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andersonfilms · 2 days

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❝ TASTE THE CRUSH ❞ ✶ ABBY ANDERSON !

tags: eighteen+, camgirl!abby, lowkey loser!reader, voyerisum, dub-con, dildo penetration (abby!r), minors hop off my shit, friends to lovers (eventually), nerdy!abby.

a/n. happy pride, my loves! here's the first part of a series i'm cooking. there will be blurbs, drabbles, and some sprinkle of fluff if all goes as planned. hope you enjoy!

you aren’t supposed to be home, but it’s a slow night of bartending, so you’re sent early. pushing yourself into the front door despite your aching muscles, dispensing your keys in the small bowl, before grabbing yourself a cold glass of water. chugging it from the chilled glass, the cool liquid sending a sensation down your throat.

something feels off but you ignore it.

funneling into your room, discarding your pants along with your tank left only in your undergarments. the tension has been building in your shoulders all night. the overwhelming stress of not making enough tips to cover your rent, classes in the morning, as well as the kink in your neck. you need to relieve yourself from all of it. a feather filled duvet has never looked so inviting, parallel with the vibrator tucked away into your night stand.

bang! bang! bang!

what the hell?

taking a final sip from your water, you venture into the living room grabbing the bat next to your bedroom door. ready to swing, you’re met with silence in the still empty living room. odd.

bat in your stronghold, your sock clad feet patter up the stairs into your roommate’s area of the apartment when you hear moans. soft, whimpering, moans. was she? no. it’s abby for fucksake. she’s too anxious to talk about sex with others much less fuck with her clit while you’re home.

but you’re not supposed to be home and you’re intrigued. you shouldn’t be but you are.

against the hardwood floors, your feet are quiet as you bring yourself closer to her room. her moans are louder, you try to ignore the throbbing of your clit, thighs nudging together as abby sounds like an angel — solely sent for your pleasure.

the cream door is cracked open halfway and it’s then when you see her. for the first time, it’s all of her. the fucking bat nearly drops to the floor, but you catch it and cradle it to your chest as you take the scene in.

entranced is the only way to describe it. she had lights, her phone propped up with an additional camera while they filmed the show she so clearly was putting it on. blonde hair cascades down her freckled back, completely bare ass on full display, unknowingly for your greedy eyes.

you need to look away. she’s your best friend. stop. you’re being a fucking creep but then she’s bouncing on the dildo.

fucking hell.

your friend, the one you tease endlessly, the shy nerdy girl who can barely say two words when a pretty girl tries to speak with her is fucking herself on a baby blue dildo and filming it. for the first time, you’re seeing abby differently. it almost pains you.

exquisite, golden hair shines in the moonlight as her delicious hips roll. she finds a rhythm that’s comfortable letting out a collection of whines and moans. the sound of her slick combined with the headboard hitting the wall over and over due to the power of her weight sends you into a frenzy. you’re thighs have never rubbed together so harshly, trying to satiate a need. if you could, you’d moan for her but the fear of being caught strikes you down but it’s festering within you.

it’s growing. god, it’s for her only.

you’re paralyzed with arousal but you need to leave. right fucking now before you cum. pathetically, you think you can just from watching her. abby’s soft voice practically nails your soft palms to the walls, crucifying you with every unspeakable desire. pink lips let them fly, gratifying you and somehow breaking the impenetrable wall between the two of you.

“cock is so big, s’hard to take all of it.” abby whimpers, arching her back while her palms support her weight as she splits her pussy on the dildo. “yeah, you like that? mmm, love when my pussy swallows you whole, huh?”

she lays her full cheeks on the mattress, pretty face pushed against the sheets as abby gives her audience a better view. she sounds goddamn breathtaking going nice and slow, her lower lips spreading so beautifully. this deserves to be painted and displayed in art galleries.

the way she moves, golden strands moving as if she’s controlling every movement. abby anderson is fucking art. nowhere to be found is the shy, nose stuffed in her books, abby. this version of her is so different it’s causing you to see stars.

moving her hips you didn’t even know was possible. you can’t even process fit her body actually is, the one she hides away. suffocated by thick cable knit sweaters, loose button downs concealing her burling biceps, and the chinos she wears on a daily basis. all of it is more than you can stomach.

“like looking at my pussy, baby?” abby giggles. fucking giggles. “splitting my pussy open, feel you s’deep, almost in my stomach. yeah?”

the urge to slip your fingers inside your pussy and touch yourself while she fucks herself is right there but you can seem to do it. settling for pressed thighs and tight grip on bat while you breath heavily. unable to catch on breath.

“why don’t i spread it for you? give you a better view. after all, im such a sweetheart.” with one free hand, she pulls at the fat of her ass and you nearly choke on the air around you. her puckered hole, the sweet sin of her cunt staring right at you while you salivate. it pools to the floor along with your dignity.

she leaves the shot there for a moment, letting her viewers tune in to take all of her in before she lets go. the fat of her ass bounces, increasing her speed as she slams over herself on the cock. the audacity of you to never think of her like this because fuck, this is everything.

you want to be the one fucking her. your fingers pulling at her golden strands, pretty face smudged against the mattress as you take her from behind. a curious mind wonders what she would say to you, how good she would be taking it from behind. molding her strong body into whatever you fucking want. would she let you?

abby’s voice breaks through the stance she has you under, permitting you of daydreaming any longer. instead, your eyes focus on the way she fucks herself.

“need to stuff my pussy full, don’t you? s’all you can think about, yeah…i know. making a pretty girl like me cum is your fucking dream.” her back arcs, giving them a better view of her. another piece for everyone to enjoy, you included.

her voice breaks, irrevocably but abby tries again. “t-this is what you wanted all this time? for me to be your whore? show you how much of a slut i can be?” you feel it in your stomach. the light pressure building as you clench your pussy around nothing, your thighs rubbing together continuously. if she cums, fuck, you won’t be able to control yourself.

“i’ll do whatever you want. it’s all for you.” you’re fucking lost. abby picks up the pace, the way her hips stutter indicates she’s so close. without even touching yourself, you are too. “no one else can make me feel like this, i—”a low groan leaves her lips, the echoes of her slick invade your senses. jesus christ, you would do anything to taste her.

abby doesn’t say much until she’s reaching her peak. just loud moans, intoxicating whimpers, and delicious sound of her cunt being fucked again, and again, and again. then you take note of her shakes, beautiful thighs trembling as they fail under the undeniable pleasure coursing through her veins.

“s’close, gonna cum. fuckfuckfuck!” you see her white, hot cum soak the dildo, white substance spilling over sun-kissed skin, staining the sheets. it’s fucking everywhere. abby doesn’t stop. as if she knows you’re watching and wants to torture you.

“please come for me baby? mommy needs your cum. gonna give it to me, yeah? i’m your sweet girl after all.” just like that, you lose it. white coated cum covers your boxers, staining you through. you feel every nerve in your body coated in her, begging to be trenched in her touch.

“yeah? that’s it. s’all mine. just like you, baby. my fucking pussy.” your entire body twitches, clit throbbing at her words. only thing you hear is her heavy breaths slowing down as abby slowly calms herself.

even when she’s shaking, trembling, she fucks herself through it. you can’t look away. not when she’s made you cum like that. no one’s ever made you cum with voice alone. abby’s soothing tone scratches the surface of the unbridled desire bumbling out of you. now, you’ll be sick until you can have her. is it pathetic? maybe. but your hands are greedy, aching to touch every inch of her body, make her feel whatever she wants.

you make yourself scarce. the stakes of getting caught too high. shame. the overwhelming feeling almost settles instantly but you find it withering the more you think about the tsunami wave of the orgasm she unknowingly gifted you.

with every passing moment, each turn in your sleep, you feel guilty for watching for as long as you did. you can’t sleep. always thinking of her. every waking moment is always about her. you’ll never be able to see abby the same. maybe it’ll be your demise or your saving grace.

for now, all you can do is welcome the all consuming passion that is her. your dorky best friend and roommate who certainly does know how to fuck.

DO NOT BUY TLOU + DONATE TO PALESTINE

#beginning is so silly and me coded #!!!!#abby anderson #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson x fem!reader #abby anderson x female reader #abby anderson x masc reader #abby anderson x you #abby anderson x y/n #abby anderson smut #tlou #tlou x reader

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frmisnow · 1 day

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✧˖ ?! — I LOVE TO LOVE YOU! (SMUTTY)

summary. agreeing to finally spend the weekend over at your boyfriends, you find him clingier (& hornier) than ever!

notes. let me tell you i've been STRUGGLING w writers block but i just wanted to give yall smth bc i have like 2 TOUGH weeks of exams coming up :( so i do hope you enjoy, much love!!! ₊˚⊹

warnings/includes. bf bf non idol? jungkook x f! reader, he's clingy & horny so basically the summary!, established relationship (she just doesn't live w him), a drabble, giving head + kitchen sex mentioned

when you once again agreed to spend the two free days with jungkook, you were as always not prepared for him rotting around you the whole time.

it didn't matter where you were — preparing something for dinner? you bet your ass he was hugging you from behind, evidently slowing down your cooking progress, giggling manically. typing it away on your laptop, trying to get a school paper done? he'll magically show up from behind (you swear you did NOT hear any footsteps), closing the laptop carefully while leaning over the chair to place tiny kisses down your neckline, mumbling something about you not being supposed to work since the weekend was there for him to love you.

and let me tell you: jeon jungkook takes his loving towards you during saturday and sunday (pun intended) VERY seriously. I'm telling you: consider yourself lucky if he even lets you out of bed!

he has to have his hands on you 24/7 and if he doesn't he'll swear he might just die at least that's what he always says.

you have to take 'he loves to love you' pretty literally because when it comes to jungkook and your special little weekends together, he always always puts your pleasure first.

jungkook bets he could eat your pussy for hours at a time and he'll go to many lengths to prove just that, he'll overstimulate you on accident- and then looks up to you with his boba eyes all inoccently like he actually didn't mean it.

i swear he always gets a boner around you! and he'll full on blame you for it! 'it's just cause you look like that!' adorned with that silly pout but be careful with how you respond- he might just fuck you on the kitchen counter... that man has no mercy.

all the way at night on saturday, when he's done with you, tucked you into bed, snuggled up to you all tightly, he'll whisper: "it's so sad that you don't live with me" into the air, every fucking time.

but maybe it was good that only those two days belonged to him since you really didn't knew what kind of animalistic human you'd turn into if you did the things you did together, seven days a week.

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thinkingaboutjaedyn · 2 days

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imagine u n emily cooking together on ig live and everyone loves it when ur telling her off, she’s always getting in the way, or just straight up being a menace LMFAOOKO

FAVORITE ANNOYANCE | e.engstler x reader

prompt: emily being really fucking annoying while y'all are trying to cook.

author notes: i need to write for more basketball players so here you go taytay 🩷 enjoy it!

contains: emily engstler x shorter!reader, fluff, emily needs her ass beat, annoying as a love language, bad pizza making describing, inspo from this tiktok

"heyy guys!" you say, setting up your phone against a vase on the kitchen island. emily have just got back from practice and was obviously starving so she begged you to cook. you obliged but only because she has to help you. what a dumb idea that would end up being.

you squint your eyes as you look at the number of people coming into the live. emily comes up behind you, wrapping her arms around your waist. she pecks the side of your face before saying, "hi babe. hi chat."

"ew, don't say chat. you sound like some teenage streamer," you make a face of disgust before laughing. emily just shrugs. turning you to face her instead of the phone.

"but baby, that's what you call it," she blinks at you. acting confused until you stand on your tippy toes to peck her lips. emily pecks you back, licking her lips afterwards before looking at your phone screen. you move away from the kitchen island to go to the fridge. your body barely still in frame. emily looks at the comments coming through on the live, chuckling at a few.

