#should probably just pony up and pay for some levis at this point

[j-esbian]

i know it’s been said a thousand times but i’m real tired of fast fashion clothes made out of tissue paper

[peterthepark]

crush culture - [prologue]

the double accident

pairing: steve harrington x reader (university au & modern au)

summary: He delivered newspapers, while you were one of smartest kids in school. It’s a weird combination, but the fact that he’s crushing on you is even weirder. And the weirdest? You’re falling in love with him - just a little bit.

warnings: strong language

series masterlist

You never knew who he was until his paper delivery route had changed almost a year ago, where he first stumbled upon your campus apartment during the peak of the morning. He would pedal quickly on a blue bike and would never wear a helmet in fear of ruining his hair. Sometimes, you’d see him from your balcony, or when you’d get into your car, he’d speed by and give you a polite nod before tossing the community newspaper onto the driveway.

Later in your life, you did find out that his name was Steve Harrington: the boy who delivered newspapers at five in the morning during weekdays and ten during weekends.

He was the guy who dated Ashley Cutler during his freshman year then broke up with her because he thought he was in love with Olivia Kim, but really, he wasn’t - rumor had it that he was actually in love with some sorority girl called Melissa.

He was the guy who would pass by you between seminars, accidentally making eye contact with you when you’d stride past him.

He was the guy who rode his blue bike to campus on Monday through Friday, and his red one on Saturday and Sunday.

But yeah, you didn’t know him at all.

You were backing out of the driveway, busy adjusting the rear-view mirror before you heard a loud thud and a string of questionable curses. Speak of the fucking devil. You open your door, poking your head out. Steve sat on the pavement, hissing as he examined the bloody mess of his scraped knee.

You are literally a dumbass. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Holy shit. Oh, my god, I am so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention-“ You ramble as you approach him, crouching down to his level with worry.

Steve glances at you, then gives you a second look when he recognizes your face. “No, no. You’re - you’re fine.” He gulps, cheeks tinted with a rosy hue. “I wasn’t looking, um, either. Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t looking either.” His tongue darts out to wet his lips. You help him to his feet, simultaneously blushing with him as he dusts off his dirty hands on his clothing. “Y/N, right?”

You nod with a smile. “I have a first aid kit in my car. Would you mind if I...?” You start, pointing to the trunk of your van. He shakes his head, urging you to go ahead. Standing patiently with his arms crossed against his chest, his eyes follow your panicked movements.

You sigh shakily as Steve takes the red box from you, thanking you before he picks up his fallen bike. You swipe your thumb over your bottom lip, hesitantly speaking, “Look, I’m really sorry. Uh, surely it’s appropriate for me to give you a ride? To school? If that’s where you’re headed.”

Steve flexes his hands against the handles of his bike, glancing around as if he didn’t want to be seen with you. He shrugs with a shy and hesitant grin, “Sure. Yeah, thanks.” He drives his bike over and helps you load it into the trunk of your van, his hair tickling your cheek as he reaches over your shoulder. He apologizes, before he makes a beeline towards the passenger seat.

Bouncing his leg, Steve gazes out the window. The car ride has been awkwardly silent for the past ten minutes - well, you wouldn’t be able to hide the awkwardness in the first place considering the fact you almost ran him over.

“So, what’s your major?” You pipe up with a squeaky voice, keeping a straight face towards the road in fear of eye contact. You clear your throat, shocked at how many octaves your voice had jumped.

What’s your major? Really? Such a stupid, boring question.

Steve chuckles, glad that you‘ve broken the tension in the car. “Criminal justice. Woo! So fun.” He pumps his fist in the air enthusiastically, smiling shyly when he looks over to you.

“Oh, that’s so cool!” You chuckle genuinely, “So are you trying to be like a police officer or something?”

“Yeah, something like that. Maybe a crime scene investigator, too.”

You nod understandably, and Steve continues to discuss his major as well as his plans after university. Then, he realizes that he’s been talking about himself the whole time, and instantly shifts the topic of the conversation to you. “What about you? What are you doing?”

You tell him about your major and all about your experiences on campus, and he listens, occasionally adding a witty remark to your delight.

“I haven’t had a break since the semester started, but you know, it’s almost Christmas so that means vacation, which then means no exams and no assignments. Thankfully.” You laugh, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. You take a turn into the parking lot, and part of you feels disappointed that the car ride has ended so quickly.

You open the trunk, moving to get his bike but Steve insists politely that he can do it. And before you know it, the bike slips out of his grasp and he accidentally elbows you in the face.

Steve cries out as your body plummets to the parking lot floor. You clutch your eyebrow, pulling your hand away from your face to be met with a small drop of blood.

“I am such an idiot. Y/N. God, I’m sorry. I should have been more careful and - and I didn’t want you to get the bike because I was trying to be a gentleman and I mean,” He chuckles, catching his breath, “Look where that got me.”

You manage to let out a breathy giggle. “Well, now we’re even.” Your eyes take a glimpse at his patched-up knee. “Happen to spare me a band-aid?”

He nods rapidly, before he takes your small hands into his own, lifting you up effortlessly from the ground. You nearly collide with his chest, but you’re able to grab onto his shoulders, steadying your weight.

If you had known this would be the start of your day, you probably would’ve stayed home.

Steve leans patiently against the side of your van as you clean up the wound on your face, catching his eye in the sun-visor mirror from time to time.

The two of you can’t help but snicker at each other when you finally get out of your car, looking absolutely ridiculous with a rainbow band-aid that matched the pony design on Steve’s knee.

