#maybe I’m an idiot but I don’t think cars should have software updates

[lia-jones]

Growing Pains - Chapter Five - Two Shades of Bully

It was 6:25 when I dropped my bag on the curb in front of my building, waiting for Victor’s car to pick me up. At 6:29 Victor’s car arrived, the driver coming to take my bags and open the door for me. I could see Victor was already inside, busy with his tablet, not even caring to look at me.

“Good-“ I tried to greet him as I got in, but he interrupted me.

“Schedule.” He was brief and cold, like he was talking to a software.

“Okay.” I said, trying not to get mad the first 10 seconds I’m with the CEO. “We have our flight scheduled to 7 am, which won’t be a problem because there’s not much traffic at this time. We are expected to arrive in Creekwood at 9 am, and we will be going straight to GTC, where we will have our update meeting and a tour to the textile factory to see the new machinery they bought. This is one of the meetings that will take most of our time. After this, we will be meeting the partner of Drake and Sons for a lunch meeting, and after we are going to visit their plastic components factory until 3 pm. Finally, we are heading for Happy Cow farm, expected time of arrival at 4 pm, to discuss the funding of their new insemination center. By 7 pm we arrive at the hotel, and you’ll need to get ready for the charity ball, that will start by 8:30, so you need to leave by eight. Do you need the schedule for tomorrow as well?”

“That will do.” Victor replied dryly, answering his phone, that in the meantime started vibrating.

The ride to the airport was uncomfortable, the energy so tense it was almost palpable. Fortunately, thanks to the lack of traffic, we arrived quickly.

I wasn’t surprised when we got to the airport and cut the line for check-in. I also wasn’t surprised when we were received in the plane like we were royalty, with a fancy parade of ass-kissing to Your Highness Victor Lee, King of High Horse Land. What came as a great surprise was that Victor didn’t care one bit for any of it. He showed aloofness to it all, but it wasn’t that fake indifference just to assert superiority, he was literally ignoring every advance and simply treating people with respect, like he wanted to have nothing to do with that. Not what I expected from the King at all.

The respect he had with other people didn’t extend to me though. He would scoff and spit his words to me, like I was the most ignorant person in the world. It was clear that he was still mad at me, but among all the messes I had made with him, I was unclear as to what was making him angry the most.

“I read the reports you sent me. Not so hopeless after all.” I was about to thank him when he interrupted me. “Call the flight attendant and ask for coffee. Last thing I want is for you to fall asleep on your own drool in front of our partners.”

I took a deep breath, trying to remember Diane’s words. Give him the benefit of the doubt. And I as looked at things from Diane’s perspective, I felt my emotions shift a little. He wanted to make me feel as he was punishing me, but there I was, flying first class with him. And he said he was pleased with my work, and although it wasn’t a clear well done, but more of a backhanded venomous compliment, maybe it was all that Victor Lee could muster. I remembered my harsh words in the conference room. Maybe he wasn’t humiliating me, maybe he was urging me to find my own voice. Maybe Diane was right.

“Have your coffee. Study your reports. You’ll be presenting them to the partners.” He ordered. I was astonished.

“You said I was presenting?” I repeated.

“Is the altitude affecting your hearing? I said you will be presenting them! Who wrote them in the first place? Or should I ask Ted to join the presentation as well?” It wasn’t 8 am and already Victor was losing his temper. I sighed and opened my laptop, reading my reports and preparing myself.

“Don’t make me and yourself look bad.” He added, his voice low but still menacing. I kept looking at the screen, anger boiling hard inside me, so much I wanted to cry of frustration. I hid my clenched fist between my thighs and I focused hard on my reports, hoping the distraction would take the anger away.

We arrived at the airport by 8:30, a car was already expecting us to drive us to GTC.

The 30-minute drive to GTC was silent, as it had been most of the morning, apart from the CEO’s nasty remarks. I was nervous about having to present my reports, since I feared some of my suggestions could be refused by the partners. Victor certainly wanted me to make my own suggestions and hadn’t complained so far, so I would do my best. Worst case scenario, I would have to find another job doing something else. And judging by the way my stomach was churning, maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

We were greeted at GTC by the owner, Miss Bates, a lady in her 50s that seemed to have the hots for Victor. Everything was an excuse to touch him, or slap his chest slightly, and it was obvious that her advances made him a bit uncomfortable. I expected him to say something, but he never did, probably because her advances, although annoying, were still polite and could be considered just a friendly gesture. However, he did try to politely make himself distant.

