#it's midnight and alex complains part 5 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

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Riding On Ch 15: TFI Friday

Summary: It’s Friday (thank f**k), and Frank’s taken the day off work so that he and Fliss can take an early dinner before meeting the Circle of Truth to celebrate Bonnie and Simon’s engagement…but Fliss is struggling with her emotions, especially when it comes to leaving Alex behind.

Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s…)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N: A lot of fluff going down in this chapter…they deserve it! We also get to see Frank’s version of the events from Done With Nice Guys which was written by @smediumsmeatbae. Please check it out, it’s adorable!!!

Chapter Song: Laid by James (this happens to be another one of my favourites…give it a listen to!)

Series Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

This bed is on fire with passionate love. The neighbours complain about the noises above, but she only comes when she’s on top. My therapist said not to see you no more, he said you’re like a disease without any cure, he said I’m so obsessed that I’m becoming a bore, oh no…ah, you think you’re so pretty…

Frank woke, reaching out blindly for his phone to silence the alarm. He swiped the button across and turned over, fully intending on giving Fliss a cuddle for another 5 minutes or so before he had to get up when realisation crashed over him and he gave a groan. He'd booked the fucking day off so he could take Fliss for a late afternoon-slash-early evening meal and had forgotten to turn off his bastard alarm.

And then it further dawned on him that it didn't actually matter because Mary still needed to get up and ready for school regardless of his day off or not.

But then…it was Friday. Her university day…which meant she wasn’t due in until 10…

With a grin his arm tightened over Fliss’ waist, hand splaying on her belly as he pulled her back into him, nuzzling his nose into her neck, feeling a stirring in his boxers where his cock was already semi-hard thanks to the life of its own it had in a morning. Part of him wanted to wake her for a bit of fun before the rest of the house rose, the other knew she was bound to be tired after Alex had been an absolute horror during the night, but in the end the decision was made for him as he felt her shift a little, before she stretched out her limbs, a soft sigh escaping from her mouth. "Morning Sailor..." Fliss yawned.

"Morning Cowgirl" He said, closing his eyes and snuggling closer into her. “I didn’t wake you did I?”

“The alarm did.” She shifted slightly before she propped herself up to check on Alex who was fast asleep "Yeah, now he sleeps" she grumbled.

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed another kiss to her neck "yeah he was really not playing ball last night was he?"

"3 times." She groaned "He's a bottomless pit Frank."

"I told you to stay on bed the 3rd time." Frank sighed.

"Once I'm awake I'm awake." She shrugged. "He cries and it’s like my boobs send an alarm to my brain.”

Frank chuckled "Well like your mom suggested, introducing the formula should help. He'll fill up from less and give you a break."

"You mean because I can't feed him what he needs myself." She let put a sigh and at that Frank took a deep breath and propped himself up on his elbow.

"Hey, look at me." He said sternly and she rolled onto her back, her brown eyes blinking up at him, auburn and blonde hair splayed across her pillow "you checked with the doctor, she said this perfectly normal..."

"Then why do I feel so shit." She asked, tears brimming her eyes "I can't even feed our baby properly.”

"Come ‘ere..." he said gently as she rolled onto her side facing him, his arms cradling her close as she pressed her face into his chest, sniffling "Lissy, you're a wonderful mom. Don't start beating yourself up about something that in the grand scheme of things really doesn't matter."

"It matters to me Frank..."

"Look, he won't give a shit whether what he's getting is from you or not. He just wants food." He said gently, his hand rubbing up and down her back, underneath the sleep cami she was wearing "if anything the fact you're doing this shows how much of a good mom you are. You spotted something that he needs and you're doing what you have to do to give it to him.” She stayed silent bar her little sniffles and he gently pressed a kiss to her head. "Don't think on it too much Fliss. I know it must feel shitty for you but he'll be fine. That I can promise you."

She took a deep breath and pulled back to look at him, and he gently brushed his lips against hers, the hand that was on her back stopping in the middle of the spine, holding her to him. She arched an eyebrow and gave a little smirk before he shrugged and kissed her lazily. She took the kiss eagerly, allowing him to slowly ease her over onto her back, caging her underneath his body as his mouth moved to her jawline then her neck. She gave a soft sigh, her hands sliding into his sleep-messed hair and he’d just moved his mouth downwards, softly nipping at her chest through her top when, with his ever perfect timing, Alex let out a little whine.

“For fucks sake…” Frank grumbled, his head falling to the valley of Fliss’ chest as she chuckled, swatting at his head. With a sigh he propped himself up and dropped a kiss to her lips. “I’ll get him sorted.” he said. “You take a while, lay in.”

Fliss looked down at her boobs and then shrugged “Well seeing as he fed 3 times over night they’re not that swollen so…” Frank gave a snort as she looked at him, arching her eyebrows “Hey, the struggle is real, ok?"

“I didn’t suggest otherwise.” He said, hopping out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweats, yanking at the crotch as they felt a little tight thanks to the fact he was still aroused, and a T-shirt as Fliss leaned over, gently rubbing Alex’s tummy. “Hey…” he said, picking his son up, gently placing a large hand on his back “If you’re swapping over to formula, does that mean Ben and Jerry are gonna go smaller?” he nodded at her chest “Because if so I may be forced to reconsider my stance on the situation.”

“If you didn’t have hold of our son I’d punch you.” Fliss glared and he gave a chuckle before he headed out of the room.

“Couldn’t you have slept for like 15 minutes longer this morning buddy?” he questioned gently as he entered the nursery, placing Alex down on the changing mat. “You totally cock blocked me. Which, for the record, is not cool.”

Alex looked at him, blinking slowly.

“Yeah, you might look like that.” Frank deadpanned, as Alex’s hands curled around his fingers. His little legs wiggled a little and Frank bent down with his mouth arranged in an open smile, causing Alex’s face to split into a little grin, his arms and legs waggling even faster. “Yeah, ok, I forgive you.” Frank chuckled before he changed him into a clean diaper and then padded downstairs to warm his bottle up, juggling his son easily in one arm as he did so.

By now Alex’s fairly decent mood had started to wane as he was hungry. The noises he made were getting louder and slightly more impatient, threatening to turn into an out and out cry.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s coming pal…” Frank said, dropping a gentle kiss to the downy hair on Alex’s head “I know, you’re hungry...despite the fact you had midnight, 1.30 am and 4am snack…”

He settled on the sofa, flicked on the TV for the morning news, positioned Alex and gave him his bottle, watching with a soft smile on his face as the baby’s cheeks worked hungrily taking the mix of breast and formula. They’d started this just a few days or so ago after Fliss had simply been unable to stop him crying from hunger Tuesday afternoon and called her mom in a flap. She’d suggested doing what Steve and Sian had had to do with the twins, seeing as both of those had been greedy little bastards too so after a call to the Paediatrician, Fliss had reluctantly agreed. He did sympathise with her, and he’d been waiting for the inevitable tears which had finally come that morning, but it would be much easier for her in the long run all things considered, especially if as the doctor had suggested she could move to formula fully bar a morning feed.

Supporting Alex in one arm, he absentmindedly watched the anchor and co-anchor on the breakfast show interviewing someone about a Thanksgiving tradition or something, he wasn’t really paying much attention if he was honest. It freaked him out how fast it was creeping up on them. Soon it would be fucking Christmas. Thankfully, Fliss seemed to be on top of it mostly. They were hosting a small Thanksgiving with his mother then heading over to Verity and Bill’s for the usual party, and for Christmas Steve, Sian and the boys were over so they were spending the day at Verity and Bill’s along with Roberta and his mother…which was always fun. It never ceased to amaze him how welcoming Fliss’ family had been to his own fucked up version of one.

Lost in his thoughts, he was jerked from them by a little popping noise and he looked down to see Alex had moved away from the bottle, and to his astonishment there was a small amount left.

“Finally full up buddy?” he asked, offering it him back but the baby turned his head away un interested “Guess so.” Frank said, placing the bottle on the coffee table and moving Alex so he was leaning against his chest, head on his shoulder as he burped him. It took a little while but eventually he obliged and Frank chuckled, turning his head to look at him, bright blue eyes staring around the room. He was developing so fast now, it was ridiculous.

“Shall we go wake your sister up?” he asked softly, “Yeah, ok…”

Thankfully, Mary was actually pretty co-operative most mornings, and today being one of her university split days she was in a good mood, rabbiting on to Frank about the assignment she had done. They ate breakfast before she headed off upstairs to get changed and once she was back, he told her to watch Alex for a second whilst he made his way into the bedroom with a plate of toast and a coffee for Fliss, knowing full well she wouldn’t be asleep. And sure enough, she lay on her back, watching the TV. She beamed at him as she shuffled herself up, taking the mug off him as he placed the plate on the night stand and perched on the side of the bed.

“Where’s Bean?” she asked.

“Mary’s watching him for a second so I could bring you that.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, taking a sip of her drink.

“I’ll take him with me when I drop Mary off. He likes the truck. I might pop into the shop for 20 minutes or so, the guys haven’t seen him in a while and I like showing him off.” Frank smiled a little bashfully and Fliss’ smile grew even larger. “Imma dress him in his Made In Boston T-shirt…”

Fliss chuckled “I still can’t believe Bonnie and Simon got him that.” “Oh, I can.” Frank nodded “In fact, that’s quite tame for what I expected from Si to be honest.” “Yeah, that’s true…” Fliss conceded “Oh, don’t forget, I’m teaching at 2 for an hour.” “I’ll be well back before then.” Frank snorted, “It’s not even 8 yet.” “I know I was just pointing out you can have some more male bonding time then too.” “Great, maybe I’ll introduce him to Debbie Does Dallas…” Frank teased and Fliss snorted

“Well, we know he likes boobs so…”

Frank gave a laugh before he leaned over and gave her another soft kiss. “I’ll get him dressed and then we’re heading out so I’ll see you in a little while. Love you.” “Love you too.” She smiled, as he bumped his nose against hers and left.

*****

Once he’d dropped Mary off and walked her into her lecture hall where he handed her over to her tutor, he headed back out to the truck, clipping the car seat back in place. He dropped into work, where as predicted the guys on the team all came to say hi, commenting on how big he was compared to last time they’d seen him. He double checked a couple of the rotas for Monday before he headed home, getting back just after 11, by which point Alex was fast asleep. He entered the house, greeting Thor who came bounding down the stairs to check who’d dared to walk into his home.

“Just me buddy.” He said, patting the large dog’s head before he headed upstairs knowing full well that if Thor had been upstairs that meant Fliss was too. And sure enough, he opened the door to their bedroom and heard the shower in the en-suite going. Fred opened his eye and looked at Frank from where he had been lounging on their bed, his tail swishing slightly before he returned to his cat nap, not even bothering to move.

With a snort at the cat’s blatant lack of any fucks to give, Frank placed the car seat on the dresser, smoothing back Alex’s hair as he continued to sleep and then realised that this was a prime opportunity for finishing what he started this morning. With a dirty smirk to himself he opened the door to the bathroom. Fliss’ head was tipped back, face turned to the stream of water, suds cascading from her long hair down her body which instantly had him half hard in the constraints of his sweats.

Yup, Frank Adler was a big fan of getting dirty in the shower.

“Room for another?” he asked, cheekily, pulling off his T-shirt. Fliss jumped a little as she hadn’t heard him come in and then turned to look at him through the shower screen, most of her body obscured by the frosted glass pattern. She grinned and raised her hand, making a beckoning motion with her fingers. In a flash he shed the remainder of his clothing and stepped into the large cubicle with her, his hands reaching out for her hips, pulling her towards him, so her back was pressed to his chest.

“I believe we have unfinished business Miss Gallagher.” He said, feeling her slick skin pressing against his as he nipped at her neck.

“Really?” she pondered, “I don’t recall…”

“No?” he teased, his lips placing another kiss to her wet skin, “Maybe this will jog your memory…”

His hands slid up, tracing the curve of her waist before he gently cupped her breasts, calloused thumbs skating over the nipples. With a reaction that was automatic, she let out a soft sigh as he gently teased her, his palms and fingers working their magic, all the time taking care not to be too rough as he knew she was sensitive. But in the end it was Fliss demanding he go harder as she arched her back, pushing herself into his hands as she felt the aching brewing between her legs. She went to squeeze them closed, anything to help relieve the pressure that was building and she felt Frank’s lips smirk against her neck, one of his hands brushing down her body, slipping between her folds, right where she needed him most.

“Fuck…” she swore, as he gently played her, slow, teasing strokes and before long she was rocking against his hand, seeking friction as she was spiralling higher and higher, Frank’s rock hard dick pressing into the lower part of her back.

“Turn around…” Frank said into her ear and she did as she was told, greeting his lips in a filthy kiss as he pivoted her round so that her back was pressed to the wall of the shower cubicle. His mouth moved from hers to her jawline, the whiskers of his beard gently sliding over her skin as he dipped his head to kiss her collar bone before he rather gracefully dropped to his knees. He glanced up at her, deep brown met ocean blue, her eyes full with a heady combination of love, desire and lust and it drew a low growl from his throat as he reached down for her left ankle. With a steady hand Frank lifted it over his right shoulder and gently kissed and sucked his way up her leg, leaving a nip at the apex of her thigh. She moaned loudly, her head falling back against the tiles as he moved to where she wanted him the most, his tongue long and flat against her centre as he lapped at her entrance all the way up to her sensitive bud. Her body jolted as she let out a soft sigh of his name which was laced with satisfaction as he set his mouth to work.

As Frank devoured her with the enthusiasm of a man starved, Fliss curled her fingers into his damp hair, the movement a reflex as the other slapped flat against the grey slate tiles. The contrast of his short beard scratching at her sensitive skin to his soft tongue and mouth was sending her body into overdrive. He gently grazed her bud with his teeth which caused her hips to violently buck forward, her nails dug into his scalp and he gave a chuckle which vibrated against her clit causing her to groan loudly.

“Jesus Christ Frank…” she panted, looking down at him. He peeked up from between her legs, a cheeky glint in his eyes as he continued, his tongue flicking into her entrance, before he sucked on her bud and then she was gone. Her knees trembled as her hand pulled his hair, almost to the point it was painful as she gave a loud cry, her other hand reaching to his head as she used both to push him away from her sensitive sex as she clamped down around thin air. With a smug sense of satisfaction at having undone her to the extent he had, Frank rose to his feet, wiping his wet face with an equally wet forearm and he cupped her cheeks, kissing her again, his tongue tangling against hers.

Fliss’ wrecked brain had barely registered his mouth was on hers when he pulled back slightly, his lips hovering over hers as the water cascaded down on them both. “Turn back around…”he whispered softly, and she did as she was told. Frank gently moved his hands to her hips, pulling her back, nudging her ankles with his feet to open her up a little more. With one palm on the base of her back he gently bent her forward ever so slightly, took his throbbing cock in his hand and lined himself up. With a gentle, slow movement he slipped inside, burying himself in her heat, the rumble from his throat slipping out of his mouth at the relief of finally being inside her. Once he was fully sheathed his hands moved, one to her stomach, holding her in place, the other up to her breasts as she arched her back, her head back against his shoulder as he drove in and out of her, slowly, deliberately. Her right hand moved back to grab at his thigh, her fingertips digging into the hard muscle as he thrust forward, the other hand flat reached back to tangle in his hair.

