongue dance along Ona’s clit.

When Ona opened her mouth and moaned, Lucy pulled her hand away and with very little preparation she plunged them inside of the dripping hole between Ona’s legs, deserving a loud guttural moan.

Lucy curled her fingers and searched for Ona’s weak spot, when she’d found it she started thrusting her fingers in a steady but provokingly slow pace.

The difference in paces from Lucy’s tongue and her fingers drove Ona mad, she couldn’t keep her eyes open as her eyes kept rolling back and the arm where she was leaning on was shaking.

After a few second she dropped on her, the leg that Lucy wasn’t keeping open with a hand almost crashed into Lucy but she didn’t budge.

Lucy sat up a bit more and kept working her tongue and hand as she felt Ona’s walls convulsing around her fingers.

She groaned as she felt a new gush of wetness covering her fingers, and dripping on her hand.

With a loud moan and a tight fist in Lucy’s hair, the woman below her orgasmed.

Lucy smiled as she slowly came to a stop and sat back when the hand left her head.

Ona's legs came back together and she stretched with her arms above her, "that was…" she breathed out.

Lucy grinned, ‘’quick?’’ she offered.

Ona sat up and rolled her eyes, ‘’I was going to say good’’.

‘’Both can be true’’ Lucy with a smug face.

..

After a few hours well spent, Lucy and Ona were standing under her rain shower.

‘’Do you want to sleep here?’’ Ona asked as she was lathering herself up with soap.

Lucy grinned ‘’are you asking out of politeness?’’.

‘’Maybe’’ Ona grinned back, ‘’don’t want you to feel like a cheap whore’’.

Lucy laughed, ‘’no I’ll book my own cab home, thanks’’.

‘’I had fun’’ Ona said sincerely, ‘’thanks for coming along’’.

‘’Me too’’ Lucy returned, ‘’and I’m happy for it to be a one time thing’’.

‘’Mhm’’ Ona said, ‘’perfect’’. She was amazed with Lucy’s maturity about the matter, some woman could get very offended.

‘’What do you want me to do with the shoes and shirts?’’ Lucy asked as they were drying off.

Ona smiled, ‘’keep ‘em, give ‘em away, I don’t care, it costs me more to make effort returning them, then what I would get for it’’.

Lucy shook her head in disbelieve but thought it was very kind she had bought her the things, ‘’thank you’’.

Ona nodded, ‘’it was my pleasure’’.

As Lucy walked back to the bedroom to put her suit back on, Ona just put her robe on, she was home alone anyways, she couldn’t help but look at Lucy’s back and ass, looking perfectly toned.

She bended to pick her clothes up and turned around to lay it on the bed, she looked at the clothes before looking at Ona.

Lucy caught the Catalan staring at her abs and grinned, ‘’could I borrow a pair of briefs?’’ she asked, ‘’I can’t put this back on’’, she said as she held her underwear up.

Ona gaze traveled form Lucy’s muscles to the piece of cloth and she smiled, ‘’ofcourse’’ she said before going into her walk-in wardrobe.

She came back and handed Lucy the underwear, ‘’and you can keep this too’’ she winked.

After that, Ona left Lucy to get dressed and went to the kitchen, she downed the glass of sparkling water that was still on the counter and went to her table, opening the laptop that laid there.

In a few minutes she was completely indulged with the things on her screen and hadn’t noticed Lucy been done with getting dressed, now standing infront of her.

‘’Bye Ona’’ Lucy said as she walked closer to the woman.

Ona jumped at the voice breaking the silence, but quickly got her composure back and smiled, ‘’sorry, I was reading something’’ she stood up, ‘’I’ll see you Tuesday Lucy, thanks again’’.

‘’I had fun’’ Lucy smiled, ‘’I’ll see myself out, see you Tuesday’’.

..

Tuesday night –  Bronze Fitness Forge, London

Ona and Lucy had another session. They both thought back at their one nightstand as a perfect encounter, the sex had been good and they were both on the same terms as far as relationships are concerned.

Lucy didn't think Ona was the type of girl she’d ever date, but she could say that she was absolutely perfect in terms of appearance. The fact that she was shorter, the freckles, her slightly defined muscles and most of all her perfect butt. Ona’s ass might be her favorite thing about the woman.

Ona was happy Lucy had been on the same page as her about at sleeping over, she didn’t like waking up next to people, they often looked and smelt bad and Ona didn’t like anyone in the world enough to deal with that. Ona was happy to go to the woman’s gym again this day, she felt like her sexual frustration had been cleared up and was ready to maybe even break that squatting PR.

Lucy was a little bit nervous about seeing the woman again, hoping it wouldn’t be awkward, she had gotten in a bit earlier than last time, to make sure they could at least get dressed separately. Even though she would be lying if she’d say she wasn’t at least a little bit curious if the hickey’s she had left were still there.

She shook her head, she shouldn’t be thinking about this. Ona had been perfectly clear, heck she had wanted it herself, this was a one time thing and in a month they’d maybe never see eachother again.

Ona came walking in to the gym, disrupting Lucy’s string of thoughts.

‘’Hey Ona’’ she cheerfully said, but she couldn’t help but notice the fact Ona was wearing a shirt and shorts now, rather then the sports bra she had worked out in until now.

‘’Lucy’’ Ona smiled, ‘’ready to break some records?’’.

‘’I sure am’’ Lucy said, ‘’do we go squatting straight after warm up?’’.

‘’Yes’’ Ona replied, ‘’I hope I can do more then 50 today’’.

‘’Enthusiastic, i love it’’

‘’Oh you know me’’ Ona joked.

‘’Always enthusiastic to break records’’ Lucy said, after which she cringed at herself.

They warmed up and went to the weight rack, ‘’hey have you already set it up?’’ Ona asked, smiling.

‘’Ofcourse’’ Lucy said smugly, ‘’six sessions left until you’re doing 55’’.

Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’if you weren’t hot I would’ve hired another personal trainer six sessions ago’’.

Lucy chuckled, ‘’well first off all thanks, second off all, what do you think a good personal trainer does then’’.

The Spaniard shrugged, ‘’not being annoying’’.

‘’I am not annoying’’ Lucy said as she quirked her eyebrows.

‘’How would you describe a person using insults as motivation’’ Ona challenged her.

‘’motivational’’

‘’annoying’’

‘’did you do those reps or not’’

‘’yes’’

‘’so, motivational’’ Lucy stated as if it was settled.

Ona shook her head and walked over to take place under the bar, ‘’please keep from your motivations until really really can’t go anymore’’ she stood up and took the bar on her shoulders, ‘’until then, you spot me quietly’’.

‘’yes ma’am’’ Lucy joked as she took position behind Ona, ‘’I kidding, I’ll shut up’’.

Surprisingly, Ona squatted the 50kg the first 8 reps perfectly, without any problem.

‘’I’m impressed’’ Lucy said as Ona was shaking her legs to get ready for the last set, ‘’you finally found your right mindset’’.

Ona smiled but kept quiet, she couldn’t get distracted now.

She took place under the bar again and accidentally walked into Lucy with her butt.

‘’Oh sorry’’ Lucy chuckled as she took a step back, ‘’okay last 4, let’s go’’.

Ona blushed at the way heat traveled to her core from the brief touch.

She took the weight on her shoulders for the third time and for some reason they felt twice as heavy.

Ona didn’t squat but kept standing there with the weights in her neck.

‘’Come on Ona, you can do it’’ she felt Lucy’s hot breath in her neck.

‘’I don’t know if I-

‘’You can do it Ona’’ Lucy pressed up against Ona, and put her hand under her arms, ‘’we’ll do it together’’.

Ona gulped as she felt Lucy front pushed against her.

She squatted and easily came back up with Lucy’s strength supporting her, she wanted to rack the weights as she stood straight again.

‘’3 more Ona’’ Lucy said in her ear.

Ona groaned as she did another.

‘’Good job Ona’’ Lucy said, in a voice close to a whisper. Ona couldn’t help but think the woman was doing this on purpose, she was so close, Ona could feel her abs in her back, and her thighs against her own, no other trainer had ever spotted her like this.

After the four squats Ona racked the bar and turned around, Lucy stepped back.

She studied the woman’s face, Lucy casted her eyes to the ground.

Ona ducked under the bar and stepped into Lucy’s personal space, she noticed a slight blush on the English woman her cheeks, but then again that could be from warming up.

Ona shook her head, thinking it was her mind playing tricks with her, ‘’so what next’’ she asked.

Lucy looked up at her with surprise but quickly put on a neutral face again, ‘’have you ever bench pressed?’’.

‘’Ofcourse’’ Ona chuckled.

Lucy insisted on showing Ona the best technique and did a few quick sets with the weights she had grabbed for Ona.

However, when Ona did the sets with those weights it went a lot less smoothly.

After the set Ona set up and set the weights down on the ground.

Lucy took place on the bench next to her, ‘’have you ever heard about the mind-muscle connection?’’.

‘’no’’ Ona said as she shook her head.

‘’Okay, so during an exercise touching the muscle is a great way to help increase the mind-muscle connection. When you physically touch the muscle, it provides tactile feedback that can be used to better understand which muscles are being targeted and how they should feel during an exercise’’. Lucy explained.

‘’Look’’ she said as she did a bicep curl, ‘’I am working my bicep right now, so then I’ll tap or touch the muscle and that will eventually help with increasing strength in that muscle’’.

Ona sighed, ‘’okay, so you are going to be poking my biceps as I bench press’’.

‘’With a bench press we target arms, shoulders and chest’’ Lucy said, ‘’one of the most useful exercise to work on your mind-muscle connection with, as you automatically start to use the muscles that are touched more then when you just do it, it helps with knowing from where you need to provide strength into the push’’.

‘’Okay lets do it professora’’ Ona chuckled.

While she was benching the weights Lucy poked the concerning muscles, but Ona couldn´t really take it serious, she was getting distracted with the way Lucy´s hands were resting on her chest now, just above her boobs.

´´don´t be so distracted Ona, focus´´ Lucy said, as she noticed Ona slowing her pace.

´´Allright´´ she said, and Lucy retracted her hands at her sudden harsh voice, the effect she hoped it would have, she dropped the weights besides her, ´´you sit here´´ she said as she stood up.

Lucy looked at her confused, ´´what?’’.

‘’Go sit here and do bench presses’’.

Lucy was confused but went to do what Ona ordered, as she had took the weights in her hands she started, ‘’just like this’’ she carefully said.

‘’Yes’’ Ona said as she took place on Lucy’s lap, ‘’go on, keep going’’ she said as she let her hands travel along Lucy’s arms, shoulders, chest and ended at her abs, as Lucy stopped and looked confused at her she repeated what the English woman had told her earlier, ´´don´t be so distracted Lucy, focus´´.

Lucy chuckled, ‘’I wasn’t sitting on your lap’’.

‘’I wasn’t grinding into your ass’’ Ona bit back.

Lucy set the weights besides her, ´´I’m sorry.. I couldn´t..