“So, Victor, will you be bringing anyone to the charity ball tonight?” Miss Bates asked, stepping closer to Victor. He gave a small step back.

“In order to answer that, I need to make sure I will be at the ball in the first place, and not stranded in some other meeting. Can we get started on the presentation?” He was quick to change the subject, probably fearing she would offer to be his date.

“Of course, dear. And please don’t call me Miss Bates, my name is Deborah.”

Victor didn’t answer, motioning me to follow him. I walked after him, holding tight to my computer, watching Miss Bates melt in laughter at every single sound that came out of Victor’s mouth. And for some reason, that was getting on my nerves.

They sat down at the large table at GTC’s conference room while I stood at the end of the table, plugging my computer to GTC’s screen with the help of one of their assistants.

I started the presentation of my reports, my analysis of the current reality and my suggestions to increase clients, as the actions they had planned could possibly not be enough to cover the investment at the desired deadline. In GTC’s case, my proposal was to invest in a good market strategy.

“What do you mean, market strategy? We are already well established in our area!” Miss Bates inquired Victor, that was sitting watching everything unfold.

“Andrea, explain to Miss Bates what you mean.”

That was it. My test. He wasn’t going to help me, he was leaving me alone to fend for myself.

“I understand you are well established in the area, but you could expand your business overseas.” I explained.

“And how do you suggest you do that? I attend every business fair, I offer fabric samples to those companies on a regular basis. What else could I do?” She asked, slightly offended.

I stopped for a minute. Here goes nothing.

“You could host a fashion show.”

Miss Bates was flabbergasted. I could see Victor was concealing a smirk with his hand.

“How am I supposed to-“

“You get your best fabrics and send them to designer overseas. You won’t probably get big names, but you’ll get enough brands to make people listen. You bring in the whole media circus, make it a big event. In the end, the best design gets a prize and visibility, while you get your fabrics to be shown in great designs. All parties benefit. I know many good Portuguese designers that would jump at such a chance. I expect it to be so for other countries as well.”

Miss Bates eyes shone at my words. She was a woman, of course a fashion show would be appealing to her. We started the tour to the factory, Miss Bates clinging to my arm.

“I absolutely love the fashion show idea! And with the samples I have to show for, we will get great designs, that we can even use to send to potential clients. It’s absolutely different than sending just a sample! They can see how it flows, how it shines under the light…”

I kept smiling and listening to her yammering, while Victor walked behind us, being told by Miss Bates’s assistant of the new equipment they had purchased recently. Miss Bates turned to Victor.

“Oh Victor, darling, I am completely ignoring you! But it’s all your fault, your brilliant mind leading other brilliant minds like hers to help partners like myself. She did a great job, you should be proud of yourself!” She said while hugging me tightly with one arm.

“She did very well, like a true golden child.” He looked at me meaningfully, and I wanted to roll my eyes at the “golden child” thing, but then I noticed his expression was… soft.

As we got in the car to leave, my heart was racing with adrenaline. I had done a good job, an excellent job, I have proven myself to be worthy of his respect. All the negative things of that morning had somehow evaporated, and I was surely a happy camper. Victor seemed to be in a good mood too.

“Did you see that? I thought she was going to bite my head off, but she actually loved it! Oh my God, the rush!” I turned to him, worried. “Did I do well? Do you think I overstepped? Should I have not suggested that?”

Victor chuckled. That sound was so rare and beautiful that my heart started beating hard on my chest.

“Do you really think I would let you present if I didn’t trust your abilities? I expected you to excel. I wasn’t mistaken.” He said, his expression relaxed, freer than usual. My face fell. I felt like an idiot.

“I actually considered you were trying to make me trip so you could fire me justifiably. I remember your threats.” I said, suddenly feeling ashamed.

“Calling me a bully would be justifiable enough, I think. What kind of monster do you take me for? I was just displeased at how you just let yourself be led by Ted like that, forgetting your own opinions. And I had to make sure you’d stay long enough to prove yourself your worth.” Victor seemed a little irritated, although he kept his soft expression. “Besides, which kind of bully would you prefer? The kind that pokes you hard enough to move forward and be the best possible version of yourself, or the kind that nicely tells you to take their ideas in detriment of your own?”

I stopped, thinking. That was exactly what Ted was doing. Instead of helping me grow, he was trying to keep me weak and ignorant, using me to make himself feel better. It wasn’t a smack on the face, but it felt just as abusive. Of course, there was the chance that he was just being nice, but he wasn’t actually helping me.