Suddenly, the moment is stolen when a cloud of nervousness re-appears over your heads. Steve shifts from one foot to the other, scratching the back of his neck as he glances away from you. You don’t know what to do with your hands, resorting to tucking them away in your sweatshirt.

“I should go.” Steve says, shutting one eye as he throws his thumb over his shoulder.

Shit, that was cute. That was kinda, really cute. Okay, now say something.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. Uh, thanks!”

“Um, for what?”

You truly are a mess. Why the hell are you thanking him? Get it together.

“Just - just for the company.” Smooth, real smooth. “Sorry about your knee... again.” You gesture to his leg, biting down on your lip. He chuckles with a scoff, nodding likewise towards your face.

“Oh! Wow, completely rude of me.” He shifts his bike to his left hand, holding out his right. “I’m Steve Harrington, by the way. I never introduced myself.”

“I know who you are.” You grin, shaking hands. Your eyes widen at how suddenly creepy that had sounded, and you stumble over your words in an effort to save yourself from embarrassment. “Jesus, that sounded really weird. Yeah, I-I know your name. In like a total, not stalker-ish way.” This is so bad. “I share an apartment with Robin and Kate, which you do bike by a lot, so...”

He must be really, really disturbed.

Steve flashes you a sweet, boyish smile, slowly retracting his hand from you after realizing that he had been holding onto it for the longest time. His palms are clammy, and he’s praying that you hadn’t felt it.

“Yeah. It was cool meeting you, finally. I pass by your apartment like you said so - so yeah, definitely, I...” He breathes out deeply, shaking his head with a scrunched up nose. “I’m gonna go now.”

Blushing visibly, Steve adjusts the drawstrings of his jacket before he takes a seat on his bike.

“I’ll see you around, Harrington.” You nibble on the inside of your cheek, taking a couple steps backwards. He waves awkwardly, then he’s off in the opposite direction, careful not to crash into any other cars.

You let out a strangled groan when he’s out of sight, bringing your hands up to your face in sheer frustration. Could you be any more awkward?

-

“I’m telling you, K. I’ll show you the data later. I don’t have my laptop, but trust me, it’ll make sense then.” You sigh at your friend, who seemed terribly confused with today’s lecture. You’re sitting in one of the cafés on campus, sipping away at your latte while Robin and Kate munched on a couple cookies.

“Okay, fine, later. Also what happened to your face?” She snorts, tilting her head at the not-so-subtle bandaid with teasing eyes. “Did you have that much fun with Henry last night?”

“Oh, my god. I did not screw Henry. He left right after we finished the project.” You huff, swirling your drink around. “I just... hit my head. On the trunk. Again.”

“Must’ve been painful.” Robin raises a brow at you, obviously suspicious of your reason.

“Anyways, you guys, there’s this thing next Friday. Levi is inviting us to this party at his friend’s, friends’s place. I was wondering...” She draws out the word, shimmying her shoulders. “Can you both come with? Please? It’s gonna be fun. Also, I wanna hook Y/N up with this guy I know.”

“Y/N might finally get some good dick.” Robin laughs, punching your shoulder lightly. You roll your eyes at her, flipping her off before you retreat to your phone.

Pulling up your instagram, your fingers hover over the search bar, and before you know it you’re searching for a special someone.

steveharrington98

Bingo.

But to your dismay, his account seemed to be private. You blow air from your puffed out cheeks, successfully moving the stray strand of hair from your face.

“Who is that?”

Levi comes up behind you, and he smashes his thumb onto the terrifying white button without care.

Requested.

No. No. No.

“You absolute dickhead!” You gasp at him, slapping his arm before you look back at your phone. “Fuck!” You throw your phone down onto the table, tugging on your hair as you swear under your breath.

“Is that Steve? That’s Steve, right?” Robin takes your phone, but honestly you don’t even care anymore.

Damage has been done, and all you could do at this point was wait.

“Y/N?” Kate calls out to you, snapping you out of your crazed state. “So, party? Friday? Yes?”

You whine, slipping your phone into your backpack. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Great!” She squeals, “I’ll send the address to you later. After you help me with that dumb data shit.”

Your phone buzzes loudly. With buttery fingers, you take it out again with trembling thumbs.

steveharrington98 accepted your follow request.

steveharrington98 has requested to follow you.

Cool.

So much for accidents.

[furidojasutin]

Title: Challenge

Pairings: Frevy (Freed x Levy), Nalu (Natsu x Lucy

Universe: Canon

Rating: T (for suggestive themes)

a/n: A really spontaneous idea and I just had to write it out before sleep. Also I gotta fight my damn writer’s block that I’ve been having for so long. This has totally been written for @rougescribe btw! B) I hope this is something for you to enjoy once you wake up again hehe.

Levy bit her lower lip the same way Freed perceived as enticing. Quite frankly, it was absolutely unnecessary to try and get some sneaky good looks at her boyfriend after what they had done not long ago. She didn't need to hide it. He was standing there, naked, while she was still lying in bed covered by the blanket and her eyes just happened to wander.

It wasn't her fault that he had a nice butt, and a nice backside in general. Actually, she shouldn't start thinking about this again because she knew she'd end up just swooning over every part of him and her small grin widened. “I mean, I'm not complaining about the sight but I really didn't think that you would get up.“

Freed was still facing away from her as he grabbed his boxer shorts to put them back on but he was giving a silent smirk at her words. “You dared me to open the door, and you know that I cannot ignore a dare from you.“

“Because you're a sore loser.“

The rune mage huffed. “Don't get too cheeky now, Miss McGarden.“

“You know it's true,“ Levy grinned wider, a small chuckle following as she sat up. 

