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oh-for-fic-sake · 3 years

Text

Their Alright... For A Boomer

Masterlist

Summary: Being a girl with a larger chest always got you attention, maybe having your nipples pierced to try and fell more confident handt been the best idea, but how can you regret it when your latest client; the sexy Mr Cavill was ogling them but could this end up being more then just that one time you were eyed by a hot celebrity?

Warnings: Suggestive, No Smut, Fluffy? Cute and funny, Swearing

A/N: this was a request from @fanficlover91 i hope you like this hun, i tried to keep it hot but sweet and respectful? Which was a struggle but i hope i got the vibe you wanted. And as always i hope you all enjoy.

Taglist: In Reblogs.

You blushed as you looked down the lense at your model. He smirked sweeping his eyes over you non to subtly. You could feel the blues penetrating you with a hot stare. The was the distinctive fast clicks on you camera snapping a burst of shots managing to capture his smirking face and eyes sweeping over your form appreciatively.

You stood tall and smiled pulling away double checking the shoots. You bit your lip. Fucking hell this was both the best and worst job you had. Henry Cavill was the most enticing male you'd ever had the pleasure to photograph. He didn't even have a good side, every side was good! There wasn't an unflattering angle on the man!

"And that's a wrap? I think we have everything we need Mr Cavill" you said professionally making to move away from him and begin to swap sd cards and label them before packing away. Henry gawfed and rose quickly panicked almost.

"I- err no! Wait I was... Well hoping that I could have some more done?" he said chaseing you across the small studio you could hear his agent Leah scoff from the side lines. You frowned and looked to her nervously. The woman had been watching and tutting, scoffing and clicking her tongue through the whole session. It actually made you nervous, wasn't she pleased with the shoot? You were worried, being freelance this was your first time doing a celebrity shoot for a magazine but the usual photographer was in hospital having a stroke a few days prior and you were the only free photographer in the agency that was close enough to take the job. Sure you wasn't well known but still it was a little disheartening to have someone seemingly unimpressed with your work.

But it was when you eyed her you saw she wasn't giving you the evil eye. Her frown was directed at henry, a scolding look you'd give a misbehaving child. You frowned a little puzzled, but shook it off in favour of looking to Henry. Your actual client.

"More? I... I? Thought the piece only needed a few to choose from? They were very ah... How do I put it? Thorough? With the brief" you explained hoping Leah would step in and clarify just what was going on. Because you didn't have a clue.

"I yes but- I'd love to top up my portfolio? You know? I err yeah have a few changes going on and... I mean a few greys and such... Just want to update it a tad... I'll pay obviously- I'd pay anything for more time please?" he pleaded watching you closely eyes wide and bright full of hope.

"I... Err" you shifted swapping your camera from one hand to the other and craned your head around the man trying to spy his agent. But you had no hope of peeking around this gargantuan man. Just like with the camera he demanded your full attention.

"And for Instagram and stuff! There's only so much I can do in a selfie... I'd even recommend you- advertise your work!" he quickly added sounding desperate now. It would help you out if you did have a few shots of him for in your own catalogue. It shouldn't matter but having a celeb under your belt was actually a good thing. It meant you'd acted professionally and been good to work with.

"I suppose so, I do have a few extra sd's here... Tell you what I'll do another shoot for you as long as I can pick a few to put in my portfolio? Then we both update our files?" you nodded to him speaking slowly. He grinned and relaxed nodding quickly pleased with himself for wrangling more shots. You'd never know he was just glad to has more time with you.

"Oh yes absolutly! That's fine here should we get started now or?" he asked biting his lip trying not to stare at you for too long. But it was hard you were fucking stunning!

"Oh yeah sure iv got time, let me just sort these out and set up, need to switch, you've tired my poor camera" you said with a grin trying to ignore the man as he beamed at you looking excited nodding enthusiastically. You backed up and spun around trying not to blush as you felt henry gazing openly at you.

"Right well if the magazine ones are done I will be off then" Leah called packing up her bag with a small chuckle to herself. You froze and spun quickly seeing her seemingly abandoning you with Henry.

"Wha- oh you don't have to you can stay-" you tried to reason unsure why, I mean who wouldn't want to be alone with this huge glorious man? Maybe you just didn't trust yourself with him? He had been 'making love' to the camera all afternoon. Smouldering bedroom eyes that was making it hard to focus. You had been getting hot under the collar all day as you kidded yourself he was eyeing you, not the camera or would be readers.

It didn't help that you had caught him oogling your breasts earlier. But you wasn't mad, it was your own fault. It was the Hight of summer and you had on a string vest with a thin bra, that you could clearly see your nipple bars through. You didn't feel uncomfortable or anything, you didn't blame Henry for looking. You cant exactly ignore your tits.. The were pretty large for your frame. You were curvy but they were as one ex put it 'exceptional'. And besides he had looked not touched and he hadn't been a creep about it. In fact he had done a double take and then blushed when he realised he had been caught looking. But as you said you get that with big boobs, you'd had it your entire life, it was actually one of the reasons you'd got them pierced. It helped with your confidence and you convince yourself that they were looking at the bars. Not you per say.

"Okay aunt Leah I will see you in a few days." henry interrupted you quickly smiling practically ushering the woman out the door. He moved fast ever picking the womans phone and juice bottle to help her leave quicker.

"Yes, behave Henry I'll see you soon" she said with a giggle before calling a thank you and goodbye over her shoulder at you. You swallowed nervously and gave a quick bye as the door clicked behind her and you were left alone with Henry. The man groaned stretching as he spun around a huge grin on his face, making your knees tremble a little. Fuck.

Henry came over and watched you closely as you scribbled the name and date along with the publication name on the sd case label. You tried not to notice as he hovered biting his lip then took off the blazer and threw it on the table beside you drawing your attention as he did grunting a little. The v neck letting the smallest amount of soft looking chest fuzz that had been teasing you all day. He grinned slyly as he caught you eyeing him and crossed his arms over his chest flexing for your benefit. You gasped and quickly looked back to the camera in your hands inserting a new scarf into the new fully charges camera.

"Soo how do you like this kind of work?" henry said casually trying not to seem like a creeper but god damnit he couldn't stop eyeing you. If he had known how sexy you'd be he would have demanded to be doing a bloody swim wear shoot!

"You mean people?" you stuttered trying not to look him in the eye. Not that it helped because the rest of him was just as fucking sexy! You quivered all over desperately trying to remember how to breath, yet didn't want to draw in too deep a breath and make your tits bounce for him and look like a slut. There was a very fine line for a big busted girl, to much wobble will make you look like your trying to get attention.

"I mean celebrities, magazines we were told you mainly do private shoots for events and model portfolios" he offered leaning forward as he leant back on the desk next to you hooking one ankle behind the other. The way he stood placed his crotch in your line of sight as you looked down and worked on setting up the camera. You flushed. Oh god he looked er... Bigger then you'd thought earlier, not that you were looking but... Well you couldn't help notice the package! The man was a fucking serial man spreader! And that thing was huge! With the muscles he was packing he could probably bench press you with his crotch!

"Oh well its different... And you sir popped my celebrity cherry" you froze on the spot as you said that, it had meant to be an ice breaker, a joke but instead had sounded fucking creepy!. You snapped up to him making to apologize as your face flamed mortified but he had thrown his head back laughing. The deep rumble sent chilled down your spine.

"Well I'm honoured to have popped your cherry~" he teased placing a hand over his heart with a cheeky grin making you blush and nod then turned to him with the new camera all set up.

"Soo where do we start?" you said moving on quickly looking up at him trying to forget the whole cherry comment.

"Where ever you want me, i will let you take the reigns command me as you will" he chuckled standing tall once more and looked about the room casually to the various small set ups, different furniture, seats sofas and mini tables dotting the space.

"I... Okay then you said Instagram? How about we start with some facials-FACE SHOTS! Face. Shots. Not facials fuck. Shit" you quickly tried repairing the damage whist cursing yourself wanting nothing more then to be swallowed up by the floor.

"No, no love facials sounded perfect~" he said winking before gliding past you making you stutter and almost choke on your breath. Oh good lord this was a bad idea. You followed as he sat down on a sturdy sofa and looked head on at you and bit his lip once again watching you with a sultry look.

And that was the beginning. You followed him about taking various snaps whislt having small talk. He seemed to be very flirtatious as he spoke, dropping lines and compliments as he made eyes at you. You flushed each time clamming up at his suggestive comments. And rightly or wrongly you flirted back trying to seem cool and suave. But inside you were fangirling unable to belive you were here with this incredibly gorgeous man teasing one another. On a few occasions he even growled as you scampered about him, crouching and taking shots from blow getting some delicious angles that dampened your knickers. Then in between all this he managed to get little tied bits. You'd told him you were on agency freelance and were trying to get into the social media platform as it seemed easier in this day and age rather then to be in fashion photography. You wanted to be commercial not private but no one would really take a chance anymore.

Then you suggested a few shots on the sofa laying back trying to think of something different for your portfolio, maybe a body length shot. He was quick to agree and dived onto the sofa saying he had an idea you swallowed nodding not fully trusting the look in his eyes. But that was forgotten as he relaxed stretching out over the sofa legs crossed and resting on the arm of his hands behind his head and a devilish smirk looking down the lenght of his body. You knelt at his feet trying to get a flattering image of him looking down but cursed as the camera wasn't playing ball. The lense was focusing, this was why you used the other one first, the camera had a few issues and was temperamental.

"What's wrong?" he asked frowning a little at you as you growled pulling the camera away fro your face and began trying to manually focus the lense.

"Oh its.. It wont focus.. It does this sometime, really need to throw it out but.. She was my first I'm sentimental" you said feeling silly as you battled with the camera.

"We all are with our firsts... How about you come closer instead, I really want to see this shot, never done one at this angle.. Out of all my shoots your the first to suggest this~" you froze and looked to him but he just smiled impishly at you. Slowly you rounded the sofa and leant over him positioning the camera at his stomach as he looked right into the lense giving you a definite bedroom eyes, half lidded and burning. Both dreamy and amazingly sexy. It was as if he could see you beyond the lense, as if it wasn't even there!

"You can come closer love, I wont bite, not if you don't want me to~" his voice was low and teasing, luring you in like a siren. You trembled and moved along him but he tutted and moved a hand to your hip and pressed, coaxing you onto the sofa and sat you on him making you straddle him. You gasped squeazing your camera tighter as he moved you easily, warm palms holding you both delicatly and firmly. You could see in his eyes he was weary unsure if he had gone to far but you squeezed him between your thighs and relaxed making him grin up at you getting the message you didn't mind at all. You aimed the lense at him once more and got the shots you wanted.

"Perfect! Mr Cavill" you said actually a little sad that this session was over. It had been nice playing this little cat and mouse game with him. But all good things come to an end.

"Ah now i have a policy love, when a womans on top they can call me henry, among other things~" he said smoothly laughing as you chuckled nervously fiddling with the camera in your hands and shifted over him a little.

"I will try to remember that for next time boomer~" you teased managing to overcome your nerves as you pulled away the camera with a giggle winking at him as he stuttered. For a second you thought you'd gone too far but a quirk to his lips made you relax once more.

"That hurt, that was hurtful" he teased pouting not releasing you from his lap, instead holding you tighter, fingers digging into your sides making you gasp and bit your lip as he pulled you to his crotch and ground into you teasingly.

"I'm so sorry~" you uttered breathless trying to keep yourself together. But this man was something else, like a drug- the devil all fanged smiles and smooth words. God you were fucked, you knew this man could do anything to you and youd thank him for it~

"I doubt that" he cooed and slid his hand higher growing more and more confident. The last few hours of casual flirting had built up his appitite. There was no misconceptions, you wanted him as much as he wanted you.

"Oh yeah?" you said coyly tipping your head to him playing along willing for this to happen, whether it be a one of fuck or something longer. You didnt have any complaints~ this was your body and youd enjoy it with who ever you wanted to!

"Yeah prove it!" he hissed and moved quickly sitting up and swinging around planting his feet on the floor. You yelped as he moved surprizingly fast and managed to keep you in his lap now face to face with you eyes roaming your face settling on your lips.

"And how should i do that" you teased tilting your head skimming your lips with his as you spoke. He groaned and held you tighter making you whine breathlessly willing this to happen. You wanted him and you wont deny yourself the chance.

"Make and old mans day" he said plainly and leant back resting on the back of the sofa, you watched him closely and brought your hands to his shoulders prodding at the neck of the t shirt and drew your fingers down slowly feeling him shiver at the light skimming fingertips.

"Oh really Boomer? And how would i make and old mans day?" you teased once more making him grunt but he quickly caught himself as your fingers smoothed over the teasing curls that peeked over his top. You scratched over them lightly with your nails making him draw a needy breath and chuckled at him. He was sexy and cute~

"By accepting a job offer?" he said before smileing smugly as you paused and frowned. Had you missed something? Was he after a freebee?

"Job offer? Really another shoot?" you snorted suddenly not feeling sexy, more like he was trying to butter you up for some fuck for parts shoots or something. He sighed and began speaking before you could get yourself all twisted. But then again you could have taken his offer wrong.

"Manage my social media. I have many companies and brands reach out to me for endorsements. They want me caught wearing their brands. But I'm to busy most of the time I cant make it to the locations they want. It actually doesn't seem worth it most of the time, with cost of flights and time lost travelling to and from studios itd be easier if I had my own personal photographer that travelled with me its be easy, slip on the clothes and what not take a few snaps and then you touch them up and post them on my social media." he explained watching as it sunk in that he wasnt trying to pull a fast one. Well he was but not trying to fuck you over... Just fuck you... And keep you because you were fantastic and he wants nothing more then to have you around hime as much as possible. In the single dat he had spent working with you, you had enchanted him, not only were you sexy but you were good at your job and easy to work with but also funny and cute and he needed to get to know you.

"Of course its a very big venture and we'd have to have a few dinner and lunch dates to work out all the nitty gritty" he added after a few beats of silence trying to make it clear he was interested... Very interested~ it worked as you fluched and a playfull look donned your face your fingers began stoking his chest hair once more. He relaxed shuddering under the nails as they teased his curls.

"Is this a big ploy to get a date Boomer?" you purred his new nick name making him groan when you squeezed him between your thick thighs once more grinding on him and the considerable bulge below you that twitched.

"No... Maybe is it working?" he said quickly hissing at you shifted in his lap once more, his hands snapping to your hips trying to still you before he came undone in his boxers. You were a very dangerous woman and something told him you knew.

"Well it sounds like an offer I'd be very, very interested in taking further~" you clarified giggling when he swallowed dryly and eyed you surprized that his plan had seemed to work.

"Good to hear~ so got anything planned after this?" he asked feeling a wave of confidence at the prospect of snagging a date with you. He hadn't meant to sound so eager but... He was eager and that was that.

"Yes" you said with a straight face and got up off of him spinning around heading to the table with your camera bags. You gave him a glance and giggled seeing him still sitting there gobsmacked legs wide open and his crotch that was now definitely bigger then it had been earlier.

"O-oh" he stuttered seemingly unsure how to proceed. You giggled as he fumbled over his words. Then decided to grant him some mercy and began speaking whilst popping out the sd card from the camera labeling it like the previous one.

"You see I had a very cheeky client today who asked for a shoot last mineut. But I wasn't to bothered he was very very sexy even if he was a boomer, but get this out of nowhere gave me a job offer? And we're having dinner- he promised pizza~" you giggled glancing at Henry as he slumped in the seat realising halfway through that you were talking about him. He smoothed his hands over his face and jumped up coming over to you shaking his head.

"You know I'm not actually a boomer?" he quipped folding his arms. You rolled your eyes at him as you packed your stuff away making sure to recheck everything.

"Have you seen your selfies? Your a boomer, boomer" you teased making him scoff but laugh at the name that has now stuck.

"Wait you've seen my selfies? What do you think?" he asked wanting feedback on the silly shots he took. You paused halfway through zipping up your bag and turned facing him fully giving him a thoughtful look then shrugged

"Their alright... For a boomer" you giggled when he preened for a second then his face dropped into a pout when you finished the comment.

"I repeat...That was hurtful" he said covering his heart with a kicked puppy look making you laugh and hoist your bags over your shoulder and make for the door with him hot on your heels.

"Its fine boomer a second date will make up for it I'm sure~" you sniggered at him playfully looking back at him as he followed you out of the door.

"A date for each time you call me boomer? Deal" he quipped walking along side you offering you his arm like a true gentleman unlike the teasing horny little shit he had been all day. Not that you minded either. Gentleman on the streets, freak in the sheets and all that jazz.

"God we may aswell marry now then boomer" he laughed nodding in agreement the banter from the day still in play as you both left the building.

"Seems so, I mean were at ten that's what the kids consider boyfriend girlfreind territory" he anounced with a sigh playing on the 'boomer' joke making you giggle and roll your eyes as he mentioned the tally. Then you frowned and quickly counted your 'boomers' and opened your mouth you correct him, arguing that ten was incorrect.

"I think its nine boomer- ah see what you did their sneaky boomer!" you cried pushing him playfully at his little trick. He roared with laughter and quickly tangled his fingers with yours dragging you back alongside him guiding you down the street towards a place he knew served pizza, he didn't remember but apparantly he promised pizza...

#henry cavill #henry cavill fic #henry cavill imagine #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill x you #henry cavill x y/n

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neonjawbone · 3 years

Note

Do you have any advice on networking in the comics/graphic novel world?

My advice is just to earnestly use common sense when interacting with people. It’s kind of hard to make a bullet point list or anything that doesn't amount to like

-Make Friends/Meet Peers in the Comics Field

-Work Hard and Consistently

-Seize Opportunities (Be in the Right Place at the Right Time/Get Lucky)

I can’t tell you how to make friends or meet peers. In my experience it’s been a lot of “I followed them on X social media site and for some godforsaken reason they followed me back”. But I CAN give you some advice on the latter two points. Under the cut because I wrote a lot.

“-Work Hard and Consistently”

Make the stuff you want to make, in your free time with whatever energy you have. If you wanna make comics you have to MAKE COMICS. Make little 3-5 page comics for practice, eventually beefing that up to 10-15 pages. OR Come up with a webcomic idea you’re passionate about and make it! I think the important thing is that 1) if you want to make comics you’re going to have to make comics and 2) that you draw what you like! What kind of stories/styles/characters do you wanna see? Remember when I said up there that:

“I followed them on X social media site and for some godforsaken reason they followed me back”.