“Not everyone that is nice to you is looking out for your best interest, Andrea.”

I remained silent, churning on what I just heard. If my mother was there, she would be nodding silently, agreeing with Victor. I sighed, guilt washing over me.

“I was unfair to you. You’re not the easiest of people, but you’re not a bad person either. I’m sorry.” I said, the guilt clear in my voice.

“Forget all about it. Just keep up the good work.” Victor said, clearing his throat.

The rest of the day went on with lunch, and meetings, and constant driving and running around. Feeling more confident, I presented my reports and the meetings went smoothly, always under Victor’s careful and supportive eye. Funny how the same actions, the same facial expressions, the same words can feel so different from a new perspective. I watched Victor, and instead of seeing the ruthless, cold and aloof dictator, I someone else entirely. An honorable and kind man, like Diane said. The same man that helped me when my car broke down, and I initially thought was only a mirage.

We finished the meetings earlier than expected. It was 6 o’clock when we arrived at the hotel.

As we were waiting for the elevator, Victor turned to me.

“Did you bring a gown?” He asked, as the elevator opened its doors. We both got in.

“You told me to.”

“Good. You’re coming to the charity ball with me. Be at the lobby at 7: 55 pm.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind staying in my room. I’ll get some work done.” I swatted at his suggestion, the thought of pizza and a movie way more appealing than a 7-course meal.

“I wasn’t asking.” Victor said, but he didn’t look aggravated. In fact, I could swear I had seen a brief hint of a smile. “This is my floor. See you later.”

I stared at the elevator doors closing, my mouth slightly hanging. Ok, then.

[mermaidxatxheart]

Some Rules are Never Meant to be Broken Part III

Part I | Part II

Pairing: Paramedic!Bucky X Reader

Warnings: Some language probably, nothing too crazy, the feeling of being watched. IDK. This is kind of a mild chapter.

Word Count: 7143

Summary:  The reader is a Muse living life as a tour guide at a museum. Bucky is struggling with returning home from war and adjusting to civilian life. He used to be a paramedic and now works security, but what he really misses from his pre-war life is his ability to draw. Cue the reader, determined to do her job and get him back to a point where he can do what he loves most. But, spending that much time with anyone always leads to romantic feelings, which is against her laws. Will she be able to resist Bucky long enough to help him and not get her in serious trouble?

A/N: I haven’t forgotten about this story at all. I’m just terrible and my brain simply can’t stop coming up with new ideas. Also, work has been sucking my soul dry. But I’ve finally reached a point, I feel like, where it’s a full chapter. It might not be the most exciting chapter, but I enjoy it, and I hope everyone else does, too. Mood board below was made by the ever amazing @captainsteveevans​ I can’t stop staring at this thing, it’s so gorgeous!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If you do, comment or send me a message. They’re some of my favorite things and I can’t stop smiling when I see them.

(Look at it^^^ I’m in love!)

Between school field trips and tourists in town for the holiday weekend, the museum had never been busier. You had given six tours and it was barely two. 

 You miss Bucky. It had been three days since you’ve seen him and you’ve hated every second, especially since he left you so flustered at not being kissed.

 What a tease.

 “Y/N, there is a man in the Greek wing that would like to speak to the expert. I told him you would be happy to talk to him. He’s very charming.”

 Bucky!

 “Alright. I’ll head over there right now.” you try to stop the ridiculous grin trying to pull at your lips. 

 You step into the hall and look around, expecting to see Bucky’s muscular frame. It wasn’t crowded in the exhibit at the moment, a few families milling about, but he was nowhere in sight and you feel a sinking feeling in your stomach. 

 He’s not here after all.

 Nothing feels worse than getting your hopes up and then feeling them fall to the floor.

 “Excuse me, you are the expert in this area?” a man asks, coming up to you. You quickly fix your face into a pleasant smile. He’s average height, shorter than Bucky, but a few inches taller than you. His whole appearance is immaculate, suit crisply pressed, dress shoes polished and buffed, his hair is styled professionally-not a thing out of place. His skin is flawless, not a freckle, blemish or mark of any kind. Perfect in every way, it’s almost unreal. 

 “Yes, you were looking for me?” you reply, holding out your hand. 

 He shakes it, his hand is soft in yours and after getting used to Bucky’s calloused one, it’s a strange sensation. 

