#I’d pay big bucks to listen to the two of them chat together on a podcast

[maxgicalgirl]

Listen okay I just know in my heart Cecil Palmer and Sydney Sargent would be BEST friends

[mattzerella-sticks]

an outsider's point of view (ao3)

2.4 k, Buck/Eddie, Secret Relationship

Eddie and Buck are keeping their relationship a secret from their family. Only their family. The rest of the world was fair game, it seemed.

“They’re doing it again.”

Chapman looked up from her book at West, who had paused his game to slyly nod over towards their station’s workout space. They had the perfect view of it from where they sat, of Diaz clobbering the punching bag while Buckley held it. Buckley, watching Diaz lob punch after punch with love burning so brightly behind his gaze its glare made it hard for Chapman to stare at them for long without squinting and snickering.

“How is it,” West continued, speaking in a whisper, “they haven’t been caught yet?”

Diaz had finished his quarrel with the punching bag by then, both he and Buckley leaving it to swing as they moved over to the weights section. Diaz’s hand hovered at Buckley’s lower back before, during, and after the short trek.

“They’ve been caught,” Chapman corrected him. She remembered finding them mid-embrace in the locker room with their uniforms half-on a month before, West telling her about them holding hands during a ride out to a call two weeks before that, and the many other stories from their crew who had stumbled on them and immediately went and gossiped about it. “Just not by the people that matter, apparently…”

She stared beyond Buckley and Diaz, to where Captain Nash chatted with his right and left hands, Wilson and Han, beside an ambulance. They were blissfully unaware of how Buckley and Diaz’s fingers brushed against each other as Diaz passed along some weights to the other firefighter.

“Do you think they know, and just aren’t saying anything?” West asked, “To not… make it such a big deal?”

“No. I really think they don’t know.”

“Aren’t they always hanging out though?”

“They aren’t hanging out any more than usual, from what I’ve heard.”

“I meant them as a whole, as their… group. Shouldn’t someone have figured out they’re dating by now?”

“Not if they’re keeping it secret.”

“But they’re doing such an awful job at it.”

Buckley stole a glance at where Nash, Wilson, and Han were gathered, to confirm they’re still engrossed in their conversation, in their inspection of the ambulance, and then peppered Eddie’s sheeny shoulder with featherlight kisses which Eddie accepted with a smile, an eye roll, and the softest hip check Chapman ever saw.

She spotted Jackson staring down at them from the top of the stairs and met his exasperation with a sigh and a wry shake of her head.

Chapman explained, “We only think they’re bad at it because they’re not trying to hide it from us. Only… them… for whatever reason.”

“It’s not like they wouldn’t be happy they’re together.”

“Of course.” Chapman cracked her book back open yet didn’t return to reading it. “After they ribbed the shit out of them.”

“Oh, I’d pay to see that.”

“Or even be able to listen at the captain’s door when it happened.”

“Nash wouldn’t have to say anything. He’d just sit them down and watch them until they self-destructed.”

West laughed, and Chapman did, too.

“Then he’d say how disappointed he was in them for keeping this a secret,” Chapman added. “And spend the next hour going over the HR report they’d need to file.”

“Don’t forget about Hen. And Chimney.” West leaned closer as he wheezed, “Those two would be there, too, roasting them to hell and back.”

“Han’s probably been waiting for something like this,” Chapman said, “something he can hold over Buckley’s head as revenge for those early days when he was dating his sister.”

“Those were a good couple of weeks… like that time Chimney chased Buck all around the fire house? I can’t remember why –“

“Because he drew all over his face while he was asleep! And sent pictures of it to his sister.”

“Right! How could I –“ West and Chapman were laughing too hard, and West accidentally let out a giant snort as he gasped for breath that certainly echoed throughout the station. “Forget.”

Chapman felt the prickling sensation of being watched as if each pair of eyes were a nail scraping across her cheek. She saw, out the corner of her eye, the core five from the 118, stared at her and West. Some amused. Some curious. All too much for someone who, unlike them, preferred being in the shadows.

She cleared her throat and turned, burying her nose in her book. “When it does happen,” she hissed, “hopefully it’ll be on one of the days I chose.”

West scoffed. “In your dreams. I’m winning that bet.”

Their conversation fell off as West resumed playing his game and Chapman scanned her book line by line. However, she wasn’t really paying attention to what she read. The words faded into a jumbled mess all the way through to the end of the chapter, with Chapman’s concentration more on the sensation from moments ago that, while not as strong as before, remained. Two nails were tickling the nape of her neck. Two sets of eyes hadn’t moved on.

Chapman stood and headed towards the lockers to put her book away.

Wilson and Han followed and cornered her a moment later.

“Everything good?” Chapman asked them. She tried to maintain some air of coolness, to wear a placid expression she cobbled together from her suddenly spotty memories.

Not that it mattered. Wilson saw past it, as if she wore it like the plastic visor on her helmet.

“Thought we should be asking you that,” she said, leaning against the lockers to Chapman’s right, while Han stood at her left. “Are you good?”

“Yeah. You seem a little…” Han stepped forward, startling Chapman. “Jumpy.”

“I’m fine,” she squeaked.

They exchanged glances in front of her. They did not believe her. Chapman hadn’t believed herself.

“You sure?” Wilson continued. She eyed the book still clutched in Chapman’s paling hands. “Maybe it was something you read?”

Chapman hemmed. She hawed. It lasted only a scant few seconds but even that felt too long until she decided on, “Yeah. I – there’s this part in this book that was really, kinda… it hit me hard.”

“And West found that funny?”

Her eyes shut fast and hard as she hissed. “Shit.”

There wasn’t any more denying she’d been caught, the threads of her lie tangled around her ankles.

When she opened her eyes Han had moved next to Wilson to present a more united front. Their faces had softened, however, now that the game was over.

“You can tell us,” Han said. “We love a good joke. To laugh.”

“Even if it’s about us,” Wilson added.

“Well let’s not go too far.”

Chapman noticed a rather small crowd gathered at a distance outside the locker room. A loose assembly of firefighters that wouldn’t draw suspicion. West had abandoned his video game and Jackson left the lofted kitchen, and they stood with Portch and Ortiz watching her wriggle inside this glass trap with practiced casualness.

At least escape wasn’t impossible, just difficult.

“We were… reminiscing,” she admitted. “About that time Buckley drew all those pictures on your face.”

Wilson’s barked laughter was sudden and sharp, like a knife sneaking out to dip into Han’s side without getting stuck. She threw a hand over her mouth, but she wasn’t fast enough. Han responded to her with heavy side-eye.

She shrugged, “Sorry.”

Han accepted the gesture and, while staunching his flesh wound, turned on Chapman again. “What made you think about that?”

The stares from the others outside felt so obvious, like each firefighter was trying to shove their hands into her mouth and stop her from telling them what was going on, what had been happening beneath their noses for months, what was quickly bubbling up her throat because, despite being fine under pressures such as burning buildings or terrific accidents, something about the duo’s combined energy was more than her resolve could handle. The secret rose and rose. It burned her tongue and made her teeth tingle. She spat, “Because we were talking about Buckley.”

Han’s brows furrowed as he asked, “What about Buck?”

“I…” Chapman hated how easily she folded, especially today. When in three days it’d be her betting window and the money would’ve gone to her and not Smitt, who hadn’t even had the opportunity to catch Buckley or Diaz in some compromising position at all. An undeserved victory. “West and I were talking about what you’d do when… you, the rest of you, figured out Buckley was dating Diaz.”

First there was silence. Then a low chuckle that came from Han, followed by Wilson, which became boisterous and teetered on the edge of manic before they ran out of air.

Wilson leaned on Han and patted her straining cheeks with the back of her hand. “I hadn’t had a good laugh like that in a long time.”

“I know. I think I threw my back out because of it.”

They coughed up the dregs of their mirth and searched for its reflection in Chapman. Her wide eyes and thin lips told them a different story. The duo sobered.

“Buck? And Eddie?” Wilson said, “Are you sure?”

Chapman nodded.

“No,” Han said. “You – look just because Eddie’s gay, and Buck’s bi doesn’t mean…” He paused, trying to figure out how he might end his thought. He lamely added, “They can be close without it being dating.”

“But they are dating. We’ve seen it.”

“We?”

Chapman sang. She told them about Buckley and Diaz. How nearly all the other firefighters in the 118 had seen them, at one point or another, entangled in situations that went far beyond what was considered ‘friendship’. About the betting pool they started, the many pools, about which of their friends would find them first, how it might happen, what day, time, if it happened during a call or not – the list was endless. She ran out of things to say after that and gathered enough courage to peek at her colleagues.

Han jaw hung, slack, like rope that had been cut. Wilson better reined in her surprise but the traces of it were obvious in her expression, in how she scratched her head and pursed her lips.

“That’s…” she started. “It’s…” she tried again. “Huh,” she said.

That snapped Han into action. He attempted one last blustering effort of denial. “If Buck and Eddie were dating, we’d know. Okay?”

“Would you?” Chapman asked, “Do you even know they’re sharing a locker?”

And, because no one in the 118 locked their lockers, Chapman flung back Buckley’s empty locker followed by Diaz’s stuffed one. She was driven by adrenaline born from the relief of finally being able to talk about the couple after being denied it for months. The consequences of this, which weighed heavily on her mind at the onset of their conversation, were forgotten.

But staring at the resignation on both Wilson and Han’s faces as they eyed the open lockers brought these consequences roaring back.

She shuffled awkwardly under the tense silence, thinking of what she could say except she had nothing. What could she add that might make this easier for them, more manageable? To explain why they kept it secret? Chapman and the other members of the 118 theorized and joked but, truthfully, no one understood exactly what the reason for it was when they were both so well loved by everyone and so obviously in love. No one except Buckley and Diaz knew why they were acting at being just friends.

An act Chapman’s big mouth ruined.

“If that’s… all?” Wilson and Han said nothing. “Okay.”

Chapman left without replacing her book in her locker and with Captain Nash’s lunch doing somersaults and cartwheels in her stomach.

She stepped into the waiting cluster of their audience, answering their questions with a haggard wince.

“Shit,” West said. “Does this mean Smitt wins the bet?”

“I guess.” In the end, that was the only thing Chapman felt certain of.

EPILOGUE

Josh watched Maddie speak with Chimney on her phone over the rim of his coffee mug. She was rolling her eyes every few seconds, scoffing, and though she whispered he heard bits and pieces of what she said. “That can’t be true.” “They’re making things up.” “There’s got to be a reason for it that’s not… that.”

Finally, after scrubbing a hand through her hair and flaring her nostrils Maddie ended the call with a curt, “We’ll talk about this later. At home.” Then she placed her phone face down and pressed her hands into her face.

When Josh could see her eyes again he asked, “What was that about?”

Maddie chuckled. “You won’t believe it.”

“Try me.”

“Apparently,” she stressed each syllable of the word. “A few people over at the 118 are con-vinced Buck and Eddie are dating.” More laughter. “Isn’t that nuts.”

Josh stared at her.

“It’s nuts, right?”

His eyes were wider than satellite dishes.

“Why aren’t you agreeing with me here, Josh?”

“W-well…” Josh set his coffee down. His empty hands wrong themselves senseless. “It is nuts; I’ll admit. But…”

“But?”

“It’s not like it isn’t… possible.”

Josh had stopped looking at her during his explanation but, finished, he snuck a glance at her. Her gaze was sharp and struck his shoulder like an arrow.

“What do you know?”

“It’s not what I know –“

“Josh!”

“I saw them out at a club a few weeks ago,” he told her. “I saw them on the dance floor, on each other. On top of each other. It was… it was a lot.”

Even now the memory of it overwhelms Josh, causing him to warm considerably beneath his collar. Buck and Eddie drew every eye in the club as they rolled against each other, inspiring love, desire, and envy with every cant of their hips. Josh saw Eddie’s hands curl around Buck’s neck, Buck pull Eddie so their chests were flushed together, their smiles disappear into a kiss and had to close his tab and flee because it was as if he stumbled on something he, truly anyone, was meant to see. The club was theirs that night and Josh surrendered it easily.

He hadn’t known if he should or shouldn’t tell Maddie, until it was too late.

“So Buck and Eddie are dating?”

“Yeah.”

“Buck, my brother, and Eddie, his best friend, are… dating?”

Josh repeated himself.

Maddie nodded and picked up her phone. She pressed it to her ear as it rang. Then, she said, “I know I said we’d talk about this later but you are not going to believe what I just heard…”

[cvtqr]

hm, boring

parings; jean kirstein x reader x marco

content warning; relationship with sharing, hair pulling, face fucking, degradation, spanking, squirting, horse cock marco, + someone additional listening in

“jeannn~ ‘m tired. come cuddle with me pleaseee~” 

“EREN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WE’RE ON THE SAME SQUAD!?”

there he goes, ignoring you. nothing new though. every single night jean would be on his god damn game with his friends. night time was the only time you two could spend together because of your jobs getting in the way. he doesn't even like eren yet he choose playing with him over paying attention to you? tch, what a joke.

that's when the idea popped in your head. you reached over to the nightstand, grabbed your phone, and opened your messages. 

hey bodt! come over and hang with me n jean, haven't seen you in awhile :)

y/nnn!!! i was actually just doin some work at the cafe by your apartment! guess i’ve been overworking myself that i haven't had the time to come hangout with my best friends :(( but since it’s friday i guess ill drop by ≧◡≦

yeah it’s not good to overwork yourself! we’ve missed you, see you soon !

yup ;)

:)***** sorry y/n clicked the wrong button (・_・ヾ

its fine haha, see ya bodt!

you giggled to yourself. yeah, he was your and your boyfriends best friend, but he really was adorable. such a gentleman. 

well that's when he isn't drilling into your tight little cunt while jean jacks off to the sight...

“who were you texting now that you’re all giggly?”

“just inviting someone over!”

“who.”

that came out not so much like a question

“marco! we haven't seen him in awhile.” you said while walking up behind jean in his chair. 

he spun around in his chair and looked up at you, patting his lap. of course you weren't going to refusing sitting in his arms, so you snuggled into his lap.

“simp. hi y/n”  you faintly heard from jean’s headset 

“SHUT UP YEAGER YOU CANT EVEN GET A GIRLFRIEND”

you took his headset, since they were just in the lobby of a game, and put it over your head. 

“hiiii eren.”

“give me that you little shit.”

you lightly slapped him on his cheek and got up to sit back on your bed, hearing him chuckle.

little did you know you were going to regret thet later 

it wasn't long before you heard marco knock on the front door. 

you ran out of the bedroom and unlocked the door for him, greeting him with a warm hug. 

“ok so i kind of lied. i just wanted you to come over. but that's only because jeans ignoring me!” 

before giving him a chance to respond you took his arm and dragged him to the bedroom. 

“hey hey jean!”

“hey bodt - EREN STOP IT YOU FUCKING BASTARD.” 

you rolled your eyes and plopped down onto your bed, marco following behind you. you knew that jean has an agreement to share you from time to time, so you cuddled up into his strong arms, resting your head on his broad chest. 

he smiled and squeezed you tight. but when jean saw you two from the reflection, he was mad. he knew that he shouldn't have a reason to be mad though, he was the one rejecting giving you the much needed attention. he didn't know if it was because marco was the reason you were smiling right now, or the fact that his hand was roaming a little too far up your thigh. 

but what jean didn't know was that marcos been... well, sexually frustrated. like he said before, he been burying himself way too deep into work. being a CEO was a lot of work, even for someone as bright as marco. he used to go at it a little too frequently, but now he never even has the chance to jack off. 

so what was his real reason for coming here.

“eren are you there? eren? erennn”

not bothering to shut anything off he put his head set down on his desk and walked over to you and marco. 

 “you guys hungry?”

you slowly opened your eyes, looking over to jean.

you and marco both nodded your heads.

15 minutes later the three of you were gathered in the living room, you and jean sitting on either side of marco. 

everyone was laughing while jean teased you as always. but when you went to go playfully smack his head? the cup of ice cold water in your hand tipped over and spilt all over marco’s jeans.

“ ‘m so sorry hold on!!”

you ran up and into the kitchen grabbing a hand towel. you came back to the couch, sitting back in your spot, taking the towel, dabbing it all over the stain on marco’s pants. you didn't know why he was blushing to an extent though. 

“its, its fine y/n! its just water it’ll dry”

you removed the towel to reveal a huge bulge in his pants. so that's why he was so embarrassed.

“im sorry, im sorry! ive just been really frustrated lately and-”

“just help him, y/n.”

marco let out a relived sigh when you got onto your knees in front of him. you slowly brought your hand up to his zipper and pulled it down. he then helped you pull of his pants and boxers just for his erection to spring up and hit into his stomach. 

he never failed to impress you, he was defiantly bigger than jean. long and girthy with a few veins running down the shaft, pre-cum dribbling out of the tip. 

without saying a word, you took his cock into your hands slowly stroking him, using his pre-cum as lube. 

“p-please y/n. i want it in your mouth.”

knowing how mean and dominate he can get while riled up, you obeyed, enjoying the shy side of him.

you swirled your tongue around his tip before bobbling your head down, taking as much as you can. marco’s hands found his way into your hair while throwing his head back. it was taking everything to not just buck his hips up and shove his cock down your pretty little throat.

“so you’re just gonna let her run that slutty mouth up and down n not just fuck her throat? hm, boring.”

at the moment you wish jean would've just bit his tongue while marco let out a deep, long chuckle. 

he then tightened his grip around your hair and forced you down further onto him before thrusting up into your throat. he was way too big for you, the tip of his cock hitting the back of your throat earning a gag from you.

“what's wrong can't take it? i really thought you were a slut... getting onto your knees for your boyfriends best friend and letting him fuck that tiny throat of yours.” 

his degrading words were enough for you to slip your hands down your shorts, slowing adding friction to your clit. 

jean, now fully erect got up from his spot on the couch and squatted down next to you, pulling your hand away and out of your pants, a tight grip around your wrist. 

“i don't think anyone told you to touch yourself, now did they?”

without warning, marco came in your mouth, his warm cum spilling down your throat. he then pulled you off his cock, a string of saliva mixed with cum still connecting you to him. marco looked down to jean and nodded.

jean stood up, bringing you up with him and walked over to the bedroom, marco following close behind and closing the door once you all got inside.

jean pushed you down onto the bed. the two men were now hovering over you, looking down onto you. you definitely lost any sort of control over this situation. 

“hmm, i think you deserve a punishment baby. i mean for slapping me before.”

“that wasn't my fault tho-”

“shut up. no one said you could talk.” he spat out

jean then sat on the bed next to you. you knew exactly what he wanted. you crawled over and laid face first across his lap, ass perking up, while marco took a seat on jean’s gaming chair facing the both of you.

“you’ll only get ten today. i hear anything fall from that mouth besides you counting, i’m leaving to go spend the night at marcos”

you shook your head yes while a harsh slap landed right across your ass.

“o-one” you said while sniffling 

marco on the other hand was started to palm himself through his boxers at the sight in front of him.

“te- ten!” you basically cried out at this point. you usually get more, but jean was harsh tonight. 

meanwhile, no one in the room realized the discord chat going off on jean’s computer

surprised your still on... mikasa ratted me out about something so my mom called and chewed my ear out longer than expected.

helloooo?

jean?

“my sweet girl, you were so good for me. as a reward i’ll let you have marco’s cock. you’ll let him fuck you, right baby?”

eagerly you nodded while jean switched places with marco, now sitting on the chair. 

“as always im going to prep you first, i wouldn't want to hurt you. that alright?”

without having to say anything you pulled your shorts down and disregarded them onto the floor. 

marco then pushed you down onto your back while slipping down your panties. you looked up into his eyes while he shoved to fingers knuckles deep into your cunt, earning a sweet soft moan from your lips.

a few minutes after using his fingers to stretch you out, you left your climax building with a familiar feeling in your stomach.

“m-marco i’m gonna~”

about to cream all over his fingers, he pulled them out and flipped you onto your stomach.

“didn’t think i’d let you off the hook that easy hm?”

“marco pleaseee, i need too, please!!” you were basically sobbing over the fact that you wanted to get fucked

“no need to be a little cry baby y/n. he’ll let you cum when he wants to.” said jean from across the room, fucking his fist

“no, no its not that... it’s just that nothing feels better than your sweet cum running down my shaft.” right when he finished his sentace he shoved his cock right into your tight cunt, completely bottoming out and thrusting into you without giving you time to adjust.

“ ‘s too big marco please!”

“sorry, couldn’t help it baby.” the sight was so lewd. marco pounding into you from behind and shoving your head down into the mattress. jean behind you two fucking his first harder than ever. the room filled with wet slapping sounds and your loud moans, along with grunting from the two boys.

“ ah~ baby you’re squeezing me so, so well.” said marco while reaching his hand down, finding your clit and rubbing harsh circles around it.

“mm need to-”

marco sent a harsh slap onto your clit, sending your whole body jerking foward, squirting all over his cock.

marco let out another chuckle at your reaction. “wow, first time anyone’s ever squirted on my cock.”

he pulled out soon after and released all over your ass, crashing down on top of you, out of breath. jean was about to come over and help the both of you clean up until everyone heard a sort of high pitched moan. you and marco knew that didn’t sound like jean and both flipped over.

you all soon realized the headset on jeans desk, the green light indicating it was still on and running. you all then caught on to what was happening on the other side.

“wow jean... didn’t know little y/n was such a slut.”

[buckyswintersoldiermask]

The Super Soldier and His Friend

Part 7

Bucky Barnes x friend!reader

(Bucky x Sam, Sam x reader, Sarah x reader)

⊙ Bucky Masterlist ⊙ Main Masterlist ⊙ TSSAHF Masterlist ⊙

Summary: Bucky tells Yori the truth, and tells you that you’re his family. Bucky invites you to go with him to Louisiana for a cookout with Sam.

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: spoilers for FATWS Episodes 5 and 6

A/N: this is the final part of the series, I hope it’s to y’all’s liking :)

I don’t want FATWS to end :((

“You weren’t amending, you were avenging.” Those words rang in Buckys mind. He truly wasn’t amending, so he knew what he had to do.

“So you’re going to tell Yori today, are you sure today is the day?”

“I’ve waited long enough, he needs the closure (y/n) and it’s one step closer to me making amends.”

You patted his shoulder and gave him a warm smile, “I’ll be at my place, come over if you want, when you’re done.” He nods before you both leave his apartment. You went into your apartment just hoping the best for Bucky.

He’s had so much growth since you’ve met him, he’s finally getting closer to peace. Something he’s wanted since you met him.

Bucky didn’t take long. Bucky knocked on his door, Yori surprised to see him, he let him in. They sat down and Bucky told him straight up,

I, uh, have something to tell you. About your son.

Yori was confused to say the least, what could Bucky know about his son? Bucky and Yori sat down as Bucky slipped off his glove.

He was murdered. Bucky said, making Yori even more confused.

By The Winter Soldier. And that was me. Bucky finally spits out, as his voice shakes. Taking everything in him not to fall apart.

“Why?” Yori asked, Bucky inhales, trying to compose himself, “I didn’t have a choice.”

Yori showed Bucky out after that. Bucky took a little walk afterwards, before showing up at your door.

Once he knocked on your door and you saw his face, you knew he had told him. He had tried to tell Yori multiple times, but this time he stuck with it. You let him in and he sat down on your couch.

You stood just a few feet away from him, wanting to know if he’s okay. “So how did it go?”

“I told him, he asked why, and I told him why.”

“I know that was hard and I’m proud of you.” Bucky nods, as you pat his shoulder.

“Do you want to stay for a bit?” He nods again and you grab a bunch of delivery menus from your kitchen. “You’re lucky I don’t have work tomorrow.”

“Your hours are never consistent. Why do you even work there?”

“Well some of us aren’t a World War II veteran and need to work to have a roof over our heads.” You retorted, passing him a menu. “Order us some food, and if I didn’t have a job I wouldn’t be able to pay for our food.”

He smirked before ordering the food as you brought 2 sodas to the table. Setting them down, before sitting down across from him. “Do you want to talk about it?” He shook his head, popping the lid on the soda off.

Trying to lighten the mood you say, “Well I know what we could talk about.”

“And what’s that?”

“Sam’s new suit.” You say, before opening your own soda.

“I’m not following.”

“That’s a nice suit. The Wakandans did good.”

“How did-“

“Just a hunch. Now let’s talk about your suit.”

“My suit is fine.”

“I mean it could use some tweaks.”

“We are not doing this.”

“Sam’s suit is better than yours.” You blurt out, teasing Bucky more. His mouth drops open in fake shock.

“Take it back.”

“He has wings and a shield. You just have a jacket and some pants and a gold and black metal arm.” You exclaim, making Bucky roll his eyes.

“And here I thought you were my friend.”

“I am, and as your friend I’m saying your suit needs an upgrade.”

“Alright, fashion expert.”

After some more light bantering between the two of you, your food arrived, you paid for it then brought it inside.

You noticed the bag being extra heavy than usual. “Geez, Bucky how much did you order?” You asked, taking containers out of the bag.

“Enough.”

“Yeah enough to feed 6 people.”

You and Bucky ate as he told you about him and Sam stopping the flagsmashers. It was nice to hear Bucky and Sam working together and not being a pain in each other’s sides. You saw Sam’s speech on TV the other day, it was beautiful and inspiring. Sam is Captain America.

It was way past 12am and Bucky decided he should go home. Even though you didn’t mind him staying, he insisted. “Will you be alright tonight?” You asked, making sure he’d be okay after that day's events.

He nods, “if not, I’ll come over.” You give him a tight hug before he leaves.

It was quiet and calm in your apartment as you were getting ready for bed. Bucky seemed fine after talking to Yori but he knew he’s always welcome at your place anytime. Which you always expressed. You were getting ready for bed and was interrupted as you heard a knock on your door. You groaned as you trudged to your front door.

You unlocked it to see it’s Bucky. You let him in and close the door behind him, “why didn’t you just use your key?”

“I didn’t want you to think someone was breaking in.”

“Good point,” you sat down on the couch and patted it, telling him to come sit down. “You okay, Buck?” You asked, remembering what he said earlier. He sat down beside you as you got ready to listen to what he had to say.

“Yeah, I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

“Sam invited me to a cookout in New Orleans and I wanted to know if you’d come with me.”

“I’d love to, only if Sam and his family are okay with it. I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“I asked him if it was okay. He said you’re welcome to come.” You smiled, “well if it’s okay with him.”

“I got us plane tickets.” He says, handing you a plane ticket he bought.

“You just knew I’d say yes, huh?”

“I just want all of my family to be there.” You stare at him for a moment, with a jaw dropping expression on your face.

“You’re family (y/n/n). I thought I had nothing when Sam gave up the shield, but I had you. Even though we are an usual pair of friends, you’re very important to me.”

“So that’s why you came here at almost 2am? To tell me I’m your family.”

“Yes?” Bucky answered, unsure of how you were taking this.

“I love you too, Buck.”

You glanced down at your plane ticket to see the date you’re supposed to be leaving.

“We’re leaving in 2 days?!”

“Yes..” you glared at him as he slouched in his seat avoiding eye contact with you.

After about a 3 hour flight, you and Bucky landed in New Orleans. You rented a car and you were on your way to the dock, where the cookout was.

“Wait.” You said, making Bucky stop the car abruptly.

“What happened?”

“We have to bring something. We can’t show up empty handed.”

“What should we bring?”

Bucky drove to the store and the both of you settled on a cake with buttercream icing and 2 liters of soda. You pull up to the dock and Bucky puts on some shades and his jacket. You shook your head as you grabbed the drinks and Bucky got the cake. Music was playing, food was being cooked and everybody was just having a good time when you walked up.

The first people who greeted Bucky were Sam’s nephews, Cass and AJ. Bucky pretended to fight with them for a little bit before walking over to the table and placing down the cake. You came behind and placed the drinks on the table as well. Bucky glanced around looking for the man of the hour. He was getting hugs and pictures from people in the community.

Bucky brought you over to Sam, giving him a hug. Buckys come a long way from ignoring his messages to hugging him, you thought. Bucky glanced over to you, introducing you to Sam.

“(y/n), this is Sam. Sam, (y/n).”

“Nice to meet you in person, Sam. Thank you for inviting me.”

“Anyone who’s friends with Bucky is a friend of mine.”

You met a lot of really nice people that day. You talked to Sarah and offered to help her cook. And man did she put you to work. After you were done, you sat at a picnic table, enjoying the atmosphere.

You watched as children played on Bucky's metal arm as he talked to Sarah, which warmed your heart. Bucky’s arm being a bar to play on for kids. It was nice to see him happy and peaceful there in Louisiana.

Bucky excused himself before coming over to you, “you okay, doll?”

“Yeah, I’m just taking it all in. You fit right in down here.” Bucky nods, agreeing with you, he does fit right in. “Why don’t you come over here with me, Sarah and the kids?” Bucky questioned as he grabbed your hand, leading you over to them.

“I know you two have met.” Bucky smiled, as you sat down at the table.

“Yeah, (y/n), helped me with the food earlier, she’s the one that deals with you in New York.” You laugh, before nodding at Sarah’s comment, “that’s me, though, I feel it's a mutual thing, we deal with each other.”

“Thank you for being so welcoming.” You said as a big smile appeared on your face.

“Of course.”

The music continued to play as everyone danced around, chatted, and ate. The sun began to set. Bucky went to talk to Sam for a moment and Sarah went to go talk to some more people. You stayed there watching the kids play, such innocence and beauty. You glanced over at Sam and Bucky as Bucky nudged his shoulder, a huge grin on his face. You had never seen him smile as much as he smiled that day.

Sam and Buckys moment was short but sweet. Bucky came back and sat next to you, still smiling.

“You’re really enjoying yourself.” You said, turning to him, making eye contact.

“I am, I’m really glad you came (y/n/n).”

“I’m glad I came too.”

That day Bucky realized something. He had a family and he was finally happy.

A/N: tell me what you thought about this part! Might make an alternative ending or something idk.

Bucky Tags: @ragnaroqk @mollysolo @mogaruke @whothehellisbuckybarnes @amelia-song-pond @fredweazleyswh0re @tinylumpiaa @i-reblog-fics-i-like @weenersoldierr @stephthepeach @sammypotato67 @ttalisa @mxltifaves @supremethunda @hanniebee33 @gamerartisy @afraid-to-be-me @qhbr2013 @kidswhofightmonsters @bahama-mama-llama @teti-menchon0604 @jbreenr

TSSAHF Tags: @nialeesato @marvel-ousnesss

Taglist

[thiswasinevitableid]

for the meet uglies, sternclay 60 sfw? OwO

Here you go!

60 Sterncly SFW. we’re both on a reality show (like the queer bachelor) where we’re told to be friends but the first time we met, you were incredibly rude and judgmental and I don’t know if I can do this for the damn cameras

“So, Barclay, now that we’re a few days in, what’s your impression of the other contestants?”

“They, uh, they all seem like great guys. We come from a lot of different backgrounds, so that’s kind of interesting to be around but, uh, I live in a place that’s like a big, chosen family, so being in a house with a bunch of types of personalities is kinda, uh, homey.”

“There’s no one you think you’ll struggle with?”

“Uh. Well. I, uh, I don’t like Joseph too much. He came in and he’s so, like, phony from all the years in the FBI. It’s like he’s trying to be polite and charming but really he thinks we’re all idiots for being here. Which, like, buddy, last I checked you signed up for this the same as the rest of us.”

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

“Joseph, any worries about the other contestants?”

“No. I mean, we’re competitors on a dating show, not enemies. I think we’re all trying to show Vincent the best versions of ourselves.”

“There’s no one you’ve had conflicts with?”

“........I, um, Barclay and I got into a small argument earlier about the house rules. But I’m sure if we both stick around long enough we’ll come to an understanding.”

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

���Gentlemen, this cannot continue.” Ned, the producer, sits on the couch across from them. Barclay glares at Joseph, but the other man keeps a cool demeanor. Great, he’s making Barclay look like the big, angry mountain even off camera.

“I thought reality shows needed conflict to thrive.” Joseph cocks an eyebrow.

“They do, but about big things, like love and rivalry. Not how to properly load a dishwasher.”

“I’m just trying to be efficient.”

“My way is perfectly fine.” Barclay snaps, “jesus, I worked in kitchens for years, I know how to get clean plates.”

“That doesn’t make it optimal.”

“Do you have to be right about everything?”

“Gentlemen, you recall we have a housekeeping staff, right?”

“It doesn’t matter” Barclay doesn’t take his eyes off Ned, “we’re supposed to all get along, not all try and prove we’re the smartest guy in the room.”

“See, this is your problem, you need everyone to like you, to see you like a big brother, but you’re missing the fact that at least three of them have decided your gentle giant persona is a threat and they’re trying to oust you.”

“It’s not a persona, it’s just how I am. We aren’t all government shams disguised as men.”

Joseph’s facade cracks for a moment, blue eyes trying to light Barclay on fire.

“Enough.” Ned shakes his head, “you may despise each other as much as you please behind the scenes. In front of the cameras, please try to act as if you’re not ten seconds away from coming to blows. Agreed?”

They trade a final, furious look.

“Agreed.”

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

They’re a little over three weeks in; Vincent is still doing lots and lots of short, individual dates between the group outings, so the contestants have ample time to hang around the house and get on each others nerves.

Case in point: Joseph was right when he warned Barclay that others saw him as a threat. Chad, Alex, Nico, and Rich have all decided to go after him. Just this morning he’s been told he’s not man enough for Vincent (he shooed a wolf spider out of the kitchen with a broom instead of squishing it), too girly (he offered to make cupcakes if people wanted), and too big (who'd want to fuck a six foot tall puppy).

His mood is not helped by Joseph chatting away on the couch about his former job with the FBI. Barclay swears it’s all the asshole knows how to talk about. Maybe it’s time for Barclay to play a game of his own.

“Hey, Joseph.”

The other man turns, black hair perfectly slicked back like he thinks he’s some kind of movie star.

“I bet you ten bucks you can’t make it until eight tonight without talking about your job.”

The other contestants in the room snicker, several even giving Barclay a thumbs up.

Joseph adjusts his shirt sleeves, “You’re on.”

Ten hours later, Barclay is forced to get his wallet. The other man never mentioned the FBI once. In fact, he did Barclay an even bigger favor; he didn’t talk at all.

He finds the agent sitting on the back steps leading into the garden. Stays standing as he holds out the cash, “you win fair and square.”

Joseph looks at the money, then looks away, “I did it to show I could, not for the bet.”

“I mean, you didn’t have to go, uh, quite so hard on the silence thing.”

“I didn’t mean to. But, um, every time I was going to open my mouth, I realized it was somehow related to work. So I kept quiet.” He sighs, stretches out his legs. He’s in slacks, because of course he is, “I must have been so tedious to listen to, no wonder I was driving you up the wall.”

“Joseph-”

“I really am married to my career. I guess it’s not surprising my last chance for love is on a T.V show.”

“Hey, I get it.” Barclay sits down next to him, “when I was first working in commercial kitchens my hours were crazy; I barely saw my apartment, my friends, my boyfriend who pretty quickly became my ex. But it was what I needed to do to build the career I wanted for myself. To do what I loved.”

Only the crickets and the distant waves reply. Then, “You said you were a private chef now, right? Along with writing cookbooks?”

“Yeah. Kinda surprised you remembered.”

“Listening is a major skill in my profession. Besides, it’s polite to pay attention to what people tell you.”

“What’s your job now? You only ever talk about the FBI stuff?”

“Paranormal investigation. I never bring it up because people assume I’m out chasing Bigfoot with a shaky-cam or trying to communicate with haunted dolls.”

“So...what is it instead?”

“Helping people figure out they’re homes aren’t haunted or the monster on their property is just some owls. I like the challenge of solving the mystery, and I like helping people feel safe in they’re homes.”

Loud voices form inside; the caterers must have refilled the bar. He doesn’t really want to go in. It’s too nice out here.

“You wanna hear about the restaurant my coworkers swore was haunted?”

Joseph perks up, turning to face him, “Yes, please.”

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

He’d been really looking forward to beach day. Six guys are already gone, and Vincent has taken his fleet of suitors to the sunny San Diego shores. Barclay is dismayed to find all but three of the other guys have waxed their chests. Joseph hasn’t, but his happy trail is nothing compared to fucking black forest on Barclays torso. Nico’s gotten half the guys to call Barclay “bigfoot.”It makes him feel like he’s back in high school P.E freshman year, and his body image is rapidly sliding into that of a shy fourteen year old.

“Barclay!” Joseph comes jogging out of the surf towards the towels they lay down side by side when they arrived, “you should come in, it’s really the perfect weather for swimming.” He drops onto his towel, black hair a bit mussed. The swim-shorts that he thought were blue with green spots turn out to have not dots, but tiny UFOs on them.

“I, uh, I’m good. I, uh, I burn easily and I don’t think anyone wants to rub sunscreen on my hairy back.”

“Hey, Bigfoot, what’s wrong? Scared of what’ll happen if the cameras get a load of your gut?”

Barclay growls, stares at his toes. Joseph tracks Nico as he finishes jogging by. Then he calmly picks up a frisbee, aims a throw, and knocks his snapback off his head. He’s sitting down before the other man can work out who threw it. Barclay chuckles, but doesn’t get up.

“Bigfoot’s my favorite cryptid.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“And who gives a shit if you have a stomach.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re cut.”

Joseph grabs his sunglasses, “because I like that for my body. I happen to like yours just as much. Um I, I mean, it seems like Vincent likes it.” He tips his head towards the Bachelor, who gives them both a long once-over.

“...Will you do my back?”

“Of course, big guy.” The nickname sounds so right on his tongue it makes Barclay want to set his head in his lap and ask him to pet it.

It’s late afternoon when Ned herds them all onto a boat which promptly steers towards some cliffs. Joseph stays close to Barclay, pleasant expression noticeably tightening the closer they get to the rocks.

“I’ve been dreading this. Cliff diving is not something I’d pick to do on my own.”

“Heights?”

He shakes his head, “Deep water. I know it’s not rational, and I even checked to be sure there hadn’t been large shark sightings in the area, but I can never shake the feeling there’s something waiting just out of sight, ready to surge up and eat me.”

They all climb up together, Vincent staying on the boat to watch them jump (this is technically a friendly competition to show off how brave they are). As they’re turns get closer, Barclay sees Joseph doing deep breathing exercises.

They hit the edge. The agent freezes.

“Shit. I don’t think I can do this.”

“C’mon, where’s my daring special agent?”

Joseph still doesn’t move.

“You, uh, you wanna jump together? Maybe the megaladon or whatever will eat me instead.”

“Megalodons are extinct; we’d know if they weren’t, same as we know Whale Sharks aren’t.”

“They you are.” Barclay murmurs, smiling.

Joseph manages a smile back, “On three?”

“Yep. One, two” he grabs Joseph’s hand “three”

The water rises to swallow them with terrifying speed, but nothing is waiting for them except one very startled fish. They surface together, Joseph laughing triumphantly, hair plaster to his head and sun shining in his ocean eyes.

If Vincent doesn’t pick him, he’s out of his mind.

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

“Ohmylord, we have to play this.” Joseph cannot believe his luck; he figured the barcade group date would mean a lot of solo time, but here’s his favorite game in the whole wide world.

“Monster Hunt?” Barclay laughs as he lets himself be lovingly shoved down into the seat of a cut-out Jeep, “very on brand.”

“They had this at the bowling alley near my house. I’d play when my parents had league night but couldn't get a sitter. I never could beat the Mothman level without a player two.”

He doesn’t have that problem tonight, even with Barclay distractingly delighted and handsome in the seat beside him. After that, they make it their mission to find every two-player game in the thrum of flashing colors and tinny music. He finds they both like the Bowser Bourbon Smash, and somewhere around their fourth, heated game of air hockey they each polish of one too many of them to stay upright without the support of a game, a helpful show staff member, or each other.

When they get back to the house (their fellow contestants all in a similar state to themselves) they manage to make it to Joseph’s room before collapsing into a giggling heap on the bed.

“That, hic, that was fun. Games are, hic, fun.” Barclay blinks at him, “what’re you laughing, hic, at.”

“You, you got the hiccups. S’funny because you’re so big, like, like watching a, a pitbull with a, um, a” he makes a squeezing motion that his sober self would recognize as “squeaky toy.”

“M’not big” Barclay pouts, “I, hic, maybe everyone else is, hic, just small. Ever think of th--hic--at.”

“S’not a bad thing.” Joseph shifts so they’re facing each other, “like how big you are. Makes you sexy.”

Barclay blushes, “you’re, hic, one to, to talk. You’re hot, so, hic, so fucking out. Got, got those eyes. That, hic, that face” He touches Joseph’s cheek, “love your face.”

“Love yours too.” Joseph says, stroking his beard. Then they’re moving in inelegant tandem, grabbing at each others shoulders and faces as their mouths find each other. Barclay is so warm, whimpering when Joseph rolls him on top, nipping his lips and pawing at him like a puppy hoping for a treat. Joseph is going to hold him close and let him have it.

A clatter from below, one of the other men knocking something over in the kitchen, breaks the spell.

“Wait, wait” Joseph reluctantly slides his hands of Barclays ass, “we, drunk, we’re drunk, too drunk.”

Barclay blinks down at him, pouting a little even as he groans “fuck, you’re, you’re right. Wanna, gotta remember this. Don’t wanna” he yawns, “regret it.” The instant he flops onto his back Joseph climbs into his arms and falls asleep to the slow rhythm of his breathing.

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

After that night, they agree to be more careful; they’re here for Vincent, to see if one of them is his true love. That’s what the contract they signed says.

“More careful” turns out to mean watching their alcohol intake around each other and only touching platonically (including falling asleep on the couch together. They wake up to cameras recording their nap. Barclay isn’t sure what Joseph threatens Ned with, but the footage never sees the light of day).

But unless they’re on a solo date with Vincent, they’re by each others side. Barclay teaches Joseph dominoes and how to make biscuits. Joseph introduces him to terrible old horror movies that they watch on his laptop and compliments his cooking every chance he gets.

They must be doing something right, because they move to the next round week after week, Vincent clearly enamored with both of them. Barclay certainly understands the feeling. Just not for the person who he’s supposed to.

“Joseph? If, uh, if neither of us win, what are you gonna do after this.”

“Go back to work. Maybe pitch my book about U.S cryptids.” Joseph’s smile goes shy for a moment before recovering, “but I wouldn’t worry, big guy; I think you’re the front runner for sure.”

Barclay knows for a fact that Joseph is a fan favorite and the suitor most people think will win. Which is why, when Vincent selects his final four, he’s not surprised Joseph gets the first rose. Then everyone but Barclay is holding one and Vincent is touching his shoulder.

“Barclay, please don’t take this as a sign I’m not deeply fond of you. This wasn’t an easy choice but I, well, I feel like your heart may not be in this anymore.”