Freed quickly slid his dress shirt over his shoulders but let it remain unbuttoned. His hair was still in a pony tail but due to their previous bedroom activities it looked messy, many stray strands of hair sticking out.

When Freed turned around he looked her over, her loose hair even messier than his. She looked spent but at the same time her eyes were filled with joy and challenge, and he loved this look on her.

Noticing that she was holding up the blanket to cover herself, one edge of his mouth twitched. “That was the main course. We didn't have dessert yet. But we will have once whoever is demanding my attention is gone again.“

He had already turned around and put on a pokerface when a pleasant blush rose to Levy's cheeks. Freed knew how bashful she could still sometimes get even after intense intimacy, and he absolutely adored both sides of her – the side that was dominated by her confidence and teasing intellect and the side that got her those rosy cheeks and made her so much fun to mercilessly tease.

The script mage cupped her own face and then ran her hand through her hair before shifting so her feet dangled from the bed. He had gotten her with that but she too loved their banters as they felt so natural. Honest to god, she really couldn't complain about his implication either. She was exhausted, but in the most positive way that existed, and she bit her bottom lip again by the mere imagination of anything else their day off still had in store for them.

Meanwhile, Freed had made it to the door to see who was there and he realized what kind of impression he could possibly give when answering the bell like this. This is the reason why her dare was a dare after all.

So with his messy pony tail, his unbuttoned shirt and his boxer shorts he opened the door. It was safe to say that he was a little surprised to see Natsu and Lucy standing there.

“Hello Fr---eed,“ Lucy's cheerful voice dropped a little when her eyes obviously scanned his entire appearance. It had taken her off guard too much to see him like this.

Natsu seemed to care less because he just shot Freed one of his usual grins and waved. “Yho!“

“Good afternoon, you two.“ Alright, so this was an uncommon situation. But the Raijinshuu's captain would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little bit amused about Lucy's reaction. At this point he just knew little that she might have more info about the cause of his state already. “What brings you here?“

“Um-,“ Lucy began, her eyes meeting Freed's again. She briefly raised her hands to reveal a thick book in her grasp, then she gave a small sheepish chuckle. “I wanted to return this book I borrowed from Levy. She told me that she'll be with you the whole day so I thought that I could drop it off here since Natsu and I were near by and-“

Oh. Oh.

Freed blinked once as he processed the situation. His appearance might be more revealing than he had initially thought and he ended up clearing his throat. “I see, well-“

“So is, uh, Levy with you still?“

Again Freed blinked. But then the pokerface he had (kinda) managed to keep changed a little, eyes glinting. And he shouted. “Levy, you have visitors! It's important, come here quickly!“

There was no way she wouldn't hear. And thanks to his implication earlier he didn't think that she was anywhere near dressed up again. It made him smirk inwardly.

“She'll be here in a moment.“

“Great!“ Natsu grinned and was the first to step inside when Freed made a hand gesture to invite them in. Lucy followed and thanked Freed, her surprise still not fully seeped out of her face.

But it got even more awkward when Levy appeared.

Freed stood there with crossed arms and shot his girlfriend a very knowing and challenging look when she entered the room, her small body covered by one of his t-shirts only to cover most of her body as it was much larger than her own. She must have grabbed it quickly.

Levy returned his look but her gleaming cheeks were a feast.

“Lu, it's you- Hi!“ She grinned but scratched the back of her head as she came to stand next to her boyfriend.

Lucy gazed for a moment. She couldn't believe that she had possibly just run into her best friend and her boyfriend making love. Or perhaps they had been done already. Or she was overthinking things.

Yep, overthinking!

“Hey! I just wanted to drop off the book you borrowed me.“

“Oh! Thanks, Lu-chan!“ Levy smiled and took the book from her, hugging it to her chest. She didn't dare to look at Freed right now.

Even Natsu's expression had changed for a single moment but he was grinning again now. “Yho, Levy!“

Lucy really didn't know how he was doing this.

“Lucy's been swoonin' over this book the entire time. She ignored me for it!“

“I can't pay attention to you every single second!“ Lucy puffed out her cheeks.

“Ya should!“ Natsu cackled before looking at Freed and Levy again. “Sorry for burstin' in-“

“You're never sorry for bursting into somebody's room!“ Lucy gently slapped his side, cheeks still puffed out and slightly reddened from the entire situation.

It didn't faze Natsu one bit. “- Lucy would be so angry if somebody interrupted us. She gets all fired up every time, keke!“

The room was silent for a split-second. Somebody dare say that Natsu wasn't perceptive again. Or perhaps his great nose helped in this situation, too.

Then Lucy gave an incoherent sound, cheeks burning harder, and she hit his side again. “NATSU!“

Okay so not only had she walked into her best friend's love life but now her own boyfriend was making suggestive comments about her. Wow. Wow!

Not like she wasn't used to this from him because he had such a loose tongue but-

“Oh my god!“ The celestial mage rubbed her face, then she grabbed Natsu by his arm and dared to look Freed and Levy in the eye. “Bad timing! Okay! We should get going again. See you at the guild tomorrow you two?“ She was already half-dragging Natsu to the door of Freed's house and the sight was hilarious but also oh so lovingly typical.

