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whump-tr0pes · 4 years ago

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HB4-34/Whumptober day 15

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, and Vera.

AO3

Masterlist

Content warning: homelessness, offscreen parental death, children’s reactions to parental death, child lashing out at a sibling, minor separated from caretaker, dissoci@tion, missing person

The town hall was absolutely packed with people. Isaac had always thought the hall strangely large for a town that had such scant traffic through, but now… he understood.

It was a surge day, according to Schiester. He’d told Gray and Isaac over and over that afternoon that he was grateful for their help. Gray was with Schiester now, processing the applications the citizens of Crayton had sent in to become temporary homes for the refugees.

As Isaac’s gaze moved over the fifty or so people crowded into the atrium, milling about, looking for loved ones and shouting across the wide space, his stomach churned. These people, every single one, were refugees from the chaos that had risen up in the wake of Colleen Stormbeck’s death. They’d arrived this morning, a strange caravan of two decrepit school buses full of people.

Isaac started as a man all but appeared in front of him, herding his three children close to the table that held the paperwork Isaac had this morning been shown to fill out. The man’s eyes were wild, red from lack of sleep or crying. Or both, probably. His arms encircled his children and pushed them towards Isaac. Underneath the bone-deep exhaustion that radiated off him in waves, Isaac could see a tenuous disbelief. He knew that look so well. He knew he’d worn it many times.

We made it, the look said. I kept them safe.

Isaac clenched his jaw and picked up the pen.

“We’ll start with you,” he said to the man, his voice low and carrying over the crowd. “What’s your name?”

“T-Thomas Koran.” The man wet his lips and swayed in place.

Isaac wrote it down. His hand was already cramping. He couldn’t remember the last time he wrote this much at once, and he’d only checked in two families and a loner so far. “Date of birth?”

“Um…” The man’s eyes went blank, his jaw opening slowly. “Fuck. Why don’t I… what…?” He scrubbed his face with his hand. He had dried blood under his fingernails. “Oh! Fuck, why did I forget my own birthday? Jesus—” The man went rigid and threw a nervous look at his children.

The oldest one, with the man’s deep brown skin but someone else’s hazel eyes, rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “You just said ‘fuck’, dad,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t get weird when you say ‘Jesus.’”

Isaac had to suppress a half-smile. The kid looked like he was thirteen, maybe fourteen, and wore a look of bored hostility like a mask. Isaac shook his head and glanced at the next line. “That’s okay. We can skip it. This is just a preliminary screening. When you get checked in for placement then—”

“Oh, no, it’s November eleventh, 1992,” Thomas said, shaking his head as if to clear it. “Sorry. I remembered.”

Isaac carefully wrote it down. “Great. Town of origin?”

Thomas glanced up at Isaac, and his eyes widened just a fraction. “Oh. We’ve been, um… we’ve been pretty, ah, m-mobile.”

“We’re homeless!” said the little girl who seemed glued to the man’s side. She looked like she was four or five, with her thick black hair up in a messy ponytail that reminded Isaac of Edrissa’s haphazard buns on the top of her head. Distantly, he wondered if either style was intentional.

Thomas blushed and stared at the wooden table in front of Isaac, marred with nicks and dents from years of heavy use. He chewed his lip and wouldn’t meet Isaac’s gaze.

“Y-yeah,” he whispered. “We’re homeless.”

“That’s okay,” Isaac said quickly, and made the note. “A lot of people who come through are. My family was a mobile one, too, before we came here.” He offered Thomas an awkward half-smile.

Thomas smiled back, his shoulders drooping. “Oh,” he said, and distractedly rubbed his little girl’s back. “That’s… that’s good.”

The third child, a girl looking not much older than the youngest, watched Isaac with wary eyes from the circle of her father’s arms. She tugged at her father’s shirt and loudly whispered, “Who’s that?”

“That’s the man who’s helping us get checked in, honey,” Thomas said, a thin smile on his lips.

“My name is Kira!” the youngest one said, pulling away from her father and standing right up against the table.

“Oh.” Isaac’s hand drifted down to the next section and scribbled it in.

“I’m four!” she said, holding up a hand with four little fingers splayed wide.

Isaac’s lips quirked into a smile. “Um… wow!” he said stiffly, suddenly unsure of what to say next.

“Wait your turn, Kira,” Thomas said heavily, and took her hand, pulling her away from the table.

“Sorry about her,” the boy said, rolling his eyes again. “She’s precocious.” The boy said it with such seriousness that Isaac had to laugh, just a little. “I’m Alec. It’s nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand at Isaac.

Isaac wiped his hand on his pants, grimacing from how damp his palm was. “Isaac,” he said, and took Alec’s hand. The boy shook it once, his hand trembling from how tight he was squeezing. He pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest.

Thomas blinked and scrubbed his face with his hand. “What, what other questions…?”

Isaac glanced at the sheet, and scribbled in Alec’s name below Kira’s. “Occupation?”

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m trained as a welder,” he said with a shrug. “But I haven’t… it’s been a while since…”

“Who did you used to work for?” Isaac said, moving down the list of questions.

“Um…” Thomas blinked again, slowly. Isaac wondered when the last time was that he got some sleep. “My last job was with Synchrony Building… they build, um, built skyscrapers…”

Isaac wrote it down. Vaguely, he wondered what this had to do with anything, but he shook his head. I didn’t write the form.

“Last question for you,” Isaac said, his shoulders tensing as he did. “Do you have any ties to the Stormbeck, Anderson, Torr, or Wilson syndicates?”

Thomas swallowed and stared at Isaac. “What… ties? What do you mean?”

“Um…” Isaac wet his lips. “Familial ties, history of employment, that kind of thing.”

“No,” Thomas rasped. “I… I’ve spent the past… three years staying as far away from those bastards…” His face went red, and his hand tightened around his daughter’s. “I… I have nothing to do with…”

“Okay,” Isaac said quickly, placating. “I’m sorry. I have to ask everyone.”

Thomas blew out a slow breath through his nose, his eyes sliding shut. “Okay. What… what else do you need?”

“Just their names and birthdays,” Isaac said, gesturing to the children with his pen.

“I’m four!” Kira said again, holding up her hand with four fingers up.

“What’s your birthday?” Isaac said.

“November!” she said with a grin.

Isaac blinked. “Okay, what else?”

Kira looked up at her father, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Your birthday is N-November thirteenth, 2025, sweetheart,” Thomas said gently. A shiver rolled over Isaac’s shoulders. “Two days after mine.” Thomas smiled down at her.

Isaac wrote it down. “And… Alec? What’s your date of birth?”

“August fifteenth, 2015,” he said, looking at the paper Isaac was writing on.

Isaac looked up at the last girl. “What’s your name and date of birth?” he said, more sharply than he meant. The girl cringed back against her father and murmured something Isaac couldn’t hear.

“Hm?” He leaned forward. The girl looked up at her father, then back at Isaac, fixing him with her wide hazel eyes. Just like her brother’s, and her sister’s.

“T-Trisha,” she murmured, and blushed furiously. She turned her face against her father’s side.

Isaac wrote it down. “And your date of birth?”

When Trisha turned her face to look at Isaac, tears were welling in her eyes. Isaac leaned back, embarrassed and horrified and so confused. His mouth bobbed open and closed.

What did I do wrong?

“It’s February ninth, 2023,” Thomas said, and wrapped his arm tight around Trisha, crushing her against his side. “S-sorry,” he mumbled. “Ever since… we um… she’s been…”

Trisha’s lower lip wobbled and she shoved her face against Thomas’s shirt. She whimpered and began to cry.

Isaac rocked forward, horror flipping immediately to protective concern. He paused as Thomas gently stroked her hair and let her take hitched sobs against his shirt. Tears shone in his eyes.

“That’s…” Isaac cleared his throat. “That’s all I needed. Um, the mayor should be down the hall with the other volunteers to assign your… t-temporary living situations. Is there anything—”

“Daddy, when’s mommy coming?” Kira said, her little arms stretching as far around both of Thomas’s legs as she could reach.

Isaac froze. Thomas’s face fell, devastation flashing across it. He blinked, and lifted his chin, staring up at the ceiling, taking in a deep breath. Isaac glanced at Alec and saw him doing the same thing, his face twisted with rage and grief. Trisha cried harder against Thomas.

“I told you, sweetie,” Thomas croaked, forcing a twisted smile across his face. “Mommy isn’t coming.”

Isaac felt something tear in his chest. The room blurred, and his eyes burned with sudden tears.

“But why?” Kira said, tilting her head so far back to look at Thomas that she started to bend backwards. “Where is she?”

“Sh-she’s dead, Kira,” Alec snapped, dashing tears from his eyes. “She’s never coming back.”

Kira flinched back from the venom in her brother’s tone. Her face twisted and she burst into tears. Alec sniffed back his own, his arms squeezing his chest.

Thomas sagged and drew his arms around his children again. Alec shrugged off his father’s arm and took a step back, his face turned away.

Isaac felt the crushing tide of their grief as Thomas forced back his tears. He raised his eyes to Isaac, desperate sorrow and pain shining darkly in his eyes. “Where…?”

Isaac shook himself and pointed to his left, towards the hall. “That way,” he said, his voice breaking. “They’ll assign you homes until a permanent…” Isaac trailed off. The man’s gaze was far away, and Isaac wasn’t sure if Thomas could even hear him. “You’ll be safe,” he said, weakly.

Thomas’s eyes flicked up and met Isaac’s, a weak blaze of gratitude burning in them. “Thank you,” Thomas rasped, and herded his children down the hall.

No one else was in line behind them. Isaac glanced around the atrium, his shoulders sagging. How many of these new refugees had stories like that? How many of them were leaving behind the bodies of their loved ones, desperately grasping for the only chance at safety they had?

Someone on the steps caught Isaac’s eye.

They were just a kid, sitting on the staircase leading upstairs, up high enough that their head was visible over the crowd. They sagged against the railing, their eyes open and sightless, tears streaming down their face. They looked like they were as old as Thomas’s oldest kid, maybe a little older. Isaac made his way out from behind the wooden table and pushed through the crowd, slowly crossing the atrium to them.

He reached the bottom of the stairs. The kid didn’t look at him. Barely even blinked. Isaac couldn’t tell if they were looking at the crowd, or lost within their own mind.

“Ah… hey, kid?” he said, placing his foot on the lowest step. They didn’t stir. He climbed the first step, then the second. “Kid?”

The kid started and stared at Isaac. They blinked slowly. “Y-yeah?”

“Hey. You alright?”

“I’m…” The kid swallowed thickly. “I’m looking for my brother. Caleb.”

“Okay…” Isaac climbed another step. “What’s your name?”

“A-Aryn.”

“Aryn,” Isaac said. “Nice to meet you. When did you—”

“I don’t know where my brother is,” Aryn said softly, their eyes red and swollen. “I don’t… don’t know where, where Caleb is…” They shuddered and buried their face in their hands.

“When did you last see him?” Isaac asked, his stomach sinking.

“This morning,” Aryn sobbed into their hands. “I, I s-saw him this morning, I’m positive. But I… I thought… I could have sworn I saw him this morning. He was… he was there at our last bathroom break, and that was this morning a few hours out of here… I… but I thought… I didn’t mean to, I fell asleep and, and when I woke up we were, were here and he wasn’t here and… I thought… shit, I was just so tired and I… I didn’t mean to lose track of him…”

“Okay, how old is he?” Isaac said, dread brewing in his chest. Please don’t let it be a kid, please don’t let it be a kid…

“He’s nineteen,” Aryn groaned. “He’s got blond hair like mine, but his eyes are green, not brown. And he’s got a tattoo here.” They gestured to their left shoulder. “It’s a stupid bird. He was wearing…” They ground the heels of their hands into their eyes. “A… a brown shirt, and jeans, and…” They lurched forward with a sob. “I don’t know where he went!”