"what we about to do? cook-" before emily could finish her sentence fully, you chim in. coming into the frame fully, holding the tomatoes needed to make the pizza sauce. "we are about to cook because emily was starving so bad and was just so hungry. go ahead, tell them what you told me when you came home," your tone sounds annoyed but there is obvious fondness underneath.

"aye, the chat said stop being mean to me," emily crosses her arms across her chest as she looks at you.

"the chat should be on my side."

"thought chat was for teenage streamers?"

"dear god, be quiet before i don't cook and go to bed. you can do this all on your own if you want."

"what? babeee, noo," the american player moves to pull you close by the waist. leaning down to kiss the top of your head; a usual emily apology. obviously you accept it. a bashful smile on your lips as you try to push her away but those muscles of hers aren't just for show, keeping you close easily.

emily sighs before shaking her head, "okay, chat. when i came home i begged my beautiful amazing so spectacular girlfriend to cook for me and cried when she said she didn't feel like it. even though i know how to cook, but it's just better when she does it." the confession makes the live explode with comments. with most making fun of emily (lovingly) and some relating to the feeling of wanting your girlfriend to do things for you.

a playfully smug smile sits on your lips, "there. she admitted it guys, she can't live without me."

"i didn't say all that.."

"i will stab you with this knife i'm about to grab," you gesture to the knife block on the counters behind you two. emily immediately starts talking to the chat, "i told y'all she's always threatening me."

"only when you're bad, babes," you chuckle. getting out of her grasp to grab two knives from the knife block. setting one down in front of emily, slapping her hand when she tries to grab it.

"no touching until i get the cutting boards," you set down your knife. opening the counter to grab two cutting boards (all while emily stands there with her arms crossed). putting them onto the island, one in front of emily and one in front of you. then you grab the tomatoes, setting them near your phone. not too close though so you two can still see the comments coming in.

"now you can touch."

emily and you get into a small routine of cutting the tomatoes. answering questions at the same time with the basketball player answering most of them.

"i don't know who keeps asking what we're cooking, but guys c'mon now.. i said it so many times. we're making pizza," emily sighs. halfway through with her tomato pile, she decides it's the best time to bother you while you're focused on finishing yours.

"babe, chat said why is my hair up even though i'm in my own home. should i tell them how you hate my hair and told me you would cut it off if i bought it anywhere near your kitchen?" she smiles at you like she didn't just say the most out of pocket lie ever. you give her a warning glare, not even answering her before going back to cutting. however, of course emily couldn't be satisfied with that. she needs a reaction so she starts to poke you in the shoulder.

"babe"

you don't answer her.

"babe"

another glare.

"babeeee."

"all i know is that if you keep touching me, i'm going to cut off your hand. now stop being childish and finish chopping those tomatoes before nobody will be eating tonight," you finally answer. slapping her hand away. she doesn't even flinch, just smiling.

"my girlfriend is being mean to me again." she turns her attention to the camera, a great relief to you. obviously the chat comes to her defense again but you tell them off by threatening to end the live all together.

the two of you continue to make the pizza. eventually you get out the small roll of cheese out of the fridge, forcing emily to grate it. while you smash the tomatoes up for the sauce.

emily is still answering more comments and she's having fun with it too:

ilovelesbians178 who do you wish would visit you more?

"hailey. that blonde chick never come over here, but it's okay, i know she's all superstar now."

emilysdutchbraids is your natural hair color actually blonde or what

"uh, i always say my hair is naturally blonde with dark roots but i might be lying.. nobody gotta know."

y/n&emilyop why is your tall strong ass the one grating cheese while y/n's tiny self is smashing the tomatoes?

emily starts laughing so hard that you look over at her. she gives you a look back before shaking her head, "yeah, nah, i don't know why i'm the one grating cheese. this is really not a good fit for me, huh?"

you look at her again, your brows furrowed as you stand there confused.

"ems, what are you talking about?" your arms are crossed across your chest. you come closer to her, looking at your phone to check the live comments. emily tries to turn you away from looking at the screen, laughing, "nothing, baby. people just don't get why your tinsy pinsy self is smashing tomatoes while my giant self is grating cheese."

the playful mocking in her tone makes you gasp. quick to slap her shoulder, she lets out an ow!

"babyyy, i didn't do anything," her tone sounds sad but emily is literally smiling at you and is so close to laughing that you can hear in her voice. "i was just reading the comments," is her excuse.

you slap her shoulder again before moving away from her. "yeah, sure. you're so innocent and totally didn't read it out on purpose. shut up and make the dough since you're so big and strong," you get out the ingredients needed or at least try to as emily follows you around the kitchen like a lost puppy. if you're trying to grab the oil out of the cabinet? she's blocking it. you're trying to get the yeast out? again emily is there blocking it. you try to push her away, hitting her on the shoulder again but she always just laughs.

"i get way worse fouls in games than that little hit, baby," she smirks at you. normally that smirk would be so attractive but you are so blinded by irritation but right now you are this close to kicking emily out of the kitchen.

you decide to go a different route than hitting. going straight for her stomach as you tickle her. emily nearly screams in surprise, almost knocking over a bunch of stuff, you two should have been cleaned, off of the counter as she tries to get away from you.

you stick out your tongue at her once she gets away. coming back over to your phone to check the comments.

"emily acts like a bad ass kid. oh, yeah, we all know that," you say. giggling once emily comes back close to you, her arms crossed across her chest.

"and i don't know why she's next to me right now trying to manipulate me into saying a compliment. you can cross your arms until the day you die, miss pretzel," you sass. laughing once she tries to tickle you but you dodge out of the way.

"babe, it's not fair! you got me!"

"you were in the way!"

"nuh uh."

"nuh huh!"

emily lets out a long sigh, frowning at your phone screen. "my girlfriend literally hates me right now guys," she says.

"do not. now be quiet and help me finish making this pizza. it's getting late." emily listens to you, finally taking the cooking seriously.

it takes way quicker now to finish up making the pizza that emily is acting like she got some sense. finally, emily moves away from the island so that she can slide the pizza in the oven while you talk to the live.

"alright guys, we are about to go lay on the couch and wait for this pizza to cook. emily has drained all of the energy out of me so i'm ending the live here. love you guys! thanks for paying attention to emily's annoying ass and me." emily is able to get in a wave before you cut off the live. shaking your head as you turn to face her. leaning against the kitchen island.

"what is it, baby?" she comes close, grabbing onto your hips.

"you're sleeping on the couch tonight," you say. leaning away once she tries to kiss you. easily getting out of her grasp this time, starting to walk over to the living room. emily still stands in the kitchen with her arms now crossed across her chest.

"and you can stop doing that crossing your arms across your chest shit! it doesn't work, baby," you shout, looking over your shoulder at her.

author notes: this was actually mad fun to write 💪🏽💪🏽 hopefully you liked it because i put some effort into it.

#emily engstler x reader #emily engstler #wbb x reader

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murdrdocs · 22 hours

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been having a niche thought of marrying patrick sort of for the benefits and access that comes with it.

no one knows if you and patrick married for the right reasons. there were suspicions at the engagement party, jokes made by the people who knew you best. "i never thought these two would settle down, much less with each other". laughter followed, but everyone knew there was truth in the statement. why in the hell would you decide to marry patrick zweig?

love, is what you tell everyone. according to both of you, you're soulmates. and yeah, in most regards both are true. you and patrick share a love for each other. but that love is shared with others, too. you know each other better than most. but there are two others who know you both just as well. sitting at the end of the table during the engagement party. sitting just close enough to you and patrick during the wedding reception.

the donaldsons are maybe the real reason why you and patrick married. it started as a joke, really. a deluded, elaborate bit created by a drunk art (finally allowed to indulge now that he's retired) and a barely-tipsy patrick (put on a strict regimen by his new coach).

"if you two married, no one would suspect anything between us," was art's reasoning. it barely made sense to you at the time, but not much could make sense when you were struggling to stay awake, being lulled to sleep by the rumble of patrick's chest beside your ear where you lay, and the sweet waft of tashi's perfume carrying in the evening wind.

"think about it," art had continued. "people won't be suspicious over two married couples being close friends. they already probably think i'm cheating with," art slurred your name and you distantly acknowledged how nice the sound was like that. it reminded you of when he was fucked out and he called for you. "and they think tashi's cheating with you, patrick. but if you two were married..."

and art didn't have to say much else. because on a fresh mind the next morning, standing in art and tashi's kitchen, wearing patrick's shirt and waiting for freshly cooked eggs while looking at the sunspots covering art's back and shoulders, you began to understand the logic in art's argument.

married couples were friends. close friends. spend the night at the others house and hosts birthday parties for each other type of friends.

maybe that's why after that day, you and patrick started seeing just each other more. maybe that's why the two of you started dating. maybe that's why patrick took you to a nice place, had art help him set everything up, and popped the question with a ring that tashi assured him you would like. maybe it's why you went through with the wedding, why you bought a house together, why you became mrs. zweig in every sense of the title.

and truthfully, it's a nice life.

it's nice seeing patrick walk downstairs shirtless, his body on display for you to ogle. it's always been like that between you two, yes, but something's different. he has hickies on his shoulders, two from art and then one from you right beside it. there's scratches on his back from you and tashi. he's always wearing his wedding band, and the gold glints nicely against his tan skin. sometimes, you pull the ring up his lithe finger and admire the way he has a tan line now. a permanent reminder of you, even if your presence in a shared space is the same.

he looks cleaner, too, from work of you and tashi. his body a healthy mix between lean and toned. his skin glowing from the inside out. his beard shaped up nicely, a light brown that works well with the burnt orange sprinkle in his eyes. curly hair kept short, more and more greys growing day by day.

it's nice sitting in tashi and art's backyard on patio furniture the four of you had a say in, sharing drinks and old anecdotes before you all went upstairs to tangle your bodies upon the king-sized bed.

even without the legalities, you and patrick would've remained intertwined in tashi and art's lives. but it feels right like this. it feels more secure. like you're committed to each other in the same ways that you're both committed to the dolandsons.

plus, patrick seems to be more bearable as a husband than he was as a friend (the term used loosely of course).

#this image is so vivid in my head #but i cannot articulate it #anyway it makes sense to me #patrick zweig x reader #patricksworld!#artsworld!#tashisworld!#art donaldson x reader #tashi duncan x reader

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mrchiipchrome · 2 days

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The Best Kept Secrets...

W.C. - 3.7 k

a/n: all Spanish is in italics bc i'm lazy.

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Homecoming! From Barcelona’s youth academy to Manchester United and back again, read more about the incredible journey Ona Batlle and Y/n Leòn have made on their way to first team football at the Spanish giants…

The Red Devils lose 2 Spanish superstars as Batlle and Leòn prepare to leave in the summer, read more here…

A package deal! Manchester United stars switch rainy England in exchange for sunny Spain, will we finally get an insight to what makes them so great?

That’s what most of the tabloids had sounded like as soon as you and your girlfriend announced that you were leaving the club that had housed you for more than three years, the club that had helped you develop as players and people.

It was bittersweet, you had gotten attached to it after all like anyone would but it was time for a new challenge, and that was apparently having to deal with your older sister every hour of every day.

But having Ona by your side made everything miles better, the constant playful annoyance with your sister melted away as soon as her warm hand slipped into your own, the huge smile on your face something not even Mapi could wipe away.

Although that was a problem, well for Mapi at least. She wasn’t the only one who noticed the small seemingly insignificant touches between the two of you, the playful teasing, the stolen glances when you thought no one was looking.