He takes Vincent’s hand and squeezes it, “It’s okay. It was wonderful just to get to know you. All of you.” He looks at the final four, at Joseph’s calm, polite expression. He meets blue eyes as he says, “I hope you find someone who makes you happy.”

With that he turns, all too aware of the cameras tracking his exit, his face, how he’ll have to do a final interview and not reveal that he’ll hate Vincent forever but not blame him in the slightest if he marries Joseph.

“Wait!”

Every eye, lensed or no, turns back to the gazebo. Joseph is at the edge of the steps, poised to run. When he sees Barclay stop, he turns to Vincent.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept this.” He hands the bachelor the rose, “I hope you understand.”

There’s no soundtrack on set, but strings swell in his ears all the same as Joseph descends the stairs and leaps into his arms, kissing him so hard he still has stars in his eyes when he opens them.

“It’s not a marriage proposal” Joseph whispers, kissing his cheek, “but I do have a question for you.” He pulls back, all cameras on them but his attention for Barclay alone, “would you like to be my boyfriend, big guy?”

Barclay rests their foreheads together, “Yeah, babe, I really, really would.”

[holy-stevie]

Birthdays

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader 

Summary: The 4th of July was always a special day to your little family. 

Warnings: fluff, angst, character death. 

Word Count: 2.8k 

a/n: this just popped into my head after watching my friends edit of steve! 

Masterlist

Please do not repost my work anywhere else! 

You can’t remember ever sleeping in on the morning of July 4th. From a very young age you would wake at the crack of dawn to the icy eyes of Bucky Barnes smiling at you, pulling you out of bed and impatiently chatting away on the other side of your bedroom door as you got dressed as fast as you could.

“Come on y/n! we have to get down to the docks AND back before he wakes up!” Bucky exclaims from behind the door, knocking on it rapidly when you don’t reply to him. You throw the door open with an annoyed expression, but Bucky pays no mind to it, grabbing your hand and dragging you out of the house.

The dirty streets of Brooklyn were just waking up as the two teenagers run down the pavement, Bucky twisting and turning with your hand still in his to avoid the few rare early birds out for a morning walk. You smile as the sun hits the excited blue eyes in front of you, holding the same type of joy you did at the occasion.

The small market at the edge of the docks was already bustling with people, Bucky blames it on your lack of not waking up earlier which makes you push him lightly before running over to the stall you knew held the thing Steve desired the most. The young woman behind the stall grins at your excited smile, already turning to gather the small bundle of things you needed.

“Well hello miss y/n, late today, aren’t you?” She laughs lightly at Bucky’s annoyed huff, turning back around to face the two of you holding two small brown packages. She hands the items plus the extra present to you as Bucky slaps the coins down and rushes off, grabbing your hand again to pull you out of the market with a rush, barely giving the chance to say goodbye.

“Buck you gotta slow down, I’m gonna drop these!” You say with a laugh, juggling the two small boxes. He quickly grabs the slightly bigger package that was his present to Steve with a grin before yanking you into a run again, making you smile as you run though the streets with your best friend. By the time the two of you were standing at the front door to the Rogers residence you were panting and sweating, trying to grin at a very amused Sarah Rogers as she opened the front door.

“He’s still asleep, try not to give him a heart attack this year?” she asks as she closes the door behind the pair of you, the both of you letting out grins as you quietly rush into his room. Bucky very stealthily lays down besides Steve, motioning for you to stand behind him.

“Stevie.” You say gently, your soft voice making his nose scrunch, Bucky boops his nose gently making you cover your mouth to hide your giggles before continuing.

“Stevie wake up.” You say again, this time his eyes open.

“Buck what the hell??” He says and shoves Bucky off the side of the bed, knocking you to the floor with him. Steve peers over the side of the bed at you and Bucky in a fit of laughter on the floor of his bedroom.

“I hate both of you so much.” He groans flopping back into his pillows. Bucky springs up and shoves the present in Steve’s face, a big boyish grin on his face as his best friend takes the present delicately and unwraps it, a manly hug shared at the new set of pencils. You shove Bucky to the side and sit next to Steve, cuddling into his side as you hand him the much smaller box.

“My favourite chocolates? Y/n these are so expensive.” He says, throwing his small arm around you as you grin up at him.

“That ain’t all Stevie.” You say as you grab the flower from behind you, placing it gently in his hands. Steve had told you last summer that sunflowers were his favourite thing to draw, they captivated him in a strange way. His eyes light up as he twirls the flower gently in his fingers, giving you the brightest smile, you’ve seen from him in a while.

Bucky makes kissy noises when Steve pulls you into a crushing hug, making you and Steve pull away from each other with blushing expressions.

“Happy Birthday punk!” Bucky almost yells as he stands and jumps on the bed, laughing loudly when you grab the bottom of your dress and join him in the jumping, the sounds of your laughter echoing in Steve’s childhood bedroom.

~

“To this punks’ birthday!” Bucky exclaims, raising his mug of beer and sloppily clinking it against yours. Steve just sighs at Bucks lack of control over his intake of boos, he himself never indulging himself in a glass because there were too many risks.

“So y/n, sad that your best guy is going away?” Bucky says. You almost frown, the worry of Bucky being drafted had been eating away at you ever since he showed you the letter. But instead you grin and lean your head against Steve’s shoulder.

“Steve ain’t going anywhere.” You laugh when Bucky pouts and places his hand over his heart like he had been wounded, his dramatics even making Steve laugh, which was rare these days.

“Well if that’s how you feel ‘m gonna go find a pretty dame to spend my time with.” He says, placing his mug on the bar. He presses a small kiss to your forehead and slaps Steve’s shoulder before mingling into the crowd, winning the attention of a girl within minutes.

“Walk me home?” You ask Steve with a smile, he nods and grabs his jacket, holding out his arm for you to grab like the gentleman he is. As the two of you are walking arm in arm down the street, talking about the future, Steve goes quiet.

“What is it Steve?” You ask, holding your arm out now with a small smile.

“I won’t ever get a dame like Bucky does.” He says, your heart aches at the sadness lacing into his tone.

“Why do you think that?” You ask with a frown, your walk slowing down to a slower pace.

“Look at me y/n, no dame will want to have a family with me.” He says, anger and self-hatred lacing his voice now making you stop and grab his arm to face you.

“You listen to me Steve, the girl who marries you will be the luckiest gal in the world. She’ll love you for you, for the stubborn punk who doesn’t like bullies, for the kind gentleman who knows how to treat a dame with respect, for the chocolate addict in you. She’ll love you for all the good qualities Steve, and I know she’ll come along soon.” You say determinedly, not looking away from his eyes once.

“You really know how to impress a fella huh?” He jokes with a big smile, you return his smile and hook your arms together continuing your walk home.

“Have to make sure I treat my best guy right.” You joke, laughing along with Steve not a worry present in both of you for the rest of the night.

~

An illegal enlistment, a super solider serum pumped into both of your bodies, Nazis, Peggy Carter, and a falling plane is the events that lead to you sitting on the roof of the avenger’s tower in 2012. The sun is just rising over the horizon, the bright beams not bothering you in the slightest as you hear heavy footsteps approach you.

“I knew I’d find you up here.” Steve says as he takes a seat next to you, shoulders and thighs touching yours, as he looks out at the sun with you.

“It seems like tradition to wake up this early.” You mumble trying desperately not to think of the missing member of your little family. Steve doesn’t say anything as the two of you continue watching the city wake up, not moving until the sun was fully in the sky. You turn to Steve with two things in your hands, his ridiculously expensive chocolates and a single sunflower.

Steve smiles down at the presents, they hadn’t changed all these years and he’s never gotten sick of it. It was always the highlight to his day, getting these from you.

“These chocolates are still too overpriced.” He mumbles, opening up the packet and offering you one which you take and nibble on.

“Let me spoil you Stevie.” You say, leaning into him like you do quite often, especially in this new and unfamiliar place. The two of you are quiet, almost hearing the echoes of Bucky’s teasing kissing noises or overdramatic hugs.

“It’s not the same without him.” Steve says, his voice cracking on the last word making tears rise in your own eyes. You both try to stay in control of your grief but when a sob croaks out from your throat Steve slings his muscular arm around you, pulling you into his warm side as you both cry over your loss.

The both of you had been thrown into duty as soon as you were awoken from the icy sleep, not giving yourselves the proper chance to cry over all the friends you both lost, especially Bucky who fell from the clutches of Steve’s hands. You had woken Steve up several nights after he would wake you, screaming for him, he’d always stare at his hands for hours, looking for the flaw that failed his best friend, his brother.

“He’d tell you to stop sulking on your birthday.” You say, wiping your eyes and trying to lighten the mood. Steve just rolls his eyes, as he always did when Bucky would tell Steve off for being sad on his birthday, “It’s your day Stevie! There’s no room for sulking here.”He’d always say, pulling you and Steve into his arms into a big sweaty hug under the summer sun.

“I can almost hear it in my head.” He says, laughing lightly as you both talk about Bucky’s excitement for this day, every year it was always there in full force, making sure his best friend had the best day possible. You and Steve’s laughs echoing on the roof, a third laugh there with you in spirit.

~

The accords dragged your second family apart, they dragged you and Steve apart. A fight between the avengers surprisingly found you at the side of Tony Stark, a knot in your throat as two pairs of blue eyes glare at you from across the airport. When you were confronted with the two people you valued the most in the world, you let them pass to the quintet, not looking at them as they looked at you with angry and confused expressions.

When you were arrested for aiding Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes the rest of the remaining avengers were looking at you with confusing expressions, half of them glaring at your betrayal and the other half sharing your fear of the raft. The cold cell was small and quiet, the occasional soft words from Sam trying to reassure Wanda that Steve wouldn’t leave her here.

Steve stared at you from behind the bars, his eyes hard and his jaw tight. He has gotten everyone else out, they were all lead to the jet by Nat, giving Steve the decision to save you or leave you.

“Is he okay?” You ask, not getting up from where you were sitting in the corner, the collar around your neck cutting off your ability to heal from the several bruises you had suffered getting into this cell.

“Yes. No thanks to you.” He says, his voice clipped and demanding. You press your lips together knowing that he had every right to be mad at you, every right to leave you to rot in this cage. You just simply nod, looking at Nat behind him who gave him a nod signalling that they needed to go. Steve turns, not giving you a second glance as he starts walking away.

“Your duffle bag, second pocket.” You say loudly for him to hear, he hesitates for a second before continuing out the door. You feel the knot in your throat escape in a soft cry as your heart breaks with your own betrayal.

Steve,

I know you won’t forgive me for a long time, maybe never but I had to do it. I love Bucky and I never wanted to fight opposite the two of you, but I’ve brought to much death to this world. I can’t sit back and watch innocent civilians die for the fate of the world, I can’t go home and pretend it didn’t happen anymore.

It was never about sides, you and Tony need to get your egos checked one day, it was about doing right for the world Steve. I would have helped you clear Bucky’s name, helped the world see that he is an innocent man. I hope you make sure Bucky is safe out there, from others and from himself.

Take care of yourself Steve, draw me some sunflowers? Don’t forget that you are important too, that no matter how many sit ups you can do that you are still my little Stevie Rogers who fights for those who can’t. Take care of yourself for me Steve, even if I’ve failed you I don’t want you to ever fail yourself. Stay safe Steve.

Love, Y/N.

It was another normal day, the cell walls mocking you with their threatening clutches, the too tight collar reminding you that you are useless. It was a normal day until the guard outside of your cell disintegrated, turned into dust out of nowhere. You frown and stood up shakily, whipping your head back and forth to study the room. How did he disappear like that? As you look down you see your hands are gone, you shriek and fall back. A terrified whimper escaping your lips as the rest of your body starts to fade away, numbing you lightly.

“Steve...” a soft whisper. Your eyes snap open with gasp, the lights in the cell are turned off, as if there was no power. Your hands rip free of the chains and you rip the now dead collar off of your neck as you stand, looking around outside the cell. Where was everyone? What happened?

You were sitting in the dark for three days before you finally saw another person, the metal limb ripping the cell door off with a powerful yank. Bucky Barnes lets out a sigh of relief as he kneels down next to you, pulling you into him in a tight hug as he finally frees you from the small cage that had been your home for two years, seven actually but you didn’t know that yet.

~

The bright beams from the sun make your eyes water from exhaustion, the tug of sleep straining at you as you watch the sun rise over the horizon once again. You had been waiting for it all night as you twirled the sunflower in your hand, waiting for Bucky to wake up so the two of you could go.

“And here I thought you hated waking up this early.” Bucky says from behind you, like you he’s fully dressed knowing that you wanted to leave as early as possible. You stand up, stretching your stiff muscles before grabbing your jacket from the chair, not saying a word as Bucky drives the two of you to your destination.

You sit in the soft grass, not caring that it’s wet. The fresh dirt and brand-new gravestone making your heart numb with grief. Bucky sits next to you, clutching your hand in his tightly as you both stare at the dirt that holds your best friend.

Steven Grant Rogers

Beloved Hero, Husband, Father.

1918-2024

You shakily lean forward and lay the sunflower in the dirt, brushing away the few clips of grass. You don’t try to hide the tears as you stare at his name. It had been two months since he died, after going back to live his life fully with Peggy Carter. Your heart clenches at the thought of him, the last you had seen him he was dying in a hospital bed, not remembering who you were. Not remembering who he was.

“Happy Birthday Stevie.” You mumble out as you press a soft hand to the grave stone before leaning back into Bucky’s side, trying to keep yourself together as Bucky says his own birthday wishes before the two of you walk away hand in hand, leaving the sunflower laying in the dirt of your most loved Stevie.

Taglist: @scarletsoldierrr​ @chrisevans-imagines​ @patzammit​ @onetwo3000​ @yoncevans​ @harrysthiccthighss​ @sleepycevans​ @adriannajackson​ @donutloverxo​ 

[lifeinahole27]

CS ff: “Walking the Tightrope” (Epilogue) (au)

Summary: Killian’s daily routines are a matter of habit. When he wakes up late one morning, his routines all change for the better. Emma doesn’t care about routines, but she does care about Killian, no matter how reluctant she is to admit it to herself.

Rating: E (the content warnings matter this time!)

Content Warnings: There’s uhhh... poetry smut.

A Special Thank You: My continued gratitude to my lovely friends, @captainstudmuffin and @phiralovesloki. And a heap of love to @captainswanbigbang for putting this together and helping me accomplish this.

A/N: Holy crap! Here we are! It’s the end of the story!! Now, for those of you who read the original story, there’s not a whole lot that’s changed. I edited everything to fit the rest of the story and writing style, since the original version was a little rough, but other than little bits, it’s what you remember. If you didn’t read this, then welcome to the end! 

My eternal gratitude to those who helped me finish this, those who helped find my errors (my two lovely ladies are listed above), to those who read this! Who reblogged it! Who left comments and sweet tags and sent messages and made this all worth it. I constantly say that I cannot express how thankful I am and it’s true. With only words, I can only say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. <3<3

This epilogue is meant to tie bows around a couple major things and send these off the best way I know how. I still have a stack of headcanons and info that wouldn’t fit in here. I would love to share these things if anyone is curious. If you are, or have questions, or want to talk about specific parts, please send me messages. I would love to chat about this world that has lived in my brain and morphed over the last FIVE YEARS. 

(Poetry included is not mine: All rights reserved to Pablo Neruda "My love, understand me" and "Night on the Island" and to Leonard Cohen "The Mists of Pornography")

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |

Find it on Ao3 & FFN!

-x-

Epilogue: The Art of Poetry

-x- April 

The day that Killian forgets the coffee mugs on his counter is the day he locks himself out of his apartment for the first time. He and Emma huddle on the front stoop together in the early morning chill waiting for his landlord to come unlock the door. He opens his jacket and pulls her closer, jumping when her cold nose touches his collarbone and she chuckles as she repeats the action until her nose is warm and he’s even warmer. They thank Marco profusely when he arrives with the spare set of keys.

They’re also both late for work that day.

The next day, when Emma comes back from getting coffee, there’s an envelope propped in front of her computer at work. When she opens it, a weight settles in the envelope and she pulls out the folded note. Killian’s neat handwriting stretches across the paper.

“My love,

understand me,

I love all of you,

from eyes to feet, to toenails,

inside

all the brightness, which you kept.

It is I, my love,

who knocks at your door.”

So next time I lock myself out, you can unlock it for me.

She peers into the envelope to see the key resting in the bottom and thinks he may be onto something with poetry if it always sounds like that.

Emma makes sure to beat Killian to the door when they walk back to his place after work so she can try out her new key, and she only smiles wider when the lock slides open. She makes a big show of swinging open the door, gesturing him inside with a sweep of her arm. 

When she gets home that night, Snow and David have once again broken into her loft, but she doesn’t much care for two reasons. Firstly, she knew they were going to do this after they texted her twenty minutes ago and asked whether or not she was spending the night at Killian’s. Secondly, it takes her five whole seconds to read the message on Snow’s shirt that proudly states that she’s “Pregnant AF” (the shirt’s words, not hers) and there’s a whole bunch of happy crying and flailing that follows. 

-x- Late August

Emma arrives home a little late one night to Killian already making dinner. The routines they do still live with all include household chores and the way they divvy them up, and she’s perfectly fine with the structure he’s brought to her previously chaotic lifestyle. He glances over his shoulder when she walks in and smiles.

“Get stuck late again?”

“Not quite,” she says as she comes to stand behind him. “That smells amazing, by the way.”

“It’ll be done in just a bit.”

“Want me to set the table?”

“I’d like to know why you’re avoiding a simple inquiry into why you were so late in such an obvious manner.”

Emma sighs heavily. “I kind of walked all the way back to the loft before I realized I didn’t live there anymore.”

“Kind of? I don’t think that’s something you can kind of do, love,” he says, still managing to stir whatever it is he’s making even when she goes to swat his arm. 

“Okay, so I did. You said it yourself, though. Old habits, right?” She hops up on the counter to watch him cook. 

“Indeed, love. So, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How do you feel our adventures have measured up to the expectations?”

“Well, you didn’t turn into a frog.”

“Aye, I’m sure there’s still time for that. We’re only in the middle of this tale. We’ll just have to see where the pages take us from here.”

“You are such a fucking romance novelist,” she says, laughing brightly when Killian removes his sauce from the stove and turns it off before he moves in to attack. And even though she’s squirming to get away from his nimble fingers as they target her ticklish spots, she sends up a quick thank you to Killian’s faulty alarm clock and his old habit of routines. 

-x- September

“You could just leave those until later,” Killian says, coming up behind Emma as she washes their dishes from dinner. He has his hand and hook on her hips and his lips on her hair, his voice full of implication. 

He’s learned not to try to talk her out of cleaning up, and instead he just enjoys distracting her in the best ways possible. 

She’s wearing a skirt - something she only does when she’s out of leggings - and the soft gray jersey fabric clings to her hips before flaring and draping down. It hides much of her legs, but her backside looks fantastic in it. On top, she has a light yellow shirt that’s tickling at his memories, the lines of a poem he once memorized during his university years making their way back to mind. 

Steady movements continue as she washes and rinses each dish, stacking them in the drying rack before starting to scrub out the sink. He’s struggling to remember the lines, yellow sweater, and with a smirk he glides his hand down to palm the back of her thigh.

“These are anything but boyish haunches,” he says out loud. Emma gasps as the shift from peaceful innocence to dirty.

“What?”

He hums, nosing some of her hair aside so he can find her neck with his lips. “From a poem. Your shirt brought it back to me. ‘The Mists of Pornography’ was the title,” he responds, moving his hand to the front of her thigh and sliding it up to rest on a spot right below her hipbones.

“Why am I not surprised that you know something with ‘pornography’ in the title?”

“Ah, but Swan, it’s about much more than that. Close your eyes. Listen,” he says, and uses his hook to brush the hair off her neck and lean closer to her ear. He sways just a little bit closer as he starts to speak. 

When you rose out of the mist / of pornography - He runs a single finger along her spine until it rests between her shoulders - with your talk of marriage / and orgies / I was a mere boy / of fifty-seven / trying to make a fast buck / in the slow lane / It was ten years too late / but I finally got / the most beautiful girl / on the religious left / to go with her lips / to the sunless place - and here he makes sure to push his hips against her to emphasize as she snorts. He continues reciting, crowding her against the counter, making sure the edge is pressing right where he wants it to.

This was my life / in Los Angeles / when you slowly / removed your yellow sweater - As he speaks, he slowly draws her shirt over her head and she lifts her arms - and I slobbered over / your boyish haunches - He runs his hand over the path that started this all and pushes the skirt off her hips to rub over the back of a now-bare thigh - and I tried to be / a husband / to your dark and motherly / intentions.

I thank you / for the ponderous songs / I brought to completion / instead of fucking you / more often - He punctuates by rolling his hips against her and she gasps as she clutches the sink for stability, and he keeps going.

Your panic cannot hurry me here / and my panic and falling / shoulders / our shameless lives / are the grains / scattered for an offering / before the staggering heights / of our love - His hand glides over her stomach and up to cup a breast through her bra. He’s sure she can feel where his cock is pressing against her ass, hard and wanting. Her hips are pinned against the sink and with each line, he thrusts against her, slowly lighting the fuse of what promises to be a spectacular orgasm if he doesn’t stop.

And the other side of your anxiety / is a hammock of sweat / and moaning - It’s getting harder to pay attention to the poem, especially when he pulls down the straps and cups of her bra, palm meeting her already hardened nipples as he alternates between them. Her body shudders with pleasure and he struggles to continue - and time comes down / like the smallest pet of God / to lick our fingers - he licks her shoulder instead - as we sleep / in the tangle / of straps and bracelets. 

With a great deal of effort, he keeps going, trying to make the lines appear in his head so he can read them off with ease and still give her the attention she deserves - and Oh the sweetness of first nights / and twenty-third nights / and nights / after death and bitterness - She reaches one arm back to wrap around his neck and firmly grasps his hair - and the impeccable order / of the objects on the table - He’s rocking her into the counter at just the right speed and he can tell how close she is with each new word - the weightless irrelevance / of all our old intentions / as we undo / as we undo / every difference.

With the last word of the poem out of his mouth, she tugs hard at his hair and she climaxes, coming undone and leaning back against his chest and tries to catch her breath. 

“Oh god, Killian,” she moans. He’s still rocking them against the counter as she rides out her orgasm. “By far, this is the most interesting way you’ve ever made me orgasm.

“Have I made you a fan of poetry yet, Swan?” He moves his hand back down to her hips, his fingers sliding just under the waist of her panties. She feels loose and light as she turns in his arms and pulls him against her.

“A couple more poems like that and I can definitely be convinced,” she says. “But for now I think I’m more interested in spending time with this one. What was that about lips and sunless places?”

His mind reels because she drops to her knees between him and the cabinets. He grips the counter for stability when she drags her teeth over the zipper of his slacks.

“Think you can recite another one?” She unfastens his trousers, sliding the material down and taking his boxer briefs with it. She wraps one hand around the base of his cock, lightly gripping his hip with the other.

“Hmm?” He’s concentrating really hard on not rocking his hips forward into her skilled hands, incredibly aware of the counter just behind her head. The absolute last thing he wants to do is accidentally give his girlfriend a concussion.

“Another poem, Killian. You have another one up in that head of yours?” She leans in and licks the tip of his erection, grinning up at him.

His mind scrambles for any other poems he memorized.

“You’re making it incredibly difficult to concentrate, love, but I did always love a challenge” he admits, another moan pulling from him as she wraps her lips around the head and sucks lightly. She pulls back again and looks up at him, her smile shining in her eyes.

“You once promised to read me dirty poetry. You’ve given me one. Surely you have another up there,” she says before leaning forward to kiss a spot below his hip bone. 

“There once was a man from Nantucket,” he starts, but she cuts him off with her laughter.

“No, no. Make it a good one.”

The poem that finally makes its way to his mind is not dirty, but he knows she’ll appreciate it. He clears his throat, closing his eyes and trying to concentrate on the words in his head instead of the love at his feet.

All night I have slept with you / next to the sea, on the island. He begins, and she runs her hands along his thighs. Wild and sweet you were between pleasure and sleep, / between fire and water. She grips his cock again and begins stroking it gently, placing kisses along his hip again as he continues.

Perhaps very late / our dreams joined / at the top or at the bottom, / up above like—

“Fuck, Emma,” he moans, her mouth going from the innocence of kisses to wrapping her lips around him once more and swirling her tongue around the tip.

“Keep going,” she pants out when she breaks away, dipping her head right back in when he starts reciting once more.

Perhaps your dream / drifted from mine / and through the dark sea / was seeking me / as before, / when you did not yet exist, / when without sighting you / I sailed by your side, / and your eyes sought / what now—/ bread, wine, love, and anger—/ I heap upon you / because you are the cup / that was waiting for the gifts of my life.

The hand that isn’t gripping the base of his cock trails up his thigh once more, pausing on his hip for a moment before brushing under the shirt that he’s still wearing and she runs her nails down his chest.

I have slept with you / all night long while / the dark earth spins / with the living and the dead, / and on waking suddenly / in the midst of the shadow / my arm encircled your waist. / Neither night nor sleep / could separate us.

She begins bobbing her head while her hand strokes the rest of his length, and it’s a struggle to remember the last stanza for a moment. He drops his head, opens his eyes again to watch her move and it’s too much. His movements against her during the first poem had already aroused him, and her attentions on him now are pushing him closer to the edge.

Emma moans around his length and his knuckles go white where he’s still gripping the counter. He can feel his release coming and she feels it too, speeds up and doesn’t prolong the torture. When it hits him, he has to brace his feet a little more so he doesn’t collapse. He’s breathing hard when she gracefully stands back up into the cage of his arms. She’s grinning, the cat that got the cream, as she winds her arms around his neck.

“Is that the end?” she asks, fingers threading through his hair. He shakes his head and swallows, wraps his arms around her and pulls her close.

I have slept with you / and on waking, your mouth, / come from your dream, / gave me the taste of earth, / of sea water, of seaweed, / of the depths of your life, / and I received your kiss / moistened by dawn / as if it came to me / from the sea that surrounds us.

He kisses her after saying the last verse, tasting his release still lingering on her tongue, and she hums into the kiss.

“Not bad,” she says when she breaks the kiss. “You may have just swayed my opinion. I’m now pro-poetry.” She’s smiling when she meets his eyes, and he chuckles. He places one more kiss on her forehead before bending to hastily pull his underwear back up, stepping out of his discarded trousers and leaving them on the floor.

“I’ll try a lofty and pretentious one next time,” he promises, remembering their previous discussions about poetry now that she’s brought them up.

“Only if you’re fucking me into the mattress when you do it,” she says off-handedly. He huffs out a laugh and rests his forehead against hers.

“You’ll be the death of me, love.” He hugs her tight to him as he says it and he can feel the laugh vibrate through her.

“But you love me anyways,” she responds, dancing her fingers across his shoulders.

“Aye, until the end of time.” He kisses her again, and she whispers her love for him across his lips.

And when they wind up in bed a short time later, he recites whatever he can think of—limericks, haiku, even a poem by Shel Silverstein—as he fulfills her request. 

When the Save-the-Dates go out a few months later, there is, indeed, an asterisk at the bottom that says “David was right.”

[iamnotoriginalphil]

Hot for Teacher (Steve Rogers x Reader)

Synopsis: Your history professor is too hot to handle. If only you could ignore him.

Words: 11k

Warnings: swearing, mentions of drinking

AN: So I saw this picture and my brain did a thing. Now y’all get to see it. I hope you like it, because apparently I couldn’t stop writing.

Taking this class was your own personal form of torture. Actual torture. You hated having it late in the afternoon, the tension building up all day. You’d slide into your seat in the hall, your leg bouncing, waiting for the first moment you’d see him. Every time you’d think it would be a relief, seeing him there in one of those shirts that showed off his arms dissipating the anticipation in your stomach, but then you’d look up at and he’d be standing there and it would get worse.

Today was no difference. He was in that blue shirt you loved so much. It brought out the blue in his eyes and the blond of his hair beautifully. He was reading over his notes, his nose scrunching in a way that made you want to run your finger over it to smooth it out. You shifted in your seat, trying to ignore the heat of your skin.

He glanced up, his eyes roving over the filling lecture hall. You waited, your stomach clenching in anticipation of the brief moment of eye contact you may get. He got distracted by the influx of young girls, giggling amongst themselves as they took their seats at the front of the room. He flashed them a quick smile and the green eyed monster reared up in you. You hated he made you feel that way.

Other than a few brief conversations you’d had little to do with him. You did well in his class, and you tried to keep out of any trouble that may arise. You had assumed that a course on World War Two would be dry and boring but he kept you hanging on his every word. You could listen to him talk all day.

Professor Rogers was the bane of your existence and if you could you would go back in time so you had never known of his existence.

You lowered your gaze at the blank page in front of you. You twirled your pen in your fingers, counting the seconds for when it would be appropriate to look up again. You didn’t need to be caught staring like some kind of stalker. You bit down on your lower lip, worrying it between your teeth.

Your eyes flickered up again. They met his and your whole face became hot. You knew you must be bright red but you couldn’t look away. It was as if he’d ensnared you in his trap and you could do little more than wait for him to release you. It took a student coming up to talk to him to set you free.

Needless to say, you didn’t look at him for the rest of the class.

*******_______^_______*******

Then, he started to frequent the coffee shop you worked at. The first time you stumbled through taking his order, so entranced by the smiles he was giving you that you lost the ability to think. You’d passed it over with shaky hands, concentrating so hard on not spilling it you didn’t hear him talk to you. By the time his voice registered you’d already turned away.

You assumed he wouldn’t come back given the weird customer service you’d provided. You were gobsmacked when he walked back in the next day, smile in place. You’d bit your lip, sneaking glances at him in line while serving the other customers. He’d smiled at you when he got to the front of the line, asked you how your day was going, if it had been busy. Idle chit chat but it made your heart sing. You’d tried to be charming.

Seeing him in class later that day you’d done everything you could to stop the blush rising in your cheek. Seeing him outside of the learning environment made the build up worse. He’d caught your eye and flashed you a smile, the corner of his eyes crinkling.

You were glad you had the next day off work.

********_______^_______******** “You weren’t here yesterday”

You looked up from the cash register. Professor Rogers was standing in front of you, his eyes sparkling as you dropped the coins over the floor. You ducked behind the counter to pick them up and place them back in register. You took a deep breath and looked up again. He was still watching you.

“You’re not going to talk to me?” he asked, his mouth quirking up.

“Sorry,” you muttered, “what can I get you?”

“Where were you?” he asked instead.

“It was my day off. One of my professors set a lot of reading for class,” you sniped, annoyed from staying up late trying to get it done for the class today.

“Sounds like you should complain to your professor,” he said.

“I’m sure he won’t care. You know what professors are like,” you replied, shrugging. He chuckled, looking down then back at you from under his eyelashes. Your heart skipped a beat. “Now what can I get you?”

He placed his order, looking amused. You scrunched your nose at him as you took his money. He moved over to the side to wait for his coffee. You caught his eye as you made it, unable to stop the flush rising on your face.

He smiled as you handed him the coffee, your fingers brushing against one another. It made your heart stutter and you had to take a deep breath.

“See you in class,” he said before turning and walking out. No one person should have such a good ass.

********_______^_______********

Seeing Professor Rogers at work became part of your routine. You never expected for him to become such a big part of your day. He was legitimately the high point of your shift. You’d heard the whispers from the other servers, about the good looking blonde who bestowed smiles so often. Your friend made the observation he only seemed to come in when you were on, that he’d asked about your schedule. It gave you a little thrill to know that.

You couldn’t understand the reason behind it. You had no idea what was going through that man’s mind. You had to wonder if he was actually trying to kill you. He must have noticed the effect he had on you. Maybe he found it amusing.

You knew he liked to catch your eye in classes. Every time he’d flash you that half smile of his that drove you crazy and you’d become breathless. You began to live for those little moments when he made you feel more than just a student, as if you were in on a joke together.

*******_______^_______********

“Hi.”

You glanced over from your place at the bar. A pair of familiar blue eyes were twinkling down at you and a bright smile that made you blush.

“Professor Rogers,” you said in greeting, glancing down at the glass put in front of you.

“You can call me Steve you know,” he said.

“Steve,” you said to yourself, savouring it for a moment.

When you glanced back up at him. He had a slight flush on his cheeks which you assumed was from the hot air blasting through the room. It made him look like a bashful child. It was very endearing. You could almost see the small child he’d been

“Are you here with someone?” he asked.

You glanced over your shoulder, at your group of friends. They’d clocked your conversation partner. You best friend started fanning herself when she saw you looking. You heard Professor Rogers, Steve, chuckle.

“Your friends?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you admitted, turning back to face him. You regretted it when you saw the amusement dancing in his eyes. He must get so tired of women falling at his feet. Knowing you were one of them made you feel pathetic.

“Is this guy bothering you?” someone asked over your shoulder.

You turned, ready to reply with the negative until you saw the cheeky grin directed at your professor.

“If I’d wanted your help I would have asked for it,” Steve said, also grinning at the man.

“You don’t even know you need help,” the man said, “it’s just sad watching you.”

He slid his arm around your shoulders, leading you away form Steve, to a table past your friends. He pulled out the chair for you and you sat, hesitantly looking over your shoulder for Steve. The man sat in the chair across from you, Steve sliding into the one beside you.

“Bucky Barnes, at your service,” the man, Bucky, said, pressing a kiss to the back of your hand.

You couldn’t stop the blood rushing to your cheeks. You took a long drink from your glass, glad you’d forgone alcohol. You sensed you would need your wits with this one.

“Buck,” Steve warned.

You turned to look at him, surprised by the tension in his shoulder. Bucky laughed and lent back in the chair. Steve gave him a reluctant smile before turning to you. You quirked your eyebrow at him, wondering if he would explain all of this to you.

“I don’t think your friends are happy we’ve stolen you,” he said instead.

You turned in your seat to look at the table, their heads together, furious whispering going on. Your best friend looked at you. You gave her a thumbs up. She held up her phone but you shook your head and turned back to the two men.

“Secret code?” Bucky asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” you said and took a sip of your drink.

“You sure know how to pick ‘em, Cap,” he said, winking at you.

“Cap?” you asked, turning to look at Steve. He flushed again, looking down at his fingers spinning the glass. You got distracted watching them, shifting in your seat. It took Bucky laughing for you to pay attention again.

“Captain of the nerds,” Bucky said.

“Just because you flunked out of college doesn’t mean you have to be jealous,” Steve shot back.

“You spent time reading in the library, I spent time meeting girls,” he said, “I know which I prefer.”

“Remind me which one of us is unemployed,” the blonde said, “don’t forget you’re sleeping on my couch.”

“Not for much longer, my friend. Give me a week,” he said, taking a sip from his own pint.

“If you boys are going to continue this pissing contest, I think I’ll rejoin my friends,” you interrupted before Bucky could respond.

You stood from the table, both men following suit. You picked up your glass, stopping when Steve put his hand on your arm. You shivered at the feeling of his bare skin against yours.

“I’m sorry for him,” he said, jerking his chin at Bucky, “I did tell him not to come over.”

“He was more fun than you,” you said with a wink to the brunette.

Steve’s face seemed to fall as you said that, his hand dropping from your arm. You stepped back, suddenly feeling on the wrong foot. You weren’t sure what had happened to make that happen. Surely he understood it was a joke.

“I like her,” you heard Bucky say as you turned away, “if you don’t lock that down, I will.”

*******_______^_______********

“Hey there, pretty lady.”

You looked up the notebook you were writing in. Bucky was standing in front of the counter, smirking at you. You smiled at him, straightening up.

“Hi there, what can I get you?” you asked.

“I’d say you but you’re not on the menu,” he replied.

You flushed but you scrunched your nose at him. He laughed and you realised what a nice sound it was. You could see why Steve was friends with him.

“Gimme whatever it is Cap gets,” he said.

“Coming right up,” you said, moving to make him the coffee.

He took a sip from the cup you gave him. He winced and you quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I fucking hate coffee,” he said.

“Then why’d you order it?” you asked.

He shrugged and took another sip.

“I get why Cap comes here,” he said, “if all the servers are as pretty as you.”

“I think he comes here for the coffee,” you replied, refusing to let him drag you into whatever game he was playing.

“Buck?”

Bucky turned around to look at the man calling his name. You watched as Steve walked towards the two of you, pulling his sunglasses from his face. You almost swooned under the image of him in that tight t-shirt, each and every muscle on display. You could see the other women in the coffee shop stopping to watch him, whispering to each other. You tried not to care.

“What are you doing here?” he asked Bucky.

“You won’t shut up about how good this place is so I thought I’d come give it a try,” he replied.

“You hate coffee.”

“But I like pretty girls.”

Steve glanced at you over Bucky’s shoulder then pulled the other man away. You tried not to watch their whispered conversation, tried to ignore his entire presence. It had been agony after seeing him at the Irish pub you and your friends frequented. Bucky had managed to get in your head.

You looked up when you heard Steve tap on the counter in front of you. He flashed that heart stopping smile in your direction and you had to remind yourself to breath.

“Your usual?” you asked.

“Here you go mate,” Bucky said, reaching over his shoulder to hand him the coffee cup, “you have shit taste.”

“I don’t want your cast offs,” Steve said, looking down at it with a nose scrunched up in disgust.

“You were singing a different tune when I introduced you to that blonde,” he said, patting him on the back, “see you later, darling.”

You saluted him as he waved goodbye to you. Steve looked at you with a raised eyebrow. You shrugged, not able to explain anything his friend was on about. You owed him no explanation if he was the one enjoying Bucky’s blonde cast offs.

“I’d like one he hasn’t drunk out of,” he said.

“Coming up, Professor Rogers,” you said.

He groaned, a pained look on his face. You ignored him, concentrating on his order. You didn’t want to think of him wrapped up in some faceless blonde’s arms. You didn’t need him. Bucky seemed as if he’d be up for it and he was as handsome as any man you’d seen.

You handed him the cup, accepting the old one to throw out. He lowered his head, looking you in the eye.

“There was no blonde,” he said, “Bucky is full of it.”

You ignored the thrill that information sent through you. You gave him a smile and it seemed as if he let out a breath he’d been holding. He smiled at you too.

“I’ll see you later?” he asked.

“I’ll be there in the back row,” you replied.

“Good.”

You watched him walk out trying not to overthink what me meant by that.

********_______^_______********

One day, a few weeks later, he brought the most gorgeous woman you’d ever seen to the coffee shop. You tried to ignore the curl of jealousy in your lower stomach or the way you wanted to throw up just looking at them. You barely smiled at him when he reached the counter. He was in the middle of a conversation with the woman, so you doubted he even noticed.

You handed them their coffees, hoping he’d look at you, hoping he would notice. All he did was flash you a quick smile then walk out with her again.

You were so used to him asking after your day, caring about you. You were used to sharing a joke and a laugh with him. You felt like you were at least his friend, even if your heart wanted something more. But his actions made you feel as if you were being tossed aside for something better.

And it was obvious that woman was better. In every way.

When it came time to show up to his class you kept your head down, not risking a glance in his direction. You sat in the furthest corner, setting everything up so you wouldn’t look at him. You sat there, taking notes, trying so hard not to get lost in his voice. You only had a few weeks left of the class. All you had to do was get through them then you never had to see him again. If he made you feel like this just by having another female friend, then you needed out of whatever kind of relationship you had built.

You heard him call out your name at the end of class as you tried to hurry past. You turned, taking a deep breath, readying yourself for the sheer force of his charisma to hit you.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, trying to look deep into your eyes.

“Fine,” you replied, averting your gaze to your feet.

“Are you sure?” he asked, “you don’t seem it.”

“Professor Rogers, I’m fine. Promise.”

“Steve.” That pained looked was back.

“I’m going to go unless there’s something else, Professor.”

He didn’t say anything so you turned away. You looked down at your feet, wrapping your arms around yourself, trying to keep all the emotions in check. You ran headlong into a hard body as the door thumped shut behind you. You glanced up into a pair of familiar eyes.

“Hey Bucky,” you said.

“You alright, darling?” he asked, his hands on your elbows to steady you.

“Yeah,” you said.

“I was going to see Cap, but I think you might need my attention more,” he said, leading you away from the class. He pulled you outside, taking you to one of the tables in the quad. He sat you down before sitting across from you, his hands crossed under his chin.

“It should be a criminal offence to make a beautiful woman cry,” he said.

“I’m not crying,” you replied.

“But you want to.”

You looked down at your twisting hands. There was a part of you that did want to cry. There was a bigger part of you that wasn’t going to let some man make you fall apart, especially when you’d never been promised anything from him. Even if he’d made you think he might one day.

“Look, Cap isn’t very savvy when it comes to the ladies. But he likes you,” he said, “it’s obvious to anyone who knows him.”

“Please don’t,” you said, “I’d rather forget he exists.”

“Want to go get drunk?”

“Fuck yes.”

********_______^______********

You awoke with a pounding headache and a mouth tasting of a dead rodent. You rolled over, groaning when the light hit your eyes. You climbed to your feet, clutching your stomach. You stumbled off to the side, pushing open the door to bathroom. You emptied the contents of your stomach into the toilet, heaving hard enough to hurt your abdominal muscles.

You rested your head against the cool tiles, letting out a long sigh. You felt like hell. All you wanted to do was curl up and go back to sleep. You climbed to your feet, sticking your head under the faucet in the sink, washing out your mouth and drinking as much water as you dared.

You looked around the room, realising you had no idea where you were. You pushed open the door again, walking through the unfamiliar bedroom. You could hear a low murmur of voices in the other room. You walked out, hoping it would be Bucky.

Your eyes met a familiar pair of blue ones and your heart sunk. You turned around and walked back to the bathroom, the nausea rolling over you. You heaved over the toilet again, bile and water all that was left to come up.

A pair of cool hands pulled your hair out of your face and you tried to ignore the tears gathering in your eyes. You hated throwing up. It was the worst thing to do.

“Get it all out, doll,” Steve said, rubbing his hand over your back.

You tried to push him off you, not wanting this man to see you in such a sorry state. You were so weak it did nothing. All he did was continue to run his hand over your back in comforting circles.

“Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He held you steady as he rifled through Bucky’s medicine cabinet. He handed you painkillers and a glass full of water. He kept you upright as you downed the water and painkillers. You lent against him, closing your eyes against the harsh light.

He led you back out of the bathroom, settling you on the couch. You keeled over, burying your head in one of the cushions, trying to block everything out. You heard Steve and Bucky murmuring off to the side.

“Come on, doll, I’m going to take you home.”

You felt a pair of hands pull you up from the sofa. You opened your eyes, squinting at Steve. He put his arm around your waist to steady you.

“Can’t Bucky do it?” you asked.

“He’s not doing too well himself, doll,” he said.

“Well, can’t I stay here then?” you asked.

“I don’t think that would be such a great idea.” His hand tightened on your waist, “I’ll carry you out if I have to.”

“But you don’t know where I live,” you said.