Isaac carefully climbed the last three steps and sat beside the kid. His hands twisted in front of him, his knuckles almost turning white, as he stared out at the crowd in front of him. Aryn whimpered and heaved another sob.

Isaac draped his arm across their shoulders and rubbed their arm. They shivered and covered their mouth with their hands. Their shoulders shook. Their wails carried over the sound of the crowd. Isaac ran a hand through his hair, forcing down the sharp stab of grief in his chest.

Is this what it’s like to help the refugees? Jesus Christ, I thought I had a rough time of it. I’ve never lost someone like this. I always had someone else that I could stay with, at least.

The kid leaned against Isaac. Isaac squeezed their shoulders.

Gray walked from behind the staircase out into the atrium, towering over most of the refugees. Their head swiveled like they were looking for Isaac.

“Up here,” he said, and they turned. Their face softened when they saw Aryn huddled against his side. A moment later, Daniel Schiester walked in behind them. He followed Gray’s gaze and found Isaac.

Gray tilted their head at Isaac in a silent question. He raised his shoulders, biting down hard on his lip. He glanced at Schiester. “Um…”

“Who’s this?” Gray said gently, their tone pitched low and even, their face open and calm. Isaac felt a pang of jealousy of how easily Gray fell into that role.

“This is Aryn,” Isaac said, gently shaking them. They looked up and looked at Gray and Schiester in turn. “I haven’t checked them in yet. They’re looking for their brother.”

Gray’s eyebrows drew together. “Oh. Did he come with you?”

Isaac rose and eased Aryn up beside him. As they walked down the stairs their body seemed disjointed and numb, as if Aryn was merely coasting by, standing beside themself, instead of driving their own movements. It made Isaac shiver.

“Um…” Aryn wiped their nose. Gray’s arm went around their shoulders on their other side.

“Let me get you checked in,” Gray said, glancing at Isaac. “Isaac, I can take them, if you want.”

“Sure,” Isaac said weakly. He let Gray lead Aryn to the table with the stack of intake forms. Gray picked up a pen and began to fill one out with them.

“It’s hard,” Schiester said, starting Isaac out of his reverie. “Especially seeing the young ones hurting.”

Isaac’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “D-does… does that happen a lot?”

“What, them losing family along the way?” Schiester nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s very frequent. Raids, syndicate checkpoints, bounty hunters, even soiled food can make the journey north very, very hard. Some people we see come through here walk. From what I can gather…” Schiester motioned with his head. “Just about every person here was a walker, before Jess and Trudy picked them up.”

Isaac blinked. “Jess and Trudy?”

“The drivers of the buses that brought them,” Schiester said with a smile. “Those two women picked up every refugee they could find as they made their way north. I’m actually talking to them about making that a regular thing.” Schiester laughed, and the was sound perfectly-pitched, warm and yet mirthless. “I get to meet the most incredible people through this job.”

Isaac shifted uncomfortably. “No, I mean…” He shrugged. “They said they saw him this morning. They were pretty sure. They said they saw him at the rest stop, and then…”

Daniel tilted his head, regarding Isaac with his cold blue eyes. “‘Pretty’ sure?”

“Look, I know sleep deprivation can do some pretty weird shit,” Isaac said, staring at the floor. “I don’t blame them for—”

“Neither do I,” Schiester said, placing a gentle hand on Isaac’s shoulder. He missed the cuts and the cane marks, although they were all almost entirely healed. “I wasn’t trying to imply…” He laughed once, his face pulling into an easy smile. “I apologize. What I was trying to say is, yes, people lose track of the others on their journeys north. People get lost. People die. People get separated during chaotic situations.” Schiester tilted his head, regarding Isaac coolly. “It’s completely possible that he fell behind, and we’ll see him on the next shipment. Stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah,” Isaac said weakly. “Yeah, they have.”

Schiester looked at Isaac for another moment, then squeezed Isaac’s shoulder. “I appreciate your help today, Isaac,” he said, and the hair on the back of Isaac’s neck prickled. He breathed a meager sigh of relief as Schiester released his shoulder. “This is my life’s work. I’m grateful to have the likes of Isaac Moore on my team.”

The words left Isaac feeling… empty. They went through him like air. He swallowed hard.

Schiester turned away. “I have to get back to my part in this, Isaac,” he said, giving Isaac a nod. “If you have any questions, or any more missing to report, please get me.” He turned and walked down the hall.

Isaac watched him go, opening and closing his fist. Finally, he turned back towards the check-in table, where Gray was taking down the info of an older woman, trembling from head to toe. He clenched his jaw and made his way to it, to help with the next refugee.

Continued here

@untilthepainstarts, @womping-grounds, @free-2bmee, @quirkykayleetam, @walkingchemicalfire, @inpainandsuffering, @redwingedwhump, @burtlederp, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @whatwhumpcomments, @cursedscribbles, @whumpywhumper, @stxck-fxck, @omega-em-z-02, @whumps-the-word, @justwhumpitwhumpitgood, @justplainwhump, @moose-teeth, @slaintetowhump, @finder-of-rings, @inky-whump, @thatsthewhump, @orchidscript, @insanitywishes, @this-mightaswell-happen, @newandfiguringitout, @whumpkitty, @pretty-face-breaker, @cinnamonflavoredhugs, @inaridriscoll, @im-just-here-for-the-whump, @endless-whump, @grizzlie70, @oops-its-whump

#honor bound 4 #whumptober2020 #no. 19 #survivor's guilt #OC #fic #homelessness tw #parental death tw #anger between siblings tw #family separation tw #dissociation tw #missing person tw #sleep deprivation #Daniel Schiester is such a good person #whoops made myself cry with this one boys

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official-impravidus · 5 years ago

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5 Times Peter Did Someone Else’s Makeup

By @official-impravidus for @littlemissagrafina

Rating: General

Relationships: Tony Stark & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & May Parker, Peter Parker & Happy Hogan, Happy Hogan/May Parker

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, May Parker, Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones, Morgan Stark

Summary: and the 1 time he did his own

(written for the @friendly-neighborhood-exchange)

To put it simply, he had been in a rush. Competition season was just around the corner, and MJ was pushing the team to their limits with extra practice, which meant morning practice and after school practice. Peter had barely gotten out of the door once he remembered that he had to get to the school, being in the middle of a deep concentration as he perfected his winged eyeliner. Then, the after school practice ran a half an hour late because everyone was slacking on their ancient Greek philosophers.

So there he was, scurrying out of the metal doors of Midtown and nearly ripping the car door off its hinges as he rushed into his seat.

“Hey Happy! I’m so so so sorry I’m late. MJ made us stay late because Flash didn’t know difference between Hypatia and Aspasia even though they have over a century apart, and then she started quizzing us on which philosophers specialized in Pythagorean, Peripatetic, or Pyrrhonist, and everyone kept mixing them up and we had to go over it for like twenty minutes until we all had it down and…”

“Don’t need the whole run down, bud. It’s okay,” Happy stated. “Couldn’t understand it if I tried.”

“Right. Sorry,” Peter said sheepishly. “How was your day?”

“Same old, same old. Once I drop you off, I’m heading back to the apartment.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Oh, it’s date night! Where are you taking May?”

“Do you remember that new restaurant near that bike shop?”

Peter’s mouth went agape. “That super fancy one where they put chocolate in everything?!”

Happy nodded with a soft grin. “That’s the one.”

“She always looks through the window when we pass by there! She looked up the menu and I swear she was drooling when she read about the bacon mac and cheese.” Peter smiled. “She’s gonna love it, Happy.”

“I hope so.”

“She will,” Peter reassured. With a content sigh, he pulled out his laptop. “I should probably get started on my research paper.”

“You know Tony’s rule,” Happy said.

“No lab work until homework is done,” Peter recited with a nod. “I know, I know. Which is why I’m doing it now.”

“Is it a blackout kinda day or a white noise one?” Happy asked.

“I could go for some of that boring piano music you like.”

Happy shoved Peter’s arm. “It’s not boring.”

“It just strips all the tenseness from my tight, aching muscles. It lulls me to sleep.”

“If it lulls you to sleep, then you shouldn’t be listening to it while you’re doing homework,” Happy said.

“Then, what do you suggest?” Peter asked.

Happy pressed the radio screen and a string quartet of Panic! at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” began to play.

“Oh, you know me so well.”

Peter fell into a deep focus and had barely realized the car ride was over until Happy had said a soft “we’re here.”

“Thanks, Happy. Have a good evening!” Peter said cheerfully.

“You’re staying here tonight, right?” Happy asked.

“Yeah, I am. It’s a Compound weekend. Why…” Peter’s faced morphed into a disgusted grimace. “Actually, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” He shook his head. “See you later!” Happy gave a gentle wave before pulling out.

Peter let out a breath, shoving his hands in his pockets, as he headed into the Compound, fiddling with the watermelon gum wrappers crumpled deep in his jeans.

With a skip in his step, he entered the lab, plopping his backpack on the floor and hopping into his rollie chair with a little spin.

“Hello to you too,” Tony said with a laugh. “Bad traffic?”

“Late practice,” Peter corrected.

“She’s really drilling you guys, huh?” Tony asked. “Well, at least you’ll be prepared.” He looked up from his project, but stopped as he caught sight of Peter’s face. “New look?”

Peter furrowed his brows in confusion, but froze. He hadn’t used a makeup wipe on the drive there. “I… uhm… I… it’s not what it looks like.”

“Well it looks good. Would’ve barely noticed if it weren’t for the eyeliner it’s so natural. I mean really, you’re glowing. How do you get your skin looking so dewey and fresh?”

Peter’s brain could hardly catch up. “I mix highlighter with my foundation.”

“See, I’ve never thought about that. Mine always comes out so dull and flat. I’ll have to try that.”

“You, uh, you’ve worn makeup?” Peter stammered.

“When you’re on camera as much as me, you’ve gotta get at least a little pick me up. I mean, some of that shit is high definition. Do I really want people seeing my pores and pimples in high definition? No thank you.”

“Oh. Uh. Wow.”

“You can’t be new at this. I mean, it looks great. I’m jealous if you are.”

Peter shook his head. “I’ve been doing it for a couple months.”

“And why haven’t I seen it?” Tony questioned.

“I, uh, didn’t want you to think it was weird,” Peter admitted.

Tony softened. “Why would you think that?”

“I mean, I worry you think a lot of things are weird. I just, want to... impress you, I guess.”

“Well, wanna know what impresses me? That winged eyeliner. It takes Pepper ten minutes of fiddling with makeup remover on cue tips when she’s doing hers.”

Peter, nearly rendered speechless, nodded again. “It took a lot of practice.” He paused. “You’re really… you don’t think I’m weird?”

“I could never think you were weird, kid.” He pursed his lips. “Well, yes I can, because you put sour skittles in your chocolate ice cream, but that’s what makes me love you. Don’t be afraid to be weird. I’ve been weird all my life. Embrace the weird and conquer the world with your weirdness because one day, what used to be weird will be brilliant and people will want to be weird like you.”

Peter looked to his feet bashfully. “Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“You know, Pepper has a big charity thing tonight. She could really use your help with her smokey eye.”

Peter perked up. “Really? I’ve… I’ve done makeup on May before, but I’ve never done it on someone with an eye shape like hers.” “Then this will be perfect practice!”

Peter got a little mascara on her eyelid, but he made up with the perfect blend of silver sparkle and charcoal shades.