“God you feel so good baby…” he groaned, his mouth licking a stripe up the side of her neck as her head lolled to the right, tracing her wet skin up to her jaw line, “So fahkin’ good…”

The hand that had been on her belly moved to grasp her chin with his finger and thumb, tipping her face round to his so he could kiss her. It was all Fliss could do to kiss him back, allowing him to control the pace as she was completely gone, the sensations lancing through her body had left her totally pliant to his ministrations, and he fucking adored the fact she surrendered to him, that she felt safe enough to do so.

“Frankie…” she panted softly as he continued to push into her, driving deep, and she gave a squeak as he rotated his hips, his fingers letting go of her face to slide down her body, between her legs and she gave a long wail of delight as he fondled her bud, “Shit…I’m…”

“Go one, come for me baby…” he nipped at her ear “I got you, I promise…”

With a last, silent moan she came, hard, her knees almost buckling, but Frank held her to him as she blissed out completely, the entire world fading around her as she felt nothing but the familiar hot, warm pleasure as her abdomen contracted and relaxed as her walls spasmed around him over and over.

“Good girl…” he praised as he continued thrusting through, the heat in his own belly now beginning to spike even more, “Such a good girl for me…”

She preened at his praise, relaxing slightly into his hold as he kissed her neck once more, picking up the pace slightly. She reached back with one hand to cup his balls and with an almost violent buck forward he came, biting down gently on her shoulder, muffling the noises of satisfaction and pleasure that rolled from the back of his throat.

His hips stilled and neither of them moved, his hands gently flexing on her hips before he gave a soft chuckle of satisfaction and he pulled out of her, taking care to keep her as close to him as he could. Her head lolled back against his shoulder and she turned her head, greeting his lips in a soft, gentle kiss and he smiled as she pulled away, rubbing her nose against his.

“You should take the day off more often” she quipped and Frank could do nothing but laugh.

“I fahkin’ love you.” He chuckled and she grinned, giving a shrug.

“I’m a very lovable person.”

“That you are cowgirl.” He nodded, “That you are.”

*****

“Felicity Rose Gallagher, if you ask me one more time if we are sure we’re going to be ok I’m gonna go mad.” Verity glared at Fliss who had just asked the question for the umpteenth time since her parents had turned up for babysitting duty.

Fliss gave a groan and held her hands up. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“You’ve left him with us before, this is no different.” Verity looked at her “No go, go on, scoot.”

Over Fliss’ shoulder, Frank shot Verity a wink as he dropped his hand to the curve of his girl’s lower back.

“Come on Lissy, we’ll be late otherwise.”

“Yeah, and I wanna get back to eat.” Bill said, twirling his car keys.

“Maybe I should drive?” Fliss looked at Frank who took a deep breath as Verity made an annoyed noise in her throat.

“If you want to drive, then that’s up to you.” Frank said simply as she bit her lip. “Be a shame though, I was gonna treat you to that champagne you demanded…maybe not quite a swimming pool full but…”

Fliss looked at him for a second before she shook her head “I’m sorry…”

“Stop apologising.” He chuckled softly “Baby what do you want to do?”

She glanced at Alex who was led in Verity’s arms, happily grinning up at his Nanna before she turned to Frank. “No, you’re right. We haven’t been out for months so…”she nodded. “Let’s go.” “Halle-fuckin-lujah.” Bill mumbled, earning himself a glare from Fliss. “V, I’ll grab us some take-out on the way back.”

“Bye baby…” Fliss crossed the room to drop a kiss on Alex’s head and then turned, taking Frank’s outstretched hand. “We won’t be too late…” she tossed over her shoulder at her mum. Verity shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter, we’re staying so be as late as you want.”

Fliss nodded and Frank squeezed his hand around hers as they left the room, not before he threw a smile at Verity who gave him a knowing one back. Fliss had been fine all week with the principle of going out…right up until she had gotten out of her second shower of the day that evening, when she’d suddenly had an attack of conscience about leaving him with her parents whilst she went out drinking. Frank was sharp enough to know full well this was linked to her current feelings of inadequacy, and he also knew that no matter what he said or did, there was nothing he could do to stop that bar be there for her and give her the reassurance that she needed.

That and simply love her, which was a given, because he did with every single breath he took.

“You look gorgeous.” He said to her gently as they walked to her dad’s car. She smiled and glanced down at the dark blue peplum top she was wearing, coupled with faded jeans and a white denim jacket. She’d been over the moon to find out she could fit back in those jeans so he wasn’t surprised she’d chosen them for the evening. On her feet she wore a simple pair of yellow heeled pumps, complete with matching bag. Her hair was down in loose waves, and her make-up was simple, a light dusting of rose gold powder on her lids.

“Thanks.” She said, before she eyed him up and down and he grinned as he knew full well what she was thinking, given that he was dressed in his yellow and black palm-tree Hawaiian print shirt.

“You said my shit shits were endearing.” He said and she gave a laugh, shrugging.

“You wouldn’t be Frank without them.” She smiled and he grinned.

Fliss declined the front seat when Frank offered it to her, instead climbing into the back behind her dad taking the time to check up on a few emails and the yard’s social media accounts. The three of them made easy chat on the way into St Pete’s and they thanked Bill for the lift as they both climbed out. Fliss instructed her dad to call them if there was any problems and he simply rolled his eyes and told her to “piss off and have a good time”.

They’d picked to go to Rios for dinner before they were heading down to Ferg’s to meet up with the others a little later on. It had become a little bit of a running joke between Bonnie and Fliss that, as much of a dive as Ferg’s was, frankly the two women preferred it to any of the bars they frequented. It was casual, fun, they knew a hell of a lot of people in there including most of the bar staff, and it held good memories. It suited both Frank and Simon down to the ground, both of them happy to tease their girls about having simple taste until Fliss normally quipped back along the lines of that being the reason she was marrying Frank in the first place. But when he pushed all jokes aside, he was glad she was so down to Earth. He had nothing against Greg or Jake’s wives but man, they were high maintenance.

But not his Lissy.

As it was still early and they wanted to chill out, they had opted to eat in the more casual outside lounge area which sported the roof bar and offered an all evening Tapas style menu, not the full a la carte main restaurant menu. As such they were led through to their table on the veranda. Neither of them had been into this part since the refurb, the last time Fliss came it hadn’t been finished but now, she felt a smile cross her face as she looked around. It was cosy and casual, right up her street. The tables were slightly lower than normal and appeared to all be different shapes and sizes, made out of driftwood and pallets. They were decked with large candles held in jars in the middle and surrounded by comfy chairs and bean bags all of which sported blankets given that the time of year meant sometimes in the evening it could be quite chilly at night. In the middle of the veranda was a large stone fire pit which was covered by an ornamental, wrought iron cage that spiralled to a point some 8 foot off the ground, and the bar stood to the rear right hand corner with a few people sat down enjoying a drink.

“Oh my God, I love it.” Fliss muttered to Frank and he looked down at her, nodding.

“This is pretty cool” he conceded.

“The tables and seats…it’s just how I pictured our wedding.” She said as they were led over to their spot at the rear, which was just by the glass barrier of the roof, over-looking the beach and the ocean.

“Yeah?” Frank asked, looking at her.

She nodded “Rustic, causal, bean bags, blankets…that type of thing…although it won’t be that cold then…”

“If you want blankets, baby, you can have blankets.” He chuckled kissing her forehead as they settled down onto the comfy plush seats which to Fliss’ delight were also bean bags just shaped differently. The teenage kid who had shown them to their table soon returned with the menus and informed them that as it was the first week they’d opened the terrace, with every bottle of wine purchased, there was complementary charcuterie tasting platter included. Fliss’ eyes lit up and Frank knew why, it was probably her favourite thing to eat in the world and he had to admit, she did a pretty wicked board herself when they were entertaining. With that in mind, he ordered them a bottle of Pinot Grigio and they sat back, Frank’s arm dropping over Fliss’ shoulders as she looked around.

“You know, if this is the type of thing you want, why not take a few photos and then we can start looking around.” Frank suggested and Fliss looked at him, smiling. “You can give Bobbi a call. I know you want to organise it yourself but she’ll probably have a list of suppliers, caterers, that sorta stuff for you to look at.” “I already know what I want for catering.” Fliss looked at him.

“You do?” Frank asked.

“Yup. I want food trucks. Mexican and Pizza.”

Frank cocked his head to one side, smiling as he looked at her “That’s actually a fucking brilliant idea.”

“No fancy sit down meal, if it stays for a couple of hours then people can grab what they want when they want.”

“Love it.” Frank grinned, looking up as their waiter appeared with their bottle of wine. He poured them both a glass and set the ice bucket in the middle of the table, before he disappeared again. Frank picked his glass up and Fliss did the same, the pair of them gently clinking them together, smiling. “To our first date in…what? 4 months?” Frank teased and Fliss shrugged.

“I don’t know, I lost track of time…been kinda busy.” She teased as Frank chuckled, leaning down to give her a soft kiss.

Their charcuterie board arrived not long after and they then placed their order, opting for the Chef’s Selection, a number of small tapas dishes which as the name suggested, would be selected by the chef for them. Fliss had liked the idea of it all being rather mysterious and as the waiter had asked what kind of thing they liked they’d both listed a few things and he’d nodded, heading away with their order.

Frank reached over for the wine bottle to top Fliss’ glass up and she thanked him, taking another sip, before he saw her bite her lip and she reached into her purse.

“Congratulations.” He said dryly, teasing her a little as she turned to him. He nodded to the phone “You made it like 45 minutes since we walked out of the door without checking up on him.” “I wasn’t…” she began to protest and he gave her a look and she groaned, tossing her phone back in her purse “Ok, fine…maybe I was.” “Honey, he’ll be ok.” Frank said gently, his hand on her knee “You’re mom and dad did this all before remember?”

“I know, I know…” she said, before she reached over for an olive and popped it in her mouth.

Frank then diverted the subject, got her talking about her afternoon teaching and she animatedly filled him in on how nice it had been to get back to seeing some of her clients. The conversation was easy, fun, they laughed and giggled away and a little over half an hour later when their food arrived they’d worked though their first bottle of wine and Frank then ordered them a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut, just as he’d promised.

The food was amazing, Frank couldn’t fault a single thing about it, other than maybe it was a little too good as his jeans definitely felt a little tighter around the waist when they finished their meal because despite the fact he was full he just couldn’t stop eating. As the waiter came to clean the empty dishes away, Fliss then heard her phone going. Reaching into her purse she read the message and smiled before she turned the phone to Frank. It was a picture of Alex, fast asleep against Bill’s chest as he sat in their lounge.

“See.” Frank smile “He’s happy as a pig in shit.” “Frank!” Fliss scoffed, slapping his arm, “Don’t call our baby a pig.” “I was talking about your dad.”

“Oh…I’m so telling him you said that.” She said as they both laughed and she shook her head “You’re a bad man.”

“You love it honey.” He teased and she grinned.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” She leaned over, pressing her lips to his in a soft kiss. She glanced down at her phone and smiled again before she put it away “We did good though. We made a pretty cute baby.” “Good genes.” Frank boasted and Fliss laughed and he smiled at her, brushing her hair back behind her ear before he rest his arm along the back of the soft chair she was in. “Ever think you’ll fancy another?”

“Another baby?” Fliss asked and Frank nodded. “Fuck no.” she spluttered and Frank let out a loud laugh. “I mean I wouldn’t change any of this for the world but, well, he wasn’t exactly on my life plan…”

“Good, because I don’t want one either.” He said in between his chuckles as he reached for his champagne flute.

“Well, you know…” Fliss said, mimicking him and picking hers up “There is one way we could make sure it doesn’t happen again…” she moved the hand that wasn’t holding her drink and mimed a pair of scissors snipping the air. Frank choked on his drink, spluttering slightly as the bubbles threatened to fizz down his nose. Fliss roared with laughter as he wiped at his shirt and glared at her.

“Absolutely no way in hell.”

“Why not?” she shrugged.

“Because…well, just no!” he said, grimacing, “I couldn’t do that to Little Frank.” “Little Frank…jesus…I can’t…” Fliss’ laughter grew even louder and the familiar snorting that happened when she was laughing beyond control started, which set Frank off again. She clamped her hand over her mouth, slapping his arm and looked away from him, trying to control herself. Eventually they managed to stop and Frank shook his head, composing himself before he asked for the check.

*****

They hit a cab down to Ferg’s and Fliss squealed when she saw Bonnie, sweeping her up into a huge hug before examining her ring up close whilst Frank shook Simon’s hand, pulling him into a bro hug, slapping his back. They were joined shortly afterwards by the rest of the gang, and when Simon and Bonnie broke their news to everyone there were more loud cheers and a shout of “shots all round” from Jake. Frank kept a careful eye on Fliss, who was already flushed from what they’d drunk over dinner, especially seeing as she hadn’t had a proper drink in over a year now. She downed 2 tequilas and then shook her head when someone asked her if she wanted another, instead requesting a water.

The gang moved to their preferred spot over at one of the tables at the back, round the corner away from the bar area, and they had a good hour or so catch up before the boys wanted to shoot some pool. Together they made their way over to the games area, the girls settling at one of the tall tables by the side.

“So how is the little one?” Greg turned to Frank as Simon and Jake racked the pool balls up, and he beamed in response.

“Ah Greg, he’s fahkin’ awesome.” Frank gushed “I just…he’s great, really great. Other than being a little cock block that is.” Greg snorted “Yeah I hate to break it to you, but that only gets worse as they get older…especially when they learn how to climb out of their crib and come to your room.” “Imma get a lock on the door.” Frank stated simply and Greg laughed as they grabbed a cue each, chalking the end.

They shot one game and then Frank said it was his round, so he headed off to the bar. He nodded to Dave, asking for the same again plus another bottle of water for Fliss and as he headed off to get their drinks, the young woman on the seat next to Frank jumped down from the stool next to him. Frank fished in his pocket for his wallet, pausing as he heard a little yelp and he turned his head to the right to see the guy sat two stools down had his arm curled around the young woman’s upper arm. She tried to get free but the guy’s grip tightened and Frank felt a spike of anger in his chest. All he could see in his mind was Fliss and that bastard ex-husband of hers hurting her. And he knew then he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, let this go.

“We’re not done yet.” The guy said loudly, a sneer on his face as he looked at the girl. Frank quickly stepped up behind her, and he looked at the guy and shook his head.

“Yes, you are.” He said, drawing himself up to full height, shoulders tensing, his eyes not once leaving the douchebag in front of him as he kept his voice calm and level “Let the lady go, man.”