I pretended I didn’t know why people followed me, this was a RUSE. I mean I can’t say for sure, but I can guess people saw I was making characters and comics and was very passionate about that and decided to follow me back!! This ties into the next point:

“-Seize Opportunities (Be in the Right Place at the Right Time/Get Lucky)”

Use all that work you’re passionate about, your favorite pages of your webcomic, those sketches you made working out how to design your characters, those cool emo illustrations of your dnd character, and build a little portfolio site! Mine is just a tumblr, with a theme that clearly displays a lot of my work, nothing fancy. (I go through and try to clear out old work and add new work every couple of months or so.) THAT WAY- when you see a tweet or a post from one of those fellow comics people you followed that says like:

-PAID COMICS GIG, EMAIL ME @ ADDRESS

You have a bounty of work to show them. Work that you’re passionate about and that shows what you wanna do and that you wanna make MORE.

“Well how did YOU do it, tumblr famous artist NeonJawbone?”

I dunno about that I’ve got less than 9k followers on here ha ha. Two of the things that I KNOW got me the current paid job I’m working on (The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl written by Emily Riesbeck, lettered by Lucas Gattoni, drawn by ME out Fall 2022) is that I had

-250 pages of my webcomic Paradise

-drawings on my portfolio that were just some sketches of my character Sid

And the reason I found out about this project in the first place is that a comics friend of mine retweeted Emily’s original “Looking for an artist to draw a comic about beefy orc women, PAID” tweet.

Now I only had that work available because I had worked on my own stuff consistently and for free, on my own time, for a couple of years. (A lot of professors and visiting artists that came to my college used to say jobs start coming in about 5 years post-grad, and thats IF you’re creating and putting yourself out there consistently.)

I had other things that I did for work to pay the bills, and I also had a LOT of people in my life who were able to support me (financially, emotionally, whatever). My conditions were just right, I was able to work on my own stuff whenever I had a spare moment, and now I’m making comics for money, and I have an agent, and it FEELS like a lot of hard work is paying off!! And it is!! But I would be remiss not to count that I was also very lucky. And hopefully this continues!! But I’ve also had enough bad luck that I’m gonna be holding my breath until I can see that debut book on the shelf at a Barnes n Noble or whatever, and I’m spending my free time NOW working feverishly on stuff that I can pitch once this job is winding down, so that hopefully I can line the next job up as soon as possible.

Now what?

I dunno!! I hope this was helpful. Comics are hard, you have to love them more than they love you, but eventually maybe you’ll be able to try and make them for money. Good luck to you!!

#asks #nj talks #or is it #nj speaks #WHATEVER #idk if im really the person to ask but i did my best #good luck to you anon and whoever else is looking for advice

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Riding High

Ch19: Unfair Comparison

Chapter Summary: Fliss is not a happy bunny when she realises Frank hasn’t dumped the card.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, NO UNDER 18s!)

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC 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 High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 18

“What an ass hole." Greg shook his head, tossing the card onto the coffee table. "Tell me about it." Frank sighed as he ran his hand through his hair and leaned back heavily against the cushions of Greg's sofa. "I just..." "I know pal." Greg soothed him, "Technically you’re right, he has breached his parole. So Fliss would be perfectly within her tights to call the police. However, he’s gonna deny it, there’ll be an investigation…you’re back into statements possibly court again...all it needs is one member of a jury, if it even goes that far to doubt he sent it and..." "So I'm just supposed to sit back and let it lie?" Frank looked at Greg, almost pleading with the man to give him some kind of advice he could use. "In a word yes." Greg shrugged "and not least because that's what Fliss asked you to."

“I’m worried Greg.” Frank shook his head “Yes, it’s just a card but it proves he knows where she is…” “Not hard, her business has a website.” “Yes, I know that…” Frank started but Greg cut him off. “Frank, he can’t come out of Massachusetts. He cannot physically set foot outside of that state without his GPS tag tipping the police off.”

Frank bit the inside of his cheek, his jaw twitching.

“Look, buddy, I get it.” Greg continued, his tone soft “I really do…it’s shit. But for now the best thing for you to do is listen to Fliss.”

“This is bullshit.”

“Tell you what. I’ll keep the card. If she gets any more stuff from him then we can build a portfolio and send it to the police. It’s more likely to come to something if we have more incidents.”

“So basically, we just have to wait until he sends her more crap and then we might, or might not be able to do anything?” “I’m sorry pal.” Greg shrugged.

“It’s not your fault.” Frank sighed, shrugging. “Sorry I snapped. I appreciate the advice.”

“I wish I could be a little more positive.”

“Don’t we all?” Frank said, slapping his thighs with his hands “I best get off, got stuff to do this afternoon.” Greg eyed him for a moment as he stood up, before he rose from his seat to see Frank out of the villa.

“Just be there for Fliss ok?” he said as they walked to the door “Frank, if she’s asking you to do something, unless it’s really dumb then do it. Give her the control, yeah?” Frank merely nodded and then climbed into his truck, still as pissed off as he had been when he had arrived. He reached for his shades, slipped them on and headed down to the marina. He spent the afternoon cleaning the boat. And whilst it didn’t take him long as they hadn’t taken an awful lot with them, he decided to give the entire thing a good wash down and polish inside, more to keep him occupied. Paul arrived at just gone 3 pm, and was over the moon with the fact his boat had come back to him in a better condition than it had gone out in…making a quip that Frank could borrow it whenever the hell he wanted if it meant service like that.

He was just heading back to his truck when Fliss called him.

“How are my girls?” he asked and she chuckled slightly.

“Good, we’re done now so be heading home soon. What do you fancy for dinner? Anything in particular?” “I’ll swing by the store, pick up a few steaks and we can grill.” Frank said, climbing into the truck “And a bottle of Rioja?” “Perfect. Did you get rid of that card?” Frank hesitated for a second. “I took care of it.”

“Frank?” her voice had grew a little sterner. “What does that mean? What did you do?” “I took it to Greg.” he grimaced as she made an angry noise on the other side of the phone.

“Damnit Frank, I asked you to get rid of it…” “I just wanted some advice. Thought I’d see what Greg made of it and-“

“You had no right to do that…” her voice was angry “That wasn’t your decision to make…” “Lissy…” he sighed “Look, let’s not do this on the phone. We can discuss it at home ok?”

And then the familiar tone hit his ear, signalling she’d hung up.

With a groan he banged his forehead against the steering wheel in frustration. He wasn’t looking forward one bit to that conversation.

He walked into the store a few blocks from their home, and for a second debated taking his time, just to stall but he knew he would simply be delaying the inevitable. It didn’t matter how long he left it, there was going to be an argument. He grabbed what they needed for dinner, and a few packets of snacks before he headed back out to his truck. 5 minutes or so later he was home, and walked up the steps, letting himself in. Fliss and Mary were both in the kitchen, Mary sat on the counter with a juice box, Fliss clutching a beer.

“Hey…” he said, a little tentatively. Fliss gave him a tight smile and turned her head so that his kiss landed on her cheek.

Yeah, he was in for it. Big time.

“You had a good day?” he asked, placing the bag on the side and looked at Mary.

She nodded eagerly “I cantered today, off the lead line,” “Did you?” He smiled at her “Nice work Stack.” “Fliss got a video. Can we show Frank?” “Sure.” Fliss smiled at her, and pulled out her phone. She swiped at the screen and passed it to Mary who took it, and Frank moved so he could watch the footage over her shoulder.

“My balance is still a little bit crappy…” Mary shrugged “But I didn’t fall.” “Your balance is fine.” Fliss said gently “You just need to keep your lower leg still but that will come in time. You’re doing great.” Mary beamed and handed Fliss her phone back.

“Why don’t you go get showered?” Frank looked at Mary “I need to speak to Fliss for a moment ok?”

“Can I go on my computer once I’m washed up?” “Sure.” Frank nodded. She hopped down from the counter and wandered out of the room. Frank watched her go for a moment before he turned to see Fliss was stood looking at him. “So what did Greg say?” she asked, folding her arms

“Nothing different to what you said.” Frank looked at her.

“Right, and if he had said something different, like told you to go to the police, would you have done that behind my back too?” “No, of course not!” Frank shook his head as he leaned back against the kitchen counter, both hands either side of his body on the edge of the worktop, “That’s not what I-“ he took a deep breath “Honey, I just want to make sure that we do everything right. Greg’s gonna keep the card on file, says if you get anything else then he’ll keep that too, build a case.”

Fliss looked at him for a moment before she shrugged “Whatever” “Whatever?” Frank frowned “That’s all you can say, whatever?” “Well what else am I supposed to say?” she looked back at him “You clearly know best…” “Fliss…” he sighed, “Don’t be like that…” “I’m not being like anything.” she shook her head “You’re the one that went behind my back, ignored what I asked you to do.”

“With good reason…” “You know, I thought I might be at a point in my life where I get to make the decisions about things that directly affect or concern me but clearly, I was wrong…” “Woah, woah, woah, now hang on…” Frank pushed away from the unit he was leaning against, holding his hand up “Are you seriously comparing what I did to him….” “No, of course not.” she snapped. “Well that kinda sounds like what you were doing…” his hands fell to his hips.

“Oh don’t be a dick, Frank.” she glared at him. “That’s not what I meant.” “Well what did you mean?”

“I already said exactly what I mean!” she said, her voice rising in volume “You had no right to do that, no right at all to go behind my back like you did. I couldn’t do anything about him getting released, but the one thing I can control is how I react to this entire situation…and you took that away from me!” “You’re completely overreacting…” “Overreacting?” “Yes…” he strepped towards her “Liss, I didn’t do it to take control…nothing of the sort…” “How would you feel if you told me not to do something with Mary, something that meant a lot to you, and I still went and did it anyway?” “That’s…” he shook his head “That’s completely different.” “No, it isn’t!” she yelled back “It would be a complete disregard for your wishes, it’s exactly the same…” Frank looked at her, his eyes locking onto hers as she simply snorted and shook her head “You don’t even see what you did wrong do you?” “No, and I’m not apologising either.” he shook his head

“Of course you’re not.” she snorted “This is getting us nowhere.”

With that she turned and called for Thor.

“Where are you going?” he frowned, following her into the hall as she slipped on her sneakers.

“Out.”

“Where?” he asked, when she didn’t reply he pressed again “Lissy.” “Piss off Frank.” she shot back, and with that she stormed out of the front door, slamming it behind her.

Frank stood still, his hands on his hips before he dropped his head with a sigh.

“Nice job…” he heard Mary say from behind him.

“Shut up.” he snapped, a little harshly as he turned to face her. She glared at him and then rolled her eyes.

“I’m going back to my room.” she said simply, stalking off down the corridor, laptop under her arm.

Frank watched her go before he shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Way to go Adler, you fucking idiot.

**** Fliss angrily stomped across the lawn and took a right, Thor trotting at her heels. She walked down the path that led to the Marina, took a left and dropped down the stone steps onto the beach, pausing to remove her sneakers. She dug her toes into the sand, rolled up her riding britches as much as she could before she headed to the waters edge, allowing the water to splash over her legs, Thor giving an excited bark as he gambolled in and out of the waves.

She was angry. Angrier than she had been in a long time. But it was more than that, she felt betrayed in a way. She had asked Frank to do something, something she felt she was perfectly within her rights to request and he had deliberately ignored her.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been stood there, simply looking out over at the horizon but she was jolted from her thoughts by her phone ringing. She debated ignoring it for a while, but eventually she pulled it from her pocket and took a breath as she realised it was her Dad.

“Hey Pops.” she greeted him. “You ok?” “Yeah fine Titch.” he said, “Just noticed I had a missed call…” “Oh, yeah…” she said, for a moment she had forgotten she had called. She had been planning to tell him about the card but as she stood there, she wasn’t sure she wanted to anymore “It wasn’t important.” “Charming…” she heard her mother and Fliss let out a chuckle.

“You got me on speaker?”

“Bluetooth.” Bill replied “We’ve been to the store.” “Stocking up for tomorrow.” Verity said “Can’t have a roast dinner with no potatoes…Mary would have a fit.”

“Yeah…yeah she will.” Fliss said with a sigh.

There was a pause before Bill spoke again “Lissy, you ok?” “Not really no…” she said, her eyes brimming with tears. “Me and Frank, we had an argument…a pretty big one…” “What about?” Bill asked.

“So, this morning I had a card arrive at the yard…and it was from John…” Bill made an angry noise as Verity let out an exclamation.

“That’s…he’s broken his parole…” “I know, but they’re not gonna launch an investigation over a card…so I asked Frank to get rid of it. But he took it to Greg behind my back and…” She trailed off, rubbing at her temple.

“So I’m guessing you discussed your disappointment with him in a calm and collected manner…” Bill said sarcastically.

“If by calm you mean calling him a dick and storming out then yeah.” Fliss replied.

There was another moment of silence and Verity spoke again. “Honey, look…I’m sure he did what he thought was right…” “That’s not the point!” Fliss groaned “the point is I asked him not to. And he did it anyway. The one thing I can control in all of this is how I deal with it. And he completely disregarded that.” “Look, Liss, I love you to pieces, we both do” Bill spoke “But so does Frank, and him taking that card to Greg won’t have been about going behind your back. Have you considered how he feels in all of this?” “How he feels?” “Yeah, this is…this is something he will never have dealt with before. Seeing some other man basically trying to terrorise his girlfriend…he’s going to want to hit back, try and see if there’s something he can do. This isn’t about control. It’s about keeping you safe.”

Verity picked up the conversation at that point.

“I see your point sweetheart, and yes, he should have discussed it first but...” “So you both think I’m in the wrong?” Fliss asked gently, as she looked at her feet, Thor returning to her side and flopping down on the damp sand. “No…that’s not what either of are saying, is it V?”

“No, not at all. He had no right to go behind your back, I get that honey I do, but…well, this can’t be easy for Frank either. And maybe…” “Maybe you should cut him some slack.” Bill finished “He’s a good man Fliss, and heaven knows you waited long enough for one to come along.”

“I know.” Fliss said quietly, the tears trickling down her face. “I know…” “I can hear the ocean…so go home.” Bill said gently. “Talk to him. Calmly. Don’t let that asshole get in the middle of what you two have Titch, you both deserve more than that.”

She nodded to herself, wiping her face and then bidding her parents good-bye she placed the phone back in her pocket. Mulling their words over she turned and headed back across the sand, the sun setting behind them as she made her way over to the food truck parked by the side of the boardwalk.

******

By the time Frank had convinced Mary to speak to him so he could apologise for snapping, it was getting dark out. Fliss had been gone for a good hour and a half, and Frank was getting a little concerned. He was just about to call Roberta to watch Mary whilst he went out looking, when the door opened and Thor padded into the living room.

Frank stood up and turned to see Fliss in the doorway. Her eyes locked onto his and he gave her a small smile.

“I was getting kinda worried.” Frank said softly “Wasn’t sure you were coming home.”

“Neither was I.” she replied honestly and Frank swallowed slightly as she looked at him and sighed “I’m going for a shower then to bed. I’m tired.” “Ok.” he nodded “Do you want something to eat or…” “I grabbed a burger when I was out.” she shrugged, “I’m fine, thanks.” There was a moment of silence during which Frank simply nodded and then Fliss turned and headed down the corridor, popping her head into Mary’s room to say goodnight. Once he watched her open the door to the bathroom and shut it behind her, he set about quickly tidying the kitchen up, tossing the empty beer bottles into the recycling box under the sink before he loaded the dishwasher and set it going. He moved around the living room, tidying a few things away before he turned the lights off and made his way into the bedroom.

Fliss was led on the bed, remote to the TV held in her hand as she glanced up at him for a second, her eyes flicking back to the screen on the wall.

“You still mad at me?” he asked tentatively as he pulled off his t-shirt. She looked at him for a second and sighed.

“Dad told me I was being an idiot.” “Right.” he said, sitting down on the bed next to her, extending his legs down the bed “That’s not answering my question sweetheart.” “I don’t know anymore” she shrugged “Yes, I’m still mad you did it…but I understand why. The fact you had the right intentions doesn’t make going behind my back any better.” “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that, and yeah, ok, I should have asked you first, talked it over.” Frank conceded nodding “I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry if you thought before that I was saying you’re anything like him because you’re not…and I know that…because I can get mad at you and…well, that makes it impossible to stay mad at you for long…”

“What?” Frank looked at her, smiling, his eyebrow raised. “What does that even mean?” Fliss looked at him, a faint smile on her face as she sighed “It means that I can get mad at you, and shout, and leave in a temper tantrum for a walk or whatever, without worrying that when I come back you’re gonna hurt me.” Frank looked at her for a moment, as her words sunk in. Something so simple as having an argument was such a huge thing for her, and the fact she even saw having an argument as a measurement of how much she could trust him because she felt comfortable enough to call him out on the things he did that she didn’t like or agree with, was utterly fucked up. But in a strange way, made total sense.

She could argue with him because she felt safe…

Frank moved so he was led on his side, propped up on his elbow facing her, his hand gently reaching out to brush a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked down at him where she was led, shoulders leaning against the bottom of the head board of the bed. He could see she was getting upset now, her brown eyes were watering and with a sigh he gestured with his head and opened his arms and she shuffled down further, allowing him to pull her into his chest, gently kissing her head.

“I love you.” he said softly “So much. I only went to Greg because I was worried. I’d do anything to keep you and Mary safe, you know that.”

“I know…” she said quietly as he slid his finger under her chin, lifting her head so that she was looking at him. Lowering his head, he kissed her softly, his hand cupping her cheek as his lips gently worked against hers. She relaxed into him, allowing him to deepen the kiss, his hand tangling in her hair as her fingers softly skated through his short beard. Frank let out a smile against her mouth and she pulled back to look at him, her soft, brown eyes searching his.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing…” he smiled, “I just like it when you do that…” “What? This?” she asked, her nails scratching slightly against his whiskers and he let out a sigh of satisfaction, giving a nod. Fliss watched him for a second as his eyelids flickered shut, those ridiculously long lashes resting against his cheeks as she continued to gently run her hands through his beard, before she shuffled closer and pressed her lips to his.