“Stop squeezing your eyes, you’re gonna make the eyeliner bumpy.”

“Well, it’s a little hard to relax when you’ve got a pencil pressing against my eye.”

Peter sighed. “Ned, you just gotta breathe. I’m not gonna poke your eye.”

“It sure feels like you’re poking my eye,” Ned grumbled.

“I’ll do it even lighter,” Peter reassured.

It was 9AM, and Peter was trying to use as much precision in his rush to finish Ned and MJ’s makeup for the pride parade. He had finished his look, a blend of pinks, purples, and blues with silver glitter eyeliner, and was finishing Ned’s rainbow look, or at least, attempting to.

“You were doing so good, man,” Peter whined.

“Because it was all fluffy brushes before this!” Ned groaned. “Just get it over with.”

“I could if you would stop freaking squeezing your eyelids!”

MJ sighed. “Some of us are in the waiting dock, Ned.”

“I’m sorry! I’m not used to this!” Ned exclaimed.

Peter pulled gently at the skin on his browbone, making the skin pulled taunt enough to slide the eyeliner on with one smooth swipe. He followed suit with the other and slumped back into his chair. “Okay. You��re done.”

“Oh, thank God, because I had to go to the bathroom at like the contour.” He scampered out of the bathroom, legs held tight.

“What’s in store for me?” MJ asked.

“I was thinking a sharp edged blend of pink and to the dark pink to brown in the crease with a cut crease,” Peter thought out loud.

There was a knock at the door.

“You expecting someone?” MJ asked.

“No?” Peter said, confused. He went to the door, eyes widening in shock at the sight.

There was Tony Stark in a bright blue, pink, and yellow vertical striped suit.

“Mr. Stark! What are you doing here?”

“Today is pride, right?” Tony said with a cheeky grin on his lips.

“I-it is.”

“Great! Then, I’ll give you three a ride. I’m meeting the gang later.”

Peter’s nodded, mouth still wide open. “Because New York pride is endorsed by the Avengers. Right.”

“So, what do you say? I may or may not have pulled out my holographic chrome Ferrari.”

Peter rolled his eyes but let out a light chuckle. “Of course you did.” He stepped out of the way. “MJ’s look will be quick. If you want, I can do something for you?”

Tony grinned. “I’d love that.”

Behind his tinted shades, Tony rocked a pink crease, yellow lid, and blue lower lashline, a big smile adorned by a bright pink lipstick.

After the big robot invasion of 2025, the Avengers were beyond exhausted from the dealing with the repercussions and volunteering for the rebuilding.

For the first time in weeks after being preoccupied with volunteering, charity work, and clean up, they could finally relax for a group get together outside of work.

“You know what I could use?” Tony asked to no one in particular. “Really crappy, artificial, not at all traditional Chinese food. Who’s in?” The team all muttered words of agreement, melting into the cushions of the recreation room’s couches.

“Text me your orders. I sent the menu in the groupchat.”

More mutters of acknowledgement.

Peter settled on the floor, makeup scattered on the coffee table, mouth agape as he stared intently at his reflection, fake lash in hand.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“Graduation is just around the corner and I need to perfect my look for commencements,” Peter explained. He blinked, checking for any warping. “How does it look?”

The team let out a low murmur of “oo”s and “ah”s and “nice.”

“That looks fantastic,” Natasha praised.

“The adornments to your face are absolutely astonishing!” Thor praised. “Would you be so kind to apply your pigments to my eyes?”

Peter’s eyes widened. “You want me to do your makeup?”

“I’d love if you did mine, too,” Natasha said.

“I bet you could do some great red, white, and blue for me,” Steve said.

Peter looked around. “That could be really cool. Avengers inspired makeup looks on the Avengers? I mean, that’d be an honor.”

So he got started. As they feasted on fried rice and General Tso’s spicy chicken, they jammed to ABBA and looked fabulous while dancing to Dancing Queen.

“So, I made you some of that green juice you like so you can sip on that while we get you ready. We also put together a playlist of all of your favorite dishwashing music which we both know is also your hype playlist and you need to get a little hype! Let loose! In addition, we also brought you some of your favorite hors d’oeuvres such as chocolate covered strawberries, that basil spread with the tomatoes on the crunchy bread, caprese salad, and just a big pile of prosciutto because I know you like to stress eat salty meats.”

May smiled softly. “Thank you, baby. This is amazing.”

“How are you feeling?” Peter asked.

“Nervous. Excited. Mostly excited. How are… are you okay? With this?”

Peter nodded. “Of course I am. You’re happy, Happy’s happy, and I… I’m happy. I’m happy that you could find something like this after Ben.”

She let out a shaky breath. “I’m getting married.”

Peter grinned. “You are.” He spun her chair. “Now sit there and be pretty while I do you even prettier.”

“You know, you were at my first wedding.”

Peter looked up. “I was?”

“You were just a baby, but Richard and Mary didn’t want to leave you at home after you had just gotten over your pneumonia. You were wearing a little onesie with a tuxedo printed on it, and you had your foofie.”

“I remember my foofie!” Peter smiled nostalgically as he envisioned the fluffy scarf that he snuggled with for years.

“You had just gotten it, and you would just run your fingers on the blue fluff, entranced by the texture on your little fingers.”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah. I loved that thing.”

“But, you caused a little bit of a scene.”

Peter furrowed his brows. “I did?”

“Well, your mom had just come back from feeding you and Ben wanted to make you giggle, so he was dancing with you, twirling and spinning you around, and I guess he jerked you around a bit too much and you vomited.”

“Oh no.”

“In his mouth and all over his tux.”

“Oh no.”

“So, really, there’s no reason to worry about messing anything up because at least you’re not doing that,” she said with a teasing grin.

“Well, I’ll try my best not to do that again,” Peter said. He softened, squeezing her hand gently. “You’re gonna make so many new memories and it’s gonna be awesome, May.”

“So are you,” May said.

“I’m really happy for you.” He shook his head. “Now don’t you start crying and streak this amazing foundation I just put on.”

She let out a wet laugh and held her arms out. “C’mere.”

Peter gave her a tight hug, snuggling next to her in her cushy chair.

She placed a soft kiss to his forehead. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” He pulled away. “Now, c’mon. Stop stalling. I have to get this done so I can do mine.”

“Tony. Stop crying.”

“This is an emotional time and I am an emotional man!”

“It’s just homecoming.”

Tony crossed his arms and scowled at Peter. “Well you’re not one to talk about just homecoming.”

Peter pouted. “You crash a plane and nearly get killed by your homecoming date’s dad one time…”

“Look at my beautiful girl.” He pet her hairsprayed locks gently.

Morgan rolled her eyes with a smile on her dark red lips. “You’re so embarrassing, Dad.”

“So, when are we meeting this boy? Because then I’ll really be embarrassing.”

“Dad!” Morgan whined.

“You still have told me nothing about this boy. What are you hiding? Is he an Anti-Avenger protestor? Oh, oh! Or is he a scheming supervillain turning you to the dark side?” He gasped. “Does he work for Oscorp?”

“His name is Miles, he’s an artist, and he’s really really nice so please don’t screw this up for me because I really really like him.”

Tony softened. “I’ll behave.”

“Please,” Morgan pleaded.

“I’ll behave!” Tony repeated.

“He won’t,” Peter stated. “And we both know that.”

“Hey! I take offense to that,” Tony said.

“Well, as much as I love this wonderful family chat, I really gotta finish Morgan’s makeup, and when you stress her out, it makes her eyes scrunch up and I can’t get the blending right so… shoo. Scooch your booch outta here.”

“No. I want to stay,” Tony stated.

“Are you not gonna distract her?” Peter asked with a raised brow.

“Maybe…?”

“Tony!”

“Okay! Fine. I won’t say a word. You won’t even know I’m here.” Peter turned back to Morgan, packing a shimmery white on her lid, but flipped around when he heard a choked sob from behind.

“Tony,” he said exasperatedly.

“She’s just growing up so fast!”

Peter’s gloved hands trembled as he filled in his eyebrows in a room that did nothing to block the shutters of cameras and excited murmur from the large crowd on the other side of the wall.

Tony took his hand in his and gave them a gentle squeeze. “Are you sure you wanna do this? Because you can back out any time you’d like.” Peter shook his head. “It’s time. The new generation of Avengers deserve to have a real face to lead them, and for the public to trust us, they need to know that I trust them too. The world knows Spider-Man and his good. And now, they’ll know Peter Parker too.”

“They already know Peter Parker,” Tony said softly. “Peter Parker conducted the widest reaching scientific climate change campaign. He promoted carbon storage, protected and expanded forests in every country on every continent on the planet, and invented a reliable and accessible long-term energy source cheaper and easier to manufacture than fossil fuels. God, Peter. Once they find out that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, they’re going to love him even more.”

Peter’s face flushed a warm red. “Thanks, Tony.” He looked to his reflection and smiled sadly. Looking at his brown eyes, red blended to his crease and blue lining his lashline, he realized that this was the end to a lifetime of secrets and a new beginning where he could finally share the whole person he was.

“You ready?” Tony asked.

“How do I look?” Peter asked meekly.

“You look amazing.” He pulled him into a tender hug. “They’re gonna love you, kid.” He placed his hands firmly on his shoulders and gave a little squeeze. “Do you know how proud I am of you? Because I am. You’re really proving yourself to be quite the hero, and I don’t just mean in your bright red and blue, which really, are you sure we can’t negotiate something a little less gaudy…”

“Says Mr. Hot Rod Red and Gold…”

“I mean, bright blue? Even I have enough class and taste to know that bright blue is a little much.”

“Tony,” Peter said.

“I’m so proud of you kid. You’ve grown into a fantastic young man, and you’re gonna keep growing into a visionary for this next century. You might even outshine me.” He shook his head. “No. I know you will. Because I know you, and I know that you’re an intelligent, selfless, innovating, tenacious, unbelievably incredible person, and you’re gonna change the world.” He smiled a tight, teary smile. “And the world’s not gonna know what hit it once you give it all you’ve got.”

Peter slipped his mask on and took one last shaky breath. “Let’s go do this.”

My name is Peter Benjamin Parker and I am Spider-Man.

#avengers #mcu #marvel #spiderman #peter parker #tony stark #iron man #irondad #fan fic #fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction

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chilling-seavey · 4 years ago

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Ok those pictures from the paparazzi video got me feeling some type of way haha I don’t know what type of blurb can be written with those pictures but like some type of errand running with the girls or going to a restaurant or something haha idk honestly but those pictures/video I just can’t handle it haha

I loveee making blurbs from pics it’s my favourite thing omg I had to jump to this ask RIGHT NOW because I wanna write this before my FEELINGS lessen because WOW 🤤 Florence is a lucky lady let’s just say that 🥴

(So obviously in the ABM universe covid-19 doesn’t exist (lucky bishes honestly) so I’m picturing these pics but without the mask lol)

These are (some) of the pictures I was inspired by (you can’t tell me the first one doesn’t look like he could be pushing a stroller):

October 14, 2025

When Lucy was first born, money was really tight – we’ve seen that come up a lot – so when Florence and Daniel’s one year wedding anniversary came around, they couldn’t really celebrate how they wanted to between not being to afford to go out and because they had three little kids around. But by the second year, money was more comfortable and the kiddos were a bit older and Daniel wanted to take his girls out for a nice dinner as a family.