“Mind your business, dick head.”

“It became my business when the whole bar could hear your conversation.” Frank retorted, his tone still calm. “Let her go. Now.”

After a second or so, albeit reluctantly, the asshole did loosen his grip so that the young girl could remove her arm from his hand meaning she could get out of the way. She headed down to the far end of the bar, Frank watching her for a second before he turned back to the man in front of him who was now wobbling to his feet, his fist clenching by his side.

Frank snorted to himself. Was this asshole really going to go there? Sure, the inebriated piece of shit was built, he probably had a good 20 pounds on him, but Frank himself was no push over. He was in decent shape, he knew that, and given his chances against someone who was struggling to stand up straight, well, he’d take them.

“What are you, some kinda knight in shining armor?” the guy snorted. “Fuck you, man!”

Before Frank had time for a rebuttal, asshole had made a run for him and Frank almost lazily sidestepped as the drunk swung a punch at him. Not being able to stop, Mr Drunk asshole pitched forward and smacked into a chair, catching his head on the adjacent table-top. He groaned out in pain as he held his head on the ground.

“Jeff! What the hell is going on?”

Frank looked up to see a group of guys heading back in from the outside of the patio and for the first time he felt a little nervous. He looked around, and to his relief he saw Simon and Jake approaching.

“Get him outta here!” Dave said loudly “Your friend is drunk and startin’ fights in my bar. Get the fuck out before I call the cops.”

The guys were fast to act, quickly shuffling ‘Jeff’ out and cursing at him for ruining their night.

“Fucking prick…” Dave shook his head, before he looked at Frank. “Nice going man, this rounds on the house.” “Thanks Dave…” Frank smiled at him.

“Hey bud, you ok?” Simon clapped Frank on the shoulder as Jake eyed the guys leaving “What the fuck?” “Oh he was hassling some girl.” Frank said, shaking his head, “She was petrified.” “What a dick.” Jake mumbled, turning back to him. “She ok?” “Not sure…” Frank said, looking round the bar as Dave placed the tray of drinks down in front of him. He didn’t know whether she had stayed or scarpered but he soon spotted her. She was sat on a chair, her arms over her stomach at the opposite end of the bar. Frank felt a pang of sympathy for her, she was clearly here on her own for whatever reason. “Do me a favour and take the drinks back to the tables will you?” he said to Jake and Simon, before he strode over, stopping besides her.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked her gently.

“Yeah, thanks to you. Thank you for helping me. You’re like my hero.” she let out a nervous laugh as a pink blush settled on her cheeks.

“You’re welcome but I was just doing what any person would do.” Frank smiled, a little embarrassed at the compliment. “My name’s Frank, by the way. You want some water?”

She offered her name and nodded. Frank turned to Dave “Hey man, can she get a water”?

“Sure.” Dave nodded, reaching into the fridge for a bottle. He passed it over and she took it with a thanks, taking a slow sip before she set the bottle down and looked back at Frank.

“So, Frank. Is there any way I could thank you for your bravery? Maybe treat you to a coffee sometime?” at that she reached forward and put her hand on top of his forearm gently, looking at him expectantly.

Shit. Not another fucking Vegas.

As gently as he could he moved his arm away, coughing a little as he shook his head. “I… uh, thank you for the offer, but not sure my fiancée would appreciate that.”

“Oh, god. I’m sorry.” She blushed again and pulled her hand away.

He smiled kindly at her, but before he could assure her not to worry about it he heard Fliss shouting. “Frank!”

He turned to see her walking towards him, a worried expression on her face. “Are you okay?” “Yeah Lissy, I’m fine.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him, kissing her temple lightly.

“What happened?” she asked, searching his eyes “Jake and Simon mentioned there’d been a fight and…” “Just some drunken asshole harassing this lady.” He said, nodding to the woman. “I stepped in that’s all. He didn’t hit me, don’t worry.”

Fliss looked at him, then to the woman and back again as Frank introduced her. The young woman reached out and shook Fliss hand as Frank’s arm dropped to her back, gently brushing underneath her top.

"Well, I think I’ve had enough ‘fun’ for the night.” The girl laughed dryly. “I’m gonna head out. Thank you again, Frank. It was nice meeting you Fliss. You’ve got quite a guy."

Fliss looked at Frank whose cheeks had flushed slightly and she nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I do. Take care.”

They stood watching her leave before Fliss turned to Frank, her hands sliding up his chest “Like a regular real life Captain America ain’t you? Standing up for the little guy.”

Frank rolled his eyes “Your Marvel obsession is ridiculous.”

She shrugged as he dropped a kiss to her lips before they headed back over to join their friends.

***** An hour or so later Fliss was ready to go home, her feet hurt, her boobs hurt and she was quite drunk. She leaned over to Frank who was sat next to her, her hand curling round his thigh and he turned to her.

“You ok sweetheart?”

“No, I mean yeah, I mean…” she sighed “I’m ready to go home, do you mind?” “Course not.” He smiled, giving a little chuckle “I’ll get us an Uber ok?”

He reached for his phone, ordered the car and to Fliss’ relief there was one literally round the corner. They stood up, bid their friends good night sharing a few hugs and the like before Frank looped an arm round Fliss’ shoulders, hers slinking around his waist as they walked slowly out of the bar. Frank could tell she was a little unsteady on her feet and he smiled to himself, pleased she’d let go enough to enjoy herself.

Carefully he made sure she got down the steps ok and they walked along the little path that led down to the front of the row of bars that Ferg’s was at the end of. As they emerged onto the road area, waiting for their cab Frank heard a shout.

“Oi..”

He wheeled round and saw the asshole from the bar, Jeff, stumbling towards him as his friends hastily followed, shouting at him to leave it alone.

“Fuck…” Frank mumbled, “Fliss, move honey, quick…” She looked up at him, then to the guy approaching, and he felt her tense. He stepped forward, his arm stretched out to the side, ready to push her behind him but in a flash she ducked under it and before he could stop her she’d raised her fist and smashed it straight into the approaching guy’s face. Her punch connected with a satisfying crack and he dropped like a stone to the floor, clutching his nose which was billowing blood.

His friends appeared once more, apologising profoundly as they hoisted him to his feet, he was groaning and clutching at his face, as they led him away.

“Lissy…” Frank’s voice was a mixture of shock and awe as she turned to him, shaking out her fist.

“Sorry, oh my God that was so bad…” she mumbled, “Was that bad? Are you angry?”

“Angry?” he looked at her, shaking his head “No. Why would- what- where the fuck did you learn to punch like that?”

“Steve.” She shrugged “Haven’t done it in a while…”

Frank blinked as their Uber pulled up and she made her way towards it. He shook himself out of his shocked stance and strode forward, opening the car door for her. He stopped it halfway, causing her to look at him and he dropped his head, his lips brushing her ear. “Baby, I just want you to know that I’m all sorts of turned on right now…”

She looked up at him and her lips quirked up at the side into a cheeky grin. “Best hope this guy doesn’t take the long way home then…” Frank gave a little growl as she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. He opened the door fully, to allow her to climb into the back seat, before he hastily followed her in. As the driver set off, Frank leaned forward between the front seats, which wasn’t exactly easy given the bulge in the front of his jeans and he nodded to the driver.

“Extra 5 bucks in it for you pal, if you make it quick…”

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #gifted #gifted fan fic

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Riding On

Ch 15- TFI Friday

Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s…)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 14

And then it further dawned on him that it didn't actually matter because Mary still needed to get up and ready for school regardless of his day off or not.

But then…it was Friday. Her university day…which meant she wasn’t due in until 10…

"Morning Cowgirl" He said, closing his eyes and snuggling closer into her. “I didn’t wake you did I?”

“The alarm did.” She shifted slightly before she propped herself up to check on Alex who was fast asleep "Yeah, now he sleeps" she grumbled.

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed another kiss to her neck. “Yeah he was really not playing ball last night was he?"

"Three times." She groaned "He's a bottomless pit Frank."

"I told you to stay on bed for the third." Frank sighed.

"Once I'm awake I'm awake." She shrugged. "He cries and it’s like my boobs send an alarm to my brain.”

Frank chuckled "Well like your mom suggested, introducing the formula should help. He'll fill up from less and give you a break."

"You mean because I can't feed him what he needs myself." She let put a sigh and at that Frank took a deep breath and propped himself up on his elbow.

"Hey, look at me." He said sternly and she rolled onto her back, her brown eyes blinking up at him, auburn and blonde hair splayed across her pillow. "You checked with the doctor, she said this perfectly normal..."

"Then why do I feel so shit." She asked, tears brimming her eyes "I can't even feed our baby properly.”

"Oh, Lissy, come ‘ere..." He sighed gently as she rolled onto her side facing him, his arms cradling her close as she pressed her face into his chest, sniffling "Honey, you're a wonderful mom. Don't start beating yourself up about something that in the grand scheme of things really doesn't matter."

"It matters to me Frank."

"You think he gives a shit whether what he's getting is from you or not? Does he fuck, he just wants food." Frank told her softly, his hand rubbing up and down her back, underneath the sleep cami she was wearing. "If anything the fact you're doing this shows how much of a good mom you are. You spotted something that he needs and you're doing what you have to do to give it to him.” She stayed silent bar her little sniffles and he gently pressed a kiss to her head. "Don't think on it too much Fliss. I know it must feel shitty for you but he'll be fine. That I can promise you."

She took a deep breath and pulled back to look at him, and he gently brushed his lips against hers, the hand that was on her back stopping in the middle of the spine, holding her to him, kissing her lazily. She took it eagerly, allowing him to slowly ease her over onto her back, caging her underneath his body as his mouth moved to her jawline then her neck. She gave a soft sigh, her hands sliding into his sleep-messed hair and he’d just moved his mouth downwards, softly nipping at her chest through her top when, with his ever perfect timing, Alex let out a little whine.

Fliss looked down at her boobs and then shrugged “Well seeing as he fed three times over night they’re not that swollen so…” Frank gave a snort as she looked at him, arching her eyebrows “Hey, the struggle is real, ok?"

“I didn’t suggest otherwise.” He hopped out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweats, yanking at the crotch as they felt a little tight thanks to the fact he was half hard, and a T-shirt as Fliss leaned over, gently rubbing Alex’s tummy. “Hey.” Frank looked at her as he picked his son up, gently placing a large hand on his back “If you’re swapping over to formula, does that mean Ben and Jerry are gonna go smaller?” he nodded at her chest “Because if so I may be forced to reconsider my stance on the situation.”

“If you didn’t have hold of our son I’d punch you.” Fliss glared and he gave a chuckle before he headed out of the room.

Alex looked at him, blinking slowly.

By now Alex’s fairly decent mood had started to wane as he was hungry. The noises he made were getting louder and slightly more impatient, threatening to turn into an out and out cry.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s coming pal…” Frank dropped a gentle kiss to the downy hair on Alex’s head “I know, you’re hungry...despite the fact you had midnight, 1.30 am and 4am snack…”

He settled on the sofa, flicked on the TV for the morning news, positioned Alex and gave him his bottle, watching with a soft smile on his face as the baby’s cheeks worked hungrily taking the mix of breast and formula in the bottle. They’d started this just a few days or so ago after Fliss had simply been unable to stop him crying from hunger Tuesday afternoon and called her mom in a flap. She’d suggested doing what Steve and Sian had had to do with the twins, seeing as both of those had been greedy little bastards too so after a call to the Paediatrician, Fliss had reluctantly agreed. Frank did sympathise with her, and he’d been waiting for the inevitable tears which had finally come that morning, but it would be much easier for her in the long run all things considered, especially if as the doctor had suggested she could move to formula fully bar a morning feed.

Supporting Alex in one arm, he absentmindedly watched the anchor and co-anchor on the CNN morning news where they were talking to someone about a Thanksgiving tradition or something, he wasn’t really paying much attention if he was honest. It freaked him out how fast it was creeping up on them. Soon it would be fucking Christmas. Thankfully, Fliss seemed to be on top of it mostly. They were hosting a small Thanksgiving with his mother then heading over to Verity and Bill’s for the usual party, and for Christmas Steve, Sian and the boys were over so they were spending the day at Verity and Bill’s along with Roberta and his mother…which was always fun. It never ceased to amaze him how welcoming Fliss’ family had been to his own fucked up version of one.

Lost in his thoughts, he was jerked from them by a little popping noise and he looked down to see Alex had moved away from the bottle, and to his astonishment there was a small amount left.

“Finally full up buddy?” Frank asked, offering Alex the bottle again but he turned his head away un interested. “Guess so.” Frank smiled, placing the bottle on the coffee table and moving Alex so he was leaning against his chest, head on his shoulder as he burped him. It took a little while but eventually he obliged and Frank chuckled, turning his head to look at him, bright blue eyes staring around the room. He was developing so fast now, it was ridiculous.

“Shall we go wake your sister up?” He asked softly, “Yeah, okay, come on.”

“Where’s Bean?” she asked.

“Mary’s watching him for a second so I could bring you that.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, taking a sip of her drink.

“I’ll take him with me when I drop Mary off. He likes the truck. I might pop into the shop for twenty minutes or so, the guys haven’t seen him in a while and I like showing him off.” Frank smiled a little bashfully and Fliss’ smile grew even larger. “Imma dress him in his Made In Boston T-shirt…”

Fliss chuckled “I still can’t believe Bonnie and Simon got him that.” “Oh, I can.” Frank nodded “In fact, that’s quite tame for what I expected from Si to be honest.” “Yeah, that’s true…” Fliss conceded “Oh, don’t forget, I’m teaching at two for an hour.” “I’ll be well back before then.” Frank snorted, “It’s not even eight yet.” “I know I was just pointing out you can have some more male bonding time then too.” “Great, maybe I’ll introduce him to Debbie Does Dallas…” Frank teased and Fliss snorted

“Well, we know he likes boobs so…”

*****

Yup, Frank Adler was a big fan of getting dirty in the shower.

“Room for another?” he asked, cheekily, pulling off his T-shirt. Fliss jumped a little as she hadn’t heard him come in and then turned to look at him through the shower screen, most of her body obscured by the frosted glass pattern. She grinned and raised her hand, making a beckoning motion with her finger. In a flash he shed the remainder of his clothing and stepped into the large cubicle with her, his hands reaching out for her hips, pulling her towards him, so her back was pressed to his chest.

“I believe we have unfinished business Miss Gallagher.” He said, feeling her slick skin pressing against his as he nipped at her neck.