´´couldn´t what Lucy?’’ Ona sat as she leaned closer towards Lucy’s face, ‘’couldn’t help but wanting to feel my ass?’’.

The English woman swallowed hard, she knew it wasn’t professional of her.

Ona bit her lip as she looked at the woman squirming below her.

She leant to whisper something in Lucy’s ear, ‘’I am going to take a shower’’ she said before softly laying a single kiss in Lucy neck and getting up.

Without turning around she walked towards the changing room, hoping Lucy would follow her.

Lucy scrambled to sit up and wondered what the fuck just happened, she was very confused, a part of screamed that she should follow the woman, another part said to stay in the gym, as she had done more then enough.

-I am going to take a shower-, the words repeated over and over in her head, if Ona really wouldn’t have wanted her to follow her she would’ve surely said something else right, and not give her a kiss.

Without more contemplation Lucy jumped up, she hurried to the changing room and got in, the shower was already running, Lucy spotted Ona’s clothing on the bench.

‘’Uhm’’ Lucy cleared her throat, ‘’sorry’’.

‘’I can’t here you’’ Ona called from under the water, ‘’what did you say?’’.

Lucy  stepped closer to the shower, the shower was just an extension of the dressing room, separated by a tiled wall and a corner, in there were 4 showerheads, which turned out to be the stupidest setup ever, as only one person showered here at a time, but they hadn’t thought about it like that when she helped designing the place.

‘’Sorry’’ she tried again.

Ona chuckled, ‘’Luce come here’’.

Lucy stepped along the wall and was met with a very wet, very naked Ona.

Ona grinned and walked towards Lucy, ‘’it’s okay’’ she said before pressing the taller woman against the wall, ‘’but now you've triggered something in me’’.

‘’w-what’’.

‘’Strip’’ Ona said coldly.

Lucy did as told and stepped out of her shoes before she threw her clothes in to the dressing room, in the same undressed state as the Spaniard she walked back to her.

‘’Good’’ Ona said as she pulled Lucy by her wrist to join her under the weak beam of warm water.

Lucy closed her arms around Ona and pulled her in for a deep kiss.

Ona groaned and broke the kiss, ‘’I don’t know what it is but I feel a weirdly big amount of attraction towards you’’.

Lucy narrowed her eyes, ‘’thanks I guess, I think you’re very hot too’’.

‘’No’’ Ona rolled her eyes, ‘’I mean, I have never not been able to suppress the urge to fuck someone’’.

Lucy smirked, ‘’it’s hard when it’s that good’’.

Ona rolled her eyes again, ‘’shut up, your dumb words turn me off’’ she said before kissing Lucy again.

The English woman grinned against Ona’s lips as her hand roamed Ona’s body until they settled between her legs, ‘’Do you get wet when you’re turned off?’’ she asked with an annoying smirk on her face, ‘’or where you lying’’.

‘’I am not lying’’ Ona said as turned them around, ‘’you’re the hottest when your mouth is closed’’.

Lucy chuckled as Ona dropped to her knees and kissed along her upper thighs. ‘’Or when you are cumming’’ Ona added before tugging one of Lucy’s legs on to her shoulder.

She made sure Lucy’s other leg was planted firmly on the ground before she buried her head in between the woman’s legs. Lucy closed her eyes as the shorter woman hungrily started eating her out. Ona reached around Lucy to grab her ass and guided her to grind down on her face. The muscular woman let out a groan and gripped Ona’s hair. The groans of Lucy and humming of Ona echoed in the tiled room.

 With a hand coming down on the Catalans shoulder, pressing into her, she almost lost balance for a second, but she recovered and gripped tighter into the flesh of Lucy’s ass while she kept fucking with her tongue in and out of her entrance.

The leg that was hanging over her shoulder started jolting as Ona heard the breath of the woman above her get more and more unsteady. Lucy felt she was about to come undone and braced herself on Ona and the shower wall, grabbing the rod where the shower was connected to.

She bit her lips as she looked down at the beautiful woman bobbing her head between her own legs, she grabbed the hair she was holding and pulled at the roots as she pushed the head deeper into her core. Ona moaned at the act, a shiver traveled along Lucy’s spine at the vibration.

‘’Fuck’’ she breathed, ‘’I’m cumming’’.

At that last word her voice went up her voice went up an octave and her eyes rolled back while an electric pulse travelled through her body. Ona kept lapping at Lucy, dirty sounds filling the room, only when Lucy’s hips started jerking from sensitivity, she stopped. Only now she realized how hard she had been holding onto Lucy and she caressed the skin gently before pulling her hands back. She sat back and stood up to look at Lucy.

The English woman wore a dopey grin, with hooded eyes she smiled at Ona, ‘’that was amazing’’ she said as if she was under the influence of drugs.

‘’Good’’ Ona said, ‘’because I need this to be our last time’’.

At those words Lucy seemed to get sobered up immediately, ‘’I’m not done’’ she said.

Ona rolled her eyes but couldn’t ignore the way she felt her core pulsing at Lucy’s hungry gaze. Lucy stepped closer and kissed her. Lucy grinned as she felt the Catalan pushing herself against her, almost searching for some kind of relieve with the way her core searches for one of Lucy’s thighs.

‘’Not here’’ Lucy said as she broke the kiss, ‘’come home with me’’.

PART 2

[velvetcloxds]

REMNANTS | E.M.

word count: 2.3k

warning: alternative series ending, no happy ending, thought we were done with this but if I can't talk about it with someone then I can write about it to someone- make this go away by making you the villain vibes except it’s scary factual

summary: you overhear a conversation between eddie and billy and realize your parents had good reason to try and keep you away from him.

previous parts: linger | fleeting | gone

You had a sickening pull to your stomach, the butterflies that lived there had turned to stone, heavy and rough, and it made you want to throw up. Your dad was right, as if that sentence alone wasn’t enough to make your guts jumble, it also made the next part even worse because he was right about Eddie being not only bad for you, but ultimately being on the wrong side of things altogether. Motives really do change, people really do change, but what if you just didn’t know Eddie’s motives from the beginning. When Billy Hargrove started working for the family your dad thought he’d be able to change him and bring out better in him, and for a while he did, for a while, he worked harder than he schemed. But still, he managed to change everything, nearly ruining the entire legacy your parents had created by allowing squatters to move into rooms and pocketing the money, sent out false communications in your dad’s name, selling private information to whoever paid him the most- it was unreal that someone so young, so immature could create such a scheme right under everyone’s noses.

Eddie wasn’t directly involved in any of it, but he knew, you didn’t know that he knew, and it should’ve made you run for the hills when you found out that he did. You should’ve, the second you saw Billy talking to him, the second he started getting a little too involved in the admin part of the job, you should’ve seen his helpfulness and eagerness for what it truly was- a search for an in and you very naively gave it to him by thinking with your heart and not your head.

Your mom decided to send you home, it wasn’t as busy, the work you had to do wasn’t stuck to the office and though she’d never tell your dad about it, your mom knew you were hurting a little at the idea that Eddie, in all his kind glory wasn’t truly who you thought he was. In the back of your head, you could clearly still see your Eddie, he was still all the things that made you blush just at the thought of him but there was a snippy voice in your head that wondered what about it was real, what about it was an act and what about it was just a ploy to distract you from what was happening. You wondered if he ever even wanted to be your friend, ever actually saw you, or if it was always just an endgame type of scenario, if he applied just enough sweet charm, you’d fold like paper, the boss’ naïve daughter who was so desperate for any form of care or love or attention she fell for it without a single bit of hesitation. You felt embarrassed, and stupid, like all those times your mom told you that guys would change your character was right, and that made you so cross too because you were sure you’d be different.

You were already having a horrendous day, fought with your mom, had to apologize for not cutting him off when you should’ve, when you realized you liked him, why you didn’t tell her and the truth was because you knew she’d reason with you, make you realize how selfish, how unlike yourself you were being. And how would you explain that, you’d not done anything wrong, innocent conversations, subtle musings that disguised his flirting, really it was just nice to be noticed, be seen and fussed over, you didn’t need to hide yourself, you could just be.  Now it felt like there was a magnifying glass aimed right at you, every move, every word, everything you’d done the last few months was now under question because you’d not seen Eddie for who he was. You wanted to walk it off and get some air before having to sit in a car with them to be taken home. It wasn’t like you’d run into any of them, not when they were in hiding somewhere discussing their plans.

When you’d found yourself in front of the empty room that used to be an office, that used to be where you and Eddie hid away to eat lunch, to breathe a little, you didn’t expect to find him there, didn’t expect to find him there with those type of people either, seems like you were still in the process of finding out just how much you misunderstood him.

“Oh get over it, so what if she’s ignoring you,” it was Billy’s voice, too arrogant all things considered, too loud considering he wasn’t allowed in the building in the first place, you peaked into the window and saw Eddie shrug, his face looked different, clouded by something-  secrets, just like theirs. “Never mind that, we’ve still got the floorplans, still know which rooms are open and when they’ll be filled,” he was smoking, flicked ash onto the carpet, and rubbed it into the material with the sole of his boot. “Besides, if she comes out saying anything to her parents, we have enough to put everything right back onto her,” that sickening feeling was back, it felt like it was trying to harden the whole of your body with it.

“I don’t know about that, man,” Eddie took a drag from the cigarette and shook his head, he looked unsure, but you couldn’t know, not now, you weren’t sure if you’d ever been able to read him in the first place. “She’s a sweet girl, I mean I know we used her for intel, know it was easy to get her on my side, but shit, I don’t know if it’s right to make this all out to be her fault when it goes wrong.”

“When?” Billy scoffed, a sound, much like his general existence that made you want to throw a chair at him just to silence it. “Eddie, we’ve been one step ahead of them since the beginning, by the chance they catch onto us we’ll be walking away with full pockets and not a single piece of evidence pointing to us.”

You somehow felt even more stupid when you expected Eddie to defend you, your family, he’d been working close enough to the lot of you to at least realize that this wasn’t okay, wasn’t right, definitely wasn’t legal, but it wasn’t how you treated people who cared for you, helped you.

“I think my pockets are full enough,” Eddie stood up, stuffed the cigarette in Billy’s hand, and kicked at the mark Billy left on the floor as if it could take it out now, you bit back a scoff, very typical. “I don’t want to be involved in this anymore, I didn’t think I’d care if I hurt them, thought people like them deserve it but-“

“But you like her? So what if you like her, do you think she’d care about you at all outside of this place, if she’d met you in the diner or the supermarket, she wouldn’t even have noticed you,” he wasn’t wrong, you hated to know he wasn’t wrong, but it meant you also wouldn’t have gotten hurt, it means you would’ve been right to stay as far away as possible. “Besides, she’d write you off in an instant if she knew what you’d been doing with me, that’s the whole point, we’re all caught up in it now, no getting out of it- we’re the ones with the power, we can take them all down with us.”