Their anniversary fell on a Tuesday that year so after work, Daniel came right home as soon as he could to make their reservation time. Penelope and Clementine greeted him right away at the door, all ready to go in their little dresses, and he bent down to give each of them lots of kisses. Florence was in the nursery changing the baby into her fresh outfit and he joined them, greeting his wife with a few sweet kisses before turning to the squealing baby on the change table. He took over for her in getting Lucy ready to go as Florence packed the last of the diaper bag. It was all a bit rushed, but they were out the door and headed down the street in no time.

“Oh my gosh.” Daniel stopped in the middle of the sidewalk halfway there.

“What?” Florence turned back to him, the oldest two girls holding her hands.

“I didn’t change from work.” he looked in the reflection of a store window they were passing at his beige t-shirt and grey long sleeve underneath. “You all look so nice and I look-”

“Incredibly handsome.”

“Barely.” Daniel scoffed, ruffling a hand through his hair.

“You look just fine, baby.” Florence assured him. “You could be wearing a paper bag and I’d still think you were the sexiest man in the city.”

“Oh, thanks.” Daniel shot her a teasing glare as they continued down the sidewalk.

It was sort of a chilly evening, Lucy bundled up in a jacket in the stroller as she tried desperately to get out and walk herself, but city streets meant having the least amount of kids running free was the safest bet. The restaurant wasn’t too far away so they arrived only a few minutes later, Clementine helping herself to the podium outside the front doors and greeted the hostess with a smile.

“I’m Clementine. We’re here for dinner!” she said, going up on her tiptoes to try and see the list on the host stand.

“Tell her your last name and how many of us.” Florence instructed softly, gently pulling her back from newly throwing herself at the hostess.

“Seavey and five!” Clementine said, taking her mother’s hand.

Daniel smiled softly down at his eldest and her proud smile as the hostess found their reservation.

“Dada!” Lucy shrieked with annoyance from the stroller, pulling at the little seatbelt desperately, “Out!”

“We can put the stroller in the back for you while you eat and bring it out when you’re ready to go.” the hostess offered as she gathered the menus in preparation to bring them to their table.

“That’d be great, thanks.” Daniel said, bending down to unclip the fifteen-month-old from the stroller and picked her up onto his hip.

“Down, dada!” Lucy cried, trying to wiggle from his grasp.

Daniel sighed and set her on her feet, taking her tiny hand in his own before she could run off on her own, “Stay with Daddy please.”

Lucy was more than pleased to be walking by herself, her hand wrapped around his finger as they followed the hostess into the restaurant, her little feet scurrying after the grown-ups. She was not a fan of the highchair at their table, pulling a pout up at him as he buckled her into it. With all three girls settled, Florence and Daniel sat beside each other with mirrored sighs and right away he tucked his hand in hers under the table as they looked at their menus.

“I want chicken nuggets.” Penelope said softly, reaching over the table to tap her finger gently in front of Daniel to get his attention.

“You can have whatever you want, bug.” he smiled, reaching out his left hand to let her hold it across the table.

“Mine!” Lucy frowned, stretching out from the highchair to smack her sister’s hand away from Daniel’s.

“Hey, you gotta share me.” Daniel squished the baby’s cheeks before holding out his palm to Penelope again. She grinned at him with those little dimples and wrapped her small hand around three of his fingers, twisting his wedding ring around one as he scanned the menu.

“What are you thinking?” Florence asked softly.

“Not sure. You?” Daniel glanced up at her.

She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the menu.

“Anything you want, okay?” he whispered, giving her hand a squeeze.

Florence smiled at him and leaned in for a quick kiss.

Life with three young kids meant they almost always ate dinner cold, spending most of the time tending to the children; cutting meat, moving sides so they didn’t touch other things, or wiping sticky hands when offered out to them with a pout. But dinner was nice regardless, Florence and Daniel each treated themselves to a small steak and a glass of champagne each, catching Clementine’s sneaky hand around the stem of the glass trying to steal a sip just in time.

With a family fed and a successful debit card swipe, they started to head back home. Lucy was falling asleep by the end of dinner which meant getting her into her stroller was an easier feat than normal. They walked slowly back home, Daniel pushing the stroller and Penelope resting in Florence’s arms as Clementine led their group down the sidewalk.

The city lights sort of made Daniel’s blue eyes sparkle and Florence kept catching herself staring at him as they walked.

“I’m not a stranger, you know. You can come kiss me if you want to.” Daniel chuckled, looking over at her to meet her lingering stare.

“You’re just so pretty that I can make words sometimes.” Florence shrugged, sliding closer to link her arm in his.

Daniel only smiled at her and stopped walking long enough to kiss her, moving a hand up to her cheek to keep her close for a few more seconds, his lips locked with hers.

“Come on, people!” Clementine called from farther down the sidewalk, clapping her hands twice, “Chop chop!”

“Early bedtime for the girls tonight?” Daniel asked softly as they continued walking.

“You bet.” Florence chuckled, leaning her head on his shoulder as they approached home.

#daniel seavey #daniel seavey imagines #anything but mine #why dont we imagines

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ratshorts05 · 4 years ago

Text

Acquire Laser Teeth Whitening

Content

The White Home.

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These types of discolorations are typically an outcome of injury or exposure to high levels of fluoride and also tetracycline antibiotics while your teeth were still creating. Just like all the services we give at Revitalise, your treatment does not quit when your therapy is full.

Some Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Teeth Whitening At Elmsleigh House

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Global Teeth Whitening Devices Market Proceeds To Witness Huge Upswing Over Assessment Period by 2025 - NeighborWebSJ

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shotsbyshae · 5 years ago

Text

Rock & Roll (Part 2)

Warnings: Vomit inducing fluff, angst

Words: 2.9k

Pairing: Peter Parker x Fem!Reader

A/N: Takes place post Endgame, so spoilers. For those who have age issues, Peter is over 18 in this scenario.

Song: Rock & Roll by Led Zeppelin

It's been a long time, been a long time.

2025

The room looks familiar, but absent of all the personal touches your old one used to have. There are a couple boxes stacked near the dresser with your name written in permanent marker on the side. They were some of the things you had left in Tony’s garage, Happy had come across the boxes and offered to bring over for you. You’re not ready to open them yet though, so you slowly unpack the few clothes you do have, mentally making a note to add a shopping trip to your list of things to do in the upcoming weeks. Hotel living for the past two years had meant only the basics when it came to clothing.

Once you finish putting away everything you brought, you turn to look at the boxes once more, trying to muster up the courage. Your brain wants you to unpack the ugly brown cardboard eyesores, but you’re not sure what’s in them, after all, you stayed over at the Stark’s more than you did the compound after the snap.

You make your way into the kitchen, placing your phone on the counter, as you notice the far wall has a large board with a collage of various small photos pinned to it. It’s an addition you hadn’t seen on your first walk through, so you approach it and immediately see a photo of Steve and Bucky, both in stealth suits, wide toothy grins on their faces. Beside it is a photo of Natasha, she’s wearing boxing gloves and Clint’s in the background, waiting on the sparring mat. Another photo is of Wanda and Vision standing in the kitchen, the messy counter in front of them makes it apparent they were attempting to cook something. There’s also a photo of Tony, Steve, and Thor, all three laughing heartily about something in the common area of the compound. Another photo is of the entire team before the fallout, a much happier time and everyone’s faces show it.

Two pictures catch your attention, one you recognize, because you have a copy tucked away in your journal, and one you don’t remember. The one you have is from the lab, you’re standing beside the table and Tony has one arm draped across your shoulders and he’s kissing your temple. You’re not looking at the camera – eyes closed – caught in the moment. Parker had taken that photo; you remember Tony giving you a copy of it. The other picture is of you and Peter, both of you baby faced, and he’s holding the camera out to fit both you in the frame. The background doesn’t look familiar, but he’s sitting in the floor in front of a bed that you’re lying on. Both your smiling faces are side by side, although each is a little bruised and dirty.

“Done unpacking?” A voice draws your attention away from the board and you glance over to see Peter approaching.

You nod with a smile, “Yea – hey – where’s this from?” You point to the photo in question.

He moves closer to get a better look and laughs a little, “Oh wow – yea – that was Berlin.”

The memories slowly start to come back as you glance over at the photo.

“You’re done, take Parker back to the hotel,” the metal fingers are wrapped around your wrist tightly. “Wait for me there, understood?”

“Yes sir,” your response was automatic as he glared down at you.

“You did good kid,” his eyes had softened slightly as he released his grip. “Now go – hurry.”

You had quickly made your way across the lot to the kid in the red and blue suit who was still lying on the ground. He managed to prop up on one elbow as you got closer and you offered him a hand, “You must be Parker.”

“Peter – yea – P-Parker,” he stammered a little as he took your hand and you pulled him to his feet.

“I’m –” you tried to say as he fidgeted with the red mask in his hands.

“I know,” he interrupted you quickly and raised his eyebrows in astonishment. “You’re – wow – I mean – you’re awesome.”

“I saw you web up Captain America. I’ve never seen anyone slow him down,” you had remarked with a smile. “That’s pretty impressive Spider-Man.”

“That was after the fight?” You question Peter and he nods as you remember slowly. “Back at the hotel – that’s right.”

“We ordered so much room service we thought Happy was going to kill us,” he remarks. “That was so long ago.”

“Look at us – we were just kids,” you touch the photo gingerly.

“It was fun though,” Peter glances over to you, still seeing the same girl he’s had a crush on since that day in Berlin. I’ve missed you, he thinks to himself. “Hanging out with you was always fun though.”

You smirk as you glance up at him, still trying to get over the size difference, “Just because I was older, and it impressed your friends.”

“No,” he begins defensively crossing his arms. “Well, yes and no. Ned did have a poster of you in his room, I think he died a little when I told him I met you.” You roll your eyes as he continues. “No, you were always the nicest to me, treating me like an equal – you know – and you were funny and really smart and the way you twirl your hair with your left hand when your working a problem out in your head – I always thought that was cute.”

You raise an eyebrow at him curiously, “How observant, but I also twirl my hair when –”

“You’re sleepy,” he finishes your sentence with a smirk. “I know.”

Those dark eyes pull you in again and you stare at him for a brief moment, trying to decipher what’s happening. Your phone rings from the counter, interrupting the moment, and Peter notices the name Happy Hogan on the screen as you reach for it. Sliding the green bar sideways you answer the video call and see the man’s face staring blankly at the screen, smiling suddenly as your face appears on his end.

“Hey,” his voice is more enthusiastic than he is when talking with Peter. “So, I’m over here, helping out this evening and someone wanted me to give you a call.” He moves his phone beside him to reveal an adorable dark-eyed little girl who is smiling brightly.

“Aunt Sess,” she squeals in excitement. “We’re having ice cream for dinner!”

“You are,” you try not to laugh at her statement. “That’s so awesome, I wish I could have ice cream for dinner.”

“Are you home now?” Morgan questions. She’s more mature than most kids her age. “With Uncle Rhodey?”

“I am,” you smile at her warmly, those dark eyes reminding you so much of her father.

“What are you having for dinner?” The little girl questions curiously, taking you by surprise.

“I’m not sure,” you glance over at Peter for a moment smirking before looking back to the little girl in your phone. “Only boys live here, so there’s probably not a lot of options.”

“Hey,” Peter sounds insulted, “there’s a few things. Sam cooks sometimes.” Morgan’s face scrunches up in confusion as she listens to him speak and you turn the screen so she can see him. He waves at the child with a grin, “Hey Morgan.”

“OH!” Her voice blasts through the speaker as the idea comes to her. “Uncle Peter can make you a grilled cheese. He’s the best cook.”

Peter quickly raises his finger to his lips, “Ssshh – that’s supposed to be our secret.”

“It’s okay, she can keep a secret,” the girl assures him with a confident nod of her head. “I got to go, my ice cream’s melting.”