“Really?” she pondered, “I don’t recall…”

“No?” he teased, his lips placing another kiss to her wet skin, “Maybe this will jog your memory…”

“Turn around…” Frank whispered into her ear and she did as she was told, greeting his lips in a filthy kiss as he pivoted her round so that her back was pressed to the wall of the shower cubicle. His mouth moved from hers to her jawline, the whiskers of his beard gently sliding over her skin as he dipped his head to kiss her collar bone before he rather gracefully dropped to his knees. He glanced up at her, deep brown met ocean blue, her eyes full with a heady combination of love, desire and lust and it drew a low growl from his throat as he reached down for her left ankle. With a steady hand Frank lifted it over his right shoulder and gently kissed and sucked his way up her leg, leaving a nip at the apex of her thigh. She moaned loudly, her head falling back against the tiles as he moved to where she wanted him the most, his tongue long and flat against her centre as he lapped at her entrance all the way up to her sensitive bud. Her body jolted as she let out a soft sigh of his name which was laced with satisfaction as he set his mouth to work.

Fliss’ wrecked brain had barely registered his mouth was on hers when he pulled back slightly, his lips hovering over hers as the water cascaded down on them both. With his hands on her hips, he spun her round, pulling her back, nudging her ankles with his feet to open her up a little more. With one palm on the base of her back he gently bent her forward ever so slightly, took his throbbing cock in his hand and lined himself up. With a gentle, slow movement he slipped inside, burying himself in her heat, the rumble from his throat slipping out of his mouth at the relief of finally being inside her. Once he was fully sheathed his hands moved, one to her stomach, holding her in place, the other up to her breasts as she arched her back, her head back against his shoulder as he drove in and out of her, slowly, deliberately. Her right hand moved back to grab at his thigh, her fingertips digging into the hard muscle as he thrust forward, the other hand flat reached back to tangle in his hair.

“God you feel so good, baby.” He groaned, his mouth licking a stripe up the side of her neck as her head lolled to the right, tracing her wet skin up to her jaw line, “So fahkin’ good…”

“Go one, come for me baby…” he nipped at her ear “I got you, I promise…”

“Good girl…” he praised as he continued thrusting through, the heat in his own belly now beginning to spike even more, “Such a good girl for me…”

“You should take the day off more often” she quipped and Frank could do nothing but laugh.

“I fahkin’ love you.” He chuckled and she grinned, giving a shrug.

“I’m a very lovable person.”

“That you are cowgirl.” He nodded, “That you are.”

*****

Fliss gave a groan and held her hands up. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“You’ve left him with us before, this is no different.” Verity looked at her “No go, go on, scoot.”

Over Fliss’ shoulder, Frank shot Verity a wink as he dropped his hand to the curve of his girl’s lower back. “Come on Lissy, we’ll be late otherwise.”

“Yeah, and I wanna get back to eat.” Bill said, twirling his car keys.

“Maybe I should drive?” Fliss looked at Frank who took a deep breath as Verity made an annoyed noise in her throat.

“If you want to drive, then that’s up to you.” Frank replied patiently as she bit her lip. “Be a shame though, I was gonna treat you to that champagne you demanded. Maybe not quite a swimming pool full but…”

Fliss looked at him for a second before she shook her head “I’m sorry…”

“Stop apologising.” He chuckled softly “Lissy, what do you want to do?”

“Doesn’t matter, we’re staying so be as late as you want.”

That and simply love her, which was a given, because he did with every single breath he took.

“You look gorgeous.” He smiled at her as they walked to her dad’s car. She blushed a little and glanced down at the dark blue peplum top she was wearing, coupled with faded jeans and a white denim jacket. She’d been over the moon to find out she could fit back in those jeans so he wasn’t surprised she’d chosen them for the evening. On her feet she wore a simple pair of yellow heeled pumps, complete with matching bag. Her hair was down in loose waves, and her make-up was simple, a light dusting of rose gold powder on her lids.

“Thanks.” She smiled, before she eyed him up and down and he grinned as he knew full well what she was thinking, given that he was dressed in his yellow and black palm-tree Hawaiian print shirt.

“You said my shit shits were endearing.” He quipped and she gave a laugh, shrugging.

“You wouldn’t be Frank without them.”

Fliss declined the front seat when Frank offered it to her, instead climbing into the back behind her dad taking the time to check up on a few emails and the yard’s social media accounts. The three of them made easy chat on the way into St Pete’s and thanked Bill for the lift as they both climbed out. Fliss instructed her dad to call them if there was any problems and he simply rolled his eyes and told her to “piss off and have a good time”.

But not his Fliss.

As it was still early and they wanted to chill out, they had opted to eat in the more casual outside lounge area which sported the roof bar and offered an all evening Tapas style menu, not the full a la carte main restaurant menu. As such they were led through to their table on the veranda. Neither of them had been into this part since the refurb, the last time Fliss came it hadn’t been finished but now, she felt a smile cross her face as she looked around. It was cosy and casual, right up her street. The tables were slightly lower than normal and appeared to all be different shapes and sizes, made out of driftwood and pallets. They were decked with large candles held in jars in the middle and surrounded by comfy chairs and bean bags all of which sported blankets given that the time of year meant sometimes in the evening it could be quite chilly at night. In the middle of the veranda was a large stone fire pit which was covered by an ornamental, wrought iron cage that spiralled to a point some eight feet off the ground, and the bar stood to the rear right hand corner with a few people sat down enjoying a drink.

“Oh my God, I love it.” Fliss muttered to Frank and he looked down at her, nodding.

“This is pretty cool” he conceded.

“Yeah?�� Frank asked, looking at her.

She nodded “Rustic, causal, bean bags, blankets…that type of thing…although it won’t be that cold then…”

“If you want blankets, baby, you can have blankets.” He chuckled kissing her forehead as they settled down onto the comfy plush seats which, to Fliss’ delight were also bean bags just shaped differently. The teenage kid who had shown them to their table soon returned with the menus and informed them that as it was the first week they’d opened the terrace, with every bottle of wine purchased, there was complementary charcuterie tasting platter included. Fliss’ eyes lit up and Frank knew why, it was probably her favourite thing to eat in the world and he had to admit, she did a pretty wicked board herself when they were entertaining. With that in mind, he ordered them a bottle of Pinot Grigio and they sat back, Frank’s arm dropping over Fliss’ shoulders as she looked around.

“You do?” Frank asked.

“Yup. I want food trucks. Mexican and Pizza.”

Frank cocked his head to one side, smiling as he looked at her “That’s actually a fucking brilliant idea.”

“No fancy sit down meal, if it stays for a couple of hours then people can grab what they want when they want.”

“I don’t know, I lost track of time…been kinda busy.” She teased as Frank chuckled, leaning down to give her a soft kiss.

Frank reached over for the wine bottle to top Fliss’ glass up and she thanked him, taking another sip, before he saw her bite her lip and she reached into her purse.

“Congratulations.” He said dryly, teasing her a little as she turned to him. He nodded to the phone “You made it like forty five minutes since we walked out of the door without checking up on him.” “I wasn’t…” she began to protest and he gave her a look and she groaned, tossing her phone back in her purse “Ok, fine…maybe I was.” “Honey, he’ll be ok.” Frank said gently, his hand on her knee “Your mom and dad did this all before remember?”

“I know, I know…” she said, before she reached over for an olive and popped it in her mouth.

“See.” Frank smile “He’s happy as a pig in shit.”

“Frank!” Fliss scoffed, slapping his arm, “Don’t call our baby a pig.”

“I was talking about your dad.”

“Oh…I’m so telling him you said that.” She said as they both laughed and she shook her head “You’re a bad man.”

“Yeah, but you love me.” He teased and she grinned.

“Good genes.” Frank boasted and Fliss laughed and he smiled at her, brushing her hair back behind her ear before he rest his arm along the back of the soft chair she was in. “Ever think you’ll fancy another?”

“Good, because I don’t want one either.” He said in between his chuckles as he reached for his champagne flute.

“Absolutely no way in hell.”

“Why not?” she shrugged.

*****

They hit a cab down to Fergs and Fliss squealed when she saw Bonnie, sweeping her up into a huge hug before examining her ring up close whilst Frank shook Simon’s hand, pulling him into a bro hug, slapping his back. They were joined shortly afterwards by the rest of the gang, and when Simon and Bonnie broke their news to everyone there were more loud cheers and a shout of “shots all round” from Jake. Frank kept a careful eye on Fliss, who was already flushed from what they’d drunk over dinner, especially seeing as she hadn’t had a proper drink in over a year now. She downed 2 tequilas and then shook her head when someone asked her if she wanted another, instead requesting a water.

“So how is the little one?” Greg turned to Frank as Simon and Jake racked the pool balls up, and he beamed in response.

“Ah Greg, he’s fahkin’ awesome.” Frank gushed “I just…he’s great, really great. Other than being a little cock block that is.”

Greg snorted “Yeah I hate to break it to you, but that only gets worse as they get older…especially when they learn how to climb out of their crib and come to your room.”

“Imma get a lock on the door.” Frank stated simply and Greg laughed as they grabbed a cue each, chalking the end.

“We’re not done yet.” The guy said loudly, a sneer on his face as he looked at the girl. Frank quickly stepped up behind her, and he looked at the guy and shook his head.

“Mind your business, dick head.”

“It became my business when the whole bar could hear your conversation.” Frank retorted, his tone still calm. “Let her go. Now.”

“What are you, some kinda knight in shining armor?” the guy snorted. “Fuck you, man!”

“Jeff! What the hell is going on?”

“Get him outta here!” Dave said loudly “Your friend is drunk and startin’ fights in my bar. Get the fuck out before I call the cops.”

The guys were fast to act, quickly shuffling ‘Jeff’ out and cursing at him for ruining their night.

“Fucking prick.” Dave shook his head, before he looked at Frank. “Nice going man, this rounds on the house.” “Thanks Dave.” Frank smiled at him.

“Hey bud, you ok?” Simon clapped Frank on the shoulder as Jake eyed the guys leaving “What the fuck?” “Oh he was hassling some girl.” Frank said, shaking his head, “She was petrified.” “What a dick.” Jake mumbled, turning back to him. “She ok?” “Not sure.” Frank said, looking round the bar as Dave placed the tray of drinks down in front of him. He didn’t know whether she had stayed or scarpered but he soon spotted her. She was sat on a chair, her arms over her stomach at the opposite end of the bar. Frank felt a pang of sympathy for her, she was clearly here on her own for whatever reason. “Do me a favour and take the drinks back to the tables will you?” he said to Jake and Simon, before he strode over, stopping besides her.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked her gently.

“Yeah, thanks to you. Thank you for helping me. You’re like my hero.” She let out a nervous laugh as a pink blush settled on her cheeks.

“You’re welcome but I was just doing what any person would do.” Frank smiled, a little embarrassed at the compliment. “My name’s Frank, by the way. You want some water?”

She offered her name and nodded. Frank turned to Dave “Hey man, can she get a water”?

“Sure.” Dave nodded, reaching into the fridge for a bottle. He passed it over and she took it with a thanks, taking a slow sip before she set the bottle down and looked back at Frank.

Shit. Not another fucking Vegas.

As gently as he could he moved his arm away, coughing a little as he shook his head. “I… uh, thank you for the offer, but not sure my fiancée would appreciate that.”

“Oh, God. I’m sorry.” She blushed again and pulled her hand away.

He smiled kindly at her, but before he could assure her not to worry about it he heard Fliss shouting. “Frank!”

He turned to see her walking towards him, a worried expression on her face. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, Lissy I’m fine.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him, kissing her temple lightly.

“What happened?” She asked, searching his eyes. “Jake and Simon mentioned there’d been a fight and…” “Just some drunken asshole harassing this lady.” He said, nodding to the woman. “I stepped in that’s all. He didn’t hit me, don’t worry.”

"Well, I think I’ve had enough ‘fun’ for the night.” The girl laughed dryly. “I’m gonna head out. Thank you again, Frank. It was nice meeting you Fliss. You’ve got quite a guy."

Fliss looked at Frank whose cheeks had flushed slightly and she nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I do. Take care.”

They stood watching her leave before Fliss turned to Frank, her hands sliding up his chest “Like a regular real life Captain America ain’t you? Standing up for the little guy.”

Frank rolled his eyes “Your Marvel obsession is ridiculous.”

She shrugged as he dropped a kiss to her lips before they headed back over to join their friends.

“You ok sweetheart?”

“No, I mean yeah, I mean…” she sighed “I’m ready to go home, do you mind?” “Course not.” He smiled, giving a little chuckle “I’ll get us an Uber ok?”

Carefully he made sure she got down the steps ok and they walked along the little path that led down to the front of the small row of beach bars that Ferg’s was at the end of. As they emerged onto the road area, waiting for their cab Frank heard a shout.

“Oi!”

He wheeled round and saw the asshole from the bar, Jeff, stumbling towards him as his friends hastily followed, shouting at him to leave it alone.

“Fuck.” Frank mumbled, “Fliss, move honey, quick.” She looked up at him, then to the guy approaching, and he felt her tense. He stepped forward, his arm stretched out to the side, ready to push her behind him but in a flash she ducked under it and before he could stop her she’d raised her fist and smashed it straight into the approaching guy’s face. Her punch connected with a satisfying crack and he dropped like a stone to the floor, clutching his nose which was billowing blood.

His friends appeared once more, apologising profoundly as they hoisted him to his feet, he was groaning and clutching at his face, as they led him away.

“Lissy!” Frank’s voice was a mixture of shock and awe as she turned to him, shaking out her fist.

“Sorry, oh my God that was so bad!” She mumbled, “Was that bad? Are you angry?”

“Angry?” He looked at her, shaking his head “No. Why would- what- where the fuck did you learn to punch like that?”

“Steve.” She shrugged “Haven’t done it in a while.”

She looked up at him and her lips quirked up at the side into a cheeky grin. “Best hope this guy doesn’t take the long way home then.” Frank gave a little growl as she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. He opened the door fully, to allow her to climb into the back seat, before he hastily followed her in. As the driver set off, Frank leaned forward between the front seats, which wasn’t exactly easy given the bulge in the front of his jeans and he nodded to the driver.

“Extra 5 bucks in it for you pal, if you make it quick…”

**** Chapter 16 Part 1

#frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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kiritella · 5 years

Text

The Long and the Lost [9.5]

Title: The Long and the Lost [9.5]

Words: 1.8k-ish

Pairings: Father!Bucky x Daughter!Reader

Warnings: none

A/N: This one sucks and I am so sorry. It is mostly just details and not really necessary. This series is updated every Saturday at 12 pm CST.

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

Previously…

The sound of a recording being turned off draws your attention back to the other side of the room where Steve is looking proudly at his phone screen before back up at the two of you, “I’ll send you a copy,” he says to Bucky before walking down the hallway to his room to upload the video to his computer, Sam following behind him.

“Forgot we had an audience,” you mumble, slightly embarrassed but not regretting a single second.

Bucky laughs lightly and looks back at you, “Yeah.”

Shaking your head slightly, you bring yourself back into the present, “Well, what’s the plan for today? Work?”

“Actually, I finished my reports yesterday, so I was thinking we break into Sam’s secret candy stash and have a Star Trek marathon?”

“You grab the goods and I’ll make the popcorn.”