 “Yes. My name is Doctor Feldman. I was hoping I could pick your brain about an exhibit I’m putting together.” He has an accent, it’s familiar but something you can’t place. It’s not anything that you’ve heard in the last fifty years. Maybe you’re just too out of touch with the rest of the world. 

 “Absolutely.” 

 He releases your hand finally and pulls out a portfolio from his briefcase. It matches his shoes, right down to the embellished stitching. An unfamiliar sensation fills your stomach. 

 “This is the space that I have to fill.” he hands you a photograph. The space is large and your mind starts racing about all the things you could fit in there, so many statues of yourself.

 “Quite impressive.” you say, taking the photo from him, trying to avoid skin contact. 

 “Thank you. I was wondering, how would someone like yourself go about filling such a space with history?”

 “Oh, there are many ways.”

 He hands you more pictures of the artifacts to go inside and you’re able to easily recognize them. 

 “You could easily just set it up the Greeks on one side, Romans on the other, but I find that style quite boring.” you flip through a few more pictures, an idea forming in your head. 

 “Or, you could do an interactive style, in which you start with the oldest artifacts, and as history progresses you move through to the point where Rome invaded and then you could split it into two directions.”

 “I rather like that idea.” he says, taking the pictures back. 

 “I’m glad I could be of help.” 

 “I may come back to pick your brain once or twice more.” he tells you, shaking your hand again. “You have such wonderful ideas.” 

 A chill creeps up your spine as he smiles at you. Something is very off about him, something you can’t quite place. You want to tell him to find another expert, that you can’t help him anymore. You open your mouth to speak, but he releases your hand. 

 “Have a good day.” he bids before walking away. 

 Your face flushes in annoyance that he cut you off like that. You make a face at his back, wishing that your powers extended to anything more than just inspiring people. That wasn’t exactly great for defending yourself. 

 You find, not for the first time, that you’re missing Bucky. 

 Rubbing the mark on the back of your neck, you walk back to your desk, counting the minutes until, hopefully, Bucky shows up at five. 

 As it turns out, five o’clock passed about twenty minutes ago and he never showed up. And you’re miserable for it. You wait to leave, thinking... hoping that he was just stuck in traffic or left the office late.

 But as five-thirty passes, you’re forced to admit he’s not coming. Again. You retrieve your things and head out into the night air. Autumn is falling fast upon the city and the air is getting colder. 

 You wrap your coat tighter around you as you make your way home. You first notice something off in the subway car. It feels like eyes on you. You’ve volunteered for art classes over the years, students studying your body, learning how to draw, countless eyes focused on you. You’re intimately familiar with the feeling of being watched, of being watched with intent. 

 Subtly, you look around the car, trying to take in all the faces of the strangers around you. There are so damn many of them, it’s nearly impossible to remember. You shift your bag higher onto your shoulder, trying to ignore the feeling crawling along your skin. It’s a city with 8 million people. They have to look somewhere, so why not at a beautiful woman on a train. 

 The doors creak open, rocking the car slightly and you exit, making your way home.  Once inside the door, you drop off your bag, pulling out your phone and finding Bucky’s number. Your finger hovers over the call button, an internal battle between wanting to hear his voice, and not wanting to look like an idiot. Your thumb twitches, pressing the call button on accident. 

 Shit.

 Bucky

 “Stark, how long does it take to update? You’ve had it for three days.” Bucky sighs, leaning against one of the many lab benches. 

 “It takes as long as it takes, Barnes. You can’t rush science.” he gives a small shrug. “Also, consider me holding it hostage as payback for you breaking my very nice door.” 

 He groans in annoyance. Tony had physically removed his entire arm, claiming he needed it for a software update. What Bucky hadn’t realized was that it would take four days to do it.

 The door to the lab opens and Steve walks in like a man on a mission. “Tony, have you seen-” his eyes land on his best friend and Bucky gives a half-hearted wave with his one good hand. “Never mind. I found him.” Steve leans against the bench next to the dark-haired man.

 He’s uncomfortably silent but Bucky refuses to break first. Steve came in here looking for him, he can speak first. Bucky can feel his blue eyes on him as he studies his nails, trimmed short as usual. There’s nothing fascinating about them, maybe a little grease from working on the arm but it’s utterly boring and Bucky is rapidly running out of things to examine. 

 “You know it’s almost seven.” Steve announces finally. 

 Internally, he winces. Externally, he’s a stone, unmoving and unflinching. “Uh-huh.” 