“I guess I’ll have to bring you home with me, then,” he said.

You ignored the shiver of pleasure that went down your spine at that thought. You stepped out of his hold, wanting to feel as if you had made the choice to let him take you home. You gave Bucky a hug before you left the apartment. You waited for Steve in the hall while he said whatever he had to to Bucky.

He put his arm around your waist when he emerged, leading you into the elevator. You tried to ignore that little thrill in your stomach you had every time he touched you. He pressed the button for the garage and held you steady as the lift jolted to start your descent.

You groaned at the feeling of your stomach curdling. He pressed his lips to your temple, in what you assumed he thought was comforting but just made the whole thing worse. All this physical contact was ruining any chance of you maintaining your sanity.

He led you to a beautiful car, sleek and shiny. He held the door open for you to duck inside. You settled in the seat, leaning back and closing your eyes. If you threw up in his car you would die from embarrassment.

You didn’t notice as he started the engine and pulled out of the garage. You squinted your eyes open at the new influx of light. The world was moving too fast outside. You closed your eyes again.

“I think I might have kissed Bucky last night,” you said into the silence, pieces of unconnected memory surfacing.

You didn’t notice the shift in the air as tension entered Steve’s body. He clenched his jaw, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel. You didn’t see any of it with your eyes closed.

“That’s good information to have,” he said.

“I think he might have also told me it was a bad idea because of you,” you said, trying to work through what had happened.

“Because of me?” he asked.

“I think so,” you said, “it’s all kinda fuzzy.”

He hummed but didn’t ask you to talk any more. You were almost certain you had kissed Bucky and he had told you it was a bad idea because of your feelings for Steve and his for you. You were pretty sure he was full of shit and was trying to help you not make a fool of yourself because he didn’t see you that way. You squeezed your eyes tight.

“You still don’t know where I live,” you said, “where are you taking me?”

“To get some food into you,” he said.

“Are you trying to kill me?” you groaned, turning away from him.

“If I wanted to kill you I wouldn’t go to all this trouble to do it,” he said.

You groaned again. You could hear him chuckling and you would have tried to hit him if you weren’t sure your arms weren’t made of jelly. You curled up in your seat, refusing to look at him.

The door opened and you almost fell out of the car. If it weren’t for the arms catching your body, you would have strangled yourself with the seatbelt. Steve was laughing at you again as he unbuckled you and got you on your feet.

“I’m not a child,” you mumbled.

“Are you sure about that, doll?” he asked.

You tried to stride away from him, but you had no idea where you were meant to be going. He put his hand on the small of your back, guiding you to the cafe. He held the door open for you. You would have melted into a puddle if you weren’t so annoyed at him treating you like a misbehaving child.

You slumped in the chair he pulled out for you. You rested your head on your arms, the light still too bright. You wanted to curl up in bed and the fact Steve was forcing you into being out was the worst kind of torture you could imagine.

He ordered for both of you when he realised you weren’t going to be helpful. You were sure you looked ridiculous, that you were living up to your role as a petulant child.

“Two coffees,” the waitress said, putting them down on the table.

You sat up, pulling the mug towards you. You closed your eyes as you inhaled the smell. It was the sweetest nectar you’d ever smelt. You would have married that cup of coffee if you could have.

“Doll?”

You looked up at Steve. He was holding the mug between his mouth and the table, giving you one of those small smiles that let you know how amused he was with your antics.

“Are you going to drink it, or just smell it?” he asked.

You scrunched your nose up at him but you lifted the cup to your mouth, taking a long drink of the hot liquid. You closed your eyes, moaning at the taste of it. It was better than anything you ever made at the shop. How was it so good?

You opened your eyes again to see if you’d gained Steve’s approval. There was a flush on his cheeks and you titled your head, trying to figure out what had happened.

“Everything okay?” you asked.

“Everything is perfect, doll,” he replied, taking his own sip.

Two plates of food were put down in front of you. Your stomach roiled and you gulped. You put down the cup and pushed away from the table.

“Be back in a minute,” you murmured.

You walked through the cafe to the bathroom. You pushed open the door, thankful to get away from the smell of food. You stood in front of the faucet, running cool water over your face. You looked up, catching sight of yourself in the mirror for the first time. You’d never seen yourself look worse. You groaned at Steve seeing you look that haggard. He’d never take you seriously again.

You splashed some more water on your face and took a deep breath. You pushed back out into the cafe, doing your best to not run into anyone’s table.

A woman was standing beside Steve, hand on shoulder, leaning closer to talk to him. You stopped a little way back, watching as Steve smiled up at her, engaging her in conversation. You were taken back to where you were the day before, wanting to go out with Bucky and get drunk.

He glanced over the woman’s shoulder and lit up. He stood from the table, bidding the woman goodbye. He moved past her, coming to stand in front of you. He put his hand on your shoulder, leaning forward to look at you properly.

“You alright, doll?” he asked.

You nodded, trying to give him a small smile. He cupped your face, making you look him in the eye. He seemed satisfied, nodding as he led you back to the table. You settled in your seat, looking down at the food that had sent you running.

You picked up your cup, taking another drink from it before facing the food. Steve was watching you, half his plate already gone.

“Am I going to have to feed you?” he asked.

You flushed but you picked up your fork and began eating. He kept watching until all the food was gone. He only started eating again once your plate was clear. You watched him, trying to figure out why he was taking care of you, why he was putting up with all your bullshit.

“Are you going to tell me where you live now?” he asked as he finished up, “or are you trying to get me to bring you home with me?”

You tried not to blush again, you really did, but Steve had the inexplicable talent of making you feel like one of those heroines in those trashy romance books that swooned any time the hero opened his mouth. He stood up, pulling his wallet from his back pocket, ignoring you as you protested his paying for your breakfast. He was doing too much for you. He’d held your hair back as you’d thrown up for christ’s sake.

“You ready?” he asked, putting his wallet back into his pocket.

You pushed away from the table and stood up, feeling a little more steady with the food in your stomach. At the very least you were no longer worried you’d fill his car with vomit. He still put his hand on your lower back, leading you back to his car. He held the door open as you slid into the interior.

“Your address?” he asked after he did up his seat belt.

You gave it to him and he pulled out into traffic. You lent back in your seat, taking this time to look at him. His profile was too perfect. No single person in the world had such a perfect face. His hair was swept off his face and caught the light in a way that made your heart clench.

“So why WWII?” you asked, pulling your legs up to wrap your arms around your knees.

“What do you mean?” he asked, flicking his eyes to you then back to the road.

“That’s your area of interest, right?” you asked, “why do you love it so much?”

You watched his face light up in understanding. You bit your lip at the soft smile on his face, so pure and perfect. He was all kinds of wonderful.

“It was such a transitional time in our history. Nothing fascinates me more than the way the world changed during that period. It laid the foundation for the world we live in now,” he said.

“So you’re not just in it for the war?” you asked.

“War is so full of death and pain. No one can like that,” he said, shaking his head.

“Some people do,” you said.

He shrugged but didn’t respond. You let your eyes rove over him, watching the way his fingers were wrapped round the steering wheel, the way biceps bulged in a way no normal human’s would, the little crease he got between his eyebrows as he concentrated. Your fingers itched to smooth it.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” you said, “I’m sure you had better things to do with your Saturday morning.”

“Not really,” he replied, flashing you a quick smile. Your heart skipped a beat.

“Thank you anyway.”

His smile softened again, his eyes staying trained on the road. There was nothing more for you to do but settled against the seat, watching him. His fingers tapped along with the song on the quiet radio, barely noticeable. The smell of his cologne wrapped around you in a comforting hug, filling your every orifice. You were sure you’d be able to smell it for days to come. His fingers tightened then relaxed on the steering wheel.

“I didn’t realise you were so close with Bucky,” he said into the silence.

“I’m not,” you replied, “or at least I wasn’t. I don’t know. People are hard.”

“But you went out with him?” he prodded.

“He was there and he offered,” you replied with little more than a shrug, “I didn’t want want to be with anyone I knew well. Just someone to have fun with.”

“What happened that made you want that?” he asked, “you seemed upset yesterday.”

You looked out the window, not wanting to look at him. If you did you’d remember the way he’d ignored you the day before. You couldn’t admit it to him without sounding like a petulant child, an image you’d been doing your best to get rid of despite your antics that morning.

“Was it me?” he asked, his voice quiet. You would have missed it if your entire body wasn’t so attuned to him.

“Was what you?” you asked.

“Did I upset you?” he asked.

You clenched your jaw. You didn’t want to lie but you couldn’t admit the problem. There was no way you’d live down sounding like a jealous girlfriend when you had no more claim on him than anyone else. He reached out, his hand resting on your knee. You froze.

“I’m sorry.”

You spent the rest of the car ride in silence. When he pulled up outside your building you offered a quiet thanks and got out of the car. He let you go without a word. You paused at your door, turning to look back. He was watching you, his gaze oddly intense. You shivered and turned back, entering your building. Your bed was calling to you.

********_______^______*******

You weren’t sure where you stood with Steve anymore. He was still friendly, flashing you those smiles that made your heart skip a beat but you didn’t want to let him too close anymore. You didn’t want to have that same kind of break down again, those same kind of feelings attacking you. You did not want to get your hopes up again.

Bucky was still checking up on you. You’d catch up for coffee between classes and you realised he was refusing to take sides. He’d avoid talking about Steve completely, which was fine by you as you were trying not to think about him too much. If you did you’d think back on that morning when he was taking care of you.

You managed to get through the last few weeks of the year without getting into a situation with Steve beyond professor and student. It was a relief once the class was done. You knew you’d run into him, he did keep coming to the coffee shop after all, but now you didn’t need to see him all the time. You didn’t have to pay attention to him.

You took some time off from the coffee shop to go travelling over the summer with some friends. It was one of the greatest experiences of your life, driving across country, doing your best to visit every single state. You’d never felt more free in those few weeks on the road.

It was a relief to get home and catch up on all the sleep you’d missed. Your bed was the most comfortable thing in the world and you promised you’d never leave it again. You woke up to find Bucky in your kitchen the morning after getting back. He told you to sit down, drink up the coffee and tell him everything you’d seen, despite the fact you’d been sending him pictures every couple of hours.

It was nice to have someone to debrief with, who didn’t judge you after seeing you at your worst more than once. Seeing him did bring up questions about Steve, but you figured that was to be expected. You had assumed he’d forgotten about you in the intervening weeks. You were nothing more than one of his ex-students.

********_______^_______********

You didn’t expect to find Steve leaning against the side of his car outside your apartment building.

You had been heading out to meet Bucky at your cafe. He’d asked for you to join him to get him the employee discount. You’d agreed because you’d been sleeping for the last two days and needed time to reestablish contact with the outside world before going back to work. You’d been given an extra week off after you’d gotten back from your trip to get your head back in the game. Sometimes you really did appreciate your manager.

“Hey,” you said, walking up to him.

“Welcome back.”

He walked around the car and held open to the passenger seat. You crossed your arms over your chest and raised an eyebrow at you.

“Are you kidnapping me?” you asked.

“We’re going for coffee,” he replied in that voice he used when he was refusing to be dragged into an argument.

“I already have plans to get coffee with someone.”

“Yeah, with Bucky,” he said, “He agreed to swap with me.”

“I’m not a toy you can pass around with your friends,” you replied.

“I meant he’s going to see Natasha about access to the private collection for me and I’m spending the afternoon with you. He’s better at charming people than I am,” he said, “are you going to keep being difficult?”

You clenched your jaw and stomped over to the car. You slid onto the seat, letting him close the door on the humid air of the city. He started up the engine and pulled out into traffic. You stared out at the city speeding past, thankful for the cool air but not much else.

“I’m sensing you’re mad at me,” he said into the silence.

“I’m not,” you snapped.

You heard that wry chuckle you’d grown used to over the last few months. You didn’t want to feel those same feelings you’d felt then, the way you’d wanted to keep amusing him. Now all you wanted to do was forget he’d ever had such control over your feelings.

He pulled over. You clenched your jaw again, squeezing your eyes shut for a moment. When you reopened them Steve was holding the door open for you. You took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.

You had no idea where you were.

“Steve?”

He hummed, leading you away from the road.

“Where are we?” you asked, “I thought we were getting coffee.”

“We are,” he replied.

He opened a door to a building, putting his hand on your lower back to lead you inside. You shivered at the contact, every previous touch flashing through your mind. You shook your head, trying to stop from falling back into old patterns.

“Where are we?” you asked.

“I thought you’d appreciate not having to pay for coffee,” he replied.

“That didn’t answer my question, professor,” you said.

He looked down at you with a raised eyebrow as he pressed the button for the lift. He ushered you inside, leaning forward to press the button for one of the middle floors. In such an enclosed space you felt as if his cologne was wrapping around you like a second skin.

The doors opened and he held his arm out, letting you leave the lift first. You followed him down the hall, ignoring the noises coming from behind the other doors. He pulled a bundle of keys from his pocket, inserting one into the door he’d stopped in front of. He pushed the the door open and you stepped inside.

It was the most Steve-like place you’d ever seen. The sunlight poured through the window leading out onto a tiny balcony. You could see the dust particles spin through the air. The brown leather of his sofa looked worn and well loved, the blanket over one end hand knitted and the cushions plump and soft. It smelt like paper and ink, reminding you of an old second-hand bookstore.

Books were piled up all over the room, most on history but many worn paperback novels amongst the collection. The coffee table was covered in loose paper, some with mug rings staining the pristine surface. Beyond the general clutter of his work the rest of the room was well organised and clean.

“Home sweet home,” Steve said, pushing you forward again so he could close the door.

“What are we doing here?” you asked.

“Having coffee.”

You followed him towards the kitchen, watching him move through the space as comfortable and confident as he was when he lectured on history. Visions of an impossible future flitted through your mind. The uncomfortable weight of sadness settled in your stomach.

His fingers brushed against yours as he passed you a mug. You turned away, walking over to the glass door leading to the balcony. The air was warm in the sunlight and you turned your face up to the sun, drinking it in. It was the most comforting part of your afternoon so far.

“Why am I here, Steve?” you asked with a sigh.

You turned back around to find him sitting on the sofa, one ankle resting on his knee. He was watching you, one of those soft smiles on his face that he gave whenever he listened to Bucky. You took a sip from the mug he’d given you, trying to shake off the feeling you were out of your depth. You were tired of feeling like a child in this man’s presence.

“I thought it was time to talk,” he said.

“About?”

He arched his brow and held out his hand to you. You ignored it, staying by the window. At the very least it was a handy exit should you need to make a quick escape. He looked exasperated and stood up, walking towards you. You backed up until your back hit the cold glass of the window. He stopped too close to you.

“I’ve done something to upset you,” he said, “don’t argue.”

“It wasn’t-“ He put his finger on your lips, silencing you. You could feel your hands shaking and clutched the mug tighter.

“I told you not to argue,” he said, “Bucky won’t tell me what it is. He’s been telling me to talk to you for weeks but then you went away. I wish I’d done this weeks ago.”

He dropped his hand from your face, instead taking the mug from your hand. He turned back, putting both yours and his on the low coffee table. You trembled as he turned back, his eyes boring into yours.

“Please tell me what I did.”

“You didn’t do anything. It was me,” you said, your voice quiet. You looked down at your feet, shuffling against the carpet. He tucked his finger under your chin, pushing your face up to look at him.

“What happened?” he asked.

You shook your head. You didn’t want to vocalise the insecurity, the hope and the dreams, the way you’d felt crushed. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t. It was you placing all your hope on him without ever saying anything. You’d hurt your own feelings.

He brushed away some of the hair that had fallen in your eyes. You hated how he touched you, as if it was no big deal, as if it didn’t send your heart into overdrive every single time. His fingers trialed over your cheek, lingering as he looked down at you.

“Stop it.”

You knocked his hand away from you and ducked out from where he’d crowded you against the window. You walked back to the centre of the room, needing to put distance between you and him. He was still watching you, his gaze almost burning your skin more than the sun ever could.

“I thought we were friends,” he said.

“We were,” you replied.

“Were?”

You closed your eyes, squeezing them shut, wishing this was nothing more than a bad dream. When you opened your eyes you’d be in bed, ready to meet Bucky for coffee just as you planned. You squinted your eyes open.

You were still in Steve’s apartment.

“You can’t say that and then not explain what you mean,” he said. He really wasn’t to let you get away with it.

“I think it would be better if we weren’t anymore,” you said, “I think it would be best for both of us if we just went our seperate ways.”

“Why?’ he asked. He stepped towards you and you stepped back. You knew when he was too close all rational thought disappeared. He managed to dazzle you with little more than a lopsided smile. He looked hurt but didn’t try to get closer.

“I just don’t think we click,” you said, “I think we’re too different.”

“I think that’s bullshit.”

You started, the swear word so at odds with the man you knew. He was watching you, his arms crossed over his chest. You’d never seen him look this way, a terrible combination of frustration and almost unconfined anger.

“I think I did something that upset you and you’re not willing to admit it to me. I think you think it’s easier to push me out of your life because you’re scared of what the alternative is.”

“And what’s the alternative?” you snapped.

“This.”

He strode across the room, grasped your face in both his hands and drew you up into a searing kiss. All thoughts flew from your head and you succumbed under the fire of his touch. He pulled you close and you melted against his body, moulding yourself to every bump and dip of his body. You wanted more. You wanted everything.

He drew back, pressing his forehead to yours. His eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily. He slid his hands from where they cupped your cheeks to tangle his fingers with yours. You couldn’t catch up, couldn’t put together the kiss and the argument and all the feelings in your chest.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that,” he said.

He blinked his eyes opened, the deep blue so easy to get lost in this close. You couldn’t look away as he lent forward, capturing your lips once again. This kiss didn’t last as long, so fleeting, leaving you wanting more.

“What?” Your voice was barely there, soft and broken.

He smiled, almost sadly as he let you go. Your fingers clenched as if you were trying to stop him once he was already gone. You shook your head. You couldn’t remember why you were so angry before.

“The first time I saw you in that first class you took my breath away. And it only got worse from there. You were my own personal form of torture,” he said, “I spent months feeling like I was a creep, unable to tear my eyes away from you while giving my lecture. I felt like one of those sleazy teachers praying on young girls. But everything you did, everything you do, drives me wild.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening right now,” you said, shaking your head again.

“I’m trying to confess my feelings for you,” he said, one corner of his lips quirking up.

“Why?” you asked.

“I need to stop you disappearing from my life,” he said, “I need you.”

“No you don’t.”

“Don’t tell me what I do and don’t need,” he said.

You walked to him, looking up into his face. He was pushing his hand through his hair, tugging on the ends as he watched you. You reached up, pulling his hand from his hair. His shoulders slumped and he ducked his head.

“If you’re going to tell me you don’t feel the same way it’s okay,” he said, “I had to try.”

You cupped his cheek, pulling him down into a soft kiss, hoping it would be enough. His hand settled on your waist, crushing you to him. Your free hand clutched at his shirt, doing your best to make sure he couldn’t get away from you.

You couldn’t stop him from drawing away again, or from him curling forward to rest his forehead on your shoulder. You slid your hands up his back, holding him as he breathed deeply.

“Does this mean you’re not leaving?” he asked, his voice muffled in your shirt.

“Not now I’m not,” you replied, running your fingers through his hair.

********_______^_______*******

It didn’t surprise you that Steve drew stares from strangers. He was literally the most attractive person you’d ever seen so if he drew admiring looks from people who didn’t know him you couldn’t find fault. You used to be one of those strangers. There was nothing wrong with stares.

It was the random women flirting with him.

He never explicitly encouraged it but he was polite and there were times you thought he didn’t realised what they were doing. You’d be sitting in a cafe or a restaurant with him, your hands clasped on the table or one of his hands resting on your leg, and they’d come over all giggles and twirling hair. In those moments you’d become invisible.

Bucky was good during these times, diverting their attention onto him. You still felt like an ass for feeling so jealous, especially when Steve never did anything to indicate he was anything less than ecstatic with you. You trusted him not to cheat. You trusted him not to leave you.

But there was a nagging voice in the back of your head telling you that you weren’t good enough to be with him.

********_______^_______********

It all came to a head when you were getting off work, about a week before semester was starting up again. Steve was sitting at a table, waiting for you, one leg crossed over the other as he read one of those books from his impossibly large collection. You were just finished up one last transaction when a woman walked in.

You’d looked up at the tinkle of the bell, the move so automatic it wasn’t until you’d looked down again that it registered with you. You watched over the customer’s shoulder as she spotted Steve and made right for him. Her red hair barely brushed her shoulders but her hips swayed with each step, her form fitting dress making you swear off cake for the next century. You watched as one of the patrons dribbled coffee into his lap as he watched her walk by. You felt something curdle in your stomach.

You pulled your apron off your body and folded it over your arm. Steve was talking to the woman, her back to you but she was leaning towards him. Steve’s eyes flickered over her shoulder and you say him visibly perk up as you walked towards him.

“All done?’ he asked, interrupting whatever it was the woman was saying.

You nodded. He held you his arm to you and you automatically went to him. He put his arm around your waist as you stood next to him, your own arm sliding over his shoulder, your fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. You looked at the other woman who was watching with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Nat, this is the girl I’ve been telling you about,” Steve said, squeezing your hip.

“He will not shut up about you,” the woman, Nat, said, extending her hand out towards you, “everyone in the office is growing sick of him.”

You grasped her hand, her grip strong as she shook your hand. You gave her a weak smile, still not sure what was going on. This was the woman Steve had ignored you for all those months ago. You could see she was far more beautiful than you and had an easy camaraderie with him that you sometimes felt you couldn’t emulate. You wanted to curl up in your bed and never deal with this problem. If you could just ignore it it would go away.

“Nat is negotiating with us to let me in to see the Stark collection,” Steve said, looking up at you with that brilliant smile. He’d been talking about the Stark collection for the last week, everything coming back to those documents he was desperate to get his hands on.

“Tony is being difficult again so just ignore any emails he sends you until I can talk to him,” she said to Steve.

“I always do,” he replied.

He stood up, his chair scraping against the floor. He pulled you against his body, pressing a kiss to your temple. Nat smiled, her face softening. She seemed more approachable, less cold bitch which had been your first impression of her.

“Call me when you have more you need from me,” he said, “I need to go spend some time with my girl.”

He led you out of the cafe, his arm a comforting weight around you. You settled against him more comfortably, letting him decided where you went. You didn’t want to think about it. You couldn’t stop remembering how he had ignored you for Nat, how small you’d felt in that moment.

“You’re quiet,” he said, “bad shift?”

“No, it was fine,” you replied slowly, “maybe I’ve been on my feet too long.”

“If you don’t talk to me I can’t help, doll” he said.

“I’d rather we didn’t talk about it in public,” you replied.

You knew Steve hated making you feel uncomfortable, or causing a scene. You figured if you asked to talk about it in private you’d be able to distract him before you got back to his apartment. If you could keep him mind on something else you wouldn’t have to admit your own weaknesses. It was hard when he seemed not to have any.

He led you down the street, not saying anything. You couldn’t gage how he was feeling or what was running through his mind. Sometimes he seemed like a whole other species to you. You always felt like you didn’t know what was going through his mind.

You didn’t realise he’d managed to walk you the entire way back home. He held the door open for you, just as he had that first day, and you ducked inside, glad for the cool air of the foyer. You followed him into the lift, realising you needed to come up with a plan to distract him before he could ask you about your day. You could kiss him, that always distracted him.

You fell on the sofa as soon as he let you into the apartment. You let out a grateful groan at the pressure on your feet being relieved. You buried your face in one of the cushions, closing your eyes against the warm light of the room. You could fall asleep right here. You had plenty of times before.

Maybe if you pretended to be too tired Steve would drop it.

“Talk to me, doll.”

No such luck then.

You hauled yourself into a sitting position. Steve was sitting on the coffee table, leaning towards you, his arms resting on his knees. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. You supposed you always knew this moment was coming, that you’d have to admit all the irrational feelings that sometimes built up in your chest.

He put a hand on your knee. You opened your eyes.

“That night when I went out with Buck and got drunk,” you began, “it was because of you.”

A pained look crossed his face but he didn’t do anything to make you stop. You took another steadying breath.

“That day you came to coffee shop,” you said.

“I remember,” he interrupted, “you had on a blue t-shirt the same colour as your eyes.”

You blushed, not sure if he really had noticed then or if it was later in the day during the class when he’d seen. Either way, it was a nice touch on his part.

“Well, you brought Nat,” you said, “and you kind of ignored me.”

“I would never ignore you,” he said, shaking his head.

“You were talking to her and all you did was smile at me when I gave you your coffee,” you said, “I know I’m blowing it out of proportion but it made me feel like shit.”

“I’m sorry, that was not my intent,” he said.

“No, don’t apologise,” you said, “you’re perfect, you’ve done nothing wrong. You were talking with a person. It happens. I do it all the time. But she’s literally the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and you’re so gorgeous you take my breath away and sometimes I can’t help but wonder why you’re with me. It makes no sense. And it’s not because of you, because you’re perfect, you never do anything to make me think you don’t want me. Maybe that’s what gets me. I don’t know why you want me. You could have anyone. Why me?”

“You’re beautiful, and you’re kind, and you’re funny. Just seeing you makes me smile,” he said without hesitation, “you always make me smile. You’re the best part of every single day.”

You smiled, looking down at the twisting hands in your lap. He always had the perfect thing to say. You didn’t deserve someone like that.

“Sometime my brain just tells me you’re gonna leave me for someone better,” you said.

“When you told me you kissed Bucky that night I thought I’d lost any chance to be with you,” he said, “I thought you liked him more than me and I had no chance. Buck is the greatest man I’ve ever known and it wouldn’t have surprised me to know you’d chosen him. You wouldn’t have been the first.”

“You don’t see yourself very clearly,” you said, your voice quiet.

“Neither do you, doll.”

He shifted from the table to the sofa, cupping your cheek. You looked up into his eyes, surprised to find tears gathering. You reached up, tracing your finger over his cheekbone. His eyes closed as if he were in pain.

“I see how well you get on with him. You go to him when you have a problem, when you want to have fun, when you want to talk. I love that you’re such good friends, but sometimes it’s hard to shake the thought that you kissed him,” he said.

“I was sad and hurt and drunk. I never thought I had a chance with you. I didn’t really want him. He was just there.”

He surged forward, kissing you, the most desperate he’d ever been. You gasped into his mouth. You fell back against the arm of the sofa, his arms caging you in. Your fingers buried themselves in his hair, not letting him leave you.

“Next time you feel this way,” he growled, drawing back a minuscule amount, “tell me.”

“As long as you promise to let me know if you think I’m leaving you for Buck,” you breathed.

He kissed you again, driving any thoughts from your head.

********_______^_______********

You forgot Steve had an office until he asked you to meet him there on the first day back at college. You’d never been there while in his class, never needing to. Now you wondered how you could have ever been anywhere else.

It had the same vibe as his apartment. There were pot plants all over, a worn sofa shoved against one of the walls, and books stacked on the desk. He had a window facing out onto the lawn outside the building. You could see other students sitting on the grass .

He was leaning back in his chair, a pen tapping against his lower lip. He looked up as you shut the door, leaning back against it. He smiled, dropping the pen onto the table and getting up.

“You’re here.”

“You asked to me to come here,” you said, wrinkling your brow, “why the surprise?”

“I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to be seen with me.”

He gave you one of those shy half smiles. It made your heart swell with how much you cared for him. He stepped out from behind his desk, reaching for your hand. You let him lead you to the sofa, sitting you down on the soft cushion. You looked up at him, watching as he gazed down at you.

“I always want to be seen with you,” you said.

“Even though I’m a crotchety old professor?”

You could hear the laughter behind his voice. His eyes were sparkling and you were getting ready to role your eyes at him. He was well aware he left a line of heartbroken girls at the end of every semester. Bucky had told you all the stories. He’d comforted more than a few of them.

“Did you need something or did you just want something pretty to stare at?” you asked, tossing your hair over your shoulder.

“I always want something pretty to stare at,” he said, “it’s why I keep Bucky around.”

You laughed, your head thrown back. You felt the sofa dip and you opened your eyes, still laughing as Steve pulled you closer to him. You pressed a quick kiss to his lips. He pulled you back towards him when you tried to draw back. His hand was so warm on the bare skin of your waist from where your shirt had ridden up.

“I just needed to hear your voice,” he said when he let you go.

“Bad day?” you asked.

“Freshmen at 9am are the worst bunch of people I’ve ever had to deal with,” he sighed.

“Just flash them that gorgeous smile of yours and they’ll be too entranced to be annoying,” you said, running your thumb over his lower lip.

He smiled, pressing his forehead against yours. You threaded your fingers through his hair, holding him in place as you smiled with him. He made you feel so happy.

“I’m cooking for you tonight,” you said.

“Really?” His smile got brighter.

“Uh huh,” you said, “and if you give me your key I can go home and start preparing.”

He leapt off the sofa, rummaging through his desk draw. He struggled with the key ring, pulling his apartment key from the rest of them. He tossed the key to you, and you fumbled it, dropping it into your lap. You picked it up, holding it up to the light and looking at it.

“You trust me not to set your place on fire?” you asked.

“You never have before,” he said, “I trust you.”

You got up, slinging your arms around his neck and pulling him down to you. You’d never felt closer to him, not even during your first time together. Knowing he trusted you enough with his space made you feel so warm inside.

He pressed a kiss to your forehead as you drew back from him. His smile was soft and you bit your lower lip. He tucked some hair behind your ear.

“I’ll see you when I get home.”

Home. That was a such a nice word.

********_______^_______********

The last few months had been the happiest of your life. You hadn’t believed it was possible to be this happy. Steve was the single greatest thing to happen in your life and there was no part of it you were willing to give up. You basically lived with him these days.

You’d gone to bed, leaving Steve up to finish his marking. He’d been complaining about the utter lack of literacy in some freshmen. He’d read you some of the sentences, earning eye roll after eye roll from you. You’d left him there as the hour grew too late and your eyes became too heavy.

In a half asleep state you felt a pair of arms wrap around your waist. You rolled over, burying your face in his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of soap and sandalwood. You felt him nuzzle against the top of your head, letting out a long sigh.

“Let’s stay in bed all day tomorrow,” he said, his voice gravely and tired.

You murmured something in agreement, settling against him more comfortably. He let out a long sigh and you were sure he’d closed his eyes.

“You work too hard,” you said.

He chuckled, the tired kind that let you know he was desperate for sleep. You pressed a kiss to the bit of chest you were closest to.

“Go back to sleep, doll,” he murmured.

“Okay,” you mumbled, “love you.”

“Love you too.”

It wasn’t until the morning that the impact of those words hit you. You’d never told him you loved him and he’d never told you he loved you. It was hard to remember it had happened, your tired brain making it difficult to pull it back into your memory. Until you passed him a cup of coffee.

“I really do love you.”

You froze, your eyes meeting his. He was smiling at you, so bright and open. You tangled your fingers in his hair, sitting on the arm of the sofa beside him.

“I really do love you too.”

He pulled you onto his lap, kissing you deeply. You straddled him, feeling lighter by confessing your feelings. You’d known it for a while but hadn’t been sure how he’d been feeling. It was nice to know you were on the same page.

You were so glad you’d taken that history class.

Tags: @libellule2001 @evanstush

[etherealwaifgoddess]

More Time - Chpt.17

Summary: Emma and Steve are both devoted to helping Bucky recover from his injury though the process is slow going. The guys finally admit their feelings to Emma and make her an offer she can’t refuse. Then her decision sets her life on a course she never could have imagined.   Master list can be found HERE.

Warnings / Content: Fluff and feels all the way :)

Word Count: 2.9k

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! So this chapter has the scene that started the whole fic. I had a dream one morning a few months ago of being bed with Bucky who was trying to distract me while Steve was trying to sketch me. It was so freaking clear and vivid that I knew I wanted to write it, and the more I laid in bed and daydreamed, this whole little world came together. We only have one chapter left too! The final chapter AND the epilogue will be posted tomorrow evening around this time. And then I will be taking a much needed hiatus for a week! In the mean time, enjoy this penultimate chapter! XOXO - Ash

Chapter Seventeen

It was three weeks before the news finally started dying down. Bucky was getting around much easier on his crutches but still needed help with some things. Emma had returned to work part time but still spent every night at the guy’s apartment. She had used up every last day of her paid time off but didn’t regret a second of it. Steve was back on schedule with his appointments and had adjusted his hours at the VA so that someone was always home with Bucky. Though Emma still went back to her apartment for things from time to time she had started referring to their place as “home” without even realizing she was doing it. Bucky and Steve both knew she had effectively moved in and they were more than pleased with that development. They wanted to officially ask her but she seemed so content with things as they were, they were afraid of rocking the boat. Eventually Bucky had made Steve promise that they would ask her the next time the opportunity presented itself.

Bucky had pushed himself too hard the previous day when he’d insisted he was up to walking to the coffee shop for breakfast. It was only half a block away but it was the furthest he’d gone in weeks and had proved to be a little too much. He paid for it dearly for the rest of the day, and the following morning he was still stiff. Emma insisted he stay in bed for breakfast and Steve curled up with him to make sure he stayed put. She didn’t make anything fancy, just bagel sandwiches and coffee so that they could eat while still nestled in their big, overly soft bed. The morning sun was shining in the room, bathing it in a golden glow that made Steve restless until he got out his sketch pad. He needed to capture the way Emma looked in that moment before it was gone. Bucky watched with amusement, remembering all the times Steve had convinced him to model for him. 

It took a few adjustments but once Steve got Emma where he wanted her he started drawing at lightning speed. Emma was laying on her stomach, head cradled on one arm with her hair spilling out around her. She was in just her sleep shirt with her bare legs crossed up in the air behind her. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to hold without moving for minutes on end but she did her best to hold still. Until Bucky intervened. He couldn’t roll around much because of the cast but he was able to stretch just enough to tickle the sole of one foot when she stretched for a moment. Emma squealed and wiggled away while Steve pleaded for them to behave so he could finish. Bucky held up his hands placatingly, retreating back to the head of the bed. He could tell Steve was almost done a few minutes later when he kept glancing up and making random little adjustments. Bucky decided Steve had seen enough and with a great flop he flailed himself forward, landing right next to Emma who he attacked with tickles. Steve grumbled, setting down his sketch pad while Emma screamed for mercy. Not willing to miss out on the fun, Steve pounced as delicately as he could on Bucky while avoiding his cast. Bucky liked to say he wasn’t ticklish but Steve knew better. There were two small spots, one on each side of his torso, on one particular rib, that if hit just right made him howl. After skittering his long fingers along Bucky for a moment he found it and Bucky rolled into a ball the best he could with the cast, yelling at Steve to take it easy on the cripple. Emma was hysterical watching them, relieved to have a moment to catch her breath. 

The chiming of Emma’s phone interrupted their fun and she groaned as she turned off the alarm. “I don’t wanna go.” She lamented, clutching the phone to her chest. She was being dramatic, she knew, but having to go to work and leave the guys in bed was practically torture. 

Bucky exchanged a look with Steve before speaking. “What if you didn’t have to?”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Oh sure, I’ll be sure to grab a lotto ticket on my way in.” 

“No, I’m serious.” 

Emma sat up to look at Bucky with wary eyes, “What do mean?” 

“You love art, it’s why you got your degree in it. You should be doing something in your field.”

It was hard not to bristle at being told what she should be doing with her life but Emma bit back the snarky response she wanted to give. Choosing instead to just be realistic, “That would be great but nowhere that’s hiring can offer me enough to go full time and still manage to live in the city. I have bills, Bucky.” 

“That’s what I’m saying. What if you didn’t have to worry about all those bills? What if you could just take a job at a gallery and work your way up from there?” 

“I won’t take your money.” that Emma did bristle at.

Steve, knowing he’d feel the same in her shoes, jumped in to clarify, “We’re not offering you money, doll. We want you to live with us. You’re here every day now and most of your clothes are here too. After Buck got hurt you basically moved in, it’s just a matter of logistics.” 

“I didn’t realize...” Emma was quiet a moment, she knew he was right and a pang of guilt hit her, “I didn’t mean to take advantage of you guys, it just kind of happened.”

“You didn't take advantage.” Steve assured her, “We want you here. And if you were actually living here you wouldn’t have to worry about rent or utilities and you could take a job at a gallery.”

“I’m not going to just move in and mooch off of you. I’d have to be able to contribute.”

“You can help with groceries sometimes but you should focus on your student loans first since you’re not finished paying them.” 

“It still doesn’t seem fair.”

“Well, it doesn’t feel fair to us that you have this huge debt hanging over your head that you really didn’t have a choice in taking out so you could get an education. But, since we know you won’t let us pay it off, you can put your money towards paying it off faster yourself.” 

Emma was floundering her way through pros and cons, refusing to let herself get carried away at the idea of living with the guys. “But what if… what if things… don’t work out? I can’t do that to you guys.”

Bucky gave her a sad smile, he knew she was worried about their well being just as much as her own. “We love you, darlin’, how could it not work out?”

“What?” she squeaked out, not having expected that answer in a million years.

Bucky hauled himself up so he could pull her in against his chest, “I love you.” he told her earnestly. 

Steve took her free hand, rubbing his thumb over hand soothingly, “I love you too. We both do, and we want you to move in with us. Not because it’s convenient, not because you have more socks in this apartment than we do, but because we want to share our lives with you.” 

“Oh.” Emma squeaked out between tears. The guys were quick to wipe them away from her face, waiting with baited breath for her response. “Okay. Let’s do it. I love you too, both of you, so much.” 

Steve and Bucky enveloped her in a hug, holding her close while tears turned to giggles and then sweet chaste kisses and a few more happy tears. 

Emma was fifteen minutes late to work and gave her two weeks notice that very day. 

The places hiring in the city varied from large world renowned art collectives to small hipster galleries who only featured up and coming artists of one scene or another. Emma saw the allure of both types of places and applied everywhere that looked even remotely interesting. She got a few offers her first week, none that really felt right and one that was completely unpaid. The second week, panic was starting to set in. She was down to her last three shifts at the bar and had two more weeks on her apartment lease. Emma knew the guys wouldn’t push her to take a job for the sake of taking a job but she didn’t want to be out of work long. Her savings had dwindled a bit when she was down to part time while Bucky recovered but she had enough for another month with no pay if it came to it. She really hoped it wouldn’t though. 

Emma was chatting with a group of Friday night regulars, it would be her last shift seeing them, Sunday being her last day. Her phone buzzed angrily in her back pocket and she waited for it to die down but it persisted like a hive of bees. A call then, not a text. She pulled her phone out, trying to catch the call in time but it went to voicemail right as she swiped frantically to accept it. The number was unfamiliar and she hoped it was a gallery with a new offer instead of someone offering a timeshare sales pitch. Two agonizing minutes later a voicemail notification flashed and Emma excused herself for a minute to dart out back to listen to the message.

Hi Emma, this Pepper Potts. Steve and Bucky’s friend. Steve mentioned that you were looking for a job in an art gallery in the city and I was hoping to talk to you about that. I might know of an opening you would be perfect for. Give me a call back when you get a chance. Thanks, bye.

Emma stared blankly at her phone for a moment, dumbfounded. Pepper Potts, a friend of Steve and Bucky’s. Not Pepper Potts, famous, multi-billionaire, savvy business woman who Time had made woman of the year twice now. Emma blinked a few times, still getting her head around the seemingly causal call. She had to call her back, it would be rude not to. But what were the guys thinking not warning her that this could happen? And why would Steve, of all people, who railed against the evils of nepotism and the whole “it’s who you know” side of politics, try to have a friend give her a job. Well, she could at least give the woman a call back. Taking a steadying breath Emma dialed.

“Hello?” a cheerful, but slightly frazzled, voice answered. 

“Hi, Ms. Potts? This is Emma. Steve and Bucky’s… umm…” Emma trailed off. What was she anyway? Girlfriend, partner, lady friend? Emma added that to the mental list of discussion topics for when she got home. Meanwhile, she sounded like an idiot. 

“Oh, Emma!” Pepper chirped, saving her from further fumbling. “Thanks for calling me back.” 

“Of course. I don’t know what Steve told you but I’m just looking for entry level jobs at a few galleries around Brooklyn right now.” 

“Mhmm. Yeah, he mentioned - ohGodnotagain - sorry, can you hold on a minute Emma?”

Emma didn’t even get out a “yes” before she heard Pepper yelling “Morgan H. Stark!” followed by the sound of a crash in the background. There was a moment of hushed scolding and then a child crying and whining unintelligibly. 

Pepper came back to the phone with a long sigh. “Sorry about that. Every time I turn my back Morgan is taking a screwdriver to something trying to see how it’s insides work.” 

Emma bit back a laugh, “What was it this time?”

“The roomba. She’s only five but I swear she’s just a miniature version of her father.” 

“Sounds like you have your hands full.”

“And then some. Now, about the job. It’s not too far away, still in Brooklyn, it’s a nonprofit gallery where they feature up and coming artists who need help getting some exposure. We need a gallery assistant to start as soon as possible.” 

“We?”

“Yeah, I’m on the board of directors there. When Steve gave me your resume I hugged him. The timing is perfect and I think you’d be a great fit.”

“What’s the name of the gallery? Maybe I’ve already applied.”

“The Hideaway. We haven’t listed the job yet though.” 

Emma swallowed roughly. She knew of the gallery in one of Brooklyn’s trendier, more affluent neighborhoods. It was known for being the starting place for many well known modern artists. “Pepper, really I’m just looking to get my foot in the door to gain experience. I appreciate the offer but…”

“But what? You can get experience anywhere, come do it with us. How about this, let me stop by the guys apartment tomorrow and we can look at the portfolio of artists we have right now. Give you an idea of what we’re about? If you don’t want the job it’s fine, but at least take a look. I’ll bring brunch?”

Emma shook her head, she was going to wring Steve Roger’s neck for this. “Okay, I’ll take a look.” 

“Great! I’ll come over tomorrow around ten thirty?”

“We’ll be home.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” 

Emma hung up, torn between stunned and angry. She wasn’t taking a pity job at Steve’s friend’s gallery. He should have known her better than this. It was tempting to text him, vent some of her frustrations before she got home, but instead she tucked her phone away and went back out to the bustling bar where she could distract herself for a few hours.

It was a little past eleven when Emma finally dragged herself into the apartment. She was not going to miss the exhaustion of a ten hour shift bartending. Steve was perched on one end of the sofa, glasses slipping down his nose while he read a book. Bucky was laying across the other two seats, his head nestled on Steve’s lap. They looked so sleepy and sweet, she wanted to join them but she had a bone to pick first.

“You have some explaining to do.” Emma announced, setting her purse down on the breakfast bar. 

Steve looked back with wide eyes, pushing his glasses up a little, “What?” He sounded guilty too quickly. He knew. 

“Oh, I think you know. Let’s see if you can guess who called me at work tonight? It’s a friend of yours.” 

Steve gulped, “Sam?”