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

Now…

A smirk forms on Bucky’s lips as he watches you spin on your heels and into the kitchen, damn, you’re even his partner in crime. He slips his way down the hall and around the corner to the very end and lifts a picture frame off the wall, revealing the little, candy-filled cubby-hole Sam had made a few months ago. He grabs and stuffs the items into his pocket as he hears the popping coming from the kitchen before placing the picture back carefully and making his way into the living room and leaving the apartment, heading to the common room to set up the TV.

With your nightmares happening less and less, there have been fewer movie nights. Not that he’s complaining about it, you are getting better. You’ve been sleeping and you haven’t needed to talk to Sam about the nightmares or memories as much, and although you still have panic attacks now and then, they aren’t as frequent or severe. You still flinch a lot, though, loud noises, sharp movements, you’ve even lashed out a few times on accident, left a few bruises on Sam and him, hell, even Nat, but no one can really blame you, especially when you nearly break down in tears apologizing. However, because you are getting better, he’s had less time with you, now that he isn’t needed at your side every minute of the day, he has more time to work, go on more missions. So, he misses you and enjoys these few times that he can just spend the day relaxing with you, getting to know you better outside of your fear.

You shuffle into the common room with a bowl of popcorn and a couple sodas, setting them on the coffee table before plopping onto the couch next to him, “Which one we on now?”

“VI: The Voyage Home, it’s weird, but still a good movie.”

“Hmm, we’ll see,” you mumble while stuffing a handful of popcorn in your mouth as the intro to the movie starts playing. Bucky smiles in amusement when he hears you humming along to the music. He grabs the assortments of candy from his pockets and lays it on the couch between the two of you, Hershey’s, Reese’s, mints, Snickers, Milky Ways, the whole nine yards.

Several hours and a few movies later, you and Bucky are cleaning up your mess, which may or may not include scattered popcorn from when you had a little food fight after a disagreement in the best characters. When you are finished, you both head back to the apartment, grabbing some actual food before settling on the couch, each with a book in hand.

Bucky’s eyes are on the page, but they flick back up to you every now and then, too focused on how relaxed you look to actually be reading, the gentle crease of your brows as you drown in the book, your slightly puckered lips that he swears makes you look like your mom. You’ve come so far since they found you, hell, it’s been almost seven months since you both were prisoners at Hydra, and here you are, becoming a happier person every day, becoming you, not some tool or weapon. His mind drags back memories and he sees you being thrown into the room, blood soaking your clothes and fresh bruises shining on your face. His stomach twists and his grip on the book tightens, he has to remind himself of the present, the reality happening right now. Right now, you are both at the compound, and you’re sitting right on the other side of the couch, safe. Something keeps poking at the back of his mind though, you can move and react better in the dark than he’s ever seen anyone capable of, you can’t stand harsh sunlight, which he could blame on the fact you were isolated in a Hydra base for most of your life, but something is nagging in his gut telling him that’s not the case. Bucky knows you were trained in extensive ways, and according to you, it started very shortly after you were kidnapped, he just doesn’t know the details. No one does, except probably Sam…

“Hey, Doll?” Bucky asks and you hum in response, “Could we talk ‘bout something?”

You peel your eyes from the book and up to Bucky, there is a certain wariness in his eyes that tells you it’s about your past. It has been something you haven’t really spoken to him much about, not that you don’t want to, but you notice how tense he gets, the pain in his eyes when you do, and you figure it would be easier for him not to know. You answer all his questions, however, sometimes giving fewer details, but you don’t want to leave him guessing about certain things.

“Sure…” you say as you rest the book in your lap and move your legs from their curled up position so you could see him a little better.

Bucky shifts and faces you better, a hesitance in his voice as he speaks, “It’s about your training…” he pauses and you nod for him to continue, “You mentioned the Midnight Project, what is that?”

You tilt your head a little and think a second before answering, “The Midnight Project is a training program designed for black-op missions, primarily stealth. The training starts out like any other program, martial arts, endurance, weapons differentiation, examination, and accuracy, then it moves into the stealth aspect. Training to move swiftly and silently, how to incapacitate your enemy in the most efficient and quietest manner, lighting angles, behavioral manipulation, but one of the things that set it apart, was what they called midnight sight. They place a disc behind each of the trainee’s ears,” you say as you move some of your hair and show him the circular scar, two branches breaking off, one leading behind your neck and the other just slightly over the tip of your ear, “When activated, they unravel and a form a protective shield around their eyes and secures itself behind the neck, blinding the trainee until the device is shut off. They will leave it on a few months at a time, forcing the body’s other senses to heighten. They continue the training until the agent can perform blind, it optimizes efficiency for the missions, which were almost always at night. There weren’t many that survived the process, but those that did became some of the most lethal agents Hydra possessed, next to the Winter Soldier program.”

Bucky keeps his eyes set on you the whole time, sometimes nodding with the information, but you notice the darkness and tension in them grow as you speak, “How many others were there?”

“Besides me, there were eight. I was the first and highest ranking agent, so that’s why I received the Midnight name. But in the end, each of us could have torn apart organizations in the dead of night while everyone was sleeping. There were a few attempts at a new generation of Midnight agents, but I hear they didn’t turn out as well as Hydra had hoped. A lot of files were lost after the Howling Commandos and later Shield took out testing bases resulting in a loss of techniques and specifics of the program. As for the originals, Jones, Miller, and Raftire were sent out on a few long-term undercover missions before they were decommissioned. By the time I woke up next, Venhine and Piltor were nearly seventy, I’m not sure what happened to Xander and Tulman, and Alex was…He, uh…” your heart sinks as the image of the ceiling collapsing on the blonde-haired, green-eyed boy resurfaces and you pause a second before clearing your throat, “He died on a retrieval mission.”

Bucky watches as your face flashes from a neutral discomfort to pain then to a walled-up heart, and he recognizes the faraway look in your eyes, “Hey, C’mere,” he says so you scoot closer to him and he wraps an arm around you, “He was important to you, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, he was…”

Bucky tightens his hold around you and presses a kiss into your temple, “You okay?”

You nod, “Yeah, talked to Sam ‘bout it. Still hurts, but I’m okay.”

“You know you can talk to me if you want to, right?”

A smile forms on your lips, “I know, Dad.”

Bucky’s heart warms when you call him Dad, it seems so simple, but it is something he never thought he was going to be able to hear again. To have you here in his arms is more than he thought was possible after so long and he has missed it more than he ever realized.

The ring of his phone calls the two of you out of your trance and Bucky groans when he sees Stark’s drunk face pop up on the screen before swiping the answer button, “It’s my day off.” Some muttering is heard on the other end and Bucky’s face twists in disgust, “No, I don’t—Stark—Stark!” The line goes dead and Bucky nearly throws his phone across the room, “That goldfish-brained Romulan.”

You remove yourself from his grasp despite his little pout and look at him curiously, “Gotta go to work?”

Bucky shakes his head before muttering, “Might as well be, Stark is throwing a party tomorrow night and is ordering all Avengers to be there.”

The idea of a party doesn’t seem that bad, if it is like what you’ve read about, so it is a little confusing as to what the problem is, “It’s a party, it can’t be that bad...right?”

A sarcastic chuckle and a shake of his head has your face lighting in confusion but amusement, “You’ve never been to one of Stark’s parties…” he says as he smiles at you but his face falls after a moment, “Wait...you haven’t been to a party.”

You shrug and almost laugh as your Dad’s face lights up instantly, his voice losing every ounce of disdain as he speaks, “Wanna come with me?”

“I-I don’t know…” you stutter, eyes blown wide.

“C’mon, you’ll have fun, and you being there will make it bearable for me. If you don’t like it, it’ll just be a reason to leave early. How ‘bout it?” Bucky practically pleads, his best puppy-dog eyes making it really hard to say no...you thought that was supposed to work on couples, not fathers and daughters.

Your teeth bite into your lower lip and your nervous fingers fiddle with the hem of your shirt, “We can leave if it gets too much?”

“You say the word and we’re gone.”

The anxiety builds in your stomach at the mere thought of going, but you want to see what the fuss is about. Why Stark likes them, why your Dad hates them, why Steve is always on Sam patrol on those seemingly common parties, “Okay.”

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

Okay, I know this one was lame, but I have been sick and school is a real pain right now, I am really sorry...

Tags:

@darkphoenixrisingwrites @afictionaladventure16 @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @stop-talking-about-supernatural @avngrsinitiative @death-by-viola @sunnyshoes @jsmith509 @alicat-life

#the long and the lost #bucky #buckybarnes #bucky x abused!reader #bucky x reader #bucky x you #james buchanan barnes #james barnes #bucky x reader protective #father!bucky x reader #fluffy bucky #bucky x reader fluff #bucky fic #dad!bucky x daughter!reader #father!bucky daughter!reader #dad!bucky

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nancywheelxr · 5 years

Text

(our friends set us up on a blind date as a prank because we don’t like each other but neither of us wants to let them win so ) | Part 7:

( part 1 ) ( part 2 ) ( part 3 ) ( part 4 ) ( part 5 ) ( part 6 )

Weeks pass surprisingly uneventfully, but even amidst the dull boredom, something stays with Winn, nagging at him to pay attention. Alex hadn’t meant anything by her comment, not really, not this time, but it makes clear they have to step up their game if they want to keep this up for much longer. Soon, people will begin to wonder why they never seem to go on “dates”. And god knows the DEO loves a good gossip.

So when Kara asks if they want to go get drinks after work, Winn makes a big show out of telling her no, he can’t, actually, because you see, it’s date night.

The choice of words is important, too. He’s very proud of that. Date night, implying a routine, implying they did this before, implying they go out regularly.

And he thinks Brainy notices it, too, because he smiles from across the table, knowing and private, eyes shining under the lights, before going back to his conversation with Alex.

Kara grins, watching them. “Right, are you guys planning anything big for Valentine’s Day?”

“Sure,” he replies easily, “I’ve got reservations at that fancy french place downtown.”

She coos, shaking his shoulder excitedly, “oh my god, that’s so romantic! You’re taking him back to the place of your first date!”

“Yeah, well, not to brag, but I’m a damn good boyfriend.”

“You are constantly bragging,” Brainy comments, suddenly appearing at his side, “although you’re not incorrect. This time.”

Winn snorts, “thanks, babe.” A foot steps on his, and he has to bite back his snickers, “anyway. We were talking about how awesome I am, right? We should go back to that.”

“No, but seriously, how did you get that reservation? And at Valentine’s Day?” Kara says, gaping, “I heard there’s a month-long wait list.”

He shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pockets, “two months long. But I actually made them back in December? I mean, I was already there anyway, so I asked just to see– who knows, right? And there was a table left, so I took it. Seemed smart at the time.”

“Not at all,” Brainy frowns, apparently not grasping the logic of that, “two months are too far ahead, what if we had broken up?”

“Nah,” Winn grins, swinging an arm around his shoulder, “I thought it was worth the gamble. ‘Sides, I have faith in us, man.”

The frown clears from his face, but Brainy keeps looking at him with surprise– no, that’s not right. Something surprised and disbelieving in his eyes that Winn wishes he had more time to figure out properly–

Someone makes gagging noises nearby, drawing their attention away from each other. It’s Alex, faking a disgusted grimace, “yeah, yeah, we get it,” she rolls her eyes, waving them off, “you guys are disgustingly in love.”

If she wasn’t grinning just like her sister, Winn maybe would be inclined to believe the annoyance on her words, but as it is, Alex isn’t fooling anyone. She’s just as happy for them. And maybe if he hadn’t meant it what he had said earlier– he did have faith in them at the time. Half-drunk and excited with their new plan, he had been absolutely goddam sure they would be able to pull this off– then maybe he would feel a little bad for tricking them.

“It’s a love story for the ages,” he says. His smile slips briefly, but it goes unnoticed.

“Absolutely revolting,” she shakes her head.

Kara elbows her sister, snickering along. “Let them live, Alex,” she keeps a straight face for about a second before adding, “they have a date tonight.”

“You know, I met thirteen-years-old more mature than you two,” Winn tells them matter-of-factly, then turns to Brainy, “are you ready to go? Or do I need to entertain the peanut gallery for much longer?”

“There are no peanuts here,” Brainy gives him a perplexed look, “do you want peanuts?”

Right, he should’ve seen that coming, this one’s on him. “No, it’s just an expression, it means they’re children and their comments are stupid.”

“Oh. It’s a very misleading expression,” he shrugs, “but in that case, yes, we can go now.”

“Great,” Winn claps, whirling around, “shall we?”

“Have a good date,” Kara calls.

“And bring him back before midnight!” Alex adds.

“Will do,” he laughs.

“I have a very important question,” Winn says with a serious expression. He’s just finished locking the door, and Brainy is still hovering nearby. “Have you ever played Mario Kart?”

He throws his keys in the vague direction of the dish by the door, and Brainy follows him into the living room, sitting down on the couch. “I have not. The only games I know of are the ones Kara has brought at Game Nights.”

“Yeah, right, right, she told me you were there a few times,” Winn says, hooking up his game system on the TV. “She also mentioned it was a bit of a learning curve?”

“There were no explosions and no kittens,” he complains, huffing forlornly, “everything is so misleading in this century.”

“Even Scrabble? I thought you would be good at that one.”

“We haven’t had the opportunity to play it,” Brainy says diplomatically and takes the controller passed to him, turning it around curiously.

“Seriously? Kara hasn’t lifted the ban yet?” Winn scrunches up his face, “but then again, we’re still strongly against Mario Kart during Game Night, so. That’s fair, I guess?”

Only sort of, though. Adding the letter s to every completed word on the board just to see Alex slowly go through all five stages of grief does not compare to breaking one’s favorite controller during Mario Kart. The thing was crushed. To smithereens. But he supposes some games are just not meant to be played by a group of very, very competitive people.

They haven’t banned Monopoly yet, though, for some reason.

“Nevermind that,” he shakes his head, focusing on the task ahead, “so. I figured since we gotta stick together for a couple hours, we could just stay here and chill? I’ve got Mario Kart, Netflix, and the pizza place on speed dial.”

“Not Massimo’s?”

“God no, that place is stricken from the records. Giorgino’s two blocks down– and before you ask, yes, I’ve checked and they’re willing to make your weird apples and olives pizza.”

Brainy smiles. “It is the only acceptable flavor of pizza.”

“And people think pineapples were the real crime,” Winn laments.

The familiar song kicks in as the menu pops up, and Winn does his best to explain the game. It’s fairly simple, after all, and it’s not as if they were going straight for the rainbow road. Brainy picks up on it quickly, choosing Luigi as his avatar. Winn, of course, chooses Yoshi because some traditions are meant to be followed. And, weirdly enough, it’s not so bad. Throwing shells at him is very entertaining, watching his confusion as to why he’s suddenly spiraling off the road turn into suspicion turn into really? And that turns into spite pretty quickly.

Because the thing about Mario Kart is that it’s so much more fun when you’re overly competitive– and not gonna lie, both of them are guilty as charged on that one.

“Fuck off,” Winn says, too busy to physically flip him off, “that’s cheating!”