 “Are you going to see her? You’ve been here late every night this week, later than everyone else.” he nudges Bucky’s arm a little harder than is necessary. 

 “Her who?” Tony pipes up, glancing up from his laptop screen. 

 He glares at Steve. “Thanks for that. And no, I’m not going to see her.” he crosses his arm across his chest, the action falling flat without the second arm to complete it. As much as he hates the stupid thing, he feels lopsided without it. 

 “Bucky! Have you even been out of the building in the last three days?”

 “Would it even matter? I’m not seeing her.” he retorts. 

 “Still waiting over here. Who’s the ‘her’? And why won’t you go see her?” Tony interjects. 

 Bucky’s phone rings in his pocket and he’s forced to dig it out awkwardly. Tony grabs it from his hand, his reflexes not as quick as they should be. 

 “Who is... My Muse? Is that her? Should I answer for you? Hello, Bucky can’t come to the phone right now, he’s a little shorthanded.” he chuckles at his own terrible joke. 

 He rolls his eyes. “Don’t answer it, let it go to voice mail.”

 Tony’s thumb hovers over the screen and he glares at him. He sighs loudly. “Fine. But in return I get to hear all about her.” he declines the call and turns off Buck’s phone. “You can tell her I banned phones in the lab-it screws with the equipment.” he leans against the counter next to him. 

 “There’s not much to tell. I met her at a museum a couple weeks ago.” he shrugs unevenly. 

 “And has spent every day since with her.” Steve adds. 

 “Dude, who’s telling the story?”

 “You’re not doing it well. She’s crazy about him.”

 He sighs, annoyed. “You don’t know that. We barely know each other.” Bucky reasons, but deep down where he doesn’t have to admit it out loud, he likes the possibility of her liking him.

 “Man, no girl that hot is going to hang out with some guy every night for two weeks when she just likes him as a friend.”

 “Every night, huh? Sounds like love to me.” Tony interjects and he glares at Steve. “And you’re avoiding her now? Why?”

 “I’m not avoiding her.” he says hotly. “You said it yourself, it’s been every night for two weeks, we need a break.” even as he says the words, he hates how they taste. Lies and bullshit. He wants nothing more than to go see her right now, to bombard her with questions about her day and to feel her fingers on his.

 “I don’t buy it. Aside from the fact that you broke my door, this is the happiest I’ve ever seen you. And the most normal, at the very least.” 

 “Will you let the door thing go? Fury bought you an even better one. You came out on top with that.” he snaps. 

 He grins widely and looks at Steve. “Aww. He misses her.” he coos and Bucky wants nothing more at this moment than to smack him through his fancy new door. 

 Steven, the traitor, has the nerve to laugh. “I have to agree with Tony. I don’t buy it. There has to be another reason you’re hiding out here with Tony, of all people.”

 His arm beeps on the table and he perks up, looking at it. “Is it finally done?”

 “I don’t think so.” Tony gets up and goes to look. “Nope, that was just part one.” 

 He feels his eyes widen. “Part one?”

 “How many parts are there, Tony?” Steve asks, doing a better job of keeping his cool than Bucky is.

 “Just two, but they’re both big files. Your arm is completely outdated at this point as far as technology goes. I’d compare it to the first telephone. I need to figure out a way to update the entire software system. Otherwise, there’s nothing else I can do. I update this every month, and the updates are getting bigger and bigger. Soon, I’ll just be keeping your arm on this table just to update it.”

 He groans, pressing his fist to his eyes. “It’s going to take another three days to upload that file?”

 “Maybe, I won’t know until it’s done. It could be less, it could be more. Look, if you like this girl, just call her and tell her you’re sick. Don’t leave her hanging.” Tony says.

 He sighs, knowing he’s right. But Bucky also knows that she’ll want to come over and make sure he’s okay. 

 Tony walks towards the back of the lab and Steve turns to him. “Why won’t you call her?”

 “Just leave it alone.” he shifts uncomfortably and Steve’s eyes drop to Bucky’s arm on the table.

 “Please tell me this isn’t a pride thing.”

 “What? Don’t be ridiculous.” he rolls his eyes.

 “Oh my god, it is. Bucky-” Steve sighs, closing his mouth. “Are you going to call her?”

 “Not tonight.” he hedges, and Steve rolls his eyes.

 “Fine.” he claps him on the arm. “Good luck with the update.” Steve shakes his head but leaves the lab without another word.