Freed's subtle smirk was surfacing now and his eyes holding an amused glint. “You have nothing to apologize for. Thank you for the visit.“

“Thanks for bringing back the book, Lu-chan! See you!“ Levy had a crooked smirk on her face as well despite her still slightly flushed cheeks. Natsu basically saved her. Or the two of them. This could have gotten much more awkward if they had been brought more into focus after all.

And who was to blame as well? Her boyfriend who had to call her out of the bedroom while knowing what this would cause. Smug asshole.

When the door fell closed, Levy turned towards him and raised a brow.

Freed arched up a brow in return.

“You know what you did, Sir.“

“Oh? I don't believe I did anything apart from fulfilling the dare,“ he cheekily responded.

“You cheated! I wasn't supposed to join you!“

“I wouldn't call that cheating,“ he gave a hum. “I call that 'twisting the situation to my advantage'.“

“That's just the fancy wording for cheating.“

“Oh no.“

“Yes it is!“ She glared up at him though it was all in good spirits.

He just smirked, self-satisfied. “Who's the sore loser now?“

When she just averted her eyes from him in acted defiance, it only motivated him further to start another game. Or perhaps continue where they left off.

There was still the dessert to get.

Spurred on again, he reached out and gently cupper her right cheek with his palm. His deep voice dropped in volume just a bit to be noticable. “I think I want my shirt back.“

Levy instinctively leaned into his hand. The gesture was so soft but his voice and words suggested otherwise and it motivated her as much as it motivated him.

So she pulled herself away from him, shot him a look, and stepped back a little. “What if I want to keep it? You'll have to get it yourself. I might run away with it.“ She kept walking backwards.

“I have no problem chasing you.“

“I've got stamina,“ Levy responded confidently.

The rune mage gave a single chuckle. Stamina, huh? “Oh I know you do. But I do, too.“

Oh she knew. And perhaps she hadn't just referred to the stamina concerning running as he had probably noticed, if his chuckle was something to go by.

Freed slowly followed her lazy steps and his obvious smirk had changed into a subtle one, his eyes revealing more of his intentions this time.

This look made her feel hot again but it was intoxicating all the same.

“New challenge accepted.“

His voice sent a pleasant shiver down her spine and she didn't expect to get lifted up and slightly pushed against the wall behind her the next second.

She would have to apologize to the poor book that slipped out of her grasp when she instinctively wrapped arms and legs around Freed. But she certainly didn’t have any complaints on her mind right now.

[dragonshost]

Now Leasing: New Beginnings

Chapter 4: Pyramid

Rating: T

Pairing: Cobra x Lucy

Genre: Humor/Romance

Summary:  Lucy has finally achieved her dream, and finalized the purchase of her family’s former home. When she goes to inspect the Heartfilia mansion, however, she finds some very familiar people already occupying it. For CoLu Week 2018.

Word Count: 2,146

On FFN

On AO3

Sorry for the lateness and bulkiness of this chapter.  There’s a lot of exposition, but it’s necessary setup for a joke.  I portray the guild setup here much the same as real estate agencies (with minor differences), and it’s the setup I use as background for pretty much all of my fics.

The main joke in here is one that I have been seriously contemplating devoting an entire fic to.  It’s a fun rabbit hole to consider.

I hope you enjoy.

Lucy contemplated the plans spread out on the kitchen table before her.  It had somehow become their default spot for negotiation and planning, though in part that was mostly due to it being one of the only large, flat elevated surfaces left in the mansion.  Three pieces of glassware held the corners of the drawing secure and still as she inspected it, the fourth weighed down by Macbeth’s slumbering form.

There was a lot that needed to be done, it turned out, to turn a building into a functioning guild hall.

It also took a lot to turn Crime Sorciere’s present organization into a properly functioning guild model, for that matter.

Groaning, Lucy sank into her seat, plunking her head into the table in imitation of Macbeth.  “Why is this so difficult?” she wailed into the paper.

“Because everything in life is,” Cobra responded behind her.

Lucy raised her head, and turned slightly in order to level her fiercest glare at the dragon slayer.

He scoffed at her. “Is that the best you got?”

“No,” she grumbled as he sat down in the chair next to her.  “I’m just too exhausted to deal with you right now.”

“So what’s the problem today?” he inquired, peering over the plans.  “None of this makes much sense to me, but I’ll give it a shot.”

“How generous of you,” Lucy replied sarcastically.  Despite her words, she straightened up in her seat, and pointed at the upper floor of the mansion.  “We need to decide how many rooms we want to keep as bedrooms, and how many we want to convert to other purposes.  Which means figuring out whether you all wish to live here full time as the founding guild members, or do a kind of live-in plan for new members.  I think Jellal is working out the particulars with the Council, but I think he wants to turn this place into a kind of halfway house for rehabilitating mages like yourselves that have run afoul of the law.  It’s a good idea, and I’m not against the property being used for that.”

That last part was a little bit of a white lie, and one that Cobra surely picked up on, but in a rare display of kindness, chose to ignore.  “So what’s the problem, then?” he asked.

“Money.”  Lucy sighed heavily.  “I’ve already got a huge mortgage on this place, as I’m sure you’re aware.  There’s no way I can secure a construction loan on top of it.  Jellal was able to pony up a security deposit and first month’s rent when we signed the rental contract, but unless I go on a well-paid job soon, we won’t be able to afford even the smallest change to this place.”  She shrugged helplessly.  “And you know what my team is like, so saving money is a little difficult for me as it is, even without me dividing my time up between them and this place.”