“No, I am merely using the resources available in the game,” Brainy replies calmly.

“I don’t know how yet, but I know you are and I will figure it out,” he threatens, leaning to the right as he makes a curve, “in the meantime–”

“I’ve told you I’m not– wait. What happened? Why have I shrunk?” Brainy glares at him, “and I’m the one cheating?”

Winn laughs.

He had been so prepared for tonight to suck, it’s almost upsetting how well it goes. They don’t argue properly, no more than the usual bickering, which by now it’s mostly fun. Brainy accepts the beer he tips in his direction, humming pleased and somehow not swerving on the road while holding the controller one-handed.

That’s so cheating.

“So, you want that pizza now?” Winn asks, pausing the game.

“I could eat,” Brainy decides after a moment of indecision. He might have been aiming for a nonchalant, cool reply, but his stomach betrays him, growling earnestly, and he sighs, halfway amused, “I meant, yes, I would like that pizza now.”

Hiding his snickers, Winn digs around for his phone, lost somewhere in the mess they made of the coffee table. The pizza place is on speed dial and the teenager on the other end of the line apparently isn’t paid enough to judge his weird ass order.

“Appalling,” he says later, when the two pizzas are laid side by side and the olives stare back at his soul amidst the apples. “God really has left us.”

“Try it,” Brainy tells him, eyebrows raising in clear challenge. He picks up a slice for himself and nudges the box towards Winn.

And well. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Winslow Schott, Junior cannot back down from a dare, so he sets down his own pepperoni slice and carefully takes the olive and apples, gingerly raising it as if it were a nuclear bomb about to go off in a crowded mall. A deep breath. He takes a small bite, chewing thoughtfully. “Eh, it’s not so bad. I thought it would be worse, to be honest.”

Brainy gives him a victorious smirk, “would this be a good time to say I told you so?”

“It’s never a good time to say that,” he scowls, washing down the taste with beer, “and it’s still weird.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” They eat in relative silence for a while, and Winn isn’t surprised to see him slowly working his way through the entire pizza. The game is soon switched for some very unrealistic action movie neither of them recognizes, but the explosions do look cool with the electronic soundtrack.

“It’s a shame there are no pizza places in the future,” Brainy comments idly.

“Oh my god, I know, right? I searched everywhere for one, it didn’t even have to be good, the bar was at existing.” Winn says, gesturing broadly with a slice, “and how come there are no bananas, either? And no one even knew what I was talking about, it was like they didn’t even exist! Like, I didn’t look it up because, you know, spoilers, but what happened? Did we all as a species develop a sudden aggressive allergy to bananas and had to destroy all records of the fruit? Is there gonna be another banana apocalypse in the next centuries– what?”

He stops, self-consciously wiping his mouth with a napkin, because Brainy is staring at him strangely. To be fair, everything about all of this is strange. But he caught him doing that before; sometimes at work, Winn will turn to say something, only to find Brainy already looking back. It’s odd and offputting, and honestly? A lot easier to just chalk it up to another one of his quirks and call it a day. That’s probably the explanation anyway. Now, though, Brainy shrugs, “nothing. Do you always feel this passionate about fruits?” A pause. “Did you say another banana apocalypse?”

“Dude,” Winn breathes, sitting up properly because it’s not every day you get to school Brainy about something. “It’s so much less exciting than it sounds, but here’s the thing– “

It’s a little after ten o’clock when he walks Brainy to the door, awkwardly stopping in the doorway. He scratches the back of his neck, “so. I guess it wasn’t all that bad, after all.”

“I suppose it was not unpleasant,” Brainy allows, his lips twitching, “although, I do have a request– next time, may I bring the movie?”

“Sure,” Winn says easily, then stops. He narrows his eyes, “am I going to regret agreeing to this?”

Now, Brainy grins openly, startlingly amused, “well, you’ll just have to wait and see. Good night, Winn. And thank you.”

It’s something in the way he says it that Winn wonders what exactly he’s being thanked for, too warm, too grateful to pass as simply politeness. Still, unwilling to overthink it, he shrugs awkwardly, “no problem, man. See you tomorrow.”

Brainy nods, slipping out the door.

Winn stays there, staring at the end of the hall for another long moment before going back inside.

#brainy #querl dox #brainiac 5 #winn schott #winndox #supergirl fic #when in rome #fake dating au #god i cant believe i rewrote the whole chapter #clearly i hate myself #still feel kinda meh about this one #but oh well #now i shall go back to the asks

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darkaislinn · 6 years

Text

Finally. A worthy update.

So I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with the mods for Dragon Age Inquisition. Apparently I was using the wrong “tool”.

I want to vent about my day so please bear with me.

I had a shitty day. I got written up because I refused to kiss a doctor’s ass when she flat out told me that she was sending an emergency over and I told her that the doctor who was there was already neck deep in emergencies. She also happens to be butt buddies with the practice manager. The best part? She said that I “wasn’t able to handle nights”. Which is bullshit and all the night doctors are absolutely furious about it because my replacement is someone who gets flustered at the smallest things. I’ll be back on nights soon enough when they realize their mistakes and this girl is staying until midnight because she can’t keep up with any of her work.

Even better? She only sees 6 pets a day which is nothing compared to what we see at the ER. Oh and let’s not forget that the pet she was sending over was her FUCKING NEIGHBOR. She said it was a GDV (bloat) when she hadn’t even seen the animal. She literally couldn’t walk next door to check on the pet to see if it really was bloat. She’s that fucking lazy.

So fuck her.

I’m going to go back to days starting Monday and when Sara fucks up or can’t handle it, they’ll beg me to come back to nights. All of my critical care techs were so mad when they found out. Sara stayed for 2 extra hours for no reason one night because... I don’t even know why. I had it covered and Robin was there to have my back because we were swamped. She told Sara multiple times to leave because we had it, but Sara kept saying, “But Heather needs me. The phones won’t stop ringing, the doorbell keeps going off and she’s literally being pulled in 5 different directions.” Robin looked at her said, “Heather is perfectly capable of doing her job, better than an other receptionist, and I’m helping her. You need to go home.”

The doctor tonight said, “I can’t believe they’re putting Sara on nights. She can’t even handle a mildly busy afternoon without panicking and freaking out. Management explicitly asked who we wanted for nights and we chose you because you’re strong and you get your shit done. I like working with you and I feel confident that even if we get busy or have emergencies out our ass that you’ll handle it. I’ll personally make a complaint because a doctor from a sister clinic should have ZERO say in our personnel, especially when she’s never worked with you before. You know what? I’m glad you didn’t kiss her ass, too many people around here do and I’m glad you told her what was going on. If it was my neighbor, I’d’ve taken the time to triage and assess the pet because that’s what good doctors do. You were justified in everything and they are throwing you under the bus because she’s friends with Kristen. I’ll get with Shine and Alex and we’ll get you back.”

That made me feel good. I was so mad about being written up and getting placed back on days that I wanted to cry. It’s the principal of the thing. Not only that they brought up another incident with another doctor from yet another sister clinic that happened MONTHS ago.

Let me give you the low down on that:

This doctor, who is also friends with the practice manager, had spoken with the doctor who was there. Not once did the information get passed on to me or the techs. This pet showed up, who was very sick, and I had no idea what they were there for. The owner got mad at me because I didn’t know the doctor (I had only been there for a few weeks by then) and that I didn’t know what was going on. The doctor who was there and had spoken with the other doctor was in surgery so he couldn’t see the pet at that moment. I had them drop off which pissed them off. Turned out that the pet needed to be hospitalized anyway and needed surgery. So Dr. Carney called and bitched at me because of “how the situation was handled”. I told her that I had no information about it, I had no client information, no records were faxed to me or emailed to us and that I was getting all the information from the owners. Dr. Carney said, “How about you actually check the fax machine?” I did and I told her, “I’m looking right at it and there is nothing here. No one has been up here recently except me and there are no faxes that have come through.” She huffed and said, “FINE. I’ll have them send it again.” She hung up on me. The next day she called her bestie, our “practice manager”, and complained that I was incompetent even though she expected me to be a mind reader and know everything when she couldn’t even be bothered to call the clinic and speak with the either me or a tech about what was happening. EXCUSE ME? I had only been with this ER for a few weeks, maybe a month.

Long story short, Shannon (my supervisor) brought this up to justify why I was being written up. I literally stared at her and said, “You’re seriously writing me up because of Dr. Heather with the throw back to something that happened months ago? Which, might I remind you, you and Kristen found out that I was in the right the entire time after speaking with Dr. Mike?! Fine. If that’s how things are done here, I’ll sign it, but if this happens again I will fight it because this is incompetent work simply because Kristen is friends with Dr. Heather and Dr. Carney.”

She looked really upset at the whole thing and told me that it was coming from Kristen. I was furious. She’s MY supervisor. Now I can’t even trust her to have my back and fight for me.

God. I’m so mad that I could literally scream.

I told Kay, my work wife, that this made me want to quit and she said, “Don’t do that because that’s what Dr. Heather wants. She loves making people leave. You’re a great receptionist and tech. You need to prove her spoiled ass wrong and show Kristen that you’re not intimidated by their bullshit. Fucking show them that they’re not going to rattle you. You know that I’m in school for becoming an LVT and I, including Amber, come to you for help.”

The doctor I worked with tonight said the same thing as well as the 3 other techs. When I told them what was happening, they immediately started complaining and said, “But you’re so good at nights! You’re amazing at triage, you know you shit and you’re not back here every 5 minutes asking stupid questions.”

Despite all of this bullshit, it feels pretty amazing when I tell an owner what I think might be happening and the doctor comes to me and says, “You totally nailed it. Have you thought about going to vet school?”

So I’m going to do it. I don’t care about the loans.

That’s the only silver lining to all of this.

#I hate women #work #dark works with animals #personal

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goarticletec-blog · 5 years

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Avengers 4 trailer hype has you just where Marvel wants you

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/avengers-4-trailer-hype-has-you-just-where-marvel-wants-you/

Avengers 4 trailer hype has you just where Marvel wants you

Rumor has it the long-awaited Avengers 4 trailer will hit this week, and Marvel fans are ready. They’ve been awaiting this trailer for months — possibly since credits rolled on Avengers: Infinity War back in April.

How ready are they?

Several dozen people on Twitter have changed their handles to some version of “GIVE TRAILER UNTITLED AVENGERS.” Fans using the Twitter hashtag #MARVELVSTHEFANS have made multiple videos begging the Avengers 4 directors for the trailer. Fans on Reddit have shared, then deleted, moment-by-moment descriptions of what supposedly happens in the trailer, based on unofficial leaks. They’ve pored over the social media accounts of the film’s directors and stars, looking for clues to a trailer release date and a title.

Complicated theories about a trailer release date for the film have arisen based on past practices, planned events and possibly the waxing and waning of the moon. Expectations were high for the trailer to drop on Wednesday, Dec. 5. But on Tuesday, rumors began to spread that Marvel would wait until Friday to respect Wednesday’s solemn event, the state funeral of former US president George H.W. Bush. Marvel did not respond to a request for comment on whether this supposed schedule was accurate.

Trailer watchers have been burned before. Fans hoped Wednesday, Nov. 28 would be the big day. It was almost a year after the Avengers: Infinity War trailer came out, and the film’s directors, brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, were speaking that night in Hollywood at a screening of Infinity War sponsored by Collider.

But that date, and the Q&A, came and went with no trailer reveal.

Footage on demand

The first ever trailer was shown in a New York Loews cinema in way back in 1913, and it wasn’t even for a movie. Instead, it was a short film made to advertise the Broadway musical The Pleasure Seekers. But it was a brilliant hook: Tease entertainment seekers with a preview of another piece of entertainment they might enjoy. Naturally, the promotional films took off.

Star Wars and superhero films create the most intense demand for trailers.

Disney

Trailer hysteria isn’t new, but it’s certainly reached new heights, thanks to YouTube and social media, as well as the continued boom of sci-fi and superhero flicks. Studios have even managed to squeeze a little more publicity out of their trailers by offering super-short versions, often called teaser trailers.

Anton Volkov saw trailer love growing back in 2016, when he started a movie-news Twitter account and website he called Trailer Track. A wry quote from writer-director James Mangold that’s pinned to the top of the site’s Twitter account sums up the current trailer infatuation: “[Trailers] tend to debut a few weeks after you’ve reached a peak of frustration,” it reads. “Marketing’s like foreplay.”

“This sort of level of anticipation for marketing materials, be it trailers or posters, was always there,” Volkov says. “It’s just becoming … more mainstream.”

Constant intrigue

William Bibbiani is a film critic and co-host of Canceled Too Soon, a podcast about short-lived TV shows, and the movie podcast Critically Acclaimed. He agrees trailer madness goes back — at least decades.

“Audiences were so excited for Tim Burton’s original Batman [in 1989] that many people bought tickets to another movie, just to see the trailer in a theater, and then left before the actual film began,” he said.

The trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace created similar buzz 20 years ago. CNET film critic Richard Trenholm calls that era, with no Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, a “veritable Stone Age” as far as viewing trailers. He notes that Steve Jobs described the second Phantom Menace trailer as “the biggest internet download event in history.”

Three major developments in the 2000s ratcheted up the hype, Bibbiani says.

High-speed internet connections allow fans to consume trailers and marketing materials instantly and share their reactions just as quickly. The surge of successful superhero movies made “geeky blockbusters” the norm — who better than a self-proclaimed geek to dissect even the smallest movie detail? And the 24-hour online entertainment-news cycle has created a beast that’s always hungry.

“Fans of these properties are being kept in a state of constant intrigue, so that new trailers — or even the conspicuous absence of new trailers — become big events, even though they are, at their core, just commercials,” Bibbiani said.

Building the buzz

Marvel’s extreme level of secrecy about an Avengers 4 trailer is getting all the attention lately, but it’s not the norm.

In 2017, extended footage from Avengers: Infinity War was shown in summer at both San Diego Comic-Con and Disney fan gathering D23. Though that footage wasn’t shared on YouTube at the time, some of those fans revealed what they saw, and word spread.

But we’ve seen nothing for Avengers 4 besides a release date and basic plot synopsis.

“I think it’s quite clear that (Marvel executives) have spotted how much buzz and conversation the very lack of content and the secrecy generates,” Volkov said.

Even dedicated fans understand it’s all a part of Marvel’s business. Alex Rodriguez, 19, started a Twitter account this year called MCU Speculation to share news and theories about the studio.

“The hype and the tension builds up more and more for each day that the trailer doesn’t get released online,” Rodriguez said. “This makes for a huge launch for the trailer.”

Now playing: Watch this: Watch the ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ official trailer

2:17

Trailers still serve a purpose. Hard-core fans, the kind who wear costumes to midnight showings and buy day-one tickets well in advance, are going to see Avengers 4, preview or no preview. But a trailer can help sell a film to more general audiences.