 “Back in a tick.” Tony jogs after him. “Steve!”

 Steve

 Tony follows him into the hallway. “In all seriousness, if I can’t find a way to update his arm, he won’t have it for much longer.” 

 Steve sighs loudly and rubs his face. “Okay. I still have a few military contacts, I’ll put out some feelers. Maybe someone knows something that can help. Just... do what you can. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

 Tony steps back inside and Steve heads towards the building’s exit. He has a pretty good idea of where he needs to go, but Bucky is going to be pissed at him.

 Too damn bad, pal.

 The drive only takes about twenty minutes. But then it’s another fifteen to find the right building. He’s read so many little white name cards he’s starting to go cross-eyed. He presses the buzzer and sighs in relief when he hears her voice.

 “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.”

 “How about a trip to SHIELD?” Steve replies. There’s a brief pause.

 “Steve?”

 “At your service.” He waits for what feels like five minutes but probably was only one.

 “Throw in a snack and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

 “Done.” He readily agrees. 

 A few minutes later the door opens and Y/N steps outside, shutting the door behind her. He expects a smile from her but when she turns around, her pretty face is anything but pleasant.

 “What’s the matter?” Steve asks worriedly.

 “Is he okay? What happened? I haven’t heard from him in days. He keeps ignoring my calls.” She rambles before suddenly freezing like a thought just occurred to her. Her face scrunches up. “He’s not... mad at me?” She asks it like it’s a completely foreign concept.

 Steve chuckles, holding up a hand to stop her. “He’s being an idiot, definitely, but it’s not over something you did.”

 “I don’t follow.” She starts, her tone uncertain.

 “You’ll see when we get there. Trust me, if he wasn’t so hard-headed, he would have come to see you.” He watches as she nods, but she still seems distracted by something. “Is there something else going on?”

 “I was hoping...” she shakes her head. “I’m just being stupid.”

 Steve opens the door to his truck for her before going around to his side. “If something’s wrong enough to bother you, it’s not stupid. You can tell me.”

 “This guy came into the museum today to ask for my help.” She starts, fiddling with her fingers. 

 “Was he rude? Offensive?”

 “No, perfectly polite. Professional. Shook my hand, thanked me for my help.” Her tone suggests that she knows how she sounds, but whatever it is about this guy, it’s not something obvious.

 “Y/N, I’m trying to understand, but I fail to see the problem. Unless you tell me what’s bothering you, there’s nothing I can really do.”

 “He was just... too nice? Too immaculate?”

 “Too perfect?” Steve adds, understanding, and she nods with a sigh.

 “It sounds so stupid but there was just something off about the whole thing.” She opens her mouth to say something else but shuts it again.

 Gut instincts are to be trusted for a reason. “What else?” He prompts. 

 “On the subway home, I felt uncomfortable, like someone was watching me.” She rubs her face in frustration. “I feel so stupid! I’m probably just overreacting.”

 “Look, you’re a smart woman. If you feel something is wrong, don’t brush it off. Be aware of everything around you. Trust your gut, we have these instincts for a reason. Give me the guy’s name. I’ll see what I can find on him. That way you can rest easy.” If it’s within his power, he’ll help keep her safe.

 “Thanks, Steve.” She smiles wide at him. “Can I ask another favor?”

 “Sure.”

 “Can we keep this between you and me? I don’t want to freak Bucky out if it’s nothing and I’m just being paranoid.”

 Steve considers the request for a moment. There’s no harm in getting all the facts together. If it turns out it really is nothing, then Bucky will worry and stress for no reason. He’s finally starting to heal and be better. “Sure, but the second we find out anything other than you’re just paranoid, I tell him. He’ll be the best one to keep you safe if anything happens.”

 “That’s fair.” She agrees and he’s content with the arrangement. Bucky will understand why they kept it from him at first, he may not be happy with it but he’ll understand. 

 Now, bringing her to SHIELD, on the other hand, dangerous. Bucky won’t be happy at all, he may even inflict some bodily harm on Steve. But it’s a risk he’s willing to take; she deserves to know what’s going on. And whether Bucky wants to admit it or not, having her there will be good for him. Steve already thinks of her fondly because of how much she means to Bucky, and how much she’s helped him already.

 He pulls into his parking space and they both climb out, heading for the front door.

 “So, what’s the protocol here? They’re not going to take blood samples are they?” She asks and Steve grins.

 “Not a fan of needles?”

 “Something like that.”