“Don’t play cute, Rogers. Why would you try to get me a pity job?” 

“I didn’t think-”

“Oh damn right you didn’t think. Do you know how that feels, Steve? I can get my own job! I know we’re cutting things close but I still have applications out there and if worse comes to worse I can call back one of the places that was interested and just take one of those until something better comes up.”

Steve opened and closed his mouth a few times like a fish, a torn expression on his face.

Bucky, who was woken by their tiff, cleared his throat. “We know you can, darlin’. And we’re gonna be proud as hell when you find the right job. No matter how long that takes. Don’t take some job you’ll hate just because it’s there, that’s why you quit Matty’s.”

Emma shook her head, “I can’t just take a job I’m not qualified for because you’re friends with one of the directors.” 

“You’re not.” Bucky countered, “Steve mentioned it to Pepper because she asked how you were doing when they were talking this morning. It was a friendly call, that’s all. Pepper asked for your resume to see if she could throw out some feelers in the community for you. We didn’t know she was going to offer you a job.” 

Deflating a little, Emma scrubbed at her face. Annoyance turning onto herself for biting Steve’s head off. “I’m sorry Steve,” she mumbled “I’m an asshole.” 

Steve gave her a wry smile, knowing all too well the chagrin of putting his foot in his mouth. “Hear that, Buck?” he poked Bucky in the side, “I’m not the asshole this time.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes, “You’re always the asshole, punk.” 

“Yeah, but you love me.”

“God help us all.” 

xxXxx

Pepper arrived the next morning with arms weighed down by a large leather tote on one arm and take out bags on the other. “I didn’t know what to get so I got everything.” she huffed out, setting her stuff down on the living room table. 

Bucky was sprawled out on the sofa watching yet another episode of How It’s Made because “Did you see it Steve? Who would have thought it was all in one tube like that?” He had been hooked on the show for months and Steve didn’t have the heart to make him pick something else. It reminded him of Bucky before the war, always so curious and eager to learn. Bucky did have the decency to turn off the TV and slide up so he was mostly sitting, making room for Steve and Emma while Pepper set up. Steve popped out from his studio and started rifling through boxes of take out before Pepper could even set them down on the table. 

“Thank you so much for bringing all this.” Emma told her, trying to play hostess since the guys were lost in the array of breakfast foods.

Pepper swatted Bucky’s hand away from a box of frittata, “Mine,” she practically hissed at him before turning to Emma with a smile, “No problem! I’m glad you were willing to at least look at the portfolio from The Hideaway.”

Brunch was a mostly quiet affair. The food was plentiful and delicious, Pepper having impeccable taste in restaurants, as usual. Between bites of eggs benedict and maple pecan french toast, Steve and Bucky got updates from Pepper on a few things going on with the training program at the Avengers Compound. Steve huffed when she mentioned him coming out to speak to the new trainees. He still wasn't convinced they would want to hear from him since he no longer wore the mantle of Captain America; regardless of how many times Bucky told him that it’s a lifetime title, like being President. Emma agreed with Bucky but Steve forced a change in topics before she could do more than chime in with a “he’s right”. 

Steve offered to clean up the disaster on the living room table so Pepper and Emma could go over the portfolio binder for the gallery. Not wanting to be a distraction, Bucky politely escaped to the bedroom. Forty five minutes later Emma had to admit she was impressed. More than impressed, really. The Hideaway was the exact type of gallery she wanted to be a part of. Pepper gushed about the current team and how lucky they were to have such a tight knit group. It was a dream job but Emma was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

“You don’t have to decide anything today. I can hold off posting the job publicly until Monday.” Pepper offered. 

Emma considered it for a minute, still unsure. “I really am tempted. It’s an amazing opportunity.” 

“You would be such a perfect fit for the team. I can see you thriving there.” 

“Me too but, Pepper I gotta be honest; would you be offering me this job if my application came through with the swarm of others?” 

“It would depend.” Pepper was direct, “If it came along with other equally educated and experienced people, then yes. And then for sure the interview would have sealed it. If it had come over with a batch of people more qualified and well suited, then possibly not.”

“Thank you for that.” Emma was relieved by the honesty in Pepper’s answer, “I’ll think about it and let you know by tomorrow night.” 

“Perfect.” Pepper smiled widely like she already knew it was a done deal. Emma thought it was too but she really needed to weigh things out before she jumped in with both feet.

After Pepper headed home, Emma joined Bucky in bed where he was reading a new copy of National Geographic. She figured that she might as well be comfortable while she made her mental pro and con list. Steve joined them after a little while, snuggling his way in between the two of them. 

“Have you decided then?” Steve asked Emma, throwing an arm around her waist.

Emma groaned, “Yes and no.”

“You want to take it, don’t you?”

“Yeah, so badly. But...”

“It seems too good to be true?” Bucky butted in.

“Yeah, it does. It’s the perfect opportunity. Great work environment, paid vacation and sick days, benefits, and holy shit pay bump.” 

“I seem to remember you stressing over something else that seemed too good to be true a few months ago.” Steve teased.

Bucky nodded along in agreement, “And look how well this turned out.” 

“I love you.” Emma kissed Bucky and then Steve in turn. “I think I’m going to take it. But,”

“No buts!” Steve exclaimed.

Emma rolled her eyes and continued unphased, “But, I want you to seriously consider giving a few talks at the compound. You would be such a good example for these kids, Steve.” 

“What’s the point? Who’s going to listen to the guy that can’t raise his voice without risking an asthma attack? These kids are training to work with the Avengers, with some of the best mentors on the planet. They’ll be fine without listening to the ramblings of a retired old man.” 

“Oh sweetheart no.” Emma wrapped herself around Steve, pulling him close so she could run her fingers through his hair and litter kisses across his face. “You are so much more than your body. Your mind is one in a million Steve, and those kids would be damned lucky to hear anything you have to say.”

Bucky shifted himself over to curl around Steve’s other side, sandwiching him between them. “Erskine didn’t pick you for your body.” Bucky reminded him gently. 

“What would I even say?” Steve relented.

“That would be entirely up to you. Just think about it, okay?” Emma pleaded.

Steve nodded in silent agreement. Thinking about it and actually doing it were two very different things. If he could actually think of something to say to a room full of twenty year olds then maybe he’d come around. 

Tag list lovelies: @godofplumsandthunder​ @remilupin22​ @supraveng​ @hiddles-rose​

If anyone wants added or removed please lmk!

[marylorson-blog]

“Rolling Thunder”  excerpted from Signals: a performance memoir 

                                      Featured May 2020 on          Unfictional https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/unfictional

I wasn't a bastard but I still felt kind of illegitimate. Dad and Mom had eloped, three months after meeting. My sisters from Mom’s first marriage loved him like mad, but then one day Dad vanished, before I could form a single memory of him. 

I've always wondered why that day was the finale. How do you walk away from a beaming little two-year-old face, one that looks like you?   I was there, but unaware. I want the scene.   

My sisters say: Dad was great.  

Mom says: All you need to know is he walked away. 

Dad said: Mom kicked him out that day, that he crammed his suits and stereo into the Mustang  and rushed to the city for a meeting, paying a kid twenty bucks to guard the car, which was empty anyway when he came back out. 

Later, once I knew him, I asked: “Was there another woman?”  

His answer: “There must have been.”   

THEY BLAMED IT ALL ON ALCOHOL. 

Mom said: infidelity wasn't the only problem; unofficial-seeming “bill collectors” were showing up at the house.  

My sisters said: Dad made life fun, played the piano, adored Mom. But skillets and invectives would fly in the night...and then Dad went missing, with hundreds of thousands of some investor’s dollars. 

By the time my sisters were 8, 10 and 11, they had lost two fathers.    

Mom hadn’t worked since modeling before her first marriage. She borrowed tuition for a full-time secretarial course and sent me to stay with her brother, another charming alcoholic with money problems and a fed-up wife. Mom and the girls stayed behind, in the lovely house on Manor Lane. 

I rejoined them fifteen months and few blocks but a world away, in a garden apartment behind the Country Club. Mom kept the crystal chandelier and her gown from the Kennedy Inaugural, and a suite of heavy furniture that wasn’t made for small rooms. 

Sometime later, Dad called Mom for a friendly chat. He was glad to hear she was in love and admitted that he and his girlfriend had a baby. He asked her to sign some papers for a Tijuana divorce. Sure, Mom said, and I’ll take the trip too. She came back with castanets and a tan. I remember understanding that my parents would never get back together.

I had Dad's nose and hair and musicality, but couldn’t remember a thing about him. Mom said I was lucky I didn't know what I was missing. The older girls talked about their happy chapter with my dad all the time, but I’d wait alone out front for the Mustang that didn't come.  

One day, though, he showed, and this was my own first memory of Dad: Christmastime, Chinatown, and three wrapped presents: a Dancerina doll, a Polaroid Swinger, and a camel hair coat from Saks. The surviving Polaroids show a serious dad and a manically happy me.

Dad promised that now he was going to bring all his kids together regularly. He'd repeat this song on our scattershot dates over the years, but that visit WAS the beginning, of our intermittent, fond, indulgent, dishonest bond.  After that, I lived in obsessive anticipation of the next visit, never knowing when it would be. 

(Band in)

A Dancerina doll, a Polaroid Swinger, and a camel hair coat from Saks. Dad gave me these, and went back to wherever he went.

During Kindergarten: I roomed with Mom, but she was out most nights. The big girls had the other bedroom. I wasn’t allowed in, but from the other side of the door I’d smell and listen attentively. Incense, patchouli, cigarettes, maybe pot? Talking, laughing, singing Joni Mitchell, CSNY...yelling, hitting, screaming, cursing. I swear I could hear the brushing of their long tresses, the swinging of their unhindered double-D breasts...meanwhile people kept mistaking me for a boy.

“You have your father’s thin hair,” Mom complained, so she took me to the barber on the corner, who gave me a buzz cut... and rationalized it this way: “It don't matta if she looks bad now; it mattas what she looks like when she's 18.” Mom thought this was a riot. There was none of this “you're beautiful because you're you” bullshit with Mom. You either looked good, or you didn't. 

THERE IN THE CATHODE LIGHT, NOBODY BEAMED UP BRIGHT                      ENOUGH FOR HER TO LIKE  NOONE TO WALK BESIDE 

YEAH, YOU HARDLY KNEW US                                       

 THAT WAS JUST OUR LIFE/THAT WAS JUST OUR LIFE

Then, In first grade we moved to Carol Avenue, and I almost had another sister!

 Jeanne! Jeanne! Jeanne! Jeanne!....Jeanne!

We had a great time together.

MOM MET HER FATHER AT THE GIANT STEP

A PIANO BAR IN NEW ROCHELLE                                   

SHE'D GOT MY DEADBEAT DAD THE GIG, 

AND HE SHOWED  UP                                                           

WENT DOWN SO SHE COULD GRAB THE TIPS, 

AND LET ADMIRERS BUY HER DRINKS                                  

LED BY THE VERY HANDSOME ED DESONNE

Mom was passionate and needed a rescue; Ed DeSonne was a prosperous investment banker. Both were raising broods of four alone. Ed wasn’t divorced yet, but soon he and Mom got engaged, and we were going to be like the Brady Bunch, with martinis. In the meantime, he was paying the rent on our roomy townhouse on Carol Avenue...

YEAH, IT'S NEVER SIMPLE

BUT WE'LL GIVE IT A TRY; MAYBE BE ALRIGHT

Jeanne too was the youngest of four. She was fearless and funny, and once the parents were married, she would be my roommate. But until then, I had to spend a few more nights with one or another of my unwilling sisters.  One such Saturday, Knockout Diane was supposed to watch me while Shy Karen sister went to a party, but Diane sneaked out. Karen wailed, but Mom had plans with Ed, who arrived in a cloud of aftershave and tapped his shiny toe in the foyer. Mom appeared in glamorous good cheer and ordered me to kiss him. I didn't wanna. 

“Go ahead: give him a little kiss,” Mom said, and Ed reached out gamely, but I wound back and fired a fierce little first-grade kick right into his suited shin. 

Today we'd say I was “acting out.” But back then, everybody just yelled. Then the grownups... went out. And the television...went on.  And then: Ed DeSonne disappeared, changing the channel on a whole other level.

 ED, WE HARDLY KNEW YE…

In first grade you learn to add 2 plus 2. I overheard the word “funeral” and didn’t see Jeanne’s dad for a week; these factors equalled --to me-- that he was dead. When Mom announced it, the big girls wailed like the world was ending. But I just said: “I know.”

I wasn't glad Ed was dead, but I wasn't sad, either. I didn't know how much we lost.         

Mom told everyone the aneurysm happened while Ed was driving; years later she told me the rest of the story.  She also told me that, in her grief, she'd called MY DAD, as a friend, and that he'd sneaked away to be there with her at Ed's funeral.

In the instant it takes for a blood vessel to pop, Mom became bereft, unemployed, and homeless. And our family dispersed like seeds in the wind. 

Diane went to live with her father in the city. The rest of us were taken in by another divorcee with a sun-porch we shared for the nervous, chilly months it took Mom to save up a security deposit.  Karen cried endlessly,  Mom cooing in her ear and breaking Valiums in half.  Fightin’ Joni moved in with her best friend. I got caught standing on our hosts’ kitchen counter in my loafers, stealing cookies from their Charles Chips tin.

But worst of all, Jeanne was sent into foster care.   

I only saw her once again after that, but we’re Facebook friends now. 

While we were staying with the other family, Dad got tickets for the TV show "Wonderama", for me and our host's daughter, and she won the big prize! Our moms picked us up, tipsy on high heels, loading the prizes in the back of a Checker, ignoring candy-starved Moonies in white shirts and dark blazers who tried to sell us carnations.  

(BEAT, then energy back down)

Mom found an apartment. It was in Tuckahoe, so we switched schools. I was in 2nd grade; Joni, 7th; Karen, 9th. I got sent to the principal's office for wearing pants; he showed me a paddle, said next time he'd use it. But maybe it wasn't just the trousers. 

Men landed on the moon. “Evil Ways” was in heavy rotation. And “Spinning Wheel.” Our apartment sat at a dead end by a highway. At night the passing cars projected an abstract slide show on our bedroom wall. In the living room, Mom would light a candle and drink wine. The apartment often smelled of the burned bottom of a saucepan.

That Christmas Eve, Mom fell asleep and the candles burned all the way down, through the tablecloth, and into the nice oak table. I woke up when the fire department arrived. 

YEAH, WE HARDLY KNEW YOU//IT WAS JUST OUR LIFE/THAT WAS JUST OUR LIFE

Karen was 15 and wanted privacy; I was seven and wanted company. One day these opposing desires clashed at a bedroom door, both sides pushing until the big kid won, my middle finger slammed in the door jamb.

The top was hacked completely off. Mom raced me to New Rochelle Hospital, where the surgeon told her to retrieve the tip of my finger or I'd have a stump for the rest of my life. Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Karen tried to flush my finger, along with her shame and horror, down the toilet.

Thanks to low-rent plumbing, my fingertip didn't disappear, and the toilet water even kept it alive. Mom carried it in a baggie back to the surgeon, who successfully reattached it. (Now, there’s a parent's errand.) They kept me in the hospital for a week, because I was hyperactive and the doctor feared I'd bang the stitches open.

It's possible I was on painkillers, because when Dad appeared he was like a dream, swinging down the hall with his great suit and smiling blue eyes.  He'd stopped at the gift shop, and gotten me a dozen long stemmed American Beauty roses and a music box. When you opened it, a ballerina pirouetted to this song: 

OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING/ OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY/I'VE GOT A BEAUTIFUL FEELING/EVERYTHING'S GOING MY WAY 

The roses died, of course. I kept that box, though, long after the ballerina broke off and the inside felt was smutty with lipgloss and melted JollyRanchers. Didn’t see Dad again for another 4 years..

[eienvine]

Because the world needs more Orville fanworks

So is anyone watching The Orville? And if so, can we talk about Kelly and Ed? I haven't even made up my mind whether I like the show yet, but I already ship those two SO HARD. (Is their ship name Mercson? Is that the plan?) Anyway this ficlet popped into my head and demanded to be written, and since I am feeling too lazy at the moment to get The Orville added as a category on AO3, I thought I’d put it on my old friend The Tumblr. Just a short and (bitter)sweet little moment between the captain and the XO.

Rating: K

Pairing: Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer (Mercson, I believe?)

“So what’s the deal with Alara?”

Kelly looks up from her lunch as Ed walks into her office and drops into the seat in front of her desk. “What do you mean?” she asks, although deep down she suspects she knows.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs as he casually reaches out and steals one of the cherry tomatoes off her plate. The move takes her back a year and a half and more, to a thousand meals just like this: the pair of them together, chatting casually over the table, with Ed eating her tomatoes because he knows she doesn’t like them. The thought gives her a pang of nostalgia that she violently shoves back into its usual deep dark corner of her heart. “She’s been kind of weird,” he explains after a moment’s thought. “Sort of jumpy and on edge, almost . . . nervous, you know what I’m saying?”

Yes, Kelly knows exactly what he’s saying, and she wonders how to respond. Alara is her friend, and she doesn’t want to embarrass her. To answer truthfully would feel like betraying a confidence, even though Alara hasn’t actually told her anything; what Kelly knows is the result of observation, not confession.

But on the other hand, Ed is her captain, and if she has information about a personnel issue that could affect how the senior officers interact with each other, maybe she should say something. Imagine if it led to sloppy behavior on a mission, or in a landing party: the results could be disastrous.

(And on a third hand, he’s more than her captain. Alara might be a friend but Ed is . . . well, she has no idea what she and Ed are to each other, but she knows that whatever it is, it’s strong, stronger than her friendship with Alara. It has not escaped her wry, resigned notice that even now, sixteen months after the divorce, Ed is still the most significant relationship in her life.)

“I’m just worried, I guess,” Ed is continuing. “Those could be indicators of stress. Are we overworking her? I know she’s well trained, and she’s strong as an ox, but she’s still so green; twenty-three is pretty young to be a chief security officer. Should I lessen her hours until she’s feeling better?”

“Don’t do that,” Kelly says immediately. She doesn’t want to undermine the tenuous respect that Alara is starting to command among the crew, especially not when stress and overworking are not actually what’s ailing the young Xelayan. “It’s just . . .” How to put this in a way that won’t embarrass her young friend? “It’s being around you, to be honest. She’s kind of got a little hero-worship thing going on.” That’s essentially the truth, anyway.

Ed’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“It’s actually really normal for young recruits to develop that kind of admiration for their commanding officers,” she says. “I mean, you remember the first captain I served under, Captain Cardaleer? I followed him around with stars in my eyes for the first six months. I actually used to take notes on all his crew-wide debriefings.”

“I see,” says Ed with understanding in his face. Too much understanding, actually; she can see at a glance that he heard all the things that she carefully didn’t say. So much for discretion. She never could hide much from Ed . . . except the affair, of course. “You mean she’s got a little bit of a–yeah, in retrospect, that actually explains a lot. So what should I do?”

“Don’t do anything,” she says immediately. “If you say anything you’ll just embarrass her. Give her a few months and it’ll wear off; she’ll find someone new to admire.” It occurs to her, not for the first time, how lucky she is to be serving under Ed; she can only imagine what her previous captain would have done with the fact that one of his young underlings was harboring a crush on him. An XO shouldn’t have to spend half her time comforting heartbroken crew members and trying to keep her captain from causing an HR nightmare.

But Ed wouldn’t do that–not with a subordinate, especially one who is so young and so new to the Union. He’s got his faults, but deep down, he’s a good guy. Always was, always will be.

Kelly goes on. “She’s smart, and a good officer; I don’t think you have to worry about getting any love letters or anything.”

He gives her that little smile of his, the one that just sort of beams at her like she’s done something wonderful, the one that used to be exclusively hers, the one that she’s never been able to resist. “If you say so, Kel. I trust you.” He grabs another of her tomatoes. “What’s the deal with that, though? I thought she’d been dating some guys on the ship. None of those worked out?”

She shrugs. “Apparently most of the guys she’s tried to date on the ship have been really put off by the fact that she’s stronger than them.” She hesitates, then adds, “I think that’s one thing Alara likes about you. You see her strength as something to be admired, not something she should be ashamed of.”

He chuckles and leans back in his chair. “I didn’t do it to get her to fall for me, but I do stand by that attitude. It’s one of the things that makes her awesome.”

Kelly laughs and rolls her eyes. “I wish more guys felt that way. And not just about strength. Some males can be really threatened by female competence.”

Ed snorts. “Which I’ve never understood What’s the appeal in being with someone who needs you to do everything for them? I always find competence sexy. I mean, that’s why I first asked you . . . out . . .” He trails off, wincing a little, and fixes his gaze on something on the wall behind her.

They’ve gotten better about not bringing up their past; some days she can pretend that they’ve never been anything except professional colleagues. It’s probably better that way. And in that spirit, she should drop this, she really should. But her mouth doesn’t listen to her brain. “Really? That was what you liked about me?”

He meets her eyes then, grinning a little shyly. “Well, yeah. You remember that hand-to-hand combat class we had? You kicked my butt; I was sore for days. And you were so good that I just thought, ‘I need to know that girl.’”

This is the most they’ve talked about their romantic history since they were trapped in that Calivon zoo. And maybe it has Ed feeling a little vulnerable too, because he clearly feels the need to break the silence with a joke. “You know, I just said something really nice about you. You should return the favor. My ego needs some stroking.”

She laughs aloud at that. “All right,” she says, and thinks back to those early days at Union Point, when she first started noticing her over-eager, over-optimistic, over-sincere classmate with the warm brown eyes. Then, ignoring the little pang in her chest: “The first thing I noticed about you . . . well, I mean, you were such a hard worker, and so smart; we all knew you’d do great things. But what I liked about you was how you wanted to believe the best of everything and everyone. You weren’t naive, you just preferred . . . to hope for the best. I’d always been so relentlessly practical, so to be around your optimism was, I don’t know. Nice.”

Optimism you took from him, says a voice in her head that she’s mostly managed to keep quiet the last few months. She hates herself for cheating because she lost Ed, but she also hates herself for cheating because she made Ed lose his way, as well as his hopeful outlook on life. And his ability to trust others, adds the voice, and she savagely tells it to shut up because if she starts down that path of self-flagellation, she’s going to be in a bad mood all day.

Ed is nodding thoughtfully. “It’s not as cool as beating people up, but I’ll take it.”

She chuckles, and he slaps his hands down on his knees in a final sort of way. “So, do nothing? That’s your advice?” She nods and he smiles. “You always have been better at solving my problems than I have,” he says–something that’s become a bit of a joke between them ever since the first time he said it, after their first mission together on the Orville.

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” she says–another joke between them, from long ago.

There’s that little smile again, the one that–yes, she admits it–has her heart rate subtly accelerating. “Thanks, Kel,” he says, and rises from his chair, and leaves the office.

And Kelly sits quietly at her desk, her eyes fixed on her office door, for a long time after he’s gone.

[illyriantremors]

Beneath the Stars Chapter 17

Chapter: I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI

AO3 Linkage

Summary: Rhys picks Feyre up for Starfall along with the rest of the inner circle. After a strange goodbye with her dad that leaves Feyre feeling off, Starfall ends up dazzling and delighting everyone. After dancing the night away, Tamlin turns up and confronts Feyre about what happened between them, leaving a big surprise in her wake that sends her running.

Dress Reference for Feyre [last row; first image]

Chapter 17

The dress fit me like a glove. Deep swirls of black soaked into the hemline at my feet before fading slowly up into an effervescent rose gold that glittered and sparkled from all the tiny gems and crystals embroidered along the bodice. It was a modest cut, but it hugged me devilishly close. Color and design aside, my favorite feature of all was the long magnificent cape that hung off my shoulders and flowed gracefully down my back to stop just as it touched the floor.

Nesta and Elain had outdone themselves. I didn’t think I was worthy of such a dress until I’d put it on and seen myself in the mirror. Nesta stepped back with an I told you so face and left to go downstairs to wait with dad so they could see my big entrance together.

And I looked… I looked…

Damn, I looked good. Rhys was going to piss himself when he saw me.

My curves - because for once I actually had them - were accentuated just right and the bubbly hue did wonders for my skin tone. Initially I worried it would wash me out too much, but on the contrary, it was perfect. It didn’t hurt either that Nesta had swept a beautiful shade of bronzer over my cheeks to compliment the dress. I twirled admiring myself in the mirror before grabbing my heels and waltzing downstairs.

I was champagne freshly popped.

A whistle greeted me at the bottom of the stairs. “If looks could kill,” my dad said, “you’d survive the zombie apocalypse, Fey.”

“Thanks, I think? Heh.” I spun so my dad could see the back and he continued to compliment me. Nesta sat on the couch, but her focus was solely on dad and she looked somewhat more concerned than she had in the past.

I had sat dad down that morning and filled him in on what I’d decided about mom. He’d taken it surprisingly well. I listened on the landing that led up to my room for a full hour waiting to hear the whiskey bottles clink in the kitchen after our chat, but it never happened.

He looked somewhat disheveled now as he watched me. Were it not for the twinkle in his eye that said he was having a proud dad moment, I would have said his eyes were hollow. It bothered me, almost to the point of debating if I should be going, but one look at Nesta and she knew what I was thinking. She curtly shook her head once and that was that.

The doorbell rang and all of us collectively stared at the door.

“Well I’m not getting it,” Nesta said. Dad scowled and went to open it himself so I wouldn’t have to answer for my own date. “I want to see the look on that moron’s face when he-”

“Hello, sweetheart.” Cassian leaned into the door and straightened his bow tie, completely ignoring my father and myself the second he spotted Nesta. Even in his tux, I could see him straining to flex through the fabric. Dad didn’t look like he quite knew what to do with himself.

“Well, it’s a marked improvement over doll face,” Nesta said and I just about ruined my makeup with the degree to which my face contorted in surprise. She was even smirking back just a tiny, tiny bit. Nesta glanced at me and instantly glowered. “Don’t give me that look, Feyre. Get in the damn car.”

“Yes, your majesty,” I said.

“Knock knock.” Rhys tapped the door in time to his words and at once, everyone looked at me. But the only person I could see was Rhys - Rhys, standing in the doorway next to Cassian, surveying me up and down once. Twice. Lingering here and there where he chose to pay homage before meeting my gaze with a dazzling smirk.

Butter and bake me with the heat that crept over my face. Thank the heavens dad was looking at me and not the positively sinful stare Rhys shot me.

And that smile wasn’t even the best part of him. His entire tux from shirt to jacket was a deep midnight blue, so dark it was almost black. It pulled the color of his eyes out magnificently and sharpened his lean build. The faint shadows of facial hair over his jaw topped the look off throwing my body into overdrive, wondering how it might feel to have him prickling against my -

“For fuck’s sake, drool later.” Nesta grabbed the remote and clicked the TV on. “You’d think you’d never seen a boy before.”

I waited for dad’s reproach, the one he always gave when Nesta’s tongue started swearing, but dad was sort of awkwardly silent as he played a tennis match back and forth between Rhys and I.

“It’s okay, dad,” I said nervously, going over to him and planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “We’ll be back later, alright?”

“Not too late, Fey, please?” He swallowed a lump in his throat and repeated himself. “Please tell me you’ll come home?”

“Of course I’ll come home. I do live here, you know.”

It was a joke simply meant to lighten the tension, but dad didn’t laugh.

“Have fun, honey,” he said withdrawing from me and giving Rhys a polite nod, though he was almost too shy to shake his hand. Why he wasn’t more aggressive like most dads… well, he wasn’t most dads, was he? Still, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was off with him.

“Thanks, dad.” I held his gaze a second longer than necessary to make sure I got a smile out of him before I left and only barely succeeded.

“You too, Nesta! This dress is everything.”

“Fine, fine,” she said waving us off. I took Rhys’s arm and together we walked out with Cass to his car, Cass whistling a Sweetheart in salute as a parting farewell to my sister.

“Dad’s SUV again, eh?” I asked spotting the familiar black car we’d taken camping with us.

“He’s on a tour right now.”

“Oh... well.”

“Feyre, it’s fine.” Cassian answered like it was no big deal. I supposed he was used to it by now. “He told me before we left on the Thanksgiving trip that I could use it while he was gone.”

“I’m surprised he let you go camping with us if it was his last few days at home.”

We paused as Cass took out his keys and hesitated to click the unlock button for us. “Dad wants us to live, ya know? He’s a military man through and through so he understands discipline and hard work, but if there’s one thing being in the service has taught him, it’s that life is short and not just on the battlefield. Once you put yourself to work, there’s not a lot of time for vacations.”

“He must love you a lot.”

“Almost as much as your dad loves you, I think.”

I looked over my shoulder and saw dad waving at me from the porch. I waved back with a smile that I think he managed to return. “He does - love me, I think. He’s not had an easy go of it lately, but he loves us and that’s the most important thing.”

Cass inclined his head to agree and the faint beep told me he’d unlocked the car. Rhys grabbed the door handle, but didn’t pull it open right away. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I…” I bit my lip and tucked my arms together in a shrug. “I just can’t shake this feeling that something’s off with him tonight.”

“Off?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if maybe it’s the dance and me going out, or - I spoke with him about seeing mom again this morning. I thought he took it well, but maybe he didn’t. Am I going crazy?”

“No,” Rhys said, stepping forward and brushing his hands along my shoulders. “You have a right to be concerned. Feyre, if you need to go back at any time tonight, just say the word, yeah?” I nodded and Rhys slowed his touch on my shoulders, applying a pressure that was deep and reassuring. Warmth radiated through me at the way he made me feel, grounded me to the earth and didn’t let me fall - not ever.

“You’re absolutely stunning, Feyre,” he said as my back flattened against the car door.

“You’re not so bad yourself, Mr. President.” My fingers dared to creep up his chest towards that insufferable bow tie I was beginning to want to claw right off him.

Slowly, Rhys flashed me that grin again and shook his head side to side. “Cruel, wicked -”

“Would you two hurry up out there! I have a dress to attend to!”

The shout was muffled from inside the car, but loud enough that I got the message.

“Mor’s here?”

“And Az,” Rhys said as though his cousin had just cleaned him out good at a round of poker, winner take all. “I had to make her promise to stay in the car because I knew you wouldn’t want the fuss inside.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I think I can handle Mor. Truth be told, I think she’s the one who might be a little speechless. This isn’t exactly the second-hand dress I got for twenty bucks that I’d promised her and I’m sure she saw me walking up the driveway in it and - and what’s that face for?”

“Because you underestimate my cousin immensely.”

He pulled on the handle and I was forced to move as the door opened. Mor sat inside and a huge buttercream cake was suddenly swept before me as she screamed, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” at the top of her lungs. Azriel’s head fell back on the headrest as he closed his eyes and his chest convulsed in silent laughter. The depth of charcoal black in his tux took all the light away from around him save for his date; it sharpened his face. He looked rather handsome.

“That was worth it just for the look on your stupid face, Feyre,” Mor said proudly. “Now take this damn cake and eat it before I have another bite.”

I cocked my head to one side. “You ate part of my birthday cake?”

“I got hungry! So sue me.”

“There’s food at the dance and - damn it how did you know today was my birthday?!”

I hadn’t told a soul. Obviously my family knew, but none of them had ties to Rhys or our inner circle except for Nesta and she didn’t hang out with any of… any of us except...

“Say, Cass?”

“Yeah, Fey.”

“Did you and Nesta ever go on that date?”

Cassian snorted and put the car in gear.

“Put your seatbelt on, Feyre.”

“Okay, Cass.”

Thank goodness, there was cake!

The gallery looked much the same as it always did. My boss had agreed to rent it out to us for an incredibly discounted price on several conditions, one of which was that none of the galleries be altered to preserve the art. This wasn’t horrible to work around since we had the whole of the gardens and cafe to do with as we pleased and lighting indoors was adjustable to maintain the illusion of falling stars and night skies.

The owners had seemed happy when I approached them with the idea. The gallery didn’t get much traffic from the youth in the city and I think they liked the idea of reaching out to an untapped portion of the market.

“Weeks?! What do you mean he went out with her weeks ago and not one of you of you schmucks thought to tell me!”

Rhys laughed openly at me as we walked through the gallery, making our way towards the outdoor patios and gardens where the music was already swimming through the air.

“Is it really that big of a deal?”

“No,” I admitted. “It’s not. I just - she is ten years older than him! And my sister.”

“Is it the age difference that bothers you more or the fact that she’s your sister?”

“The fact that she’s my sister and it’s creepy to think about Nesta… you know.” My body shivered at the thought of her tangling between the sheets with Cass. Hell, even just her kissing him made me feel slightly repulsed. “Nesta never dated when she was a teenager and not even after when she went to college. Her job was always more important than finding a man. I guess it’s just weird for me to think of her not being so closed off with someone for once.”

“I don’t know about that.” Rhys brushed over a spot of fabric at my side, his hand finding my hip as he steered us through the doors. “She seems to be coming around.”

I looked down at my dress. Our conversation in my room the night before had been amiable - enjoyable even. “Yeah, she is.” I smiled to myself, glad to feel like I had my sister again.

“Feyre,” Rhys said.

“Hmm?”

“Look up.”

My head rose from my dress on his command and I nearly toppled over at the utopia I found waiting for us.

The gardens were a living dream. The hedges had been freshly trimmed running in a maze around the grounds like I’d never seen in my time working here and Morrigan had found the most perfect fairy lights to string through all of the trees. I wouldn’t be surprised if my boss kept them after the dance was over. The sun had nearly set over the hills in the distance casting a warm glow over the lawns that mingled with the soft music playing. Couples were already dancing in various pockets of the scene.

And while the display was perfectly wonderful already, a vision to ensnare the senses at every turn as we waited for the Heavens to shower us with stars in the dark of descending night, all I was aware of - the only thing I was aware of, was Rhys’s hand gently taking mine, his thumb rubbing slow circles over my skin.

“Dance with me, darling,” he whispered in a tickle at my ear.

“All night?”

“With pleasure,” and his voice quivered.

We stepped out onto the deck and didn’t bother to go any further. Content to let the melody take us anywhere, Rhys pulled me into his arms and together we started drifting above it all. My brow rested on his shoulder wanting badly to sink into him and I had no idea where Mor had dragged Azriel off to in a dress that suggested her midnight tent visit had been well worth it, nor if Cassian was still with them or if Amren had shown up yet like she’d promised.

No, up there, it was just him and I and this steady, beautiful music carrying us to and fro. We fit together so easily. Every touch, every turn, every step was a fresh line of a story we had been writing our ways through separately just to get to this one single moment together.

Rhys kept me steady as others crowded around us in their own dance throughout the evening, but there was something in the way his head continually nuzzled against me, something in the depth of his breathing that I could hear that wasn’t quite right.

As if sensing my thoughts, Rhys spoke my name in a quiet, unnerving prayer for sanctuary.

Feyre….

I pulled back and found him contemplating me with worry, doubt, fear - any number of emotions. He was nervous. About me or this night or something else, I didn’t know. But the look was full of so much intensity and with the way his lips caressed my name making me feel like I never wanted to leave this moment - I knew then precisely how I felt about him.

Rhys licked his lips. “You look like liquid starlight.”

“If I’m liquid starlight, are you the lake I fall into?”

“You’re terribly cheesy,” he replied and crooked a finger at me to drag my chin upward. His lips approached me and I closed my eyes just as I felt them land softly on my cheek, much further from where I would have liked them to travel. His hand at my waist disappeared for a moment and without that anchor, I ceased dancing. Into my palm, Rhys pressed a small, square box.

“Happy birthday, Feyre.” I froze as my skin touched the velvet of the gift causing Rhys to chuckle. “Don’t worry, it’s not what you think.” He closed my fingers over the box and pressed it towards me. “Open it.”

I met his eyes briefly searching and if I was honest, scared at what this meant. But one look at him and I knew I trusted whatever he was doing.

Inside the box was a ring, silver at the band with a diamond shaped sapphire inland atop it. The setting looked antique. It had to be unique. And it was positively exquisite.

“Or maybe it’s exactly what I think it is,” I said struggling to find breath to speak with. Rhys smiled softly at me and flicked me on the nose.

“Or maybe you should let me explain first, smartass.” We stepped out of the way of the other dancers to a free part of the deck. Rhys took the box from me and pulled the ring out. It twinkled under the lights from all the trees.

“It was my sister’s ring, one she’d gotten from my aunt when she turned thirteen.” He held the ring up to me. “And it needed a new home. You remind me of her sometimes… when you smile or you’re painting. Happy - like she was. I want you to have it.”

I thought my heart was going to give out on me. This too much. Too, too much.

“I can’t-”

“Yes, Feyre, you really can.”

I took the ring and gaped at him. “This is - Rhys. This should stay in your family.”

Rhys brought his head down so close to mine that we were nearly touching and cradled my hands against his chest. “Right now you are my family. Our lives could take us in different directions, but it doesn’t matter. This is about who we are right here, right now. Nothing else. I haven’t been the same since she died. A part of me has been empty, like that hole you talked about inside of you? But you - you brought me back to life this year, Feyre. As far as I’m concerned, this is yours now.”

Somewhere behind us, the DJ brought the music down so that it was gradually fading to a stop.

“I love it,” I said slipping the ring on and feeling it anchor me to the earth - to him. “Thank you. I will never forget what this means.”

Rhys smiled broadly, the faint lines of his face disappearing as though the shackles had come free and he was allowed to live again.

“Are you two done canoodling yet? Feyre and I have dresses to discuss!”

“Morrigan,” Rhys growled. “Impeccable timing as always.”

She tucked her chin to her shoulder wickedly and pulled me away to flail. But while Morrigan chirped on and on over Nesta’s gown - now that she was able to view it properly out of a car - my gaze slid over her shoulder to where Azriel stood with Cassian at the top of the stairs leading down to the gardens. He stared openly at Mor as she spun for me, showing off the knee high slit in the white satin fabric, the open back revealing a bare patch of skin, and the sharp jut of the collar at her shoulders. Her hair fell in silky, golden waves in all directions, dancing as she turned every which way.

She looked like an angel come to save the world and here was a man possessed following quietly in her wake just hoping for a mere brush of her attention.

But then, Azriel kicked off the railing, tired of waiting another moment of being parted from this woman he adored, and walked toward Mor. His arm swept around her waist, catching her by surprise, but she nuzzled lovingly into him in an instant, her hair falling over his shoulder as she rested in the crook of his neck all radiant sunshine. Az kissed her forehead, something I had a feeling I would only see from him on a night like tonight, and Morrigan melted further into his side.

“Anyone fancy a dance?” Mor asked dreamily.

“Together?” I offered.

The five of us looked at each other sharing the quiet, happy smiles of family.

“Where’s Amren?” I asked.

“Sulking by the food, no doubt,” Rhys said.

“Hey!” Mor snapped. “I will have you know that I hand picked that entire menu. Feyre’s bosses were very gracious in letting me work with their cafe chefs.”

“She’s still sulking - like she always does at these things.”

“Oh whatever,” I said. I went up to Az and grabbed him before Mor and Rhys could go at it any further. I spun the poor boy into the middle of the deck wildly grabbing Cassian as I went. Within seconds, Tweeddle Dee and Tweeddle Dum had joined us and together, we glided between one another in perfect harmony.

Starfall was nothing short of a massive success. All through the night I overheard conversations from my peers about how good the food was or how much they liked the DJ’s choice in music and the few times we made a round inside, there were plenty of students enjoying the quiet of the galleries and admiring the art they offered. The whole night my boss lingered about with a look of sheer bliss on her face.

I spent most of the night dancing with Rhys, but also floating between him, Mor, Az, and Cass. Amren turned up fashionably late only halfway into the evening and kept mostly to the cafe exactly as Rhys predicted, but Mor was more than happy to drag us over to her for frequent snack breaks, especially once she and Rhys were crowned court King and Queen and had to dance together in front of everyone.

It was an effort to keep Az from choking on his laughter when our counselor read off the names. Cass was never gonna let them live it down.

“What say you, Madame Secretary?”

“Oh not you too.” I frowned playfully and grabbed a water cup off the counter of the cafe bar. Mor grinned, her cheeks flushed with the embarrassment of having to dance with her prick of a cousin for four whole minutes in front of everyone. I really hoped someone managed to film it.

“I think we really pulled it off,” she said. “I was worried when they told us the gym had flooded, but you really came through, ya know.”

“I did, didn’t I? I’m not gonna lie, this is leaps and bounds better than anything we could have done with the school gym, even without the flooding.”

“True.”

“Cheers,” I said holding my cup out and she tapped it back.

“Cheers, sista.”

We started to make our way back to where Amren was sitting happily at her little table with the boys, Az’s eyes never far from Mor.

“You two look cozy,” I said, leaning down to whisper in Mor’s ear.

“Pft! Speak for yourself. I saw that ring.”

My thumb met the finger I’d placed the ring on and spun it around my knuckles, a habit I feared I was slowly becoming addicted to.

“I take it the tent discussion went well, if you could even call it that - a discussion.”

“Feyre Archeron,” she hissed, swiveling to glare at me madly.

“You’re welcome.”

Mor opened her mouth to deliver whatever witty retort she’d imagined and promptly closed it right back, her eyes catching on something behind me. I turned around and felt my stomach drop off.

Tamlin was standing not far away looking at me curiously. He didn’t move or say anything, just waited patiently. I turned back to Mor.

“I’ll kick his ass, you know. Just say the word and it’s done.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, but I appreciate it all the same.”

“You gonna talk to him?”

I looked back at Tamlin who hadn’t budged. He was clearly waiting hoping to get a word in with me. A quick survey of Amren’s table showed me Rhys laughing amiably with his brothers and feisty second. Best not to ruin a good thing perhaps by troubling him.

“Yeah, I think so,” I told Mor, nodding.

“Are you sure? I can go with you if you want.”

“No it’s fine. Go on. I’ll catch up.”

She left and I ran my fingers over my palms at my sides once, a habit I’d almost forgotten I had, it’d been so long since I’d indulged it last.

“Hi,” I said tentatively as I made my way over to Tamlin. He shuffled his weight between either leg and tried to to say about ten different things before finally settling on a simple, “Hi,” in return.

“You look lovely, Fey,” he said. He sounded wistful.

“Thank you.”

“Listen, I - uh, I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but I was wondering if I could steal your attention for a second before you get back to your, um, your-”

“Date?”

His mouth snapped shut so he could swallow as he glanced at Rhys. I too looked back at my table of friends and found more than one set of eyes quietly watching us.

Tamlin rubbed the back of his neck. I’d never seen him so nervous before. “Yeah,” he said and I was pleased he was accepting this so easily, that it was hard for him and he was willing to let it show. And I was selfishly more than glad that it was almost painful too.

“Come on,” I said walking past him so we could step back outside. He followed and we made our way into one of the garden mazes surrounded by flowers and greenery. The little lights Morrigan had strung through the trees were dazzling after sundown.

“How - how are you?” Tamlin asked sitting down next to me on a stone bench seat.