“When a film like Avengers 4 comes in, there’s always at least one writer for a site making the argument that maybe that film can get away with not releasing a single trailer,” Volkov said. But he notes Marvel isn’t about to leave millions on the table by not marketing the film to pull in an even larger audience.

And studio dollar-signs aside, trailers create a social experience that can be just pure fun.

“The urge to share certain experiences simultaneously is often irresistible,” Bibbiani said. “And why wouldn’t it be? Who doesn’t love a good trailer, and who wouldn’t want to talk about it with their friends? Especially if it’s trending on Twitter?”

Spoilers!

There are ways to deliver the goods without driving fans to Thanos-size levels of insanity. Some studios and distributors make pretrailer announcements. Fox and Warner Brothers have even used a Facebook and YouTube feature that counts down to the arrival of an uploaded trailer. Volkov thinks this is a smart way to build anticipation for the movie while easing fan frustration.

Movies with dramatic events that are easily spoiled have to play trailers carefully, so plot twists aren’t ruined. Isn’t that right, Thanos?

Marvel

When a trailer finally does drop, its actual content sometimes has little to do with the film’s quality.

“We’ve all seen good films that weren’t well served by their promotional campaigns, and we’ve all seen disappointing films that looked pretty good in trailer form,” Bibbiani noted.

An extreme example of this was 2016’s Suicide Squad, whose trailer was such a hit Warner Bros. actually brought in the company that cut the trailer to help edit the entire film. (It didn’t help: Suicide Squad ended up with mixed to negative critical reviews.)

But recent films at the center of the trailer storm have unanswered questions that make their trailers even more coveted — even though the previews themselves will have to walk a fine line or risk too many spoilers.

Drawing out the wait for a trailer only makes the desire for footage more intense.

“The upcoming trailers for Avengers 4 and Star Wars: Episode IX are bound to be huge pop culture events, because both previews will … answer questions that fans have been speculating about for months,” Bibbiani said. “What really happened after The Snap? And will (Episode IX director) J.J. Abrams continue down Rian Johnson’s controversial path from The Last Jedi, or will he make the next Star Wars movie more like his relatively safer Episode VII?”

The trailers are unlikely to tell us, but fans will watch them intently regardless. In 2018, anything released before a much anticipated movie, from a poster to an Instagram image, will be picked apart by viewers and entertainment sites hungry for clues. Apparently the cat in the recent poster for 2019’s Captain Marvel isn’t just a cat. And in September, the Russo brothers tossed out a Where’s Waldo?-style challenge, inviting fans to “look hard” at what appears to be a boring black-and-white image of an almost-empty Avengers 4 set.

Drawing out the wait for a trailer only makes the desire for footage more intense. The trailer for Avengers: Infinity War wasn’t released until four months after footage was shared at Comic-Con and D23, which gave fans more than 100 days to moan and complain online. Even Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito tried to soothe trailer-hungry fans by tweeting that he loved the IW trailer, but wasn’t ready to share it yet. When the trailer finally came out, however, fans made up for lost time. The original Infinity War trailer has been viewed more than 214 million times.

Start the countdown

Volkov says the anticipation for Avengers 4 is the biggest he’s seen for any film since starting his site in 2016. After that, he ranks Avengers: Infinity War, Justice League, and war movie Dunkirk as the most anticipated.

“It does just come down to superhero and Star Wars films being the biggest game in town in terms of general interest and box office today,” he said.

Once the Avengers 4 trailer finally drops, look for fans to start demanding the second trailer, Volkov says. And naturally, interest in Star Wars: Episode IX, due out in December 2019, will be galactically high.

Now playing: Watch this: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ trailer debuts

2:01

But while the final film in the main Star Wars saga holds many mysteries, a trailer date might not be one of them.

“At least in the case of Episode 9, it’s fairly clear and obvious that (the trailer debut) has to be at Star Wars Celebration in April,” Volkov says.

You heard him, fans. Start the countdown. Only four months to go.

First published Dec. 4, 9 a.m. PT. Update, 9:29 p.m. PT: Adds likelihood that trailer won’t be released Wednesday, as rumored, due to the funeral of George H.W. Bush.

CNET’s Holiday Gift Guide: The place to find the best tech gifts for 2018.

Everything we think we know about the Avengers sequel: Think Avengers: Infinity War was intense? Stay tuned for part two.

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365footballorg-blog · 6 years

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West Brom's week to forget - what is going on at The Hawthorns?

At the end of a week to forget, it says a lot for West Brom that they did not close the door on the BBC and their Football Focus programme on Saturday.

In the space of five days, there had been a heavy Premier League defeat at Chelsea, the sacking of two senior executives and an incident in Barcelona, the full details of which left manager Alan Pardew “furious” and remains the subject of a club investigation.

Faced with such a negative backdrop, it would have been easy to tell presenter Dan Walker and his crew “thanks, but no thanks”.

But instead West Brom invited Walker, Arsenal Women defender Alex Scott, former Gunners captain Martin Keown and Leicester assistant manager Michael Appleton into The Hawthorns, even though they knew that events this week would be up for discussion.

With relegation from the Premier League looking increasingly likely, how have the West Midlands club got here and who is calling the shots?

Who is Lai Guochuan and what is he doing?

Through his investment company [Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Ltd] Chinese businessman Lai Guochuan paid £200m for an 88% stake in West Brom in August 2016.

Lai is based in Shanghai and has attended a handful of West Brom matches, most of which have been against the most high-profile Premier League teams.

His business background revolves around former ownership of Chinese Eco-Town developer Palm, where he remains a director.

West Brom’s training ground was renamed in October to include the Palm name and Lai has won a contract to build sports towns – large-scale eco-friendly landscapes with football academies at their heart – that will bear the club’s name.

Lai has never given any interviews to explain his interest in the Baggies.

But Matt Wilson, the West Brom reporter at the Express & Star newspaper, told BBC Sport: “The Chinese government were encouraging expansion and wanted their businessmen to go and buy sports teams around the world.

“A lot of fans think he comes to watch the glittering teams because they are the clubs he would have liked to own but couldn’t afford to.

“They feel he has got a penchant for the celebrity nature of the game rather than understanding what matters to people in this area and people who have supported the club for years.”

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The forgotten issue that left Albion fuming

Amid the turmoil of the past two months, one aspect has been largely ignored. It remains important nonetheless.

West Brom were due to complete their Premier League Christmas programme at West Ham on 1 January. The game then got moved to 2 January as both clubs’ previous fixtures had been shifted to 31 December to be shown on TV.

But West Ham’s New Year’s Eve game never took place as the Metropolitan Police refused to sanction a London derby with Spurs on a day when their resources were already stretched. It was moved to 4 January instead.

It meant second-bottom West Brom went to London Stadium just 52 hours after their previous game, to play the side immediately above them in the table, who had a week off.

West Brom complained and asked for the fixture to be postponed, with manager Alan Pardew saying at the time: “The league’s got to be stronger and say two days is not right. We have had strong words with the league.”

The Premier League refused and West Ham won 2-1, thanks to Andy Carroll’s 94th-minute winner.[1]

Had West Brom won that day, they would have gone above the Hammers in the table and been a point from safety. Instead, they were four points adrift and have never been out of the bottom two since.

Insiders at The Hawthorns remain furious at the decision to play the fixture.

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The Pulis dilemma

Tony Pulis became West Brom’s fourth head coach in a year when he was appointed manager in January 2015.[2]

After immediately guiding them away from the relegation zone, he went on to secure 13th, 14th and 10th-place finishes.

However, fans’ patience with the Welshman’s perceived ‘long ball’ style was wearing thin.

After a bright start to this season gave way to a dismal autumn and a run of 10 games without a win, Pulis was sacked[3] on 20 November.

There is a virtually unanimous agreement from fans and employees alike that there was no way back after a 1-0 loss at Huddersfield in November, which sparked widespread fury from the away support aimed at Pulis.

Then followed the 4-0 home defeat by Chelsea two weeks later.

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Move on to 12 February, with Pardew in charge, and another defeat by Chelsea[4] left Albion seven points from safety with 11 games left – and Lai was faced with the brutal truth that relegation was a probability rather than a possibility.

And in the aftermath of that result, it is understood Lai felt sacking Pulis had been a costly mistake, and not one of his making.

Chairman John Williams and chief executive Martin Goodman, who would have made the decision to part with Pulis, had engaged in positive dialogue with the club’s supporters over recent months but Lai’s relationship with the pair had never been entirely smooth.

Williams did not spend a lot of time at the club, doing much of his work remotely. There was often a difference of opinion about decisions, although the owner did not insist on always getting his own way.

However, with West Brom approaching the point of no return, Williams and Goodman have been sacked.[5]

Mark Jenkins, right-hand man to former owner Jeremy Peace and chief executive for 10 years until he stood down in 2016, accepted Lai’s request to step in.

Quietly efficient but hardline when it comes to finances, Jenkins once rejected an expenses claim for a ‘posh’ coffee because it was more expensive than a normal one and is nicknamed ‘Dr No’ by one insider.

Jenkins’ experience of life in the Championship at West Brom is seen as being crucial given the financial uncertainty now hanging over the club.

“I still maintain John Williams’ decision to sack Pulis came at the right time. It couldn’t have gone on much longer,” said Wilson.

“But the owners saw Pulis as an almost cast-iron guarantee of survival. I suppose if you are raking in that money, that is what you want.

“And if you look at the stark reality, it has got catastrophically worse since he left.”

What else could go wrong?

Media playback is not supported on this device

The day Lai sacked his two most senior executives, Pardew told his players they could go out for an evening in the middle of a three-day training camp in Barcelona. He gave them a midnight curfew.

Full details of what happened remain the subject of an internal West Brom investigation.

However, four senior players – Gareth Barry, Jonny Evans, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill – did not return to the team hotel until 5.30am on Thursday morning, something for which they have apologised.[6]

All four players were accused of stealing a taxi in Barcelona, however none of them will face legal action[7] because of a lack of evidence.

Pardew was “furious” at the conduct of the players and demoted Evans as captain for Saturday’s FA Cup defeat by Southampton, although the centre-back and Barry both started the game, while Myhill was on the bench.

Add to that top scorer Jay Rodriguez’s charge of racially abusing Brighton defender Gaetan Bong during a Premier League game on 13 January – the potential punishment would be a minimum five-match ban.

Rodriguez strenuously denies the charge and has until 9 March to respond.[8]

On 29 January, West Brom pulled off a coup when Daniel Sturridge opted to join them on loan from Liverpool for the rest of the season rather than Newcastle.

At Chelsea, in his third game, Sturridge, who has completed a full 90 minutes once this season, went off with a hamstring injury after four minutes.

What happens now?

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Even though Pardew has managed one win in 13 league games since replacing Pulis, speculation that his position is under threat given the recent upheaval has been played down by West Brom.

Instead, the club point to their next six league games – against Huddersfield, Watford, Leicester, Bournemouth, Burnley and Swansea – as proof the present situation is not irretrievable.

“Two weeks ago they had just come off three wins and a draw from four games. They had kept Jonny Evans and they had got Daniel Sturridge. Now they are seven points away from safety,” said Wilson.

“The first two months under Pardew went really well. He was honest and the fans really took to him.

“But now, he keeps apologising for mistakes. He has said in hindsight, they shouldn’t have gone to Spain, he has admitted he should not have picked Daniel Sturridge ahead of Jay Rodriguez, who had scored five goals in seven games and was then dropped.

“Fans are starting to say it is OK being honest but you are making mistakes now, your decision making is not right. The mask is sort of starting to slip. That brief love affair they had is starting to fray at the edges.”

The word to describe the circumstances? “Anarchy”, says Wilson – which does not bode well.

References

^ Andy Carroll’s 94th-minute winner. (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ appointed manager in January 2015. (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ Pulis was sacked (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ defeat by Chelsea (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ Williams and Goodman have been sacked. (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ for which they have apologised. (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ none of them will face legal action (www.bbc.co.uk)

^ until 9 March to respond. (www.bbc.co.uk)

BBC Sport – Football

West Brom's week to forget – what is going on at The Hawthorns? was originally published on 365 Football

#Brom&039s #forget #going #Hawthorns #week #West

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wknc881 · 6 years

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The Saw's Favorite Metal Albums of 2017

It’s that time of year again, where we count down our favorite things of the year while welcoming in the new year! I will be counting down my top 10 favorite albums that I have been jamming out to this year. I will be writing mini album reviews for all these records, you’re welcome. 2017 was a great year for metal, a lot of bangers and heavy hitters were released this year. Did any of your favorites make the list?

IMPORTANT!!!! I play these albums, along with many others, during my set on WKNC!! Come head bang with ya girl on Friday nights from 10pm-midnight! To listen online, go to WKNC’s website and click on “MP3” in the “High Quality” section. Don’t be lame, come hang out with The Saw!

10. Obituary - Obituary

Obituary is a classic; I had to put them on my list. This self-titled album is the band’s 10th studio release. This album contains the best parts of Obituary that any fan will love. There is a good combination of great vocals, incredible drumming, and funky riffs that are just plain groovy. There are great things about each song on this record that make them really unique. This whole album is a bop, if you haven’t checked this record out you really need to.

- Rating: 9/10

-Favorite song: Sentence Day

9. Fit For An Autopsy – The Great Collapse

The boys in Fit For An Autopsy never disappoint me. Like any other Fit For An Autopsy record, their songs talk about problems in the world. For example, the song “Iron Moon” talks about how we all live to work and that we it should be the opposite: we work to live. There are other songs on this record that talk about more deeper problems. You don’t want to skip any of these songs, because they are all bangers.

-Rating: 8.5/10

Favorite Song(s): Heads Will Hang & Black Mammoth

8. Dying Fetus – Wrong One to F*** With

Would this even be a favorites blog if I didn’t write about Dying Fetus? This band is one of Death Metal’s finest and I absolutely love them. The song “Fixated on Devastation” gives you a taste of the entire album. This song is a mixture of how all the songs sound on this record. You have some groove and technical brutality with the drums and guitars that will have you ~~~SHOOK~~~ This band came out with a bang too because this is their first record in five years and it was well worth the wait. Their sound on this record is the same with their other records and hey, I’m not complaining about that.

-Rating: 9.5/10

-Favorite Song(s): Fixated on Devastation & Panic Amongst the Herd

7. FRCTRD - Fractured

This deathcore band from France has really impressed me. I discovered them a couple of months ago and I was hooked. This is their first EP so go ahead and hop on the bandwagon now. This band is going to be big. They open up their EP with an instrumental track, which isn’t a surprise. But then they go full-on deathcore. The riffs are chunky, the breakdowns are heavy, and the vocals are strong. Holy pig squeals, dude. They talk about some world problems in their song “Crow,” which talks about the terrorist attack in Paris. This record will leave you breathless (no pun intended… even though they have a song called breathless).