Cobra hummed in thought, his eye darting over the plans and taking in the proposed alterations. “Wouldn’t it be up to us to pay for it? Since we’re the ones that need the place changed.”

“Eh.”  Lucy held up her hand and made a wobbly gesture with it. “Yes and no.  It’s my property, so capital expenditures are mine to deal with, and fixtures required for business are yours.  Which is which is where things get a little nebulous.”  She heaved another side and rubbed her temple with her fingers.  “Neither Jellal nor I really want to hire a lawyer to sort it out on our behalf, but it’s beginning to look like that will be necessary in the long run.  Though it’ll all be moot anyway if I can’t drum up enough money to hire one in the first place.”

“Sounds tough,” Cobra stated.  “How does a traditional guild make money, by the way?  Brain’s flow of income was never exactly obvious to the rest of us, and we weren’t interested besides, so I don’t really have a frame of reference.”

His interest in the matter perked Lucy’s spirits up slightly.  “It’s kind of like a pyramid structure,” she told him.  Reaching down to the pile of supplies by her feet, she placed a blank sheet of paper onto a clipboard and drew a triangle on it.

“I thought those were bad things,” Cobra muttered as he watched her draw.

“Pyramid schemes are a pretty common way of scamming people, it’s true,” agreed Lucy.  “But they’re also pretty useful for displaying money flow.” She drew two horizontal lines near the top of the triangle, sectioning off two small sections.  In the bottom, largest section, she wrote Guild Members.

She tapped that section with her pen.  “As you’re probably aware, in a typical guild structure a job is posted with a set reward, which the guild members take and earn upon completion.  What most people don’t realize, is that the monetary amount posted on the job is not actually the full amount being paid out.”  To the side of the pyramid, she scribbled Clients and wrote 1,200 Jewel under it, and then circled both.  “Say a client is willing to pay 1,200 Jewel for a job.  Of that amount, 1,000 will be posted as the reward on a job flyer, while 200 will be retained by the guild as payment for coordination services.  In addition, clients will also pay a small posting fee.”  Lucy wrote a plus sign and 50 under the 1,200 Jewel she inscribed earlier. Then she labeled the middle section Guild and wrote in 250 Jewel below it, and then added 1000 Jewel to the Guild Members section.

Glancing up, she asked, “Following me so far?”

“Sure,” Cobra said, his gaze still intent on her makeshift diagram.  “But what’s the upper section of the pyramid for?”

Lucy drew a vertical line down the middle of the final section, labeling one half Era and the other Gov.  “Guilds have to pay fees and taxes to both the country they’re located in, and to Era for services provided.  These fees and taxes go towards services for mages, and they form a large part of Era’s operating budget from what Levy and Mest have told me.”

Cobra thought about it for a moment.  “I guess that makes sense.”          

“There’s more,” Lucy warned him, and restrained a giggle at his resulting sigh. “For simplicity’s sake, let’s say that the amounts due the government and Era are fixed at 5,000 Jewel each.” Outside of the pyramid, Lucy wrote in 5,000 Jewel on each side since she hadn’t left enough room in the diagram itself.  “So basically, the Guild has to make enough money to pay off those obligations, and make enough to fund repairs to guild halls, or providing other things for mages.   Fairy Tail has a souvenir shop and a bar with a kitchen to help supplement the income from the jobs, but the margin of profit on both is actually very small if I understood Max correctly when he explained all of this to me.”

Holding up a finger, Lucy waggled it at Cobra.  “But there’s actually a second structure that some guilds use instead of this one.”

“Seriously?” Cobra muttered.  “Isn’t just having one confusing enough?”

“Apparently some guilds combine the two methods as well,” Lucy informed him. “Which I imagine makes the guild accountants cry.”

“I don’t blame them.  So what’s the other method?”

“The guild members pay a monthly fee to the guild, and keep all of the job reward.  I think there’s still a posting fee that the guilds retain, but yeah the members get to keep everything.  If they don’t go on jobs, though, they run the risk of incurring a large debt to their guild, however, so I’m not particularly fond of this method.”

“Wouldn’t you run much the same risk the other way, though?” Cobra pointed out. “If you don’t go on jobs, you won’t have money for your bills anyway.”

“I guess you have a point,” Lucy acknowledged.  “I guess it kind of depends on personal preference.”  She smiled at him.  “So… how does Crime Sorciere handle its finances?”

Cobra shrugged.  “Communal fund, maybe?  I’m not sure. Jellal keeps track of it all in his head, so I try to tune him out when he starts thinking too much on it. Usually when one of us needs something, we just ask Jellal to fork over the Jewels for it.”

Lucy blinked at him, a little gob smacked.  “And that… works for everyone…?” she ventured.

“Pretty much, yeah.”  When her stunned silence continued for longer than he liked, Cobra added, “Listen, it’s not like we’ve ever had proper spending money of our own with how we grew up. I doubt we’d know how to manage it, honestly.”

Pursing her lips, Lucy frowned.  “Call me strange, but even if you do make mistakes with your income, it’s still yours to make the mistakes with.  Financial autonomy is a pretty important thing to have, you know?”

Cobra shrugged.  “If you say so.”

Seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to press issue further with Cobra, Lucy decided to let it go for now.  “Alright, it’s your decision to make.  But maybe we should look into hiring a guild accountant before anything else, yeah? That way Jellal doesn’t have to… to keep it all in his head.”

“You’re surprised by that,” Cobra observed with delight, a cruel smile spreading across his face.  “What, is that something the great Heartfilia Heiress can’t manage herself?”