“I’m rather well, actually. How are you?”

“Fine.” His hands clenched the bench at either side as he stared into the dirt, refusing to meet my gaze. “I’m fine,” he said again.

“Tamlin-”

“Really, Feyre,” he interrupted. “I mean it. I’m okay. You shouldn’t be so concerned about my well being to begin with after how I’ve treated you, but I appreciate it all the same.”

“Well I’m not a robot, you know. I have a heart and I understand that however much of a prick you were... breakups are hard on both ends.”

Finally, he looked at me a mess of heated concern. “Fey-”

The old nickname coming off of his tongue was grating to my ears. Maybe this was a mistake. “What do you want, Tamlin?”

“To say I’m sorry.”

My brow lifted in question. This was not quite what I’d been expecting. Tamlin had a knack for throwing everything wrong in our relationship back on me. There was never a time where he was in the wrong and certainly never a thought of him apologizing for anything. The worst part of this was that I’d never before expected him to.

“You’re sorry?” My voice was thick with doubt.

“I know it’s not what you want to hear or that it can’t fix anything. I don’t intend for it to. But you deserve it whether it makes a difference or not.”

I hesitated before lifting a brow to allow him to go on.

“I don’t have any excuses. I don’t have any reasons. I just,” he shook his head, “ugh.” He lost me again and stared into the trees. “All I know is that I saw you dancing with him tonight and it was like my brain exploded with this horrible truth about our relationship. You never looked like that with me. Not ever.”

“Like what?”

“Like you were happy, normal.”

I huffed a laugh. “Nobody’s normal, Tamlin. If I’ve learned one thing this year, it’s exactly that. We all have our shit to carry.”

“Yeah, but I get the sense that you’ve learned how to deal with yours. I still haven’t.”

His head fell to hang in front of him, his hands hanging limply in his lap. He was right - there was no excuse, no explanation for what he’d done. But I also knew as I looked at him that I’d seen this sight before, this image of the broken and the lost. I’d lived it for too long and finally learned that running away was never the answer. Maybe that was what Tamlin was doing when we were together - running away. Maybe I’d never know. But I could at least do my best to help him move on even if I could never accept him again for what he’d done.

Gently, I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Hey,” I said and he looked up at me. I could see the girl who’d walked out on him a few months ago staring back at me in his eyes. “It’s okay, you know, to feel the way you’re feeling. It sucks, but you’ll figure it out. I did. And for what it’s worth… I can’t say that this changes things between us, but I appreciate your apology all the same.”

“Thanks, Fey.”

“You’re welcome.”

I stood to leave, the uneasiness in my stomach growing uncomfortable the longer I sat and Tamlin bobbled with himself. But when I was a few steps away heading back towards the cafe to see if Rhys wanted another dance, Tamlin spoke up.

“I’m sorry about Rhys,” he said.

Slowly, I turned around.

“What about Rhys?”

Tamlin’s chest heaved and he came over to meet me. “I’m sorry for what I said to you about him. About staying away?”

“Tamlin, it’s fine. We don’t have to go there.”

“Yeah, we do. I should never have said those things to you. I’m sure by now he’s told you about his sister and why he’ll never forgive me for what I did to her, but just because I was scared of you finding out the truth doesn’t mean I should have lied to you about what kind of person Rhys was.”

The faster the words came out of Tamlin’s mouth, the more and more confused I felt. But Tamlin seemed to think I understood because he kept right on talking.

“Do you think… Feyre, do you think he’d be willing to talk to me? I know I can’t make up for what I did-”

“What you did?”

“Yeah, being in the car with her, not stopping her from getting in it in the first place. Fuck - I knew I should have taken her keys. She didn’t even have a license, but I was half-drunk myself and stupid. Just so effing stupid…”

Tamlin rubbed the back of his neck again while he looked away and I think being so lost in his own thoughts distracted him from the small cry that came out of me.

Tamlin had been dating Rhys’s sister. He was the one in the car with her the night she crashed, the night she’d killed her and her mom and he’d walked off scot free…

“I need to get back to the dance,” I said walking away from him before he could read the emotion breaking on my face - the rage boiling in my blood.

“Fuck - yeah, of course. But Feyre, do you think he’d talk to me?”

“You’ll have to ask him, Tamlin. Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Right... okay.”

The heaviness in his tone stopped me as I climbed up the small hill to the cafe deck, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. For now, this chapter between us would have to close. I had other things weighing on my mind just then.

I sped off in the opposite direction of the cafe. There was only one place I wanted to be right now and that was my sanctuary, my second home, where I could clear my head and just think.

I wove through the dimly lit halls of the gallery and opened the employee door in the back of the first floor, flicking the light switch on my right as I entered a large unpolished room. The scent of stale paint and metal hit me instantly, one I would never tire of so long as I had breath in me with which to paint.

My canvas sat at my very own work space. It was a larger tableau than I was used to working with in class. For some reason, I’d felt it necessary to have a larger frame to work on. The more my emotions grew over the past few months, so too did my understanding of them, and if my AP project was meant to be a study in self, well then. Only the largest would do.

It wasn’t long as I stared at the still blank wall in front of me begging for a dash of color, a drop of paint, or a line of charcoal - anything really - that I heard a deep voice clear their throat behind me. I spun around and there he was standing in the doorway trying hard to look his usual charming, feline self and failing miserably as the all too familiar concern fell off him in waves.

Rhysand.

“It’d be a shame to get paint on that dress, Feyre darling, though I can’t deny I wouldn’t love to watch.”

My lips cracked a smile. I managed a small, short-lived chuckle before the tears started falling thick and free.

Rhysand surged forward, but I held up a hand to stop him. His eyes glistened waiting for me.

“What is it? Feyre - what happened?”

I wiped a tear away from over my cheeks and pointed at where the chair near my canvas sat.

“Sit down. I’m going to paint you.”

xx

[lawrenceseitz22]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147

Click on the video above to watch Episode 147 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

  Announcement

Bradley: Live.

Adam: We are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is episode 147, the event where we talk about RYS. You know it was coming. We’re going to talk to you some more about it. We’re really excited. We’ve had some really good feedback so far. Hernan and Bradley whipped up a quick little contest that we wanted to get going as well as wanted to obviously spread the news about RYS. We’re small. We understand a lot of people don’t hear about us. We’re trying to get the word out. Hernan, you want to tell people what’s going on on Facebook?

Hernan: Sure, yeah. We had a little contest over there. We’re going to drop the URL for the free Facebook group. You can win an Amazon gift card for 250 bucks. That is two day thank you guys for the amazing support that we have been having for RYS academy. It’s been mind blowing. A lot of people joining, a lot of people are already working on it. That’s pretty much it. We’re going to drop the link over there on the events page.

Adam: Awesome, yeah. Pay attention, click the link, read it. All you’ve got to do is a quick share, text some people, and then we’ll put you in the winning for, I think, it’s 250 bucks, right?

Hernan: Yup.

Bradley: Yup.

Adam: Nice. I’m going to go enter after we get done with Hump Day Hangouts and you should too. Let’s see. On the other end of things, we had, obviously, a lot of questions. It’s a big launch. People are wondering what’s going on. They’ve heard about RYS. They’ve heard about RYS reloaded. We know a lot of people see the price and you wonder if this is a training that’s going to help you do what it is you want to do and we get that. This is the place. Obviously, Hump Day Hangouts is a great place to ask this. Also, the Facebook group, which Hernan will also post the link to. It’s the same one. Our free group that you can go and join and ask us questions if you want to know if this is for you. We want to make sure, obviously, the people who join RYS reloaded are the people who are going to put it to use.

But if you’re on the fence, you’re thinking, “Damn, I’d like to get some good rankings, I’d like to get a quick … ” whatever it is you’re thinking about, just let us know. Obviously, we’re here. We’re real people. These aren’t robots. We’ll talk to you and let you know whether or not this is a good fit for you. On that note, too, I think Marco, we had some questions for people, right? That you had some answers to?

Marco: Yeah, I believe so. Let me just see. Someone wanted to know how RYS and drive stacks and whatever it is that we’re doing would affect big established site, right? With traffic and many keywords. But a site that wants to grow. The best thing about this is that the site already has trust. What we borrow from in RYS academy is Google’s trust. They’d be pushing trust back and forth and growing that trust into the drive stack and then it would simply be targeting the keywords, just targeting other keyword targets, so to speak, so that they could grow the website. More traffic and even better rankings. If you have keywords that are harder to push up, you could push them up and get more traffic that way. It’s all about trust, it’s all about authority, it’s all about building it up so that you can rank sites faster, better, and longer because RYS rankings tend to stick when they hit that first [inaudible 00:03:36] and they tend to stay.

They stay for a long time. The second question that I have is who is the creator of RYS academy? I am not going to take full credit for that. The theory, the concept is mine. I didn’t invent SEO, guys. I won’t take credit for it. I can’t do that. I didn’t invent Google. I didn’t invent Drive. I didn’t invent ranking with drive stacks or anything like that. What I did is when I saw what Dr. [Gary 00:04:10] was doing in our mastermind, he’s my co conspirator for the original RYS academy was and is a mastermind member who I saw was just doing some nasty things and finding all of these incredible things in Google.

I started thinking how do I put this together? What can we do with this? I pulled him in. We had the talk. We started meeting on Saturdays. About seven months later, RYS academy was born. Who is the creator? I am one of the originators. What is it that they say? Often imitated, never duplicated. My partner in crime is Dr. Gary [Curlin 00:04:59].

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Outstanding. I think, also, we had talked about this earlier last week, I think people had heard about this, at least for the existing RYS academy members, people who joined from 2015 up to now who have been put in RYS academy to work and wanted to give us a quick video review, we were going to give away a complete done for you RYS stack courtesy of [Surfspace 00:05:21]. I think we had talked about this. Do we have a winner or a best of for those?

Marco: Yeah. I think that the one that really explains the concept really simple … We should drop the playlist, by the way, so that people can go look at actual people who are members of RYS academy and RYS reloaded, just doing what it is that they’re doing. Andrew [Adare 00:05:51], he’s one of our members. He’s in Australia. I think that his video exemplifies the simplicity of RYS academy. I think for that reason, he should get that awesome drive stack.

Adam: Awesome. Andrew, if you’re listening, shoot us an email. If we don’t hear from you first, we’ll be sending one out after this.

Bradley: He’s in Australia so he’s not listening.

Adam: You never know. He might be up. What is it? 16 hours? You never know. We’ll see. But yeah, we’ll be in touch buddy. I think Hernan’s going to drop the link in there and check those out if you’re on the fence. If you want to hear what other people accomplished, again, these are people who joined and got results on their own based on the training and the help. These aren’t people who are profiting from this. They used RYS and made their own results. Other than that, I think Hernan, you’ve got the links in there for Facebook, right? We’re good to go on that?

Hernan: Yeah. I got the Facebook link and we will put the link for RYS, for the sales patient, the coupon, which is an $800 off coupon. That coupon expires tomorrow, 9 a.m. eastern. If you’re watching this right now live you can go take action now. If you’re not and if you try that coupon, I’m sorry but that’s the way we have it set up. We’re going to drop the coupon and the URL so that you guys can join RYS reloaded right now for that discount, which is the second lowest discount that we will do for that.

Bradley: What’s it going to tomorrow after this coupon expires?

Hernan: $1,500.

Bradley: $1,500. It’s going up 300 bucks, essentially.

Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:07:34]

Marco: Hang on a second. Tell them where it’s going to end up, please.

Bradley: $3,000. It’s going to end up at $3,000 after the launch is over. Again, now is the best time to get in. We will offer a split pay option, I believe, after the launch. Is that correct, guys?

Adam: Yeah, we will do that and we mean it. If you’ve got questions, if you’re on the fence, I know there’s a lot of people who watch Hump Day Hangouts and they don’t say anything and that’s cool. I do that with different areas where I’m learning or I’m watching stuff, but if you’re out there and you’re thinking about this like, “Man, is RYS for me? I’ve heard about it. I want these results.” Pop into the Facebook group and post it. Post a question, we’ll get back to you tonight and help you out so you can make the choice before the price goes up. We’re here to help. We think it’s a good course. We know it’s a good course. The students know it’s a good course and training.

We want you to make the right choice, too.

Bradley: It’s super damn valuable. It really is. We’re trying to keep it to where it doesn’t become a saturated technique so that’s in part why we’re asking for that kind of money for it and because there’s been three years in development now, so it’s totally worth it.

Adam: That and the results you can get, it literally pays for itself. You’re not signing $5 contracts with that stuff.

Hernan: Sorry Adam, but it’s going to be [inaudible 00:08:55] training, right? We have a bunch of material in there already. There’s all the archives, the new stuff, the Facebook group, and also Marco is going to be doing upcoming webinars and there’s going to be Q&A. We’ve had things supporting RYS academy for the past two years for a one time fee. Everyone that has been following us for awhile, you know that we deliver, that we support our products, that we always try to over-deliver, make them better. We try to keep up and to be out there in the trenches, testing stuff so you don’t have to go out there and chasing every shiny object.

We have some testimonials already about people that have been spending anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 on software that doesn’t work and once they got into RYS, they cut it immediately because you forget about PVN’s, you forget about proxies, BPS’s, all of those kind of things that not only takes time but money. Anyway, that’s what I wanted to say also. You’re actually saving money. I agree with Adam, you can nail some really juicy contracts with this.

Adam: You guys got anything else?

Bradley: Nope.

How Would You Fix A Renegade Page That Returns 404 Errors When Redirected To The Homepage?

Adam: Sweet. I’m looking here first too. This is awesome. Columbia is the first person up so I’m pretty pumped. She’s usually got some good questions so let’s get going.

Bradley: I had a Skype chat with her yesterday, a phone call with her just because she’s always coming to our Hump Day Hangouts and engaging and participating and so I gave her about 20 minutes of time just to chat with her. It was nice meeting her. She’s out there taking action every week from the stuff that she learns right here. She’s growing her business, which is amazing, guys, just from free information that she’s getting from the Hump Day Hangouts, which is awesome.

With that, I’m going to grab the screen and we’re going to get into this. All right. Columbia says, “I’ve suddenly discovered about four weeks ago that an old dotcom has had a renegade page since 2010. It did not appear on my list of pages in the admin area for the site.” Yeah, I’m sure it was a hacked in link. That happens often, Columbia, at least I’ve had it happen a lot. “It was called Freebooks and it seemed to be offering a wide variety of books, mostly or all in French. The best fix as of yesterday was to have /Freebooks redirect to my homepage. Unfortunately, all the Google listings have more info after the slash, all of those, which is all of them, are currently showing a 404 error.

That was the best we could come up with after extensive hypothesizing, analyzing, and testing. I worry that Google with have issues with all this 404’s and there could be 200 or so of them since each book title is a separate extension.” Oh, another lead just came through. Let’s see, “This website has a lot of content. I was in the process of sending up a reloaded version of it. It has six letters broken and two short essay remember words, which apply perfectly to the product. I really don’t want to drop [inaudible 00:12:07]” Columbia, one of the easiest things you could do is just put a 404 redirect plugin on the site.

Here’s a couple things I would suggest. Number one, you can contact the host and ask the host, if it’s a decent host, they should be able to go in and clean up those rogue files. A lot of hosts, the better, higher end host will provide that sort of support because actually any sort of hacked WordPress site on their servers is a security risk for them. If it’s a good host … If you’re dealing with Hostgator or GoDaddy or something like that, forget it. But if you’re dealing with a decent host, then I would contact the host and ask them to do it, an easy fix for the 404’s.

I would still try to get rid of those rogue files. An easy fix for the 404’s is just a simple 404 redirect plugin. You could use something like 404 to Start is one of the plugins. There’s a bunch of them. Link Juice Keeper is an old one. I don’t know if that still is available, but that would be another one. There’s a bunch of them. You could just do a Google search for 404 redirect plugins and just select one. I would look for one that was updated recently because that means it shows that it’s continually updated. Lastly, there’s something else that you can do. I always recommend this to clients. This is called security.net.

All my clients that are running WordPress, I typically recommend that they install this. They purchase it. I think it’s 300 bucks a year. This is a great service. I’ve got one client in particular. They get hacked about once every three or four months. I’m not sure why, it’s probably a competitor causing that. But security always catches it right away and sends a notification. We just submit a support ticket and they go in and they do all the cleanup. It’s usually done within about 24 hours. Again, they get hacked about once every three or four months and all I do is I’ve got to submit a support ticket and it’s taken care of.

If you’re doing this for client work, then I would recommend that this is an expense that you pass to the client. It’s not something that you pay for. If it’s your own site, it depends on how much revenue it’s generating for you. Personally, I like easy. When anytime I can do something like this to prevent having to go through all the headache of trying to track down rogue files and remove them myself or dealing with the hosting company, to me it’s worth it. Anybody have any other comments on that?

Adam: Not here.

Bradley: Hopefully that’s helpful. Again, if you’ve got a good host, though, Liquid Web will do it. But they don’t have shared hosting anymore. They’ve just got VPS’s and dedicated hosting. I use Terry Kyle’s, what is it? WPX Hosting? I use that a lot now for WordPress sites as well. That’s a really good host. Their support is really good as well. That’s something else that you can contact them. I’m just saying HostGator and GoDaddy, those crappy hosts, they’re not going to do it for you. It’s likely they won’t. You can always contact them and ask.

What Type Of Schema Would Be Best To Use To Rank An Affiliate Offer To A Local Medical Spa?

Next one, it says, “Hi, what type of schema would you use in the following made up example. Keyword to rank for cellulite treatment Dallas but instead to promote the local medical spa. I’d like to promote affiliate offer, ebook for example. What type of schema do you think would best use to rank for local business environment?”

I don’t know because I’ve never spammed local structure data for an affiliate offer. I’ve spammed maps before for an affiliate offer. Years ago, I did that a lot. I haven’t done that in several years now. Has anybody tried to do this and, if so, can you comment?

Hernan: No, but I can see it. I can see him branding. It’s going to take a lot of work. I don’t know if it’s really worth it for an ebook. But you create the brand, whatever the spot is. What you’re looking to do is for people to end up in that ebook offer. In that ebook offer, the schema that you would add is for whatever that book … I don’t know the schema for book. I don’t keep track of all of it, or the image or whatever. You would benefit from both, from having the business schema and then schema on the page with the offer. As far as schema, that’s how I would pursue this. I don’t see any other way that you can do it unless someone else has an idea.

Bradley: Yeah. I don’t see. He doesn’t mention maps in here. What I would suggest is if you’re trying to rank organically, that’s one thing. But maps, I wouldn’t try to do. Again, he didn’t mention maps in his question, but what I’m saying is, just for everybody’s benefit, I would not recommend trying to do something like this with a map listing because, with this, it’s a point of sale or a storefront type business, right? You wouldn’t want to do that. You would quickly get reported, I’m sure, if you were to rank in maps. Again, I know he didn’t mention it, I’m stating it for everybody’s benefit that may be thinking about doing this. I used to do maps spam for affiliate offers years ago but they stopped doing it because people started catching on and it would get reported to Google for storefront offers that didn’t show a storefront.

In other words, if you hid the address but it should be a type of business that has a storefront where customers come to the business location, and if the address was hidden, then competitors would report it. Or if you would leave the address showing and it was going to a post office or a home address or something like that, then oftentimes it would get reported as well. I just stopped doing it because it was too much work for it just to be taken down within a few months or a few weeks, sometimes. Again, if you were going to do it organically, that’s different. I’m assuming that’s what you’re going to do. I don’t know what the actual structured data would be for something like that other than you would still want to create the schema markup or structured data markup for the local business, if you’re trying to rank it locally.

But, again, I wouldn’t try to rank in maps. I would just try to rank organically. In which case, I would use your made up address or PO Box or whatever it is that you’re using as the actual business address in the structured data, but then you would just want to mark up the proper elements on the page. If you’ve got a book or an ebook or whatever, I’m sure there’s book mark up. You would just mark it up that way. You could also mark up reviews if you have reviews for the book and that kind of stuff. You could put all those on the page, too, and use the review mark up for that. Interesting, though. Again, I’m not sure I’d put a lot of … It depends on how profitable your offer is for you, your funnel.

How Would You Change The Categories And The Name Of A GMB Page?

If there’s enough money in it, then it’s worth the headache. But I’m not sure from an ebook, but I don’t know your entire funnel, either. Kevin’s up. He says, “Hey, guys. I just setup a GMB for snow removal, still waiting on the postcard. I set the category to be snow removal, but since I am using my personal address and don’t have access to a second address, how would I switch the GMB listing and contain both snow removal and landscaping categories so I can rank for both keywords in the maps pack? I’m guessing I’ll have to reverify the listing after making changes.”

No, Kevin, you don’t have to reverify. You can have two categories. In fact, landscaping and tree service companies are typically the companies that do snow removal in the winter. I know because I’ve been dealing with tree service businesses for seven years now. They oftentimes, because there’s no tree work and landscaping work during the winter, or very, very little anyway, they often make ends meet through snow removal projects and get contracts with shopping centers and stuff like that for snow removal. You just add both. What I would do, because remember, I’m not sure where you live, Kevin, but in my area in Virginia, it’s three seasons of tree and/or landscaping work. It’s spring, summer, and fall. It’s only in the winter season that it’s slow for them.

I would make my primary category landscaping and a secondary category snow removal. By the way, if it’s already a verified listing, you can go in and change the category or add a category and it won’t ask to … At least, the majority of the time it’s not going. There’s always anomalies, there’s always exceptions to the rule. It may trigger a reverification, but it’s unlikely. I know because I’ve gone in recently and made edits, all kinds of edits to map stuff. It hasn’t triggered a reverification for me. Again, a lot of those listings are more established, so that may be part of it. But I would recommend that you would stick with your landscaping …

Depending on where you are. If snow removal is the primary service, then you would want to make that your primary category. But if landscaping is the primary service, then make snow removal a secondary category. Does that make sense? Anyway, Google understands that, by the way. It’s not like you’re the first landscaping company that also does snow removal. What I’m saying is that Google understands that as part of a norm for that industry. It’s not going to be out of the ordinary for you to set it up that way. “Oh, I am also thinking of changing the business name to contain the word Snow and Lawn to help further rank in the maps pack.” That’s not necessary, Kevin. It’s really not. I recommend that you don’t. I would keep it to just the brand. Branding is the better way to go for long term projects. If you’re going to put the effort in, you should try to get them to stick or become long …

You should do them with the intent of them being long term projects. I personally don’t like to stick the keywords in the title unless it’s literally the brand name, which is normal too. Joe’s Snow and Lawn Service or whatever. That would make sense. But if you’ve already got a brand set up, I would just leave it as is. Anybody else?

Hernan: I agree with you Bradley, pretty much.

How Do You Link One Press Release To Others To Achieve The Stacking Effect?

Bradley: Very good. Dan’s up. He says, “For stacking press releases that point to latest reviews submitted to Google, how are you linking from one press release to others to achieve the stacking effect? Are you just pointing from latest press release to last one over and over? Also, what do you suggest from experience as far as distribution? Will Fiver gigs suffice for distribution or are there good and bad choices that you suggest from your experience?”

Dan, I’ll talk on a conceptual level about my press release strategy but I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details because that is reserved for mastermind members and also for the product that we’re going to be releasing about this. I can’t reveal all of that here on a Hump Day Hangout, Dan. If you want the skinny details, we have a lead gen accountability group that we are solely focused on this particular strategy inside the mastermind and we meet every two weeks. I think about eight more people joined yesterday. We’re all doing various forms of the press release strategy for local so that we can test it to death before I release the product. It’s going to give me a bigger dataset to use and examples and case studies for when we release that product, which will be in a month or two or three, whatever.

Again, I can’t reveal it. I can talk on a conceptual level. That said, let me answer the second question, the last part of this question first. Will a Fiver gig suffice? I don’t know because I don’t use Fiver gigs for press releases. You’d have to test. I would assume that they’re going to be rather shitty.

Chris:I assume no.

Bradley: Chris jumped in and said no. I would assume that they’re probably not very good. I use Fiver gig for design projects and stuff but not necessarily for SEO and distribution or writing projects or any of that kind of stuff. You’d have to test, Dan. I use various press release services, guys. We use our [Serverspace 00:24:23] service, I use Press Advantage. I also use Press Cable, which is Chris [Munch’s 00:24:28] press distribution service. I also have used Newswire.net quite a bit. I meant to talk to my partners yesterday about EIN presswire. EIN presswire is located in Washington DC and they keep emailing me because I do a lot of press release stuff with offers and they sent me an offer yesterday that looks pretty good.

I can’t remember now, it’s like 65 press releases for … I can’t remember off the top of my head. But EIN presswire, I’m looking at buying a package from them to test. What I like about them is they will allow a video embed in the press release, which is pretty rare. I want to test that for our agency because we’re leading with video as the front end product. I’d like to test that to see if we can get some more push out of embedding a video. EIN presswire is another one. There’s another one called … Let’s just check this out. I’ll share this one with you real quick, too. This is another one that I’m looking at. It’s called Press Synergy. I have not tested them yet either.

I don’t know why their site’s not loading. Presssynergy.com. This is another one I’ve not tested yet but I’d like to because they also have, for 210 bucks, they have video embeds as well and Google Maps embeds, which is the first time I’ve seen a Google Map embed allowed in a press release. Again, I have not tested this yet, but it is on my list to test because I’m doing so much press release work right now. I want to test all the various services. I’m primarily using our ServerSpace service because, well, for me it doesn’t cost me anything. But again, I do use multiple press release services, guys. Why? Because it adds diversity.

It adds diversity. Go ahead, somebody?

Marco: What I wanted to say is that if you have a test property that you want to spam or you want to test those services, sometimes … I never experience this for link building specifically. But sometimes you will find diamonds in the rough on Fiver. For example, for logo design or for some voiceovers. People are doing a really good job for five bucks, right? It’s usually not for five bucks, you need to pay a little bit more, but just so you know. In any case, you need to try. [inaudible 00:26:49] there’s a reason why some of these press release services are that expensive. Press is expensive. If you want to get featured or if you want to get a link from Huffington Post or Ink or Entrepreneur.com, you can get it absolutely if you have somebody that is selling paid placements, but you need to pay a couple grand for a back link or for a mention or for a feature.

If you think about it, maybe it’s worth the investment because if you’re an author or if you’re really in a competitive niche, maybe it’s worth it. Who knows, right? But there’s a big difference between a $5 service and a $5,200, $300, $500 a month service, which is a press release, right? Have that in mind, Dan. I would definitely try it out on something that you wouldn’t miss, that you wouldn’t care on missing, a), or you wouldn’t care on having zero results. That would be my [crosstalk 00:27:52]

Bradley: Listen. The press release stuff, and I’ll get to the method on a conceptual level, Dan, again, I’m not going to reveal my strategy right here in a free Hump Day Hangout, guys, I can’t do it. It would ruin the product that’s coming out and all the research I’ve done. By the way, just so you know, this is that EIN presswire. This is the other one. They’ve got a deal right now for 12 press releases for 400 bucks. It does allow video embeds right here. Number of embedded videos? You get one video embed. It comes out to $33.25 per press release. I’d like to test this. I meant to ask you guys yesterday during our corporate meeting if I could purchase that, get a vote on it, and I forgot. Can we take a vote right now? No, I’m kidding. Anyway, I do want to test this because, like I said, I’m constantly testing new services now, guys.

I primarily use ours because it doesn’t cost me anything, but there’s a benefit to adding diversity to all of your back link profile, right? There’s a reason for me using multiple press release services. I’m still looking to find the best results, you know what I mean? Just so you know, one of the more recent projects that I’ve done with press releases, I took a new maps listing that I got. It was a PO box type setup and everything. I got it in the maps pack for about 12 out of my 16 primary keywords, about 75% of my primary keywords are in the maps pack, in the free pack with only four press releases. No citations. Swear, no citations at all.

No syndication network. I didn’t do a drive stack. I just did four press releases and I got it to pop in the maps pack for 75% of the primary keywords, which is insane. I’ve got multiple examples of getting those kind of results. When you combine it with the syndication networks and drive stacks and stuff like that, that’s when it’s just incredible the amount of power. It’s very, very powerful. As far as the stacking part of it, the first one always points to the money site. Most PR’s will allow you two or three URL’s, links within the press release.

What I do on the first one is I link to the money site, usually just the homepage using either the brand name of the business or a naked URL. That’s it. I’ll link to the Google Maps page, the Maps URL for the maps listing itself. Then I will usually link to something else like another property within the branded syndication network. Typically, it’s going to be a Facebook page or something like that. As long as the Facebook page is somewhat active. One of the best ways to determine what to link to within the first press release is just go do a brand search for the company that you’re doing the work for, or for your own lead gen site.

See what Google is listing at the top of the search results on page one for that business, that brand search. You’re going to link to the domain itself, you’re going to link to the maps listing, and then just select one that Google is telling you that it deems to be one of the most authoritative sites that you’re listed on, just from the Google search. Then as far as the second press release, it doesn’t like to the website. It can. I just typically don’t. What I would recommend is on a second press release, if you were going to link to the website, that you would link to an inner page or blog post or a silo header or something like that, not to the homepage.

Instead, what I like to do is link to the first press release and then link to, in the first press release, which one do you link to? Once again, use Google. Use Google to do a search on the previous press release’s title and then look at which ones are ranking the best. Or, if you were targeting a keyword specifically in that first press release, you can do a keyword search and try to find the highest ranked press release from that first distribution.

What I like to do is link to those. Now, keep in mind though, guys, a lot of the press release syndication points, the actual sites that they get republished on, those, within six months or 180 days, the vast majority of them, those press releases will be eliminated. They’ll be terminated, deleted from the site. They’re archived for up to a period of time. Some of the sites will leave them on indefinitely, but a lot of them purge after about 180 days. If you’re going to be using the press release stacking method, which is what I’ve been doing a lot of, you want to either identify the syndication points that do not purge or you want to continually stack, in other words make sure that that’s an ongoing, monthly type thing or every other month or quarterly or something so that you always have new targets that are going to be pointing to target URL’s that you’re trying to rank.

Again, when they purge those, then you’re going to lose any. To me, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do press release stacks or link building to press releases that have been published where they’re going to eventually be purged because then all that work that you’ve done, at some point, is going to just be eliminated just like that. Here’s how you do this, Dan. Once you get the press release distribution report from whatever service you’re using, you’d have to go through and catalog which sites purge and which ones don’t.

It’s going to take some research. It’s something you can higher a VA to do and have them identify all of that and then you can go back through and select which ones you want to build additional links to. Again, what I like to do is, on the second press releases, find out the top ranked for either the keyword or either the actual title of the press release. In the following or subsequent press release, you want to link to the previous one or to just another press release within that ecosystem that you’re building out. What you’re doing is you’re passing relevancy from one to another to another and you’re linking from authority sites to authority sites that are news sites to news sites.

You don’t need a lot of target URL’s pointing back to your money site because you have the original one pointing and you start to build downstream power. You know what I’m saying? In other words, it’s second and third tier, fourth tier links. We have somebody that’s been testing this with me in the mastermind. He’s been doing just multiple press releases linking directly to the money site. He’s been getting similar results that I’ve been getting. It’s just different types of methods. That’s part of the reason why, like I said, we’ve got a special group in our mastermind right now that we’re all collaborating on this and testing various methods and stack methods and all that kind of stuff to try to identify which is the best way to do it or the most powerful or at least give variety.

All of that will be included in the training course that [crosstalk 00:34:48]

Hernan: To sum it all up, we’re testing all this shit so you guys can get the best training possible.

Bradley: That’s correct. That’s how we do right?

Hernan: That’s how we do the do we do.

What Are Some Best Practices When Updating And Re-Writing Content Of Your Website?

Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:35:00] says, “I will be updating and rewriting a lot of content on my site. I’m certain it will dance all over the rankings the next three to four weeks. I don’t like adding any links when a page or site is bouncing around however. What about these activities? Number one, should I wait until the dance is over to start adding rank feeder feeds with co citations? Or are those different enough from actual links that they do not matter?” No, you don’t have to wait for those, Greg. You don’t have to wait for those at all because those are citation type links. They’re not physical links. You’re fine for that.

“Number two, is it okay to create videos to the YouTube channel and embed them on my site pages during the dance or wait?” As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. There might be a difference of opinion from some of my partners here, but in my opinion that’s fine because that’s just adding content, updating content. It’s not an inbound link activity thing. Any comments on that, guys?

Marco: I would think you’re correct. In fact, it’s Google property. A google bot comes in and sees a Google property, it’s going to tunnel right to the YouTube channel. I think you’re pretty safe there, also.

Bradley: “Number three, would you suggest adding new posts to the site that will syndicate out to the syndication network during the dance or wait until it’s over?” Again, Greg, that’s a perfectly normal activity to be blogging on the site even during structural changes. In my opinion, I would go for it. I would continue to blog because that’s a perfectly normal activity for a genuine website. There’s no reason to stop content marketing just because of some structural changes. You know what I mean? I would say yes to all of those. It’s okay.

How To Use Press Releases In Your Local SEO Campaigns?

Aman says, “Can you briefly go over your stress release … ” Excuse me, stress release. Press release … Stress release strategies. Sure! I do yoga. No, I’m kidding. “Can you briefly go over your strategy for using press releases in local SEO campaigns?” See the previous question from Dan, my previous reply.

Would Hiding The Address Of A GMB Service Page Would Affect Its Current Ranking?

Muhammad says, “Hey guys, I’m currently trying to get a site ranked in maps. It’s slowly getting higher. The business is a service, but the GMB currently has an address. Would hiding address by making it a service ruin the current momentum?” That’s a tricky one. I’ve seen some conflicting information on that in some of the forums and things like that. If you don’t have a storefront, based upon Google’s terms or best practices or whatever, you should hide the address if you don’t have a storefront. Google tells us to do that. However, I have noticed because of maps being more and more localized now, that if you have the address showing, you’re typically going to rank better. It’s going to depend on the searcher and where they’re located. But for mobile, especially, having the actual address show is going to make a difference in how your maps listing appears as far as where it ranks in the mobile search results.

That’s where I see having a benefit of having that address being shown, is for that. Outside of that, again, if you don’t have a storefront, if customers do not come to the business location, then you’re supposed to hide it so I always do. I also always hide it because it’s usually a PO Box, right? Anybody have any comments on that.

Marco: Yeah, I would add that if it’s moving and you’re getting results and there are no problems, I would say just let it go. Leave it. Don’t make any changes. I always tell people if it’s dancing, don’t touch it. If it’s moving, it might drop a little bit, move up a little bit more, drop, you don’t want to touch it. You don’t want to do anything that’s going to disturb a google bot deciding where you’re going to be ranked in the end. Once that happens, wherever you end up, then you can decide what your next steps are.

Bradley: Again, if it’s not a PO Box or something then I would leave it. If it’s a genuine address for that business, even though it might be a service area business, that’s what they call those, by the way, service area businesses. If it’s a service area business … It’s a genuine address, but it’s a service area business, I wouldn’t touch it. I wouldn’t change it right now because you’re starting to gain some traction, just like Marco said. But if it’s a spammed address, so to speak, then I would go ahead and hide it now anyway because you always run the risk of getting it reported. Again, if it’s a real business address, there’s no reason to hide it. Google’s best practices says you’re supposed to for service area businesses, but as Marco said, I agree with that, I wouldn’t mess with it if it’s starting to gain traction, okay?

Columbia says, “The host to use?” You’re using Liquid Web, Columbia, or WPX. Either one of those. Those are the two hosts that I use primarily now. If you’re using either one of those, then you should be fine to just contact the host and explain to them the problem, give them a sample set of URL’s that are rogue and they can usually go in and clean it up.

Marco: This isn’t a plug or anything, but Liquid Web is the best. I’ve yet to see anyone outdo Liquid Web as far as customer service, as far as helping you out with problems. If you go in there and you act like a dummy, they’ll do everything for you. I go in there and just be myself. They get everything done. Just do that. You’re going to be paying for a VPS. The costs are going to be higher. They’ll help you as much as they can. They’ll stay on the phone with you until it’s solved or they’ll do chat with you, however it is that you choose to do it.

For that, just for that, it’s really worth the price.

Bradley: If you’re doing client work, especially if you build new sites and stuff for clients, you can charge them for hosting and host everything on your own VPS. That’s how you reduce and eliminate the costs of the VPS from Liquid Web. You can also turn that into a small profit center, too. Those VPS’s, you can put a lot of sites on, especially if you get a dedicated IP then it’s specific to you. You don’t have a bunch of other shared … That’s part of the reason why they got rid of shared hosting, Liquid Web did, so that they could have more control over the IP’s and provide a better service to their user base. Pissed a lot of people off when they switched over, by the way. We stayed with them anyway.

Hernan: Definitely. I was one of the guys that was on the [inaudible 00:41:48] The new one, deluxe hosting, is not that bad actually. They’re doing a good job for a share account. But yeah, I totally agree with Marco. I used to go a lot for Hostgator until it becomes completely useless in a way that-

Bradley: I’m sorry.

Hernan: Yeah. It’s a pain in the ass and, not only that, you’re paying cheap, but at the end of the day, you need to do everything by yourself. You’re one hour in a queue for some guy to make a ticket for you because they cannot even solve the thing that you are calling in in the first place. You’re paying for a service, right? If you think about it, as an entrepreneur or an SEO if you have an agency, your time is much more valuable than the money that you’re paying for hosting, right? Because you need to be focusing on some other things, not troubleshooting your hosting. That’s the least important of your problems.

What I’m trying to say is that you need to treat your time as money, too. Most importantly, you need to make sure that you have a team on your back end and Liquid Web does a great job because the guys are really … You can feel that they are really on your team. They’re not trying to be assholes that are not on the company, if you say they’re us against them. They’re really put in your shoes and you can get a lot more done. You’re paying a little bit more, don’t get me wrong, but [crosstalk 00:43:19] Yeah, it’s worth it. That’s the service you’re paying for.

Bradley: I totally agree. Guys, I used to go for cheaper hosting as well. I think we all do when we start out. But you learn over time that the cheap hosting costs you so much money. First of all, opportunity cost as Hernan just mentioned, if you’re in there dealing with troubles that happen. PHP is outdated. PHP version is outdated so plugins or themes don’t work correctly or there are security issues. The vast majority of shared hosting over stuff the shit out of their IP’s so that there’s way too many sites sharing the bandwidth so if any particular site gets hacked or DDoS attack or something like that, all the sites on that IP go down. Then you’re screwed.

One of the worst ranking signals is a site that’s going in and out all the time. If you put an uptime on it. Columbia, I’m not talking to you specifically about this because you [inaudible 00:44:23] the host we use so it’s probably a good one. I’m talking to other people that may be using cheap hosts. If you put uptime robot or some sort of uptime monitor on sites that you have in cheap hosting accounts, you’ll see. You’ll get notifications via email or however you setup notifications about how often your sites are going down that you don’t even know it. Unless you’re on the site all the time monitoring it, you won’t know it.

That is a terrible ranking signal. Not only that, but it’s the bad neighborhood type stuff. If you go do a search on your IP from your website, from your host, and then go look at who’s hosted on this IP or whatever, you can just do a Google search and find a bunch of different sites that will show you all the sites that are hosted, the domains hosted on that particular IP. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of really shitty, bad neighbors, so to speak, on those IP’s. You don’t want to be blocked in our lumped in, guilty by association, so to speak, with those shitty sites. It ends up hurting you. It’s a bad ranking signal. If you go with a better type of managed type host, then you’re going to have a much higher quality to service as well as uptime will be better. It’s a better ranking signal, all that kind of stuff.

How Would You Recommend Changing A GMB Page That A Local Term Is Ranking For?

Cesar’s up. He says, “How would you recommend trying to change the page that a local term is ranking for? For example, I’m working with a local jeweler whose homepage branded is ranking for City Plus Jeweler and has one location at the moment but has plans to open other locations in other cities. Since we’re building out local landing pages for each location, I’d like the inner page to rank for the local search terms, not the home page.” Yeah, that’s fine. Essentially, what you’re doing is you want to create an inner page for the location that it’s currently ranking in, is that correct?

Here’s the thing. If you’re already ranked in maps for that, I’ve gone in for maps. Organic is different. Organic, you will see some dancing and stuff like that, but for maps, and I’ve done this multiple times. Anytime I take a single location lead gen site to multiple locations, then I end up either creating an inner page, so it’s a location page on the root domain of the original location or I break them out into sub domains, which is my preferred method, for each location. You have to go on and change the landing page URL for the Google map business maps listing. As far as maps, I’ve never had a dance occur from that, which is odd, I think. For real, I’ve literally changed the URL entirely from either the homepage originally to either an inner page URL or a sub-domain URL. I’ve had the maps listing stick. It’s not danced at all.

I’ve had that happen multiple times. I know for organic, you’re going to see some dancing. What I would recommend potentially doing, I would think you could set a canonical for the homepage to point to the inner page, at least for a period of time while you’re getting your other location pages built out and your Google map business listings verified and stuff like that and allow Google some time for it to recognize the canonical and to really identify that inner page as the new location page for that listing, so to speak.

Then, once you start adding the additional locations in, you could remove that canonical and it shouldn’t affect it. It might be some slight dancing, but it should be temporary. Anybody got a comment on that?

Hernan: No, I agree with you, Bradley.

Bradley: Okay, Marco?

Marco: No, I’m good.

Bradley: Just didn’t know if you guys had another trick or something. That’s what I would do, Cesar. That’s a good question, though. Again, for maps, usually I haven’t seen any dancing for that especially if it’s securely ranked in number one position, which it sounds like you are. I would just go ahead and change the landing page URL and take a look. If it drops out of the maps pack or drops down, then set the canonical for the homepage. You can do that using the SEO plugin. Most all SEO plugins have that option now and you can just go and set a canonical and then point to the inner page and then just give it some time for it to settle.

What’s The Effective Way To Get The GMB Listing To Pop In The 3 Pack?

Then you can always remove that canonical after you start setting the other location pages up and it should resolve. Second question is what’s the effective way to get the GMB listing to pop in the three pack? DIY RYS or Maps Powerhouse? RYS is one of the quickest ways. Like I said, a lot of press release stuff I’ve been testing lately has been incredibly effective as well. If you combine those two, that’s a slam dunk. If you can do a drive stack that’s built properly, Cesar, so either do it yourself through the new training or just buy it from us at Serp Space and it’ll be done correctly.

Then, if you also incorporate a couple press releases into that, you ought to see some significant movement very quickly. Maps Powerhouse is good. There’s no doubt. But what I do with Maps Powerhouse is I use that as a … That’s not a primary ranking method for me, guys. It’s a booster. That’s how I use Maps Powerhouse as more of a booster than a primary ranking method. There may be some others that are using that as a primary method and getting results from it. But me, personally, I use that as almost like a link building method for maps.