You angle the phone to fit both you and Peter in the frame before you speak, “I’ll see you soon okay? Sleep tight.”

“I love you tons,” she replies with a smile before blowing you a kiss with her small hand.

“Love you,” the two of you say simultaneously, each moving your hands from your lips toward the screen.

The call ends and you lay the phone on the counter, before you glance over at Parker, “Grilled cheese huh?”

“She did say they were the best,” he comments, standing up from the bar stool.

“We’ll see,” you remark as he moves around to the refrigerator and begins gathering the ingredients.

“It’s nice though,” Peter says glancing over his shoulder, “I didn’t know you talked to Morgan – I mean – since you’ve been gone.”

“I face time with her at least once a week,” you respond, glancing down at the phone. “I left because I needed to – not because I wanted to. I didn’t want her to think I’d left and forgotten her.”

“That’s good though – you staying in her life. She’s a great kid,” he moves a skillet onto the stove.

“She had a great dad,” the words slip out before you realize it and the two of you share a moment of silence as Peter continues working at the stove.

“Question though, why does she call you Aunt Sess?” He finally asks.

“Well,” a laugh slips through at the memory, “one day, I’m sitting there and she’s – I don’t know maybe a year old – maybe more. She’s already saying dada and mama at this point. Anyway, I’m there and she’s in her playpen reaching for me saying ‘Sess, Sess’. Pepper’s like, ‘So, you’re Sess, she’s been saying that word and I don’t know where it came from.’ All we could figure out is maybe she heard Tony call me princess and that’s what stuck with her, but I’ve been Aunt Sess ever since then.”

Peter turns from the stove with a smile, “I just thought you were her imaginary friend, when she’d tell me about Aunt Sess and how one day you’d come back home, but you were off on adventures, slaying dragons and saving princesses.”

“Technically,” another voice joins them as Sam approaches from the hall, Bucky trailing along behind him, “she was an heiress and he was the leader of one of the largest drug cartels in South America – so same thing.” You move quickly from the bar stool to embrace the man. He hugs you tightly noticing Peter at the stove, finishing up on the grilled cheese he’s making. “What’s this?” Sam pulls away from you, keeping one hand on your shoulder. “You show up and suddenly Parker knows how the stove works?”

“Shut up,” Peter shoots back at him, watching as you smack Wilson against the chest before moving over to greet Barnes.

Sam walks towards the stove while Peter moves to the sink with the now empty skillet, subtly watching you with soldier. There’s a small embrace, his metal hand lingers at your waist as the usual pleasantries are exchanged, then Barnes questions, “Was that the cartel in Bogota?”

“Yea – you were there,” you respond.

“With that shitty motel.” Bucky continues, glancing over at Sam. “Someone said it was the only one available.”

“It was,” Wilson defends himself as he tears one of the grilled cheese sandwiches in half and takes a bite from it.

Peter turns his attention back to the skillet, turning the water on and grabbing the scrub brush. He hadn’t thought about anyone helping you over the past two years, especially not Barnes. The idea of the two of you working together – alone – sharing a motel room. Maybe that’s why he looks comfortable with his hands on you, because they’ve touched you before. A wave a jealousy washes over him as visions of you and Barnes flash through his mind. A loud snapping sound brings Peter back to the present and he quickly turns off the water, looking down at the broken skillet in the sink – snapped in half.

“What the –” Sam steps over to look at the source of the sound.

“Oops,” Peter says bashfully.

The man shakes his head at him, “Really? This is why we can’t have nice things Parker.”

You walk across to the plate Peter had prepared and grab the half Sam left on top and take a bite for yourself, as the man throws the broken pieces in the garbage. You grab another half and offer it to Barnes as he walks over and accepts it, before you take another one for yourself to carry back to your room. Walking towards the hall, you reach up to pat Peter on the chest, “It is really good.” You hold up the grilled cheese. “Thanks for dinner Parker.”

His smile is a mix of awkward and warm as he watches you head down the hall toward your room, “You’re welcome.”

Wilson waits a few moments before he leans back against the counter, eyeing the man suspiciously, “Damn, man.”

“What?” Peter questions him.

Sam glances across to Bucky, “He’s got it bad.”

“Worse than we thought,” Barnes replies with a nod.

“Wha – no,” he stammers, placing his hands on his hips. “It’s not what you think.”

“Dude, you cooked,” Sam looks at him in disbelief.

“The only other person you’ve ever cooked for has you wrapped around her finger,” Bucky chimes in, “and she’s like seven.”

“She just got back,” Peter tries to defend himself. “I was being nice.”

“Uh huh,” Wilson looks skeptical. “Is that why your shirt looks two sizes too small?”

Parker flicks his left wrist at the man, the watch he’s wearing quickly shooting a web across the kitchen, catching Sam’s hand as he reaches for another piece of grilled cheese and plasters it to the countertop beside the plate.

"Hey!” Sam protests, trying to pull his hand free from the adhesive. “No webbing in the kitchen.”

“Jokes on you,” Peter gives him an unimpressed look. “This is your shirt.”

He turns and walks away as Bucky snorts, trying not to laugh, causing Sam to glare at him, “Real funny, now help me get this shit off.”

2017

“You two can stand there all day,” Tony remarks loudly without turning away from the table, “or you can actually come in and learn something.”

The two of you move quickly from the doorway and across to the table, each on opposite sides of the man. Peter looks a bit frazzled, “Sorry Mr. Stark, I just –”

“Don’t apologize,” the man cuts him short.

“You know I never interrupt your genius in action,” you say smoothly.

A wide smile spreads across Stark’s face and he glances from you back over to Peter, “That’s why she’s my favorite – take notes.”

Peter looks across the table at you, slightly annoyed, and a little envious of just how easy you make it look. You’re only a handful of years older than him, but he imagines you’ve always had this rebel attitude – too cool for school – never awkward.

It’s obvious you’re the class favorite and not just with Stark. During the fight in Germany, Peter can remember seeing Wanda fling a car at Rhodey, but he dodged it quickly, leaving an unsuspecting you in the path of it as you were chasing after Barnes. Steve Rogers had managed to tackle you out of the way before the car crashed into the pavement, metal and glass exploding around the two of you.

“You good?” He had questioned, as you both stood back up.

“Yea.” Peter can remember you had looked a little shaken and embarrassed.

“I didn’t want this – I’m sorry,” Steve informed you sincerely before he turned to rejoin the fight.

Captain America had given you respect that day and Peter a black eye. He knows normally anyone else would be jealous of that, and maybe it’s because he’s geeky and awkward, but it makes him like you more.

Peter would never admit to anyone else, but he loves spending his spare time at the compound hanging around the lab with Tony because – well duh, he’s Tony freaking Stark – but you’re always there too. You’re the only person who doesn’t treat him like the awkward teenager he truly is. Always asking his thoughts or opinions on things, never talking down to or chastising him in anyway.

“Hey,” Tony looks over to you, “will you go up to Rhodey’s office and get him, I need his thoughts on a few things?”

You give him a quick nod, “Sure thing boss.”

Peter watches you leave lab; not sure what Stark has said in the last ten minutes because his mind has been elsewhere. He turns to see the man move over to his computer and begin typing away in a program.

“If you’re going to spend time in my lab,” Tony says, not looking at Peter, “I’m going to need your full attention.”

“Yes sir.”

“That means stop looking at her like a lovesick puppy or I’ll have to split your time in the lab,” his tone is abrasive.

“I’m – I don’t – I’m not,” Peter stumbles over the words as he folds his arms across his chest defensively.

“She’s too old for you,” Stark spins around on the stool he’s sitting on to face Parker.

“I know,” the boy responds.

“The age thing won’t matter in a few years,” he cocks an eyebrow at his protégé, “she’s out of your league though.”

Peter clenches his jaw, furrowing his brows in confusion at Stark’s words, “I – I know that.”

“Good,” he glares at the boy for a moment. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

Stark spins the stool back to face the computer and Peter takes a deep breath, “Yes sir.”

“Always go for the ones who are out of your league kid,” Tony comments nonchalantly, fingers flying away on the keyboard. “Remember – they’re the ones worth chasing.”

Part 3

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jobsearchtips02 · 5 years ago

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Scott Galloway on healthcare, education, retail, media, entrepreneurship

The New York University professor Scott Galloway is deeply critical of companies that used profits during the bull market for stock buybacks, describing bailouts of such firms as “capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down.”

He told Insider’s Sara Silverstein that every large government program was designed to maintain the wealth of baby boomers at the expense of younger generations.

Galloway predicts that Amazon will be the fastest-growing healthcare company in the world by 2025. It’s no accident, he says, that the company is investing a lot of money in better COVID-19 testing.

Galloway says the second-most-disruptable industry, after healthcare, is education. He expects the top institutions to see a dip and come back stronger but says many second-tier universities may never reopen.

The professor recommends taking a gap year if you are supposed to start your undergraduate or business-school program this fall. He expects it to be “a terrible year for the end consumer, as we, as academics try to maintain this hallucination that we can continue to charge what we’re charging for a totally substandard experience via Zoom.”

Galloway, who has started nine companies, says there hasn’t been a worse time to own a small business than right now in the past 10 or 15 years. The entrepreneur also says, however, that in about six to 12 months there will not have been a better time to start a small business in the past decade or so.

Asked about the future of the media business, Galloway said sometimes it’s darkest before it’s pitch black, adding, “It’s about to become pitch black in the world of ad-supported media.”

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Scott Galloway is a marketing professor at the New York University Stern School of Business and the author of “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google” and “The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning.”

His new weekly show, “No Mercy, No Malice with Professor Scott Galloway,” will premiere on Vice TV on May 7 at 10 p.m. ET.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Sara Silverstein: Professor Galloway, you’ve been talking a lot about how we have capitalism on the way up, and socialism on the way down. Can you explain that thesis, and what do we do about it?

Scott Galloway: Good to be with you, Sara. Yeah, so effectively, when we have an 11-year bull market, we have rugged individualism and privatized most of the gains. And then once we hit obviously an exogenous shock, and this is a formidable shock, you have CEOs who have taken 96% of their free cash flow to buy back stock when times were good, inflating their own compensation, claiming that we’re all in this together.

And when you have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down, that’s cronyism. And if we’re going to have socialism, then let’s have universal pre-K and universal healthcare. But if we’re going to have capitalism when times are good, we need to have capitalism when times are bad. And quite frankly, I think a lot of these businesses need to fail. And I think the approach we should be taking is that I think we should be protecting people, not companies.

Silverstein: And will we see a change in some of the ways that we pay frontline workers, such as grocery-store clerks or things like that at the end of all of this?

Galloway: Yeah, I hope so. It’s a little bit … I mean, there’s a lot going on here. At 8 p.m. every night, we lean out our windows, and we applaud our frontline healthcare workers, and that is warranted and a wonderful thing, or at 7 p.m.

A cashier ringing up purchases behind a shield at a grocery store in Queens, New York, on April 3.

Morse Collection/Gado/Getty Images

But at 8 p.m. or 6 p.m., we don’t lean out and honor our frontline essential workers, the people putting your food in the back of your seat, or delivering your groceries, or working in a meat-processing plant to ensure that the supply chain is safe for food. And I think it’s this ongoing, what I’ll call quite frankly, this implicit war against the poor. And that is, the downside to believing you live in a meritocracy is that billionaires deserve it. And the downside or the ugly part of that is that if someone is bagging groceries at 8 or 9 bucks an hour, that it’s their fault, that they don’t deserve to make a living wage.