“Hell no.”  Lucy laughed at Cobra’s taken aback expression over her blunt, honest answer. “It’s a lot to keep track of.  I hire an accountant to go over my personal taxes every year.”

“Do you make them cry?” Cobra asked, his smile returning.

Lucy hesitated a second too long without responding, resulting in Cobra letting out a great laugh that filled the kitchen.  “You do, don’t you?!” he howled with laughter.

Giggles filled Lucy as she, reluctantly, admitted that Cobra had her pegged.  “Okay, you’ve got me there.  In my defense, my life is an utter mess.  So the accountant really should have realized that my finances would be, too.”

“However you wanna justify it to yourself.”

A groan emanated from the third occupant of the kitchen, the fourth paperweight on Lucy’s plans of the mansion.  “You two are too noisy,” Macbeth complained.

“Sorry,” Lucy apologized to her former enemy.  “If you prefer, I can return to talking about finances.  Maybe that will put you back to sleep?”

Her suggestion only sent Cobra into a greater fit of laughter than before and set her to grinning in wicked delight as well.  Macbeth sent Lucy a disgusted look before standing up and stalking out of the kitchen.

Privately, Lucy had to admit that Cobra had a nice laugh.

Suddenly, Cobra’s laughter ceased entirely.  “Wait a minute,” he said.  “So how is it that Fairy Tail makes any money?”  He waved her off when she opened her mouth to repeat her earlier lecture. “No, no.  I get the basic system.  But with Fairy Tail having to pay all sorts of damages and fines, how are they able to make enough money to keep the guild going?”

Lucy hesitated.  Her first instinct was to propose the bar and souvenir shop’s proceeds to make up the deficit, but then she remembered how little profit those endeavors actually made. In fact, the bar’s proceeds largely came from the members of Fairy Tail themselves.  Some of whom had racked up a significant unpaid tab.  Then, with all of the furniture that the members regularly destroyed…  Lucy had never heard of the guild members being forced to pay back the guild for any damages to guild property.  Somehow, Makarov had pulled together enough funds to completely redo the place as well back when she first joined.

“For that matter,” Cobra continued, either oblivious to the gears turning in Lucy head, or uninterested, “how is it that Fairy Tail can get away with destroying so many towns and such with pretty much no repercussions?  You’d think somebody would be pissed about their home being gone.”

Although she wished she could deny it, the fact of Fairy Tail’s destructive leanings was extremely common knowledge.  It was hard to reconcile how much Fairy Tail obliterated with the height of the guild’s popularity.

“It… it creates construction jobs…?” Lucy offered tentatively.  “Puts that back into the economy…?”

Cobra stared at her dead-on, his single violet eye unblinking.  “Is Fairy Tail getting…”

It was Lucy’s turn to cut him off.  “Let’s not finish that thought.”

He considered it for a moment, but eventually nodded.  “That sounds safer, yeah.”  Briefly shaking himself, he then shrugged and changed the subject.  “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

With that, the two tried their hardest to put their lingering suspicions out of their minds.

[junker-town]

What the 5 NFL teams with the most cap space will do in 2020

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

The Dolphins and Cowboys both have tons of cap space, but they’ll likely take opposite approaches to the offseason.

The NFL offseason is a fun time for teams with plenty of space under the salary cap. While teams like the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars will have to focus their efforts on saving money, most have cash to spend.`

For some of them, a headfirst dive into the free agency market could be on the horizon. For others, much of that cap space will disappear when players already on roster are given extensions.

Here are the five teams entering the 2020 offseason with the most salary cap space, and what they may end up doing with all that room (all cap figures as of Feb. 20, courtesy of Over The Cap):

Dallas Cowboys ($77.3 million in cap space)

It’s easy to be way under the salary cap when you’re not ponying up at the most expensive position. The only Cowboys quarterback currently under contract in 2020 is Clayton Thorson, a 2019 fifth-round pick. A significant amount of the cap space will disappear when Dak Prescott is inevitably brought back into the fold.

Three ways to spend that money

Franchise and/or re-sign quarterback Dak Prescott: With free agency rapidly approaching, Dallas will probably have to use the franchise tag to retain its quarterback. That will guarantee Prescott about $27 million and eat over one-third of the team’s cap space. An extension could still happen in the next few months to change that number, but Prescott’s not going to settle for a cheap deal. Still, it’s better that than recreating Washington’s lengthy Kirk Cousins divorce.

Re-sign receiver Amari Cooper: If Prescott receives the franchise tag, the Cowboys will have to move quickly to keep Cooper. They gave up a first-round pick for the receiver in 2018 and certainly don’t want to let him walk as a free agent. But that could mean bending to Cooper’s demands, no matter how lofty. Even Julio Jones’ receiver-leading $22 million per year contract could get eclipsed.

Re-sign defensive end Robert Quinn: Byron Jones is expected to test the open market, so finding a cornerback in free agency could be a priority. However, keeping Quinn in Dallas is even more important. The 29-year-old defensive end was the only Cowboys player with more than five sacks in 2019.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($79.9 million in cap space)

Like the Cowboys, the Buccaneers currently don’t have an experienced quarterback under contract for the 2020 season. Both Jameis Winston and Blaine Gabbert are set to become free agents in March, leaving only Ryan Griffin at the position. Solving that problem will eat a chunk of Tampa Bay’s space.