“You give yourself too much credit, Billy,” Eddie looked like he’d seen a ghost when you opened the office door to see them, he’d paled, and tried his best to hide his reaction but failed completely. “It’s going to take more than a little plan decided on over cigarettes and late-night beers to take down this business, we were surviving before you, and we’ll survive after you,” you couldn’t look at Eddie, took the cigarette from Billy’s hold and put it out on the plastic shades hanging on his shirt pocket. “Now, the sign with your picture on it by the gate is more than just a little suggestion- you’re not allowed on the premises.”

“Hasn’t stopped me before, has it,” he winked and shoved Eddie’s shoulder lightly before he made quite the scene of walking away from you. “See you soon,” he paused, scoffed at the way Eddie was looking at you, lips moving without any words. “Good luck, Eds.”

You waited for the door to shut, for his steps to echo on the stairs as he left, for your heart to start beating again, for your blood to stop boiling. When you finally looked up at the boy, you wished you hadn’t, he looked guilty, you didn’t need to know him to know that it was written all over his features, all over his movements- he moved to say something, you shook your head, he didn’t take note of it.

“I’m sorry,” it felt odd being on the receiving end of that phrase, when you used it the day before it had such a different meaning, and held such different emotions, he was guilty, he was doing something wrong and he was able to hide it from you for months now but with it all out in the open it was like he couldn’t hide from it either, he had to face it now. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Bite your tongue,” you had to be careful now, not too emotional, not too revealing, he wasn’t on your side, wasn’t one you could trust with yourself anymore, another person to sift with, another person to pretend with. “You don’t believe that- I most certainly don’t- I might not know you Eddie Munson, but you knew me enough to take part in this plan of yours so don’t you dare try and tell me you didn’t think this would hurt me.”

“It’s not that simple, okay, yes it started as an act, but I swear things started changing for me, you made this so difficult for me, I knew I should’ve kept going but I couldn’t stand seeing you actually like me knowing what I was doing.”

“I made it hard for you to hurt me?” you scoffed, your words might be calculated but the sound was very telling, you were fuming, you were devastated, how Eddie of all people could be the one to do this to you was madness, unbelievable- how he could be working hand in hand to hurt the business was a whole other thing, your entire livelihood was at stake because he wanted to score some extra cash this month. You shook your head. “I’m so confused, Eddie, honestly, I should be so upset with you but more than anything I’m literally so disappointed in you. You’re better than this, you’re better than him and his schemes- you had a shot here, you were proving yourself to my parents, you had a future here aside for me and you completely threw that away- you think they could trust you after this?”

“I didn’t think it through,” he pulled a hand through his hair, and pulled at his denim jacket, it seemed like he didn’t know what to do with his hands, with his body, he wanted to speak to you but you had a feeling he didn’t know where to even begin, even if he had, he knew you wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t accept anything from him after what you’d just heard. “I didn’t think it would go this far.”

“Neither did I,” he reached for you, and you stepped back, absolutely hated that, he did it again and you physically had to push his hand away. “Don’t. Don’t you dare.”

“Please, you don’t need to forgive me, but hear me out, let me explain, it won’t mean much but I swear there’s more to this than what you overheard,” you allowed his hand to brush against yours, closed your eyes for a second at the familiar feel of it, considered how you’d think about it for days on end even after all his done.

“Just leave, Eddie, take your cash, your people, leave before I have to tell my dad about all of this and he makes you leave,” you folded your arms around yourself, hated yourself more than you could fathom, how could you have fallen for this, how could you allow yourself to feel like this. “Please, this was cruel, it was unkind and unfair and I never for a second expected this of you so please just leave- please don’t let this linger.”

And he didn’t, he left, you shattered, felt the remnants of your trust in him fall to the floor, and you had no idea how to process this. It was never just a crush, it was never a crush in the first place, you were a pawn and they just took you right off the board.

[btr-rewatch]

Big Time Rush Season 1, Episode 18: “Big Time Concert” (Part 3)

Highlights: 3/4 of Big Time Rush move on with their lives.

In my previous post, we'd just left off at the scene where Hawk and his assistant have made the decision to target James in their big "take down Rocque Records once and for all" plan.

Over at Rocque Records, Kelly informs Gustavo that since Griffin spent $2 million on the band, it'll take that same amount to get them back.

This scene brings back such memories of a younger me being so intrigued by Kelly's necklace because it looks like big pieces of Orbit chewing gum.

I just. I want to chew on that necklace, ok?

Kelly thinks she's figured out a way they can get that kind of money, and Gustavo is thrilled...until Kelly tells him he's got to sell his mansion.

Meanwhile, everyone is settling back in at the Knight house (minus James, who's out riding his tiny bike around and brooding). I like the touch of having the wall of family pictures that contain actual photos of the actors—I spot a handful of Kendall's headshots that I recognize. I especially like that there's the same photo twice.

Rather than seeing it as a funny mistake on the part of the set designer, I choose to believe either

Mama Knight likes that picture so much that she had to include it in two different frames

Or, alternatively, someone (maybe Katie or Carlos) decided at some point to pull a prank where they slowly start replacing every photo on the wall with that one single picture and see how long it takes before anyone notices.

Kendall asks Logan to go over where they are currently in their "Rebuild our Minnesota dreams schedule," and can I just say that the guys (minus James) have slipped back into their lives as nobodies in Minnesota seamlessly? Like, I know it was James's dream, and the whole reason they went was because Kendall's offer made it so James could have that shot at stardom, and Kendall never really wanted to be in a boyband, but still. They had so many opportunities in that short time, experienced so much, made friends, established romantic relationships, and saw how amazing that life can be. You'd think they'd all be mourning at least a little. Unless they're just in a different type of denial than James was.

Although, I suppose their response can make sense when you look at their individual personalities. Logan's pragmatic, so I'm sure it could have been easy for him to brush off their brief taste of stardom with self-assurances that it wasn't a sturdy, logical career to pursue anyway, and failure was much more likely than success in the long run.

Carlos is such a carefree, go-with-the-flow, high-on-life guy that he can find happiness anywhere. He rolls with the punches and just looks to the next exciting thing (ie. becoming a radioactive superhero. Love that for you, Los)

Kendall is a little trickier because he does kind of have an obsessive personality, and he's just as determined about things as James. I'm almost surprised he doesn't take the end of the band, his chance with Jo, and so on harder. But then there's the part of me that says there are other things at play that overpower whatever sadness Kendall might have, such as him seeing it as a chance to finally relax for a bit. He'd been working so hard to hold everything together in L.A., churning out pep talks and dealing with Gustavo and constant shenanigans. He can take a breath now. Also! While I don't think Kendall has necessarily had a difficult life overall (it's clear he's had a good, loving upbringing, has a nice house, etc) I don't think his life has been easy. He watched his parent's marriage fall apart when he was super young; his dad walked out, his mom has had to work her butt off to support him and Katie, and Kendall also has a job (I think the only one of the boys who does) to help bring in extra money. That kid knows that sometimes life throws you a curveball, and you've got to hold your head up and just keep going. No time for a pity party or wallowing in "what ifs."

So yeah, anyway...tangent over. My favorite part of this little scene is the look Kendall gives to Logan after he reads the first item off their list.

Look at him. There's so much love in that look. He's so proud of Logan going after his dreams. I love Kendall, and I love their friendship, and I love this stupid show.

And I need to briefly get off topic here solely to mention how much I've always liked Logan's accent. Love the way he says words. He turns the short "e" sound into short "i" in so many things. "Ten" becomes "tin," and "Kendall" becomes "Kindall." I also have a distinct memory of one episode where he manages to turn the two-syllable word "ruin" into the single-syllable word "roon." Always got a kick out of that.

With all this sidetracking, it is going to take me FOREVER to get through this episode. I am barely twenty minutes in.

After Super Carlos bursts into the room and announces they're going to start righting the wrongs they left behind when they moved to L.A., the guys go to apologize to Mrs. Magicowski. They promised to shovel her walkway if she let them use her car to get to the audition, then they ditched her and went to be a band, lol. I love Mrs. Magicowski; she's such a sweet old woman. I want to know more about the relationship the boys have with her. I imagine they took good care of her prior to leaving—checking in on her, shoveling, raking leaves, bringing her meals—and in return, she was like a grandma to all of them.

They look ridiculous, btw.

I mean, Kendall I can excuse, but Logan and Carlos look like they've just rung a doorbell and are waiting for candy on Halloween. Bunch of weirdos.

No, wait, you know what? This is exactly how they looked on Halloween night as kids, I guarantee it. Carlos as a superhero, Logan as a doctor, Kendall as a hockey player, and James like a rockstar. Speaking of James, what's he up to?

Oh.

Shake it off, Jamesy.

Also, the tiny bike still is very funny, but @day-dreams22, I'm pretty sure you're right that it's a BMX bike. After he gets hit, there's a shot where you can see the words "goose" on the bike, which means it's likely a Mongoose-brand BMX trick/stunt bike. And look at that hop off the curb. James Diamond, secret BMX stunt rider CONFIRMED.

Ok, you know what? I was aiming for 4 posts total for this episode, but it looks like it'll end up being 5 because I'm rambling so much during these. Hope no one minds having to split it into so many parts, but I worry if they're too long, they'll be difficult to read and get through. Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun being able to just go on about whatever, haha.

And James getting hit by a car seems like a fitting place to leave this episode. Hope he survives <3

[valeria-garza-enjoyer]

Mx. Sinister

Valeria Garza x Fem!Reader

omg my first cod fanfic guys can i be apart of the club pretty pls :3

Oh you never seem to notice… When I follow you home

She was a normal, functioning member of society, she just did what was best for Las Almas in an… alternative way.

What can I say, drugs bring in a lot of money. A lot a lot.

Too much, she’s decided. She needs someone to spend it on, someone to spoil. It’s been nagging at her for quite some time, to find some dainty little bachelorette in her town and make them hers, to lavish her in the most delicate gold jewelry and finest silks. To make a pretty young thing her hermosa perra. Her vida, her amor, her florecita. Her florecita, who she’ll open up and make bloom, whether on her own or otherwise.

In the dark of your apartment… When you think you're alone

Finding her florecita was easy enough, she has ties all over the world. She could, quite literally, get anyone she wanted with enough phone calls and deals made. No, she wants someone local, someone she’s seen when she goes for her morning coffee. And she has the perfect idea of who to take when she overhears some phone calls she definitely should not have heard.

You.

Apparently, money is tight in the family, something something a family member is genuinely thinking of selling their girls into sex slavery or at the least pulling them out of school to work, something something more and she finds out you’re about to be kicked out of your apartment.

So she swoops in, slowly, like a leaf falling from the highest branch of a tree with no breeze to carry it.

What will it take? What else should I do?

She buys you your morning coffee and breakfast, making small talk. She thinks you’re absolutely beautiful, absolutely and positively hers. Her hands linger as she hands you your coffee and puff pastry, her cold and nimble fingers somehow comforting.

“Well, mi florecita, I heard there’s more openings in my cartel if it helps. I can make some special exceptions for you and your family, keep you out of the front lines. How does medical, or maybe logistics, sound, querido?”

You blush at the kindness of what is at least a stranger and at most distant friend, turning down the offer. Of course you turn down the offer, ever the sweet and caring soul. Too scared to “take advantage” of someone’s kindness.