It drove her mad, it was clear that the two of you had some serious feelings for each other and the fact that you were stupid enough to not see it was making her more annoyed than it probably should’ve. You even lived together, how could you not see how madly in love you were with each other?

But to start from the beginning, when Mapi came to pick you both up from the airport.

“I really hope it’s Alexia coming and not Mapi.” You groan into your girlfriend’s shoulder, sitting on the suitcases that you’d placed into the luggage cart, the sleepiness from the flight translating into grumpiness when you felt her hand stop threading through your hair.

“Come on, I’m not that bad.” The second you hear Mapi’s voice, your head snaps around, and despite you seemingly having complained about her only moments before, you wrap the smaller woman up tightly in your arms. Ona stays back and watches the interaction with a soft smile on her face.

“She didn’t cause you too much trouble, right? I know how she can be.” Mapi looks past your body to meet Ona’s eye, the brunette smiling softly in return and shaking her head.

“Slept like a baby the entire time.” Ona exposes you, joining Mapi in pinching your cheek like an old grandma would.

Slapping away both their hands, you maneuver around so that you can grab the luggage cart, gently pushing it in the direction you thought Mapi had come from.

“Amor, you don't even know where she’s parked, you have to wait for us.” Your sister’s eyebrows furrow at the affectionate nickname, but even more so at you actually listening to the shorter girl, since you were almost globally known to be stubborn beyond comprehension.

She’s even more confused when you let Ona sit in the passenger seat, seeing as it was your designated seat that you’d fight for if you had to. It all made her even more suspicious of you, something had clearly happened in England, more than likely between you and the girl next to her.

“When do you two get the keys to your apartments?” Mapi asks, her eyes trained on the road despite her talking. Ona looks back at you, almost questioningly but as you shrug in return, she decides that it’s best to just bite the bullet.

“I think we get them next wednesday, right amor?” Smiling softly, you nod your head at her so as to say that you agree.

“Oh, well you’ll just take the couch then for now?” Mapi asks you, not seeing the utterly confused look on your face, why would she think that you would sleep on the couch when you were perfectly fine sleeping in the same bed as your girlfriend?

“No, we’ll take the spare room.” There’s still some lingering confusion running through your mind but when Ona practically tells you ‘hey, she’s your sister’ you just decide to not think about it anymore.

Arriving at the house your sister shares with her girlfriend, you waste no time in disappearing out of the car and walking straight into the house. It had been a while since you’d seen the better of the pair and you didn’t want to delay your reunion any longer than you already had.

“Ingrid! I wish you could’ve come to pick us up instead, María was so annoying.” Enveloping the Norwegian in a bear hug, she quickly squeals as her feet leave the floor momentarily, but soon enough she hugs you back.

“My favourite Leòn, it’s so nice to have you home again.” Ingrid’s hands cup your face as she makes sure to really look at you, the last time you’d met in person had been at christmas almost 2 years before and there was no telling how much you’d grown into your features over facetime.

“Can you two stop bullying me, por favor?” Mapi groans as she comes into the kitchen, carrying most of your luggage, Ona entering just after her with the lightest of the packing in her arms.

When Ingrid’s eyes scan over the shorter girl, who shifts uncomfortably under what’s practically her sister-in-law’s gaze. But it’s clear that Ingrid approves when she sends the defender a bright smile, quickly bringing her into a hug of her own.

“You must be Ona, Y/n’s talked about you a lot.” Ingrid shoots Mapi a look as both you and Ona start blushing madly, the two of you shuffling out of the room under the guise of getting the room ready.

“There’s something going on there.” Ingrid notes out loud, telling herself to ask you about it later.

“Sexual tension, they need to get it out.” Mapi yelps as Ingrid slaps her arm harshly, the childish defender not expecting the assault.

Upstairs you and Ona were enjoying a soft moment of your own, with the defender laying atop you with her head on your chest, listening to the steady beating of your heart that speeds up every so slightly when her hand traces soft shapes into the skin just below your ribs.

Her head follows with the steady rise and fall of your chest as you breathe deeply, and as your hand starts to thread through her hair softly she can’t help but kiss at the underside of your jaw, nipping every so often just to hear the melodious laugh escaping your lips at the tickling sensation.

“You’re so beautiful, I adore you, I love the way you see the world and how you don’t fear being yourself, I love the way your mind works and even more just how great you are. Anyone who can look at you, know you, without feeling even the slightest bit of envy at the fact that they aren’t you is someone robbed of basic emotions. I love you so much that I just want to.” You wrap your arms around her body tightly, using so much strength you could without hurting her as you hug her tightly to your body.

Despite the smaller girl tearing up slightly at your heartfelt confession, she giggles lovingly when you hug her, pushing her face further into your neck.

“You know, there’s a beach not too far from here, we can go tonight when the oldies have fallen asleep.” Your soft breath against the shell of her ear has Ona shivering in anticipation, feeling a soft kiss being placed against the side of her head.

Feet slapping against the steps of the stairs wake you two from the little moment you were having, the knocks of the door startling you two even more, not that it matters seeing as the two women already knew of your relationship, right?

“Shh, they’re sleeping.” Both you and Ona have to keep from laughing at Ingrid’s hushed tone, and at the thud of your sister’s body as it meets the floor. But as the door closes, the two of you fall into a quiet fit of laughter, nothing stopping you.

Safe to say, that was the first time of many Mapi was confused by your ‘friendship’.

Over the next week, you and Ona could be found cuddled up anywhere, from under the apple tree standing proudly in the backyard reading together to the couch and even the roof (how you two even got up there in the first place Mapi didn’t even know.)

You were everywhere and if you hadn’t been her sister, Mapi would’ve probably killed you for being so oblivious to Ona’s feelings.

“They can’t see that they love each other, I’m going crazy.” The older Leòn complains to her girlfriend, who just continues to read her book like Mapi hadn’t even spoken in the first place, which only makes her groan harder.

“María, it runs in the family. It took you almost a year to realise that I liked you back.” The couch shakes with the force of which the woman in question slams her body into it with, her hands quickly running through her hair.

“But they’re so oblivious, they need to just-” Mapi gestures around with her hands like it would tell the other woman everything she needed to know, which it seemingly does.

“I know, but we have to let them figure things out themselves, we can’t meddle.” Ingrid sends a fierce glare towards her girlfriend, almost warning her of the consequences if she were to try pushing you and Ona to get together prematurely.

“Okay, but I’m not happy about it.” Crossing her arms and pouting, Mapi quickly gets a kiss pressed to her lips, a sneaky smile forming on her lips as she pretends not to notice the action.

“Playing hard to get then, are we?” Ingrid giggles out, settling her body over Mapi’s lap, placing kisses all over her girlfriend’s face. The sound of their giggles surround the room, filling it with joy that’s hard to replicate.

“Can you two not be gross for two seconds?” The two women on the couch look up when your voice echoes through the room, seeing you and Ona on the last step of the stairs, your hands joined together as your nose is almost turned up in disgust.

The two older women laugh when your girlfriend slaps the back of your head, clearly not approving of your words.

“Amor, it’s their house, they can do whatever they want.” You grumble in response, lifting your free hand to sooth the ever so slight throbbing in the back of your head.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re just about to go get our keys, so yeah.” Mapi and Ingrid watch as you and the shorter girl make your way to the door, another slap landing on the back of your head when you don’t wave goodbye.

“She’s so in love with that girl.” Your sister remarks to her girlfriend again as they see you climb into the rental car you’d gotten as you waited for your actual car to be transported over from England. They see the way you open the door for her and how you smile oh so timidly at her as she grasps your hand in hers.

“No meddling.” Ingrid points at Mapi, her stern gaze once again telling the shorter woman that she wasn’t fucking around.

“Yeah, yeah.”

The realtor explained everything, from how you could move in directly to how everything was already in the apartment, ready for the two of you to pack up. As the key finally gets dropped into your hand, you almost breathe a sigh of relief, not wanting to stay out there any longer.

But as soon as you entered the apartment, a loud groan fell from your lips, the boxes stacked on top of each other something that would take up the majority of your coming week. The rolled up mattress in the corner of the living room was the one thing you found to be positive, well except for your girlfriend’s hands on your waist.

“What are you thinking?” The shorter girl gets up on her tiptoes, her lips meeting your neck ever so slightly, tiny butterfly kisses being pressed all over the column of your neck.

Humming softly, your fingers tangle with hers over your waist, swaying your bodies back and forth in an almost dance.

“I’m thinking that we take the mattress, place it on the floor then we order some pizza and just ignore all the boxes in here.” You mumble out just loud enough for her to hear, feeling her smile against the skin of your neck. It was somewhat of a tradition, seeing as that’s what you had done when you first moved in together.

“I think that’s a great idea.” She whispers, her lips directly besides your ear just to get her point across even better.

After you order the pizza, you start moving some of the boxes out of the way to make room for the large mattress that’s all wrapped up. You loosen the belt containing it after enough space is created, watching it spring out and flop down on the floor.

It’s not long after that the pizza arrives and it takes even less time to pay for it and bring it back up to the apartment, the two of you plopping down together on the mattress as you start to eat.

“We have to start packing for camp soon.” Ona breaks the blissful silence with her whispered words, another groan falling from your lips, it was no secret that the spanish federation were unethical in their treatment of their players, especially with the threats of revoking the player licenses if you declined the call up.

“They can stick their call up where the sun doesn’t shine.” Ona’s soft giggle warms up your entire being, like it always did, she just had that effect on you no matter what.

“Yeah I know, but we have to make the best of it, don’t we?” Her hand comes up to cup your face and you lean into it, her thumb stroking your cheek softly.

Pulling her hand off your face, you drag her up off the soft foam of the makeshift bed. One hand wraps around her hip whilst the other one falls to the middle of her back, a light tune appearing from between your lips.

Swaying her body around to the tune, the two of you relish in the shared moment, the one so fleeting that even the most secure hands wouldn’t get a grip on it. Ever so often the hummed tune would change, sometimes to something slower, sometimes to something quicker, all that mattered was that you could stay there in that moment, all wrapped up in your lover's arms like nothing else in the world mattered.

Soon enough there were more than a few kisses being exchanged between you two, lips moving against each other sweetly in an almost synched rhythm.

“I love you so much.” With your bodies pressed up all tightly, you could feel her heart beating as her chest pressed tightly to yours, and in your mind you could only imagine it joining yours in a shared rhythm, a single heart beating for the both of you, a single heart beating for the same purpose, one deviating from what most thought.

She lays her head upon your chest, your hand on her back tracing up and down her spine as her short breaths tickle your collarbones.

The next day you two start on packing for the world cup, picking up different pairs of clothing and stuffing them into your bags haphazardly. You were both leaving for Australia within hours, not knowing that you’d come back as world cup champions.

Sitting together on the plane, you were both wrapped up under a blanket during the entire flight, sleeping for a while until you started playing card games together, not being bothered much by your teammates much to your surprise.

The group stages passed by in the blink of an eye, with both you and your girlfriend having masterclasses on the field, your shared room an asylum away from the loud group of trainers that seemingly only enjoyed the power aspect of football.

Beating Switzerland in the round of 16 was easier than you’d thought, but with a hattrick from you there was really no denying Spain’s dominance, quick and instinctively moving, Spain was the team to beat.

The Netherlands were the next team to beat, and it was nothing if not rather simple to beat the footballing giants, they’d managed to slip a goal by your keeper but there was no coming back from the two goals scored.

After that you had to beat one of the most on form teams in the entire tournament, Sweden. It wasn’t as easy this time, but ultimately you got it done without too much fuss, sending them to fight for the bronze medal against the host nation.

And then at last, the final. The final against England, a team that would be so hard to beat, nonetheless, you were ready to send them home with their tails between their legs, and with a goal (that would ultimately win you the golden boot) in the 20th minute you did just that. And so, you returned home to Spain newly crowned as champions of the world.