Three ways to spend that money

Sign a starting quarterback: The answer could be re-signing Winston, going after a veteran starter like Philip Rivers, picking a quarterback early in the 2020 NFL Draft, or some combination of those strategies. Whatever the Buccaneers decide, it’ll cost a pretty penny.

Re-sign defensive end Shaquil Barrett: Tampa Bay stumbled across the steal of the 2019 offseason when it signed Barrett to a one-year, $4 million deal. He finished the year as the league’s sack champion with 19.5 sacks, 13th-most in a single season. The Buccaneers defense — which was 29th in points allowed — can’t afford to lose Barrett’s impact, even if it costs way more than $4 million to keep him.

Re-sign defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul: In his first season with the Buccaneers, Pierre-Paul had 12.5 sacks. He finished 2019 with 8.5 sacks, despite missing the first two months of the season due to injuries suffered in an offseason car accident. Tampa Bay should pay up to see what the Barrett and Pierre-Paul duo can do over the course of an entire season together.

Buffalo Bills ($82.2 million in cap space)

Unlike other teams on this list, the Bills actually have their starting quarterback, Josh Allen, under contract for two more years and have reason to feel good about his trajectory. Buffalo has so much cap space because: a) Allen is still on his rookie deal, and b) center Mitch Morse is the only player with a cap hit over $10 million. No other team in the NFL has fewer than three such players.

Three ways to spend that money

Re-sign defensive end Shaq Lawson: The 2016 first-round pick is coming along slowly, but he is coming along. After four sacks in 2017 and again in 2018, he had 6.5 in 2019. That’s not much, but it’s progress and it means the price tag to retain Lawson shouldn’t be too high. With Ed Oliver and Star Lotulelei on the interior, Lawson is more important than keeping defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, another soon-to-be free agent.

Re-sign cornerback Kevin Johnson: Buffalo took a chance on the Texans’ oft-injured castoff, and it worked out well. He rotated with Levi Wallace opposite Tre’Davious White, giving the Bills a solid trio of cornerbacks. The Patriots were the only team that allowed fewer passing touchdowns than Buffalo. A deal to keep Johnson on the depth chart would likely only cost the Bills $5-7 million per year.

Sign tight end Hunter Henry or Eric Ebron: The Bills went after Greg Olsen, but came away empty-handed. It makes sense they’d want a tight end to help Allen in his growth as a young quarterback, however. Although Buffalo has 2019 draft picks Dawson Knox and Tommy Sweeney on the roster, a veteran could provide immediate help. Both Henry and Ebron come with injury concerns, but they’re the best potential free agents at the position now that Olsen is with the Seahawks.

Indianapolis Colts ($86.2 million in cap space)

The Colts were surprisingly thrifty in free agency last year for a team with a ton of cap space. While they gave Jacoby Brissett an extension shortly after the abrupt retirement of Andrew Luck, even that was a moderately sized deal for a starting quarterback. Brissett struggled in the latter half of the season, but the Colts seem likelier to groom a draft pick than cut bait and hunt for an upgrade in free agency. Keeping talent on the roster could be top priority instead.

Three ways to spend that money

Re-sign offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo: The former first-round pick just played out the final year of a four-year, $43.8 million deal. The next contract will undoubtedly be even more expensive, but the Colts can’t afford to lose their franchise left tackle. He’s still one of the best in the league at his position and wouldn’t be easy to replace.

Re-sign center Ryan Kelly: While they’re at it, the 2020 offseason would be a good time to extend Kelly, another key offensive lineman. The Colts are already paying him $10.35 million on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal. An extension likely wouldn’t up that number, but it would tack more years on to Kelly’s career in Indianapolis.

Sign defensive end Arik Armstead: The 49ers will do their best to keep Armstead, but it’ll be tricky with so many high-priced players on the team. If Armstead hits the market, he could be the rare free agent that the Colts actually open up the pocketbooks to acquire. Indianapolis could use an infusion of talent on the defensive line, especially if Jabaal Sheard leaves in free agency.

Miami Dolphins ($89.4 million in cap space)

The Dolphins got here by tanking the 2019 season. Yes, their 5-11 record wasn’t too terrible and showed new coach Brian Flores can whip a team into shape. But those wins came in spite of the front office parting with almost every highly paid player on the roster. It’s tough to gauge if the Dolphins are done gutting the roster now. Either way, the team probably doesn’t plan on blowing through much of its savings this spring.

Three ways to spend that money

Sign guard Joe Thuney: The best investments Miami can make would be in the trenches, and impending Patriots free agent Thuney would be a great fit. The durable 27-year-old lineman is one of the best guards in the NFL. Flores spent 15 seasons with the Patriots and would probably love to prune his now-division rival in free agency.

Sign linebacker Kyle Van Noy: Another potential Patriots free agent is Van Noy, a six-year veteran who will turn 29 in March. Flores used to be the New England linebackers coach and is very familiar with the skills and versatility of Van Noy. The Dolphins desperately need more talent in the front seven, and Van Noy can provide help in every facet.

Sign defensive end Dante Fowler Jr: Taco Charlton led the Dolphins in sacks with just five in the 10 games he played. While the team could afford to go after a player as expensive as Yannick Ngakoue — whose deal could easily eclipse $100 million — Miami probably doesn’t want to take on contracts quite that large. Fowler will be cheaper, even though he’s still just 25 and coming off a season with 11.5 sacks.