How far must I go to prove… That I love you?

So Valeria doubles down, walking her to work after her morning coffee, making sure not a single mutt in Las Almas soils her florecita. Her closest men track and follow you like shadows and bloodhounds on a scent trail, learning your every move and routine.

So she just so happens to be shopping at the same time as you, talking about what would make a good dinner.

“Oh, well I haven’t had sushi in a while, but the one sushi restaurant is far too expensive to justify right now.”

Valeria’s eyes light up, and she smiles softly, grabbing the bag of onions for you.

“Sushi? I was going to go there tonight, why don’t you join me, mi florecita? On me, don’t worry about a single thing. You’ve been working harder than a mule, you deserve to take a break. What do you say, sweetheart?”

“I- well I… I mean I guess I can pay you back later…”

“Nonsense, there is no “paying me back later” chica. We both want sushi and you need a break. I'm offering, why don’t you just come with me?”

“Fine, fine Valeria! When do you want me to be there?”

“How about seven fifteen, seven thirty, hm? Does that work for you?”

“Seven thirty works for me, see you then, Valeria!”

“Of course, chica. See you then.”

And I'll get you yet…

Money shows up randomly in your purse, starting off small until you notice a few extra twenties padding your wallet. You think nothing of it, maybe you really are forgetting all the money that was in there.

But the extra padding in your savings account doesn’t go unnoticed. You had almost nothing in there to keep up with bills that you couldn’t pay from your checking, and now every time you check it goes up in almost indiscernible increments. You can’t tell anyone, it’ll sound like fraud or insanity.

But Valeria knows. She sees it in how you carry yourself now. You’re not on the brink of starvation or homelessness anymore, you order an extra large instead of a large coffee. You look in shops as you two walk, wondering if you should actually get that dress.

“That’s a pretty dress, no?” Valeria comments, noticing your gaze drifting towards the display. You nod a little, eyes drawn to the light sage green silk dress, stopping just above the ankles. Flowy like a river, form fitting and revealing in just the right places. You simply can’t take your eyes off of it until they wander to the price tag.

Oh. Even with the new padding your wallet and savings have, it’ll hurt. You smile and look away, continuing to walk with Valeria.

“It is, but I gotta save for it. It’s just a little out of my price range right now.” You reply dismissively, looking in other windows, noticing every stunning dress is just out of your price range.

Just know I'm not the sinister type…

So what else does Valeria do? She calls in an order for the dress with your exact measurements, tailored to every curve and inch of your body.

You see it in the corner of your eye when you come home from work one day, stopping dead in your tracks.

I never bought that dress… It was too expensive, it was way out of my budget! What the hell?

You look for a receipt, a tag, anything to prove you bought it. Nothing. Just the most eye catching and stunning dress you’ve seen in ages, sitting in your closet like the cardigans you wear every day.

You try it on. It fits like a glove, to your horror. Or excitement, you can't really tell. All you know is that the dress alone makes you feel like a doll, porcelain and precious. The silk hugs your curves, accentuating each dip in your skin and every soft crevice. You look at yourself in the full length mirror and blush, twirling around to watch the skirt of the dress twist and turn with you, buttery smooth and effortlessly elegant.

But I'll get you yet…

Valeria comes over some time later and smiles as she peaks into your room, seeing the silk dress in the closet.

“So you bought that stunning dress and just didn’t show me, let alone tell me? Aye, mi florecita, I must see you in that silk.” She chides softly, a little teasing.

But she’s got to see you in that dress. The dress she bought for you. The dress she broke into your apartment to put in your closet while you were away. The dress she thought of as your dress, no other person in the world could ever wear that dress. It belonged to you, was meant to be on you. She couldn’t have it any other way.

She’s not sinister. She’s desperate at this point. Her actions are not only motivated by lust, no, she just wants to see her florecita flourish.

“I… okay, just give me a minute, Val.” You mumble, pushing her out of your room and changing into the silk dress quickly. You smoothen out the bodice area, looking at your slightly protruding tummy. You’ve never worn this out in public, in front of anyone but the mirror. What will Valeria think? Will she think it’s ugly? Will she laugh at yo-

“Santa María, madre de dios, mi florecita…” She murmurs as she opens the door, her dark brown eyes boring into you. You look…

“You’re lucky I’d rather not crumple that silk, chica, or else I’d be ruining you for the world to see.” She whispers as she comes close, her rough hands landing on your love handles and squeezing them, rubbing small circles into the silk covering your midsection. “You look like the statues in Greece, mi alma.”

You look up at her and blush. She’s never been this… blunt… before. Never been this handsy or possessive.

But the facade is back up after she leaves. She simply let her mask slip when she finally saw you, dolled up and delicate in that silk. She couldn’t stop herself, she just had to touch what was hers.

She bought you the dress. And you wore it, for her and only her. You’re hers, she’s decided. No one else will have you. Never.

I've got to make you mine…

But her world crumbles a little and she sees red when she finds you flirting with a man, a man under her command of all things. She keeps cool, smiling and laughing, gossiping about him like you’re two school girls.

“Well, he seems nice enough, mi florecita. Just be careful, yes? Men are dogs, no matter how sweet they seem. They all have teeth and they have bitten before.”

“I will, Valeria. You know I will. I trust you with this kinda stuff.”

She smiles, coy and conniving, and squeezes your hand.

“Good.”

Just know I'm not the sinister type.

So she tracks this maldito cabrón down in the middle of the night.

He’s rather low in rank in her cartel, she’s pretty sure she’s never even seen or heard this pigs name until her florecita muttered it.

She really wants to take it slow and be the non-sinister woman you know her as, but when she sees him screaming at a woman in his house, she loses it.

She slips in the back window and sits in the corner of his room, pitch black and unseen. She makes sure her knife is unclasped and ready to draw, her handheld locked and loaded.

“Luis Sánchez.” She calls out, cold and annoyed. “What are your intentions with the girl?”

He sputters, looking for any weapon in his vicinity. Valeria laughs.

“I see why you haven’t ranked up a single spot in my cartel, Luis. After all these years you’re still stupid enough to leave without a weapon.” She gets up, stalking towards him.

He tries to punch her, but Valeria dodges. She kicks him, sending him to the floor. She puts her boot over his neck, pressing on his windpipe.

“Luis Armando Sánchez, born March 16th, 1992. Mother, Camila Araceli Sánchez, deceased. Father, Diego Manuel Sánchez, imprisoned for life, charged with first degree murder of Camila Araceli Sánchez. Imprisoned from 2008 to 2010, 2011 to 2014, and 2015 to 2016, all for battery and assault, third degree murder, and drug use. What are your intentions with the girl?”

He looks as white as a ghost, or all the crack he’s stolen from the cartel while working under her.

“If you don’t start talking in ten seconds you will find yourself in so much pain you will never be able to walk again. Speak, chucho.”

He blabbers some half-assed lie about his love for her florecita, his love for her personality over her looks. She grabs him by the collar and drags him into the street, kicking him in the ribs to shut him up. He can’t yell if he’s gasping for breath with punctured lungs from broken ribs.

“Don’t you ever lay a hand on mi florecita, do you understand me, cabrón?”

He nods his head quickly and panicked, terrified for the first time in his life. His jaw is forced open with her boot and he's positioned on the curb, teeth digging into the cement. He whimpers, saying a mumbled Hail Mary.

“Our lady of Guadalupe will not save such filth. Tienes cuerpo de cerdo, Luis.”

And then he screams, his jaw cracking as Valeria stomps his head into the curb. Teeth break and his jaw cracks, blood pouring from every pore on his face it seems. He cries out for his mother, the mother he didn’t even cry for at her funeral.

She stabs into his achilles tendons, severing them. Then she strips him, leaving him bare like the animal he is for some poor soul to find in the morning.

Maybe she is the sinister type, especially as she carves “cerdo” and “chucho” all over his body. He deserved it, really, for trying to soil her precious florecita.

Oh you never seem to notice… That my heart beats for you…

You come to her a few days later, sniffling. Luis broke up with you, how shocking.

“Oh, mi preciosa florecita, he broke up with you? I’m so sorry, chica.” She coos quietly, rubbing your back as you sit next to her on her velvet couches. You don’t even think to connect the dots that maybe she had a hand in his brutal assault.

“He was so nice! And then he says this isn’t working out and he won’t even let me come by to get my things! What did I do wrong, Valeria? I was kind, patient, accepting, I made time for him, I cooked for him, what did I do wrong? We both wanted to wait, I don’t understand…”

“Oh, mi rosa, no no no… you did nothing wrong. He was just a wolf in sheep’s clothing, obviously wanting more than you agreed to. I know it hurts, cariño, but it’s for the better. You’re so sweet, so beautiful, he doesn’t know what he’s lost out on.”

“You… you mean it, Valeria?”

“What do I gain in lying to you, pequeña paloma? I speak nothing but the truth, he didn’t deserve you and you deserve much better. Don’t settle for him just because he threw some pretty words at you and promised to pay for the first date.”

“Thank you, Valeria. You’ve got no idea how much that means to me right now.”

She smiles, soft and genuine. She lives to see you smile. Her heart beats for you and only you.

“It’s nothing, love. Just maybe come to me about a future partner next time before you say yes, okay? We can’t have you sobbing every month because another man decided you weren’t worthy of his time.”

“Oh hush!”

Your soft giggles fill the room and you slap her arm, rolling your eyes. She’s whipped for you and everything you do. She has got to have you.

So I'll open you up… And make yours beat for me too…

After your breakup with Luis, the gifts and money start up again. More twenties and fifties, even a hundred or two, line your wallet. Your savings is alarmingly large, it wasn’t even this big before your family fell into trouble. You don’t question it anymore. If someone wants to help you pay your bills, by all means, go ahead!

Large bouquets of your favorite flowers show up at your desk and front door, notes mostly blank besides the occasional “Love you”, “♡︎”, or “Flowers for the beautiful flower”. The last note should alarm you, make you realize that this is Valeria slowly circling in on you, her prey, but you can’t help but blush and ignore the warning bells when you feel so happy and sweet with every bouquet.

But the icing on the cake is when you go walking with Valeria again. The dresses catch your eyes once more, and one makes you stop and stare. A midi dress this time, a soft white with pastel pink apple blossoms on it, spaghetti straps with a bow on the back. You simply can’t tear your eyes away until you note the price tag, hissing silently. Sure, you may have the money for it, but it’ll be tight for a while if you actually bought it.

It’s in your closet two weeks later. You didn’t buy it, you didn’t even make a comment on it to Valeria, but she knew. She knew it was just like that sage green silk dress she bought months ago, that you could and would find a million different little reasons to not buy it.

“I haven’t seen that dress before, chica. Did you buy it recently?”

“Oh… u-uh, yes, yes I did, why? You like it?”

“I sure do, mi preciosa, but I think it’d look better on you and not on a clothes hanger. Try it on for me, won’t you?”

And how can you deny her?