World champions who had to spend ages making their apartment a home right before the official season started, but not without help from their friends. 2

It became something of a team bonding activity when Mapi invited practically the entire team over to help with the ‘packing problem’, with you only finding out when they all turned up at your door asking to come in.

“María I swear to god, you have to stop inviting people over.” You groan as you open up the door to Alexia’s smiling face, Mapi sitting on a cardboard box further into the apartment.

“We were told you needed help, so we’re here to help.” Alexia says, pushing past you and into the space, the rest of the women following with.

“Alright baby Leòn, where do we start?” Grumbling at Lucy’s words, you point at a section of boxes you thought she’d be able to help with, mainly things that needed building like bookshelves and the couch.

“Okay everyone, some of you are going to help with the easy stuff and some with the more difficult. We’ll make a game out of it, the team that assembles the most furniture and packs up the most boxes wins, I don’t know, a batman figurine?” You speak, some of the girls venturing over to Ona’s side of the room and some coming over to yours, like they already knew what the teams would be.

“Starting in 3…2…1, go.” With that everyone is off, you and Lucy quickly discard the instructions and build the coffee table on free hand, Irene and Ingrid being a bit more careful as they assemble the bookcase.

After 20 minutes, it’s about even with you and Lucy having assembled the coffee table and gone through three or so boxes of random stuff that needed organizing, the rest of the girls on your team having put together more than a few things. But Ona’s team were just as efficient, about 70% of every cardboard box being gone.

Ripping up a new box, Lucy quickly starts laughing quietly, pulling a stuffed lion out of the brown box that she shows to virtually everyone.

“This yours, baby Leòn?” She asks, wiggling it in front of your face. Trying to take it from her, it quickly ends up in Mapi’s hands.

“No way, El Tigre. You still keep him?” She asks you wide eyed, like she couldn’t believe that you’d kept the plush even after all these years.

“Of course, he’s even got a girlfriend now, Ona thought he looked sad all alone in our bed.” Pulling out the small lion that was left in the box, Mapi looks at the small pink bow near its ear and smiles, even if you were technically an adult now, she would never see you as anything but the tiny little baby she’d gotten to be a big sister to at only 4 years of age. The four year old that had chosen the lion stuffie that was currently in her own hands.

She hugs you real tight, the women around the room all looking on in confusion at the two of you and the emotional moment being shared. Slowly she separates from you, a confused look on her face.

“Wait, ‘our’ bed, as in you and Ona share a bed?” She asks, her eyebrows furrowed up in a way that was totally Leòn, your brows furrowing in the exact same way.

“Yeah why wouldn’t we?” You ask your sister, your girlfriend coming up to clutch at your hips, your arm falling around your shoulders. Mapi looks at the two of you as realization dawns on her face, wow she really is oblivious.

“Wait you two…?” She points between you two quickly as Ona leans up to kiss your cheek, catching on to the memo much faster than you had.

“Amor, did you forget to tell your sister that we’re dating?” Ona asks, looking up at you with that adoring kind of look that makes everything so clear for everyone, of course you were dating.

“Oops…?” Mapi slaps your arm as you look at her cheekily, her own girlfriend coming up to place a kiss against her cheek, the two oblivious sisters both turning a bright shade of red.

During your life you had kept few secrets from your sister, but this one was probably the best one, even if it wasn’t meant to be a secret.

Like the saying goes, the best kept secrets are the ones never told, and well that was fitting for you.

#woso #barcelona femeni #woso imagines #ona batlle x reader #ona batlle #i'm losing on this fifa game #oops #i won #mapi leon #mapi leon x reader #ingrid engen #woso x reader

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mianexil · 2 days

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◇ POV: He heard/saw how someone was planning to harm you ◇

◇ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ◇ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ◇

🪷 [ The reaction of the Windbreaker boys when they heard/saw that someone was going to harass you. Don't worry, cutie, you're under the protection of these boys ]

🪷 [ I hope someone will check out the Easter Egg I left here ]

◇ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ◇ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ◇

ㅡ Umemiya, Kaji, Nirei, Kiryu

Umemiya

A long-awaited weekend. How pleasant it becomes with the onset of spring. There is even a desire to go out on warm evenings, not to sit at home in a plaid.

And so, one of these evenings. You took your boyfriend out to hang out at a club with great music.

Umemiya stood leaning on the bar and watched with a smile as you enjoyed the music on the dance floor.

Those two jerks were also standing there.

《 Hey, look at the girlie in a black dress on the dance floor there. She has pretty legs... I bet I'm going to give her a good slap 》

The guy rushed towards you, but a step before the unsuspecting you, someone grabbed him tightly by the scruff of the neck. And then he noticed how several pairs of eyes were staring at him rapaciously, and Hajime towered behind him. It seemed that he was about to crush the boy with his menacing gaze full of contempt.

The poor guys did not suspect that if you hang out in a club, then you are surrounded by your boyfriend and at least two Heavenly Kings of Bofurin.

After 10 minutes, this idiot and his friend were already kneeling outside the clubhouse in front of Umemiya and Hiragi, and swore that they would never even look at girls askance again in their lives. While you, without suspecting anything, continued to dance in the club with Tsubakino.

After this incident, Umemiya increased patrols around such places.

Kaji

The other day, Kaji got 2 tickets to a rock concert by some aspiring band "Kessoku Band". This boy loved noisy places, and you didn't mind. So in the evening you went to the semi-basement concert hall together.

You had a great time enjoying the sound of rock music, and then there was a 10-minute break between songs, during which everyone bought drinks, talked, and so on. Kaji was buying 2 glasses of fruit juice for you when he heard a strange guy talking on the phone next to him.

《 Yes, I have already found the right chick. I'm going to give her alcohol to drink and have fun with her tonight. Huh, yeah, as usual, dude. All right, bye, I'm off 》

The vein on Kaji's forehead had already started to swell from hearing the disgusting idea, and when that asshole moved in your direction, Ren lost all control. The glasses of juice he bought for you crashed loudly on the floor.

You heard a loud noise from the crowd, but when you came up, the guy lying on the floor under Kaji already looked more like minced meat than a person. You had to pull your boyfriend away from that guy so Ren wouldn't kill him.

Is it worth saying that you are now banned from that concert hall? However, Kaji has never regretted what he did. He's ready to kill anyone who's going to hurt you.

Nirei

After the exams, the Furin members decided to celebrate at the club. You were relaxing with them, finishing off a sweet milkshake. After active brain work and a little stress, you wanted more sweets.

《One more milkshake, please》

After making a request to the bartender, you were distracted by some noise from your group. It looks like Sakura and Sugishita started showing their fangs to each other again and you headed towards them before this catfight blew up the whole club.

At this time, the bartender placed your order on the countertop and your sweet drink, decorated with whipped cream and a cherry on top, was waiting for your return.

At this moment, Nirey, who was actively writing something down in his notebook, looked up and there was such a picture in front of him: two strange guys approach the steam counter and one of them quickly pours some powder into a glass, and then both retire from the crime scene.

Nirei immediately tensed up. For this young collector of information, bandit tricks were known, which are popular for industry in places such as clubs and bars. The yellow-haired boy was already heading towards the bar to inform the bartender about what had happened, but when he saw you coming up and taking the drink in your hands, his hair stood on end and he rushed towards you with all speed.

Akihiko literally put his hand between your lips and the glass at the last moment.

《 Y/N, DON'T DRINK!! 》

He was noticeably nervous at that moment. You had to calm him down, and then Nirey told you and the guys from Furin what happened.

Of course, the guys quickly found these scum and handed them over to the guards, not forgetting to leave them a couple of bruises for prevention.

For the rest of the evening, Nirey did not leave your side and brought you drinks himself, carefully watching how they were prepared.

Kiryu

Kiryu invited you to a street fair. There were various counters and stands with geek themes: from games to anime and manga. Different lanterns and garlands, illuminating the evening street with warm light, created a sweet atmosphere. You both enjoyed spending time buying different stuff like key chains with paired characters, stickers, etc.

At some point, Mitsuki went to the bathroom, leaving you at the stand with "Love Is Hard For Otaku"

Standing at the sink, he heard some guys talking from the far corner.

《 Did you see that girl in the blue and white striped skirt? She's pretty. Let's buy her a drink and offer her a ride on a bike. Maybe we'll get something tonight 》

They were definitely talking about the very skirt that Kiryu helped you choose this morning. When these guys came out of the bathroom, he finished washing his hands and followed right behind them.

Making his way through the crowd, Mitsuki saw you with some kind of glass of juice in your hands, talking to those idiots. It seemed like you were trying to politely refuse, but they kept pressing hard.

Suddenly, someone's warm arms wrapped around your waist from behind and Kiryu leaned over your shoulder, drinking from the glass in your hand through a straw.

《 I'm back, love 》

Then he looked up at the annoying guys from under his brows. Mitsuki had the same relaxed expression when viewed at first glance. But your boyfriend wasn't smiling at those two idiots. It was a silent warning.

A cold light flashed in his green eyes.

The two guys hesitated slightly, muttered something, and left dejectedly. You still didn't understand what it was, but after that, you calmly continued your date, enjoying the rest of the evening.

◇ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ◇ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ㅡ ◇

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 day

Text

Ticketmaster jacks us for billions so it can pocket millions

NEXT WEEKEND (June 7–9), I'm in AMHERST, NEW YORK to keynote the 25th Annual Media Ecology Association Convention and accept the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity.

Corruption is a system of concentrated gains and diffused costs: cheaters make a lot of money, and their victims each lose a little. The cheater has a much larger pool of money to spend on keeping the scam going, and the victims need to pay again to fight the cheater.

Actually, it's worse. The victim pays once when they are cheated, then, they pay a second time (in time and/or money) when they fight back against the cheater.

But in order to fight back effectively, the victims need to band together – it doesn't make sense for one victim to pony up to counter the cheater, because the cheater stole from a lot of people and can therefore spend far more than the victim lost and still come out ahead.

This is the third time the victim pays: they pay the "collective action" tax of locating other victims, agreeing to a common strategy for fighting back, and then coordinating with all those co-victims to keep the campaign up.

But actually, it's even worse. Because most corruption isn't just dishonest, it's incredibly wasteful. Corruption involves stealing ten dollars from you to make a dime for the cheater. The polluter who gives you cancer rather than cleaning up their industrial process costs you millions in medical bills – and maybe costs your family the lifelong trauma and expense of living with your death. They pocket an infinitesimal fraction of those costs. The rest is just wasted. They're setting your house on fire to spare themselves the cost of a match to light their cigar.

This is yet another way in which the deck is stacked in favor of corruption. A victim of corruption is placed in a condition of precarity and misery from which is it difficult to marshal a counteroffensive. The cheater, meanwhile, is made stronger and more comfortable by their corrupt activities. Immiserated victims must undertake the hard, ongoing work of acting together to be effective against the cheater. The cheater answers only to themself, avoiding the collective action costs that the victims pay every time they seek to act.

All of this is why we have governments. A government is (said to be) a democratically accountable way to meet the concentrated power of the corrupt with the concentrated power of the victims of corruption. Governments are many things, but they are especially a way of solving the collective action problem of enforcing the rules against cheaters. This is partially in service to justice – no one likes to be cheated, and a society of rampant and routine cheating is unstable and prone to collapse.

But it's also a matter of efficiency. While it makes a certain kind of selfish sense for the cheater to liquidate our dollar to make their penny, from a societal perspective, it's a catastrophe. Letting Wall Street slumlords corner regional markets in single family dwellings makes large amounts of money for their investors, but it costs those cities unimaginable amounts in public services as their housing stock decays, homelessness spikes, and schools and public services crumble for want of local taxes.