But it’s relatively inexpensive. You just use some credits for that. Combine that along with. But as far as my front end method, it would be definitely a drive stack and then I would, right now, I’m just crushing it with PR’s, press releases. I would do at least two, maybe three press releases over the course of the next 30 days and see what happens. You already got that, Adam. Thank you. We’re good, just about time, too. [crosstalk 00:50:31]

Marco: Before you go on, let me ask you a question. Some people are on a limited budget and press releases can get expensive. What would you do if you can’t do three, four press releases?

Bradley: I’ve done [inaudible 00:50:45] stack.

Marco: There you go.

Bradley: What I was mentioning was if you have the budget for both, I would definitely do both. But if you can only choose one or the other, I would go with a drive stack. My own personal experience with them is that I might not see movement as quickly from the drive stack as I would with the press releases, however once the movement occurs, it just sticks and it’s almost unmovable, which is pretty powerful. With press releases, like I said, I’ve noticed with the one I was just talking about a minute ago, I popped a brand new maps listing into the three pack for 75% of the terms under four weeks with only three or four press releases. I’d have to go back and look at my notes.

I think it was four. I haven’t touched it now in probably five or six weeks. I think the last press release that I published was at the beginning of July or maybe the middle of July. It’s been about six weeks since I’ve done any press releases for that. I’ve noticed that some of the keywords are starting to slip down to the C and D position, even falling out of the three pack. In part, I left it like that intentionally because I wanted to see if there was a drop off period at some point with the press releases. I actually have it on the schedule this week, I haven’t gotten to it yet, but to order another one or two press releases for that particular project or that campaign, to see if I can boost those keywords that started to drop back into the three pack just from another PR distribution.

Again, that’s why we’re testing right now. Columbia’s got a Liquid VPS. See? She listens. She’s doing awesome. “Everything all of you said is why I bit the bullet to cost scope for VPS. The service is really great.” Yeah, absolutely. We aren’t even dropping affiliate links for Liquid Web. We probably should.

Adam: We have one. A great service.

Hernan: What I would add, just to make sure that she goes and does it, is a 404 to 301. Add that plugin and you’re good to go. Your 404 problem will disappear.

Bradley: Yeah. Your 404 errors in search console will disappear. It’ll take sometimes about a month or so before you’ll start seeing all those start disappearing from the 404 errors in the search console, but they will disappear. You definitely want to resolve those rogue files, though. If they’ve been hacked into the database on your site, you want to get them removed. Just contact Liquid Web. They’ll square it away for you. I know for sure they’ll do it. All right, guys. Well, we’re done here. Thanks for everybody attending. We really appreciate it, guys. Don’t forget RYS Academy is going up at 9 a.m. tomorrow so if you’re interested, now is the time.

Adam: This is good, too. I was just in the Facebook group. Not going to lie, I switched over there real quick while we were doing this and there’s a thread with Kendrick and it’s like, “During Hump Day Hangouts” for 20 comments deep.

Bradley: All right, guys. That’s it. Thanks everybody for being here. We don’t have mastermind tomorrow, do we? I don’t think we do. I think it’s next week.

Marco: Let me put in a plug for our done for you services because they’re done up to the current RYS standards, RYS reloaded. The VA’s were trained. They’ve gone through the process. They know what to do. As of Monday, any orders coming in are done according to RYS reloaded standards. We won’t redo the previous ones. Sorry. That’s not the way this works. Anything ordered as of Monday will be done up to those specs. Get your orders in, because yesterday we forgot to set a new price. While we decide to get a new price in, the price will remain.

But I’m going to push for the price to go as high as possible without it just getting away from people being able to buy them. But you know me, I like to push for high end. I don’t like my stuff to sell for nothing. Guys, if you’re on the fence as far as RYS reloaded, go get it. We’re in there. We’re hammering away. If you don’t want to do the work, we have done for you according to RYS reloaded specs. And they’re the same price as the old ones, don’t forget.

Male:Thanks. Good time to get in there.

Hernan: If you happen to grab RYS reloaded before it goes up, on the checkout page you can pick an option to get an RYS stack for half off. As of right now, when we increase the price, it’s going to be even lower. For right now, you can get a steep discount on your RYS stack that you can roll over the next 30 days. You get it today, you can roll over the next 30 days, but you need to do that with RYS reloaded so [inaudible 00:55:39]

Bradley: Awesome. Thanks everybody for being here. We’ve got to wrap it up. See you all later. Thanks.

Hernan: Thanks. Bye bye.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger http://ift.tt/2vZ66ol via IFTTT

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147

Click on the video above to watch Episode 147 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

 Announcement

Bradley: Live.

Adam: We are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is episode 147, the event where we talk about RYS. You know it was coming. We’re going to talk to you some more about it. We’re really excited. We’ve had some really good feedback so far. Hernan and Bradley whipped up a quick little contest that we wanted to get going as well as wanted to obviously spread the news about RYS. We’re small. We understand a lot of people don’t hear about us. We’re trying to get the word out. Hernan, you want to tell people what’s going on on Facebook?

Hernan: Sure, yeah. We had a little contest over there. We’re going to drop the URL for the free Facebook group. You can win an Amazon gift card for 250 bucks. That is two day thank you guys for the amazing support that we have been having for RYS academy. It’s been mind blowing. A lot of people joining, a lot of people are already working on it. That’s pretty much it. We’re going to drop the link over there on the events page.

Adam: Awesome, yeah. Pay attention, click the link, read it. All you’ve got to do is a quick share, text some people, and then we’ll put you in the winning for, I think, it’s 250 bucks, right?

Hernan: Yup.

Bradley: Yup.

Adam: Nice. I’m going to go enter after we get done with Hump Day Hangouts and you should too. Let’s see. On the other end of things, we had, obviously, a lot of questions. It’s a big launch. People are wondering what’s going on. They’ve heard about RYS. They’ve heard about RYS reloaded. We know a lot of people see the price and you wonder if this is a training that’s going to help you do what it is you want to do and we get that. This is the place. Obviously, Hump Day Hangouts is a great place to ask this. Also, the Facebook group, which Hernan will also post the link to. It’s the same one. Our free group that you can go and join and ask us questions if you want to know if this is for you. We want to make sure, obviously, the people who join RYS reloaded are the people who are going to put it to use.

But if you’re on the fence, you’re thinking, “Damn, I’d like to get some good rankings, I’d like to get a quick … ” whatever it is you’re thinking about, just let us know. Obviously, we’re here. We’re real people. These aren’t robots. We’ll talk to you and let you know whether or not this is a good fit for you. On that note, too, I think Marco, we had some questions for people, right? That you had some answers to?

Marco: Yeah, I believe so. Let me just see. Someone wanted to know how RYS and drive stacks and whatever it is that we’re doing would affect big established site, right? With traffic and many keywords. But a site that wants to grow. The best thing about this is that the site already has trust. What we borrow from in RYS academy is Google’s trust. They’d be pushing trust back and forth and growing that trust into the drive stack and then it would simply be targeting the keywords, just targeting other keyword targets, so to speak, so that they could grow the website. More traffic and even better rankings. If you have keywords that are harder to push up, you could push them up and get more traffic that way. It’s all about trust, it’s all about authority, it’s all about building it up so that you can rank sites faster, better, and longer because RYS rankings tend to stick when they hit that first [inaudible 00:03:36] and they tend to stay.

They stay for a long time. The second question that I have is who is the creator of RYS academy? I am not going to take full credit for that. The theory, the concept is mine. I didn’t invent SEO, guys. I won’t take credit for it. I can’t do that. I didn’t invent Google. I didn’t invent Drive. I didn’t invent ranking with drive stacks or anything like that. What I did is when I saw what Dr. [Gary 00:04:10] was doing in our mastermind, he’s my co conspirator for the original RYS academy was and is a mastermind member who I saw was just doing some nasty things and finding all of these incredible things in Google.

I started thinking how do I put this together? What can we do with this? I pulled him in. We had the talk. We started meeting on Saturdays. About seven months later, RYS academy was born. Who is the creator? I am one of the originators. What is it that they say? Often imitated, never duplicated. My partner in crime is Dr. Gary [Curlin 00:04:59].

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Outstanding. I think, also, we had talked about this earlier last week, I think people had heard about this, at least for the existing RYS academy members, people who joined from 2015 up to now who have been put in RYS academy to work and wanted to give us a quick video review, we were going to give away a complete done for you RYS stack courtesy of [Surfspace 00:05:21]. I think we had talked about this. Do we have a winner or a best of for those?

Marco: Yeah. I think that the one that really explains the concept really simple … We should drop the playlist, by the way, so that people can go look at actual people who are members of RYS academy and RYS reloaded, just doing what it is that they’re doing. Andrew [Adare 00:05:51], he’s one of our members. He’s in Australia. I think that his video exemplifies the simplicity of RYS academy. I think for that reason, he should get that awesome drive stack.

Adam: Awesome. Andrew, if you’re listening, shoot us an email. If we don’t hear from you first, we’ll be sending one out after this.

Bradley: He’s in Australia so he’s not listening.

Adam: You never know. He might be up. What is it? 16 hours? You never know. We’ll see. But yeah, we’ll be in touch buddy. I think Hernan’s going to drop the link in there and check those out if you’re on the fence. If you want to hear what other people accomplished, again, these are people who joined and got results on their own based on the training and the help. These aren’t people who are profiting from this. They used RYS and made their own results. Other than that, I think Hernan, you’ve got the links in there for Facebook, right? We’re good to go on that?

Hernan: Yeah. I got the Facebook link and we will put the link for RYS, for the sales patient, the coupon, which is an $800 off coupon. That coupon expires tomorrow, 9 a.m. eastern. If you’re watching this right now live you can go take action now. If you’re not and if you try that coupon, I’m sorry but that’s the way we have it set up. We’re going to drop the coupon and the URL so that you guys can join RYS reloaded right now for that discount, which is the second lowest discount that we will do for that.

Bradley: What’s it going to tomorrow after this coupon expires?

Hernan: $1,500.

Bradley: $1,500. It’s going up 300 bucks, essentially.

Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:07:34]

Marco: Hang on a second. Tell them where it’s going to end up, please.

Bradley: $3,000. It’s going to end up at $3,000 after the launch is over. Again, now is the best time to get in. We will offer a split pay option, I believe, after the launch. Is that correct, guys?

Adam: Yeah, we will do that and we mean it. If you’ve got questions, if you’re on the fence, I know there’s a lot of people who watch Hump Day Hangouts and they don’t say anything and that’s cool. I do that with different areas where I’m learning or I’m watching stuff, but if you’re out there and you’re thinking about this like, “Man, is RYS for me? I’ve heard about it. I want these results.” Pop into the Facebook group and post it. Post a question, we’ll get back to you tonight and help you out so you can make the choice before the price goes up. We’re here to help. We think it’s a good course. We know it’s a good course. The students know it’s a good course and training.

We want you to make the right choice, too.

Bradley: It’s super damn valuable. It really is. We’re trying to keep it to where it doesn’t become a saturated technique so that’s in part why we’re asking for that kind of money for it and because there’s been three years in development now, so it’s totally worth it.

Adam: That and the results you can get, it literally pays for itself. You’re not signing $5 contracts with that stuff.

Hernan: Sorry Adam, but it’s going to be [inaudible 00:08:55] training, right? We have a bunch of material in there already. There’s all the archives, the new stuff, the Facebook group, and also Marco is going to be doing upcoming webinars and there’s going to be Q&A. We’ve had things supporting RYS academy for the past two years for a one time fee. Everyone that has been following us for awhile, you know that we deliver, that we support our products, that we always try to over-deliver, make them better. We try to keep up and to be out there in the trenches, testing stuff so you don’t have to go out there and chasing every shiny object.

We have some testimonials already about people that have been spending anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 on software that doesn’t work and once they got into RYS, they cut it immediately because you forget about PVN’s, you forget about proxies, BPS’s, all of those kind of things that not only takes time but money. Anyway, that’s what I wanted to say also. You’re actually saving money. I agree with Adam, you can nail some really juicy contracts with this.

Adam: You guys got anything else?

Bradley: Nope.

How Would You Fix A Renegade Page That Returns 404 Errors When Redirected To The Homepage?

Adam: Sweet. I’m looking here first too. This is awesome. Columbia is the first person up so I’m pretty pumped. She’s usually got some good questions so let’s get going.

Bradley: I had a Skype chat with her yesterday, a phone call with her just because she’s always coming to our Hump Day Hangouts and engaging and participating and so I gave her about 20 minutes of time just to chat with her. It was nice meeting her. She’s out there taking action every week from the stuff that she learns right here. She’s growing her business, which is amazing, guys, just from free information that she’s getting from the Hump Day Hangouts, which is awesome.

With that, I’m going to grab the screen and we’re going to get into this. All right. Columbia says, “I’ve suddenly discovered about four weeks ago that an old dotcom has had a renegade page since 2010. It did not appear on my list of pages in the admin area for the site.” Yeah, I’m sure it was a hacked in link. That happens often, Columbia, at least I’ve had it happen a lot. “It was called Freebooks and it seemed to be offering a wide variety of books, mostly or all in French. The best fix as of yesterday was to have /Freebooks redirect to my homepage. Unfortunately, all the Google listings have more info after the slash, all of those, which is all of them, are currently showing a 404 error.

That was the best we could come up with after extensive hypothesizing, analyzing, and testing. I worry that Google with have issues with all this 404’s and there could be 200 or so of them since each book title is a separate extension.” Oh, another lead just came through. Let’s see, “This website has a lot of content. I was in the process of sending up a reloaded version of it. It has six letters broken and two short essay remember words, which apply perfectly to the product. I really don’t want to drop [inaudible 00:12:07]” Columbia, one of the easiest things you could do is just put a 404 redirect plugin on the site.

Here’s a couple things I would suggest. Number one, you can contact the host and ask the host, if it’s a decent host, they should be able to go in and clean up those rogue files. A lot of hosts, the better, higher end host will provide that sort of support because actually any sort of hacked WordPress site on their servers is a security risk for them. If it’s a good host … If you’re dealing with Hostgator or GoDaddy or something like that, forget it. But if you’re dealing with a decent host, then I would contact the host and ask them to do it, an easy fix for the 404’s.

I would still try to get rid of those rogue files. An easy fix for the 404’s is just a simple 404 redirect plugin. You could use something like 404 to Start is one of the plugins. There’s a bunch of them. Link Juice Keeper is an old one. I don’t know if that still is available, but that would be another one. There’s a bunch of them. You could just do a Google search for 404 redirect plugins and just select one. I would look for one that was updated recently because that means it shows that it’s continually updated. Lastly, there’s something else that you can do. I always recommend this to clients. This is called security.net.

All my clients that are running WordPress, I typically recommend that they install this. They purchase it. I think it’s 300 bucks a year. This is a great service. I’ve got one client in particular. They get hacked about once every three or four months. I’m not sure why, it’s probably a competitor causing that. But security always catches it right away and sends a notification. We just submit a support ticket and they go in and they do all the cleanup. It’s usually done within about 24 hours. Again, they get hacked about once every three or four months and all I do is I’ve got to submit a support ticket and it’s taken care of.

If you’re doing this for client work, then I would recommend that this is an expense that you pass to the client. It’s not something that you pay for. If it’s your own site, it depends on how much revenue it’s generating for you. Personally, I like easy. When anytime I can do something like this to prevent having to go through all the headache of trying to track down rogue files and remove them myself or dealing with the hosting company, to me it’s worth it. Anybody have any other comments on that?

Adam: Not here.

Bradley: Hopefully that’s helpful. Again, if you’ve got a good host, though, Liquid Web will do it. But they don’t have shared hosting anymore. They’ve just got VPS’s and dedicated hosting. I use Terry Kyle’s, what is it? WPX Hosting? I use that a lot now for WordPress sites as well. That’s a really good host. Their support is really good as well. That’s something else that you can contact them. I’m just saying HostGator and GoDaddy, those crappy hosts, they’re not going to do it for you. It’s likely they won’t. You can always contact them and ask.

What Type Of Schema Would Be Best To Use To Rank An Affiliate Offer To A Local Medical Spa?

Next one, it says, “Hi, what type of schema would you use in the following made up example. Keyword to rank for cellulite treatment Dallas but instead to promote the local medical spa. I’d like to promote affiliate offer, ebook for example. What type of schema do you think would best use to rank for local business environment?”

I don’t know because I’ve never spammed local structure data for an affiliate offer. I’ve spammed maps before for an affiliate offer. Years ago, I did that a lot. I haven’t done that in several years now. Has anybody tried to do this and, if so, can you comment?

Hernan: No, but I can see it. I can see him branding. It’s going to take a lot of work. I don’t know if it’s really worth it for an ebook. But you create the brand, whatever the spot is. What you’re looking to do is for people to end up in that ebook offer. In that ebook offer, the schema that you would add is for whatever that book … I don’t know the schema for book. I don’t keep track of all of it, or the image or whatever. You would benefit from both, from having the business schema and then schema on the page with the offer. As far as schema, that’s how I would pursue this. I don’t see any other way that you can do it unless someone else has an idea.

Bradley: Yeah. I don’t see. He doesn’t mention maps in here. What I would suggest is if you’re trying to rank organically, that’s one thing. But maps, I wouldn’t try to do. Again, he didn’t mention maps in his question, but what I’m saying is, just for everybody’s benefit, I would not recommend trying to do something like this with a map listing because, with this, it’s a point of sale or a storefront type business, right? You wouldn’t want to do that. You would quickly get reported, I’m sure, if you were to rank in maps. Again, I know he didn’t mention it, I’m stating it for everybody’s benefit that may be thinking about doing this. I used to do maps spam for affiliate offers years ago but they stopped doing it because people started catching on and it would get reported to Google for storefront offers that didn’t show a storefront.

In other words, if you hid the address but it should be a type of business that has a storefront where customers come to the business location, and if the address was hidden, then competitors would report it. Or if you would leave the address showing and it was going to a post office or a home address or something like that, then oftentimes it would get reported as well. I just stopped doing it because it was too much work for it just to be taken down within a few months or a few weeks, sometimes. Again, if you were going to do it organically, that’s different. I’m assuming that’s what you’re going to do. I don’t know what the actual structured data would be for something like that other than you would still want to create the schema markup or structured data markup for the local business, if you’re trying to rank it locally.

But, again, I wouldn’t try to rank in maps. I would just try to rank organically. In which case, I would use your made up address or PO Box or whatever it is that you’re using as the actual business address in the structured data, but then you would just want to mark up the proper elements on the page. If you’ve got a book or an ebook or whatever, I’m sure there’s book mark up. You would just mark it up that way. You could also mark up reviews if you have reviews for the book and that kind of stuff. You could put all those on the page, too, and use the review mark up for that. Interesting, though. Again, I’m not sure I’d put a lot of … It depends on how profitable your offer is for you, your funnel.

How Would You Change The Categories And The Name Of A GMB Page?

If there’s enough money in it, then it’s worth the headache. But I’m not sure from an ebook, but I don’t know your entire funnel, either. Kevin’s up. He says, “Hey, guys. I just setup a GMB for snow removal, still waiting on the postcard. I set the category to be snow removal, but since I am using my personal address and don’t have access to a second address, how would I switch the GMB listing and contain both snow removal and landscaping categories so I can rank for both keywords in the maps pack? I’m guessing I’ll have to reverify the listing after making changes.”

No, Kevin, you don’t have to reverify. You can have two categories. In fact, landscaping and tree service companies are typically the companies that do snow removal in the winter. I know because I’ve been dealing with tree service businesses for seven years now. They oftentimes, because there’s no tree work and landscaping work during the winter, or very, very little anyway, they often make ends meet through snow removal projects and get contracts with shopping centers and stuff like that for snow removal. You just add both. What I would do, because remember, I’m not sure where you live, Kevin, but in my area in Virginia, it’s three seasons of tree and/or landscaping work. It’s spring, summer, and fall. It’s only in the winter season that it’s slow for them.

I would make my primary category landscaping and a secondary category snow removal. By the way, if it’s already a verified listing, you can go in and change the category or add a category and it won’t ask to … At least, the majority of the time it’s not going. There’s always anomalies, there’s always exceptions to the rule. It may trigger a reverification, but it’s unlikely. I know because I’ve gone in recently and made edits, all kinds of edits to map stuff. It hasn’t triggered a reverification for me. Again, a lot of those listings are more established, so that may be part of it. But I would recommend that you would stick with your landscaping …

Depending on where you are. If snow removal is the primary service, then you would want to make that your primary category. But if landscaping is the primary service, then make snow removal a secondary category. Does that make sense? Anyway, Google understands that, by the way. It’s not like you’re the first landscaping company that also does snow removal. What I’m saying is that Google understands that as part of a norm for that industry. It’s not going to be out of the ordinary for you to set it up that way. “Oh, I am also thinking of changing the business name to contain the word Snow and Lawn to help further rank in the maps pack.” That’s not necessary, Kevin. It’s really not. I recommend that you don’t. I would keep it to just the brand. Branding is the better way to go for long term projects. If you’re going to put the effort in, you should try to get them to stick or become long …

You should do them with the intent of them being long term projects. I personally don’t like to stick the keywords in the title unless it’s literally the brand name, which is normal too. Joe’s Snow and Lawn Service or whatever. That would make sense. But if you’ve already got a brand set up, I would just leave it as is. Anybody else?

Hernan: I agree with you Bradley, pretty much.

How Do You Link One Press Release To Others To Achieve The Stacking Effect?

Bradley: Very good. Dan’s up. He says, “For stacking press releases that point to latest reviews submitted to Google, how are you linking from one press release to others to achieve the stacking effect? Are you just pointing from latest press release to last one over and over? Also, what do you suggest from experience as far as distribution? Will Fiver gigs suffice for distribution or are there good and bad choices that you suggest from your experience?”

Dan, I’ll talk on a conceptual level about my press release strategy but I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details because that is reserved for mastermind members and also for the product that we’re going to be releasing about this. I can’t reveal all of that here on a Hump Day Hangout, Dan. If you want the skinny details, we have a lead gen accountability group that we are solely focused on this particular strategy inside the mastermind and we meet every two weeks. I think about eight more people joined yesterday. We’re all doing various forms of the press release strategy for local so that we can test it to death before I release the product. It’s going to give me a bigger dataset to use and examples and case studies for when we release that product, which will be in a month or two or three, whatever.

Again, I can’t reveal it. I can talk on a conceptual level. That said, let me answer the second question, the last part of this question first. Will a Fiver gig suffice? I don’t know because I don’t use Fiver gigs for press releases. You’d have to test. I would assume that they’re going to be rather shitty.

Chris:I assume no.

Bradley: Chris jumped in and said no. I would assume that they’re probably not very good. I use Fiver gig for design projects and stuff but not necessarily for SEO and distribution or writing projects or any of that kind of stuff. You’d have to test, Dan. I use various press release services, guys. We use our [Serverspace 00:24:23] service, I use Press Advantage. I also use Press Cable, which is Chris [Munch’s 00:24:28] press distribution service. I also have used Newswire.net quite a bit. I meant to talk to my partners yesterday about EIN presswire. EIN presswire is located in Washington DC and they keep emailing me because I do a lot of press release stuff with offers and they sent me an offer yesterday that looks pretty good.

I can’t remember now, it’s like 65 press releases for … I can’t remember off the top of my head. But EIN presswire, I’m looking at buying a package from them to test. What I like about them is they will allow a video embed in the press release, which is pretty rare. I want to test that for our agency because we’re leading with video as the front end product. I’d like to test that to see if we can get some more push out of embedding a video. EIN presswire is another one. There’s another one called … Let’s just check this out. I’ll share this one with you real quick, too. This is another one that I’m looking at. It’s called Press Synergy. I have not tested them yet either.

I don’t know why their site’s not loading. Presssynergy.com. This is another one I’ve not tested yet but I’d like to because they also have, for 210 bucks, they have video embeds as well and Google Maps embeds, which is the first time I’ve seen a Google Map embed allowed in a press release. Again, I have not tested this yet, but it is on my list to test because I’m doing so much press release work right now. I want to test all the various services. I’m primarily using our ServerSpace service because, well, for me it doesn’t cost me anything. But again, I do use multiple press release services, guys. Why? Because it adds diversity.

It adds diversity. Go ahead, somebody?

Marco: What I wanted to say is that if you have a test property that you want to spam or you want to test those services, sometimes … I never experience this for link building specifically. But sometimes you will find diamonds in the rough on Fiver. For example, for logo design or for some voiceovers. People are doing a really good job for five bucks, right? It’s usually not for five bucks, you need to pay a little bit more, but just so you know. In any case, you need to try. [inaudible 00:26:49] there’s a reason why some of these press release services are that expensive. Press is expensive. If you want to get featured or if you want to get a link from Huffington Post or Ink or Entrepreneur.com, you can get it absolutely if you have somebody that is selling paid placements, but you need to pay a couple grand for a back link or for a mention or for a feature.

If you think about it, maybe it’s worth the investment because if you’re an author or if you’re really in a competitive niche, maybe it’s worth it. Who knows, right? But there’s a big difference between a $5 service and a $5,200, $300, $500 a month service, which is a press release, right? Have that in mind, Dan. I would definitely try it out on something that you wouldn’t miss, that you wouldn’t care on missing, a), or you wouldn’t care on having zero results. That would be my [crosstalk 00:27:52]

Bradley: Listen. The press release stuff, and I’ll get to the method on a conceptual level, Dan, again, I’m not going to reveal my strategy right here in a free Hump Day Hangout, guys, I can’t do it. It would ruin the product that’s coming out and all the research I’ve done. By the way, just so you know, this is that EIN presswire. This is the other one. They’ve got a deal right now for 12 press releases for 400 bucks. It does allow video embeds right here. Number of embedded videos? You get one video embed. It comes out to $33.25 per press release. I’d like to test this. I meant to ask you guys yesterday during our corporate meeting if I could purchase that, get a vote on it, and I forgot. Can we take a vote right now? No, I’m kidding. Anyway, I do want to test this because, like I said, I’m constantly testing new services now, guys.

I primarily use ours because it doesn’t cost me anything, but there’s a benefit to adding diversity to all of your back link profile, right? There’s a reason for me using multiple press release services. I’m still looking to find the best results, you know what I mean? Just so you know, one of the more recent projects that I’ve done with press releases, I took a new maps listing that I got. It was a PO box type setup and everything. I got it in the maps pack for about 12 out of my 16 primary keywords, about 75% of my primary keywords are in the maps pack, in the free pack with only four press releases. No citations. Swear, no citations at all.

No syndication network. I didn’t do a drive stack. I just did four press releases and I got it to pop in the maps pack for 75% of the primary keywords, which is insane. I’ve got multiple examples of getting those kind of results. When you combine it with the syndication networks and drive stacks and stuff like that, that’s when it’s just incredible the amount of power. It’s very, very powerful. As far as the stacking part of it, the first one always points to the money site. Most PR’s will allow you two or three URL’s, links within the press release.

What I do on the first one is I link to the money site, usually just the homepage using either the brand name of the business or a naked URL. That’s it. I’ll link to the Google Maps page, the Maps URL for the maps listing itself. Then I will usually link to something else like another property within the branded syndication network. Typically, it’s going to be a Facebook page or something like that. As long as the Facebook page is somewhat active. One of the best ways to determine what to link to within the first press release is just go do a brand search for the company that you’re doing the work for, or for your own lead gen site.

See what Google is listing at the top of the search results on page one for that business, that brand search. You’re going to link to the domain itself, you’re going to link to the maps listing, and then just select one that Google is telling you that it deems to be one of the most authoritative sites that you’re listed on, just from the Google search. Then as far as the second press release, it doesn’t like to the website. It can. I just typically don’t. What I would recommend is on a second press release, if you were going to link to the website, that you would link to an inner page or blog post or a silo header or something like that, not to the homepage.

Instead, what I like to do is link to the first press release and then link to, in the first press release, which one do you link to? Once again, use Google. Use Google to do a search on the previous press release’s title and then look at which ones are ranking the best. Or, if you were targeting a keyword specifically in that first press release, you can do a keyword search and try to find the highest ranked press release from that first distribution.

What I like to do is link to those. Now, keep in mind though, guys, a lot of the press release syndication points, the actual sites that they get republished on, those, within six months or 180 days, the vast majority of them, those press releases will be eliminated. They’ll be terminated, deleted from the site. They’re archived for up to a period of time. Some of the sites will leave them on indefinitely, but a lot of them purge after about 180 days. If you’re going to be using the press release stacking method, which is what I’ve been doing a lot of, you want to either identify the syndication points that do not purge or you want to continually stack, in other words make sure that that’s an ongoing, monthly type thing or every other month or quarterly or something so that you always have new targets that are going to be pointing to target URL’s that you’re trying to rank.

Again, when they purge those, then you’re going to lose any. To me, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do press release stacks or link building to press releases that have been published where they’re going to eventually be purged because then all that work that you’ve done, at some point, is going to just be eliminated just like that. Here’s how you do this, Dan. Once you get the press release distribution report from whatever service you’re using, you’d have to go through and catalog which sites purge and which ones don’t.

It’s going to take some research. It’s something you can higher a VA to do and have them identify all of that and then you can go back through and select which ones you want to build additional links to. Again, what I like to do is, on the second press releases, find out the top ranked for either the keyword or either the actual title of the press release. In the following or subsequent press release, you want to link to the previous one or to just another press release within that ecosystem that you’re building out. What you’re doing is you’re passing relevancy from one to another to another and you’re linking from authority sites to authority sites that are news sites to news sites.

You don’t need a lot of target URL’s pointing back to your money site because you have the original one pointing and you start to build downstream power. You know what I’m saying? In other words, it’s second and third tier, fourth tier links. We have somebody that’s been testing this with me in the mastermind. He’s been doing just multiple press releases linking directly to the money site. He’s been getting similar results that I’ve been getting. It’s just different types of methods. That’s part of the reason why, like I said, we’ve got a special group in our mastermind right now that we’re all collaborating on this and testing various methods and stack methods and all that kind of stuff to try to identify which is the best way to do it or the most powerful or at least give variety.

All of that will be included in the training course that [crosstalk 00:34:48]

Hernan: To sum it all up, we’re testing all this shit so you guys can get the best training possible.

Bradley: That’s correct. That’s how we do right?

Hernan: That’s how we do the do we do.

What Are Some Best Practices When Updating And Re-Writing Content Of Your Website?

Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:35:00] says, “I will be updating and rewriting a lot of content on my site. I’m certain it will dance all over the rankings the next three to four weeks. I don’t like adding any links when a page or site is bouncing around however. What about these activities? Number one, should I wait until the dance is over to start adding rank feeder feeds with co citations? Or are those different enough from actual links that they do not matter?” No, you don’t have to wait for those, Greg. You don’t have to wait for those at all because those are citation type links. They’re not physical links. You’re fine for that.

“Number two, is it okay to create videos to the YouTube channel and embed them on my site pages during the dance or wait?” As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. There might be a difference of opinion from some of my partners here, but in my opinion that’s fine because that’s just adding content, updating content. It’s not an inbound link activity thing. Any comments on that, guys?

Marco: I would think you’re correct. In fact, it’s Google property. A google bot comes in and sees a Google property, it’s going to tunnel right to the YouTube channel. I think you’re pretty safe there, also.

Bradley: “Number three, would you suggest adding new posts to the site that will syndicate out to the syndication network during the dance or wait until it’s over?” Again, Greg, that’s a perfectly normal activity to be blogging on the site even during structural changes. In my opinion, I would go for it. I would continue to blog because that’s a perfectly normal activity for a genuine website. There’s no reason to stop content marketing just because of some structural changes. You know what I mean? I would say yes to all of those. It’s okay.

How To Use Press Releases In Your Local SEO Campaigns?

Aman says, “Can you briefly go over your stress release … ” Excuse me, stress release. Press release … Stress release strategies. Sure! I do yoga. No, I’m kidding. “Can you briefly go over your strategy for using press releases in local SEO campaigns?” See the previous question from Dan, my previous reply.

Would Hiding The Address Of A GMB Service Page Would Affect Its Current Ranking?

Muhammad says, “Hey guys, I’m currently trying to get a site ranked in maps. It’s slowly getting higher. The business is a service, but the GMB currently has an address. Would hiding address by making it a service ruin the current momentum?” That’s a tricky one. I’ve seen some conflicting information on that in some of the forums and things like that. If you don’t have a storefront, based upon Google’s terms or best practices or whatever, you should hide the address if you don’t have a storefront. Google tells us to do that. However, I have noticed because of maps being more and more localized now, that if you have the address showing, you’re typically going to rank better. It’s going to depend on the searcher and where they’re located. But for mobile, especially, having the actual address show is going to make a difference in how your maps listing appears as far as where it ranks in the mobile search results.

That’s where I see having a benefit of having that address being shown, is for that. Outside of that, again, if you don’t have a storefront, if customers do not come to the business location, then you’re supposed to hide it so I always do. I also always hide it because it’s usually a PO Box, right? Anybody have any comments on that.

Marco: Yeah, I would add that if it’s moving and you’re getting results and there are no problems, I would say just let it go. Leave it. Don’t make any changes. I always tell people if it’s dancing, don’t touch it. If it’s moving, it might drop a little bit, move up a little bit more, drop, you don’t want to touch it. You don’t want to do anything that’s going to disturb a google bot deciding where you’re going to be ranked in the end. Once that happens, wherever you end up, then you can decide what your next steps are.

Bradley: Again, if it’s not a PO Box or something then I would leave it. If it’s a genuine address for that business, even though it might be a service area business, that’s what they call those, by the way, service area businesses. If it’s a service area business … It’s a genuine address, but it’s a service area business, I wouldn’t touch it. I wouldn’t change it right now because you’re starting to gain some traction, just like Marco said. But if it’s a spammed address, so to speak, then I would go ahead and hide it now anyway because you always run the risk of getting it reported. Again, if it’s a real business address, there’s no reason to hide it. Google’s best practices says you’re supposed to for service area businesses, but as Marco said, I agree with that, I wouldn’t mess with it if it’s starting to gain traction, okay?

Columbia says, “The host to use?” You’re using Liquid Web, Columbia, or WPX. Either one of those. Those are the two hosts that I use primarily now. If you’re using either one of those, then you should be fine to just contact the host and explain to them the problem, give them a sample set of URL’s that are rogue and they can usually go in and clean it up.

Marco: This isn’t a plug or anything, but Liquid Web is the best. I’ve yet to see anyone outdo Liquid Web as far as customer service, as far as helping you out with problems. If you go in there and you act like a dummy, they’ll do everything for you. I go in there and just be myself. They get everything done. Just do that. You’re going to be paying for a VPS. The costs are going to be higher. They’ll help you as much as they can. They’ll stay on the phone with you until it’s solved or they’ll do chat with you, however it is that you choose to do it.

For that, just for that, it’s really worth the price.

Bradley: If you’re doing client work, especially if you build new sites and stuff for clients, you can charge them for hosting and host everything on your own VPS. That’s how you reduce and eliminate the costs of the VPS from Liquid Web. You can also turn that into a small profit center, too. Those VPS’s, you can put a lot of sites on, especially if you get a dedicated IP then it’s specific to you. You don’t have a bunch of other shared … That’s part of the reason why they got rid of shared hosting, Liquid Web did, so that they could have more control over the IP’s and provide a better service to their user base. Pissed a lot of people off when they switched over, by the way. We stayed with them anyway.

Hernan: Definitely. I was one of the guys that was on the [inaudible 00:41:48] The new one, deluxe hosting, is not that bad actually. They’re doing a good job for a share account. But yeah, I totally agree with Marco. I used to go a lot for Hostgator until it becomes completely useless in a way that-

Bradley: I’m sorry.

Hernan: Yeah. It’s a pain in the ass and, not only that, you’re paying cheap, but at the end of the day, you need to do everything by yourself. You’re one hour in a queue for some guy to make a ticket for you because they cannot even solve the thing that you are calling in in the first place. You’re paying for a service, right? If you think about it, as an entrepreneur or an SEO if you have an agency, your time is much more valuable than the money that you’re paying for hosting, right? Because you need to be focusing on some other things, not troubleshooting your hosting. That’s the least important of your problems.

What I’m trying to say is that you need to treat your time as money, too. Most importantly, you need to make sure that you have a team on your back end and Liquid Web does a great job because the guys are really … You can feel that they are really on your team. They’re not trying to be assholes that are not on the company, if you say they’re us against them. They’re really put in your shoes and you can get a lot more done. You’re paying a little bit more, don’t get me wrong, but [crosstalk 00:43:19] Yeah, it’s worth it. That’s the service you’re paying for.

Bradley: I totally agree. Guys, I used to go for cheaper hosting as well. I think we all do when we start out. But you learn over time that the cheap hosting costs you so much money. First of all, opportunity cost as Hernan just mentioned, if you’re in there dealing with troubles that happen. PHP is outdated. PHP version is outdated so plugins or themes don’t work correctly or there are security issues. The vast majority of shared hosting over stuff the shit out of their IP’s so that there’s way too many sites sharing the bandwidth so if any particular site gets hacked or DDoS attack or something like that, all the sites on that IP go down. Then you’re screwed.

One of the worst ranking signals is a site that’s going in and out all the time. If you put an uptime on it. Columbia, I’m not talking to you specifically about this because you [inaudible 00:44:23] the host we use so it’s probably a good one. I’m talking to other people that may be using cheap hosts. If you put uptime robot or some sort of uptime monitor on sites that you have in cheap hosting accounts, you’ll see. You’ll get notifications via email or however you setup notifications about how often your sites are going down that you don’t even know it. Unless you’re on the site all the time monitoring it, you won’t know it.

That is a terrible ranking signal. Not only that, but it’s the bad neighborhood type stuff. If you go do a search on your IP from your website, from your host, and then go look at who’s hosted on this IP or whatever, you can just do a Google search and find a bunch of different sites that will show you all the sites that are hosted, the domains hosted on that particular IP. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of really shitty, bad neighbors, so to speak, on those IP’s. You don’t want to be blocked in our lumped in, guilty by association, so to speak, with those shitty sites. It ends up hurting you. It’s a bad ranking signal. If you go with a better type of managed type host, then you’re going to have a much higher quality to service as well as uptime will be better. It’s a better ranking signal, all that kind of stuff.

How Would You Recommend Changing A GMB Page That A Local Term Is Ranking For?

Cesar’s up. He says, “How would you recommend trying to change the page that a local term is ranking for? For example, I’m working with a local jeweler whose homepage branded is ranking for City Plus Jeweler and has one location at the moment but has plans to open other locations in other cities. Since we’re building out local landing pages for each location, I’d like the inner page to rank for the local search terms, not the home page.” Yeah, that’s fine. Essentially, what you’re doing is you want to create an inner page for the location that it’s currently ranking in, is that correct?

Here’s the thing. If you’re already ranked in maps for that, I’ve gone in for maps. Organic is different. Organic, you will see some dancing and stuff like that, but for maps, and I’ve done this multiple times. Anytime I take a single location lead gen site to multiple locations, then I end up either creating an inner page, so it’s a location page on the root domain of the original location or I break them out into sub domains, which is my preferred method, for each location. You have to go on and change the landing page URL for the Google map business maps listing. As far as maps, I’ve never had a dance occur from that, which is odd, I think. For real, I’ve literally changed the URL entirely from either the homepage originally to either an inner page URL or a sub-domain URL. I’ve had the maps listing stick. It’s not danced at all.

I’ve had that happen multiple times. I know for organic, you’re going to see some dancing. What I would recommend potentially doing, I would think you could set a canonical for the homepage to point to the inner page, at least for a period of time while you’re getting your other location pages built out and your Google map business listings verified and stuff like that and allow Google some time for it to recognize the canonical and to really identify that inner page as the new location page for that listing, so to speak.

Then, once you start adding the additional locations in, you could remove that canonical and it shouldn’t affect it. It might be some slight dancing, but it should be temporary. Anybody got a comment on that?

Hernan: No, I agree with you, Bradley.

Bradley: Okay, Marco?

Marco: No, I’m good.

Bradley: Just didn’t know if you guys had another trick or something. That’s what I would do, Cesar. That’s a good question, though. Again, for maps, usually I haven’t seen any dancing for that especially if it’s securely ranked in number one position, which it sounds like you are. I would just go ahead and change the landing page URL and take a look. If it drops out of the maps pack or drops down, then set the canonical for the homepage. You can do that using the SEO plugin. Most all SEO plugins have that option now and you can just go and set a canonical and then point to the inner page and then just give it some time for it to settle.

What’s The Effective Way To Get The GMB Listing To Pop In The 3 Pack?

Then you can always remove that canonical after you start setting the other location pages up and it should resolve. Second question is what’s the effective way to get the GMB listing to pop in the three pack? DIY RYS or Maps Powerhouse? RYS is one of the quickest ways. Like I said, a lot of press release stuff I’ve been testing lately has been incredibly effective as well. If you combine those two, that’s a slam dunk. If you can do a drive stack that’s built properly, Cesar, so either do it yourself through the new training or just buy it from us at Serp Space and it’ll be done correctly.

Then, if you also incorporate a couple press releases into that, you ought to see some significant movement very quickly. Maps Powerhouse is good. There’s no doubt. But what I do with Maps Powerhouse is I use that as a … That’s not a primary ranking method for me, guys. It’s a booster. That’s how I use Maps Powerhouse as more of a booster than a primary ranking method. There may be some others that are using that as a primary method and getting results from it. But me, personally, I use that as almost like a link building method for maps.

But it’s relatively inexpensive. You just use some credits for that. Combine that along with. But as far as my front end method, it would be definitely a drive stack and then I would, right now, I’m just crushing it with PR’s, press releases. I would do at least two, maybe three press releases over the course of the next 30 days and see what happens. You already got that, Adam. Thank you. We’re good, just about time, too. [crosstalk 00:50:31]

Marco: Before you go on, let me ask you a question. Some people are on a limited budget and press releases can get expensive. What would you do if you can’t do three, four press releases?

Bradley: I’ve done [inaudible 00:50:45] stack.

Marco: There you go.

Bradley: What I was mentioning was if you have the budget for both, I would definitely do both. But if you can only choose one or the other, I would go with a drive stack. My own personal experience with them is that I might not see movement as quickly from the drive stack as I would with the press releases, however once the movement occurs, it just sticks and it’s almost unmovable, which is pretty powerful. With press releases, like I said, I’ve noticed with the one I was just talking about a minute ago, I popped a brand new maps listing into the three pack for 75% of the terms under four weeks with only three or four press releases. I’d have to go back and look at my notes.

I think it was four. I haven’t touched it now in probably five or six weeks. I think the last press release that I published was at the beginning of July or maybe the middle of July. It’s been about six weeks since I’ve done any press releases for that. I’ve noticed that some of the keywords are starting to slip down to the C and D position, even falling out of the three pack. In part, I left it like that intentionally because I wanted to see if there was a drop off period at some point with the press releases. I actually have it on the schedule this week, I haven’t gotten to it yet, but to order another one or two press releases for that particular project or that campaign, to see if I can boost those keywords that started to drop back into the three pack just from another PR distribution.