 “Nah, nothing too invasive. We just have to take a tissue sample, run a background check, run your fingerprints.” Steve shrugs casually, watching her reaction out of the corner of his eye.

 She doesn’t disappoint. Stopping, she turns fully to stare at him. “I’d hate to see your version of invasive.” She says and he laughs.

 “Just sign in and get your visitor badge.” He gestures to the marble-topped desk where a guest book is laying open. She picks up the pen and signs it quickly, her elegant script standing out among all the others. She clips the visitor’s badge to her shirt as Steve leads her over to the elevators.

 It’s silent for a minute as the car rides up. Then a thought occurs to Steve. “I should probably warn you; Bucky isn’t going to be happy.”

 She looks up at him. “Because you’re bringing me? I thought you said-”

 “He wants to see you, I can see it in his face, but he’s being a prideful bastard. Tony... well, Tony has his arm.”

 “Has his arm?” She repeats, her pretty face going blank. “The whole thing?”

 “No, just part of it.” He replies sarcastically. “Yes, the whole thing. And Bucky is being...” he glances at her. “Well, he’s being a man about it, letting his ego get in the way. Just, something to keep in mind when you see him.” 

 Y/N nods and falls silent. Steve can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking about, however, before he has time to ask-the doors open.

 “This way.” He leads her out and down the hall to the lab. He holds the door open for her and she steps inside and stops dead. Steve touches her arm gently. “He’s over here.” 

 ***

 You don’t know what you were expecting when you walked into the room, but the sheer number of high-tech machines surprises you into stopping in your tracks. You can feel Steve behind you as he nearly walks into you. 

 He lightly presses his fingers to your arm. “He’s over here.” He says quietly, leading you around a corner of sorts. 

 Bucky is leaning against a metal counter, head hanging as his flesh arm is braced against the counter behind him. Somehow, he seems less bulky with only one arm. The other one is laying on a table hooked up to cords. He definitely seems a little more vulnerable without it, you can easily see why he doesn’t want you around. 

 You had a scathing comment all ready to fire at him for being so stupid but seeing him now, you realize that wouldn’t help. You swallow it down and take a step forward.

 “So, this is where you’ve been hiding for three days.” You say and his head snaps up fast.

 “What the fuck are you doing here?” He snaps and you try not to feel offended.

 “Steve brought me.” You take another step forward, looking around at the machines, an idea forming, maybe part of an answer to his problem. “I have to say, if you’re going to avoid me, this is a good place to do it. I would hide out here, too.” You don’t miss the way his eyes slide over to his best friend behind you, hardening into ice.

 “Steve.”

 “You were being ridiculous. I had to do something. And she’s here now, so... you know... you’re welcome.”

 Bucky’s eyes get wide and you can’t help but chuckle a little.

 “Probably not the best lead, Steve.” You tell him, taking another step towards Bucky. His eyes move back to you and you still see the anger there, but there’s something else. It takes you a minute to place it because you’ve never seen it on him before, fear. 

 “Where’s Tony?” Steve asks, looking around.

 “I may have threatened to rip his arms off so he may be hiding.” Bucky admits. 

 You break into a grin. “That wasn’t very nice, was it?” You take the last few steps and lean against the table next to him before he can move. 

 “He deserves it. After you left, he kept harping on me and I got annoyed.”

 You lean your head against his shoulder, getting comfortable. “Will I get to meet him?”

 “I guess. If you want to.” Bucky sighs, his arm tightening around your shoulders. 

 “Barnes! Are you calm now? Or do I have to call your boyfriend?” A voice calls from the back of the lab. 

 “Why don’t you come find out, Stark?” He calls back, his voice vibrates through you. 

 “Will you at least text your girl? You can blame it on me and tell her I banned phones in the lab.”

 “You mentioned that already.” Bucky replies with a grin down at you.

 “That’s what you were gonna tell me?” You ask incredulously. Raising your voice, you continue, “you know no one actually believes that, right?”

 “Why do you think I didn’t actually say it? I’m not out to insult you.”

 “Who’s that? Is that her?” Footsteps hurry forward.

 “So, I might have an idea.” You whisper to Bucky. He looks down at you curiously as a man appears in the doorway.

 “Wow, Barnes, I’m impressed. Hello, I’m Tony.” He offers his hand, a smirk tugging at his lips. 

 “Nice to meet you, finally.”

 “Has he been bragging about me? He has a man-crush on me.”