And there’s a wonderful opening line in the book “The Little Prince,” that, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” And ideally coming out of this, we’re seeing that some of our essential workers shouldn’t be invisible, and they should be making more money. What I would like to see is that I do think that it makes sense for some people, just as healthcare workers to put themselves, in a limited amount of harm’s way, but they should do it out of greed, not fear.

And that is, when I was coming out of college, I contemplated joining the Navy because I could make a good living and putting yourself in harm’s way when the compensation, or the rewards, the trade-off there is worth it. So we’d like to see our frontline workers, and our essential workers, go to the warehouses, quite frankly, out of greed as opposed to fear. And I think there needs to be legislation, minimum wage. There’s all kinds of things we can do. But yeah, hopefully, we’ll come out of this with a greater appreciation for our frontline workers, instead of just calling them essential, and then treating them, and paying them really poorly.

Silverstein: And in reality on the other side of this, will we have more leveling, or will we have more inequality do you think?

Galloway: That’s a great question because I would argue the COVID-19, more than a real change agent, is just an accelerant of trends already in place. And what we see is, I mean quite frankly, the wealthy who are invested in the stock market appear to be just fine. If you own big tech, you’re up this year. Your stocks are actually up on the year.

And most of the bailouts I would argue aren’t really an attempt to protect people, or the people most vulnerable. And there’s some big ugly questions here. How can we be the wealthiest nation in the world and effectively 50% of our population is so vulnerable? They can’t go 30 days without a paycheck. But I would argue that these bailouts are really nothing but an attempt to flatten the curve of wealthy people, that if you look at the wealthiest cohort in America, they largely are small-business owners.

And while there’s this cartoon of a single mother who owns a cupcake bakery, who just needs some money to get to the other side, and there are some of those people, I think we’re going to find out that the majority of the $600 billion PPP package went to, quite frankly, ended up in the pockets of wealthy investors, and wealthy business owners.

And as is always the case, every large government program appears to be pulling prosperity forward from our children and grandchildren who don’t vote, to our ultimate goal as a society, and that is maintaining the wealth of baby boomers. We have lost the script. It’s OK for businesses to go out of business. We should be protecting people, not businesses. And if young people get a chance to buy real estate in Brooklyn for 500 bucks a foot, instead of a 1,000, if they get to buy Amazon at 30 times earnings, instead of 50, that’s not the worst thing in the world. Everything we do, Sara, is nothing but an attempt to maintain the wealth of baby boomers.

Silverstein: Wow, and looking at the accelerating of change in different industries, let’s start with healthcare. What change was on the forefront there that we’re accelerating through coronavirus?

Galloway: Well, if you think about it, the big tech guys that have a trillion dollars in market cap, take for example, Amazon, I think it’s about a $1.1 or $1.2 trillion market cap. They have to have a story or a narrative for doubling their stock price in the next five years; otherwise, investors will just buy Salesforce or Netflix. Which means they’re going to need to add somewhere between $100 and $150 billion a year in top-line revenue. And when you have to make those sorts of staggering incremental gains in top-line revenue, it limits you to the number of industries you can actually go after. And these have to be enormous industries that are ideally ripe for disruption. And that creates a fairly small list. So the automobile industry is a huge industry, but it’s a low-margin, difficult business. They’re probably not going to go into that.

You can zero in on a few industries, and first and foremost, the largest industry in the world that is probably the most disruptable industry is measured by the fact that it’s raised prices faster than inflation is healthcare in the United States. So it’s no accident that Amazon is announcing that they’re investing a great deal of money in building a more robust COVID-19 testing kit. You can see that just as we can get in certain areas from Amazon now your lunch in 48 minutes, I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon starts offering more robust testing than the government, which, by the way, the US government is another huge opportunity with big revenues, as is defense. You’re going to see these companies going to education, a $10 trillion industry by 2030 that quite frankly is being disrupted as we realize that a bunch of Zoom classes for $68,000 a year is not sustainable in my business.

So I think you’re going to see Amazon and Apple going to healthcare. I think Amazon has the key resource to make a dent in healthcare, and that is they have investors who are willing to live with breakeven economics, which Apple investors are not willing to live with. So my prediction is by 2025, Amazon is the fastest-growing healthcare company in the world.

Silverstein: And tell us about education. What do you think is going to change? How’s it going to shake out?

Galloway: So, the other industry that is probably the second-most disruptable: We in academia have lost the script and see ourselves now as luxury brands as opposed to public servants. And rather than expanding freshman seats, the number of applications to Stanford has tripled in the last 30 years. The number of freshman seats has stayed the same, and every fall a head of admissions stands up, or a dean, and with pride boasts that, “We turned away 90% of our applicants,” which in my view is tantamount to the person running a homeless shelter, bragging that we turned away 90% of our applicants last night.

How many of us brag that we would never get into the university we went to if we applied today? And that’s a bad thing — that means likely your kid isn’t going to USC or UCLA, your kid is going to Pepperdine or a lesser prestigious school for the same price. And there’s been a cartel that is mostly based off a construct of a duopoly in every city, USC-UCLA, Stanford-Berkeley, NYU-Columbia, and then if you don’t get into those schools because they turn away the majority of their applicants, you go to a school just below that, but you pay the same amount.

And we’ve all raised our prices in lockstep and preyed on the hopes and dreams of the middle class to charge what is the most ridiculous high-margin, expensive product that translates to debt on young people, which results in having a hamstrung economy where young people don’t buy houses, they don’t start businesses, because they are literally crushed with student debt.

But here’s the thing, the jig is up. People are recognizing that a bunch of Zoom classes without the campus experience is not worth $18,000, much less $58,000 or $68,000. So what we’re going to see, unfortunately, is we’re going to see a strengthening of the already strong. I believe that MIT in 10 years will welcome 30,000 students, not 3,000 in their freshman class, and they’ll do it with technology. They’ll likely partner with big tech who will build very robust programs. These are the strongest brands in the world.

People say Apple is the strongest brand in the world. Nobody donates a $100 million to Apple to have their name on the side of a building on the Apple campus. The strongest brands in the world are academic, or university institutions. And the top 20 or 50 will have a dip. They will come back stronger. And who gets crushed here is the two-tier universities that may not survive.

So I believe that NYU is probably not going to open in fall, as it would normally, because of the threat of a relapse. But you’re going to see a lot of universities, whether it’s a university like Drexel, or Pace, or even a Fordham, I think schools like that may never reopen. We’re about to see the disruption in education we’ve been predicting for decades.

Silverstein: Wow, and in the retail space, I’m sure that it seems like a lot of those will also not reopen after this. Who is most at risk? How much retail do we expect to see curbed during this period?

A closed Gap store in New York City’s Times Square on March 23.

Reuters

Galloway: Yeah, so I’ve been presenting to a lot of different boards and investors about retail, and this is an example of where it’s an accelerant, not really a change agent. And it doesn’t sound that dramatic, but essentially department stores who were in the bottom of the seventh inning of their life are now in the bottom of the ninth, especially retail apparel. I think we saw J. Crew file today. We’re going to see Ann Taylor, and we’ll see some surprises.

There is a chance, Sara, and I know you’re not as old as I am, but we could see the unthinkable: The Gap could go out of business. We could see the Gap go away, or go into bankruptcy, so specialty retail apparel, department stores.

There is a bright side of that — we’re about to see online grocery go from 2% of grocery to 10%, so that’s literally a transition of about $60 to $100 billion in commerce go from terrestrial to online, which will create a series of opportunities for logistics and services companies to help deliver your groceries, whether it’s cold storage, whether it’s automated, or robotics, and warehouses, whether it’s Prologis, the REIT that does logistics. But the REITs that own real estate, they had primarily serviced or hosted as tenants, those big large-format grocery stores, those will be challenged. But the retail is going to be, I would argue dramatically, reshaped.

That’s not to say that everyone will lose. Sephora, Restoration Hardware, truly outstanding experiential specialty retail will actually thrive, because after the culling, the fewer elephants have more foliage to fight over. But the two biggest winners here, I mean the two biggest winners who could have never imagined this scenario was, say Donald Trump said: “I own Amazon and Walmart stock, and I want those stocks to double. What could I do? I know, I know, I’ll put massive stimulus in the hands of every consumer, and Amazon and Walmart will garner a greater share of that stimulus than any other organizations in the world. And just to ensure their stocks double, I’m going to close down, I’m going to have the mandatory closure of 98% of their competition.” I mean literally Amazon and Walmart shareholders couldn’t have thought this up in their wildest dreams.

Silverstein: And what does commercial real estate look like then? What happens to all the retail space in the future?

Galloway: Well, so people are saying what happens to a company like Simon or Brookfield, and my feeling is that if your primary value-add [inaudible] a mall with department stores, or retail in general as a means of value out of that real estate, you’re in trouble.

But at the same time, I think that the rumors of the death of places like Simon are greatly exaggerated, only because that asset class there is the ground those businesses sit on, and that if you look at Simon, or some of the other high-end mall companies, they own some of the best real estate in America. And whether it’s converted to mixed-use residential, because you can imagine people are going to think about spending more time, if it’s going to be converted to some sort of mixed-use, it makes it easier to commute to work for the A, B sessions. I think those companies will be fine. I think you need to evaluate commercial real estate in the context of the value of the underlying real estate.

Now offices, I mean, who knows what’s going to happen there as we rethink? I mean, both of us are working from home, and it’s a substandard experience, but it’ll get a little bit better, and it’ll start to eat into our willingness to pay 60 bucks a square foot to commute into midtown, or wherever Business Insider’s office … or actually, I’ve been to your offices. I’ve got to imagine that Business Insider is going to need less office space next year, regardless of the vaccine or not. So commercial real estate, the question is not what happens? The question is how ugly is it going to get?

Silverstein: And a lot of these things are accelerating change that you talk about, but restaurants, it seems like a lot of restaurants maybe owned by maybe independent, and that they’re going out of business, or might be during this period. Is that an acceleration or is that something that’s going to come back? What are you look at the restaurant industry?

Galloway: It depends. I mean, this has so many second-order effects. So, you and I live in New York, and part of the charm of New York, or living downtown, is density. The magic of Manhattan is its density, which has all of a sudden become a negative in a post-corona world. And some of our favorite restaurants are a function of density, where you go into a small space, and you have people literally almost elbow to elbow. Those restaurants are really going to struggle. And we saw, there was a fantastic article by the woman who owned a great restaurant in the East Village called Prune, talking about how the market has basically just moved away from her. I think you’re going to see just the complexion of restaurants move away.

We had slowly over the last 30 years transitioned from Americans spending more money on restaurants than they were spending on groceries. That is about to revert back, and people are going to spend more money on grocery than on eating out.

Because one of the wonderful things about eating out was, quite frankly, was the density, being in a hip place that creates … I mean, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Cafe Select or Jack’s Wife Freda downtown. I don’t know if it’s the same experience when we’re all in small groups, 6 feet from one another, and I don’t know if the economics make sense any longer.

Now does it reemerge with ghost kitchens? Does delivery have new oxygen? I don’t know. But you’ve got to think that small businesses, especially restaurants, are going to be hit pretty hard through this. We’re going to have a reshaping of almost all hospitality based on distancing.

Silverstein: And a lot of people are rethinking their careers right now. You started a lot of businesses. Is now a good time to start a business?

Galloway: So I would argue it’s a terrible time to have a small business right now because we’re having a shock and demand is strikingly down. And if I were in charge of the stimulus, I would be putting money in the hands of consumers’ pockets, not businesses’ pockets. Because what small businesses need now is not to be told to hold on to employees. They should be, in my opinion, laying off employees. But we need to create more demand. We need to put more money in the hands of middle- and lower-income consumers who spend it all. It’s a terrible time. There’s never probably … there hasn’t been a worst time to own a small business in the last 10, 15 years.