-Rating: 9/10

-Favorite Song: Negative

6. Arch Enemy – Will To Power

Hey! I’ve done a full-length album review on this record already. The music on this record is really impressive and shows how gifted this band really is. Alissa’s voice is so strong and we can see how diverse she is with her vocals on this record. For example, in “Reason To Believe” she sings in clean vocals that are really beautiful. This record gives me 80’s vibes that I’ve been digging recently. Check out my full album on this record on WKNC’s website!!

-Rating: 8/10

-Favorite Song: First Day in Hell

5. Slaughter to Prevail – Misery Sermon

It has been a good year for deathcore my dudes. This is the band’s first full-length album, and it is a beating. The main thing that makes this band distinct are the vocals. Alex Shikolai (Alex Terrible) has a very strong and brutal voice. He has some of the most powerful growls and screams that I have ever heard. This record is very powerful in all aspects that makes a great deathcore record. If you like Thy Art Is Murder, then you will love this band.

-Rating: 9/10

-Favorite Song: King

4. Currents – The Place I Feel Safest

It’s about time I put some metalcore on this list!! I discovered this band in June when I saw them on Miss May I’s Shadows Inside tour. And I must say, I am really impressed with this band. They are your typical metalcore band with the breakdowns and clean vocals, but they put their own style on each of their songs. This band has been around since 2013 and now they are coming on the scene. They are one of my favorite metalcore bands (they are also really nice, they gave me a sticker when I met them, and they follow me on Instagram). The vocals on each song are very strong and it shows the different depths that he can go to, it’s really impressive. The instruments on this record are also really impressive, I love the riffs and the breakdowns.

-Rating: 8.5/10

-Favorite Song: Night Terrors

3. Wage War – Deadweight

I swear, Wage War is going to be the next big thing. Just wait. This is the second album from these guys and it’s such a banger. This album has the best aspects of metalcore and what metalcore is. There are a lot of great breakdowns on this record that will make you want to get in a moshpit. The riffs are amazing and they are really chunky. That, I really enjoy. And don’t get me started on Briton’s voice… he has one of the best vocals in metalcore. During the breakdowns he will throw in a random “BLEIGH,” that makes me go C R A Z Y!!!!! Literally, there are so many songs that he does this on. The clean vocals are really good, and they transition really well. There are some slower songs on this record that make me go into my feels but hey, I’m not mad about it. There are also a lot of bangers on this record that will make anyone bang their head.

-Rating: 9.5/10

-Favorite Song(s): Stich & Gravity

2. Miss May I – Shadows Inside

You already know my boys in Miss May I are on this list. With that being said, I am biased when it comes to this band and to me, this band could never release a bad album. This record has a very positive, uplifting vibe to it. The melodies are really strong and thay will totally get stuck in your head. They really emphasize the elements that they are good at in this record. There are some great breakdowns, along with some really catchy riffs. OG and new Miss May I fans will enjoy this record. There are a lot of clean vocals in this album but they pull it off, the songs are all great, and there isn’t one that I would skip. There are slight moments in this record where you can hear how much strength that Levi has in his voice. He can do some great snarls and some pretty good gutturals that had me ~~~SHOOK~~~ They keep the metalcore genre interesting by doing different styles within their songs. I love it.

-Rating: 9/10

-Favorite Song(s): Swallow Your Teeth & Crawl

1. Thy Art Is Murder – Dear Desolation

And a deathcore album is in for the win!!!! If you haven’t listened to this record… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GO LISTEN TO IT RIGHT NOW!!! This has to be one of my favorite records of all time. Thy Art has stayed consistent with their overall sound only making a few minor adjustments that worked out for the better. In this record, you have blast beats and breakdowns for days. Don’t even get my started on CJ’s voice, it is so powerful and distinctive. With his vocals and the insane drumming technique, this record is an overall masterpiece. This album is an a complete heavy hitter and banger. It has the best elements of deathcore that just make me really, really happy. This record will not disappoint you, I promise.

-Rating: 10/10

-Favorite Song(s): Puppet Master & Dear Desolation

THE SAW

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theabandonedfeelings-blog · 6 years

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The Infinites

Being a part of this instant family (to me) is one of the most precious thing that ever happened to me. Imo, to meet them was the best thing I experienced in my 2017. We consisted of 8 people. We may look normal, but actually we are real dorks.We have different characters and personality, ofcourse. But fortunately we blended and matched each other so well. I was always so quite and preserve whenever Im with new people, but with them, it is indeed, an exceptional. Being an introvert didnt even help me, but they did, help me. KKN era forced me to adapt faster than I usually did, because we only had 45 days, right? I wasnt even familiar with the idea of 'living with some strangers and doing things together with some strangers'. It was my biggest nightmare to live with people other than family. But KKN really changed the way I perceived something.

There were times when I just wanted to be alone. Whenever Im in my solitary moment, one of them would came up to me, asked, "What are you doing here all alone? Can i join?". Thats why I never been alone while at KKN bcs they always nongol one by one and joined my dont-disturb-me-i-want-to-be-alone-for-a-while corner. Whatevs I did and whenever i went, they could always find me. And somehow I felt thankful for that. That was how they invaded my personal spaces, and made me realize that no matter how introvert you are, you will find comforts if you are being surrounded by the right people.

We named our self The Infinite Team. We had a deep philosophy meaning behind that name. Our group consists of 8 people, eight means infinite. By 'infinite' we hoped that our spirit will be infinity to face infinity problematics that we had when KKN. Sounded cheesy, we knew. But we strived to meet the expectations. We hoped we exceed people expectation by carrying that name. Yea, that name meant alot for us. Others group would consisted of 9 or 10, but since we were only 8 we received less amount of money from uni. It didnt bother us that much. But, our concern was the amount of people we had. We were 2x more tired bcs we lacked of people, compared to others. We used to have double job, cover each other position while finishing our own jobdesk. The plus is : our posko was actually a small house with 3 rooms. By having 8 members we could save space and EVEN WATER (oh god thankyou). We didnt have to queue for too long to take a bath or shalat. We divided the household chores fairly, ex doing dishes (2 people in each meal time), doing laundry (2-4 people in a day), house cleaning, and cooking. We usually did the turn by playing some games. Tho its childish but we found it fun. We used to play UNO every night. Or when we got bored of UNO we switched to other card games, like bohong, werewolf, speed, obat nyamuk, and etc. We used to arrange our schedule every ba'da isya by writing some to do lists in the whiteboard. After Maghrib,I turned the TV and I got scolded alot bcs i always watched naruto. Its not because they dislike naruto, but it was bcs that Naruto eps was being replayed over and over again that they fed up with it. But they still watched it anyway lol, I know you guys would still like it, stop complaining.

Every Saturday noon, we sat together to watch master chef and ninja warrior (our life saver). In Sunday morning we spent some times by having breakfast and watching Doraemon. Every once in a week we went out to eat at some random warung by using 'uang kehidupan'. We would get 'scholarship' to eat gratisan from that uang kehidupan. Yeah we had this habit to give nicknames in every thing. We called a bunch of snacks with 'uang rakyat' bcs we bought it with money from uni. We named our family room with 'ohana room' bcs Ohana means family. We named our flashlights 'Sumber kehidupan' bcs idk?. We named one of our room the 'before after room' bcs we used it to do make up. We had a room called 'logistics room' bcs thats where we keep our logistics. We named a guling as 'Oji's boyfriend' bcs thats how jones she were. We gave a nickname to a middle schooler as 'elsa' because his hands were always cold. And oh, we even gave name to our lovely live safer, 3 motors that we brought along from solo. They are ABut, plat K, and dolphino. We also had 2 cats, named Mendes and Alex. And these are the infinites :

1. Amel

Amel is that person who was in charge of cooking. She liked to take a nap at 13.00 and woke up at 14.30 straightly. She went to sleep early than any other people. She is actually a year older than the rest of us but she is the most innocent. One day she copied Dimma's pick up line, "WTF", thinking it means "astaga" in bahasa indo. She used that word for a week straight until we told her the actual meaning of that phrase. Her favorite activity consisted of taking photos and selfie, and update them on socmeds. She is the softest from all of us tho. She was also in charge of some updates in our instagram. She always got the most numerous bullies but she always nevermind. She could always laughed even for some lame jokes. She likes Spongebob, even she laughed like spongebob. She always lost whenever she plays game. But she tried hard in every Zombie vs Plants game and even counter strikes. One day, i saw her cry in the backyard but i didnt approach her bcs i thought whenever someone's crying I want to give them their space. I thought I would asked her whe she's feeling better, but dammit I forgot, like at all. Im sorry mel, i love you.

2. Ayub

Ayub is our Koordinator Desa or Kordes. He is practically our leader. But he somehow didnt act like a leader. He is the laziest person in this team. We picked him only because his home is in Pati, the Kabupaten we lived in. Ayub is the most narsis person i have ever known. His personality in 16personalities proved that he had the most common personality (16% of the amount of population in the world). He is the antithesis of my personality. He is so extrovert and comfortable to share his thing. He was always plays music using speaker every morning. At first we didnt bother with it, but slowly it annoyed us because his playlist was so damn lame. I knew he was always a dork but, come on, who would download covered songs with clapping sounds in the background. You can just download the actual song instead, Yub, smh. We used to hid that damn speaker to prevent Ayub for playing his music in the early morning. They gave the speaker to me and hoped that I would play better playlists, but I dissapointed them right after bcs i only had 4 songs, and it was all Taylor swift songs. But aside from his weird music taste, he is good at cooking. His level is far higher than mine. He likes to learn new things like the cup song, english, UNO, and even being doctor (we had 2 medical students). He likes to play badminton and always criticized at how I play. He was also dumb at times. But overall, he is a good person.

3. Azis

Azis whose name is everywhere is the most receh person. His jokes were always so lame that sometimes it could make us mad at him. We had to pretend that we didnt hear him joking in order to stop his lame jokes. Aside from that, he is a hardworking person. He is in charge of being the most religious person but somehow he had the dirtiest mind among us. He once said to me that in his campus life, he's known as quiet and preserve type which is the vice versa of the personality he had in KKN. He always had me to do chores and force me to buy things like flour, egg, and etc. His motor is Dolphino. He is the one who always complain at everything. And always saying things that triggered us but ended it like, 'Guys why would you do something stupid like this, CAN I JOIN'. He is dork af but in front of childrens he always in serious mode activated. His works often being underapreciate but he never failed us, always treated us good. He was like our human-reminder. He remind us time to time for some small details. "Guys dont forget that tmrw we still have 100 things to do, lets sleep before its too late". Or. "Guys, did you remember what pak kades said about xxxxx?". Or. "Dont forget to buy this and that." Thankyou for your concern, zis. Just knew that we were bunch of forgetful people, without him, we'd be lost.

4. Bela

Bela was the only one who constantly doing her puasa senin-kamis while KKN. Thats why we gave her exception by ousting her from doing dishes. She might be the most sensitive person among us, but she was also caring and considerate. She is younger than me, but she's all matured. She was the alternate kordes whenever Ayub's not in good mood to talk. She had alotta secret admirers, from children to abang penjual pentol istimewa. She is good with elder people. We can talk about almost everything. Tho she spent the most of time doing make up, she's actually not that girly. She was my partner in magang, doing laundry, and dishes. She was my life saver whenever im lazy driving the motor. Her motor named ABut, and it was my fave.

5. Dimma

Dimma whose name is soooo long is the one who took his most KKN time by annoying others with his childish behaviour. Indeed he is the youngest of our team. He is lowkey soft and caring. He onced renewed ABut's oli, he brought us food even without us asking, he made sure that everyone got their rights. He's just our precious youngest. He's good at fixing electronical problems. He was my partner in everyday's life. He took me round the village and helped me filmed using dslr. He gave me input and critics abt my editing. He was my partner on doing dishes. He laughed with me tho its past midnight while we did our own works and the others were mad at us bcs they were sleeping. He was the one who accompanied me stargazing in teras. One day we had to begadang because it was almost deadline and we havent finished our works. He was doing his presentations and I was busy doing the after movie. We were working quitely on our own works bcs we didnt want to disturb the others bcs our sounds. At 01.00 am we got tired and i asked him random things but we ended up having a serious deep talk about life. He was the one who made fun of my name by calling me Karizzza. It annoyed me at first, but I was sorta get used with my name being made fun of. I once told them that my name is meaningless (i didnt mean to say like that, it was because im mad). But in the end, at his letter he told me this, "The name in which you think is meaningless actually have a great meaning, it is a hope and prayer from your parents. It defines how strong you were and what you will be in the future. Dont hate your name okay." And that was everyone, the first time he ever called me Karizsa.

6. Iim

I cannot find proper words to describe how grateful i am to be in the same team with her. She is, as everybody knows, my bestfriend in campus. We are in the same class and even in the same queer. She is so critical, open minded, respectful, thoughtful, and reliable + dependable. She is full package. She always ordered to be MC in everty formal event. She ate the most than the rest of us, but she didnt gain weight. She's known for her smol and short figure and always busy with her phone. She had her most time by catching up news and watching GOT spoiler on yutub. We had the same obsession with Blackpink's song As if it your last. We came from the same faculty, so our way of thinking were more in political way. Thats why sometimes our opinions were divided between them and me & iim. At the end, we'd find a way, we got this. Me and her, We spoiled each other alot bcs weve known for sooo long. We cursed at each other in everyday life bcs thats just how bestfriend works. That bij, i love her.

7. Oji

I think my team didnt deserve Oji. She is the kindest, the most humble and easy going among us. Tho she didnt understand javanese, she always takes her time by learning javanese phrases, even made effort by writing it in books so she can memorize later. She brought half of her stuffs to posko. She brought along her car which takes 4 hours long from solo. She is strong independent woman, even she rode a pickup car that none of boys cannot ride. She is true gamer and half eater. She always tell stories abt her family and her campus life. Her family is somehow looked like bunch of gag (based on her story). She got calls from her family time to time. She was my dumb & dumber partner. Oji is a lil bit crybaby tho. She cried the most while KKN. She is a medical student, but her acts didnt say so. Hahahaha. One day, he told us this : "Do u know what make me grateful to be in this team? Thats because you never say that phrase." "What phrase?", Asked us. " 'Im embarassed being your friend' ". We felt so soft. And thats it. I enjoyed being with them. Tbh it was the best 45 days I've spent in my entire life so far. Well spent. It was such an unforgettable story to live with these seven dorks. Even after our KKN life ended, im still bragging to my other friends about them. They did the same too. I learnt a lot from them. Thanks guys for making my KKN life better than it should be. I guess ‘thankyou’ is just an understatement word to describe how grateful I am to have them.

I should've disappointed bcs i didnt get to KKN in my own kabupaten. But instead, God came with a better plan. When i shared abt KKN life with my campus friends, they mostly complained about how bad their teamwork or any conflicts happened within their team. But thanks God, i've never experienced that, at all. We were so lucky to have each other. At the last day, we wrote a letter to each other. One of it said, "Im so thankful to be in the same team with these strong people".p>

And yeah, we all were thankful for having each other, dont we?

Let’s meet again now and in the future, guys.

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