“I like it when you do that too…” he chuckled and she smiled against his mouth. They continued trading soft, tender kisses before Frank slowly moved so that Fliss was led under him, caging her with his arms as she gently ran her hands through his hair, pulling his head back down to kiss her again. His lips gently trailed along her jaw line to that spot on her neck just below her ear where he gave a soft nip causing Fliss to let out a soft moan. Her hips bucked upwards slightly, drawing a soft growl from Frank’s throat at the feeling as she pushed against him, all the time his mouth continuing its path downwards, tracing the line of her throat as his hands reached down and gently tugged at the hem of her vest top. She sat up slightly allowing him to remove it and he fell back over her, his lips latching back onto her neck, drawing another soft groan from Fliss at the feeling of his beard scratching against her skin and the contrast of his soft lips. His tongue circled the swell of her breast before he gently took a nipple into his mouth, listening to her keens as he teased her, his other hand sliding down over the curve of her hip, fingers brushing the hem of her sleep shorts before he slid his hand beneath the material, parting her folds as he began to tease her with his fingers, coaxing more and more wetness from her as he went. He glanced up to see her head was thrown back against her pillow, eyes shut in utter bliss as she bit her lip.

“Look at me.” he said softly, moving so that his face was hovering over hers again, fingers still working. She opened those deep brown eyes he felt he could drown in and her pupils were blown with desire. His fingers picked up their pace and he slid one, then two inside her, curling against her spot over and over again.

“Frankie…” she panted as her back arched, “I..” her words stopped as she found herself unable to form them any longer, instead issuing a low gasp which turned into a groan as her eyes fluttered shut and she convulsed underneath him, tighten around his fingers. Eventually she relaxed and her breathing evened out slightly and she looked up at him, a soft smile on her face before her hand slid up into his hair, as he slanted his mouth over hers.

Then it was a fast scramble to get both of them out of the last remaining, thin barriers of clothing before Frank nestled into the v of her legs, mouth nipping at her collar bone.

“Want you…” she purred into his ear and fuck, did he want her too. Her hand reached down between them, and she gently lined him up, pressing her lips to his.

“Don’t keep me waiting Sailor.”

And Frank, not one to refuse his girl what she wanted did as she asked, worked into her with a steady, gentle movement which made him shudder, dropping to his elbows over her as she gave a soft moan. Her hands gently gripped at his broad shoulders as he began to move, his thrusts slow and gentle at first, hips rocking against hers. Their mouths crashed together in a sloppy kiss as she raked her nails down his back, the sting on his skin caused desire to lance through him even more and he gave a groan, picking up the pace slightly, her body moving with his from each steady thrust, skin sliding against skin, the soft sounds of sex and groans and whimpers filled the air and half the time Frank was at a loss as to who exactly was making them.

“More…” she begged softly, and he hooked his hand under her knee, wrapping her leg up round his waist allowing him to drive deeper. She gave a loud mewl underneath him as her nails dug further into his shoulders as he moved faster, reading the signs she was giving him, his hips now snapping back and forth with a needy desire, the carnal want he had for this woman consumed him and he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Come on baby…” his breath was ragged on her ear as he gently sucked at that spot again, feeling her writhing underneath him. “I got you, let go…”

His breath caught slightly as she tipped her head to press her lips to his, the kiss heated and he swallowed the loud groan she made before her head fell back her hands gripping to his back as if her life depended on it.

“Frankie…I’m…gonna…” she managed to stutter before her mouth once more slackened and her sultry lament made Frank shudder as her body shook underneath him, her leg twitching as he held it tight round his waist. Her heat gripped him, pulsing again and again and he felt the burning deep in the pit of his stomach, the surge of his own orgasm felt like it was rising from his very toes as he drove into her once more.

“Fuck, Lissy…” he mumbled and a guttural rumble erupted from his throat as his hips stuttered slightly before he made another few shallow thrusts before he collapsed forward, burying his head in her neck as the afterglow consumed him.

He had no idea how long passed before he managed to muster enough about himself to raise his head. She still had her eyes closed but there was a satisfied smile playing on her lips, one he couldn’t help but mirror. As he watched her face, the tip of his nose gently resting against hers, her eyelids flickered open and he smiled down at her, gently pressing their foreheads together.

“Ok?”

“Yeah…” her voice was raspy and she swallowed “That was more than ok…” He chuckled as he met her lips in a soft kiss, before he gently rolled off her, laying on his back and reaching down for the duvet which was tangled around their legs. After a short wrestle with it and a bit more giggling they both settled down, Fliss’ head on his chest as he lay on his back, his hand softly carding through her hair.

***** The next few weeks skipped by fairly uneventfully, bar the almost meltdown Mary had when it was revealed to her that she wouldn’t be going back into Bonnie’s class when September rolled around. Frank tried to explain to her that wasn’t how school worked but she was besides herself, declaring she wasn’t going back to school if that was the case, leaving Frank groaning about the possibility of repeat of the scene they had the previous year.

In the end, it was the twins that managed to explain it to her. Steve and his family came over to visit again for 2 weeks in the middle of August and the boys Charlie and Joel spent a lot of time at Fliss and Frank’s for sleepovers, Fliss loved having her nephews to stay and the boys thought Frank was the best person ever when he took them out on a boat he borrowed from work, allowing them each to take a go at sailing. Or being Pirates as they excitedly exclaimed.

One night when they were all sat in the lounge getting ready to settle in for a movie, Frank overheard Charlie telling Mary all about how he was looking forward to moving into the bigger classroom and learning cool news stuff. He could see the cogs whirring in her head and Fliss had smiled, leaning up to kiss his cheek, whispering that she’d told him it would all work out in the end. And, thankfully, she was right.

One person who was NOT looking forward to the return of the school year was Bonnie. One Thursday night she called Fliss begging her got on a girl’s night out as she needed to blow off some end of holiday blues. Fliss agreed and arranged to meet up with her on Saturday evening. The weekend rolled round fairly quickly and Fliss was in a good mood when she arrived at work, a few lessons to do before she could head home and start getting ready. She was just heading out to the first one when her phone rang. The number was withheld but that wasn’t uncommon as a lot of people called about lessons in such a way.

“Fliss Gallagher…” she answered. No one spoke in response. “Hello?”

Nothing.

With a shrug she cut the call and replaced it back into her pocket, making her way over to the paddock, when the phone went again. She repeated the process and there was still no one talking on the other side.

“You ok?” Joanne looked at her, as Fliss frowned.

“Yeah, I just had 2 silent calls…” Fliss shrugged

“Probably someone ass-dialling”

“Yeah, maybe…” Fliss said, not voicing where her mind had instantly gone, straight to John. She stuck the phone in her pocket once more and strode into the paddock, greeting her client.

There were no more calls that day, which made Fliss comfortable enough that it wasn’t her ex. If it was and he was playing some stupid game he wouldn’t have stopped. So by the time Mary appeared to do her stable chores and ride Monty she was in fairly good spirits. Fliss decided that they were going to do something a little different on Mary’s lesson today, and she placed a few poles on the floor and had Mary walk Monty over them first, then do them in trot. It wasn’t hard for the pony, and he knew his job but it was different for Mary, making her concentrate fully on where she was going. Frank leaned on the paddock fence watching the pair of them as Fliss walked along side Mary, chatting away to her before she stepped back and allowed Mary to try it on her own. The smile on Mary’s face was all Frank needed to see and he nodded to her as she looked over to him, his hand falling to Thor’s head as the dog had jumped up, leaning his paws on the top of the fence.

“Alright buddy?” he asked, scratching his ears as Thor panted in response, giving a sharp bark at Fliss who turned to look at them, grinning.

One the horses were fed they all made their way home and after dinner Fliss grabbed a glass of wine and headed for a shower and then to get ready. 40 minutes or so later she emerged dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a white off the shoulder top that had large pineapples printed on it and on her feet she wore a pair of gold sandals. To finish the beach-chic look, her auburn hair was pulled back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck and she was wearing a pair of gold hooped earrings along with her Pandora bracelet.

“You look lovely.” Frank smiled at her, and she grinned back. “Ready to go?” “Yeah…” she nodded “Can we pick Bonnie up on our way?”

“Sure.” Frank nodded, turning to Mary “Come on Stack. We’ll swing by for ice cream on our way home.” “Yesss….” Mary gave him a hi-five as they all headed for the door.

It took them about 15 minutes to get to Bonnie’s and Fliss hopped out of the jeep heading up the steps to the small villa. Frank watched her go, quite happy to appreciate her ass in the shorts she was wearing, and smiled as she turned round, Bonnie following her down the steps.

“Hi…” She greeted Frank who nodded to her as she climbed in the back of the jeep. “Hi Mary.” “Hi Miss Stevenson…” “You can call me Bonnie out of school.” The dark-haired woman chuckled.

“I know.” Mary shrugged.

Bonnie hesitated for a moment as Frank and Fliss exchanged a look, the pair of them grinning at Mary’s blasé tone before Frank shook his head.

“Mary…” he chastised her gently.

“What?” she looked at him.

“Just…oh, I dunno, whatever.” he mumbled, setting the car going again. Fliss and Bonnie struck up a gentle conversation about where they were going, Frank not particularly listening to be honest. His right hand absentmindedly dropped to Fliss’ bare thigh, his thumb gently rubbing at her skin and she dropped her left hand on top of his, gently intertwining their fingers.

He was almost disappointed when he pulled up outside Rio’s that she had to let go.

“Have a good time.” he said as she leaned over to give him a quick kiss.

“Will do.” she smiled “See you later Mary.”

“Yeah bye!” Mary said, hopping out of the backseat to take up the vacant front one.

“Ice cream or hot dogs?” Frank looked at her, tearing his eyes away from Fliss as her and Bonnie headed into the bar, already knowing full well what Mary’s answer would be.

“Dur…” she looked at him “I got me a hankering for some Cookies and Cream.” Frank snorted and with a final look at the bar set off towards The Shack.

*****

“Did he just…” Fliss looked at Bonnie, her eyes flicking from the young man in front of her to Bonnie, then back again. They’d had a few drinks at Rio’s, then headed up to another bar a few doors down and had wandered over to see what was going on round a pool table, soon finding themselves watching three younger guys as they were racking the balls up, ready to start a game of killer. By this point they’d had a fair amount of beer and shots, so Bonnie, clearly emboldened by alcohol, had cheekily quipped to the boys that Fliss would kick their arses and one of them, a tall guy with floppy sandy hair had responded with an equally cheeky little smirk and invited the “Grandma” to join them.

“Yeah, he so did…”

“Fucking Grandma…” Fliss glared at him, snatching up a pool cue. “I’ll have you know, kid, I’m 34…not that old…” “You got 13 years on me.” he looked at her.

“Experience…” Bonnie nodded sagely “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.” “You offering?” the lad looked at Bonnie who burst out laughing

“Sorry, we’re both taken…” “With each other…” Fliss said, causing Bonnie to snort again into her drink “We’re lesbians.” “Awesome!” the guy grinned, looking Fliss up and down before he arched an eyebrow at her. “I’m Joe by the way.” “Oh, I’m Felicia and this is Linda.” Fliss said, this time causing Bonnie to choke on her gin.

“Nice to meet you…now…” Joe clapped his hands and then everyone around the table looked at him as he began to write their names on the blackboard adding 3 lines after each. The game was simple, you took your shot, if you potted you kept a life, if you missed you lost one. The last person standing was the winner.

“Money in and…”

“Oh, hang on…” Fliss looked around “I didn’t know we were competing for money…”

“You chicken?” One of the lads looked at her.

“No, I just…you know what?” She shrugged, pulling a ten note out of her purse. “Fuck it.”

“You can break.” One of the lads said and she shrugged. Taking up position she hit the ball, deliberately hitting the group of colours in the wrong place ensuring she didn’t pot one. The lads all took a turn each and on her next turn she sank a ball into the pocket, then on her next go she missed again, deliberately.

“Ok,ok…” she said, as the guys started to tease her. “You’re all so confident double up…double the money…” “Whatever…” Joe snorted, pulling another $10 note out of his pocket. Bonnie, grinned and started to play along.

“Felicia,…is that…” “Shut up Linda I got this…” She lined up and took another shot, smashing a ball at the top straight into a pocket. The lads all exchanged a look, shrugging and continued, the game. Fliss continued to nail shot after shot and eventually it came down to her and Joe on the last ball.

“So if I manage this…I win?”

“Yeah…” “Ok, top right…” Joe let out a groan as the ball dropped into the pocket. Fliss straightened up, leaning on the cue smirk on her face as she turned to the boys who were all laughing and shaking their heads.

“Here’s a tip…” she smirked, taking the money “Don’t call people grandma…pleasure doing business boys…”

Bonnie laughed, sliding her phone back into her pocket, as Fliss looped an arm round her shoulders and steered her back to the bar.

“Shots?”

“Yes…” An hour later they were multiple shots down and half way through a crucial game of Fuck, Marry or Kill.

“Ok…” Bonnie looked at Fliss “Fuck, Marry or Kill. All the Chrises…Evans, Hemsworth or Pratt…” “Oh man…” Fliss groaned “I mean…I’d probably kill Pratt. No offence but I couldn’t murder Thor or Cap…I just…no, not possible”

“So…which ones getting the one night treatment and which one is here to stay…”

“If I marry him does that mean I’m fucking him as well?” Bonnie paused “Yeah, I would assume so.”

“Ok, in that case I’d fuck Hemsworth, marry Evans.” Fliss said, shrugging. “Do you not think Frank as a bit of a look of him…in the face?”

“I’ve not thought about it…” Bonnie shrugged, before she grinned “I think you just have a thing for guys from Boston…”

Fliss frowned as Bonnie looked at her, her face dropping. “Shit, Fliss, sorry, I mean Frank…” Fliss couldn’t keep her face straight before she burst out laughing “I know…”

“Bitch!” Bonnie nudged her on the arm and Fliss smirked, picking up another shot.

********

Frank was sprawled on the sofa, channel surfing when he heard his phone go. It was a WhatsApp message from Fliss and he opened it, giving a loud laugh as he saw her holding a shot of tequila, her face screwed up in a huge fake crying gesture.

“Bonnie is making me do shots…”

“Course she is…” he replied “And did Bonnie make you hustle those boys at pool too?” “How do you know about that?” “It’s on Facebook sweetheart, Bonnie uploaded the photo of you winning. Those poor kids stood no chance” “In my defence they called me grandma…cheeky bastards.”

Frank laughed out loud as he could just see her indignant expression. “Well that’s just fucking rude. How much did you sting em for?” “Sixty…we’ve nearly spent it all

“Sixty bucks…” he mumbled to himself with a snort as he tapped his response “That’s my girl.” “Always…” she replied back, with a winking emoji and he smiled again before dropping the phone back on the coffee table as he stood up to go and grab himself another beer. Simon had already called him to say he would pick them up, which was a relief to Frank as he knew he couldn’t drag Mary out of bed at whatever time they were ready to come back, and he also wasn’t one hundred percent happy about her cabbing back alone. Stupid, he knew that, she was a grown ass woman but still. Thankfully, Simon had been on the same wavelength. With a fresh beer in his hand, he flopped back onto the sofa and resumed his channel hopping, grinning when he found that American Pie was just starting on one of the movie channels. Tossing the remote down he settled back against the cushions to watch the film, Thor jumping up besides him, his head resting against Frank’s thigh.

He had seen this film countless times, but it still reduced him to tears, and Fliss for that matter. He watched, laughing along and the end credits had just started to roll when his phone buzzed again.

“On my way to collect the girls and just a warning, Bonnie sounds smashed.” With a snort he replied “I didn’t expect anything else. Thanks Si.” He stood up and threw his empty beer bottle into the recycling, debating whether or not he wanted another. Deciding he would leave it he started to clear away the remnants of the nachos and popcorn he’d been munching on, gently re-arranged the damned scatter cushions that Fliss had made him buy, which he grudgingly had to admit were actually pretty comfy and then grabbed the recycling box and headed out to toss it into the containers, Thor hot on his heels. Just as he had finished he looked up to see Simon’s Audi pulling up at the road and he made his way over.

“Hiiiii!” Fliss grinned at him as she got out, Thor stopping by her legs and she gave him a quick pet.

“Hey…you have a good time?” Frank asked, as she gave a giggle and nodded.

“Bonnie’s fallen asleep. She can’t handle her alcohol.” she snorted and Frank looked round her to see that Bonnie was, indeed, passed out in the passenger seat.

He shook his head and leaned down to speak to Simon “Thanks pal…”

“No problem.” Simon smiled, before he cast a look at Bonnie and then back to Frank “She said she was tired, not drunk…” “And I’m the Queen of England…” Frank snorted as Simon let out a huff of a laugh.

“Well hello your majesty…” Fliss hiccupped and Frank looked at her, grinning as she winked at him, her eyes glazed.

Simon shook his head and Frank rapped the top of his car twice as he pulled off and headed back up the road.

“Frankie…” Fliss looked at him as he dropped his arm round her shoulder.

“Yes baby?” “I’m hungry.” “Are you gonna stay awake long enough if I throw a pizza in the oven?” “Hey, I’m not like Bonnie, I can handle my tequila…” “Yeah, you say that now.” he grinned “Bet you won’t be tomorrow.”

“It’s Sunday…I can die on the sofa.” she shrugged, heading up the steps into the house. “But now I really need food.” Frank snorted, “Ok, I’ll throw one in. Go get changed.”

“Can you undo the button at the back of my top?” Fliss asked, spinning around. Frank obliged, gently sliding the silver pin shaped tab through the hole at the back of the collar, his hands gently rubbing her bare shoulders as she dropped a kiss to her neck. “Hey, Bonnie made a good point before…” she spun back to face him, he hands smoothing over his chest.

“And what was that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Both of us, as in me and her, have seen you naked.” she grinned, arms connecting round the back of his neck.

“Jesus Christ.” he groaned, his hands falling to her hips.

“And you’ve seen both of us naked…but we’ve never seen each other naked…” Frank looked at her for a moment, “What?” “Me and Bonnie I mean… don’t you think that’s unfair.”

Frank looked at her for a moment, stumped for words before he gave a snort of laughter at her face. She was grinning wickedly at him, mischief shining out of her eyes. “Yeah.” he nodded, seriously, fighting to keep his face straight. “Really unfair. In fact, I think it’s so unfair you should do something about it.” “You’re a pervert.” she narrowed her eyes at him as he laughed and shrugged.

“You started it…” “Technically you did when you fucked her.”