In about six to 12 months, there will not have been a better time to start a small business in the last 10 or 12 years, because starting a business in the depths of a recession is a great time to start a business. Good people are less expensive. Real estate is less expensive. Your resources, your raw materials, all the things you need to do to build a new business are a lot less expensive. And in addition, when you come out of a recession, companies are much more willing to try new things. You have the wind at your back.

I’ve started nine businesses. Generously, I’m three, two, and four. And if I look at the data around what has distinguished the winners from the losers, the only thing I can determine is which part of the economic cycle I started the business in. And when I started a business in 2010 coming out of a recession, when I started a business in 1992 coming out of a recession, those businesses succeeded. When I started businesses in a boom time, in 1999 or in 2006, those businesses almost always failed.

The DNA imprint of a company that you put around low cost, being scrappy — not wallpapering over your idea with consensual hallucination that it’s working because you have access to cheap capital — in 12 to 24 months, this will be the best time to be an entrepreneur. Right now, it’s tough. There’s just no getting around.

Silverstein: And what do you think WeWork will look like, or will they be able to make it through this period?

Galloway: Oh no, WeWork is already dead. I mean, the brand will live on, because it’s a global brand, but it’ll be a series of bankruptcies based on how it’s structured. Masayoshi Son made a ridiculous offer overvaluing the company to bail out existing investors, benchmarking Adam Neumann to save face. He’s been given face-saving cover with the novel coronavirus. They have walked from the deal. WeWork is a zombie. It’s the walking dead.

Now whether whoever ends up buying the brand, because there’s value there, of the 500 locations, probably 100 to 200 on a unit economic basis makes sense. But WeWork as we know it, as are probably somewhere between a quarter and a half of SoftBank’s portfolio, including some of their other real-estate investments, whether it’s Oyo, or Opendoor, or Compass are kind of the walking dead right now.

But WeWork is a spectacle, but it’s not historic. It’s going to go away. The brand will survive, but all the equity will be wiped out. And them walking away from this signed deal is really unprecedented. We usually don’t see that, so that’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in the courts. But WeWork makes for great Netflix documentaries, but it’s basically over, and it’s in the rearview mirror.

Silverstein: And one of our viewers wants to know if they were supposed to start an MBA in 2020, should they postpone it until 2021?

Galloway: I probably would. I’m getting a lot of these calls from parents and from existing students, if you’re halfway through your graduate program, the primary value add of education is not education. It’s certification. So if you’re halfway already to your certification, just tough it out, and get the degree, and get on with your life. But if you’re contemplating showing up for fall as an undergrad, or thinking about an MBA, I think this is a wonderful time to take a gap year, because we as academics need a year to figure this out. Marginal costs accounting for professor in person is marginal. On Zoom, he or she is just awful. And the unfortunate truth around academia right now is because of tenure, the teaching, and the experience hasn’t kept pace with the price increases, and that has been laid bare and naked by these Zoom calls.

So if you’re showing up, I think this is a wonderful time to consider a gap year. I think, and this is a terrible … this is what is going to create the absolute implosion in education, which I think will be good. I think a lot of students, and a lot of parents are going to rethink the value proposition and decide to defer, take a gap year.

I think a gap year is a wonderful idea for 18-year-olds. There’s a lot of evidence showing that if your kid takes a gap year, he or she is more likely to graduate when they come back with better grades. They need a little bit more seasoning, a little bit more maturity. So I think a gap year in deferring. 2021 is going to be what I would call a disruptive but a terrible year for the end consumer, as we as academics try to maintain this hallucination that we can continue to charge what we’re charging for a totally substandard experience via Zoom. So yeah, I would say next year is a good year to do something else.

Silverstein: And for people who are struggling right now, who want to figure out — do you have any advice for people in how to make the most, or find opportunity during this period for their careers?

Galloway: Yeah, so we’re going to need a bigger boat. I mean, a lot of that is situational, and I would argue that this is a fantastic time to really reevaluate if there’s an opportunity to pivot into something you want to do, or where the puck may be headed.

I think for example, if you think about sectors, just purely economic growth, having the wind at your back, I think education and medicine are going to be extraordinary businesses over the next 10 years, because what we’re experiencing is what I would call the great dispersion. And that is, if you think about COVID-19, somewhere between 90% and 99% of the people who we’ll find have antibodies had COVID-19, contracted it, endured it, and then moved on, or survived from it without ever having entered a doctor’s office, or even a hospital. So we’re finding that we can, in fact, distribute healthcare and education away from the physical space of hospitals, doctor’s offices, and university campuses.

That creates so much opportunity in terms of delivery systems, whether it’s online education, or whether it’s telemedicine. But I think figuring out a way to get in the midst of what will be the largest transition of revenues from one channel, a campus, or a hospital, doctors-based business, which is literally multitrillions of dollars go through those channels, to digital. I’d want to be right in front of that switch. So I think those are two fantastic sectors.

I think it’s a great opportunity to do some online learning. I think it’s a good opportunity to think about potentially your own business in six or 12 months, but it’s situational. A lot of it comes down to resources. Someone with rich parents, who’s willing to say, “Just go to university and hang out,” that person’s in an entirely different opportunity set than a single mother, who has to make a living and put her… it’s situational.

I would argue that this is ideally an opportunity, in some ways, if you, in fact, can pay your mortgage, if you, in fact, are healthy, to rethink how you want to position yourself for the next several years. I don’t think we’re doing any favors when you keep people’s jobs in companies that won’t be economically viable post-corona. I think what we need to do is do what Germany or Canada does, and that is protect people, give them unemployment, extended unemployment, and give them the opportunity to reevaluate the landscape, and where they want to be. So, I would say it’s a fantastic opportunity for reflection around what it is you want to do, and where you think the puck is headed, so to speak.

Silverstein: And before I let you go, Scott, can you give me an idea of what your outlook is for the media industry?

Galloway: Sure. So look, it’s just accelerating everything. The little guys are getting crushed. I mean, I predicted that Quibi was dead on arrival. I think it is dead on arrival. I think ad-supported linear television, as I’m about to premiere on Vice, so do as I say, not as I do. Your ad-supported media is going to continue to struggle. We’ll probably have the two largest radio companies go Chapter 12, and that is they’ll go Chapter 11 again.

The only ad-supported media that’s going to gain share, it’s going to be Facebook and Google. They’re going to go from 62 cents on the dollar of every digital dollar spent to 72 cents, and we’re going to see more chaos in the media sector. So quite frankly, sometimes it’s darkest before it’s pitch black. It’s about to become pitch black in the world of ad-supported media. I am not here with a message of hope.

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/scott-galloway-on-healthcare-education-retail-media-entrepreneurship/

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fattymattybrewing · 6 years ago

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Have you ever wanted to escape to a cabin in the woods?

Can you feel the joy of nature?

This year we’re glamping!

I’ve found camping with my boys (7, 10 and 14) to be enjoyable while also a lot of work. A great solution to traditional tent camping is to rent a vacation home, cottage or cabin (hopefully in the woods, on a lake, with a covered front porch, jacuzzi hot tub, fireplace and Wifi.)

While researching for this post, I discovered GLAMPING HUB. It’s like Airbnb but for cabins and cottages! This blog received no monetary sponsorship for this mention but this glamping website is an impressive resource!

This summer, we’ll be camping more frequently than last year, by booking a few weekends in cabins, cottages and vacation homes in Wisconsin. I’m hoping the listings below give you a good range of different accommodations to fit your budget while providing a restful getaway for Valentine’s Day weekend or other romantic occasions.

“There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature.” —Aristotle

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” —William Shakespeare

“It was in the forest that I found, the peace that passeth understanding” —Jane Goodall

“Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.” —Walt Whitman

Loon’s Landing Resort – St. Germain, WI

Loon’s Landing Resort in St. Germain, WI is located in northern Wisconsin, 10 miles from Minocqua and Eagle River, WI. The cabins at Loon’s Landing Resort are furnished with wifi, DVDs, a grill and refrigerator—even heat and a stovetop! Loon’s Landing also boasts a game room, swimming, fish cleaning station with bait shop, a lake with scenic views and an assortment of rentals including canoes, paddle boats, pontoon boats and more. Cabins are furnished with sheets, blankets, pillows, dishes and cooking utensils. Each cabin sleeps 4 to 6 guests and prices start at $89-99/night for off-season use. Visit Loon Landing Resort on Facebook for fun updates!

Loon’s Landing Resort 6978 Pickerel Lake Road St. Germain, WI 54558 715-479-9190 [email protected]

Virgin Timber Resort – Hayward, WI

This beautiful resort has many amenities for guests and this reflects in more expensive cabin rates of $250 (off-peak: $200) to as low as $115 (off-peak: $110) per night. Occupancies range from 2 (Little Perch-Cabin #7) to 10 guests (Big Musky #1). Check out the Virgin Timber Resort Facebook Page where they do a great job with updates about the Wisconsin northwoods business.

“Virgin Timber Resort offers year-round accommodations with seven original log cabins and one vacation home. The log cabins are authentic 1920s log cabins, each highlighted by a natural stone fireplace. Resort includes on-site bar/restaurant, lodge access with billiard and board games, DVDs, basketball court, playground and complimentary use of rowboats, kayaks, canoes, paddle-boats and paddle-boards. Cabins include fully equipped kitchens, linens, satellite TV, WiFi, picnic table, charcoal grill, fire-pit, and outdoor lawn furniture.”

Virgin Timber Resort 10820 N Moose Lake Rd Hayward, WI 54843 715-462-3269 [email protected]

Scenes around Virgin Timber and Moose Lake Friday June 16, 2017, in Hayward, Wis. (Photo by Robert Graves)

Little Pond Lodge – New Lisbon, WI

Little Pond Lodge is located in central Wisconsin near Mauston. Each cabin is “tucked into the woods around Little Pond” and feature fire pits, queen beds, gas fireplaces, kitchens and more. This small family business also features The Lodge, The Loft and The Luxe which are all beautiful vacation homes.

Little Pond Lodge N6768 Hwy 58 New Lisbon, WI 53950 608-847-4593 [email protected]

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HeartSong Cottage – Mineral Point, WI

This lovely vacation home is tucked on a hill in Mineral Point, Wisconsin—hometown to Our Family Reviews! HeartSong Cottage sleeps up to 8 guests, rates start at only $99 per night and is situated in a historic small town with cozy restaurants, unique shopping, art galleries, a brewpub and so much more! Mineral Point is conveniently located half way between Madison, WI and Dubuque, IA and is surrounded by beautiful destinations like Governor Dodge State Park, Shake Rag Center for the Arts, Frank Loyd Wright’s Taliesin, House on the Rock and 35 minutes from Galena, IL. Of all the cabins and cottages featured here for this Valentine’s Day getaway, this wonderful vacation home would be an ideal choice based on the price, amenities, location and guest occupancy of 8 with 3 bedrooms, 5 beds and easy self check-in!

“The house has been updated with modern conveniences but retains its old-world charm and elegance. A well equipped kitchen, super-comfy beds, and lots of natural light, make this perfect for a romantic getaway or family vacation.”

View the HeartSong Cottage Airbnb listing for booking information on this beautiful and unique getaway house. Read the recent coverage which included HeartSong Cottage in LIVABILITY who touted this cozy cottage as “worth braving the cold for.”