The paltry sums that Flint's creditors extracted by insisting on switching to a chlorinated water-supply that leeched lead out of the city's water infrastructure are crumbs compared to the vast, lifelong costs of giving an all the children in a city lead poisoning, to say nothing of the costs to the city as a city nor forever tainted by this unspeakably evil crime.

This is why inequality – and its handmaiden, monopoly – is so dangerous. The more concentrated private wealth becomes, the harder it is for the state to police, and the more likely it is that this private wealth will corrupt our officials. We see this all around us – for example, when Supreme Court justices receive lavish gifts from billionaires whom they later rule in favor of:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/06/clarence-thomas/#harlan-crow

Through the neoliberal era – the past forty years of billionaire-friendly Reaganomics – we've seen increasing concentration in wealth, coupled to increasing collusion between the wealthy and the government to protect the corrupt against the public. Think of the IRS's long decay, in which it turned a blind eye to increasingly blatant tax evasion by the ultra-wealthy, while training its fire on working people who fudge a few bucks on their returns:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/13/taxes-are-for-the-little-people/#leona-helmsley-2022

Likewise, think of the governmental obsession with "welfare cheats," no matter what the cost to families who are kicked off food stamps and Medicaid:

https://armandalegshow.com/episode/medicaid-enrollment/

All this in the midst of a corporate crime-wave that is not only unpunished, it's utterly unremarked-upon:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/07/solar-panel-for-a-sex-machine/#a-single-proposition

This emphasis on benefits cheating and indifference to corporate crime really highlights the drag that corruption places on a society's efficiency. Even if you believe that there's a lot of welfare fraud (there isn't!), the dollar in "undeserved" food stamps spent by a cheater costs society…a dollar. Meanwhile the dollar that a corporate criminal makes by skimping on workplace safety costs society thousands of dollars to care for the worker who is then maimed on the job.

This is very easy to see in the world of corporate environmental crime. The "social cost of carbon" measures the total cost of pollution: the injuries caused by marinating in fossil fuel extraction, processing and combustion byproducts; as well as the loss of life and property from climate events. These costs are blistering, so high that every MWh of renewable power we bring online saves us $100 in social carbon costs:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/30/posiwid/#social-cost-of-carbon

Governments that sleep on corporate crime are objectively governing badly. That's why the antitrust failures of every US presidential administration from Carter to Trump are so damning: they set the stage for later corruption that would not only be carried out on a larger scale than smaller firms could accomplish, but also for those large firms to corrupt the political process.

This is the Ticketmaster story. The superpredator that is today's Ticketmaster is the end-point of a series of ever-more corrupt mergers, waved through by every-more pliable presidential administrations. It was bad enough when Bush I allowed Ticketmaster to gobble up Ticketron in 1990. After all, the company had already proven itself to be a cesspit of corrupt, bullying activity.

The Ticketron acquisition kicked off a two-decade-long corporate crime-spree that produced a mountain of evidence proving Ticketmaster's nature as an inherently corrupt enterprise that acquired power for the purpose of abusing that power, at the expense of creative workers, the public, and the owners of venues:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taking-on-ticketmaster-67440/

Despite this, the Obama administration waved through an acquisition that was obviously far more dangerous that the Ticketron caper: the 2010 merger between Ticketmaster and the concert promoter Live Nation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Nation_Entertainment#History

After a decade and a half of vertical monopoly power – Ticketmaster/Live Nation controlling ticketing, promotion and venues – the company has grown from a dangerous octopus with its tentacles twined around the industry into a kraken that is strangling every kind of live event and everyone who earns a living from them. This has produced an ever-more obvious string of scandals, most notably the company's assault on Swifties:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/20/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-will-eventually-stop/

A combination of mounting public outrage (with Swifties at the vanguard) and the Biden administration's generational enthusiasm for smashing corporate power has led, at last, to a reckoning with the Ticketmaster kraken:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/30/nix-fix-the-tix/#something-must-be-done-there-we-did-something

Ticketmaster is a famously opaque organization. When Rebecca Giblin and I were working on Chokepoint Capitalism, our book on monopoly and creative labor markets, we were able to speak on the record to insiders from every part of the industry, except live performance:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

As soon as we raised Ticketmaster/Live Nation with club owners and other events industry insiders, they'd go pale and quiet and tell us that they didn't feel comfortable staying on the record. TM/LN has a well-deserved mafia-style reputation for savage retaliation against snitches.

With the DOJ Antitrust Division chasing Ticketmaster through the courts, we're starting to get a rare, on-the-record glimpse of TM/LN's operations, as its internal documents find their pay into court records. In response Ticketmaster's spokesliars have embarked on an epic spin campaign, to "contextualize" these damning numbers and paint the company as a weak, low-margin business that has been unfairly set-upon by the bullies at the DOJ.

In his BIG newsletter, Matt Stoller offers a spectacular, must-read breakdown of these documents and the ensuing spin:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/is-ticketmaster-telling-the-truth

Stoller starts with Ticketmaster's insistence that it is barely profitable. Though this is true on paper, the numbers just don't add up. For one thing, anyone who's bought a ticket can see, printed on its face, TM's junk fees: "a 'service fee' without any obvious service [and] a 'convenience fee' that is anything but convenient."

Far more damning is a comparison between the price of a Ticketmaster ticket in the US vs the EU. The EU has legally mandated competitive ticketing, and the tickets there are far cheaper. A US ticket to see Taylor Swift will run you $2,600 – the same ticket costs $340 in the EU. As Stoller writes:

An American could fly to Paris, spend a few nights at a nice hotel, see a Taylor Swift concert, and fly back, for less than it costs to see that same show in the U.S.

How to make sense of this contradiction? How can Ticketmaster show such a low profit margin on its books but somehow end up costing event-goers such an absurd premium?

Start with the fact that Ticketmaster has three businesses, not just one. They sell tickets, but they also promote concerts (that is, front the money for personnel, travel and marketing), and they also own a bunch of the largest and most profitable venues in the country.

This allows them to play a shell-game that's very similar to (and possibly not actually different from) money-laundering, where money is shuffled between entities in order to shield it from creditors, suppliers or tax agents:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/explosive-new-documents-unearthed

But this presents a problem for Ticketmaster. They're a publicly traded company and their investors demand high returns. And unlike performers or venue owners, investors have power over Ticketmaster management. Keeping "margin per ticket" number as low as possible lets Ticketmaster minimize the revenue it has to share with the people who actually do the work and invest the capital in live performances. But for investors, they need to show another number, one that's as high as possible, to keep the investors happy.

That number is "Adjusted Operating Income" or AOI. While gross margins are the difference between the face value of a ticket and the sum remitted to the venue and the performer, AOI factors in all the other revenue TM/LN books from that ticket, like kickbacks. TM/LN's AOI is very healthy: it's 37% on tickets and 61% on promotions.

Those sums delight TM/LN's investors, and they express their joy through lavish executive compensation packages. CEO Michael Rapino is America's fifth-highest paid CEO, at $139m/year (that's eight times the Fortune 500 average). His sidekick Joe Berchtold is America's highest paid CFO, at $54m. The total AOI for TM/LN is $732m/year – and 19% of that is being paid to two of its execs.

But LN/TM has a third line of business: operating venues. The AOI for these venues is just 1.7%. If this were a normal, cutthroat business, you'd expect those same return-focused investors to insist on their handsomely compensated execs selling off that low-margin turkey. But nevertheless, TM/LN keeps those venues on its books.

When those execs talk to the public, they use the poor profit margins of ticketing and the poor AOI on venues to plead poverty: "how can we be a monopoly when we're barely scraping by?"

But when they talk to the investors who decide whether to pay them 800% of the S&P500 average, they are more forthcoming.

Keeping the margins low on tickets – and making up the money with kickbacks and other corrupt payments – means that potential rival ticketing firms can't afford to get into the business. Without the venue and promotion business, those rivals wouldn't be able to command kickbacks. They'd have to subsist on the rock-bottom margins that are competitive with Ticketmaster.

Likewise those venues: ownership of key venues lets Ticketmaster/Live Nation force out credible rivals in important markets, and keep new ones from emerging, because again, they'd have to make a living on that paltry 1.7% AOI (or the even lower profit margins!).

As Joe Berchtold, the highest-paid CFO in America, told an analyst:

I don't think Concerts AOI per fan is a logical way to look at it. I think if you look at how we've talked about our business, we've talked about our business across the multiple pieces. So you have to look at it, what's the concerts plus sponsorship plus ticketing AOI per fan.

Berchtold is paid roughly $26,000/hour. Those words take roughly 25 seconds to utter, so that's a $7.20 explanation, but it contains a wealth of information – it's basically the DoJ's case in a nutshell.

But Stoller points out a curious fact that isn't captured here. Remember when I told you that TM/LN's NOI is $732m/year? What I didn't mention is the company's gross revenue: $16.7 billion.

When TM/LN talks about how shitty their business is, and therefore they can't be a monopoly, this is the trump card. How could a company creaming off a mere $732 million off $16.7 billion in gross revenue be a monopolist with "pricing power"?

This is where understanding corruption helps clarify our understanding and cut through the bullshit. Corruption is vastly wasteful. In order to extract $732m from $16.7b, TM/LN has to engage in a lot of wasteful and corrupt activities. They have to bribe other key players in the system, spend vast fortunes on lobbying, and generally do a lot of unproductive things with their money.

This is concentrated gains and diffuse losses. In order to command the highest salary of any American CFO, Berchtold has to cook up and maintain this process. In order to earn his $139m/year, Rapino has to play mafia don and keep everyone is his supply chain sufficiently terrorized or sufficiently greased to maintain omerta.

These two men take home a fifth of Ticketmaster's net income because they possess a rare and valuable skill. They are able to obfuscate a corrupt arrangement, enrobing it in layers of performative complexity, until the average musician, concertgoer, or lawmaker, can't understand it. Any attempt to unravel it will induce a deadly, soporific confusion. The investment industry term for his is MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over), the weaponization of complexity. A skilled MEGO artist can convince you that the pile of shit they're peddling is so large that there must be a pony under it somewhere.

Here's Stoller, de-MEGOfying the TM/LN story:

Live Nation has a giant capital intensive unprofitable division of putting on concerts, from which it skims for its real cash flow. But this leverage among different subsidiaries means that it has an incentive to push up the cost of concerts overall, not just for its own profit. This incentive operates in two different ways. One, since ticket fees are based on the price of a ticket, Live Nation seeks higher prices for tickets so it can move more cash to its Ticketmaster subsidiary. And two, since Live Nation itself gets rebates by overpaying for venues, it has the incentive to push up the cost of shows. No one can undercut Live Nation, as it’s a monopoly.

You might think that this is a lot of mental energy to expend on understanding live performances. If you're not trying to see Taylor Swift, does any of this matter?

It assuredly does. Understanding how Ticketmaster's shell-game works is critical to understanding the similar shell-games played by many other kinds of monopolists, who have wrapped their tentacles around all the other parts of our lives. As David Dayen and Lindsay Owens write for The American Prospect, the companies that avoided monopoly prosecution by ripping off suppliers have bled those suppliers dry, and now they're coming for their customers:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-06-03-age-of-recoupment/

From groceries to plane tickets, rent to cab rides, Amazon to Ticketmaster, we are living through the "Age of Recoupment," when the long con of lowering prices to secure monopolies flips enters it final stage: greedflating the shit out of customers, and using the monopolist's power over regulators to avoid consequences.