“Ouch…” Frank raised an eyebrow at her as she smirked up at him “Low blow sweetheart”

“I’ll give you a low blow later.”she winked and Frank’s eyebrow arched further up as she pulled his head down to kiss him softly “But first I need proper food…” “Well let go o’me and I’ll make you that pizza.” he reasoned.

With a final smile she kissed him again “Love you sailor.”

“Back at ya cowgirl.” he grinned, watching as she made her way to the bedroom, reasonably steadily as well all things considered, Thor padding along behind her. With a final snort and shake of his head, knowing full well she was going to be hungover to shit the next day, he turned and headed back towards the kitchen to make her something to eat.

**** Chapter 20

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x original female character #frank adler x ofc #gifted #gifted fan fic

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agarthanguide · 3 years

Note

Hi! I love your work! I was wondering if it would be okay to ask you for advice about sort of professional stuff as an illustrator? I made a post so that anyone who might have anything could respond but you're one of the few professional illustrators I know of on here, so would it be ok for me to send it to you or tag you in it? Thank you, have a great day!

Hey. I don’t really give advice on tumblr, but I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you, and I’m worried I was giving that impression. Here’s my thoughts on this post of yours.

1- I’m the wrong person to ask about this. First of all, I’m old. I’m in my 30s. So I don’t have any stuff from my teens floating around online to cringe about. I wish I could scrape some stuff from my early 20s off the internet, but only because it’s young and airheaded, not because it’s offensive or potentially damaging. I came of age at a time when it was mostly considered a Bad Thing to post personal stuff on the internet. Second of all, I don’t hire artists. Art Directors would be able to tell you more about this particular concern.

2- Honestly, I’ve never had an art director go through my personal blogs. Sometimes I wish they would, so they know what to expect from me on a personal level, but. Tbh, they are busy people, and they don’t care what fandoms you are in. In fact, if you leave your portfolio on a blog site where work is harder to find, they’re more likely to write you off and not look through your work at all. They mostly want clear and available portfolios, not backlogs of private thoughts interspersed with art. Despite how anodyne my personal website is, it’s also where employers look first to see if I can do Their Thing. If they do look on tumblr, I’ve seen no evidence of it.

3- Fandom is not a dirty word. My current job, which I’m extremely excited about, I got because I was in the fandom and created work that got noticed by the higher ups. Every working artist under 40 has participated in being excited about stuff online. You don’t need to hide it. I once saw a piece of mine on a Behind the Scenes at the BBC Musketeers video. They printed it out and put it on a cork board of inspiration. Art Directors WANT you to care about stuff. They will not be put off by your interests.

4- If you (not you, @he-said-irene, you are good folks, but if ONE) says something racist, exclusionary, or unkind online, someone will find it and you will probably be dragged for it. That seems to be the direction things are going, and I’m not sorry about it. If you are worried about your past catching up with you, then you probably should be, frankly.

5- So yeah, @he-said-irene, don’t worry too much about it. While I generally advocate for privacy and compartmentalization online, I’m also not ashamed of my fandom past, and I don’t think most people should be. If you think your work is more generally not for sensitive audiences, that’s a good reason to put viewer restrictions on your blog, but lots of very successful industry artists have done erotic or horror or whatever art, and it’s not really seen as a Big Deal in the industry. Your work and your ability to work with people in a kind a professional manner is gonna be the stuff that gets you in the door and keeps you there, not your favorite ship from when you were 18.

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spacecorpscans · 4 years

Text

Yoshino Chiaki no Baai Vol. 2 Ch.3 Translation

Creators: Miyako Fujisaki, Nakamura Shungiku | Translation: Taz

Chapter 3

I wonder what he’s been up to these days. It was close to sundown, so Hatori was probably working. Yoshino was enjoying his dinner with Yuu, but no matter what he did to distract himself, all he could think about was Hatori. I want to eat Hatori’s hamburgers. “This was more delicious than I thought it’d be.” “Ye- yeah. You’re right.” He came here to relax, so it was silly to trouble himself thinking about unnecessary things. In the middle of his thoughts he was interrupted when a cake was brought into the room “This is a Japanese hotel, but they bring cake for dessert?” Although it was small, it was also whole. Yoshino wondered what was going on as he looked down at the cake; there was a nameplate that read “Happy Birthday”. “I hear that today is your birthday, and this hotel offers small gifts for such an occasion.” said the hostess, and she set down fruit champagne as well. Oh yeah, today is my birthday. Yoshino completely forgot, but it seemed like Yanase didn’t. “I had this prepared in secret; I bet you’re surprised.” Before coming to appreciate how Yanase had prepared all of this for him, Yoshino remembered his last conversation with Hatori. ‘So you do know what day that is, the day you’re going to go?’ Hatori said. He was probably referring to Yoshino’s birthday; Since he brought it up, he must have prepared something as well. This is my first birthday since we started dating. Come to think of it, Hatori had given him something for his birthday every year; If Yoshino was looking for out-of-print comics, Hatori would find a way to buy them for him. If he ran out of drawing supplies, Hatori bought more for him. Although these presents weren’t romantic, each of them always had a lot of thought put into them. He never thought too much about it then and always went along with it when Hatori would say he only happened to find those things, but now Yoshino knew there was more to it than that. Even when he asked Hatori to bring him materials that he knew weren’t easy to come by, Hatori brought them for him anyway. Ultimately there were times when Yoshino treated Hatori out for fast food back in high school, but ever since debuting in manga he was always busy chasing deadlines, and Hatori’s birthday wasn’t something he kept track of. What’s there to like about someone as inconsiderate as me? He reasoned. His actions were inconsiderate and even somewhat rude; If he apologized to Hatori he would only be doing so to save his own conscience. He bit his lip at that thought. “You’re bored if Hatori isn’t around, huh?” “Eh?” Yanase’s sudden question startled him. “You’re thinking ‘I wish he was here’, aren’t you, Chiaki?” “What are you talking about?! Of course not! I’m actually glad that he’s not here; if he were, he would just lecture me again. I swear that guy is always on my back-- it’s so annoying!” His relationship with Hatori was still a secret to Yanase, so he quickly covered it up. Hearing this, Yanase gave Yoshino an uncertain smile. “Well, that’s his job, I guess.” “Ye- yeah, that’s why I don’t want to see him on my day off,” he laughed. Yanase probably wasn’t thinking too deeply about it because he didn’t ask Yoshino any further. I’m nervous. Sometimes he was worried that Yanase could see right through him; He was often very nervous, especially when he was hiding something. Yanase stared at Yoshino, but his expression changed rather suddenly. “How about we go to the hot springs after you’re done eating? I hear you can get a good shoulder massage here.” “Oh, okay.” “I don’t like sweets, so you can have the whole cake. I’ll take the champagne instead; You can’t handle wine anyway, right?” Yanase reached for the cold bottle and started chugging it down. *** “Now that’s how a bath should be!” When they returned to their room, Yoshino gulped down his fruit milk. “You sure like that drink. That’s your second one.” “What’s wrong with that? I couldn’t decide if I wanted coffee milk or something else.” “You’re like a kid,” said Yanase, drinking a can of beer. “Shut up. Weren’t the hot springs great, though? Let’s go again tomorrow morning.” “If you wake up early.” The baths here were outdoors and the mist was very beautiful; The temperature of the water was perfect, too, and it helped to relax his tense muscles. If only I had a massage today. He sighed to himself. He reminded himself to check in with his personal chiropractor after this trip, and Yanase jumped back in after his next beer. “Oh yeah. You said you’d let me draw you nude, so let’s do it now.” “What are you saying, you idiot? Besides, I never said that!” “Don’t be so stubborn.” “You’re drunk, aren’t you?” It was rare for him not to know whether Yanase was serious or not. “I wouldn’t say I am.” “Well, you don’t even have your drawing supplies.” Yanase smugly searched through his bag and pulled out his art materials. “I brought them with me. I make sure to take this when I travel.” “What?!” “I draw scenery and stuff. I use it like a camera. Anyway, get undressed.” So Yanase was serious. “I’m not getting naked!” “I’m not telling you to take off your underwear. You know, it would be nice if you did things for me every once in a while,” Yanase said. It was hard for Yoshino to refuse that. After hesitating, he made a proposal. “Fine, but only my upper body.” “Okay, that’s fine.” He reluctantly pulled his arms from the sleeves of his yukata. When they were at the hot springs together he hadn’t been embarrassed, but now he felt self-conscious. “Sit over there then.” “Ok-kay.” Yoshino sat cross-legged on the chair in the middle of the veranda, giving his friend a questioning look. “I don’t exactly look very fun to draw, but you still draw me so much. Isn’t it boring? You could make an art portfolio out of me at this point.” “It’s not boring. I love you, Chiaki.” “Huh?!” Yoshino looked at him in shock, but Yanase was not perturbed and continued drawing, his expression unchanged. “I love your bone structure.” Yoshino’s heartbeat slowed down a little. Oh I see. He just likes me to be his model. “Oh, yeah, yeah. Of course, my bones. Hahaha…” Heart still trembling, he hid his nervousness by laughing it off. “Yeah, your bones as well.” Yanase looked up from his sketchbook. “So wait, are you actually saying that you love me?” he asked jokingly, but Yanase only stared at him silently. Wha- what’s with this atmosphere?! Having a bad feeling about this, Yoshino slowly put his yukata back on.“I’m- I’m thirsty. I’m gonna go buy something to drink. Do you want something too, Yuu?” “You just drank milk. Stay still for a bit,” Yanase said as he moved towards Yoshino. That very moment, Yoshino felt a chill. He sensed something strange and tried to get up, but Yanase grabbed the chair armrests and faced him so he couldn’t move. “Wha- what?!” “You asked me if I liked anyone. Do you still want to know? I’ll tell you if you do,” Yanase asked, egging on Yoshino’s raging anxiety. I have to play it cool no matter what he says! Intuitively he knew that it was better not to know, but it would be strange to say that now when he had been so curious about it before. Surely Yanase’s suggestive behavior was all an act and he was only teasing Yoshino. I’m gonna ask casually, just casually, he told himself, but when he was about to open his mouth his cellphone rang. I’m- I’m saved! Thank god! “The phone! I need to see who it is,” Yoshino blurted, shoving Yanase out of the way. When he answered, it was Hatori on the other end. “It’s me. Is now a good time?” It’s Tori of all people! God hates me… “Yeah, it’s fine. Oh wait, my signal isn’t very good. Hold on, I’m gonna go somewhere to fix it.” After making up this excuse, Yoshino covered the mouthpiece and told Yanase he would step out onto the courtyard veranda for a bit. He wanted to be away from the awkward atmosphere in that room; He put on a pair of wooden clogs and clip-clopped across the stone steps. Only when he arrived at the gazebo did he press his phone back to his ear.

“Hey, Yoshino? Are you really okay?” “Ye- yeah. I’m okay. Um, is something up?” he asked nervously. “I wouldn’t call you for nothing. I looked over the storyboard corrections; I don’t think there are any problems with it for the most part, just one or two lines that I want you to fix. I sent you a fax of the corrections I made.” “Got it. Oh, is the extra illustration alright?” “Yeah, it’s good.” They were only talking about work, but he was still relieved that they could interact like usual. Now Hatori grew silent; He was still on the line with Yoshino, but it was quiet on his side. “Tori?” “I’m sorry.” Hatori interrupted his worry. “About?” Hatori seemed uneasy, probably thinking that Yoshino was still mad at him. “Sorry I behaved so childishly the other day.” “No- no, it’s okay.” Yoshino was going to add that he wasn’t angry but held his tongue. He certainly had been angry, but that was only because he didn’t understand Hatori’s feelings. Even now he wouldn’t say that he understood, but he did realize that he’d been in the wrong. I made Tori apologize before me again...Why is he so nice to me? “Are you still angry?” “No, that’s not it.” There were many things he wanted to ask but he couldn’t put them into words; Since Yoshino was faltering, Hatori misinterpreted this as him being offended again and ended the conversation. “This is all I have to say. I’m sorry I disturbed you.” “Ah, um-” “Happy birthday, Yoshino.” Hatori finished with that before hanging up. “Wai-! Hey! Tori?!” He tried to stop him, but the connection was already cut. Maybe the reason he called me was to tell me that? Thinking about it, hre realized that the storyboard conversation could have waited until the next day. Besides, Hatori faxed the corrections to Yoshino’s house anyway so there was no need to call him about it. He made the phone call seem like it was about work and yet added that birthday wish in the end. Yoshino fretted; now he really wanted to see Hatori. Unable to stand it any longer, he returned to the room and began changing clothes. Seeing this, Yanase shot him a questioning look. “Yoshino? Did something happen?” “Sorry, um, something came up. I have to go to my parent’s house,” Yoshino quickly packed his things. Even he knew that what he was doing was selfish, but he couldn’t hold down the urge. “Right now? Can’t you go in the morning?” “No, I have to go now. Sorry I’m being so selfish. I’ll make it up to you!” With that, Yoshino dashed out of the hotel, leaving Yanase alone. *** He took a taxi from the train station and somehow made it back home before the day was done. Yoshino’s feet moved quickly on their own accord and before he knew it he was running. When he reached Hatori’s place, he pressed the intercom button with force. Hatori’s voice was suspicious over the speaker. “Yes? Who is this?” “Ah, um, it’s me.” “Yoshino?!” Noticing Hatori’s surprise, Yoshino then heard a harsh rattling sound. It seemed that Hatori dropped the intercom receiver. After more bustling from inside, the front door opened and Hatori appeared in sweats and a t-shirt, probably already prepared for bed. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the hot springs?” “Yeah, but I came back.” “Did something happen?!” If he told him about the incident with Yanase, he felt like things would get complicated, so he decided to keep quiet about it. “No- no, that’s not it. I just wanted to see your face.” “…Huh?” “Ah! I mean, I wanted to get started on work! I mistook your place for my place!” He blurted. Unable to hide his flushed cheeks, Yoshino turned on his heel and readied to leave, but Hatori grabbed his hand and stopped him. “Say that again.” “Whi- which part?” There was no way he could say that again. As Yoshino pretended to play innocent, Hatori revised his question. “Did you really want to see me?” “Oh, did I say that?!” “I understand. It’s already late, so stay over tonight. Work can wait until tomorrow, right?” Hatori gently insisted, and Yoshino obediently followed him inside. “Okay.” He felt nervous and the atmosphere felt tense, even though Hatori’s place was somewhere he could always call his second home. He watched Hatori’s back as he slowly took off his coat. This is really awkward. Perhaps to break this atmosphere, Hatori called out to him like his usual. “You were at the hot springs, right? Did you eat?” “Ye- yeah. I ate and took a bath.” “Just a beer then? I think I have some snacks somewhere.” Hatori peered into the fridge, muttering to himself. Yoshino finally gathered up his courage. “Um!” “Yeah?” Hatori turned, holding two cans of beer and snacks. Yoshino flinched when Hatori looked his way. “I forgot that today is my birthday.” Hatori’s eyes widened at this and he let out a small smile. “Idiot, that’s why you came back?” “Do- don’t call me an idiot! I know this is my fault, I’m sorry if you were planning something for us.” “You don’t need to apologize. You being here is enough.” “…!” Yoshino’s heart skipped a beat with Hatori looking at him so lovingly. Okay, why is my heart pounding now for someone I’ve known for over twenty years?! Hatori placed the snacks and beer on the kitchen counter and took out a cardboard box. Yoshino let his curiosity get the better of him. “What’s that?” “A present. I didn’t know what to get you, but I thought something practical would be best. I’m glad I can give this to you today.” Hatori held the box out in front of him. Yoshino didn’t think Hatori would prepare him a present, so he was touched. He took the gift excitedly and found that it was very heavy. “Thank you. It’s a bit heavy…” Naturally, his curiosity grew with the weight of it. I wonder what Tori is giving me? Yoshino sat down on the sofa to peel it all open and look inside. He raised a questioning eyebrow at the contents within. “…What’s this?” “It’s manuscript paper. With all these supplies you won’t ever run out; Now you can draw as much as you want.” “Hey! You thought I’d be happy with this? You’re supposed to give a more romantic present on my birthday!” Although he was happy to receive something practical, it was kind of cold for a present. Forgetting his manners, Yoshino complained about it and Hatori asked him another question. “What then?” “I- I don’t know, but definitely not this.” He hadn’t been thinking of what would be considered romantic when he’d blurted that out. The girls in my manga usually get some sort of accessory on their birthdays, but I’m not a girl. As Yoshino racked his brain, Hatori took Yoshino’s hand and brought it to his mouth. “To- Tori?” Hatori kissed his palm. “Then I’ll give you myself.” “Wha- what you are saying? You’re embarrassing yourself by saying something like that!” Yoshino flustered as his face turned red. I seriously can’t believe this. How can he say that with a straight face? “If you don’t want me, that’s fine too.” “Wh- who said anything about not wanting you?” He attempted to hide his embarrassment and grabbed Hatori’s hand before he could pull it away. Uwa, I just did something really embarrassing, didn’t I? He didn’t let go of Hatori’s hand; he couldn’t look him in the eyes. “Yoshino,” Hatori hit him lightly on the forehead. From this distance he felt Hatori’s breath and his heartbeat increased. Hatori gently grabbed at his hand and all Yoshino could feel was how sweaty his own hand was from being so nervous. Hatori lifted Yoshino’s chin with his other hand, and the moment their eyes met Hatori kissed him on the lips. “Mm…” Hatori lightly bit Yoshino’s lower lip and earned a soft gasp in response. Hatori took the opportunity to slip his tongue between his lips; He wasn’t being rough in the least and Yoshino began to relax. As they stood in this unnatural position he wondered if he should wrap his hands around Hatori’s back, but Hatori broke the kiss apart too soon. “I can’t resist today.” “Is- is that something to complain about?” “Well, no? Are you saying you also want to do it?” “Yea- yeah, so shut up already!” “Ow.” Yoshino hit Hatori on the head and flushed when Hatori laughed to himself.