Log Cabin near Wolf River – Elton, WI

This amazing cabin near Elton, Wisconsin features accommodations for two guests and includes breakfast each morning, a wood-fired hot tub, a gazeebo, fire pit, kitchen, cozy bedroom, bbq grill and so much more. The price of this cabin is around $95 per night with no minimum on the number of nights. Pets and smoking are not allowed on site.

“This beautiful glamping site is located in northern Wisconsin in the city of Elton. The property is secluded and quiet, making it an ideal choice for a honeymoon, anniversary, or romantic weekend away. It is also just five miles from great cross-country ski trails at Gartzke Flowage Ski Area and only eight miles from the beautiful Wolf River, where glampers can go rafting, tubing, canoeing, or kayaking.”

Learn more about booking this cabin in the woods on on Glamping Hub.

Black Hawk Lake Recreation Area Cabins – Highland, WI

Situated in southwest Wisconsin in the heart of the Driftless area, the 5 cabins at Black Hawk Lake Rec. Area feature heat and electricity, A/C, charcoal grills, fire pits and picnic tables. The cabins are rustic with pit toilets and one central water hydrant. Inside, most cabins feature bunk beds and an indoor table. A two night stay minimum is required, rates are $70-95 per night and sleep between 6-12 guests, depending on cabin choice.

Blackhawk Lake Recreation Area 2025 County Highway BH Highland, WI 53543 608-623-2707 [email protected]

Cozy Tree House Cabin – Wisconsin Dells, WI

Bonus tip! I’ve discovered a Wisconsin Dells cabin treehouse with Queen Bed and bunk beds which sleeps four guests for around $100 per night and this booking includes “free tickets to Noah’s Ark Waterpark (Good 5/26/18 to 9/03/2018) & Timbavati Wildlife Park (Good 5/01/18 to 10/28/2018) complimentary with your stay.” Wow! We are for sure book reservations here!

Whether you’re looking for an off-the-grid cabin getaway, a cottage in the woods with wifi or a romantic luxury vacation home, Wisconsin has many opportunities for glamping this Valentine’s Day! What’s your your preference for where to stay on a romantic getaway?

Plan Your Wisconsin Cabins and Cottages Getaway

Feature photo by JOHNSON SCHMALING ARCHITECTS Nature quotes from GlobalStewards.org Many photos courtesy of Glamping Hub

Best cabins and cottages in Wisconsin for a Valentine’s Day getaway Have you ever wanted to escape to a cabin in the woods? Can you feel the joy of nature?

#hayward wisconsin #northern wisconsin #Valentines Day #WI cabin rentals #wisconsin cabins

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cuadra-stuff-blog · 7 years ago

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July 20th, 2018Which do you think is meant to be an insult? 1. Apparently following Queen Elizabeth's direction, President Trump begins to walk the reviewing line with her. She decides to step behind him to move to his left so she can walk between the President and the troops. He pauses and waits for her to catch up, then resumes walking beside her to review the troops. 2. Thousands of anti-Trump protesters gather in Parliament Square where they float a huge balloon depicting President Trump as an angry, diapered baby holding a cellphone. To you and me, it's obvious which is the action intended as an insult. But it's apparently not so obvious in the Late Great Britain. Monarchists and the tabloids were in full hue and cry blasting President Trump for "insulting" the Queen and the British monarchy by walking in front of her -- no matter how briefly. I don't recall them being so apoplectic when Michelle Obama put her arm around the Queen -- which, incidentally, is a much greater breach of protocol. Especially since she was not even a head of state. To which the Queen is reported to have later remarked that she "never want(ed) to meet that woman again!" The diapered baby balloon? Oh, that's just freedom of speech. What's more, if you believe the media, it appears that President Trump may have forever ruptured the bonds of friendship between America and the United Kingdom. He had the audacity to actually sit in an easy chair in which Winston Churchill once sat. The headline of the London newspaper The Mirror breathlessly screamed, "How Dare You?" The paper quoted a Member of Parliament, Ruth Smeeth, declaring that President Trump "doesn't even deserve to look at a statue of Churchill let alone sit in his seat." Apparently Trump Derangement Syndrome is epidemic on both sides of the pond! As "politically correct" and hypocritically sanctimonious as many Brits appear to be, it is a little surprising that they are expressing so much respect for their late Prime Minister Churchill. Were he alive today, I think he would be as much of an outcast as he was in the years leading up to World War II when he was sounding the politically-incorrect warnings about Hitler and Germany. You see, Winston Churchill was a plain-spoken critic of Islam and just as outspoken a proponent of "Christian civilization" as any major politician in history. He would be roasted alive by the PC establishment of today. In 2014, a politician was arrested for merely reading aloud the words of Churchill regarding Islam. And with so many British cities now boasting Muslim mayors, I doubt it's going to get any better. Britain once had a great tradition of debating both religion and politics. One of the ironies is that the same people who see Islam as above discussion have no problem with attacking Christianity and the Bible on a regular basis. Maybe they feel more free to speak their minds because they know the Knights of Columbus aren't likely to behead them. Wow! Finally a NATO Summit with fireworks! Usually, they're yawners. But not with President Trump at the table! I think the attending heads of state should be starting to catch on by now. President Trump says it like it is. Or at least like he sees it. I doubt that most of the other leaders have ever heard so much truth or faced so much reality in their entire political careers. Besides chastising most of the other NATO members for failing year after year to meet their defense commitments, the President zeroed in on Germany because of its natural gas deal with Russia. NATO is an alliance of nations created to stand against Russia and its allies. At the time of its formation after World War II, NATO's enemy counterpart was the Warsaw Pact. That was a defense alliance between the Soviet Union and seven of its satellite states. Today, some of those former Soviet Socialist Republics are members of NATO. Including Poland! Nonetheless, though the Soviet Union no longer exists, Russia has assumed its mantle in the world. That means, in essence, that NATO's "enemy" is Russia and the NATO treaty pledges its members to protect each other from their enemies, i.e., Russia, etc. Which makes Germany's natural gas deal with Russia all the more appalling and galling. Here's the short version: Most of the European nations depend heavily on natural gas from Russia, for which they pay exorbitant prices. Currently, most of that gas transits through Ukraine and Poland. Ukraine and Poland are both former Soviet Socialist Republics that have moved their loyalties to the West. Which makes Russia feel very threatened and angry. Occasionally, Russia tries to punish Ukraine and Poland, and subvert them to its wishes, by cutting off their critical natural gas supplies during the dead of the brutal central European winters. But in doing so, that means the natural gas supplies of the other European nations get cut off, too. And that makes them angry with Russia. So incredibly rich, powerful, and domineering Germany decided to cut a sweetheart deal with Russia. They signed a deal to build two 800-mile gas pipelines that run beneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. It was originally called Nord Stream, now Nord Stream 2. That means Russia can pump gas to Germany and Germany can then turn around and dole it out to the other European nations. In essence, that puts Russia in control of Germany's critical gas supplies and Germany in control of the other European nations' critical gas supplies.. And it leaves Russia free to punish Ukraine and Poland at will without irritating the EU or other NATO nations. Win-win for Russia! Enter President Donald Trump. President Trump looked at that deal and immediately cried, "Foul!" What's more, he cried, "Foul!" loudly! And that shocked Germany, Russia, the Democrat Party, the mainstream media, and the rest of the globalists. At a breakfast meeting, the President told Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General: "...Germany, as far as I'm concerned, is captive to Russia because it's getting so much of its energy from Russia. So we're supposed to protect Germany (from Russia), but they're getting their energy from Russia. Explain that!" I doubt he can. Germany is the richest country in Europe. It bullies the other nations in the European Union. It has a $69 billion trade surplus with the United States alone. The US has 35,000 troops stationed in Germany. Yet of the 29 member states in NATO, Germany ranks next to last in the amount of its GDP that it spends on its own defense. And now it is placing its citizens and industry at the mercy of the Russians. All the while letting the United States foot the majority of the bills for the NATO alliance that is supposed to protect it from Russia. In what universe does that make sense? But there is an interesting -- and prophetic -- twist to all of this. After 2020, Russia will have a viable stranglehold on Europe. But that stranglehold may be broken in 2025. That's when a new pipeline from Israel's incredible natural gas reserves, built with the cooperation of Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, will be complete. That pipeline will be capable of supplying enough natural gas to Europe to mitigate Russia's grip. Could it be that the preservation of Russia's natural gas monopoly will be the "hooks in the jaws" of Gog that God will one day use to pull it from the north to do battle with Israel? Oh yeah, one more thing. Gerhard Schroeder was the former German Chancellor who authorized the original Nord Stream deal. Then he left office and Vladimir Putin helped him become chairman of the same project he authorized as Chancellor. In 2017, Putin arranged for Schroeder (the German) to become chairman of Rosneft, the state-owed Russian oil giant. The Swamp bubbles on both sides of the pond! Speaking of the Swamp. Did you see the Congressional hearing with FBI Agent Peter Strzok as the featured guest? If this were a Hollywood movie, most of us would say that the actors were hams and the writer was stoned when he wrote the script. You can't make this stuff up! But the scary part is, this is reality! I don't know which was creepier or more bizarre, Agent Strzok's Norman Batesesque facial expressions and sleazy demeanor or the Democrats' frantic attempts to interrupt the proceedings and stop him from having to answer the questions. It seems to me that even more damning than Agent Strzok's undeniable bias expressed in tens of thousands of texts (when did he have time to actually investigate anything?), is the simple fact that the FBI has uniformly ignored mountains of evidence of Hillary Clinton crimes that have been uncovered and presented by other FBI agents, other law enforcement agencies, and other intelligence services. The institution's bias is more evident in what it hasn't done than in what it has. But then, that is not so unusual in history. In fact, some of the crises engulfing the world today are the result of the devious undermining of legitimate government authorities by their underlings. "Underlings" are the glue that holds things together or the weak links that cause them to fall apart. They are necessary to the administration of any government or organization. In the United States government, we call them the "Deep State." The trouble starts when a group of subordinates take it on themselves to undo the policy of legitimate officials. In this way, underlings have sometimes changed the course of history. For instance, last week I discussed the "other" Middle East refugees: the Jews displaced from Arab nations. In that story, I described how the League of Nations had instructed Britain to provide for a national homeland for the Jewish people. The League's "Mandate" dedicated a large tract of land from the Mediterranean Sea to what is now Iraq. But the British officials kept backing out of promises they had made to the Jews. Eventually, 75% of the land in the "British Mandate" was given to the Arabs as a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs. It is now called Jordan. The remaining 25%, from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean was given to Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel). Even earlier, when British General Edmund Allenby, leading his army of liberation, dismounted his horse and walked reverently into Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, he was prepared to institute a military government as per his instructions. But the staff of Governor Ronald Storrs was riddled with army officers who did not believe in the principles set forth in the Balfour Declaration. They represented the "Deep State" of the day. Incrementally, and without authorization, they sabotaged the official policy of their government. That subterfuge eventually led to the rise of the leader of the Jerusalem Muslims, Haj Amin al-Husseini. In later years, al-Husseini led the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. He escaped to Nazi Germany where he remained as a guest and collaborator with Adolf Hitler. He even helped recruit Bosnian Muslims for Germany's Waffen-SS. So don't make the mistake of believing the Left's and the mainstream media's derision of the idea of a "Deep State." It does exist and it is powerful.. And too often, it has the last word. Fortunately for us, though, it will be God who has the real "last word." And even though we know that days of persecution are coming before Jesus returns for His followers, we can take comfort in the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) But let's not stop fighting. There is still time to speak truth to power and expose the forces of darkness that are engulfing the world. Pray for those in leadership who are doing just that. Maybe they are buying time for even more to turn to Christ and accept the free gift of pardon that He died on Calvary to purchase for "everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)

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