You walk out of your room a few minutes later in the fluffy, flowy dress, soft white heels to match and a necklace you found in your jewelry box that Valeria definitely didn’t have a hand in getting. Pink diamonds weren’t cheap, but to see a chain of soft pink diamonds around your neck?

“Aye, mi florecita, just as beautiful as last time…” She groans quietly, gripping your love handles and drawing you close, burying her head in your neck and inhaling deep. That Miss Dior Eau de Parfum she got you doesn’t do any favors, only making you more…

Feminine. Floral. Precious.

She has to physically pull away from you, rubbing gentle, possessive circles on your soft hips to stop herself from marking your neck up and letting every single soul in Las Almas, no, all of Mexico, know you’re hers.

“Thank you, Valeria… you’re too kind.”

“I only speak the truth for mi narciso” She purrs, cupping your cheek and rubbing the fullness with her thumb. “You are truly more beautiful than life itself in this dress, florecita.”

And I'll get you yet… I've got to make you mine… Just know I'm not the sinister type…

She circles you like this for months, getting closer and closer, cutting out all the possible love interests in your life.

Then she has to cut out your family. Easy.

She gives each member of your family thousands of pesos to cut contact, to leave you isolated. She’s got the money, it’s no problem for her. Any rat in your family that demands more once she’s given them their share is simply… handled.

Valeria holds you in her arms as you sob, wondering why your family, your flesh and blood, cut you off so suddenly. You’ve been thicker than thieves with your family since the family business went belly up, giving almost every single cent to your siblings and parents to keep them afloat, even as you drowned.

And this is how they repay you? By simply texting you “do not reach out. We do not want a relationship with you anymore.” and blocking you? You’re not an angry person, you’re too sweet for that.

So you sob like a little girl who fell off her bike for the first time, wailing into Valeria’s shoulder, wetting her shirt with tears and snot. She’s all you have at this point, besides your job.

Until your boss calls you in.

Only days after your entire family cut you off, no more than a week. He tells you you’re no longer a viable employee at the company. They have to cut corners, and compared to the others, you’re just not worth saving.

So she’s once again sobbing in Valeria’s arms that life isn’t going her way. She feels like a spoiled brat, sobbing and wailing in her only friend's arms. She’s got expensive dresses, costly jewelry, and large, extravagant bouquets in her house, and yet she’s sobbing about how she has nothing now.

She feels like she’s wilting. She was given too much water all at once and now her petals droop, once tight and sealing her soft and sensitive core away, now peeling back to expose it to the mastermind of her suffering.

And I'll get you yet… I've got to make you mine… Just know I'm not the sinister type…

“Oh, mi florecita, mi dedalera, you’re far too beautiful to cry like this.” Valeria hushes your sobs, pulling you into her lap and rubbing your back. She places a delicate kiss to your forehead, as if she uses anymore force you’ll simply crumple into dust.

“You look like you’re wilting, preciosa. Too much stress.” She muses, combing her other hand through your hair.

“Just let go, mi alma… let me take care of you. You could move in with me while you get back up on your feet, hm? Free of charge, no strings attached. You just move into my place and relax, yes?”

You whimper, burying your head into her chest. It’s too good to be true, you know it. Nothing good has happened in the last week, why will this be good?

“Shhhh, mi florecita… when I say something I mean it, don’t I? I know what’s going through that poor head of yours, I know you too well. Come live with me, I’ll help you get back on your feet.”

So you move in with Valeria.

And I'll get you yet… I've got to make you mine… Just know I'm not the sinister type…

And she spoils the ever living shit out of you.

Soft pastels and pink everything. Flower decor and patterns, floral and fruit scented everything. She holds you close every night in the living room, petting you like you’re her treasured pet. To her, you are.

She’s won.

She’s got the prettiest woman in Las Almas in her lap every night, making her whimper and blush at the soft touches and praise she lavishes her in. She’s got her dainty little bachelorette to spoil rotten.

Valeria takes you shopping every weekend, buying you the frilly dresses you want right there and then, an arm wrapped around your waist possessively in every store. She watches your eyes dance across the mannequins, stopping at the one to the left.

She knows that look. She leads you to the mannequin, rubbing the fabric of the dress in her fingers, bringing it up to you.

“Is this one calling you, mi florecita? I can see why, it’s calling me, too. I think you’d look good in all three colors, but the pink and cream one just…” She squeezes your waist, sighing.

A beautiful evening gown, floral print. Slit up the thigh, fluffy layers, Sweetheart neckline, puffy short sleeves. Oh, it would go so well with the lingerie she just bought you in the previous shop, pastel pink lace with a few small bows.

“I like the pink and cream, too, Val…” You mumble into her side, shy and quiet. The thought of being so… dolled up, after losing everything, is still weird to you. But the dress and the lingerie, the new perfumes and necklaces with matching bracelets and rings she showers you in make it hard to decline.

Valeria smiles down at you, kissing your forehead and caressing your hip. She custom orders the dress in shop, knowing your measurements by heart. You wonder when she learned your sizes…

And I'll get you… I'll get you yet…

“Come on, mi peonía, let's get home before the rain starts. I would hate to see my little flower so cold and pouty” She croons over you, guiding you out of the shop. You didn’t even get a chance to look at the price tag of the dress, she just bought it without blinking.

At home, you curl up in her lap, sighing softly as rain pelts the roof. She pets over your entire body, starting at your hair, going down your spine, and going back up to start again.

She was never sinister. She just wanted her precious florecita. And she has that now.

“Mmm… mi alma, you look so beautiful like this, all curled up in my lap. Like you belonged here all along…”

She rubs your hip, kissing your forehead as she does so. So affectionate, so soft. Your mind is constantly fuzzy and slow from the amount of praise she lavishes you in, unable to question any of her words or actions.

“I'm so happy you came to me so willingly, let me in so easily. You’re far too trusting, mi narciso. And that’s what I love and hate about you. It scares me how easily you trusted what’s his name… but you trusted me so easily, and look where we are. Is it really such a bad thing?”

I've got to make you mine… Just know I'm not the sinister type.

I do plan on making a part two (smutty) but idk when :3 posted to ao3 first

have fun !!

[ariel-seagull-wings]

THREE EPISODES OF THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE INSPIRED GHOSTBUSTERS II

@janeb984 @bixiebeet @spengnitzed @theselfshippingwitch @inevitablemoment @slimerspengler @professorlehnsherr-almashy @amalthea9

@bixiebeet @spengnitzed @professorlehnsherr-almashy @theselfshippingwitch @slimerspengler @janeb984 @inevitablemoment @amalthea9

Within a few years, Columbia Pictures decided there was money in an Animated Series based on the supernatural comedy Ghostbusters (1984) and the further adventures of its four paranormal investigators. Columbia partnered with DIC Entertainment to make it happen.

The problem was that there was already a Filmation cartoon in development called Ghostbusters, a sequel to the 1975 live-action series The Ghost Busters about a pair of noir-style detectives (and their gorilla) who battle supernatural forces. Filmation's Ghostbusters was a flop, the victim of mistiming: kids were upset that these guys weren't the 'real' Ghostbusters. In response, DiC launched The Real Ghostbusters, to distinguish it from the Filmation property (and to imply that the Filmation Ghostbusters were phonies). 

The cartoon focuses on the day-to-day busting that the movie relegated to a montage in the manner of a Police Procedural; there is no over-arching villain or hint of larger forces at work, although some of the ghosts come back for a second try. Not all the ghosts and other supernatural entities are evil: On occasion, the heroes "bust" the ghosts simply by helping them complete their Unfinished Business, while others enlist the Ghostbusters' help or actually want to be busted, as the Ghostbusters' containment unit approximates 'resting in peace' enough to satisfy them.

While the different character designs made to avoid paying the rights for the actor's likenesses extablished that this was an alternate universse, there were some elements that still made it feel like a direct cohesive continuation to the movie (in episodes like Citizen Ghost which follows the team rebuilding the Firehouse right after the battle against Gozer, and Take Two, wich follows the team watching the premiere of the 1984 live action movie like they watch a biopic about the opening of their business), and the success of the show helped boost the selling of a lot of merchandise, which extablishes a franchise, which in turn made Columbia and Sony interested in making the sequel to the 1984 live action movie.

Three episodes of The Real Ghostbusters in particular have plot beats that may or may not have served as inspiration for 1989's Ghostbusters II.

And these are:

GHOST BUSTED

In Ghost Busted, when the number of ghosts across the city drops considerably, the Ghostbusters realize that they will soon be broke! But after they prevent a robbery from taking place, they reinvent themselves as... the Crime Busters!

The theme of what the Ghostbusters do when their business drops off is coincidentally dealt with in the beginning of Ghostbusters II as well: in the Ghost Busted, the team forms a new business to catch criminals in the streets, reinventing their equipment in the proccess, while in Ghostbusters II, they spent five years in separate career paths before returning to hunting ghosts.

BENEATH THESE STREETS

In Beneath These Streets, after New York appears to suffer an earthquake, the ever-enthusiastic Ray heads off into the sewers by himself to find out more. There, he learns that ghosts are gathering for a massive attack on the city, starting by taking away the ooze that lubricates the pillar keeping Manhattan afloat!

The episodes has some parallels to Ghostbusters II in a brightly colored goo bubbling up from the sewer and a Ghostbuster (Ray Stantz) hanging from a rope over a pit. 

HARD KNIGHT'S DAY

In Hard Knight's Day, when Peter takes his date to the Cloisters in New York, warrior spirits spew forth from the tapestries with only one thing on their mind: taking Peter's date back into the tapestries with them, where she will remain forever. Although entirely a coincidence, this episode shares several plot elements with Ghostbusters II:

A date gone wrong

A recently unveiled painting

The main villain comes from a painting

Magic anchors the villain to a painting

Peter's love interest is taken captive

The Ghostbusters rappel into a museum

The Proton Streams initially fail against the villain

A victim is placed before a painting

[little1too1dramatic]

Rue Keller; Shopping Heaven for Alt Kids and Geeks?

 Hi! (＾▽＾)

Rue Keller is known for it´s alternative stores, pleasing not only darkly inclined, but also those who prefer anime and Japanese culture. When you ask for those specific recommendations, this street often pops up. But is it deserved?

It´s not hard to get to rue Keller. It´s in nice neighborhood in the city center, more or less only 20 minute walk from Notre Dame and Centre Pompidou. That is, if you don´t keep walking in the wrong direction, which happened to me. I would like to say be careful, but most of you are not as dumb as me.

Only one-half of the street is actually filled with anything your dark heart would desire – if you come from the other, with café and elementary school, you might be quite surprised. Never mind, just confidently scroll through it, until you get through all the coutures and gallanteries to Manga Dori. You won´t be surprised with majority of their sortiment being mangas, but they also sell katanas, some magazines and of course, figurines. Staff is always nice and it´s probably the only shop where I was never the sole customer. They have decent amount of publications, neatly sorted out by name in the case of well-known authors and genres. They even have a BL corner, I need to actually go through it next time! You can occasionally find a piece in English, and as you walk around the aisles even non-Manga section! They have some publications (I still hope to see Fruits or Kera one day), from Japanese comics in less orthodox art styles to a Pusheen book. I have that in Czech and I feel the need the get French version for… scientific purposes. I found some publications with lolita characters, but I will have to report on their quality. 