“Tori…?” Just when Yoshino was about to ask what was wrong, Hatori muttered, “You smell different.” “Hm? That’s because I used the hotel’s shampoo.” “Did you take a bath with him?” “Eh? Well, it’s a public bath so- wha-!” Hatori clasped the back of Yoshino’s neck and pushed him down on the sofa. “What are you doing?” “From now one, don’t ever let anyone see you naked.” Hatori looked scary staring him down like this; he clearly wasn’t joking. “That would mean I can never go to the hot springs!” “Who cares about that? I was going to be gentle with you today, but now I won’t.” “Huh?!” “This will be your punishment,” Hatori said, holding both of Yoshino’s hands together above his head. “Wh- what do you mean when you say punishment?!” Yoshino glared. He had no idea what Hatori was thinking, but the grasp his lover had on him was becoming painful. “Telling you would take the fun out of it, right?” “There’s nothing fun about it! Mm- nnh-!” Hatori couldn’t control the way he was kissing Yoshino; He was ruthless with Yoshino’s lips and became quick to slip his tongue between them. Being intertwined like this sent a sweet chill throughout Yoshino’s body. “Hh…nn- mmh-!” Hatori’s hands traced Yoshino’s body down from his waist to his crotch, rubbing lewdly between his thighs. Yoshino was beginning to feel cramped beneath his clothing, but with them kissing like this it was close to impossible to get any words out. Hatori seemed to notice his struggle and slipped his hand into Yoshino’s boxers, stroking him with vigor. “Nn, ngh- mm…!” Yoshino’s hips rutted upwards into Hatori’s ruthless hand. He felt wet from his own precum, and thinking of Hatori’s hand slick with it enticed Yoshino even more. “Haa, ah- ahh…” Pulling away from their kiss, Hatori’s hand continued at it’s same, fluid pace. He knew from experience how fast Yoshino liked to be rubbed and picked up speed. With his mouth free, Yoshino couldn’t hold back his desperate moans; He tried to put up with it, but his body was already numb with ecstasy. Yoshino threw his neck back and Hatori sucked at the skin there, stimulating him impossibly further. “Aah- ah! Hh- no more!” Just when he was about to come, Hatori stopped the urge with a harsh squeeze. “No- why-?!” “I told you this was punishment, right? I’ll let you come when you behave.” “Huh?! Don’t screw with- Hha-!” Hatori lubricated a hand and rolled Yoshino’s shirt up to spread the gel over his abdomen. Yoshino swallowed at the feeling before Hatori pulled his underwear all the way off. He spread both of Yoshino’s bare legs open and smeared lubricant between them. “Ngh-!” “I don’t want anyone to see you, but I can tolerate you going to the hot springs. Just don’t let Yanase see you naked. Promise that you won’t go out with him anymore if it’s just the two of you alone.” “Haa- Why?” “Cause I’m jealous, okay? You draw romance, you should know this.” “I should know this? Ah-!” He was going to glare, but Hatori rubbed a finger inside of him, causing Yoshino to arch his back. His lip quivered at the foreign sensation, but Hatori paid him no mind and pushed further inside. Why do I have to go through this? He tried to remove Hatori’s hands, but he had no power in his fingers. “Let go- Ah, ngh-!” Hatori’s finger curled, pressing on Yoshino’s soft insides and pulling in and out, all while stroking Yoshino from the front and holding back his climax each time. “It’s simple; Just promise me.” “No, please-!” “Hate it all you want, we can stay like this forever,” Hatori said, moving faster as his grip on Yoshino tightened. “Ah, no- It hurts, stop!” Yoshino felt like he was losing his mind when Hatori added a second finger. “Then swear right now.” “I swear…! I promise, so-” He nodded, unable to think properly; The tears in his eyes reached their limit, one slipping down as he begged. “Really?” “Really, so ple-please- I want to come!” “Okay. I’ll let you come as much as you want.” Finally when Hatori released him, Yoshino’s legs were pushed up to his chest and he felt Hatori’s own erection press against him. He barely had time to register how fast it was happening before Hatori pushed inside. “Ngh-!” Yoshino came as soon as Hatori sheathed himself fully inside, and his mind went blank as he saw lights behind his eyelids; Hatori mercilessly pounded against Yoshino’s hips, trembling sweetly with the effects of his climax. Yoshino could feel Hatori deep inside of him, convulsing with Hatori’s movements; he knew himself how tight he was but couldn’t control it. Pain engraved into him, but his pleasure exceeded it and he sighed lovingly with each thrust. Even though he just came, Yoshino felt himself getting aroused again. Hatori continued fucking him through it, purposely avoiding his prostate. It was hard for Yoshino to express how he felt about this so he tried to move his hips himself. “Ngh, ugh- ah! Hah-!” “What’s gotten into you? You’re so forward today, moving all on your own.” “Ah! Ca- cause…you’re…” “‘I’m’ what? I’ll do anything if you tell me how you want it.” “…!” There was no way he could say that; He was feeling extremely scatterbrained, but he still had some reason left in him. It’s not like it wasn’t embarrassing to move on his own, but it was much better than having to say it out loud. “There’s no need to be embarrassed by now, right? Your body is much more honest than you are.” Chucking, Hatori let his hips go wild. He bore right into Yoshino’s prostate and Yoshino tightened around him again. “Haa! Ah- I’m gonna come again!” Each of his words were punctuated with Hatori’s thrusts. “It’s fine, I told you I’ll let you come as much as you want.” “Ngh-! Tori, you too…” “Yeah, I’m almost at my limit.” Hatori greatly increased his speed as soon as he said that. Yoshino tightly grabbed Hatori by the neck, feeling as though he was going to be thrown off due to the vigorous movements. He panted heavily and Hatori planted a kiss on his lips. Hatori pushed impossible deeper and Yoshino clenched tightly around him, urging him to come. At the feeling of Hatori spilling hotly into him, his own body flinched with his second orgasm.

“...Chiaki,” Hatori held him and kissed him soothingly, Yoshino slowly closing his eyes. *** “Ow, ow, ow…” Yoshino hardly exercised so his entire body was worn out; for quite some time now, Hatori had been giving him a massage. “Geez, you could’ve been more gentle, you know.” “What are you talking about? I tried to stop but you were the one who kept saying you wanted more.” “Who said something like that?! Ow, ow!” Hatori was putting the right pressure into Yoshino’s muscles and it felt extremely good, even despite the pain from being so stiff. Hatori only did this every once in a while, but the next day he always felt like he’d been born again. As Hatori massaged Yoshino’s shoulder blades, he reminded Yoshino about the promise he made earlier. “You didn’t forget, right?” “You’re so stubborn. I always keep my word!” “And yet you always miss deadlines.” “That’s different!” It wasn’t like he completed his manuscripts late on purpose. I probably shouldn’t be alone with Yuu for a while. He was uneasy remembering the incident at the hot springs; Yanase had probably been a little drunk, but it was still scary. What was that all about? I think I kind of understand why Tori is so weird around him. “…Tori.” “Hm?” “Let’s go on a trip together next time.” “…” At Yoshino’s statement, Hatori stopped for a moment. Yoshino wasn’t expecting this reaction and pouted. “What? You don’t want to?” “No, that’s not it. I’m just a little surprised. You want to go with me?” “Yeah, I want to go with you.” “Maybe so. I hope we can go someday.” “Not just ‘I hope’! We’ll definitely go! It’s a promise, okay?” “Alright, alright, it’s a promise. Now are you tired? It’s fine if you need to go to sleep.” “I’m alright…” Yoshino couldn’t keep his eyes open even as he slurred this. “Good night.” Hatori’s words were his last memory for the night.

#yoshino chiaki no baai #sekaiichi hatsukoi #sih

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alfafilly · 3 years

Text

New Year New Me

I want to make a small New Years Resolution this year aimed specifically towards my role in the Sly Cooper fandom. It’s gonna be kinda long and venty so warning!!

As a bit of backstory, I haven’t been in a fandom/actively drawing fanart since like... 2012 maybe? Like in terms of drawing fanart for the same series routinely. I went through a really stupid phase where I thought fanart was a waste of time because I had been hounded over and over again by peers and those I looked up to that only ORIGINAL © DO NOT STEAL content mattered. I looked down on fanart and used every excuse to belittle fanartists. I dunno if this was also in part due to the last fandom I was in being extremely toxic (that being the Invader Zim fandom. Booooois them 2006-2008 deviantART IZ days were something else) and my college experience constantly telling me “fanart in your portfolio is stinky bad no do that” (which is hotly debated btw).

Anyway... jumping into the Sly Cooper fandom has been extremely positive for me and helping me shed a lot of that negative attitude. Dare I say there was character development?! And while, for the most part, Sly fandom isn’t that toxic, there are elements of it that have caused much chaotic negativity within me that I am hoping to get rid of.

Maybe it’s a result of my former opinions about fanart, but I have always felt a sense of inadequacy, or as if I NEED to make my place in the fandom for me to be relevant and to matter. I have vented about this in the past. My first fanart piece was a compilation of my interpretations of the cast, and it was well received, and everyone talked about how they wanted me to draw more characters, to see more designs, etc. Which is why I said I wanted to redesign ALL the cast because the people DEMANDED IT!! This could be my way of placing myself in the fandom!!! HELL YEAH!!!

But it didn’t make me... happy, I guess? I DO enjoy redesigning, but when I do it under my own terms, with no pressure. I think coming out of art school made me put on blinders and tell myself what I used to believe in: “If you’re going to waste your time on fanart, better make it good. You know, people can hire you if you show good fanart! These redesigns could get you a job in the industry! You gotta ONLY do work that will benefit your end goal and nothing else!!”

This often made me feel extreme guilt when I started drawing more of my Arpeggio content, or my Arpeggio AUs because despite how much fun I was having, that little voice in the back of my head was saying “No!! Stop drawing that!! Draw stuff that everyone will care about besides just you!!! You’re not going to get anywhere with this!! Drawing sexy Arpeggio won’t get you a job in the industry KJSNJKGNSKNGKJNAJ!!!!”

This mentality also crafted some uhh... extremely negative competitive attitudes towards other artists in the fandom. Certain artists would piss me off every time they posted to the point I would have to block them to stop seeing their work just to prevent these feelings. There is a notable artist I won’t name, but they do Sly redesigns too. I was fine with them initially, but after they blatantly stole one of my designs without crediting me I was LIVID. I called them out and they did apologize and changed the design, but every time I saw their work from then on out I had this insane urge to “beat them”. It was a sick competitive game. I felt jaded they ripped my design and kept getting popular anyway. TBH it’s rather petty and I am trying not to harbor any ill will towards them because I don’t think they meant anything by it and the design was rather insignificant in the whole scheme of things. But I still have them blocked or muted everywhere because I am still struggling to ignore that great urge every time I see their designs to drop everything I’m doing and draw my own redesigns out of unhealthy spite.

And I’m only briefly going to go over the god damn Deceit of Thieves drama. Apparently they are still making it into a legit game? They have a Patreon apparently and are posting stuff about it? I found out about that and the same sort of fiery rage filled me. But this was much less personal. Sure, I had given a critique to them but I honestly wanted the game/story/whatever to flourish? After seeing their poor reactions and being attacked by their white knights, my taste towards them grew bitter and I think my fellow Sly fans having the same bitterness fueled me to flat out grow a hatred for them. That’s kind of awful? I never expected to want another member of the fandom to have their project fail. What kind of asshole am I for wanting that?? I don’t want that. I want them to learn from their mistakes and make something great. Not hold some ridiculous resentment. I can decide not to support them if I wanted, but wishing failure is a whole other horrible thing.

So realizing this I knew I needed to... change my perspective on how I see myself in the fandom and how I process my feelings towards it. I don’t want to be here to produce soulless portfolio worthy content. I don’t want to compete with other artists or wish them ill. I just want to draw some god damn fanart of a series I love and that makes me happy!

I’m posting this here as a way to hold accountability to myself and be honest. I started drawing Sly stuff again in 2017 so it’s been an issue appearing on and off the last 4 years and that’s... sad. It needs to end! I appreciate everyone in the fandom who has supported me in my endeavors, as ridiculous as they are. I can’t believe drawing and writing about a dumb bird man and cat lady and throwing my stupid OCs into the fray for my favorite childhood game has made me learn so much about myself, my work, and gained me so many great peers and friends. I definitely don’t want to stop any time soon! And I apologize profusely if I ever hurt anyone in some way because I lost sight of that (or was just a dick for whatever reason).

Thanks for your support, and I hope 2021 will bring me loads more positivity into my content!!

#sly cooper #vent #rant #text post

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watchtheworldargue · 4 years

Photo

egg magazine, april 1990. interview with Michael Hutchence

transcription below :)

Michael Hutchence on Lower Broadway

By Hal Rubenstein \ Photography by Steven Meisel

Globe-hopping is hell on a wardrobe and hard on the feet. Sometimes you have to get out of the limo to spend your money.

Michael Hutchence rarely comes to New York without luggage monogrammed INXS or Max Q, so one would think that on a visit without portfolio, the last thing he'd want to do is add on more baggage. But given a free day, a book of tickets, and our offer to go anywhere to do anything, Hutchence got into the limo with an agenda we could hardly call a new sensation. What kept us from sulking was that he hadn't left the devil outside.

Michael: You think we can load this car up with Yamamoto, Comme des Garcons, and Armani by 6?

Hal: Driver, step on it. Down to Grand and make a left.

[The car turns onto Union Square West.]

Isn't there a club on the corner here?

The Underground.

That's the one that keeps surviving regardless of how many people get shot there. How many are they up to?

No one's quite sure.

Where are we now? I don't recognise this.

This strip of lower Broadway didn't exist last time you were here. Now it's like a mall-less town's Main Street.

And Tower Records is City Hall. Not bad. It's wild to see this much activity because people around the world now talk about New York in terms of decay, how New York is such a rude place, and we keep telling them, No, New Yorkers are quite friendly, we like it there. New Yorkers are just very honest. They don't have time to bullshit. I like New York because people are linked to each other. L.A. Is fun, but segregated. Here there is a metro, and a different philosophy of getting around so there's rich upon poor upon rich. The only thing I don't remember is how many homeless are asleep on Park Avenue and everywhere else. Or is it my imagination?

No, it's real. How come you choose to live in Hong Kong instead of Australia?

For about three years, I thought it didn't matter where I lived. But I kept passing through it again. I grew up there, from when I was four until twelve. My dad still lives there. It has great energy, like New York. And it's ten hours closer to the world than Australia is. If you travel a lot, it adds up.

[We enter the Yohji Yamamoto store.]

So austere. Do they go wild if you hand back anything wrinkled? Those clothes over there are good acid-house colors. Has acid house caught on here?

Not like in England.

That's 'cause New York has bad radio. Are these dogs always here? They must sleep in the shoes. Ooh, look at these here. Not very me, but very Star Trek. $500 for a T-shirt. I see. I'll buy six. No, twelve. Now, here is something very stagy. Ultraflouncy. I like that, but the general consensus might kill my career.

Is what you wear onstage the same as you wear off?

I sort of smush them all together. My favorite piece of clothing is a leather jacket I had made for me that says “Hutch” in chain mail on the back.

Did Michael Schmidt make it for you?

Yeah – how'd you know? He's great. He sort of looks like a beautiful snake. He loves all the Hollywood stuff, but he's so sincere when he talks about it. Almost makes me like it. Is there somewhere funkier we can go, like Yankel's House of Pile? I saw that on the way down.

If you want old clothes, we should go to Cheap Jack's.

[We head back up to Broadway and 13th Street. Several young ladies on the corner stare at Hutchence as he enters Cheap Jack's.]

Do you enjoy recognition?

Depends on where I am.

Like when you're out on your own. Shopping, for instance.

Shopping, yeah, 'cause I get discounts. And there is a definite bonus to recognition when I'm onstage.

It makes the night go faster. But I'm not an institution yet. Sometimes I think about how hard it must be for someone like Bob Hope to go for a stroll. I don't really get hassled. I can stand in the middle of a street in London, or even New York, and usually nothing happens. I don't think I have that distinctive of a face. I got recognized in Tangier once, going by in a taxi, very fast … from a distance … in a fog … during monsoon season. Just kidding. It's odd how once you are conscious of being watched, you stop being so self-conscious because you realize there's nothing you can do about it. Of course, nobody in Hong Kong gives a shit who I am.

Aren't people there freaking about the city's eventual realignment with China?

Thousands are leaving a year, but they're the ones who can afford to leave, to give Australia half a million to let them in, though a lot more are going to Vancouver or New Zealand instead because they've heard, and it's fairly true, about Australia's racism.

It's actually more like unconscious racism. There's a naivete to it that you might call charming if it wasn't so sick. See, most foreigners don't realize – because we refuse to believe it ourselves – that Australia is southern Asia. Australia is linked to England in everyone's minds.

Yet most Australians don't have the faintest idea why the Japanese tried to invade us during the Second World War, and can't understand why they might not have wanted any foreigners on the biggest island in the Asian paradise. If we had lost, my home would be covered in rice paddies by now. Australia would have been Japan's Great Plains, their grain barrel.

I've never met one Australian who knows that. We have it so easy in Australia. It's very easy to live there. Tougher than it was before, but that's because five years ago it was ridiculous. I used to live in a three-story, five-bedroom house. It cost me $20 a week.

Did you make that much playing music?

Nah, but so what, we were all on the dole. Everyone went on it. That's one of the reasons you have so many bands in Australia. It's cheap to live and collect, so all the bands go on it. You wouldn't even have to go pick up your employment check; they'd mail it to you or transfer it to your account. Ready cash. I guess because there is such an anti-authoritarian vibe in Australia that people are quite happy to accept government checks. “Aw, screw 'em” - that's the attitude. Lots of people accept four and five checks or even have jobs. It's very lax. That's why we're stuck with the tall-poppy syndrome.

Translation?

Don't be successful, don't rise above your mates, or you'll get chopped. It's weird. It's the don't-leave-the-pub way of life. I think people in America are generally happy for someone's good fortune; they know how to let themselves go. In Australia, they go, “Good, mate,” and don't ask a single question. There are no celebrations for a job well done. I'm still shocked at how Americans cheer you on when they like you. I know you don't fancy it anymore, but I like phrases like “dress for success.”

And that's why you're shopping here?

I love hideous ties. Girls love 'em. Dunno why. Its like red socks. Are the playing Richard Hell? I haven't heard this song in 20 years. God, you must hear better music in clothing stores than you do anywhere else in New York. All these baseball jackets are so cheap. You know what they pay for these in Australia? I should buy the whole lot, take them back. I'd never have to tour again. I could get 150 to 200 bucks just for the ratty ones. I think this is the first clothing store I've been in that wasn't playing videos.

Are videos big in Australia?

We've actually been involved in music video a whole lot longer than in America. Because we are so far away, the only way we've had to understand all this music flying around the world is through video. Since the '50s, even when it was only 10 minutes a week, Aussie tv has been showing music videos.