Today, everywhere consumers turn, whether they are shopping for groceries at the local Kroger or for plane tickets online, they are being gouged. Landlords are quietly utilizing new software to band together and raise rents. Uber has been accused of raising the price of rides when a customer’s phone battery is drained. Ticketmaster layers on additional fees as you move through the process of securing seats to your favorite artist’s upcoming show. Amazon’s secret pricing algorithm, code-named “Project Nessie,” was designed to identify products where it could raise prices, on the expectation that competitors would follow suit. Companies are forcing you into monthly subscriptions for a tube of toothpaste. Banks have crept up the price of credit, so customers who cannot afford price-gouging in their everyday transactions get a second round of price-gouging when they put purchases on credit. Expedia is using demographic and purchase history data to set hotel pricing for an audience of one: you.

When these companies end up in front of angry attorneys general, DOJ lawyers, or an FTC investigation, they'll use the Ticketmaster/Live Nation playbook to try and wriggle off the hook. They'll point to some barely-profitable (or money-losing) part of their business and say, "How could a monopolist possibly be running a business this shitty?"

If the DOJ makes its case against Ticketmaster, it will set a precedent, both in court and in policy circles, for understanding how a monopolist's corruption works. Monopolists aren't always businesses with gigantic margins. Like other criminals, their corruption can produce spectacular wealth and spectacular waste at the same time.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/03/aoi-aoi-oh/#concentrated-gains-vast-diffused-losses

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k0juki · 2 days

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Wolf in sheep's clothing

Joost Klein x fem!reader

Warnings: (Joost is not famous in this!) stalking, bad behaviour, maybe paranoia? mentions of killing and mentions of dead people... NOT EDITED!

English is not my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes or errors!

Wc. over 1500

---

You always thought that you met Joost by accident. But was it really? With him you never know, and now you were pretty sure that it wasn't by accident. He is a man with charm, that's a very dangerous thing.

His blue eyes held more darkness than you had ever seen in anyone else. But there still was something in them, you just hoped it wasn't too late for him.

And even now that you aren't together, you still hoped there was some way to save him.

"By safe on your way home." Said your mother through the phone you had between your ear and shoulder.

"Yeah mom, I will. Don't worry, okay? I love you, bye." You ended the call and made your way home on the busy streets of Amsterdam. It was getting colder this time of year and you feared it would start snowing in a few weeks.

It was a short trip home from the grocery store. Just around the corner, by the book store, where you always walk by. But you tried to walk here only during the day, not night. You saw in the news many times before how some doubtful people robbed other people near your apartment. This wasn't the best street to live on, but it was still your home after all.

You hated that you had to lie to your mother, but it was for the best. She knew about your and Joost break up and she worried about you. And she would definitely get crazy if you told her the truth about your real parting.

The place you loved no matter what. Yes, it has some advantages and disadvantages, but what hasn't. And after you and Joost broke up, you tried to avoid this this shortcut as much as possible. You always thought that someone was watching you going through here, and now that you and Joost weren't together, you felt this feeling growth.

You speed up a little and adjust your jacket around you with bag full of food in one hand and the other in your pocket. "It's alright Y/n, no-one is here, there's nothing to be scared of." You kept telling yourself, you were ready for everything.

But it wasn't this unfamiliar gaze that scared you. No, you knew it very well who exactly it was. He is the one you should avoid, to hide from and to fear. Maybe you didn't know where he was, but you knew he was close.

"Y/n"

It was so quiet, you almost didn't hear it. You stopped in your tracks and slowly turned around. It was him, in all his glory. You didn't say anything. You couldn't, it was like he took all the oxygen and you just couldn't breathe.

"Y/n" he repeated and took a step towards you. But you couldn't move, it was like you were glued to the floor. Looking closer at him, you saw behind his glasses how his right eye was a bit swollen and purple around the corner. He didn't look good, in fact he scared you.

He stopped a few centimeters before you, practically breathing right in your face and you were sure, you were breathing just as hard.

"Wha..." you couldn't bring yourself to even speak properly, but you had to for your sake. "What are you doing here?" It was a simple question, but you didn't expect him to answer truthfully.

"I'm here to see you."

"No," Stepping back, you took your other hand out of your pocket, keeping distance between you and him. "You can't be here."

"Why not." This dull look in his ocean eyes wasn't the one you fell in love with, he wasn't your Joost. The one that cared for everyone so much all the time, even though he didn't have to. This wasn't your Joost that told you how much he loves you right when you woke up in the morning and before you fell asleep in his hold.

This wasn't him. This was someone else.

"You know why." Came out as a whisper. "We are done." You turned back around and continued your way home, you didn't stop even when you heard his voice calling after you.

"You can't keep doing this Y/n!"

He wasn't coming after you and you were glad, you just hoped you won't have to see him again.

As soon as you saw your apartment, you sighed and walked inside the building. He was gone.

Opening the door, you were greeted by loud meowing. It was like your cat brought you out of the trance. He was hungry and rubbed his head against your leg.

Kefir. He was a present from Joost and the name was an idea from him too. He knew how much you liked milk, so you immediately agreed. Your little nonstop meowing little Kefir.

You put the full bag on the counter after you made sure you locked the door. That night you couldn't sleep, how could you, and all because you saw something you shouldn't. It didn't had to end this way, but he had made his choice.

How can you hurt someone, let alone kill. This was twisted. Beyond disguising. And what was worse, you didn't told that to anyone, too scared to say something to someone. But you made your choice to break up with him. It didn't make you feel any less guilty, but you had to do something, anything at this point.

And you knew that if you looked out of the window, behind curtains, you would see him here standing with a cigarette in his mouth. How he was watching you every night for the past month since you broke up.

He scared you. Joost scared you.

---

You woke up later than usual, but there was no wonder. When you went to sleep, the sun was already up. When you looked out of the window, he was no longer here.

"Are you hungry?" You asked the cat and he just meowed as you made your way to the kitchen. You put kefir granules and got ready for the day.

Then you made your way to work and after the whole day, you had to say, you had enough. All those rude people and their bizarre ideas how you could do your job better.

When you went home you couldn't help but notice certain things. He wasn't here. Normally he was right there waiting in some dark corner watching over you or going behind you in crowded streets.

You didn't think much of it, thinking he finally stopped following you around like a lost puppy. You took a deep breath and stepped inside the building and made your way to the fourth floor. As you opened the door, you knew he was there, in your home that used to be your both.

You immediately noticed, but it wasn't for your cat, because he came to greet you as soon as you opened.

You knew he was here because he didn't follow you home. It was a strange thing for him to do, but you got used to it.

"How did you get in?"

You heard his chuckle and saw him step to the light of your living room.

"I don't want you here Joost. I made that clear." You said to him feeling confident, but that didn't mean you feared him any less.

"I didn't mean to scare you that night, you know?" He admitted and made his way slowly to you.

"Do you..." You began "Do you want me dead?"

He didn't answer that, you didn't expect him to. He looked at you and after so long, you finally saw something in his eyes other than emptiness. It was like he recognised you.

"Dead?" Joost asked and tilted his head to the side. "Y/n, I don't want you dead."

"Then why do you keep doing this? Why are you scaring me? Why did you kill that guy?"

"I love you, can't you see that?"

He looked desperate and ashamed of himself. Like he didn't recognise himself too. Looking down he pulled you closer by your waist and put his head on top of yours. He squeeze your waist and then whispered.

"You don't get it, I had to do it."

"Why?"

"Because of you. For you."

Now it was your turn to be quiet. Too scared to say something. You didn't return the hug he was holding you in and he noticed. You closed your eyes as you felt them fill with tears of psychical pain and regret for someone's life they couldn't live.

"No, it was always going to end this way."

This only made him hold you closer and harder. You took a deep breath and whispered.

"It doesn't have to end this way."

---

Don't copy or translate my work. Also the picture is not mine, credit goes to owner.

A/n: idk how I should feel about this... it's not edited so... :))

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pinkyqil · 8 hours

Text

Baby it raining outside // lia wälti x r

Masterlist

A/n: hope y'all enjoy the fic feel free to send in requests or your opinions about the fics have written so far, obviously the way leah is described in the fic doesn't mean she acts like this in rl hope you enjoyed reading.

One thing you and lia could agree on was that you both hated the rainy days. the sound and smell of it especially how the humidity changes whenever it rains.

so today both of you decide to spend it indoors seeing you both didn't have anything scheduled even.

though you don't enjoy rainy days. it was the best days to wacht movies and snuggle up and drink some hot coco. seeing that was today's plans.

As you where finishing up setting things down lia came into the room looking like she's seen a ghost.

"What's up with you wälti". you asked her with a teasing tone.

"Nothing babe".she said not making eye contact while fidgeting with her hands.

"Do you really expect me to belive that so last time what's going on".

"Please don't be mad I might have agreed for leah to join us tonight".

"And why might that be". you asked with your hands going through your hair. it wasn't that you hated leah. it's just that it was quite obvious that she liked lia and would always try to intervene with you and lia's relationship which you hated.

You could stand her little crush cause lia was yours not hers. but her butting in on your dates together was starting to get you.

"She called me asking if I had any plans saying she was lonely and I just offered for her to join us".

"Can't she make her own plans and why would you invite her". You we're all irritated at the thought of leah interrupting yet another moment between you and your girlfriend.

"I'm sorry baby i promise to make it up too you" she said looking sorry.

"Whatever when is she coming?". You asked

"She should be he-".interrupted by the sound of the door bell ringing.

"Looks like she's here already".

"I'll get the door". lia told you

"Make sure she takes of her shoes and dries herself off I don't need spect of rain around our home". You told her

"Don't worry I will". She said before going to open the door.

Hearing there footsteps as the headed down to the living room you could hear leah giggling about something. Sometimes you felt wiping whatever smile was on her face whenever she was around lia.

The movie went well expect when Leah tried getting closer to lia and kept complaining about the movie best part of your day was when she left you could finally have your girlfriend to yourself instead of williamson being all over her.

"I'm sorry for how she was acting tonight".lia said trying to apologize.

"Obviously I'm not okay with her being here today but next time give me a heads up whenever she calls especially if on our date night". you told her

"So do you forgive me?".

"Of course I do could never be at you for that long". you told her as you pulled her in for a deep kiss.

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buckleyreid · 10 hours

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This twitter thing is so stupid I'm not even gonna talk about it, all I'll say is that it probably isn't even getting the traction they wish it did. I'm sorry to say, but actors get hacked all the fucking time, no one cares. He's not gonna get fired over shit like this.

What I do want to say is that I've seen some people scared that Lou might choose to leave the show to avoid the crazies but guys I wouldn't worry too much, while I'm not inside his head and I don't know the guy obviously, there's so much more to his job on 911 than what goes on online.

It's hard for us to understand it because we live the show through an online perspective, but the actors have a much different way of living it. Their routine doesn't revolve around us. They read the scripts, they discuss them with each other, they're on set together, they form friendships, they film the scenes and then they get paid. None of that involves us, so I personally don't think Lou would throw all of that away because of a couple thousand weirdos online. Especially when the scope of the show is so much bigger than that, I mean let's be generous and say there's 10k people consistently posting and interacting with hate, compare that to the 5 mil people watching the show and they are nothing but drop in the ocean.

I may be proven wrong who knows but once again, I'm not gonna worry until I have a reason to.

#this is just another thing people will inevitably forget about #especially by the time the show is back on lmao #lou ferrigno jr #tommy kinard #bucktommy

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hippolotamus · 2 days

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Sentence Sunday ✨

I can show you lies 'Cause I'm a real tough kid, I can handle my shit They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did Lights, camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die I was grinning like I'm winning, I was hitting my marks 'Cause I can do it with a broken heart

Beloved mutuals and pocket pals... I honestly don't know what to say for myself. This is a case of 'I listened to a song too much, I had an idea I knew I was never gonna write' turned 'I'll just throw it out as a prompt' --> 'I'll just make a moodboard' --> 'Oh god, I've written over 1k words in place of a summary'. SO. Have... whatever this is, T Swift influenced Buddie actor au. Under the cut to save your dash.