You can go to Pop Culture next, they represent western geek culture from next side of road. Aside from comics and another round of figurines, they have vinyls! The owner of this place is a nice, chatty guy eager to help, and he didn´t mind me coming and looking for some vampires or Sandmand in the sales. The atmosphere here is nice, probably best out of all those stores, and if you need any other recommendation, our office manager buys his Star Wars figures here. His collection is enormous.

And now my favourite. L´indien Boutique. If you are into goth, punk, rock or even just some spooky things, come here. Even if you are on budget – they sell patches for 4 euros, buttons and pins for less and they even have a 1 euro section. You can buy postcards with some musicians here, but be warned. They have an unreasonable amount of Morrissey, and even weirder of half-naked Morrissey. I will forever treasure my card with Husker Du, the only piece of merch I was able to find anywhere. They some plainer clothing in the front, also hats, from crochet e-kids ones to band caps. And jewelry. A lot of jewelry, like this amazing coffing ring that I will need to get if I will have any money once I´m done in Paris. In the back, they have more interesting clothes. I have to say, in terms of price and what you get, L´indien is my favorite in entire Paris so far. It´s not ovepriced, the selection is nice and you get the feeling that (very nice) owners know what they are doing. Also, I never met a shopkeeper that wasn´t very nice here. They carry things from brands like Killstar and Banned, but also more whimsical pieces. For example corsets, Lots of corsets around 35 euro, over and under. I feel like anyone could pick one, from the most Victorian goth to cyber punk. You can also get band tees for 20 euros here, another thing I want to get by the end of my stay.

Now there´s New Rock. You probably know their shoes, super sturdy, super high, super cool. I want to buy them when I will actually start making money. Should you go in if you don´t have disposable 200 euro? Sure, they also sell hair colours. I saw Revolution and Manic Panic here, but they have much more that I don´t remember. Prices are always under 10 euros.

You won´t have to walk too far to Black Sugar. If you want cheap cosplay and Harajuku inspired dress, come here. If there´s anything to get excited about, it´s their bags. Sanrio, Sailor Moon and a lot more, on every shelf around the store. As for their clothing, it´s cheap. As in, you pay more than Aliexpress for the same quality. You can see some lolita dresses and blouses that would probably need a lot of restoration to be salvaged, but also some not so terrible pieces. Their pants look good and would suit both 90s ravers and Visual Kei enthusiast. Some of their boleros are actually cool too. They also have some better quality lolita clothing, in different rack. They probably realized how much the comparison would hurt them. They had really cute black and white dress for 55 euros and some blouses that actually made me think.

Other than that, they have some good figurines, for example Naruto ones for 5 euros, which is great. Any emo or scene kid should be aware of their accessories. Armwarmers, striped socks, chokers, etc. The price isn´t terrible either, but quality leaves something to be desired. There´s supposed to be another store of the same type next to Black Sugar, but it´s always closed. I only got in once, and it was worse than its neighbor, both in selection and quality. I can´t find it on Google Maps and I don´t remember the name, so behold the suprise, I guess.

If you will stay up until night, you can go to Dr. Feelgood, a really nice rock bar. Sometimes they have parties, so stay tuned if you are around!

If you go straight to Kilo Kawaii Shop in le Marais from this point, you will go around a cheap cosplay shop My Bootik, that also carries some alternative goods. The price is not high, but quality reflects it.

All in all, this place looks pretty good on paper, but once you get there, it´s not so much. You can go through all the shops in half an hour, feeling both over and underwhelmed. There is almost nothing original, the prices are only slightly better than on cons and you will sense that this place might be dying a little bit. At least you will get to see some cool people – this  place is never crowded and if you do meet someone there, they are either an otaku or a member of some subculture. And it´s near to our next spot, secondhands on Rue de la Verrerie.

[littleeyesofpallas]

speaking of my big dumb pile of gotham rogues headcanons, have i never posted my Ventriloquist one? I guess I could see why, it's one of the less interesting ones, but I feel like I remember doing it before, yet it's not in my archive...

Basically instead of making him yet another mob boss, and also stepping on Dent's toes as yet another split personality old school mobster... make Arnold Wesker a prolific con artist and black mailer.

There's a cheesey old horseshit thing... i don't know what to call it... a tall tale? a modern fable? like a homily but secular?? I know there's a word for it but I can't remember it.... Anyway... A stupid story losers who think they're gonna be some genius business shark tell themselves/eachother... it goes like this:

A young man wants a job so he tells his interviewer they should hire him because he's the son in law of a big company CEO. he then goes to the CEO and says he should let him marry his daughter because he's a something or other.... goes to a 3rd person says he should do whatever because he's got this big job that he only just interviewed for.... gets the things all in reverse order, and gets the job on the back of all the lies he made real.

That, but with blackmail. Have Arnold constantly leveraging people's need to pay him off to get them to do things that he can then use to get dirt on more people, to enforce the blackmail of other people he was initially only bluffing about.

i.e. I know your big dirty secret, pay me to stay quiet. Then blackmail someone else, I know your little dirty secret, do what i tell you -and get me dirt on this other guy- or i go to the cops. Then contact a cop, i know you're on the take, threaten this person or i go to the commissioner. Hey prison guard at Black Gate, i'm with the mob, if you don't spring this corrupt cop, I take it up with the boss and you deal with him. Hey mob boss, I know a prison guard who said some shit, maybe you should do something about him. etc...

Just a massive convoluted web of lies and extortion. And the name The Ventriloquist sticks as a criminal alias because it refers to a guy who casts his voice to make it seem like a dummy is talking instead of him --also he does have a legitimate talent for uncanny vocal impersonations. In this way he also isn't a gangster or a mob boss himself, but he does make frequent use of mobsters by impersonating them either to get mob goons to do his work, or to intimidate people who think he is. So eventually, even if he started only bluffing, even frantically covering his own ass, he does end up sitting on a mountain of very real secrets and blackmail material. He's not personally an information broker, like say Penguin is, but he does know everyone's dirty secrets and the reset of the Gotham Rogues know it, and know that when they need dirt, he's the guy to go to. Or at least, that when they go to Penguin for it, they know the legendary Ventriloquist is the guy behind it.

And while he remains an awkward and timid, mousy man, he launders his money by going to Vegas every so often, booking himself a standup gig at some overpriced hotel on the strip performing for drugged up millionaires on vacation (none of whom will remember what they did in vegas, or want to talk about what they did there anyhow) doing a literal ventriloquist act, then gambling his "paycheck" in and out of casinos before taking it back home to Gotham. Or the Iceberg lounge for that matter.

In a darker twist on things, he will on rare occasion and with great reluctance, consult the Doll Maker for human taxidermy projects to help sell certain schemes where some degree of face to face meeting is needed to seal the deal. He once tried to enlist the help of Prof.Pyg, thinking it might be a less grim alternative to puppeteering a patchwork corpse, but quickly gave up on the partnership when he realized Pyg's M.O. was infinitely worse.

[glassdoll4429]

Dream Rambl

Read at your own risk.

So we start with✨️me✨️ snapping (I'm disappointed in me) spaghetti and throwing it at my rival's tin house to make them think that they're getting shot at, so they'll come out. When they come out I try to sell the school that my dad owns to them (I don't have a rival or a dad that owns a school irl) in return for their swimsuit store bc I think I can use it to make more money. (I'm not this ambitious irl)

They chase me down and knock me out. When I come too I'm on a stretcher in the gym of my dads school and The Doctor is doing a multi-modal presentation on "How [he] Saved the Day (again)" but nobody was interested and then my father (not my irl father) who was some 50-60yo business man was berating me for trying to sell his school but I wasn't listening because I was trying to make sure that I looked the most presentable and responsible out of the students.

Eventually the rest of the kids got bored and walked out and my dad went to chase them up and the doctor came to talk to me and he checked if I was okay and asked what we should do next and I said "nothing I just want to give you my attention" which i meant like "talk at me and I'll listen bc those other kids were ride 2 u" and he smiled and went to keep doing his presentation and then the other kids went back to watch bc they were jealous that I was getting The Doctor's attention.

And then I went upstairs to a balcony and watched some kids from a nearby (irl) catholic school throw potato chips everywhere and eat them while they walked past and some landed on the balcony and I was like "ooh chips! Nummy~"

then some girls in the grade below me (irl) threw wet toilet paper at me and said that they only did it bc some OTHER girls tp'd my stall in the bathroom (bc it's normal to have your own specific stall obv) and went on to tell me that it was because the doctor likes me better and I don't deserve to be his companion etc. I shrugged it off and thanked them (4smrsn)

Then I went to the bathroom to check the damage but it was actually a fertility clinic in which a maid (which is actually a dead girl ik) has stolen some of the doctors DNA and is trying to use it to fertilise an egg of hers she's extracted. So i destroy that Lil project when she leaves bc no fuck you that's weird as shit. And walk out into a white hall way on what I immediately recognise to be a space station.

In the hallway was a little boy who looked to be 6-8 years old who i immediately recognised as a young timelord and 2 old ladies who were neither galifreyan nor human who wanted to know if he wanted to drink chemical Ma or Mf. I turned to leave b4 I was noticed but then the doctor was there and I was like "there's something fishy happening here." And he was like "definitely" so we go to investigate and we head into the Timelord Zone of the space station.

The women look dead at me and say "you lost deary" in an ominous tone and I'm all like "Uh yeah" then they tell me to go back to the human section and so I walk back down the hall leaving the doctor behind.

Looking into the rooms as I go I see my friend (we'll call her A) with a bunch of other kids from school so i go in there and ask A what's happening and she says "idk smth the school's trying out 'space internship' or some shit liek that. It's stupid" and im like "yeah"

Then a muscular guy who gives stone henge vibes comes in announces he has to lock the door and sits down on a chair by it, inside the room. I start looking for an alternative exit and find an empty cabinet that was not at all helpful. I turn around to find that the man is now white diamond and she's muttering something about infernal yapping.

Then there's some voices outside the door saying that they're from "The J clan" J is another friend of mine who I've seen like twice. And they start feeding a chain under the door and tell us to use it to toe up white while they get the door open. The door opens they flee, a very ominous looking pink diamond walks down the hall and accuses white of traitory with the J clan and white denies and follows pink back down the hall. I follow and announce to pink that I will help serve her. She assigns me a roll that might as well be janitor and gives me a uniform.

I walk away thinking how proud the doctors gonna be because all the inside info ill be getting AND THEN I FUCKING WAKE UP.

Sorry for the long post.

[sakebytheriver]

So I'm writing an Alternate Universe H-money fic and the relationship I'm building for Trevor and Sas is prolly my fave part of it so far 😭😭😭

Like please read this little excerpt and join me in a different world of my own design for a moment 💕

Sas.