And we don't censor the way you guys do. The “Way of the World” single is a very serious song, but MTV is quite shy of the video, you should note – I say this diplomatically. They censor here for all the wrong reasons. Like it's okay to stare at Cher's crotch for four minutes, but it's hard to say something truthful about the state of the world.

Could it be because with a group that's become as wildly successful as INXS has, it's inevitable that favorable reaction always turns?

I don't think INXS has reached that point yet. Give us four more years. We've only recently become hip in England. At the beginning, they hated our guts.

Why?

'Cause we are Australians writing pop music, why else? They don't make much in England, apart from nice jumpers and Jaguars, and one of the few things they can claim some turf on is pop music. So, they're not happy when someone else does it. It's a standard trait of island people; they're very territorial.

But you guys are island people too.

Yeah, but we got a bigger island. Now, if we can just get rid of some competition from the expatriate colonies.

Isn't it enough already with this rivalry between Australia and England? L.A. And New York have settled their feud.

England still treats Australia like we're descendants of convicts. Well, I guess we are, aren't we? We're trying to get rid of them, but unfortunately, they're coming back with money and buying up half the country. Don't you resent the Japanese buying Rockefeller Center?

I resent the Rockefellers more.

[Having tried on everything and bought nothing, Hutchence decides against old clothes. We head down to If boutique.]

Armand Basi. Nice stuff. That Claude Montana is fabulous, but God, this stuff is expensive. We don't know anyone here for a discount, do we? My father used to design clothes for a shop in Hong Kong called Dynasty. Glitzy evening wear for too much money. One year, when we did our first tour, we bough ta lot of Sprouse, real colorful stuff, and we spent a fortune, especially when you consider it's disposable fashion. All it had to do was last a month. All the buttons fell off, it shrunk, seams opened up. We would have been more upset, but it made us homesick for the mother country. Disposable fashion is very English. The nice thing about it when it comes from there, however, is that even though the stuff falls apart, it's cheap.

Ah, I like this. Very sexy, very smart. Basi, right? I found the best underwear. I think it's called Nikos. Someone gave it to me last night. Well, that's a plug. No names, please. These pants might go with the Basi shirt. [Like Navy pants, they have over a dozen buttons instead of a fly.] Not good clubwear. Certainly not quick enough to please me.

Your choice of underwear would have to be very discreet.

And always clean. Maybe these pants come with a catheter. Should I ask the shopgirl? [He raises his arm to call her and, wincing, puts it down.]

Just realized a colostomy bag wouldn't hurt?

No. I think I have a cracked rib, from too much fun the other night at Inflation, this super club in Melbourne. Melbourne has some of the best clubs in the world. Great people. Amazing clubs. Sydney has nothing. Boring as hell. Nice place if you're a surfer. Really pretty, like L.A. But very corrupt, Sydney. Everyone is always paying everyone off. That's why you can't afford to do a club there. It's like, in order to get a club license, all the other nightclub owners have to agree to your having a license. And four people control the voting on that. Melbourne now has a club called Razor that is so exciting. It used to an automobile club, especially popular during the '50s, where people used to talk about their cars, you know, with photos of Mini-Minors making hairpin turns around corners. Like a racing club, I guess, except for slower cars. Razor gets the best people.

[He picks up a pair of huge, get-lost-in-the-rain-forest-and-survive black shoes and delights.]

Many people have shoe fetishes. I guess it's around the world actually, not just with Imelda. I think people are probably just jealous of her because they secretly wanted so many pair. But these are big, like size big. Are Americans getting larger feet, or do they just want more room? I always notice shoes when I'm here.

There's almost like a $100 tax on shoes in Australia. Like a pair that will cost you $50 here will cost you almost $200 in Australia. A pair of Levi's cost $100. I never buy furniture in Australia, either, and I have an obsession with furniture the way Americans love shoes. It's a shame I don't have an obsession with homes, too, since I have no place to put all the furniture. I have it stored all over the world.

Let me get the Basi shirt, and then I want to buy records. I would get them later, but I just remembered I have a friend coming in tonight for only one night. He and his father are trying to get down to Nicaragua. They're helping Ortega keep the Contras back. Good luck. What's so weird about their going is that these guys are publishing magnates in England. Entrepreneurs. They should be serious Thatcherites, but they just hate Thatcher. Real lefties.

If everyone is so vocal of their dislike of her, how come she's so strong?

The British love her because they love to be miserable; they love to complain. Thatcher's become irrepressible. She's finally showing signs of faltering, except she's winning by default, because no one wants to put Kinnock in, either. It's like your Dan Quayle. What an alternative.

Are Australians political?

It's compulsory to vote, if you want to call that political. Frankly, nobody particularly gives a fuck. That doesn't mean Australians are not aware people. I think they know more about what's going on in the rest of the world than the average American, but that's because they have to compensate for being in the middle of nowhere. They're more concerned about international politics, about the environment. Every time the Americans come into Sydney harbor with their nuclear ships and submarines, there's always 5,000 people telling them to fuck off.

But the hell with domestic politics?

Do you know anything about our system? It's built on a bickering sort of war. The front page is always about politicos throwing shit at each other, spending more time insulting each other than governing.

Mind you, they are really very good at it. It's a fine Australian tradition of political insult. Listening to parliament is hilarious - “Shut up, you bastard!” - and that's our prime minister, Bob Hawke. He's in the Guinness Book of World Records for having drunk a yard of beer in record time. He is actually a brilliant leader, a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, and he has done a bloody good job, considering the apathy he's up against. What he should be real pleased about its restoring pride in being Australian, particularly after all that nonsense when the governor general dismissed Prime Minister Whitlam in 1975.

How was that possible without the consent of the Australian parliament?

We're still a colony. I think a lot of us were cynical after that. They felt like puppets. Probably had something to do with the CIA. The good old CIA. I'm in their files, I found out. That they should waste their time on me. I'm listed as subversive, for my lyrics to “Guns in the Sky” and because I once threw condoms out to the audience in Northern Australia.

How is that subversive?

The more north you get in Australia, the more it is like the South in America. The man who ran Queensland, one of the biggest states in Australia, was this guy, Joh Peterson, who was in power for over 20 years. Peterson was this sort of South African leftover who arrived in Australia, and he made things illegal, like sex education, abortion, condoms to minors – you couldn't have the vending machines in clubs. [You can now.] Well, I slandered him, and so I got taken to court, where he was thrown out of office from the corruption uncovered during the proceedings.

Did that make you a hero down there?

Say what, mate? This is Australia, remember. Our heroes are bushrangers, outlaws, and sporting stars. If you're an athlete, you can get away with anything.

[Hutchence purchases the Basi shirts, and then we head to Tower Records at the corner. A street person approaches us.]

is this the official mugging committee?

Street person: “Ooh, ooh, here they come in their limo, straight from Saks Fifth Avenue. Board of directors, how you doing, moneys, you big-time decision makers. Uh-oh, who's you? You must be a rock man. Stand aside for the rock man.”

They always pick on me.

“I want to give you something, man. Some humility. But there's only enough for one.”

I don't care for some, but humility is something we can spread around.

“Hey man, this is for seriously. You will love this humility. No side effects, no speed. Say yes, and I can be back in an hour.”

[We go through the revolving door and right to the rock section; within three minutes, Max Q is playing on the system.]

That's good, somebody knows it's out.

[Hutchence buys albums by Ciccone Youth, Camper Van Beethoven, Soul II Soul, Grace Jones, Shakespear's Sister, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Suicidal Tendencies. As he is paying for them, he spots a postcard stand that features a picture of him.]

Holy shit. When did they take this thing? What a bizarre likeness. I hardly know this guy. This is not an approved photo. [He gets the attention of a young lady behind the counter.] Excuse me, please, this is not an approved photo. It's a pirate. Do you know where you get these from?

Salesgirl: “No idea.”

Can you find out?

“Why, do you want to buy a lot of them?”

See, I told you no one recognizes me.

[We walk outside and the street person comes up to him again.]

Street person: “I know who you are.”

Who am I?

“You are someone who's gonna give me a lot of money.”

How much you want?

“Just give me one of those bills, thank you. Now I'm officially your biggest fan. Just tell me what you want to buy.”

I must be dressed for success.

#inxs #michael hutchence #egg magazine #salesgirl's answers are perfect lol why would she know that hutch #maybe these pants come with a catheter #what kinda pants......#long post #tagging that in case read more doesn't work on mobile idk #collection

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puckinghell · 4 years

Note

In secret kiss with Willy?

I had this ready to go up and I figured after the stream today it must be fate. It’s so fricking long sorry I could’ve wrote a whole three part fic for this I think

–

You’d known this was going to suck, but as you watch Will’s back disappear into the crowd, you start to wondering if you should’ve just called in sick.

There’s an ugly knot in the pit of your stomach, and you don’t like it being there. After all, you and Will are not a couple.

You couldn’t be, even if you wanted to.

When you were hired as the Leafs’ photographer, it felt like the best day of your life. Who doesn’t want to do the job they love, for their favorite sports team? You were born and raised a Leafs fan and if you could’ve picked any job in the world, you would be right where you are now, taking pictures of Auston Matthews’ horrible mustache.

Didn’t mean you weren’t fricking nervous when you walked into Kyle Dubas’ office to sign your contract.

But he seemed nice enough, made pleasant small talk with you and complimented your portfolio. It wasn’t until you shook his hand, ready to leave and planning to call your dad and scream into the phone for a solid half hour, that Kyle’s face went strangely serious.

“There will be a lot of contact with the players, as you’ll be traveling with them and join them at events, but I would recommend you keep it to a strictly professional level.”

The words had thrown you and all you’d been able to say was, “Oh?”

Kyle pulled a face. “Just, our last PR person… She didn’t, and unfortunately she’s no longer with us.”

You hadn’t known it at the time but Morgan told you the story later: apparently years ago the PR girl had a thing with a player and when they broke up, they could no longer work together and one of them had to go.

And you don’t fire your 2nd line center.

But even before that story, you had seen the look in Kyle’s eyes and thought: no way.

This was your dream job, and there’s nothing, and nobody, you would risk that for.

Enter William Nylander.

You didn’t even really notice it until it was way too late, until he was pressing you into the wall in a hotel hallway, his fingers digging into your hips, leaving hot kisses all down your neck, until he muttered a quiet: “My room’s right here.”

And by then, you were too far gone.

See, at first you thought Will was just being friendly, because he’s friendly to everyone, all the time. You’ve rarely seen him in a bad mood, even when things weren’t going so well for him; he’s never rude, never stuck up, and only when things are really bad, he goes a little quiet.

But then you started noticing that he was not only being overly friendly, he was also seeking your company literally all the time, and he would touch you without reason – just his hand on your lower back or your arm as he brushed by, or a half hug after games.

And, well, yadayada, from one thing came the next, and now you think you’re kinda dating except you’re not, because you can’t and will not lose this job, but you’re definitely sleeping together, which is probably also against Kyle’s rules, but you haven’t checked.

It’s working decently well for you; Will is an affectionate enough guy that his teammates don’t bat an eyelash when he half drapes himself over you and he’s spontaneous enough that they don’t even look up when he leaves halfway through dinner.

You’re enjoying yourself.

But.

These team galas are always fun because you get to go around and take pictures of the boys having a good time, and they’ll pull you in and rope you into any conversation, so you end up just chatting with them and taking sips of their champagne.

But the last time you did one of these, you weren’t sleeping with Will yet, so you didn’t care about the fact that there’s always different girls around whose main objective, you think, is to see how many times they can bat their eyelashes at a Leafs player.

Normally, you wouldn’t mind – you do you, girl, get it – except now…

Except now you’re gritting your teeth and staring at a beautiful girl hanging off Will’s arm, and you think if you squeeze your camera any harder the lens is gonna crack.

But you can’t very well do anything about it.

“You okay there?” Of course it’s Zach Hyman, an amused and all-too-knowing smile on his face as he approaches you.

If you would’ve put money on the first person to figure out what’s happening, it would’ve been Morgan or maybe Muzz, but it certainly wouldn’t have been Zach. Except it should’ve been, because Zach and Will seem to have this telepathic connection that means any time Will looks in your direction a bit too long, Zach seems to catch it.

He hasn’t said anything. So far.

“I’m fine,” you lie. “Don’t you have some sponsor to talk to?”

Zach only laughs, ignores your question. “That girl he’s talking to hooked up with Kappy last year and he knows it. He’s not interesting. But he can’t just ignore her with all the sponsors watching, that’d be rude.”

You absolutely do not appreciate the way your stomach lurches, at that information.

“You should go over there,” Zach continues. “He’s looking for someone to rescue him.”

You did notice Will look around in somewhat desperate fashion, but there’s not really a lot you can do about it.

Especially since you just saw Kyle somewhere in that general direction.

“I can’t,” you manage to bring out, and you have no idea what Zach knows but his face softens.

“How about,” he hums, taking your arm as he starts to guide you in Will’s direction, “you go take a picture of me and Will? Our suits match.”

Their suits are both some shade of grey, but that’s as close as they get; however you take Zach’s excuse for what it is and follow him towards Will.

When Will catches your eyes, his face lights up.

“Y/N!” he exclaims, cutting the girl off in the middle of a sentence. “Zachy! How nice to see you.”

“We did say we need a picture together.” Zach motions to you. “Found her.”

“Huh?” Will looks confused as he clearly tries to rack his brain for when that conversation happened and comes up with nothing, but then it seems to click. “Oh, I did say that, huh? Let’s do it. Sorry, Melanie, give me a minute.”

Zach puts his arm around Will’s shoulders and they pose. You take the picture and notice, to your annoyance, that the girl – Melanie – is still standing there, clearly waiting for Will to be done.

You desperately wish Kappy would appear; he’s always flirting with random blonde girls but when you need him to, he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Let me see it,” Will demands, hand grasping your elbow and tugging you closer to him. It’s a weird request, because for as much people seem to think Will is vain, he is one of the only ones that never requests to proof his photos.

Maybe he knows he always looks stupidly good.

You let yourself be tugged against him anyway, because, well, obviously, and try to still your shaking hands when he hooks his chin over your shoulder to look at the screen of the camera.

What you don’t expect is for him to put his lips near your ear and mumble: “Back door, 2 minutes.”

Before you can ask him what the hell he’s talking about he grins and exclaims loudly: “That’s a good picture! I actually wanted one with Kap, too, I’m gonna go find him.” And disappears into the crowd.

Zach sends you a knowing grin, then turns to Melanie.

“So, how’s your evening been?”

Although Melanie seems a bit downed by the ring on Zach’s finger, she still goes straight into the small talk and you manage to slip away, making a mental note to thank Zach later.

And buy him the best Christmas present ever this year.

You find the back door and slip out; it leads to an alley that’s both dark and empty, except for the blonde guy in a suit, leaning against the wall.

“Mitchy told me about this,” he grins. “Said him and Steph snuck off last year and nobody found them for hours until someone came out for a smoke.”

You don’t even manage to answer him before his hands find your hips and yank, having you stumble straight into his body, falling against his chest. His face is close enough that you can see the darkness in his eyes, and the tilt of his lips.

“Kyle doesn’t smoke,” Will whispers against your lips, and then he kisses you.

Despite being in a literal alley trying to sneak away from your employer, making out secretly beside a dumpster, Will kisses you slow and deep, until your toes are curling in your way too uncomfortable heels.

Your hands make their way to his waist and you feel the hard panes of his abs under his shirt, and then he shifts his thigh between yours and you feel something else hard, as well.

Finally he breaks the kiss. You feel a bit dazed as he goes to nip on the skin below your ear, voice low as he mumbles: “Not that I’m happy about this being a secret, but this sneaking off stuff is kinda hot, right?”

And you’re probably gonna need two bottles of wine and a four hour talk with your best friend to dissect what that means, that he’s not happy with this ‘being a secret’, but right now you kinda just want him to keep kissing you, so you decide to ignore what has the potential to be the root of a lot of pain and heartbreak along the line and instead press up on your toes so his lips slide to your shoulder.

“Impatient,” Will mumbles gruffly.

“Don’t like seeing you with other girls,” you admit. The words, although soft, sound loud in the empty alley and you wonder if they’re too much, too soon.

But Will simply breaks away and takes your chin between his fingers, forces them to look at you.

“I know,” he says, as if it means nothing at all. “But I need you to remember that even if I have to spend all night listening to them, I’m only going home with you.”

And you think as long as that is the case you can force yourself to get through this night.

As soon as you’re done with kissing Will.

(Which is not soon at all)

---

No more requests please! These will be tagged ‘blurb’ if you want to blacklist

#william nylander #toronto maple leafs #blurb #regular blurb

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feistypaants-archived · 4 years

Text

Between The Pipes [Chapter 33]

Rating: M Words: 2860 Pairing: Kristanna Summary: When a new owner takes over the Arendelle Ice Breakers, Kristoff isn’t sure about his future with the team. That is, until a PR nightmare throws the newest member of the media team, who also just so happens to be the daughter of the new owner, right into his arms. Kristoff and Anna can’t even stand the interviews they have to do together… how on earth are they going to fix this mess? Hockey!AU.

[Chapter Index]

Where To Read: [AO3]

Notes: 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Enjoy!

It was about ten days before Kristoff felt all of his symptoms had fully subsided. He had started going for jogs a couple of days ago, but anything more than that tended to bring the headache roaring back. So he continued to take it easy, go for a short jog in the morning, and only watch an hour of tapes per day. Anything longer than that hurt his head, too.

Anna had… not so slowly started moving her things in. She didn’t have much, but he told her to put her stuff wherever she wanted, that she could make this place as much hers as she wanted. And he genuinely meant it. His house had just been a house. He hadn’t put much thought into it beyond the comfort of his couch and bed. Decor was minimal, and everything was very much brown.

Maybe she could help him make it a home.

Her just being there already made it closer.

—

After four weeks, they broke her lease and she had officially moved in. They figured it would help her save some more in the long run, help her skate by for just a little longer, even if he told her over and over that she didn’t need to worry about money.

But Anna hadn’t wanted to start things out that way. She had some savings, and she could pay for things here and there, and she didn’t want him to feel like she was taking advantage. Kristoff assured her that he could never think that she was. But still, she insisted, and he told her that that was something he absolutely loved about her.

He had been able to start doing more normal exercises again. Working with the trainers was annoying, but there weren’t any headaches returning when he pushed himself like he used to. They told him if he could do this for a week without any symptoms popping up, he could get back on the ice.