Again, that’s why we’re testing right now. Columbia’s got a Liquid VPS. See? She listens. She’s doing awesome. “Everything all of you said is why I bit the bullet to cost scope for VPS. The service is really great.” Yeah, absolutely. We aren’t even dropping affiliate links for Liquid Web. We probably should.

Adam: We have one. A great service.

Hernan: What I would add, just to make sure that she goes and does it, is a 404 to 301. Add that plugin and you’re good to go. Your 404 problem will disappear.

Bradley: Yeah. Your 404 errors in search console will disappear. It’ll take sometimes about a month or so before you’ll start seeing all those start disappearing from the 404 errors in the search console, but they will disappear. You definitely want to resolve those rogue files, though. If they’ve been hacked into the database on your site, you want to get them removed. Just contact Liquid Web. They’ll square it away for you. I know for sure they’ll do it. All right, guys. Well, we’re done here. Thanks for everybody attending. We really appreciate it, guys. Don’t forget RYS Academy is going up at 9 a.m. tomorrow so if you’re interested, now is the time.

Adam: This is good, too. I was just in the Facebook group. Not going to lie, I switched over there real quick while we were doing this and there’s a thread with Kendrick and it’s like, “During Hump Day Hangouts” for 20 comments deep.

Bradley: All right, guys. That’s it. Thanks everybody for being here. We don’t have mastermind tomorrow, do we? I don’t think we do. I think it’s next week.

Marco: Let me put in a plug for our done for you services because they’re done up to the current RYS standards, RYS reloaded. The VA’s were trained. They’ve gone through the process. They know what to do. As of Monday, any orders coming in are done according to RYS reloaded standards. We won’t redo the previous ones. Sorry. That’s not the way this works. Anything ordered as of Monday will be done up to those specs. Get your orders in, because yesterday we forgot to set a new price. While we decide to get a new price in, the price will remain.

But I’m going to push for the price to go as high as possible without it just getting away from people being able to buy them. But you know me, I like to push for high end. I don’t like my stuff to sell for nothing. Guys, if you’re on the fence as far as RYS reloaded, go get it. We’re in there. We’re hammering away. If you don’t want to do the work, we have done for you according to RYS reloaded specs. And they’re the same price as the old ones, don’t forget.

Male:Thanks. Good time to get in there.

Hernan: If you happen to grab RYS reloaded before it goes up, on the checkout page you can pick an option to get an RYS stack for half off. As of right now, when we increase the price, it’s going to be even lower. For right now, you can get a steep discount on your RYS stack that you can roll over the next 30 days. You get it today, you can roll over the next 30 days, but you need to do that with RYS reloaded so [inaudible 00:55:39]

Bradley: Awesome. Thanks everybody for being here. We’ve got to wrap it up. See you all later. Thanks.

Hernan: Thanks. Bye bye.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147 posted first on your-t1-blog-url

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147

Click on the video above to watch Episode 147 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

  Announcement

Bradley: Live.

Adam: We are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is episode 147, the event where we talk about RYS. You know it was coming. We’re going to talk to you some more about it. We’re really excited. We’ve had some really good feedback so far. Hernan and Bradley whipped up a quick little contest that we wanted to get going as well as wanted to obviously spread the news about RYS. We’re small. We understand a lot of people don’t hear about us. We’re trying to get the word out. Hernan, you want to tell people what’s going on on Facebook?

Hernan: Sure, yeah. We had a little contest over there. We’re going to drop the URL for the free Facebook group. You can win an Amazon gift card for 250 bucks. That is two day thank you guys for the amazing support that we have been having for RYS academy. It’s been mind blowing. A lot of people joining, a lot of people are already working on it. That’s pretty much it. We’re going to drop the link over there on the events page.

Adam: Awesome, yeah. Pay attention, click the link, read it. All you’ve got to do is a quick share, text some people, and then we’ll put you in the winning for, I think, it’s 250 bucks, right?

Hernan: Yup.

Bradley: Yup.

Adam: Nice. I’m going to go enter after we get done with Hump Day Hangouts and you should too. Let’s see. On the other end of things, we had, obviously, a lot of questions. It’s a big launch. People are wondering what’s going on. They’ve heard about RYS. They’ve heard about RYS reloaded. We know a lot of people see the price and you wonder if this is a training that’s going to help you do what it is you want to do and we get that. This is the place. Obviously, Hump Day Hangouts is a great place to ask this. Also, the Facebook group, which Hernan will also post the link to. It’s the same one. Our free group that you can go and join and ask us questions if you want to know if this is for you. We want to make sure, obviously, the people who join RYS reloaded are the people who are going to put it to use.

But if you’re on the fence, you’re thinking, “Damn, I’d like to get some good rankings, I’d like to get a quick … ” whatever it is you’re thinking about, just let us know. Obviously, we’re here. We’re real people. These aren’t robots. We’ll talk to you and let you know whether or not this is a good fit for you. On that note, too, I think Marco, we had some questions for people, right? That you had some answers to?

Marco: Yeah, I believe so. Let me just see. Someone wanted to know how RYS and drive stacks and whatever it is that we’re doing would affect big established site, right? With traffic and many keywords. But a site that wants to grow. The best thing about this is that the site already has trust. What we borrow from in RYS academy is Google’s trust. They’d be pushing trust back and forth and growing that trust into the drive stack and then it would simply be targeting the keywords, just targeting other keyword targets, so to speak, so that they could grow the website. More traffic and even better rankings. If you have keywords that are harder to push up, you could push them up and get more traffic that way. It’s all about trust, it’s all about authority, it’s all about building it up so that you can rank sites faster, better, and longer because RYS rankings tend to stick when they hit that first [inaudible 00:03:36] and they tend to stay.

They stay for a long time. The second question that I have is who is the creator of RYS academy? I am not going to take full credit for that. The theory, the concept is mine. I didn’t invent SEO, guys. I won’t take credit for it. I can’t do that. I didn’t invent Google. I didn’t invent Drive. I didn’t invent ranking with drive stacks or anything like that. What I did is when I saw what Dr. [Gary 00:04:10] was doing in our mastermind, he’s my co conspirator for the original RYS academy was and is a mastermind member who I saw was just doing some nasty things and finding all of these incredible things in Google.

I started thinking how do I put this together? What can we do with this? I pulled him in. We had the talk. We started meeting on Saturdays. About seven months later, RYS academy was born. Who is the creator? I am one of the originators. What is it that they say? Often imitated, never duplicated. My partner in crime is Dr. Gary [Curlin 00:04:59].

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Outstanding. I think, also, we had talked about this earlier last week, I think people had heard about this, at least for the existing RYS academy members, people who joined from 2015 up to now who have been put in RYS academy to work and wanted to give us a quick video review, we were going to give away a complete done for you RYS stack courtesy of [Surfspace 00:05:21]. I think we had talked about this. Do we have a winner or a best of for those?

Marco: Yeah. I think that the one that really explains the concept really simple … We should drop the playlist, by the way, so that people can go look at actual people who are members of RYS academy and RYS reloaded, just doing what it is that they’re doing. Andrew [Adare 00:05:51], he’s one of our members. He’s in Australia. I think that his video exemplifies the simplicity of RYS academy. I think for that reason, he should get that awesome drive stack.

Adam: Awesome. Andrew, if you’re listening, shoot us an email. If we don’t hear from you first, we’ll be sending one out after this.

Bradley: He’s in Australia so he’s not listening.

Adam: You never know. He might be up. What is it? 16 hours? You never know. We’ll see. But yeah, we’ll be in touch buddy. I think Hernan’s going to drop the link in there and check those out if you’re on the fence. If you want to hear what other people accomplished, again, these are people who joined and got results on their own based on the training and the help. These aren’t people who are profiting from this. They used RYS and made their own results. Other than that, I think Hernan, you’ve got the links in there for Facebook, right? We’re good to go on that?

Hernan: Yeah. I got the Facebook link and we will put the link for RYS, for the sales patient, the coupon, which is an $800 off coupon. That coupon expires tomorrow, 9 a.m. eastern. If you’re watching this right now live you can go take action now. If you’re not and if you try that coupon, I’m sorry but that’s the way we have it set up. We’re going to drop the coupon and the URL so that you guys can join RYS reloaded right now for that discount, which is the second lowest discount that we will do for that.

Bradley: What’s it going to tomorrow after this coupon expires?

Hernan: $1,500.

Bradley: $1,500. It’s going up 300 bucks, essentially.

Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:07:34]

Marco: Hang on a second. Tell them where it’s going to end up, please.

Bradley: $3,000. It’s going to end up at $3,000 after the launch is over. Again, now is the best time to get in. We will offer a split pay option, I believe, after the launch. Is that correct, guys?

Adam: Yeah, we will do that and we mean it. If you’ve got questions, if you’re on the fence, I know there’s a lot of people who watch Hump Day Hangouts and they don’t say anything and that’s cool. I do that with different areas where I’m learning or I’m watching stuff, but if you’re out there and you’re thinking about this like, “Man, is RYS for me? I’ve heard about it. I want these results.” Pop into the Facebook group and post it. Post a question, we’ll get back to you tonight and help you out so you can make the choice before the price goes up. We’re here to help. We think it’s a good course. We know it’s a good course. The students know it’s a good course and training.

We want you to make the right choice, too.

Bradley: It’s super damn valuable. It really is. We’re trying to keep it to where it doesn’t become a saturated technique so that’s in part why we’re asking for that kind of money for it and because there’s been three years in development now, so it’s totally worth it.

Adam: That and the results you can get, it literally pays for itself. You’re not signing $5 contracts with that stuff.

Hernan: Sorry Adam, but it’s going to be [inaudible 00:08:55] training, right? We have a bunch of material in there already. There’s all the archives, the new stuff, the Facebook group, and also Marco is going to be doing upcoming webinars and there’s going to be Q&A. We’ve had things supporting RYS academy for the past two years for a one time fee. Everyone that has been following us for awhile, you know that we deliver, that we support our products, that we always try to over-deliver, make them better. We try to keep up and to be out there in the trenches, testing stuff so you don’t have to go out there and chasing every shiny object.

We have some testimonials already about people that have been spending anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 on software that doesn’t work and once they got into RYS, they cut it immediately because you forget about PVN’s, you forget about proxies, BPS’s, all of those kind of things that not only takes time but money. Anyway, that’s what I wanted to say also. You’re actually saving money. I agree with Adam, you can nail some really juicy contracts with this.

Adam: You guys got anything else?

Bradley: Nope.

How Would You Fix A Renegade Page That Returns 404 Errors When Redirected To The Homepage?

Adam: Sweet. I’m looking here first too. This is awesome. Columbia is the first person up so I’m pretty pumped. She’s usually got some good questions so let’s get going.

Bradley: I had a Skype chat with her yesterday, a phone call with her just because she’s always coming to our Hump Day Hangouts and engaging and participating and so I gave her about 20 minutes of time just to chat with her. It was nice meeting her. She’s out there taking action every week from the stuff that she learns right here. She’s growing her business, which is amazing, guys, just from free information that she’s getting from the Hump Day Hangouts, which is awesome.

With that, I’m going to grab the screen and we’re going to get into this. All right. Columbia says, “I’ve suddenly discovered about four weeks ago that an old dotcom has had a renegade page since 2010. It did not appear on my list of pages in the admin area for the site.” Yeah, I’m sure it was a hacked in link. That happens often, Columbia, at least I’ve had it happen a lot. “It was called Freebooks and it seemed to be offering a wide variety of books, mostly or all in French. The best fix as of yesterday was to have /Freebooks redirect to my homepage. Unfortunately, all the Google listings have more info after the slash, all of those, which is all of them, are currently showing a 404 error.

That was the best we could come up with after extensive hypothesizing, analyzing, and testing. I worry that Google with have issues with all this 404’s and there could be 200 or so of them since each book title is a separate extension.” Oh, another lead just came through. Let’s see, “This website has a lot of content. I was in the process of sending up a reloaded version of it. It has six letters broken and two short essay remember words, which apply perfectly to the product. I really don’t want to drop [inaudible 00:12:07]” Columbia, one of the easiest things you could do is just put a 404 redirect plugin on the site.

Here’s a couple things I would suggest. Number one, you can contact the host and ask the host, if it’s a decent host, they should be able to go in and clean up those rogue files. A lot of hosts, the better, higher end host will provide that sort of support because actually any sort of hacked WordPress site on their servers is a security risk for them. If it’s a good host … If you’re dealing with Hostgator or GoDaddy or something like that, forget it. But if you’re dealing with a decent host, then I would contact the host and ask them to do it, an easy fix for the 404’s.

I would still try to get rid of those rogue files. An easy fix for the 404’s is just a simple 404 redirect plugin. You could use something like 404 to Start is one of the plugins. There’s a bunch of them. Link Juice Keeper is an old one. I don’t know if that still is available, but that would be another one. There’s a bunch of them. You could just do a Google search for 404 redirect plugins and just select one. I would look for one that was updated recently because that means it shows that it’s continually updated. Lastly, there’s something else that you can do. I always recommend this to clients. This is called security.net.

All my clients that are running WordPress, I typically recommend that they install this. They purchase it. I think it’s 300 bucks a year. This is a great service. I’ve got one client in particular. They get hacked about once every three or four months. I’m not sure why, it’s probably a competitor causing that. But security always catches it right away and sends a notification. We just submit a support ticket and they go in and they do all the cleanup. It’s usually done within about 24 hours. Again, they get hacked about once every three or four months and all I do is I’ve got to submit a support ticket and it’s taken care of.

If you’re doing this for client work, then I would recommend that this is an expense that you pass to the client. It’s not something that you pay for. If it’s your own site, it depends on how much revenue it’s generating for you. Personally, I like easy. When anytime I can do something like this to prevent having to go through all the headache of trying to track down rogue files and remove them myself or dealing with the hosting company, to me it’s worth it. Anybody have any other comments on that?

Adam: Not here.

Bradley: Hopefully that’s helpful. Again, if you’ve got a good host, though, Liquid Web will do it. But they don’t have shared hosting anymore. They’ve just got VPS’s and dedicated hosting. I use Terry Kyle’s, what is it? WPX Hosting? I use that a lot now for WordPress sites as well. That’s a really good host. Their support is really good as well. That’s something else that you can contact them. I’m just saying HostGator and GoDaddy, those crappy hosts, they’re not going to do it for you. It’s likely they won’t. You can always contact them and ask.

What Type Of Schema Would Be Best To Use To Rank An Affiliate Offer To A Local Medical Spa?

Next one, it says, “Hi, what type of schema would you use in the following made up example. Keyword to rank for cellulite treatment Dallas but instead to promote the local medical spa. I’d like to promote affiliate offer, ebook for example. What type of schema do you think would best use to rank for local business environment?”

I don’t know because I’ve never spammed local structure data for an affiliate offer. I’ve spammed maps before for an affiliate offer. Years ago, I did that a lot. I haven’t done that in several years now. Has anybody tried to do this and, if so, can you comment?

Hernan: No, but I can see it. I can see him branding. It’s going to take a lot of work. I don’t know if it’s really worth it for an ebook. But you create the brand, whatever the spot is. What you’re looking to do is for people to end up in that ebook offer. In that ebook offer, the schema that you would add is for whatever that book … I don’t know the schema for book. I don’t keep track of all of it, or the image or whatever. You would benefit from both, from having the business schema and then schema on the page with the offer. As far as schema, that’s how I would pursue this. I don’t see any other way that you can do it unless someone else has an idea.

Bradley: Yeah. I don’t see. He doesn’t mention maps in here. What I would suggest is if you’re trying to rank organically, that’s one thing. But maps, I wouldn’t try to do. Again, he didn’t mention maps in his question, but what I’m saying is, just for everybody’s benefit, I would not recommend trying to do something like this with a map listing because, with this, it’s a point of sale or a storefront type business, right? You wouldn’t want to do that. You would quickly get reported, I’m sure, if you were to rank in maps. Again, I know he didn’t mention it, I’m stating it for everybody’s benefit that may be thinking about doing this. I used to do maps spam for affiliate offers years ago but they stopped doing it because people started catching on and it would get reported to Google for storefront offers that didn’t show a storefront.

In other words, if you hid the address but it should be a type of business that has a storefront where customers come to the business location, and if the address was hidden, then competitors would report it. Or if you would leave the address showing and it was going to a post office or a home address or something like that, then oftentimes it would get reported as well. I just stopped doing it because it was too much work for it just to be taken down within a few months or a few weeks, sometimes. Again, if you were going to do it organically, that’s different. I’m assuming that’s what you’re going to do. I don’t know what the actual structured data would be for something like that other than you would still want to create the schema markup or structured data markup for the local business, if you’re trying to rank it locally.

But, again, I wouldn’t try to rank in maps. I would just try to rank organically. In which case, I would use your made up address or PO Box or whatever it is that you’re using as the actual business address in the structured data, but then you would just want to mark up the proper elements on the page. If you’ve got a book or an ebook or whatever, I’m sure there’s book mark up. You would just mark it up that way. You could also mark up reviews if you have reviews for the book and that kind of stuff. You could put all those on the page, too, and use the review mark up for that. Interesting, though. Again, I’m not sure I’d put a lot of … It depends on how profitable your offer is for you, your funnel.

How Would You Change The Categories And The Name Of A GMB Page?

If there’s enough money in it, then it’s worth the headache. But I’m not sure from an ebook, but I don’t know your entire funnel, either. Kevin’s up. He says, “Hey, guys. I just setup a GMB for snow removal, still waiting on the postcard. I set the category to be snow removal, but since I am using my personal address and don’t have access to a second address, how would I switch the GMB listing and contain both snow removal and landscaping categories so I can rank for both keywords in the maps pack? I’m guessing I’ll have to reverify the listing after making changes.”

No, Kevin, you don’t have to reverify. You can have two categories. In fact, landscaping and tree service companies are typically the companies that do snow removal in the winter. I know because I’ve been dealing with tree service businesses for seven years now. They oftentimes, because there’s no tree work and landscaping work during the winter, or very, very little anyway, they often make ends meet through snow removal projects and get contracts with shopping centers and stuff like that for snow removal. You just add both. What I would do, because remember, I’m not sure where you live, Kevin, but in my area in Virginia, it’s three seasons of tree and/or landscaping work. It’s spring, summer, and fall. It’s only in the winter season that it’s slow for them.

I would make my primary category landscaping and a secondary category snow removal. By the way, if it’s already a verified listing, you can go in and change the category or add a category and it won’t ask to … At least, the majority of the time it’s not going. There’s always anomalies, there’s always exceptions to the rule. It may trigger a reverification, but it’s unlikely. I know because I’ve gone in recently and made edits, all kinds of edits to map stuff. It hasn’t triggered a reverification for me. Again, a lot of those listings are more established, so that may be part of it. But I would recommend that you would stick with your landscaping …

Depending on where you are. If snow removal is the primary service, then you would want to make that your primary category. But if landscaping is the primary service, then make snow removal a secondary category. Does that make sense? Anyway, Google understands that, by the way. It’s not like you’re the first landscaping company that also does snow removal. What I’m saying is that Google understands that as part of a norm for that industry. It’s not going to be out of the ordinary for you to set it up that way. “Oh, I am also thinking of changing the business name to contain the word Snow and Lawn to help further rank in the maps pack.” That’s not necessary, Kevin. It’s really not. I recommend that you don’t. I would keep it to just the brand. Branding is the better way to go for long term projects. If you’re going to put the effort in, you should try to get them to stick or become long …

You should do them with the intent of them being long term projects. I personally don’t like to stick the keywords in the title unless it’s literally the brand name, which is normal too. Joe’s Snow and Lawn Service or whatever. That would make sense. But if you’ve already got a brand set up, I would just leave it as is. Anybody else?

Hernan: I agree with you Bradley, pretty much.

How Do You Link One Press Release To Others To Achieve The Stacking Effect?

Bradley: Very good. Dan’s up. He says, “For stacking press releases that point to latest reviews submitted to Google, how are you linking from one press release to others to achieve the stacking effect? Are you just pointing from latest press release to last one over and over? Also, what do you suggest from experience as far as distribution? Will Fiver gigs suffice for distribution or are there good and bad choices that you suggest from your experience?”

Dan, I’ll talk on a conceptual level about my press release strategy but I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details because that is reserved for mastermind members and also for the product that we’re going to be releasing about this. I can’t reveal all of that here on a Hump Day Hangout, Dan. If you want the skinny details, we have a lead gen accountability group that we are solely focused on this particular strategy inside the mastermind and we meet every two weeks. I think about eight more people joined yesterday. We’re all doing various forms of the press release strategy for local so that we can test it to death before I release the product. It’s going to give me a bigger dataset to use and examples and case studies for when we release that product, which will be in a month or two or three, whatever.

Again, I can’t reveal it. I can talk on a conceptual level. That said, let me answer the second question, the last part of this question first. Will a Fiver gig suffice? I don’t know because I don’t use Fiver gigs for press releases. You’d have to test. I would assume that they’re going to be rather shitty.

Chris:I assume no.

Bradley: Chris jumped in and said no. I would assume that they’re probably not very good. I use Fiver gig for design projects and stuff but not necessarily for SEO and distribution or writing projects or any of that kind of stuff. You’d have to test, Dan. I use various press release services, guys. We use our [Serverspace 00:24:23] service, I use Press Advantage. I also use Press Cable, which is Chris [Munch’s 00:24:28] press distribution service. I also have used Newswire.net quite a bit. I meant to talk to my partners yesterday about EIN presswire. EIN presswire is located in Washington DC and they keep emailing me because I do a lot of press release stuff with offers and they sent me an offer yesterday that looks pretty good.

I can’t remember now, it’s like 65 press releases for … I can’t remember off the top of my head. But EIN presswire, I’m looking at buying a package from them to test. What I like about them is they will allow a video embed in the press release, which is pretty rare. I want to test that for our agency because we’re leading with video as the front end product. I’d like to test that to see if we can get some more push out of embedding a video. EIN presswire is another one. There’s another one called … Let’s just check this out. I’ll share this one with you real quick, too. This is another one that I’m looking at. It’s called Press Synergy. I have not tested them yet either.

I don’t know why their site’s not loading. Presssynergy.com. This is another one I’ve not tested yet but I’d like to because they also have, for 210 bucks, they have video embeds as well and Google Maps embeds, which is the first time I’ve seen a Google Map embed allowed in a press release. Again, I have not tested this yet, but it is on my list to test because I’m doing so much press release work right now. I want to test all the various services. I’m primarily using our ServerSpace service because, well, for me it doesn’t cost me anything. But again, I do use multiple press release services, guys. Why? Because it adds diversity.

It adds diversity. Go ahead, somebody?

Marco: What I wanted to say is that if you have a test property that you want to spam or you want to test those services, sometimes … I never experience this for link building specifically. But sometimes you will find diamonds in the rough on Fiver. For example, for logo design or for some voiceovers. People are doing a really good job for five bucks, right? It’s usually not for five bucks, you need to pay a little bit more, but just so you know. In any case, you need to try. [inaudible 00:26:49] there’s a reason why some of these press release services are that expensive. Press is expensive. If you want to get featured or if you want to get a link from Huffington Post or Ink or Entrepreneur.com, you can get it absolutely if you have somebody that is selling paid placements, but you need to pay a couple grand for a back link or for a mention or for a feature.

If you think about it, maybe it’s worth the investment because if you’re an author or if you’re really in a competitive niche, maybe it’s worth it. Who knows, right? But there’s a big difference between a $5 service and a $5,200, $300, $500 a month service, which is a press release, right? Have that in mind, Dan. I would definitely try it out on something that you wouldn’t miss, that you wouldn’t care on missing, a), or you wouldn’t care on having zero results. That would be my [crosstalk 00:27:52]

Bradley: Listen. The press release stuff, and I’ll get to the method on a conceptual level, Dan, again, I’m not going to reveal my strategy right here in a free Hump Day Hangout, guys, I can’t do it. It would ruin the product that’s coming out and all the research I’ve done. By the way, just so you know, this is that EIN presswire. This is the other one. They’ve got a deal right now for 12 press releases for 400 bucks. It does allow video embeds right here. Number of embedded videos? You get one video embed. It comes out to $33.25 per press release. I’d like to test this. I meant to ask you guys yesterday during our corporate meeting if I could purchase that, get a vote on it, and I forgot. Can we take a vote right now? No, I’m kidding. Anyway, I do want to test this because, like I said, I’m constantly testing new services now, guys.

I primarily use ours because it doesn’t cost me anything, but there’s a benefit to adding diversity to all of your back link profile, right? There’s a reason for me using multiple press release services. I’m still looking to find the best results, you know what I mean? Just so you know, one of the more recent projects that I’ve done with press releases, I took a new maps listing that I got. It was a PO box type setup and everything. I got it in the maps pack for about 12 out of my 16 primary keywords, about 75% of my primary keywords are in the maps pack, in the free pack with only four press releases. No citations. Swear, no citations at all.

No syndication network. I didn’t do a drive stack. I just did four press releases and I got it to pop in the maps pack for 75% of the primary keywords, which is insane. I’ve got multiple examples of getting those kind of results. When you combine it with the syndication networks and drive stacks and stuff like that, that’s when it’s just incredible the amount of power. It’s very, very powerful. As far as the stacking part of it, the first one always points to the money site. Most PR’s will allow you two or three URL’s, links within the press release.

What I do on the first one is I link to the money site, usually just the homepage using either the brand name of the business or a naked URL. That’s it. I’ll link to the Google Maps page, the Maps URL for the maps listing itself. Then I will usually link to something else like another property within the branded syndication network. Typically, it’s going to be a Facebook page or something like that. As long as the Facebook page is somewhat active. One of the best ways to determine what to link to within the first press release is just go do a brand search for the company that you’re doing the work for, or for your own lead gen site.

See what Google is listing at the top of the search results on page one for that business, that brand search. You’re going to link to the domain itself, you’re going to link to the maps listing, and then just select one that Google is telling you that it deems to be one of the most authoritative sites that you’re listed on, just from the Google search. Then as far as the second press release, it doesn’t like to the website. It can. I just typically don’t. What I would recommend is on a second press release, if you were going to link to the website, that you would link to an inner page or blog post or a silo header or something like that, not to the homepage.

Instead, what I like to do is link to the first press release and then link to, in the first press release, which one do you link to? Once again, use Google. Use Google to do a search on the previous press release’s title and then look at which ones are ranking the best. Or, if you were targeting a keyword specifically in that first press release, you can do a keyword search and try to find the highest ranked press release from that first distribution.

What I like to do is link to those. Now, keep in mind though, guys, a lot of the press release syndication points, the actual sites that they get republished on, those, within six months or 180 days, the vast majority of them, those press releases will be eliminated. They’ll be terminated, deleted from the site. They’re archived for up to a period of time. Some of the sites will leave them on indefinitely, but a lot of them purge after about 180 days. If you’re going to be using the press release stacking method, which is what I’ve been doing a lot of, you want to either identify the syndication points that do not purge or you want to continually stack, in other words make sure that that’s an ongoing, monthly type thing or every other month or quarterly or something so that you always have new targets that are going to be pointing to target URL’s that you’re trying to rank.

Again, when they purge those, then you’re going to lose any. To me, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do press release stacks or link building to press releases that have been published where they’re going to eventually be purged because then all that work that you’ve done, at some point, is going to just be eliminated just like that. Here’s how you do this, Dan. Once you get the press release distribution report from whatever service you’re using, you’d have to go through and catalog which sites purge and which ones don’t.

It’s going to take some research. It’s something you can higher a VA to do and have them identify all of that and then you can go back through and select which ones you want to build additional links to. Again, what I like to do is, on the second press releases, find out the top ranked for either the keyword or either the actual title of the press release. In the following or subsequent press release, you want to link to the previous one or to just another press release within that ecosystem that you’re building out. What you’re doing is you’re passing relevancy from one to another to another and you’re linking from authority sites to authority sites that are news sites to news sites.

You don’t need a lot of target URL’s pointing back to your money site because you have the original one pointing and you start to build downstream power. You know what I’m saying? In other words, it’s second and third tier, fourth tier links. We have somebody that’s been testing this with me in the mastermind. He’s been doing just multiple press releases linking directly to the money site. He’s been getting similar results that I’ve been getting. It’s just different types of methods. That’s part of the reason why, like I said, we’ve got a special group in our mastermind right now that we’re all collaborating on this and testing various methods and stack methods and all that kind of stuff to try to identify which is the best way to do it or the most powerful or at least give variety.

All of that will be included in the training course that [crosstalk 00:34:48]

Hernan: To sum it all up, we’re testing all this shit so you guys can get the best training possible.

Bradley: That’s correct. That’s how we do right?

Hernan: That’s how we do the do we do.

What Are Some Best Practices When Updating And Re-Writing Content Of Your Website?

Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:35:00] says, “I will be updating and rewriting a lot of content on my site. I’m certain it will dance all over the rankings the next three to four weeks. I don’t like adding any links when a page or site is bouncing around however. What about these activities? Number one, should I wait until the dance is over to start adding rank feeder feeds with co citations? Or are those different enough from actual links that they do not matter?” No, you don’t have to wait for those, Greg. You don’t have to wait for those at all because those are citation type links. They’re not physical links. You’re fine for that.

“Number two, is it okay to create videos to the YouTube channel and embed them on my site pages during the dance or wait?” As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. There might be a difference of opinion from some of my partners here, but in my opinion that’s fine because that’s just adding content, updating content. It’s not an inbound link activity thing. Any comments on that, guys?

Marco: I would think you’re correct. In fact, it’s Google property. A google bot comes in and sees a Google property, it’s going to tunnel right to the YouTube channel. I think you’re pretty safe there, also.

Bradley: “Number three, would you suggest adding new posts to the site that will syndicate out to the syndication network during the dance or wait until it’s over?” Again, Greg, that’s a perfectly normal activity to be blogging on the site even during structural changes. In my opinion, I would go for it. I would continue to blog because that’s a perfectly normal activity for a genuine website. There’s no reason to stop content marketing just because of some structural changes. You know what I mean? I would say yes to all of those. It’s okay.

How To Use Press Releases In Your Local SEO Campaigns?

Aman says, “Can you briefly go over your stress release … ” Excuse me, stress release. Press release … Stress release strategies. Sure! I do yoga. No, I’m kidding. “Can you briefly go over your strategy for using press releases in local SEO campaigns?” See the previous question from Dan, my previous reply.

Would Hiding The Address Of A GMB Service Page Would Affect Its Current Ranking?

Muhammad says, “Hey guys, I’m currently trying to get a site ranked in maps. It’s slowly getting higher. The business is a service, but the GMB currently has an address. Would hiding address by making it a service ruin the current momentum?” That’s a tricky one. I’ve seen some conflicting information on that in some of the forums and things like that. If you don’t have a storefront, based upon Google’s terms or best practices or whatever, you should hide the address if you don’t have a storefront. Google tells us to do that. However, I have noticed because of maps being more and more localized now, that if you have the address showing, you’re typically going to rank better. It’s going to depend on the searcher and where they’re located. But for mobile, especially, having the actual address show is going to make a difference in how your maps listing appears as far as where it ranks in the mobile search results.

That’s where I see having a benefit of having that address being shown, is for that. Outside of that, again, if you don’t have a storefront, if customers do not come to the business location, then you’re supposed to hide it so I always do. I also always hide it because it’s usually a PO Box, right? Anybody have any comments on that.

Marco: Yeah, I would add that if it’s moving and you’re getting results and there are no problems, I would say just let it go. Leave it. Don’t make any changes. I always tell people if it’s dancing, don’t touch it. If it’s moving, it might drop a little bit, move up a little bit more, drop, you don’t want to touch it. You don’t want to do anything that’s going to disturb a google bot deciding where you’re going to be ranked in the end. Once that happens, wherever you end up, then you can decide what your next steps are.

Bradley: Again, if it’s not a PO Box or something then I would leave it. If it’s a genuine address for that business, even though it might be a service area business, that’s what they call those, by the way, service area businesses. If it’s a service area business … It’s a genuine address, but it’s a service area business, I wouldn’t touch it. I wouldn’t change it right now because you’re starting to gain some traction, just like Marco said. But if it’s a spammed address, so to speak, then I would go ahead and hide it now anyway because you always run the risk of getting it reported. Again, if it’s a real business address, there’s no reason to hide it. Google’s best practices says you’re supposed to for service area businesses, but as Marco said, I agree with that, I wouldn’t mess with it if it’s starting to gain traction, okay?

Columbia says, “The host to use?” You’re using Liquid Web, Columbia, or WPX. Either one of those. Those are the two hosts that I use primarily now. If you’re using either one of those, then you should be fine to just contact the host and explain to them the problem, give them a sample set of URL’s that are rogue and they can usually go in and clean it up.

Marco: This isn’t a plug or anything, but Liquid Web is the best. I’ve yet to see anyone outdo Liquid Web as far as customer service, as far as helping you out with problems. If you go in there and you act like a dummy, they’ll do everything for you. I go in there and just be myself. They get everything done. Just do that. You’re going to be paying for a VPS. The costs are going to be higher. They’ll help you as much as they can. They’ll stay on the phone with you until it’s solved or they’ll do chat with you, however it is that you choose to do it.

For that, just for that, it’s really worth the price.

Bradley: If you’re doing client work, especially if you build new sites and stuff for clients, you can charge them for hosting and host everything on your own VPS. That’s how you reduce and eliminate the costs of the VPS from Liquid Web. You can also turn that into a small profit center, too. Those VPS’s, you can put a lot of sites on, especially if you get a dedicated IP then it’s specific to you. You don’t have a bunch of other shared … That’s part of the reason why they got rid of shared hosting, Liquid Web did, so that they could have more control over the IP’s and provide a better service to their user base. Pissed a lot of people off when they switched over, by the way. We stayed with them anyway.

Hernan: Definitely. I was one of the guys that was on the [inaudible 00:41:48] The new one, deluxe hosting, is not that bad actually. They’re doing a good job for a share account. But yeah, I totally agree with Marco. I used to go a lot for Hostgator until it becomes completely useless in a way that-

Bradley: I’m sorry.

Hernan: Yeah. It’s a pain in the ass and, not only that, you’re paying cheap, but at the end of the day, you need to do everything by yourself. You’re one hour in a queue for some guy to make a ticket for you because they cannot even solve the thing that you are calling in in the first place. You’re paying for a service, right? If you think about it, as an entrepreneur or an SEO if you have an agency, your time is much more valuable than the money that you’re paying for hosting, right? Because you need to be focusing on some other things, not troubleshooting your hosting. That’s the least important of your problems.

What I’m trying to say is that you need to treat your time as money, too. Most importantly, you need to make sure that you have a team on your back end and Liquid Web does a great job because the guys are really … You can feel that they are really on your team. They’re not trying to be assholes that are not on the company, if you say they’re us against them. They’re really put in your shoes and you can get a lot more done. You’re paying a little bit more, don’t get me wrong, but [crosstalk 00:43:19] Yeah, it’s worth it. That’s the service you’re paying for.

Bradley: I totally agree. Guys, I used to go for cheaper hosting as well. I think we all do when we start out. But you learn over time that the cheap hosting costs you so much money. First of all, opportunity cost as Hernan just mentioned, if you’re in there dealing with troubles that happen. PHP is outdated. PHP version is outdated so plugins or themes don’t work correctly or there are security issues. The vast majority of shared hosting over stuff the shit out of their IP’s so that there’s way too many sites sharing the bandwidth so if any particular site gets hacked or DDoS attack or something like that, all the sites on that IP go down. Then you’re screwed.

One of the worst ranking signals is a site that’s going in and out all the time. If you put an uptime on it. Columbia, I’m not talking to you specifically about this because you [inaudible 00:44:23] the host we use so it’s probably a good one. I’m talking to other people that may be using cheap hosts. If you put uptime robot or some sort of uptime monitor on sites that you have in cheap hosting accounts, you’ll see. You’ll get notifications via email or however you setup notifications about how often your sites are going down that you don’t even know it. Unless you’re on the site all the time monitoring it, you won’t know it.

That is a terrible ranking signal. Not only that, but it’s the bad neighborhood type stuff. If you go do a search on your IP from your website, from your host, and then go look at who’s hosted on this IP or whatever, you can just do a Google search and find a bunch of different sites that will show you all the sites that are hosted, the domains hosted on that particular IP. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of really shitty, bad neighbors, so to speak, on those IP’s. You don’t want to be blocked in our lumped in, guilty by association, so to speak, with those shitty sites. It ends up hurting you. It’s a bad ranking signal. If you go with a better type of managed type host, then you’re going to have a much higher quality to service as well as uptime will be better. It’s a better ranking signal, all that kind of stuff.

How Would You Recommend Changing A GMB Page That A Local Term Is Ranking For?

Cesar’s up. He says, “How would you recommend trying to change the page that a local term is ranking for? For example, I’m working with a local jeweler whose homepage branded is ranking for City Plus Jeweler and has one location at the moment but has plans to open other locations in other cities. Since we’re building out local landing pages for each location, I’d like the inner page to rank for the local search terms, not the home page.” Yeah, that’s fine. Essentially, what you’re doing is you want to create an inner page for the location that it’s currently ranking in, is that correct?

Here’s the thing. If you’re already ranked in maps for that, I’ve gone in for maps. Organic is different. Organic, you will see some dancing and stuff like that, but for maps, and I’ve done this multiple times. Anytime I take a single location lead gen site to multiple locations, then I end up either creating an inner page, so it’s a location page on the root domain of the original location or I break them out into sub domains, which is my preferred method, for each location. You have to go on and change the landing page URL for the Google map business maps listing. As far as maps, I’ve never had a dance occur from that, which is odd, I think. For real, I’ve literally changed the URL entirely from either the homepage originally to either an inner page URL or a sub-domain URL. I’ve had the maps listing stick. It’s not danced at all.

I’ve had that happen multiple times. I know for organic, you’re going to see some dancing. What I would recommend potentially doing, I would think you could set a canonical for the homepage to point to the inner page, at least for a period of time while you’re getting your other location pages built out and your Google map business listings verified and stuff like that and allow Google some time for it to recognize the canonical and to really identify that inner page as the new location page for that listing, so to speak.

Then, once you start adding the additional locations in, you could remove that canonical and it shouldn’t affect it. It might be some slight dancing, but it should be temporary. Anybody got a comment on that?

Hernan: No, I agree with you, Bradley.

Bradley: Okay, Marco?

Marco: No, I’m good.

Bradley: Just didn’t know if you guys had another trick or something. That’s what I would do, Cesar. That’s a good question, though. Again, for maps, usually I haven’t seen any dancing for that especially if it’s securely ranked in number one position, which it sounds like you are. I would just go ahead and change the landing page URL and take a look. If it drops out of the maps pack or drops down, then set the canonical for the homepage. You can do that using the SEO plugin. Most all SEO plugins have that option now and you can just go and set a canonical and then point to the inner page and then just give it some time for it to settle.

What’s The Effective Way To Get The GMB Listing To Pop In The 3 Pack?

Then you can always remove that canonical after you start setting the other location pages up and it should resolve. Second question is what’s the effective way to get the GMB listing to pop in the three pack? DIY RYS or Maps Powerhouse? RYS is one of the quickest ways. Like I said, a lot of press release stuff I’ve been testing lately has been incredibly effective as well. If you combine those two, that’s a slam dunk. If you can do a drive stack that’s built properly, Cesar, so either do it yourself through the new training or just buy it from us at Serp Space and it’ll be done correctly.

Then, if you also incorporate a couple press releases into that, you ought to see some significant movement very quickly. Maps Powerhouse is good. There’s no doubt. But what I do with Maps Powerhouse is I use that as a … That’s not a primary ranking method for me, guys. It’s a booster. That’s how I use Maps Powerhouse as more of a booster than a primary ranking method. There may be some others that are using that as a primary method and getting results from it. But me, personally, I use that as almost like a link building method for maps.

But it’s relatively inexpensive. You just use some credits for that. Combine that along with. But as far as my front end method, it would be definitely a drive stack and then I would, right now, I’m just crushing it with PR’s, press releases. I would do at least two, maybe three press releases over the course of the next 30 days and see what happens. You already got that, Adam. Thank you. We’re good, just about time, too. [crosstalk 00:50:31]

Marco: Before you go on, let me ask you a question. Some people are on a limited budget and press releases can get expensive. What would you do if you can’t do three, four press releases?

Bradley: I’ve done [inaudible 00:50:45] stack.

Marco: There you go.

Bradley: What I was mentioning was if you have the budget for both, I would definitely do both. But if you can only choose one or the other, I would go with a drive stack. My own personal experience with them is that I might not see movement as quickly from the drive stack as I would with the press releases, however once the movement occurs, it just sticks and it’s almost unmovable, which is pretty powerful. With press releases, like I said, I’ve noticed with the one I was just talking about a minute ago, I popped a brand new maps listing into the three pack for 75% of the terms under four weeks with only three or four press releases. I’d have to go back and look at my notes.

I think it was four. I haven’t touched it now in probably five or six weeks. I think the last press release that I published was at the beginning of July or maybe the middle of July. It’s been about six weeks since I’ve done any press releases for that. I’ve noticed that some of the keywords are starting to slip down to the C and D position, even falling out of the three pack. In part, I left it like that intentionally because I wanted to see if there was a drop off period at some point with the press releases. I actually have it on the schedule this week, I haven’t gotten to it yet, but to order another one or two press releases for that particular project or that campaign, to see if I can boost those keywords that started to drop back into the three pack just from another PR distribution.

Again, that’s why we’re testing right now. Columbia’s got a Liquid VPS. See? She listens. She’s doing awesome. “Everything all of you said is why I bit the bullet to cost scope for VPS. The service is really great.” Yeah, absolutely. We aren’t even dropping affiliate links for Liquid Web. We probably should.

Adam: We have one. A great service.

Hernan: What I would add, just to make sure that she goes and does it, is a 404 to 301. Add that plugin and you’re good to go. Your 404 problem will disappear.

Bradley: Yeah. Your 404 errors in search console will disappear. It’ll take sometimes about a month or so before you’ll start seeing all those start disappearing from the 404 errors in the search console, but they will disappear. You definitely want to resolve those rogue files, though. If they’ve been hacked into the database on your site, you want to get them removed. Just contact Liquid Web. They’ll square it away for you. I know for sure they’ll do it. All right, guys. Well, we’re done here. Thanks for everybody attending. We really appreciate it, guys. Don’t forget RYS Academy is going up at 9 a.m. tomorrow so if you’re interested, now is the time.

Adam: This is good, too. I was just in the Facebook group. Not going to lie, I switched over there real quick while we were doing this and there’s a thread with Kendrick and it’s like, “During Hump Day Hangouts” for 20 comments deep.

Bradley: All right, guys. That’s it. Thanks everybody for being here. We don’t have mastermind tomorrow, do we? I don’t think we do. I think it’s next week.