[vodsel-prime]

Business Lawyers in Utah for Gold and Silver

“Shafting” the IRS is the verbiage used in the article in Forbes, not ours, though who hasn’t dreamed of evading, er, we mean finding loopholes in taxes at least once in their lives? Well, now the secret is out, thanks to writer Brian Domitrovic, who may be onto something. Obligatory disclosure: he’s not a tax lawyer. Interestingly, he cites a 2011 law that was passed in Utah “banning taxes on the use of gold and silver coins as currency and permitting residents to remit taxes in these coins.” Apparently Oklahoma recently did something similar. But before business lawyers in Utah as well as entrepreneurs and wealth management specialists across the Beehive State dismiss this small bit of legislation as trivial, Domitrovic points out that transacting in gold can save you tons on taxes.

Maybe not literally tons, and almost certainly not tons of gold, whose current market value is something like $1,267 per ounce. So here’s the first thing: gold’s official Treasury price is $42.22 per ounce, meaning that some savvy individuals or companies who leverage the legal know-how of their business lawyers in Utah could be saving hundreds of thousands of dollars on taxes each year if they worked in gold. So, Business lawyers in Utah may be called on in greater demand for transacting in gold because it can shaft the IRS.

But hold on a minute, some of you astute readers of legal news might say. What about the “federal law” that requires you to “declare as taxable the gain on any market appreciation of the gold you use to make purchases”? Well, that’s the other thing: it’s a “federal law” in quotation marks. It’s not a real law. It’s what Dimitrovic calls “administrative law,” which is basically an idea that the Internal Review Service came up with and tossed back and forth in a series of emails (8,000 pages worth, as discovered under the Freedom of Information Act) and said “okay, we’re doing this requirement of market appreciation on gold thing.” How enforceable is administrative law? You’d have to ask your business lawyers in Utah: legal counsel isn’t superseded by Dimitrovic’s blog-based advice.

Just think about it, though: if enough people get together and decide to make transactions in gold, “somebody might clear, for example, $3,000 in gold income a year, or $90,000 if translated into paper dollars.” And given Utah’s 2011 statute, even the most experienced business lawyers in Utah would be hard pressed to disagree that everything with that plan seems above board. And when you’re only paying taxes on $3,000, why wouldn’t you get on board with this idea?

Part of the problem is finding enough people to get together to decide to make the transactions in gold. If the gold movement does get traction though, “it could have the effect of requiring business in this country to cut their taxation costs by arbitraging the gold-note dollar spread that the United States has allowed to emerge over the past century of serious inflation.” Gold has the potential, like Bitcoin to stick it to the man (i.e. the IRS), with the added bonus of being constitutionally protected since 1787 and time tested through copious amounts of litigation in the 19th century. Pony, up, people; together we can “shaft the IRS.”

Free Consultation with a Utah Business Lawyer

If you are here, you probably have a business law issue you need help with, call Ascent Law for your free business law consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

4.9 stars – based on 67 reviews

Helpful Business Law Articles

Business Lawyer in Utah

Child Sexual Abuse Investigation

Business Law

Business Lawyers

Business Law Services

Financial Misconduct in Utah Divorce Cases

Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/business-lawyers-in-utah-for-gold-and-silver/

Advertisements

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initSlot('atatags-26942-5aaf278231a4c', { collapseEmpty: 'before', sectionId: '26942', width: 300, height: 250 }); });

__ATA.cmd.push(function() { __ATA.initSlot('atatags-114160-5aaf278231a85', { collapseEmpty: 'before', sectionId: '114160', width: 300, height: 250 }); });

(function(){var c=function(){var a=document.getElementById("crt-1517911896");window.Criteo?(a.parentNode.style.setProperty("display","inline-block","important"),a.style.setProperty("display","block","important"),window.Criteo.DisplayAcceptableAdIfAdblocked({zoneid:388248,containerid:"crt-1517911896",collapseContainerIfNotAdblocked:!0,callifnotadblocked:function(){a.style.setProperty("display","none","important");a.style.setProperty("visbility","hidden","important")}})):(a.style.setProperty("display","none","important"),a.style.setProperty("visibility","hidden","important"))};if(window.Criteo)c();else{if(!__ATA.criteo.script){var b=document.createElement("script");b.src="//static.criteo.net/js/ld/publishertag.js";b.onload=function(){for(var a=0;a<__ATA.criteo.cmd.length;a++){var b=__ATA.criteo.cmd[a];"function"===typeof b&&b()}};(document.head||document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0]).appendChild(b);__ATA.criteo.script=b}__ATA.criteo.cmd.push(c)}})();

(function(){var c=function(){var a=document.getElementById("crt-327951376");window.Criteo?(a.parentNode.style.setProperty("display","inline-block","important"),a.style.setProperty("display","block","important"),window.Criteo.DisplayAcceptableAdIfAdblocked({zoneid:837497,containerid:"crt-327951376",collapseContainerIfNotAdblocked:!0,callifnotadblocked:function(){a.style.setProperty("display","none","important");a.style.setProperty("visbility","hidden","important")}})):(a.style.setProperty("display","none","important"),a.style.setProperty("visibility","hidden","important"))};if(window.Criteo)c();else{if(!__ATA.criteo.script){var b=document.createElement("script");b.src="//static.criteo.net/js/ld/publishertag.js";b.onload=function(){for(var a=0;a<__ATA.criteo.cmd.length;a++){var b=__ATA.criteo.cmd[a];"function"===typeof b&&b()}};(document.head||document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0]).appendChild(b);__ATA.criteo.script=b}__ATA.criteo.cmd.push(c)}})();