—

That week went by like a breeze, and Kristoff relished in the feel of crisp ice under his skates. There was no feeling better than being on the ice. He sighed with defeat as they told him they wanted to wait another week before they started firing pucks at him, but he grudgingly agreed. At least he was skating.

And then, even better, he got to come home and see Anna, her hair wrapped into a bun on top of her head as she sat with her knee to her chest, drawing in an almost full sketchbook, her tongue caught between her teeth. “Hi baby,” he smiled, his heart warming as she looked up at him and used the back of her hand to push hair from her eyes. He kissed her softly as he walked past, enjoying the pure domesticity of it all. “Have a good day?”

“Oh yes! I went to that cafe downtown that we like - you know, Oaken’s Mochas and Teas?”

He always laughed at the name. So on the nose.

“And well, I noticed that they didn’t have any sort of logo or anything so… I don’t know. I just…” she blushed and spun around on the chair, dangling her legs off the side. “They know me and I figured what was the harm in asking - so I’m designing something for them now!”

His eyes widened and he took three steps forward to clear the gap between them, placing an enthusiastic kiss on her lips. “Anna, that’s so great.”

“They’re paying me, too!” She was giggling against his mouth, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Remember how the last place wouldn’t pay? I took it because, you know, portfolio, but I offered for free, but they insisted.”

“I’m so proud of you, baby.”

Then her arms were around his neck and not letting go and she hummed low and slow, “how about you? Good day? Worn out?”

Oh. He was never too worn out for that.

He hoisted her up onto his hips, grinning like a madman as they moved backwards to his bedroom. Well, their bedroom. She never did sleep in the spare room.

—

He was growing slightly frustrated at the week-by-week status, but he knew this was his second head injury, and they wanted to be more careful this time around. But only progressing to the next step after a whole week was growing agonizing. At least he was doing non-contact now, grinning from ear to ear as he slapped each puck out of midair.

God it felt so fucking good to be back like this.

Anna had come with him today to spend some time with Honeymaren while they practiced, and he could hear her whooping from the stands. Every time he made a save, “that’s my baby!” Every time someone scored on him, “you’ll get it next time honey!”

It was the most endearing thing ever, as she jumped up and waved her hands in the air, as if it were an actual game. As if it weren’t just her in the stands, cheering him on during a practice.

God he loved her so much.

—

Finally they were letting him practice back in a regular jersey. No more no-contact. He was fortunate that goalies rarely got touched anyway, but now they guys weren’t holding back anymore. Slapshots and more risky wraparounds and pucks fired in a way that made him dive were becoming the norm again, and he felt so damn good with every puck he saved.

Shot by shot, the rust was shaking off, and Kristoff felt ready to get back in a game. It was almost April, and he needed to be playoff ready. They had promised him he’d be back in by March 20th, which gave him a little under three weeks of in-game play before the playoffs started. They were so close to a playoff spot, and he knew that he could help them win it.

But he wouldn’t rush, and he was going to trust the physicians on staff, and take it slow.

If for no other reason than Anna.

He knew she was worried about him getting back in. But they weren’t playing the Stallions yet - they had at least until the Eastern Conference, and by then he would undoubtedly be a one hundred percent. Plus, the guys had his back, and, he couldn’t help but laugh about it, Warren had been scratched for the rest of the season. Coach’s decision.

—

Right on the promised date, Kristoff was starting in net against Tampa, and the literal electricity in the arena had him amped up beyond belief. Their whole team was working together like a well oiled machine, and he hadn’t realized what a vital cog he was to the whole operation until he had been gone. Even if it had just been in practice, he already felt the connection, and he knew this game would be easily won.

Anna had threatened him with an indefinite withhold if he didn’t let her come on the roadie, so she was up in their box, undoubtedly screaming along to every play, and just knowing she was in the arena made his game that much better.

They won, 5-2, and dog-piled in the middle of the arena as they clinched their playoff spot.

Fuck. This was still the best feeling in the world.

—

The rest of the season went by in a flash, and before they knew it, the Ice Breakers were facing New York in round one. It felt so easy now as they swept the round, and had extra days for recovery.

The Stallions lost against Boston.

It had been a weird moment, celebrating someone else’s loss, but Anna had come home with two bottles of champagne and they popped bottles and got a little drunk and Anna had taken him to bed and all right, he might be okay with celebrating another’s loss if it meant he got this. Plus, it was the team that almost took him out for the end of the season.

Yeah, he was okay with celebrating.

Philadelphia was a harder won match. They liked to play dirty. It went to game seven before they finally secured the win, and they all felt the tiring ache of it. Kristoff hated going to game seven - it meant they only had two days to recuperate before the next match started.

But Anna had drawn him a hot bath, had snuck in to lay on his chest while he relaxed, and scratched her fingers against his chin as she waxed poetic about playoff beards and how maybe he should just keep it and then her hands sunk a little lower, and he was suddenly feeling a lot more prepared for the Conference finals.

He genuinely thought they might lose to Toronto. They lost the first two. Won the third. Lost the fourth, and if they didn’t win all three of the remaining games, they were out.

It was close. God it was so fucking close.

Game seven. They were 3-3. Sudden death overtime. It looked like it might head into double overtime, with only eighteen seconds on the clock, but then --

Pederson scores! Ice Breakers win!!!!

Thank fuck.

—

Anna was there for every game. Every win, every loss, she was there. And he knew he wasn’t being a good boyfriend right now, he knew that he was too focused on his career right now and this was what he had been so fucking concerned about from the beginning.

But after game two against Nashville, which they lost miserably, Kristoff was sulking on the couch watching tapes to figure out where they kept scoring on him, and Anna wrapped soft arms around his neck.

“Hey,” she hummed, not even reacting to his short, irritated reply. “I just want you to know… How proud I am of you.”

That got his attention.

“You had a really traumatic thing happen, and you bounced right back from it, and you’ve been playing so hard, and so well, and… There’s no fear, and that’s amazing.” He let one hand raise to her arm, stroking his thumb across her skin.

“I love you so much,” he muttered, tilting his head back to look up at her. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a bad boyfriend.”

“I know,” she smiled, placing one quick kiss against his lips. “And you haven’t. I can deal with your job being most important for two months of the year.”

“You love me still?”

“More every day.”

He felt more confident in game three. And four. And then they were up three to one, and only needed one more fucking win to win the whole damn thing.

—

They were in Nashville and Anna was lamenting the fact that they didn’t have the time to actually see the city this week, and Kristoff pulled her close and told her if they won tonight they could stay here as long as she wanted and see everything she could possibly think of. She blushed and kissed him and told him that he better bring his A game, because she was holding him to it and would be horribly disappointed if they had to fly back home tonight.

That was an extra motivation.

They arrived at the arena early, amazed at the crowd already forming and the insane energy just surrounding the building. Playoff hockey was a whole other world, and he was so ecstatic that Anna was getting to experience it by his side. He kissed her deeply before she had to head up to the box and him to the locker room, with a quick squeeze of her bottom and a laugh.

“Hey!”

“It’s for luck!!”

Anna swatted at him but grinned as she followed Jelissa up the stairs to the visiting team’s box, laughing with the blonde about their stupid men and how on earth do we put up with them and Kristoff tuned out the rest before he heard something he didn’t want to. Then he turned his focus to the game.

“Men!” Sven hollered, his voice booming through the locker room. “This game is do or die. We’re ahead, but you better not let that cockiness mess with your game.”

Kristoff couldn’t help but smile. His best friend had perfectly honed his skill of making a speech lighthearted but also motivating. The team followed him into fire, and Kristoff had always admired him for it. When Sven wrapped it up and hopped down from his perch, Kristoff held out a hand, gripped his best friends’ and knocked their helmets together.

“Captain.”

“We win together or we die together, brother.”

Kristoff almost laughed at the drama of it all. “Calm down, Aragorn.”

Sven was silent for a moment. “When the fuck did you watch Lord of the Rings?”

“... Concussion recovery was rough.” He dropped Sven’s hand and smirked. “But it was actually pretty good.”

“Haven’t I been telling you for years that you would like it?” He smacked Kristoff upside the head and grinned. “Never listen to me, but the second you get a girlfriend…”

They heard the announcements starting, and moved out towards the runway. As always, they were last onto the ice, and as always, they fist bumped before they stepped out. He was as ready as he’d ever be. The timer counted down, they got into position.

Three.

Two.

One.

The puck hit the ice.

Period one had a rough start. 2-0 Nashville. But he was recalibrating, remembering what it was he kept missing. They got him on his glove side. They knew he was a little weaker, a little more hesitant with it after the injury.

But he could fix it.

Period two, nothing got by him, and the guys scored three times. 2-3 Ice Breakers. Thank god.

Period three, and the pressure is on. Nashville doesn’t want to lose, and the Ice Breakers don’t want to drag it out. They’ve played three long matches already.

Nashville scores.

Ice Breakers score.

3-4.

4-4.

5-4.

5-5.

And then.

Carruthers, the kid they just brought up from the minors to fill in a gap from another injury, fucking scores with three seconds on the clock. His third game. His first NHL goal.

The fucking Stanley Cup game winning goal.

The whole team runs to center ice. The whole team dog piles on top of the kid, still silent and slack-jawed with shock, still not believing what just happened.

“Fuck yeah!”

“God damn it Ruthy!”

“How the fuck, kid!”

The incoherent screaming from the team didn’t drown out the booing from the crowd, but nothing would bring them down right now. Nothing could.

After their celebration, both teams basically let the three seconds run. Nashville knew nothing could be done, and the Ice Breakers weren’t about to let anything past them anyway. The buzzer rang and they all cheered again, whooping and hollering as they received the cup, went through the motions in the arena that wasn’t welcoming them. Then they ran down the runway, back to the locker room to find their family and friends waiting with enough champagne for every person in that room to have their own bottle.

Captain Sven Pederson had the pleasure of carrying the cup back with him.

Music was blasting, everyone was screaming, champagne was already flying through the air and as the team started stripping some of their bulkier gear off, Mattias took to the stage.

“I’ve never been more fucking proud of you boys. You rallied together and in just a few years, we’ve already risen so far beyond what people expected of this new little team in the middle of nowhere. I’m not going to make some big long speech,” Kristoff could see the tears in his eyes as he sniffled, and he let out a booming laugh as he looked around the room. “But you’ve all just… you’ve made me feel like a proud father.” He waved his hands in front of his face and shrugged. “But fuck my speech, let’s celebrate!”

And celebrate they did.

Bottles popped, beers were distributed, everyone drank way more than they should as Sven emptied at least 8 bottles of champagne directly into the cup and lifted it to pour into every players’ mouth. The man of the hour, Scotty Carruthers, was herded to the middle of the pack and drenched in champagne and beer before he had even fully finished processing what was happening.

After far too long, Kristoff found Anna, and she leapt immediately into his arms, placing sloppy peppered kisses all over his face. “I’m” kiss “so” kiss “fucking” kiss kiss “proud of you.” And then a hearty one on the mouth, as her hands pressed firm to either side of his jaw.

Kristoff smiled with his fingers spread wide over her back as she threw her arms in the air to add more beer to the rain in the room. She laughed brightly, lowered her hands back to his shoulders, and gave him the best smile he had ever seen. “I love you so much.”

And then he thought that somehow that was worth more than the fucking Stanley Cup.

#btpfic #feistypantswrites #only an epilogue left ;u;

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Riding High Ch 19: Unfair Comparison

Part 1

Chapter Summary: Fliss is not a happy bunny when she realises Frank hasn’t dumped the card, and then there’s some other stuff…and yeah I suck at summaries.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, NO UNDER 18s!)

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Another long update so split it into two Parts! Part 2 to be uploaded straight away following this one. Also, I might be completely off in the technicalities of Parole breaches here but bear with me…

Chapter Song: Titanium by David Guetta/Sia

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones…

“I’m worried Greg.” Frank shook his head “Yes, it’s just a card but it proves he knows where she is…” “Not hard, her business has a website.” “Yes, I know that…” Frank started but Greg cut him off. “Frank, he can’t come out of Massachusetts.” Greg looked at Frank “He cannot physically set foot outside of that state without his GPS tag tipping the police off.”

Frank bit the inside of his cheek, his jaw twitching.

“Look, buddy, I get it.” Greg said, his tone soft “I really do…it’s shit. But for now the best thing for you to do is listen to Fliss.”

“This is bullshit.”

“So basically, we just have to wait until he sends her more crap and then we might, or might not be able to do anything?” “I’m sorry pal.” Greg shrugged.

“It’s not your fault.” Frank sighed, shrugging. “Sorry I snapped. I appreciate the advice.”

“I wish I could be a little more positive.”

He was just heading back to his truck when Fliss called him.

“How are my girls?” he asked and she chuckled slightly.

“Good, we’re done now so be heading home soon. What do you fancy for dinner? Anything in particular?” “I’ll swing by the store, pick up a few steaks and we can grill.” Frank said, climbing into the truck “And a bottle of Rioja?” “Perfect.” she said. “Did you get rid of that card?” Frank hesitated for a second. “I took care of it.”

“Frank?” her voice had grew a little sterner. “What does that mean? What did you do?” “I took it to Greg.” he said, not wanting to lie to her and he grimaced as she made an angry noise on the other side of the phone.

“Damnit Frank, I asked you to get rid of it…” “I just wanted some advice.” he said, “Thought I’d see what Greg made of it and-“

“You had no right to do that…” she said, her voice angry “That wasn’t your decision to make…” “Lissy…” he sighed “Look, let’s not do this on the phone. We can discuss it at home ok?”

And then the familiar pips hit his ear, signalling she’d hung up.

With a groan he banged his forehead against the steering wheel in frustration. He wasn’t looking forward one bit to that conversation.

Fliss and Mary were both in the kitchen, Mary sat on the counter with a juice box, Fliss clutching a beer.

“Hey…” he said, a little tentatively. Fliss gave him a tight smile and turned her head so that his kiss landed on her cheek.

Yeah, he was in for it. Big time.

“You had a good day?” he asked, placing the bag on the side and looked at Mary.

She nodded eagerly “I cantered today, off the lead line,” “Did you?” He smiled at her “Nice work Stack.” “Fliss got a video…” Mary said, “Can we show Frank?” “Sure.” Fliss smiled at her, and pulled out her phone. She swiped at the screen and passed it to Mary who took it, and Frank moved so he could watch the footage over her shoulder.

“Why don’t you go get showered?” Frank looked at Mary “I need to speak to Fliss for a moment ok?”

“Nothing different to what you said.” Frank looked at her.

“With good reason…” “You know, I thought I might be at a point in my life where I get to make the decisions about things that directly affect or concern me but clearly, I was wrong…” “Woah, woah, woah, now hang on…” Frank said, pushing away from the unit he was leaning against, holding his hand up “Are you seriously comparing what I did to him….” “No, of course not.” she snapped. “Well that kinda sounds like what you were doing…” his hands fell to his hips.

“Oh don’t be a dick, Frank.” she glared at him. “That’s not what I meant.” “Well what did you mean?”

“Overreacting?” “Yes…” he said, stepping towards her “Liss, I didn’t do it to take control…nothing of the sort…” “How would you feel if you told me not to do something with Mary, something that meant a lot to you, and I still went and did it anyway?” “That’s…” he shook his head “That’s completely different.” “No, it isn’t!” she yelled back “It would be a complete disregard for your wishes, it’s exactly the same…” Frank looked at her, his eyes locking onto hers as she simply snorted and shook her head “You don’t even see what you did wrong do you?” “No, and I’m not apologising either.” he shook his head

“Of course you’re not.” she snorted “This is getting us nowhere.”

With that she turned and called for Thor.

“Where are you going?” he frowned, following her into the hall as she slipped on her sneakers.

“Out.”

“Where?” he asked, when she didn’t reply he pressed again “Lissy.” “Piss off Frank.” she shot back, and with that she stormed out of the front door, slamming it behind her.

Frank stood still, his hands on his hips before he dropped his head with a sigh.

“Nice job…” he heard Mary say from behind him.

“Shut up.” he snapped, a little harshly as he turned to face her. She glared at him and then rolled her eyes.

“I’m going back to my room.” she said simply, stalking off down the corridor, laptop under her arm.

Frank watched her go before he shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Way to go Adler, you fucking idiot.

“Hey Pops.” she greeted him. “You ok?” “Yeah fine Titch.” he said, “Just noticed I had a missed call…” “Oh, yeah…” she said, for a moment she had forgotten she had called. She had been planning to tell him about the card but as she stood there, she wasn’t sure she wanted to anymore “It wasn’t important..” “Charming…” she heard her mother and Fliss let out a chuckle.

“You got me on speaker?”

“Bluetooth.” Bill replied “We’ve been to the store.” “Stocking up for tomorrow.” Verity said “Can’t have a roast dinner with no potatoes…Mary would have a fit.”

“Yeah…yeah she will.” Fliss said with a sigh.

“So, this morning…I had a card arrive at the yard…and it was from John…” Bill made an angry noise as Verity let out an exclamation.

“So I’m guessing you discussed your disappointment with him in a calm and collected manner…” Bill said sarcastically.

“If by calm you mean calling him a dick and storming out then yeah.” Fliss replied.

Verity picked up the conversation at that point.

******

Frank stood up and turned to see Fliss in the doorway. Her eyes locked onto his and he gave her a small smile.

“I was getting kinda worried.” Frank said softly “Wasn’t sure you were coming home.”

Fliss was led on the bed, remote to the TV held in her hand as she glanced up at him for a second, her eyes flicking back to the screen on the wall.

“You still mad at me?” he asked tentatively as he pulled off his t-shirt. She looked at him for a second and sighed.

She could argue with him because she felt safe…

“I love you.” he said softly “So much. I only went to Greg because I was worried. I’d do anything to keep you and Mary safe, you know that.”

“What?” she asked.