Honestly, if the world still exists in the morning, Eddie Diaz doesn't really give a fuck. His girlfriend left, claiming he's still not over his late wife, and his teenage son, the last thread connecting him to said wife, went to go live with his grandparents. After, of course, blaming Eddie for pushing 'yet another one' away. Christopher wouldn't even look at him before he went.

Then there's Anita Mills, his agent, who is probably a few blood pressure points away from a stroke at this point. Assuming she doesn't fire him first.

Let her, he thinks, grabbing a bottle of Maker's Mark from the cabinet. He has a string of blockbuster films to his name, not to mention a commendable collection of Oscar's and Emmy's. Not that they made his parents proud or kept his wife from leaving him before she died. But they exist as proof that he's had a successful career. Between investments and liquid assets he has more money than he would know what to do with in a hundred lifetimes. So, fuck it.

Eddie breaks the wax seal and twists off the red cap. He doesn't even bother with a glass, not really seeing a need. He's never been a big drinker, but lately his tolerance has grown considerably. Indulging until he passes out seems like an ideal use of his time right now anyway. If he wakes up after? Well, he'll consider that a success.

------------------

"Hey! What the hell?!" Eddie manages, coughing and trying not to choke on the ice cold water hitting his body. He opens his eyes to see Mills towering over him, glowering and holding an empty vase. He swipes a hand across his face. "Seriously, Anita, what the fuck was that?"

"I don't know, Eddie, you tell me." She disappears for less than a minute, returning with a hand towel she unceremoniously drops on his chest. "Help me out here. What's today?"

He wriggles himself to something resembling sitting and leans back against the coffee table. "What's today?" He parrots back dumbly.

Anita crosses her arms and quirks an eyebrow. "I asked you first."

Today, today, today. Where was he supposed to be- "Shit! The interview with, uh, fuck." He snaps his fingers and racks his brain trying to remember a name or a face. All he knows is they're important.

"Claudette Collins. Very good, Eddie, you got it part way."

"Give me ten minutes, I'll put myself together and we can go," he says, fighting the violent wave of nausea that hits as he scrambles to stand up.

"Save your poor carpet from getting puked on and sit the hell down."

"What? No, I can-"

"Eddie," Anita interjects, "the interview was five hours ago. The interview with the Claudette Collins. The one that took me months of phone calls, groveling and cashing in favors to get for you."

Fuck. "Anita, I'm so sorry. How-"

"Save it." Anita holds her hand up, effectively silencing him. It takes him back to being seven years old and having to explain why his dad's truck had an enormous dent in it. She rests her hands on her hips, pacing back and forth as she purses her lips. Eventually she sits in the leather armchair situated in the corner. "Eddie, you and I have known each other a long time. A long time. I've been your agent since you walked into my shitty office back in Dallas. Given your impressive display of awards, I'd say we've done pretty well together."

She inhales sharply, rubbing at her temple. Anita doesn't mince words, it's part of why he's always liked her. He never has to question where he stands. She says 'jump' and he knows exactly how high. It's not difficult to guess what's coming next.

"Eddie, I know you're going through a rough patch. What you're dealing with is hard enough without seeing it splashed on every tabloid and trashy website. Not to mention none of those places knows the real story, so it's all a bunch of 'she said he might have said' bullshit. But you've made it through tougher things." Anita doesn't need to clarify that she's talking about Shannon's death and how his parents tried to take Christopher. "I don't know what's happening this time, but I need to take a step back. My wife has made it very clear that all of my attempts at stress management are not working and that if I can't get it under control I shouldn't be surprised when I come home to an empty house. So."

Eddie swallows, waiting for the inevitable and cursing himself for pretending he wouldn't care.

"I've talked to a few friends in the business and found someone willing to take you on."

What?

"What? You're not firing me?"

Anita's features soften. "Technically, yes. I am very much dropping you like a scorpion I found in my boots. However, like I said, I found someone willing to work with you. The name is Bobby Nash. He runs a smallish agency but don't let that throw you. He's cobbled together some pretty impressive talent. I assume you've heard of Evan Buckley?"

Eddie scoffs. "Of course I have. Who hasn't? Christ, he's everywhere you look. I can't pass a damn bus stop without seeing his face." A few details begin to click into place within Eddie's muddled brain. "Bobby Nash is his agent?"

"Sure is. And we all know the stories about Evan's past aren't the type you trot out at parties. My advice is that you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, go with Nash and do whatever he tells you to do. He even has a role in mind for you, costarring with Buckley. What do you say?"

What else was there to say? If Eddie didn't want to get blacklisted or wind up as some washed up tragic Hollywood story, being gossiped about where everyone - including his son - could see what a failure he was...

"I guess I say- when can I meet him?"

"Good answer." Anita clasps her hands together and gives him her signature smirk that tells him she approves. "Just leave everything to me."

Up to this point, Eddie has trusted Anita implicitly with all the messy business that comes with having him for a client. Why stop now?

tagged by @loveyouanyway @spotsandsocks @wikiangela @tizniz

np tagging @actuallyitsellie @epicbuddieficrecs @a-noble-dragon @mountedeverest @fortheloveofbuddie

@weewootruck @saybiwithme @bidisasterevankinard @shipperqueen6 @ramonaflow

@taketheplanspinitsideways @dangerpronebuddie @theotherbuckley @stereopticons @kitteneddiediaz

@daffi-990 @diazsdimples @your-catfish-friend

@thekristen999 @filet-o-feelings @underwaterninja13 @lizzie-bennetdarcy @rainbow-nerdss

@steadfastsaturnsrings @inell @jesuisici33 @rmd-writes

@shortsighted-owl @eddiebabygirldiaz @queerbuckleys @bi-buckrights @elvensorceress

@bucksbiawakening @giddyupbuck @hoodie-buck @indestructibleheart @ladydorian05

@lemonzestywrites @monsterrae1 @statueinthestone @slightlyobsessedwitheverything @the-likesofus

@thewolvesof1998 @watchyourbuck @welcometololaland @wildlife4life and anyone else who wants to 😘

#hippo writes #buddie wip #actors au #not what i saw myself doing today #but when is that ever true #fic: lights camera bitch smile #seven sentence sunday #sentence sunday #sunday sentences #do i know what i'm doing?#not a clue

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jhopezwrld · 2 days

Note

Hitting you with some fluff. Steve proposing after everything that happens in season 4 (let's pretend that it didn't end on a cliffhanger and everyone lived and is ok)

WAIIIIT this is so fucking cute omg okkk i got u friend

steve's large hands caressed your waist as the two of you lay face to face on his bed. the open window by his door casts a purple-ish hue on the two of you, a delicate reminder of the dusk surrendering to the dawn. silence wrapped around you both, serene and comforting, until steve broke it with a hesitant voice.

"so, i've been thinking..."

"uh oh, that's never good," you teased, but he silenced you with a gentle smile.

"hey, i'm serious. i've been thinking about us." His words hung in the air, pregnant with meaning, and you nodded, silently encouraging him to continue.

"so much has happened in the past few years," he began again, his voice tinged with vulnerability. "we've been through so much together, and we're still so young, but... i've been thinking about this for so long. fighting interdimensional monsters for the past three years has really aged me, and we could have died at literally any time and i—"

you placed a gentle hand on his chest, urging him to pause and collect his thoughts. "breathe, baby," you whispered, your voice like a soothing balm to his brain.

he nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing, "you can totally say no if you want to, but... i think i'll explode if i don't ask you this now."

steve sat up, reaching into the side table by his bed. his hands trembled slightly as he rifled through its contents, before finally pulling out a small velvet box. gasping, you sat up with him, excitement burning through your veins.

"steve..."

he took your hand into his own, his touch a wordless comfort. "i know this isn't how you’re supposed to do it, and i promise i'll take you out for a nice dinner and do this the right way, but... i don’t think i can wait any longer."

with shaking fingers, he releases your hand and opens the box, revealing a beautiful ring with a gold band and a small, round diamond sitting in the middle. his hand shook as he looked at you, eyes shining with unshed tears.

"marry me?"

speechless, you feel your heart race, feelings swirling inside you like a hurricane. "are you sure?" you blurted out, your voice so quiet you’re unsure if steve can even hear you, but he does.

"i've never been more sure of anything in my entire life, baby," he promised, his eyes meeting yours with a wordless reassurance of his love.

a toothy smile found its home on your face as you nodded eagerly, the words spilling out of you like a waterfall, "holy shit, of course i will."

hearing your response, steve pulled you into a tight embrace, his love warming you like a blanket. he quickly pulled away, reaching for the ring and sliding it onto your finger with shaking hands.

cupping your face, steve pulled you into a soft kiss, his lips conveying all the adoration he felt for you. as he pulled away, he brought your left hand to his face, his eyes sparkling.

"dustin is gonna kill me," he chuckled, "i promised him i'd let him hide wherever we went when i proposed so he could watch."

#WAHHHH im crying i wanna be his wifey so bad :(#stranger things imagines #steve harrington imagines #stranger things smut #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #my writing #jhopezwrld #stranger things

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music-orthemisery · 2 days

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Pre-Folie Release Madness of (p)2- A Timeline

After spending a few days in cuckoo bananas world thanks to the video re: Patrick's best man speech, @grandtreeangel and I have some things to slide across the table.

Between October 19, 2008 and November 7th, 2008, FOB played a series of shows leading up to the release of Folie a Deux. Each show featured a Pete/Patrick banter moment that, when put together, creates a very...interesting narrative.

October 19th - Birmingham, England show

Pete making a Top Gun reference to the $20 bar bet scene while Patrick plays the Top Gun theme song.

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The scene in question: "Total carnal knowledge...of a woman this time, on the premises"

October 22nd - London, England show

First live performance of Patrick's "Love Lockdown" cover

Please see @grandtreeangel’s post HERE for more context on this totally normal thing Patrick did.

October 25th - Lille, France show

OG "my little cabbage" moment Pete, in French, says to Patrick, "You are beautiful, my little cabbage."

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October 27th OR 28th - Blog post

Pete posts this on his Tumblr . It says 10/27, but there's some disagreement on time zones so it may be 10/28. EITHER WAY...

Originally, this linked to a clip from the movie Love, Actually. In this scene, a man confesses his love to a woman who is married to his best friend.

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There's plenty of debate about this movie, scene, and storyline in general, but we aren't here for that right now!!!

Let's just focus on the facts:

Woman. Married. To BEST FRIEND.

The man was the best man AND the videographer at the wedding.

This whole moment is done secretly. He confesses, they kiss, she goes back inside and tells her husband it was just some carolers.

In general, this whole story arc is ripe with longing and unattainable love due to a marriage keeping the man from being with the woman.

I...wonder what this sounds like...

October 28th - Toronto, Canada show

Love Lockdown cover where Patrick says, "That's for you, Pete."

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Again, Patrick being very normal!!!

October 29th - Blog Post

Pete contributes an entry to Bill's "Mondayeyes" poetry club on friendsorenemies.com:

Credit to @alphadog's post for this HERE

The entire poem is quite impactful, but a few lines of interest:

"Where do you get off?" or more like "how"

and...

"You chose this"

When Pete uses quotes, it's noted that this indicates things that have been said to him.

There are scents and spells that keep us coming together, there are sparks that keep us forever

The art of keeping up disappearances

Also, big hello to some Rat-A-Tat lyrics

Whenever I could make the sweat roll backwards and your pulse stream in reverse

(Big thank you to @dykeandyhurley for sending this to me)

November 6th - Boston, MA show

Pete shares the story about Patrick's best man speech.