Sas was his best friend of all time, you wouldn’t know it if you ever saw the two of them together, you would probably think they just met that second, but they’d known each other since they were in diapers. Trevor’s mom took him to the same daycare that Sas’ dad found for him, and the two of them bonded over blocks and picture books. Even as they got older and found different interests, Trevor preferred action movies while Sas preferred foreign flics, Trevor read mostly biographies and detective novels and Sas would read anything except James Patterson, Sas drank wine, Trevor drank whiskey so on and so forth, the two of them never stopped being best friends. Mostly because when they grew up and both started to look at the girls around them and both got stupid about the ones they liked the most, they soon realized they were both hopeless romantics who would definitely have to help slap each other out of it when they got too stupid. So Trevor gave Sas the creepy nice guy talk when he was going after Shiki and Sas gave Trevor the douchey fratbro talk when he was with Bela and they both got mad at each other and cursed the other out and didn’t call for a few days until they texted “you were right. sorry” and they got drinks right after.

Sas was never the guy Trevor went to first, but he was always the guy Trevor went to eventually. He remembered the biggest fight the two of them ever got into, when he’d just gotten into his frat and invited Sas to come hang with the guys for a night of underage drinking and stupid college boy shenanigans. The night went fine enough, even if Sas was quieter than he usually was around Trevor, but he figured it was just because of all the new people Sas didn’t know hanging around making him extra shy. They drank, they did bad karaoke, they did stupid stunts off the frathouse balcony into the pool, and the next day when he wasn’t hungover anymore Sas told him he never wanted to hangout with those guys ever again and Trevor just did not understand why. Sas had tried to drop the subject, but Trevor had pushed him until he’d blurted out that he thought all of Trevor’s new friends were assholes who didn’t deserve him and that he never should have joined a frat in the first place. That had been a really bad day for their friendship. In fact, it had almost been the end of their friendship, Trevor blocked Sas’ number for a full three weeks and wouldn’t even listen to his own brother when he told him he was being a dumbass. Then his fraternity brothers had left him hung out to dry without a second thought and suddenly Trevor saw all the little things he’d been ignoring all that time that Sas only had to spend one night with them to figure out and Trevor felt like the biggest idiot of all time. The sound of the phone ringing as he waited for Sas to pick up when he finally called him felt like the most judgemental sound in the world. Sas had barely said anything before Trevor had blurted out an apology. Then Sas just sighed and gave him the name of a bar and a time to meet him. They closed down the bar that night just talking for hours about everything and anything that came to mind and they agreed right then and there that anytime they needed one another they’d just send a beer emoji and a time and they’d go to this bar no questions asked.

So now, that’s where Trevor was, sitting behind the bartop with his clean cut suit from Neiman Marcus with Sas in one of the t-shirts decorated with Lenape art and poetry he sells on Etsy, peeling the label off his beer bottle nervously trying to decide if he should say why he’d brought his best friend here or if he should make up a different story.

[audio-luddite]

Needs vs Wants and reality.

I have said more than a few times that there is an issue with vacuum tube electronics. That is the tubes are inconsistent and have significant variance in how they sound. One tribal segment thinks this is a feature and play at the "tube rolling" game. Vendors take advantage as it sells more product. People who just want to keep a good thing going are at the mercy of the situation.

A secondary concern is Audio is competing with Musicians for the limited supply of certain glass.

My New/Old tube amp takes a full dozen of fragile glass devices. The current set are fine with decent quality US made Philips. So I guess you could call them NOS if the late 1980s is old enough for you. As noted before in this stream of words I am checking out replacements as sometime soonish I may need to replace them.

The reality is I don't need to do anything. I have another amplifier of equal or even better quality sitting aside ready for use. If a tube pops I would take 10 minutes tops to be up and running again, unless it takes the house with it. Come warm weather it goes in anyway as the ARC Cl 60 is a hot mother. I may be able to go a few years without spending a penny on glass. So fingers crossed.

But..... here comes the rant.

I want to be sure I get the best tubes for the beast when I do need them. Prices are rising. I also do not want to miss any deals that may come by. One I missed on Black Friday would have saved me a couple hundred bucks. ARC used Russian tubes in the original equipment. My usual supplier has them, but there is a war in Russia. The tap may run dry and frankly I would prefer to not provide any cash to Putin and his fascist state. Logically any in stock in North America has already been paid for.

Are there alternatives? Yes if you go Chinese. I work for a Chinese company and have done business there one way or another for decades. Cheating and fraud is considered good business there, if you can get away with it. Relationships and willingness to confirm things are essential.

If you got that you can get great stuff. Apple makes much of their stuff in China. They watch them like hawks and the company is actually Taiwanese so more reliable right there. It is possible.

I have two suppliers that source from China. Both claim special relationships and pay more to the factory AND they both still check, test, verify, and QC ALL the stuff they get. They offer several choices of the types I need. Those being KT88s or 6550 power tubes.

So the fun starts.

If you search for tests, or comparisons of various brands of tube you will find them. All the ones I found were ten years old or more, when tubes cost a lot less. Current market? Nope.

Also there are two distinct constituencies for this stuff, High End Audio and Guitar amplifiers. Hey I know a couple of those other guys. A good ranking in a guitar amp is not helping me in audio. Guitar players want distortion and weirdness of particular types. I want straight simple linearity.

If you read these reviews it is genuinely disturbing how seriously a new tube of brand x has different bass, mid-range, and treble of one from brand y, or z. In a properly made tube, and in a proper circuit IT SHOULD NOT MATTER!!! I appreciate how these are small and fussy mechanical assemblies, but in the age of lasers and computer scanners it should not be so.

Add to this is no review discusses what equipment they used to evaluate unless it was one of three types of Fender guitar amp. I mean a Dynaco Mk3 is a dead simple circuit with one input and 2 output tubes. The ARC CL 60 has 4 output tubes and two input tubes per channel with regulation and fistfuls of FETS and is an order of magnitude more complex at the same power. That would have an impact for sure.

I cannot afford tube rolling. Three full sets would cost more than a good used car. Each set would take two to three hours to adjust and bias and then a week to burn in. Time and money.

There is that nagging detail that top ten lists are not very reliable in general.

It boils down to a couple scenarios. I get a set of Russian tubes in a year or two when the current ones get tired. I could risk a set of well regarded Chinese "premium" tubes if the price is right.

And this leads to my Coda of this discussion. That other amplifier is as good or better and is a full on Bi-polar transistor beast. Is that scandalous? My Franken-Amp is a modifed Dynaco Stereo 400 stripped and hot rodded. A design from the early 1970s. It has a fraction of the distortion of the ARC, and is clearer, cleaner, and more powerful by a factor of 4. Rough, transistory? No!

Better? Well yes I heard things that are now masked in the Tuber. Yes the ARC has textures to love and admire, but there is a price to pay. They are different and are like a different type of light illuminating a scene. Just a slight change in color, something is enhanced in one light and lost in another. I am enjoying those differences.

I enjoy that I can still hear the differences.

[abri-chan]

The whole Worick starting sex-work as a teen reminds me of that one Digimon Adventure episode: the kids (group of 9-ish?) return to the human world, and to get to where they need to be they must hike a ride.

First Tai (the main guy with the dinosaur digimon) and the other friend with the seal digimon do try, but no car stops.

Then they make Matt try (Matt being the hot guy of the bunch, sorta); this glamorous woman with an open-roof car stops by: "Hi, gorgeous."

The scene cuts to Tai arguing with Matt, why did Matt say no to the ride? To which Matt replies: "you're an idiot, not all of us would get into that car, don't you get it?"

Eventually the girls try to get a ride, two teen boys stop by; the girls then reveal that their friends (the whole digi group) are coming with them too, much to the nuisance of the boys in the van?, who only wanted the two cute girls to ride with them.

But the Matt scene makes me think if that's exactly how Worick got started into selling his body? As in, maybe when he and Nic first moved to Ergastulum, they mostly mugged people at first, or tried odd jobs like cleaning houses or fixing the sink. And during one of those jobs, some woman struck up conversation with teen Worick: "what do you two boys do, why do you need the money for--yeah she probably can tell it's not to buy a new bike, as these kids with dirty clothes are dirt poor--I can see you have a hard time getting by."

(Not that Worick would reveal his past or anything like that, even though it may be that everyone in the city is aware he's the kid from the Arcangelo murder case, but even if they knew, why get involved? Ergastulum is kept stable by minding your own business and not asking questions you don't want answers to. But even then, he probably can't hide that he and Nic are scraping by, and tell half-truth lies that Nic and him are orphans etc.)

"You know you're kinda cute tho, so next time I can pay you more if you help me with something other than the sink?"

And because the woman hit on Worick, then Wallace, and not Nic, it was Worick that considered maybe starting off sex work as an alternative way of making ends meet.

(I suppose a lot of those women were abused by their bfs, so being on the receiving end they took some pleasure in having control over this kid for once since they can't control their bfs, bc I doubt there's much to get from this 13 year old kid even experience-wise. But I suspect some women were also possibly predatory by default, in that they think it is fun to "change" little kids into men, or teach them ways. Either way, it's fucked up.)

[yearsonpages]

Why "Direct Response" Is Total Bullshit…

I’m talking about the term ‘Direct Response’ and what seems to be a very common interpretation of it.

This is especially important if you want to earn a living from copywriting because there are way too many people who don’t make money from the words they write but still talk about this subject with misguided confidence.

So, what do you take ‘Direct Response’ to mean?

Is it stuff like “If you’re interested in making BANK, then this message is the most IMPORTANT one you’ll read in 2021!”

Or can it actually be softer than that? “This ‘Dirty Crayon’ stock may be the answer to new investors’ fear of picking wrong…”

Simple answer: It doesn’t matter.

In fact, if your mind immediately went to visions of red text headlines or 50-page sales letters or ‘gurus’ trying to shift courses when I said ‘Direct Response’, then you need to re-evaluate how you think about copywriting.

Because ‘DR’ simply means…

Getting a reader to take action immediately.

STOP thinking about ‘Direct Response’ in terms of hard vs. soft language that can only be applied to a certain number of formats like VSLs, long-form sales letters, and financial lifts (no hate to the financial community; you know I love you guys… even though I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about half the time).

Instead…

START thinking about ‘Direct Response’ as an objective, not a particular way of writing.

The truth is, you can make money as a DR copywriter without ever touching a long-form sales letter or being able to comprehend financial speak. I do.

Wherever there’s a decision to be made on the internet, there’s also money to be made (especially when it’s a buying decision).

Because DR is an objective.

An objective that can likely be achieved by following certain principles that have been established over centuries through continuous testing in the world of advertising.

How you write completely depends on whom you’re writing to and what you want them to do.

Convincing someone to order from a new takeaway with a leaflet is just as much ‘Direct Response’ as a 10,000-word sales letter for a ‘miracle supplement’…

So is getting someone to add an extra 20 snack jars to their order after they’ve just spent £350 on food for their bar…

Or driving up the number of people who call a water filtration company to inquire about installations.

Those alternatives are all things that I’ve done in my copywriting career.