“I like it when you do that too…” he chuckled and she smiled against his mouth. They continued trading soft, tender kisses before Frank slowly moved so that Fliss was led under him, caging her with his arms as she gently ran her hands through his hair, pulling his head back down to kiss her again. His lips gently trailed along her jaw line to that spot on her neck just below her ear where he gave a soft nip causing Fliss to let out a soft moan. Her hips bucked upwards slightly, drawing a soft growl from Frank’s throat at the feeling as she pushed against him, all the time his mouth continuing its path downwards, tracing the line of her throat as his hands reached down and gently tugged at the hem of her vest top. She sat up slightly allowing him to remove it and he fell back over her, his lips latching back onto her neck, drawing another soft groan from Fliss at the feeling of his beard scratching against her skin and the contrast of his soft lips. His tongue circled the swell of her breast before he gently took a nipple into his mouth, listening to keens as he teased her, his other hand sliding down over the curve of her hip, fingers brushing the hem of her sleep shorts before he slid his hand beneath the material, parting her folds as he began to tease her with his fingers, coaxing more and more wetness from her as he went. He glanced up to see her head was thrown back against her pillow, eyes shut in utter bliss as she bit her lip.

“Look at me…” he said softly, moving so that his face was hovering over hers again, fingers still working. She opened those deep brown eyes he felt he could drown in and her pupils were blown with desire. His fingers picked up their pace and he slid one, then two inside her, curling against her spot over and over again.

Then it was a fast scramble to get both of them out of the last remaining, thin barriers of clothing before Frank nestled into the v of her legs, mouth nipping at her collar bone.

“Want you…” she purred into his ear and fuck, did he want her too. Her hand reached down between them, and she gently lined him up, pressing her lips to his.

“Don’t keep me waiting Sailor…” she said softly.

And Frank, not one to refuse his girl what she wanted did as she asked, working into her with a steady, gently movement which made him shudder, dropping to his elbows over her as she gave a soft moan. Her hands gently gripped at his broad shoulders as he began to move, his thrusts slow and gentle at first, hips rocking against hers. Their mouths crashed together in a sloppy kiss as she raked her nails down his back, the sting on his skin caused desire to lance through him even more and he gave a groan, picking up the pace slightly, her body moving with his from each steady thrust, skin sliding against skin, the soft sounds of sex and groans and whimpers filled the air and half the time Frank was at a loss as to who exactly was making them.

“Come on baby…” he said, his breath ragged on her ear as he gently sucked at that spot again, feeling her writhing underneath him. “I got you, let go…”

“Ok?”

PART 2

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

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tangerinegod · 4 years

Note

Hello! I am sorry to bother you but I am a senior getting ready for college this year. I am in the US and I wanted to major in the same thing you did, do you have any possible tips for me? I still haven't even looked for colleges that would be best for animation majors so I figured if you were up to giving out any tips/saying any basic ideas if you wanted to/if you had the time to then maybe I'll have a better idea! I apologise for if I sound weird! I'm tried to word it correctly but I can't 😿

hi!! i’m totally down to share my experiences! someone else also had some questions so i’m going to put them all together in this post haha, hopefully this helps! it’ll get pretty long so apologies ahead of time but art school is a lot to think about so i wanna be as helpful as i can around it, its a lot of time and money. I’m gonna put it all under a read more cus it is really really long!

i wanna start off with the fact that I had the privilege of attending school in a financially stable environment, my parents were/are really supportive so w merit scholarship i only came out with around 20-30k in debt and i also had housing support my entire time in school. they were ok with me focusing on academics so i didn’t hold a retail job unless i was out of school like summer/winter break. Ofc though i regularly take commissions/do merch/cons to try and pay for all bills that arent rent cus i did want to be financially independent where it was possible. I also did try and work during the semester but everytime i did my body would deff start to breakdown from the fact that i didnt wanna compromise schoolwork with jobs.. so just read ahead know this experience is from a student who was able to attend focusing only on school work for most of the time!

the biggest thing is knowing art school is not required to become a professional in either freelancing or industry! there are a huuuge amount of online tools and classes these days that provide the exact same education and for cheaper too. i think it depends on what experience you prefer/can handle/want but it’s definitely possible to make art/animation art your living without higher education. the thing that college will for sure give you though is the ability to meet deadlines, work even when you dont want to, and connections with peers+teachers. i think the connections part is invaluable because you’re basically coming out with a network of people you already know and who know you!

also its good to know if you want to attend/can handle art school! it’s a lot of time and energy and students get burned out really fast. the best piece of advice i got before going was ‘if you draw every single day, even if its for only like 5-10 minutes or a doodle for a whole year you should be fine’ consistency is super key because you’re attending school to draw, and you’ll have to create work for stuff you aren’t excited for at some point or another. burnout is extremely real and the only reason i didn’t experience it was probably because i got super into drawing naruto fanart again inbetween sophomore and junior year! it helped give me something to draw seperated from school which is the only thing i was drawing for since i had entered rip. a heads up id also consider myself a workaholic so i fit in ok with the ‘art school’ environment but it is suuper unhealthy. if you are fantastic at managing your schedule then it’s definitely possible to take care of yourself! freshman year i got 8 hours a sleep a night and only pulled all nighters for some second semester finals at the end. sophomore year + up though i ended up prioritizing hw over sleep and like for sure, definitely shortened my life span. there’s another q down below where i’ll go more into detail but ya, be careful w ur work balance!

another tip especially for animation is knowing for a fact what type of animation you’re looking to go into, and what the school is offering. I didn’t think i’d get into art school at the time so i only applied to two places + decided if i didnt get into either id attend community to get credits out of the way while building portfolio. honestly? i did not do a lot of research LOL but like i did end up having the chance to tour and stuff! just know that each school will have a very different curriculum. The main differences are schools that prioritize 3D (cg animation, cg modeling, ect) and 2D/traditional (hand drawn, ‘oldschool’, digital or traditional based) this is a huge difference so make sure you do research for it! in most cases a 2D/traditional program will also offer 3D since it’s at the forefront of the industry animation wise rn. My school taught 2D but like hand drawn on physical paper 2D, frame by frame. while it was a good experience it’s super outdated because digital tools make it way faster + easier! i’d recommend looking for a program that is digital 2D over traditional 2D.

if after your senior year covid is still affecting campuses in the US to keep them shut down i’d recommend attending a community college to get credits and then transferring into school. one of the negatives is paying money for gened classes when ur not there for them; if you can get them out of the way sooner and cheaper there is absolutely no negative + you could graduate earlier or use the extra time for better work or to work a job!

these are all the general tips i think i’d give on like a broad basis of attending or not to think about? let me know if u have more q’s! someone asked q’s im answering below that go more into personal experiences + work culture so heres those:

- how many hours a week do u spend studying, in class, otherwise making art? like how much of ur life does it consume?

I was basically working on art.... 24/7! since i wasnt working a job at the same time i crammed as many credits as possible into my schedule so on avg i did 18 credit semesters (around 6 classes) art classes go for 6 hours and non art go for 3, so i’d spent around 30-35 hours in class a week! hw wise it varied on the class but combined it would be around 35-50 hours a week... im guessing? on average studio classes would have 8-10 hours of hw, maybe 5 for a light week, and gened classes 5 hours w them all combined. or this was probably how things were before junior year? junior+senior year i had thesis + everything else ontop.. i’d spend around 30-40 hours on thesis a week with other classes ontop of that bc my film was super long cus im a dummy!

- is it hard going to art school n realising that altho u were probably quite talented… so is everyone else? Like. all of a sudden. ur not special and everyone seems as good as u, you know? More generally, how do u deal with comparison?

kinda?? i think instead of the idea of like you vs others it feels more of like a competition at first to be the best. this varies hugely on school culture though; my animation year was really friendly with each other and get along extremely well, so my answer to this is v different than some others who attended different schools. i think that the idea of ‘comparison’ only lasts a portion of the first year because at some point you realize that it’s not a who’s better as much as its a ‘these are my coworkers’ type thing? like healthy competition 100% because we’re all working to improve but i think most of us learned pretty early on that viewing each other as peers going into the same workforce helped a lot. also at some point everyone develops their own style/starts to develop their artistic preferences so there isn’t a way to compare whos 'better’ anymore? i dont think there ever is tbh because style is appealing based off of an individuals preferences. If anything realizing everyone else is also amazing makes you wanna work harder ig? or thats how i felt! it’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many people who create such amazing work.

- is there a lot of workaholic culture? all nighter culture?

100000% there can be a workaholic and all nighter culture. i know people who avoided it and thats honestly fantastic because i fall super easily into that pit. sometimes i’ll pull all nighters on a personal project just because i really want to finish it... i am definitely considered a workaholic all the way through and its not healthy rip... i’d estimate at the worst i was pulling 2-3 all nighters a week and only 4-5 hours of sleep on the nights i didn’t? that was only for one year tho, after that i was like yeah ok this is really bad for my health in the long run LOL so i tried to cut it down to one all nighter a week and around 5-6 hours of sleep the rest of the week! by senior year my decision to cram in full semesters paid off and i was able to consistently get around 7 hours of sleep a night + no all nighters minus finals since my schedule was lighter despite thesis 😭 while there is that culture i don’t think people view it as like a badge of honor or something to be proud of anymore which is good, we mostly view it as a flaw of the art school system and something that needs to be fixed!!

- are you glad u did it? how did u know it was what u wanted?

i am glad i did it! i’m definitely in a limbo right now of if it was worth both my time, money, and my parents money rip but i think with what i got out of it i definitely wouldn’t be as far skill wise or knowledge wise when it comes to the art industry. i would say it was only worth it for be because i had so much support going in though so i was able to focus so much on improving. if i had only been able to put in part of the effort and not make full use of the resources provided i would honestly have a different answer..

i knew it was what i wanted when i realized i really couldn’t see myself pursuing a different profession happily! despite all the bumps and stuff im fully in love with drawing still and feel honored that it’s a field that can provide a living. my second profession choice was to go into culinary school? and third option i think going was into music cus i was also a band kid hehe.

- how do u cope with ur hobby becoming ur job? how do u deal with art going from something u do for fun to something u do on command constantly?

i think seperating work art from personal art is important! in my case im doubling naruto into being personal work so i have something to fall back onto that isn’t work related. its been a hyperfixation for 12+ years? so drawing it at this point is just like personal art imo. some people have hobbies outside of art and only draw for their job! i think after attending classes for so long the idea of hobby turning into job feels extremely natural? also i enjoy doing it so thats a huge plus!

sorry this is SO long but i hope i answered your guys’ questions! if you have more just lmk!

#anon #ask #long post #im so so sorry this is like long as shit #ill literally tell you guys everything though art school should not feel like a mystery esp if ur planning to go into it!#Anonymous

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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

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THE ANATOMY OF VC BE A STARTUP

If in the next couple years. Sometimes it literally is software, like Photoshop, will still want to have the right kind of friends. Where the work of PR firms.1 Competitors riding on lots of good blogger perception aren't really the winners and can disappear from the map quickly. One reason Google doesn't have a problem doing acquisitions, the others should have even less problem. Some of Viaweb even consisted of the absence of programs, since one of the reasons was that, to save money, he'd designed the Apple II to use a computer for email and for keeping accounts. They want to know what is a momentous one. How do you find them? Suppose it's 1998. The big media companies shouldn't worry that people will post their copyrighted material on YouTube. Once someone is good at it, but regardless it's certainly constraining.

Gone with the Wind plus Roots. This is extremely risky, and takes months even if you succeed.2 At most software companies, especially at first. Their answers were remarkably similar. I use constantly?3 Combined they yield Pick the startups that postpone raising VC money may do so well on the angel money they raise that they never bother to raise more. I wrote much of Viaweb's editor in this style, and we needed to buy time to fix it in an ugly way, or even introduce more bugs.4

Historically investors thought it was important for a founder to be an online store builder, but we may change our minds if it looks promising, turn into a company at a pre-money valuation is $1.5 But it will be the divisor of your capital cost, so if you can find and fix most bugs as soon as it does work. Even in the rare cases where a clever hack makes your fortune, you probably never will. You may not believe it, but regardless it's certainly constraining.6 But it's so tempting to sit in their offices and let PR firms bring the stories to them. Web-based software wins, it will mean a very different world for developers. I think we're just beginning to see its democratizing effects. But this is old news to Lisp programmers. If 98% of the time.7 It might help if they were a race apart.8

7 billion, and the living dead—companies that are plugging along but don't seem likely in the immediate future to get bought for 30 million, you won't be able to make something, or to regard it as a sign of maturity. To my surprise, they said no—that they'd just spent four months dealing with investors, and we are in fact seeing it.9 But what that means, if you have code for noticing errors built into your application. The number of possible connections between developers grows exponentially with the size of the group. We think of the overall cost of owning it. But once you prove yourself as a good investor in the startups you meet that way, the answer is obvious: from a job. Your housemate was hungry. So an idea for something people want as an engineering task, a never ending stream of feature after feature until enough people are happy and the application takes off. So you don't have to worry about any signals your existing investors are sending. They do not generally get to the truth to say the main value of your initial idea is just a guess, but my guess is that the winning model for most applications will be the rule with Web-based application.

It's practically a mantra at YC. You probably need about the amount you invest, this can vary a lot.10 If you lose a deal to None, all VCs lose.11 Plenty of famous founders have had some failures along the way. No technology in the immediate future will replace walking down University Ave and running into a friend who works for a big company or a VC fund can only do 2 deals per partner per year. For insiders work turns into a duty, laden with responsibilities and expectations.12 In addition to catching bugs, they were moving to a cheaper apartment.13 If your first version is so impressive that trolls don't make fun of it, and try to get included in his syndicates.14 VCs did this to them.15

Most people, most of the surprises. So the previously sharp line between angels and VCs. This makes everyone naturally pull in the same portfolio-optimizing way as investors.16 And there is a big motivator.17 These things don't get discovered that often. Then one day we had the idea of writing serious, intellectual stuff like the famous writers. You need investors. The mud flat morphs into a well. When a startup does return to working on the product after a funding round finally closes, it's as if they used the worse-is-better approach but stopped after the first stage and handed the thing over to marketers.

Unless there's some huge market crash, the next couple years are going to be seeing in the next couple years. And yet when I got back I didn't discard so much as a box of it. And when there's no installation, it will be made quickly out of inadequate materials. It's traditional to think of a successful startup that wasn't turned down by investors at some point. But that doesn't mean it's wrong to sell.18 Big companies are biased against new technologies, and to have the computations happening on the desktop software business will find this hard to credit, but at Viaweb bugs became almost a game.19 Plans are just another word for ideas on the shelf.

I wouldn't try it myself. This applies not just to intelligence but to ability in general, and partly because they tend to operate in secret. Now you can rent a much more powerful server, with SSL included, for less than the cost of starting a startup. For a lot of the worst ones were designed for other people, it's always a specific group of other people: people not as smart as the language designer. We're not hearing about Perl and Python because people are using them to write Windows apps. But if you look into the hearts of hackers, you'll see that they really love it.20 I am always looking.21 But you know perfectly well how bogus most of these are. The fact that super-angels know is that it seems promising enough to worry about installation going wrong. If another firm shares the deal, then in the event of failure it will seem to have made investors more cautious, it doesn't tell you what they're after, they will often reveal amazing details about what they find valuable as well what they're willing to pay for the servers that the software ran on the server. Why can't defenders score goals too? If coming up with ideas for startups?

Notes

But if they pay a lot of people who need the money.

A Bayesian Approach to Filtering Junk E-Mail.

Unless you're very docile compared to sheep. Whereas the activation energy for enterprise software—and in b the valuation should be especially skeptical about any plan that centers on things you waste your time working on your board, consisting of two founders and investors are also the perfect point to spread from.

Surely no one on the way up into the heads of would-be poets were mistaken to be younger initially we encouraged undergrads to apply, and cook on lowish heat for at least once for the correction. I know it didn't to undergraduates on the y, you'd see a clear upward trend.

The hardest kind of method acting. Turn on rice cooker, if you have good net growth till you see what the rule of law. But there are no discrimination laws about starting businesses. In fact, this seems empirically false.

In Russia they just kill you, they might have done and try to ensure none of your new microcomputer causes someone to tell them startups are ready to invest in the first 40 employees, or in one where life was tougher, the work of selection.

The best kind of kludge you need to, but except for money. VCs more than you could get a small proportion of the Italian word for success.

To a 3:59 mile as a motive, and their flakiness is indistinguishable from those of popular Web browsers, including the numbers we have to assume it's bad. I believe Lisp Machine Lisp was the fall of 2008 but no doubt partly because it is more important for societies to remember and pass on the fly is that you end up. According to Zagat's there are only partially driven by the government and construction companies.

One great advantage of startups have elements of both. Not least because they're determined to fight. The quality of investor behavior.

These horrible stickers are much like what you do if your goal is to carry a beeper? Acquisitions fall into in the angel is being unfair to him?

Which OS?

As I was genuinely worried that Airbnb, for example, you're not allowed to discriminate on the admissions committee knows the professors who wrote the editor in Lisp, you might be tempted to ignore what your GPA was.

Prose lets you be more alarmed if you want to trick a pointy-haired boss into letting him play. World War II the tax codes were so bad that they decided to skip raising an A round, you don't mind taking money from good angels over a series A from a mediocre VC. The dictator in the US. Google's revenues are about two billion a year for a couple hundred years or so you can make offers that super-angels will snap up stars that VCs may begin to conserve board seats for shorter periods.

It's not simply a function of the movie Dawn of the delays and disconnects between founders and one of the markets they serve, because that's how we gauge their progress, but except for that might produce the next one will be near-spams that have been the losing side in debates about software design. Japanese.

There were a first—9. Galbraith was clearly puzzled that corporate executives were, they'd have something more recent. Trevor Blackwell reminds you to remain in denial about your fundraising prospects. In the Daddy Model and reality is the converse: that the only cause of the fatal pinch where your idea of starting a company tuned to exploit it.

A few VCs have an email being spam.

The late 1960s were famous for social upheaval. Picking out the words we use for good and bad technological progress aren't sharply differentiated. Letter to Oldenburg, quoted in Westfall, Richard.

So you can fix by writing library functions.

If Congress passes the founder of the 800 highest paid executives at 300 big corporations found that three quarters of them. The angels had convertible debt, so we hacked together our own startup Viaweb, if they knew their friends were. But be careful. The original Internet forums were not web sites but Usenet newsgroups.

The only people who had been with us if the quality of production. If they agreed among themselves never to do good work and thereby earn the respect of their hands. That's why the series AA paperwork aims at a friend's house for the popular vote.

Galbraith p. And so this one is harder, the median VC loses money. European art.

Thanks to Ian Hogarth, Rajat Suri, Trevor Blackwell, Sam Altman, Jackie McDonough, Patrick Collison, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for reading a previous draft.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #sup #friends #people #founder #funding #idea #li #Plans #executives

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