Marco: Let me put in a plug for our done for you services because they’re done up to the current RYS standards, RYS reloaded. The VA’s were trained. They’ve gone through the process. They know what to do. As of Monday, any orders coming in are done according to RYS reloaded standards. We won’t redo the previous ones. Sorry. That’s not the way this works. Anything ordered as of Monday will be done up to those specs. Get your orders in, because yesterday we forgot to set a new price. While we decide to get a new price in, the price will remain.

But I’m going to push for the price to go as high as possible without it just getting away from people being able to buy them. But you know me, I like to push for high end. I don’t like my stuff to sell for nothing. Guys, if you’re on the fence as far as RYS reloaded, go get it. We’re in there. We’re hammering away. If you don’t want to do the work, we have done for you according to RYS reloaded specs. And they’re the same price as the old ones, don’t forget.

Male:Thanks. Good time to get in there.

Hernan: If you happen to grab RYS reloaded before it goes up, on the checkout page you can pick an option to get an RYS stack for half off. As of right now, when we increase the price, it’s going to be even lower. For right now, you can get a steep discount on your RYS stack that you can roll over the next 30 days. You get it today, you can roll over the next 30 days, but you need to do that with RYS reloaded so [inaudible 00:55:39]

Bradley: Awesome. Thanks everybody for being here. We’ve got to wrap it up. See you all later. Thanks.

Hernan: Thanks. Bye bye.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147 published first on your-t1-blog-url

[jerrycairns601]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147

Click on the video above to watch Episode 147 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://ift.tt/1NZu6N2.

  Announcement

Bradley: Live.

Adam: We are live. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. This is episode 147, the event where we talk about RYS. You know it was coming. We’re going to talk to you some more about it. We’re really excited. We’ve had some really good feedback so far. Hernan and Bradley whipped up a quick little contest that we wanted to get going as well as wanted to obviously spread the news about RYS. We’re small. We understand a lot of people don’t hear about us. We’re trying to get the word out. Hernan, you want to tell people what’s going on on Facebook?

Hernan: Sure, yeah. We had a little contest over there. We’re going to drop the URL for the free Facebook group. You can win an Amazon gift card for 250 bucks. That is two day thank you guys for the amazing support that we have been having for RYS academy. It’s been mind blowing. A lot of people joining, a lot of people are already working on it. That’s pretty much it. We’re going to drop the link over there on the events page.

Adam: Awesome, yeah. Pay attention, click the link, read it. All you’ve got to do is a quick share, text some people, and then we’ll put you in the winning for, I think, it’s 250 bucks, right?

Hernan: Yup.

Bradley: Yup.

Adam: Nice. I’m going to go enter after we get done with Hump Day Hangouts and you should too. Let’s see. On the other end of things, we had, obviously, a lot of questions. It’s a big launch. People are wondering what’s going on. They’ve heard about RYS. They’ve heard about RYS reloaded. We know a lot of people see the price and you wonder if this is a training that’s going to help you do what it is you want to do and we get that. This is the place. Obviously, Hump Day Hangouts is a great place to ask this. Also, the Facebook group, which Hernan will also post the link to. It’s the same one. Our free group that you can go and join and ask us questions if you want to know if this is for you. We want to make sure, obviously, the people who join RYS reloaded are the people who are going to put it to use.

But if you’re on the fence, you’re thinking, “Damn, I’d like to get some good rankings, I’d like to get a quick … ” whatever it is you’re thinking about, just let us know. Obviously, we’re here. We’re real people. These aren’t robots. We’ll talk to you and let you know whether or not this is a good fit for you. On that note, too, I think Marco, we had some questions for people, right? That you had some answers to?

Marco: Yeah, I believe so. Let me just see. Someone wanted to know how RYS and drive stacks and whatever it is that we’re doing would affect big established site, right? With traffic and many keywords. But a site that wants to grow. The best thing about this is that the site already has trust. What we borrow from in RYS academy is Google’s trust. They’d be pushing trust back and forth and growing that trust into the drive stack and then it would simply be targeting the keywords, just targeting other keyword targets, so to speak, so that they could grow the website. More traffic and even better rankings. If you have keywords that are harder to push up, you could push them up and get more traffic that way. It’s all about trust, it’s all about authority, it’s all about building it up so that you can rank sites faster, better, and longer because RYS rankings tend to stick when they hit that first [inaudible 00:03:36] and they tend to stay.

They stay for a long time. The second question that I have is who is the creator of RYS academy? I am not going to take full credit for that. The theory, the concept is mine. I didn’t invent SEO, guys. I won’t take credit for it. I can’t do that. I didn’t invent Google. I didn’t invent Drive. I didn’t invent ranking with drive stacks or anything like that. What I did is when I saw what Dr. [Gary 00:04:10] was doing in our mastermind, he’s my co conspirator for the original RYS academy was and is a mastermind member who I saw was just doing some nasty things and finding all of these incredible things in Google.

I started thinking how do I put this together? What can we do with this? I pulled him in. We had the talk. We started meeting on Saturdays. About seven months later, RYS academy was born. Who is the creator? I am one of the originators. What is it that they say? Often imitated, never duplicated. My partner in crime is Dr. Gary [Curlin 00:04:59].

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Outstanding. I think, also, we had talked about this earlier last week, I think people had heard about this, at least for the existing RYS academy members, people who joined from 2015 up to now who have been put in RYS academy to work and wanted to give us a quick video review, we were going to give away a complete done for you RYS stack courtesy of [Surfspace 00:05:21]. I think we had talked about this. Do we have a winner or a best of for those?

Marco: Yeah. I think that the one that really explains the concept really simple … We should drop the playlist, by the way, so that people can go look at actual people who are members of RYS academy and RYS reloaded, just doing what it is that they’re doing. Andrew [Adare 00:05:51], he’s one of our members. He’s in Australia. I think that his video exemplifies the simplicity of RYS academy. I think for that reason, he should get that awesome drive stack.

Adam: Awesome. Andrew, if you’re listening, shoot us an email. If we don’t hear from you first, we’ll be sending one out after this.

Bradley: He’s in Australia so he’s not listening.

Adam: You never know. He might be up. What is it? 16 hours? You never know. We’ll see. But yeah, we’ll be in touch buddy. I think Hernan’s going to drop the link in there and check those out if you’re on the fence. If you want to hear what other people accomplished, again, these are people who joined and got results on their own based on the training and the help. These aren’t people who are profiting from this. They used RYS and made their own results. Other than that, I think Hernan, you’ve got the links in there for Facebook, right? We’re good to go on that?

Hernan: Yeah. I got the Facebook link and we will put the link for RYS, for the sales patient, the coupon, which is an $800 off coupon. That coupon expires tomorrow, 9 a.m. eastern. If you’re watching this right now live you can go take action now. If you’re not and if you try that coupon, I’m sorry but that’s the way we have it set up. We’re going to drop the coupon and the URL so that you guys can join RYS reloaded right now for that discount, which is the second lowest discount that we will do for that.

Bradley: What’s it going to tomorrow after this coupon expires?

Hernan: $1,500.

Bradley: $1,500. It’s going up 300 bucks, essentially.

Hernan: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:07:34]

Marco: Hang on a second. Tell them where it’s going to end up, please.

Bradley: $3,000. It’s going to end up at $3,000 after the launch is over. Again, now is the best time to get in. We will offer a split pay option, I believe, after the launch. Is that correct, guys?

Adam: Yeah, we will do that and we mean it. If you’ve got questions, if you’re on the fence, I know there’s a lot of people who watch Hump Day Hangouts and they don’t say anything and that’s cool. I do that with different areas where I’m learning or I’m watching stuff, but if you’re out there and you’re thinking about this like, “Man, is RYS for me? I’ve heard about it. I want these results.” Pop into the Facebook group and post it. Post a question, we’ll get back to you tonight and help you out so you can make the choice before the price goes up. We’re here to help. We think it’s a good course. We know it’s a good course. The students know it’s a good course and training.

We want you to make the right choice, too.

Bradley: It’s super damn valuable. It really is. We’re trying to keep it to where it doesn’t become a saturated technique so that’s in part why we’re asking for that kind of money for it and because there’s been three years in development now, so it’s totally worth it.

Adam: That and the results you can get, it literally pays for itself. You’re not signing $5 contracts with that stuff.

Hernan: Sorry Adam, but it’s going to be [inaudible 00:08:55] training, right? We have a bunch of material in there already. There’s all the archives, the new stuff, the Facebook group, and also Marco is going to be doing upcoming webinars and there’s going to be Q&A. We’ve had things supporting RYS academy for the past two years for a one time fee. Everyone that has been following us for awhile, you know that we deliver, that we support our products, that we always try to over-deliver, make them better. We try to keep up and to be out there in the trenches, testing stuff so you don’t have to go out there and chasing every shiny object.

We have some testimonials already about people that have been spending anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 on software that doesn’t work and once they got into RYS, they cut it immediately because you forget about PVN’s, you forget about proxies, BPS’s, all of those kind of things that not only takes time but money. Anyway, that’s what I wanted to say also. You’re actually saving money. I agree with Adam, you can nail some really juicy contracts with this.

Adam: You guys got anything else?

Bradley: Nope.

How Would You Fix A Renegade Page That Returns 404 Errors When Redirected To The Homepage?

Adam: Sweet. I’m looking here first too. This is awesome. Columbia is the first person up so I’m pretty pumped. She’s usually got some good questions so let’s get going.

Bradley: I had a Skype chat with her yesterday, a phone call with her just because she’s always coming to our Hump Day Hangouts and engaging and participating and so I gave her about 20 minutes of time just to chat with her. It was nice meeting her. She’s out there taking action every week from the stuff that she learns right here. She’s growing her business, which is amazing, guys, just from free information that she’s getting from the Hump Day Hangouts, which is awesome.

With that, I’m going to grab the screen and we’re going to get into this. All right. Columbia says, “I’ve suddenly discovered about four weeks ago that an old dotcom has had a renegade page since 2010. It did not appear on my list of pages in the admin area for the site.” Yeah, I’m sure it was a hacked in link. That happens often, Columbia, at least I’ve had it happen a lot. “It was called Freebooks and it seemed to be offering a wide variety of books, mostly or all in French. The best fix as of yesterday was to have /Freebooks redirect to my homepage. Unfortunately, all the Google listings have more info after the slash, all of those, which is all of them, are currently showing a 404 error.

That was the best we could come up with after extensive hypothesizing, analyzing, and testing. I worry that Google with have issues with all this 404’s and there could be 200 or so of them since each book title is a separate extension.” Oh, another lead just came through. Let’s see, “This website has a lot of content. I was in the process of sending up a reloaded version of it. It has six letters broken and two short essay remember words, which apply perfectly to the product. I really don’t want to drop [inaudible 00:12:07]” Columbia, one of the easiest things you could do is just put a 404 redirect plugin on the site.

Here’s a couple things I would suggest. Number one, you can contact the host and ask the host, if it’s a decent host, they should be able to go in and clean up those rogue files. A lot of hosts, the better, higher end host will provide that sort of support because actually any sort of hacked WordPress site on their servers is a security risk for them. If it’s a good host … If you’re dealing with Hostgator or GoDaddy or something like that, forget it. But if you’re dealing with a decent host, then I would contact the host and ask them to do it, an easy fix for the 404’s.

I would still try to get rid of those rogue files. An easy fix for the 404’s is just a simple 404 redirect plugin. You could use something like 404 to Start is one of the plugins. There’s a bunch of them. Link Juice Keeper is an old one. I don’t know if that still is available, but that would be another one. There’s a bunch of them. You could just do a Google search for 404 redirect plugins and just select one. I would look for one that was updated recently because that means it shows that it’s continually updated. Lastly, there’s something else that you can do. I always recommend this to clients. This is called security.net.

All my clients that are running WordPress, I typically recommend that they install this. They purchase it. I think it’s 300 bucks a year. This is a great service. I’ve got one client in particular. They get hacked about once every three or four months. I’m not sure why, it’s probably a competitor causing that. But security always catches it right away and sends a notification. We just submit a support ticket and they go in and they do all the cleanup. It’s usually done within about 24 hours. Again, they get hacked about once every three or four months and all I do is I’ve got to submit a support ticket and it’s taken care of.

If you’re doing this for client work, then I would recommend that this is an expense that you pass to the client. It’s not something that you pay for. If it’s your own site, it depends on how much revenue it’s generating for you. Personally, I like easy. When anytime I can do something like this to prevent having to go through all the headache of trying to track down rogue files and remove them myself or dealing with the hosting company, to me it’s worth it. Anybody have any other comments on that?

Adam: Not here.

Bradley: Hopefully that’s helpful. Again, if you’ve got a good host, though, Liquid Web will do it. But they don’t have shared hosting anymore. They’ve just got VPS’s and dedicated hosting. I use Terry Kyle’s, what is it? WPX Hosting? I use that a lot now for WordPress sites as well. That’s a really good host. Their support is really good as well. That’s something else that you can contact them. I’m just saying HostGator and GoDaddy, those crappy hosts, they’re not going to do it for you. It’s likely they won’t. You can always contact them and ask.

What Type Of Schema Would Be Best To Use To Rank An Affiliate Offer To A Local Medical Spa?

Next one, it says, “Hi, what type of schema would you use in the following made up example. Keyword to rank for cellulite treatment Dallas but instead to promote the local medical spa. I’d like to promote affiliate offer, ebook for example. What type of schema do you think would best use to rank for local business environment?”

I don’t know because I’ve never spammed local structure data for an affiliate offer. I’ve spammed maps before for an affiliate offer. Years ago, I did that a lot. I haven’t done that in several years now. Has anybody tried to do this and, if so, can you comment?

Hernan: No, but I can see it. I can see him branding. It’s going to take a lot of work. I don’t know if it’s really worth it for an ebook. But you create the brand, whatever the spot is. What you’re looking to do is for people to end up in that ebook offer. In that ebook offer, the schema that you would add is for whatever that book … I don’t know the schema for book. I don’t keep track of all of it, or the image or whatever. You would benefit from both, from having the business schema and then schema on the page with the offer. As far as schema, that’s how I would pursue this. I don’t see any other way that you can do it unless someone else has an idea.

Bradley: Yeah. I don’t see. He doesn’t mention maps in here. What I would suggest is if you’re trying to rank organically, that’s one thing. But maps, I wouldn’t try to do. Again, he didn’t mention maps in his question, but what I’m saying is, just for everybody’s benefit, I would not recommend trying to do something like this with a map listing because, with this, it’s a point of sale or a storefront type business, right? You wouldn’t want to do that. You would quickly get reported, I’m sure, if you were to rank in maps. Again, I know he didn’t mention it, I’m stating it for everybody’s benefit that may be thinking about doing this. I used to do maps spam for affiliate offers years ago but they stopped doing it because people started catching on and it would get reported to Google for storefront offers that didn’t show a storefront.

In other words, if you hid the address but it should be a type of business that has a storefront where customers come to the business location, and if the address was hidden, then competitors would report it. Or if you would leave the address showing and it was going to a post office or a home address or something like that, then oftentimes it would get reported as well. I just stopped doing it because it was too much work for it just to be taken down within a few months or a few weeks, sometimes. Again, if you were going to do it organically, that’s different. I’m assuming that’s what you’re going to do. I don’t know what the actual structured data would be for something like that other than you would still want to create the schema markup or structured data markup for the local business, if you’re trying to rank it locally.

But, again, I wouldn’t try to rank in maps. I would just try to rank organically. In which case, I would use your made up address or PO Box or whatever it is that you’re using as the actual business address in the structured data, but then you would just want to mark up the proper elements on the page. If you’ve got a book or an ebook or whatever, I’m sure there’s book mark up. You would just mark it up that way. You could also mark up reviews if you have reviews for the book and that kind of stuff. You could put all those on the page, too, and use the review mark up for that. Interesting, though. Again, I’m not sure I’d put a lot of … It depends on how profitable your offer is for you, your funnel.

How Would You Change The Categories And The Name Of A GMB Page?

If there’s enough money in it, then it’s worth the headache. But I’m not sure from an ebook, but I don’t know your entire funnel, either. Kevin’s up. He says, “Hey, guys. I just setup a GMB for snow removal, still waiting on the postcard. I set the category to be snow removal, but since I am using my personal address and don’t have access to a second address, how would I switch the GMB listing and contain both snow removal and landscaping categories so I can rank for both keywords in the maps pack? I’m guessing I’ll have to reverify the listing after making changes.”

No, Kevin, you don’t have to reverify. You can have two categories. In fact, landscaping and tree service companies are typically the companies that do snow removal in the winter. I know because I’ve been dealing with tree service businesses for seven years now. They oftentimes, because there’s no tree work and landscaping work during the winter, or very, very little anyway, they often make ends meet through snow removal projects and get contracts with shopping centers and stuff like that for snow removal. You just add both. What I would do, because remember, I’m not sure where you live, Kevin, but in my area in Virginia, it’s three seasons of tree and/or landscaping work. It’s spring, summer, and fall. It’s only in the winter season that it’s slow for them.

I would make my primary category landscaping and a secondary category snow removal. By the way, if it’s already a verified listing, you can go in and change the category or add a category and it won’t ask to … At least, the majority of the time it’s not going. There’s always anomalies, there’s always exceptions to the rule. It may trigger a reverification, but it’s unlikely. I know because I’ve gone in recently and made edits, all kinds of edits to map stuff. It hasn’t triggered a reverification for me. Again, a lot of those listings are more established, so that may be part of it. But I would recommend that you would stick with your landscaping …

Depending on where you are. If snow removal is the primary service, then you would want to make that your primary category. But if landscaping is the primary service, then make snow removal a secondary category. Does that make sense? Anyway, Google understands that, by the way. It’s not like you’re the first landscaping company that also does snow removal. What I’m saying is that Google understands that as part of a norm for that industry. It’s not going to be out of the ordinary for you to set it up that way. “Oh, I am also thinking of changing the business name to contain the word Snow and Lawn to help further rank in the maps pack.” That’s not necessary, Kevin. It’s really not. I recommend that you don’t. I would keep it to just the brand. Branding is the better way to go for long term projects. If you’re going to put the effort in, you should try to get them to stick or become long …

You should do them with the intent of them being long term projects. I personally don’t like to stick the keywords in the title unless it’s literally the brand name, which is normal too. Joe’s Snow and Lawn Service or whatever. That would make sense. But if you’ve already got a brand set up, I would just leave it as is. Anybody else?

Hernan: I agree with you Bradley, pretty much.

How Do You Link One Press Release To Others To Achieve The Stacking Effect?

Bradley: Very good. Dan’s up. He says, “For stacking press releases that point to latest reviews submitted to Google, how are you linking from one press release to others to achieve the stacking effect? Are you just pointing from latest press release to last one over and over? Also, what do you suggest from experience as far as distribution? Will Fiver gigs suffice for distribution or are there good and bad choices that you suggest from your experience?”

Dan, I’ll talk on a conceptual level about my press release strategy but I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details because that is reserved for mastermind members and also for the product that we’re going to be releasing about this. I can’t reveal all of that here on a Hump Day Hangout, Dan. If you want the skinny details, we have a lead gen accountability group that we are solely focused on this particular strategy inside the mastermind and we meet every two weeks. I think about eight more people joined yesterday. We’re all doing various forms of the press release strategy for local so that we can test it to death before I release the product. It’s going to give me a bigger dataset to use and examples and case studies for when we release that product, which will be in a month or two or three, whatever.

Again, I can’t reveal it. I can talk on a conceptual level. That said, let me answer the second question, the last part of this question first. Will a Fiver gig suffice? I don’t know because I don’t use Fiver gigs for press releases. You’d have to test. I would assume that they’re going to be rather shitty.

Chris:I assume no.

Bradley: Chris jumped in and said no. I would assume that they’re probably not very good. I use Fiver gig for design projects and stuff but not necessarily for SEO and distribution or writing projects or any of that kind of stuff. You’d have to test, Dan. I use various press release services, guys. We use our [Serverspace 00:24:23] service, I use Press Advantage. I also use Press Cable, which is Chris [Munch’s 00:24:28] press distribution service. I also have used Newswire.net quite a bit. I meant to talk to my partners yesterday about EIN presswire. EIN presswire is located in Washington DC and they keep emailing me because I do a lot of press release stuff with offers and they sent me an offer yesterday that looks pretty good.

I can’t remember now, it’s like 65 press releases for … I can’t remember off the top of my head. But EIN presswire, I’m looking at buying a package from them to test. What I like about them is they will allow a video embed in the press release, which is pretty rare. I want to test that for our agency because we’re leading with video as the front end product. I’d like to test that to see if we can get some more push out of embedding a video. EIN presswire is another one. There’s another one called … Let’s just check this out. I’ll share this one with you real quick, too. This is another one that I’m looking at. It’s called Press Synergy. I have not tested them yet either.

I don’t know why their site’s not loading. Presssynergy.com. This is another one I’ve not tested yet but I’d like to because they also have, for 210 bucks, they have video embeds as well and Google Maps embeds, which is the first time I’ve seen a Google Map embed allowed in a press release. Again, I have not tested this yet, but it is on my list to test because I’m doing so much press release work right now. I want to test all the various services. I’m primarily using our ServerSpace service because, well, for me it doesn’t cost me anything. But again, I do use multiple press release services, guys. Why? Because it adds diversity.

It adds diversity. Go ahead, somebody?

Marco: What I wanted to say is that if you have a test property that you want to spam or you want to test those services, sometimes … I never experience this for link building specifically. But sometimes you will find diamonds in the rough on Fiver. For example, for logo design or for some voiceovers. People are doing a really good job for five bucks, right? It’s usually not for five bucks, you need to pay a little bit more, but just so you know. In any case, you need to try. [inaudible 00:26:49] there’s a reason why some of these press release services are that expensive. Press is expensive. If you want to get featured or if you want to get a link from Huffington Post or Ink or Entrepreneur.com, you can get it absolutely if you have somebody that is selling paid placements, but you need to pay a couple grand for a back link or for a mention or for a feature.

If you think about it, maybe it’s worth the investment because if you’re an author or if you’re really in a competitive niche, maybe it’s worth it. Who knows, right? But there’s a big difference between a $5 service and a $5,200, $300, $500 a month service, which is a press release, right? Have that in mind, Dan. I would definitely try it out on something that you wouldn’t miss, that you wouldn’t care on missing, a), or you wouldn’t care on having zero results. That would be my [crosstalk 00:27:52]

Bradley: Listen. The press release stuff, and I’ll get to the method on a conceptual level, Dan, again, I’m not going to reveal my strategy right here in a free Hump Day Hangout, guys, I can’t do it. It would ruin the product that’s coming out and all the research I’ve done. By the way, just so you know, this is that EIN presswire. This is the other one. They’ve got a deal right now for 12 press releases for 400 bucks. It does allow video embeds right here. Number of embedded videos? You get one video embed. It comes out to $33.25 per press release. I’d like to test this. I meant to ask you guys yesterday during our corporate meeting if I could purchase that, get a vote on it, and I forgot. Can we take a vote right now? No, I’m kidding. Anyway, I do want to test this because, like I said, I’m constantly testing new services now, guys.

I primarily use ours because it doesn’t cost me anything, but there’s a benefit to adding diversity to all of your back link profile, right? There’s a reason for me using multiple press release services. I’m still looking to find the best results, you know what I mean? Just so you know, one of the more recent projects that I’ve done with press releases, I took a new maps listing that I got. It was a PO box type setup and everything. I got it in the maps pack for about 12 out of my 16 primary keywords, about 75% of my primary keywords are in the maps pack, in the free pack with only four press releases. No citations. Swear, no citations at all.

No syndication network. I didn’t do a drive stack. I just did four press releases and I got it to pop in the maps pack for 75% of the primary keywords, which is insane. I’ve got multiple examples of getting those kind of results. When you combine it with the syndication networks and drive stacks and stuff like that, that’s when it’s just incredible the amount of power. It’s very, very powerful. As far as the stacking part of it, the first one always points to the money site. Most PR’s will allow you two or three URL’s, links within the press release.

What I do on the first one is I link to the money site, usually just the homepage using either the brand name of the business or a naked URL. That’s it. I’ll link to the Google Maps page, the Maps URL for the maps listing itself. Then I will usually link to something else like another property within the branded syndication network. Typically, it’s going to be a Facebook page or something like that. As long as the Facebook page is somewhat active. One of the best ways to determine what to link to within the first press release is just go do a brand search for the company that you’re doing the work for, or for your own lead gen site.

See what Google is listing at the top of the search results on page one for that business, that brand search. You’re going to link to the domain itself, you’re going to link to the maps listing, and then just select one that Google is telling you that it deems to be one of the most authoritative sites that you’re listed on, just from the Google search. Then as far as the second press release, it doesn’t like to the website. It can. I just typically don’t. What I would recommend is on a second press release, if you were going to link to the website, that you would link to an inner page or blog post or a silo header or something like that, not to the homepage.

Instead, what I like to do is link to the first press release and then link to, in the first press release, which one do you link to? Once again, use Google. Use Google to do a search on the previous press release’s title and then look at which ones are ranking the best. Or, if you were targeting a keyword specifically in that first press release, you can do a keyword search and try to find the highest ranked press release from that first distribution.

What I like to do is link to those. Now, keep in mind though, guys, a lot of the press release syndication points, the actual sites that they get republished on, those, within six months or 180 days, the vast majority of them, those press releases will be eliminated. They’ll be terminated, deleted from the site. They’re archived for up to a period of time. Some of the sites will leave them on indefinitely, but a lot of them purge after about 180 days. If you’re going to be using the press release stacking method, which is what I’ve been doing a lot of, you want to either identify the syndication points that do not purge or you want to continually stack, in other words make sure that that’s an ongoing, monthly type thing or every other month or quarterly or something so that you always have new targets that are going to be pointing to target URL’s that you’re trying to rank.

Again, when they purge those, then you’re going to lose any. To me, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do press release stacks or link building to press releases that have been published where they’re going to eventually be purged because then all that work that you’ve done, at some point, is going to just be eliminated just like that. Here’s how you do this, Dan. Once you get the press release distribution report from whatever service you’re using, you’d have to go through and catalog which sites purge and which ones don’t.

It’s going to take some research. It’s something you can higher a VA to do and have them identify all of that and then you can go back through and select which ones you want to build additional links to. Again, what I like to do is, on the second press releases, find out the top ranked for either the keyword or either the actual title of the press release. In the following or subsequent press release, you want to link to the previous one or to just another press release within that ecosystem that you’re building out. What you’re doing is you’re passing relevancy from one to another to another and you’re linking from authority sites to authority sites that are news sites to news sites.

You don’t need a lot of target URL’s pointing back to your money site because you have the original one pointing and you start to build downstream power. You know what I’m saying? In other words, it’s second and third tier, fourth tier links. We have somebody that’s been testing this with me in the mastermind. He’s been doing just multiple press releases linking directly to the money site. He’s been getting similar results that I’ve been getting. It’s just different types of methods. That’s part of the reason why, like I said, we’ve got a special group in our mastermind right now that we’re all collaborating on this and testing various methods and stack methods and all that kind of stuff to try to identify which is the best way to do it or the most powerful or at least give variety.

All of that will be included in the training course that [crosstalk 00:34:48]

Hernan: To sum it all up, we’re testing all this shit so you guys can get the best training possible.

Bradley: That’s correct. That’s how we do right?

Hernan: That’s how we do the do we do.

What Are Some Best Practices When Updating And Re-Writing Content Of Your Website?

Bradley: Greg [inaudible 00:35:00] says, “I will be updating and rewriting a lot of content on my site. I’m certain it will dance all over the rankings the next three to four weeks. I don’t like adding any links when a page or site is bouncing around however. What about these activities? Number one, should I wait until the dance is over to start adding rank feeder feeds with co citations? Or are those different enough from actual links that they do not matter?” No, you don’t have to wait for those, Greg. You don’t have to wait for those at all because those are citation type links. They’re not physical links. You’re fine for that.

“Number two, is it okay to create videos to the YouTube channel and embed them on my site pages during the dance or wait?” As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. There might be a difference of opinion from some of my partners here, but in my opinion that’s fine because that’s just adding content, updating content. It’s not an inbound link activity thing. Any comments on that, guys?

Marco: I would think you’re correct. In fact, it’s Google property. A google bot comes in and sees a Google property, it’s going to tunnel right to the YouTube channel. I think you’re pretty safe there, also.

Bradley: “Number three, would you suggest adding new posts to the site that will syndicate out to the syndication network during the dance or wait until it’s over?” Again, Greg, that’s a perfectly normal activity to be blogging on the site even during structural changes. In my opinion, I would go for it. I would continue to blog because that’s a perfectly normal activity for a genuine website. There’s no reason to stop content marketing just because of some structural changes. You know what I mean? I would say yes to all of those. It’s okay.

How To Use Press Releases In Your Local SEO Campaigns?

Aman says, “Can you briefly go over your stress release … ” Excuse me, stress release. Press release … Stress release strategies. Sure! I do yoga. No, I’m kidding. “Can you briefly go over your strategy for using press releases in local SEO campaigns?” See the previous question from Dan, my previous reply.

Would Hiding The Address Of A GMB Service Page Would Affect Its Current Ranking?

Muhammad says, “Hey guys, I’m currently trying to get a site ranked in maps. It’s slowly getting higher. The business is a service, but the GMB currently has an address. Would hiding address by making it a service ruin the current momentum?” That’s a tricky one. I’ve seen some conflicting information on that in some of the forums and things like that. If you don’t have a storefront, based upon Google’s terms or best practices or whatever, you should hide the address if you don’t have a storefront. Google tells us to do that. However, I have noticed because of maps being more and more localized now, that if you have the address showing, you’re typically going to rank better. It’s going to depend on the searcher and where they’re located. But for mobile, especially, having the actual address show is going to make a difference in how your maps listing appears as far as where it ranks in the mobile search results.

That’s where I see having a benefit of having that address being shown, is for that. Outside of that, again, if you don’t have a storefront, if customers do not come to the business location, then you’re supposed to hide it so I always do. I also always hide it because it’s usually a PO Box, right? Anybody have any comments on that.

Marco: Yeah, I would add that if it’s moving and you’re getting results and there are no problems, I would say just let it go. Leave it. Don’t make any changes. I always tell people if it’s dancing, don’t touch it. If it’s moving, it might drop a little bit, move up a little bit more, drop, you don’t want to touch it. You don’t want to do anything that’s going to disturb a google bot deciding where you’re going to be ranked in the end. Once that happens, wherever you end up, then you can decide what your next steps are.

Bradley: Again, if it’s not a PO Box or something then I would leave it. If it’s a genuine address for that business, even though it might be a service area business, that’s what they call those, by the way, service area businesses. If it’s a service area business … It’s a genuine address, but it’s a service area business, I wouldn’t touch it. I wouldn’t change it right now because you’re starting to gain some traction, just like Marco said. But if it’s a spammed address, so to speak, then I would go ahead and hide it now anyway because you always run the risk of getting it reported. Again, if it’s a real business address, there’s no reason to hide it. Google’s best practices says you’re supposed to for service area businesses, but as Marco said, I agree with that, I wouldn’t mess with it if it’s starting to gain traction, okay?

Columbia says, “The host to use?” You’re using Liquid Web, Columbia, or WPX. Either one of those. Those are the two hosts that I use primarily now. If you’re using either one of those, then you should be fine to just contact the host and explain to them the problem, give them a sample set of URL’s that are rogue and they can usually go in and clean it up.

Marco: This isn’t a plug or anything, but Liquid Web is the best. I’ve yet to see anyone outdo Liquid Web as far as customer service, as far as helping you out with problems. If you go in there and you act like a dummy, they’ll do everything for you. I go in there and just be myself. They get everything done. Just do that. You’re going to be paying for a VPS. The costs are going to be higher. They’ll help you as much as they can. They’ll stay on the phone with you until it’s solved or they’ll do chat with you, however it is that you choose to do it.

For that, just for that, it’s really worth the price.

Bradley: If you’re doing client work, especially if you build new sites and stuff for clients, you can charge them for hosting and host everything on your own VPS. That’s how you reduce and eliminate the costs of the VPS from Liquid Web. You can also turn that into a small profit center, too. Those VPS’s, you can put a lot of sites on, especially if you get a dedicated IP then it’s specific to you. You don’t have a bunch of other shared … That’s part of the reason why they got rid of shared hosting, Liquid Web did, so that they could have more control over the IP’s and provide a better service to their user base. Pissed a lot of people off when they switched over, by the way. We stayed with them anyway.

Hernan: Definitely. I was one of the guys that was on the [inaudible 00:41:48] The new one, deluxe hosting, is not that bad actually. They’re doing a good job for a share account. But yeah, I totally agree with Marco. I used to go a lot for Hostgator until it becomes completely useless in a way that-

Bradley: I’m sorry.

Hernan: Yeah. It’s a pain in the ass and, not only that, you’re paying cheap, but at the end of the day, you need to do everything by yourself. You’re one hour in a queue for some guy to make a ticket for you because they cannot even solve the thing that you are calling in in the first place. You’re paying for a service, right? If you think about it, as an entrepreneur or an SEO if you have an agency, your time is much more valuable than the money that you’re paying for hosting, right? Because you need to be focusing on some other things, not troubleshooting your hosting. That’s the least important of your problems.

What I’m trying to say is that you need to treat your time as money, too. Most importantly, you need to make sure that you have a team on your back end and Liquid Web does a great job because the guys are really … You can feel that they are really on your team. They’re not trying to be assholes that are not on the company, if you say they’re us against them. They’re really put in your shoes and you can get a lot more done. You’re paying a little bit more, don’t get me wrong, but [crosstalk 00:43:19] Yeah, it’s worth it. That’s the service you’re paying for.

Bradley: I totally agree. Guys, I used to go for cheaper hosting as well. I think we all do when we start out. But you learn over time that the cheap hosting costs you so much money. First of all, opportunity cost as Hernan just mentioned, if you’re in there dealing with troubles that happen. PHP is outdated. PHP version is outdated so plugins or themes don’t work correctly or there are security issues. The vast majority of shared hosting over stuff the shit out of their IP’s so that there’s way too many sites sharing the bandwidth so if any particular site gets hacked or DDoS attack or something like that, all the sites on that IP go down. Then you’re screwed.

One of the worst ranking signals is a site that’s going in and out all the time. If you put an uptime on it. Columbia, I’m not talking to you specifically about this because you [inaudible 00:44:23] the host we use so it’s probably a good one. I’m talking to other people that may be using cheap hosts. If you put uptime robot or some sort of uptime monitor on sites that you have in cheap hosting accounts, you’ll see. You’ll get notifications via email or however you setup notifications about how often your sites are going down that you don’t even know it. Unless you’re on the site all the time monitoring it, you won’t know it.

That is a terrible ranking signal. Not only that, but it’s the bad neighborhood type stuff. If you go do a search on your IP from your website, from your host, and then go look at who’s hosted on this IP or whatever, you can just do a Google search and find a bunch of different sites that will show you all the sites that are hosted, the domains hosted on that particular IP. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of really shitty, bad neighbors, so to speak, on those IP’s. You don’t want to be blocked in our lumped in, guilty by association, so to speak, with those shitty sites. It ends up hurting you. It’s a bad ranking signal. If you go with a better type of managed type host, then you’re going to have a much higher quality to service as well as uptime will be better. It’s a better ranking signal, all that kind of stuff.

How Would You Recommend Changing A GMB Page That A Local Term Is Ranking For?

Cesar’s up. He says, “How would you recommend trying to change the page that a local term is ranking for? For example, I’m working with a local jeweler whose homepage branded is ranking for City Plus Jeweler and has one location at the moment but has plans to open other locations in other cities. Since we’re building out local landing pages for each location, I’d like the inner page to rank for the local search terms, not the home page.” Yeah, that’s fine. Essentially, what you’re doing is you want to create an inner page for the location that it’s currently ranking in, is that correct?

Here’s the thing. If you’re already ranked in maps for that, I’ve gone in for maps. Organic is different. Organic, you will see some dancing and stuff like that, but for maps, and I’ve done this multiple times. Anytime I take a single location lead gen site to multiple locations, then I end up either creating an inner page, so it’s a location page on the root domain of the original location or I break them out into sub domains, which is my preferred method, for each location. You have to go on and change the landing page URL for the Google map business maps listing. As far as maps, I’ve never had a dance occur from that, which is odd, I think. For real, I’ve literally changed the URL entirely from either the homepage originally to either an inner page URL or a sub-domain URL. I’ve had the maps listing stick. It’s not danced at all.

I’ve had that happen multiple times. I know for organic, you’re going to see some dancing. What I would recommend potentially doing, I would think you could set a canonical for the homepage to point to the inner page, at least for a period of time while you’re getting your other location pages built out and your Google map business listings verified and stuff like that and allow Google some time for it to recognize the canonical and to really identify that inner page as the new location page for that listing, so to speak.

Then, once you start adding the additional locations in, you could remove that canonical and it shouldn’t affect it. It might be some slight dancing, but it should be temporary. Anybody got a comment on that?

Hernan: No, I agree with you, Bradley.

Bradley: Okay, Marco?

Marco: No, I’m good.

Bradley: Just didn’t know if you guys had another trick or something. That’s what I would do, Cesar. That’s a good question, though. Again, for maps, usually I haven’t seen any dancing for that especially if it’s securely ranked in number one position, which it sounds like you are. I would just go ahead and change the landing page URL and take a look. If it drops out of the maps pack or drops down, then set the canonical for the homepage. You can do that using the SEO plugin. Most all SEO plugins have that option now and you can just go and set a canonical and then point to the inner page and then just give it some time for it to settle.

What’s The Effective Way To Get The GMB Listing To Pop In The 3 Pack?

Then you can always remove that canonical after you start setting the other location pages up and it should resolve. Second question is what’s the effective way to get the GMB listing to pop in the three pack? DIY RYS or Maps Powerhouse? RYS is one of the quickest ways. Like I said, a lot of press release stuff I’ve been testing lately has been incredibly effective as well. If you combine those two, that’s a slam dunk. If you can do a drive stack that’s built properly, Cesar, so either do it yourself through the new training or just buy it from us at Serp Space and it’ll be done correctly.

Then, if you also incorporate a couple press releases into that, you ought to see some significant movement very quickly. Maps Powerhouse is good. There’s no doubt. But what I do with Maps Powerhouse is I use that as a … That’s not a primary ranking method for me, guys. It’s a booster. That’s how I use Maps Powerhouse as more of a booster than a primary ranking method. There may be some others that are using that as a primary method and getting results from it. But me, personally, I use that as almost like a link building method for maps.

But it’s relatively inexpensive. You just use some credits for that. Combine that along with. But as far as my front end method, it would be definitely a drive stack and then I would, right now, I’m just crushing it with PR’s, press releases. I would do at least two, maybe three press releases over the course of the next 30 days and see what happens. You already got that, Adam. Thank you. We’re good, just about time, too. [crosstalk 00:50:31]

Marco: Before you go on, let me ask you a question. Some people are on a limited budget and press releases can get expensive. What would you do if you can’t do three, four press releases?

Bradley: I’ve done [inaudible 00:50:45] stack.

Marco: There you go.

Bradley: What I was mentioning was if you have the budget for both, I would definitely do both. But if you can only choose one or the other, I would go with a drive stack. My own personal experience with them is that I might not see movement as quickly from the drive stack as I would with the press releases, however once the movement occurs, it just sticks and it’s almost unmovable, which is pretty powerful. With press releases, like I said, I’ve noticed with the one I was just talking about a minute ago, I popped a brand new maps listing into the three pack for 75% of the terms under four weeks with only three or four press releases. I’d have to go back and look at my notes.

I think it was four. I haven’t touched it now in probably five or six weeks. I think the last press release that I published was at the beginning of July or maybe the middle of July. It’s been about six weeks since I’ve done any press releases for that. I’ve noticed that some of the keywords are starting to slip down to the C and D position, even falling out of the three pack. In part, I left it like that intentionally because I wanted to see if there was a drop off period at some point with the press releases. I actually have it on the schedule this week, I haven’t gotten to it yet, but to order another one or two press releases for that particular project or that campaign, to see if I can boost those keywords that started to drop back into the three pack just from another PR distribution.

Again, that’s why we’re testing right now. Columbia’s got a Liquid VPS. See? She listens. She’s doing awesome. “Everything all of you said is why I bit the bullet to cost scope for VPS. The service is really great.” Yeah, absolutely. We aren’t even dropping affiliate links for Liquid Web. We probably should.

Adam: We have one. A great service.

Hernan: What I would add, just to make sure that she goes and does it, is a 404 to 301. Add that plugin and you’re good to go. Your 404 problem will disappear.

Bradley: Yeah. Your 404 errors in search console will disappear. It’ll take sometimes about a month or so before you’ll start seeing all those start disappearing from the 404 errors in the search console, but they will disappear. You definitely want to resolve those rogue files, though. If they’ve been hacked into the database on your site, you want to get them removed. Just contact Liquid Web. They’ll square it away for you. I know for sure they’ll do it. All right, guys. Well, we’re done here. Thanks for everybody attending. We really appreciate it, guys. Don’t forget RYS Academy is going up at 9 a.m. tomorrow so if you’re interested, now is the time.

Adam: This is good, too. I was just in the Facebook group. Not going to lie, I switched over there real quick while we were doing this and there’s a thread with Kendrick and it’s like, “During Hump Day Hangouts” for 20 comments deep.

Bradley: All right, guys. That’s it. Thanks everybody for being here. We don’t have mastermind tomorrow, do we? I don’t think we do. I think it’s next week.

Marco: Let me put in a plug for our done for you services because they’re done up to the current RYS standards, RYS reloaded. The VA’s were trained. They’ve gone through the process. They know what to do. As of Monday, any orders coming in are done according to RYS reloaded standards. We won’t redo the previous ones. Sorry. That’s not the way this works. Anything ordered as of Monday will be done up to those specs. Get your orders in, because yesterday we forgot to set a new price. While we decide to get a new price in, the price will remain.

But I’m going to push for the price to go as high as possible without it just getting away from people being able to buy them. But you know me, I like to push for high end. I don’t like my stuff to sell for nothing. Guys, if you’re on the fence as far as RYS reloaded, go get it. We’re in there. We’re hammering away. If you don’t want to do the work, we have done for you according to RYS reloaded specs. And they’re the same price as the old ones, don’t forget.

Male:Thanks. Good time to get in there.

Hernan: If you happen to grab RYS reloaded before it goes up, on the checkout page you can pick an option to get an RYS stack for half off. As of right now, when we increase the price, it’s going to be even lower. For right now, you can get a steep discount on your RYS stack that you can roll over the next 30 days. You get it today, you can roll over the next 30 days, but you need to do that with RYS reloaded so [inaudible 00:55:39]

Bradley: Awesome. Thanks everybody for being here. We’ve got to wrap it up. See you all later. Thanks.

Hernan: Thanks. Bye bye.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 147 published first on your-t1-blog-url