Now, I work with e-commerce businesses in the UK, strategizing, managing, and writing for their campaigns. I haven’t written a single piece of copy over 5,000 words since I entered the space.

BUT…

I still study that ‘over-hypey’ long-form copy religiously, along with the softer stuff that people constantly insist is ‘more modern,’ whatever the hell that means. (Seriously, if something still works for a segment of an audience, then it is modern… I’ve seen that ‘hypey’ stuff pull in insane numbers in the right places).

Actually — as a quick tangent — if you’ve never written in a market that you’re critiquing copy for (and you’re pulling all your thoughts from what you’ve seen others say online), then maybe reconsider what you’re about to post. I’m all for updating certain practices to fit markets that have become more sophisticated over time, but please remember that just because you don’t like the sound of something, it doesn’t mean it won’t perform.

You may be right in your assumption, of course. But think about how you’re forming that opinion before fervently sharing it. It’s easy to knock writing that you’ll never have to compete against.

Anyway, apologies for the deviation.

The point is, you should be thinking about why certain copy works in certain markets. Go looking for real results of ads that have worked.

I study markets that are far outside my own because they’re still selling to people. And so much can be learned through cross-market examination. I can’t even begin to tell you how many little tidbits I’ve swiped from old-school DR that work like a charm in the ‘modern’ e-commerce space.

In other words, if you focus your time on stripping copy down to its core lessons and you’re genuinely curious about testing it, then you’ll be approaching this whole copywriting lark with a far better attitude than 90% of the people I see who say they want to be a ‘Direct Response Copywriter.’

And once you’ve learned to split out the real meaning of ‘Direct Response’ from the various ‘styles’ that try to achieve it…

You’ll be better placed to make money from DR copywriting.

And that doesn’t mean you have to make money from the health, financial, or info-product niches that you usually see on forums like this.

Wherever money exchanges hands, there’s a salary to be made from understanding ‘Direct Response.’

In simple terms:

If you can improve results for any business by convincing more of their prospects to do something, then you are a successful DR copywriter.

Once you understand that, it becomes far easier to get work.

Because you’re approaching it from the angle of:

“Hey, I know that you want to get more people emailing you about your service, so let me write some Google Ads for you and see if we can pump those numbers up.”

(Obviously, there’s a whole art and science to acquiring clients that deserves a post of its own, but you get the idea…)

Suddenly, that kind of thinking can be applied to any business that wants better results (which is all of them).

Now… I know that this post doesn’t go into the intricacies of how to approach businesses or get clients (although it’s something I’ve discussed in the Discord server) — but before you even think about getting clients, it’s important to undergo this mindset shift…

And there are two main aspects to it.

1) ‘Direct Response’ is an objective, not a style.

Different techniques and tones work for different markets. There’s no one definitive ‘DR style.’ We’re all guilty of using the term ‘DR’ as a euphemism for conversational writing that follows certain fundamentals… and that’s fine. It is easier to lump it all together because you can usually tell if something’s been written by someone who understands the basic principles of persuasion.

But in our own minds (and when introducing the concept to newer people), we need to remember what the point of DR is… and what it actually means.

Remember, money can be made almost anywhere with ‘Direct Response Copywriting.’

2) You need to be curious about copywriting

Don’t just blast everything you see online as ‘over-hypey’ or ‘too indirect’ — instead, have a critical think about why it may have been written in a certain way. Find real results to back it up either way if you can. Analyze. Consider. Research. Be fucking curious.

It’s fine to lampoon something if you’re presenting logic to back it up, but if you don’t even attempt to see copy from different perspectives, you won’t go far.

I’ve written this post because I see misplaced anger arise far too often during conversations and debates about copy. I’m not aiming to provide a solution to ineffective copywriting or even give you an easy way to identify good copy here… I simply hope that (if you recognize yourself in any of this) you’ll think about the best way to approach considering and responding to examples of copywriting.

And I hope you’ll reconsider how you think about making money from copywriting and marketing.

Or maybe I’m just wasting time because I know there’s a FAT compliance doc I have to look through today…

Whatever the case, I’ll be glad if it helps you look at all this slightly differently.

Fu*k it

I’m giving away tricks that I collected over 17 years that helped my clients make $1.1 million.

Gurus would charge $1000s for this.

BUT FREE. Want access?

Click this link

[ao3feed-newsies]

Youve got brothers around youre a family man (except sometimes its a different family then you thought)

by, V3ry_C0nfus3d by V3ry_C0nfus3d This wasn’t uncommon territory for him - both the fighting and the fact that it’s a Latino boy who *wants* to fight him - but he doesn’t feel like fighting today (how weird - around a month ago if he’d come face-to-face with this guy me might’ve socked him in the face. Times really do change). “I ain’t sellin’ - I’m here for the races.” The boy doesn’t seem like he actually believes him - but his eyes rake up and down Race’s body - studying him. Searching him for any possible papes that he could be selling - papes that if he sold he'd be taking money and customers from the boys here in Brooklyn. --- Racetrack is starting to get used to his new life - and he's starting to make new friends too. Amongst them is Spot Conlon - the head of the Brooklyn Newsies, and before a month ago a boy that Race doesn't imagine he would've talked to. Words: 4000, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 2 of Racerack Higgins - the Jet turned Newsie Fandoms: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken, West Side Story (2021) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: Other Characters: Racetrack Higgins, Albert DaSilva (Newsies), Jack Kelly (Newsies), Spot Conlon, The Jets (West Side Story), - mentioned, Mouthpiece (West Side Story), Specs (Newsies), Tony (West Side Story), The Sharks (West Side Story) - mentioned, Riff (West Side Story), mentioned - Character Relationships: Spot Conlon & Racetrack Higgins, Albert DaSilva & Racetrack Higgins, Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Racetrack Higgins & The Newsies, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, if you squint Additional Tags: Racetrack Higgins and Mouthpiece are the same person, Mouthpiece's real name was Harvey Rustîcso, that's now Racetrack's name too, We're gonna fix the racism in this fandom, the jets and sharks are only mentioned a little bit, I'm sorry but I refuse to like Riff until he stops being racist, same with the rest of the Jets, Racetrack STOPS BEING RACIST YAY, we are IGNORING THE PLOT OF WEST SIDE STORY, we might acknowledge the plot of Newsies a little bit (if later fics are made), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, West Side Story x Newsies, Newsies/West side story crossover, Newsies x West Side Story, Spot and Race can be read as gay if you want them to be, headcanoned Spot as Latino before this but ig it's pretty useful in this fic, Italian Racetrack Higgins, Hispanic Spot Conlon, bad romance writer, so sometimes it might just look like a rlly homoerotic friendship, im aro and havent been in a relationship, im trying my hardest here people read : https://ift.tt/1cvi0FM - July 04, 2024 at 11:43AM

[alarajrogers]

Private insurance isn't gonna redeem itself, it's gonna be a capitalist pigdog no matter what.

But given the choice between "we, a party hostile toward your humanity, have taken over the government, which is the only place you can get coverage, and we want to rule over your lives by denying you coverage for anything we don't like", and "we, moneygrubbing assholes, want your money, and we'll sell you what you can't get elsewhere because it means we get your money"... Yes. I want Medicare For All and I want private insurance to continue to exist. This isn't impossible. In fact I don't see why there's a dichotomy. Private insurance exists on top of Medicare For All and covers whatever it won't because otherwise, we will be at the mercy of every rightward swing in this country. Can you imagine Ron Desantis being charge of the health care of every human in this country, and there's no alternative?

I'm sorry we can't trust our government not to periodically go crazy and decide to be absolute shit to everyone but rich cis white Christian men and the white wives who are happy being subservient to them, but I've lived long enough to know that these people have just gotten worse every chance they've gotten. My life started with the guy who had to resign rather than be impeached for getting people to break and enter to steal his opponents' plans during his election campaign, and every Republican president we've gotten has been more corrupt, more cruel to the poor, than the previous one. No, I don't trust them to hold onto the only health care option the country has. Do you?

Yes, corporations are shit, but corporations rarely commit cruelties for ideological reasons, aside from the ideological reason of "we want more money." They will almost always behave in ways that maximize their profits, which means we can count on them to do things the government doesn't like if they will make money that way. (There are exceptions, like the Hobby Lobby dude.)

"Affordable insulin" doesn't need to be "re-thought" because the right wing aren't bloviating about how diabetics should just die (yet -- they're standing in the way of the affordable insulin, so maybe it's just a matter of time), and because the current status quo is "Big Pharma is trying to fuck people out of as much money as they can". We pass a law that says insulin should be affordable, the Republicans get in control, they repeal it... we'd be no worse off than we are now.

But right now, most insurances do cover birth control options, and medically necessary abortions, and a lot of them cover trans care, and none of them have yet gotten to the point where they deny people care for being too fat, though they are edging in that direction. If we pass Medicare For All and then the government decides to use it as a weapon against trans people and pregnant women, and they're the only option... then we're worse off than we are now.

Have Medicare For All. Also have private insurance. This isn't weird, some other countries do it that way. Stop creating a false dichotomy. In this country, we can never afford to put all our faith in the government, because the government changes, frequently for the worse. Every four to eight years.

oh no

[1d1195]

Hi Sam,

Idk I feel a bit pathetic sending this but like I’m in a really bad place today. I don’t know why or how but I’m in it.

Can I just know when the next update of anything is possibly coming? I just need something to look forward to. You also don’t owe me anything and don’t have to if you’re not sure yourself. Lol

back to our wedding convo though, 30k from your sister? Where did she find 30k? Lol sorry but that’s sooooo much. That was my tuition for a program I took in college. But this guy at my job proposed to his girlfriend a month or so after I got engaged and he spent 10k+ on the ring. And they’re like 24.

I just don’t like the pageantry that comes with weddings.

-🐱

Oh my goodness! I'm sorry you're not feeling so hot today :( I have days like that too and I know that's probably not helpful or comforting but I just want to remind you you're not alone. Please don't feel pathetic about messaging me either, you know I am happy to hear any and all thoughts and I am glad you thought of me. I don't think you're pathetic and I hope that I can help a little!

I have a few ideas up in the air right now:

There's a Committed Extra that I need to write (I haven't started) that ideally will be posted Monday ��

I also started writing the alternate scene to Dolcezza that many asked for (please forgive me, I can't remember if you read Dolcezza so this might not be relevant to you but still and tbh I'm saving it for a while anyway).

On Sunday I'm going to be teasing a new miniseries I have in mind but I don't have an idea of when I'll be posting the first part just yet.

I def want to make you happy and it's not something I feel obligated about or indebted to you about either so I'm going to post something short even sooner. I promise. I just have to figure out what.

Idk I obvs love my sister but $ is a pretty sensitive tough area for me so it was wild she spent that much on a wedding. Idk. She lives at home though so she's able to save a lot more money than me who lives in an apartment. $10,000 ? ? AFTER A MONTH?? ? I would sell it and buy a dupe lol 😂 Life is very unfair sometimes.

I hope the hope of something being written is a little bit of a boost for how you're feeling and I hope you feel a little better every minute.

Thank you for messaging me 💕

xoxo