Huge props to @predoom for finding this moment!

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If you haven't seen Top Gun (?!), the context here is very important:

The line "Ice, fire, or clear," is said in the scene where Goose dies.

Scene: "Ice, Fire or Clear!"

Also, it should be noted that, to Pete, he is Goose and Patrick is Maverick.

The fact that Patrick picks this quote to say to Pete...in his best man speech...at PETE'S WEDDING. A quote said when Maverick LOSES Goose.

AND...apparently no one else in the reception quite...get's it. Pete is the only one who does. That line was just for Pete. From Patrick.

Of all the lines in that movie, he picks that one, from that moment.

Then, of course...

We have "The Kids Aren't Alright."

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Featuring the lyrics:

Stuck in the jet wash Bad trip I couldn't get off And maybe I bit off more than I could chew And overhead of the aqua blue

Along with Pete's annotation:

November 7th - Philadelphia, PA show

Patrick sings Lullabye.

Take a peek at this post for all of that mess.

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"Well, Bronx was about to be born!"

Sure, sure. I'm not DENYING the relevance there. Just. Go look at the post, damn it. Trust me.

And then...?

Nothing. They take a break, Bronx is born, and then they play a show in Columbus, OH on December 1, 2008. This whole little back and forth ends. Folie a Deux is released on December 10th and...well...we all know what happens after that.

#absolutely fucking insane honestly #we've been obsessing over this all day #adult responsibilities? what are those in the face of p2 lore?!#anyway. hope you enjoyed the fruits of our crazy #p2 #peterick #pete wentz #patrick stump #fall out boy #folie a deux #pre-hiatus #hijinx and tomfoolery

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friezaglasiencold · 3 days

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This is a question for Yamcha.

You two have spent quite a bit of time together now, and you seem fairly close. I was curious, have you ever seen Frieza get….emotional, or upset, or vulnerable?

Obviously, he doesn’t seem like the type to shed tears or cry - or if he did, he certainly wouldn’t do it in public. But I was curious if there was ever a moment where he accidentally let his emotional walls down?

He never told me what the nightmare was about, but I bet it must've been bad.... what he did after waking up, it looked like he was checking to see if the rest of him was still there.

I know he's died a couple times before, so I get it, I think. It's pretty freaky to come back from the dead and get used to living again, especially when it's been a while.

Also...

It was the first time he ever asked me for affection, too. I think my heart just about burst! I wonder if he'd ever wanted to before, and just not known how to do it.

I gotta admit, there's a part of me that sees all this as a big accomplishment. Yamcha, gettin' cozy with the big bad?! He's all comfortable around me, now. Enough to fall asleep while I'm still there.

It's real sweet. I wish I could say more, but I don't wanna spill all his secrets... seems kinda wrong for me to be the one to tell you about the times he's cried and stuff.

Still, hope that answers your question. Thanks for thinkin' of me!

-Yamcha

#yamcha #frieza #yamza #img response #((the art here kinda sucks but i'm really blocked rn))#((i'll probably redraw this in part later - this is a scene i want to include in my doujin))

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hermesmyplatonicbeloved · 2 days

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This post [X] contains a pjo fan desperately wanting to believe that Percy/Annabeth isn't toxic.

A Percy/Annabeth shipper responded and honestly I don't agree with some of the stuff they said. They specifically mentioned percabeth antis a couple times and I felt I need to address a few things since they were missing the point about a lot of arguments I've made.

It's far more than just the nickname. That's literally just the tip of the iceberg. I don't know why so many people get caught up on the nickname when it's like. some of the least shit Annabeth has done to Percy that we take issue with. For me, anyway.

Also, like it would be one thing if Annabeth was just using the seaweed nickname as an insult at 12 years old like most children do and grew out of it later on as she matured, but that's not the case. Read Riordan, from Annabeth at college (an adult):

It's more of an indication to me of what Annabeth really thinks of Percy. She doesn't respect him. When he has achievements (ones in academia which he canonically has struggled with and felt shitty about), instead of being happy for him like a supportive friend/girlfriend would, she seethes in jealously and envy. She has to be better than him, because if he's stupid and she's less than him that means she's stupid too, and she can't have that as the daughter of the wisdom and strategy goddess.

This comes from the passage in HoH where Percy mumbles that Tartarus smells like Smelly Gabe and Annabeth laughs at him.

I agree, its fairly flimsy because as far as we've seen Percy has never confided with Annabeth that his first step father was a piece of shit that liked to threatened to beat him into unconsciousness. It's a very traumatic thing and that takes a certain level of trust to share. She could've straight up not known and missed all of Percy's signals that he wanted to confide in her about it then.

One thing that trips me up tho is that a lot of people like to excuse the laughter saying that Percy is using jokes to cope with the trauma - and while we've seen other characters do that we literally never see Percy joking about Gabe's trauma. He never talks about it, barely even thinks about it. So I would say it's incredibly unrealistic to say that he was making a joke prompting laughter as a coping strategy.

Yeahhhh that's the thing!! They never do talk. They never communicate about these super important issues!! If they did, then they could have a healthy relationship. But they don't! And that's the problem!!

You can say "you doubt she would be insensitive " and "you believe she would stop [calling him seaweed brain]" and that's wonderful and present in fanfiction and your beliefs but it's not canon? Like it hasn't happened and we haven't even seen anything alluding to something similar to it.

Communication is not just beneficial - it's necessary to healthy relationships especially when you partner may be doing something that hurts/triggers you. And since they don't get this stuff out in the air, it makes the relationship unhealthy.

Yes. Percy enjoys being around Rachel, and the issue is that he directly contrasts that to Annabeth and his experiences with her come up lacking! Which is something that falls on both of them btw.

"They aren't trauma bonded... they spend time with each other outside of life threatening situations." / "They go on dates."

Yeah, Percy and Rachel did. Nice dates, that didn't involve killing or missions or quests.

Has Percy ever gone on a quest with Annabeth that didn't devolve to a mission or quest? Not that we've seen. There's nothing straight up mentioned in the text. They've been on outings together - ie. the failed movie hangout, the date in central part, etc. that start out fun but it always goes back to a quest or mission.

That's not Annabeth or Percy's fault to be clear (yes I'm repeating this twice) - but it does indicate that they cannot get away from that aspect of their lives and relax together. It's always war-fighting-gods with them, tarnishing the domestic moments. It's always hanging over their heads.

When you consider Percy's character (ie. his first words; "I never wanted to be a demigod," and his desire to have a normal life and be done with the quests, prophecies and missions it's not good. This is not Annabeth being abusive to re-iterate. Not her fault. It's more of a "we're not good together" because of external factors - Percy's not getting what he wants. On some level, he's not happy with the relationship.

Also, since we brought up that experience/convo with Rachel, there's something else I want to talk about. It's a lot less 'subjective.'

Percy's POV from TLO: "She [Rachel] was so much easier to be around than some other girls I knew. I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking."

I don't think we talk about this enough?? Like it's so telling about the nature of Percy/Annabeth's relationship. When they got together, Annabeth said, "I will never ever make things easy for you." And it's probably some of the truest things she's ever said.

In TTC instead of communicating with Percy and asking him to dance with her, she punches him. And a lot of people call Percy obvious in that situation, but they had just agreed to split up from Thalia and Grover. It's reasonable for him to be thinking that he would further split up from Annabeth to cover more ground and get closer to the demigods they were watching, instead of dancing together.

In HoH while they were in Tartarus, Annabeth intentionally brings up Rachel, and (from her POV) says that she likes to keep Percy, "on his toes." - House of Hades.

Meaning she likes to keep him on edge, guessing at what she's thinking and wondering if he's doing wrong etc. They're in the middle of Tartarus - you'd think that she'd give him a break there context considering but no. She adds to the mental toll he's going through after being kidnapped by Hera, brainwashed and being separated from his friends/family in close to a year on top of being in Tartarus and fighting a war where the existence of everything he loves hangs in the balance.

Idk if I'd classify this as abusive, but its definitely a massive red flag. You do not want to be in a relationship with someone who takes pleasure in giving you anxiety and 'on your toes.' That's definitely unhealthy.

This isn't the case. There are multiple instances of Percy fearing Annabeth outside of active battle from his narrative.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Annabeth interrupted, shoving aside the other campers. I thought she was going to punch me." - Battle of the Labyrinth. Context: Annabeth was very upset/worried about Percy, and he assumed abuse from Annabeth.

“Shut up, Silena. Hand me your dagger.” / I was afraid Annabeth was going to stab me with it. - Bronze Dragon. Context: Percy complimented another girl in front of Annabeth, and then assumed abuse from Annabeth.

He repeatedly expects to be hurt by her - in absurd situations! Like its not reasonable to hurt a friend/significant other in these contexts!! That's a strong red flag, and an indication of an abusive relationship. You have to ask yourself why does he think this way? Why does he think Annabeth's going to hurt him? Has she done that before?

Yes, she has. She has stuck him many times in situations where she has no right to do so:

"Um, who should I ask?" / She punched me in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain." - Titan's Curse. Context: Percy doesn't read her mind and doesn't know what she wants, so she hits him before telling him to dance with her.

"Annabeth alternately shouted, gagged, hit me, called me names like “Idiot! Stupid—dirty—moron—” and topped it all off with “Kill you!" - Staff of Hermes. Context: Percy saved himself and Annabeth from being killed, by travelling up sewer water. Annabeth gets livid and hits him multiple times.

"Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement [...] Annabeth put her knee on Percy’s chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat." - Mark of Athena. Context: similar to botl case above, Annabeth was extremely worried about Percy and takes her emotions, her bitterness out on him physically.

"'You did an awesome job.' [Jason, to Percy]. / 'Back at you,' Percy said. / Annabeth kicked his shin." - Mark of Athena. Context: Annabeth kicks Percy while he's bonding with Jason to tell Percy to shut up so they can talk about the great prophecy.

None of those situations warrant striking Percy, but it does prove why Percy fears Annabeth. His fears aren't unfounded - they're built upon actual things Annabeth has done to him.

And if that's still not enough evidence for you, Annabeth has a tendency to place Percy in danger by using him as bait without letting him know the plan, literally shoving him head first into danger, etc.

The lightning thief, Annabeth uses Percy as bait to distract Clarisse + Ares warriors so Luke can get the flag. She doesn't tell Percy that he's being set up, nor does she give him any back up - which you'd think would be important considering that Percy had no experience holding a sword and shield. Reminder: Percy got electrocuted. He thought he would die.

Chalice of the gods, Annabeth shoves Percy off a cliff without warning. Percy gets his ass kicked by the river god, getting a bleeding head wound. (Do I need to remind you how bad head wounds are?) Meanwhile Annabeth sits on the side in safety tapping her wrist impatiently.

I elaborate about it more here. Yeah, I can see why he's scared of her. She puts him in danger with her plans without communicating anything to him. And he gets hurt.

And if that's still not enough, Annabeth has literally said, "I only attack my boyfriend like that." (Edit: - Mark of Athena). Can't remember where its from because it's from a short story someone quoted on tumblr to make an argument. You only attack your boyfriend? Domestic violence right there. Or a really shitty joke that's not really a joke because its a habit that she follows through with repeatedly.

So yeah. Even if you ignore the last point because I don't have the source, there is overwhelming evidence that Annabeth is abusive and Percy canonically fears her. This is not healthy relationship, and the flaws are not acceptable minor grievances you can dismiss by saying that they're just teens learning to be people.

The things Annabeth do are intentional. It starts in tlt, and she doesn't learn or grow out of it by cotg and beyond when she's an adult/ She doesn't have the reason/excuse of being a child anymore. The relationship is toxic and they shouldn't be together.

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