 You snort. “Not exactly. I have a question. Do you make your own computer chips here?”

 Tony opens his mouth to reply, but then shuts it, tilting his head curiously. “Why?”

 “Well, I’m just wondering why you haven’t made newly updated chips for his arm.”

 “They wouldn’t be compatible.”

 “Why not? Because of the attachment heads? That’s an easy fix. With everything in this lab, you can make anything.”

 “Well...”

 “Bucky, can I see the inside of your arm? I didn’t get a super good look last time.” You ask and he nods, an unspoken question on his face. You can feel Steve’s eyes on you as Bucky steps forward and unlatches his panels.

 You pluck the flashlight out of Tony’s hand and aim it into the arm cavity. There you spot a row of microchips nestled into a bar of receivers. You pull one of the magnifiers in front of you to blow up the bar. You study it for a minute, getting a feel for the technology.

 “Is this Russian made?” You ask, nudging some wires around.

 “How on earth can you tell that?” Tony asks. 

 “It’s obvious, really.” You stand up and snap off the flashlight. “Where do you build your chips?” You look at Tony.

 He leads you to a workbench towards the back. “We don’t have any compatible.”

 “Tony, Tony, Tony. Have a little faith, will you? Also, do you have a computer with all of his information on it? I’ll need that, too.” You scoot out the stool and sit. 

 “What are you going to do?” Steve asks, stepping up next to you.

 “I’m going to help.” You answer obviously.

 Tony comes back and sets a laptop next to you before moving away again. He starts gathering up some supplies as you begin to pull the tools you would need towards you.

 “Bucky? Hand me those glasses right there.” You point up to the safety glasses on the wall above you.

 “You’re making me nervous.” He mumbles, grabbing them and placing them gently in your outstretched hand. 

 You catch his hand and pull it to your mouth. “No need to be nervous.” You smile and press a kiss to the back of his hand before letting it go. Tony brings back over the boxes of pieces you would need. 

 You start assembling the first chip, not pausing to really think about it, just letting the pieces fall into place. Once you’re satisfied that you have everything you need on there, you set the tools down to let it cool. 

 Stretching your back as you straighten up, it cracks loudly. You glance around and realize you’ve been lost in your own head for a long time, a lot longer than you realized. Tony has gone off to work on something else, and Steve and Bucky are talking back in the room with his arm. 

 You tilt your head from left to right, cracking it before pulling the laptop to you. Searching through the different programs that make his arm work as a whole, you find the one that controls basic function. 

 You scroll agonizingly slow through the millions of code lines, adding what you can to improve the quality. It takes you forever. The lines are tiny and your eyes are ready to fall out. You sit back for a minute, closing your eyes and pressing the heels of your hands into them. 

 “You doing okay?” Steve asks, his hands coming to rest on the back of your shoulders.

 “Yeah. It’s a lot of code. It won’t be perfect, I’m not as familiar with this kind and it should probably be rewritten better, but I’m not that good.”

 “Well, how much do you have left?”

 “About six hundred and fifty pages, give or take.” You answer off-handedly.

 “Oh, shit.” 

 “Yeah, where did Bucky go?” You ask, looking around. 

 “To make some coffee.”

 “Oh good, I’m gonna need it.”

 “So, bad news. We’re out of coffee.” Bucky says, coming back and draping his arm around your shoulders.

 You tip your head back and look up at him. “How can you be out of coffee?”

 “Either that or someone moved it. Which would just be dumb.”

 “Well, with the amount of code that I have to correct, there’s no way that I can keep going without any.” You sigh and rub your face. “I can’t even fix it all.”

 “Who can?” Steve asks.

 “Super geniuses?” You reply sarcastically, then you have a serious, actually helpful thought. “Well, I’ve heard of this girl, crazy inventor good. She might be able to help if we bribe her with something good. But, she lives...pretty far.”

 “How far?” Bucky asks. 

 “Africa, Western Africa.”

 “Well, I better make some calls.” Steve says matter-of-factly. 

 “If you can get her here, I think she and I can fix this.” You tell Steve and he nods.

 “Then it doesn’t look like you can do any more tonight. Bucky, why don’t you take her home? You can come work on this tomorrow, Y/N.”

 “You sure?” You ask.

 “Yeah. Go home, get some rest.” Steve nods.

 Bucky steps back and holds out his hand for you. 

 “Are you sure you’re okay to leave?” You ask Bucky. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

 “I think I’ll survive.” He smiles and you slide off the chair to follow him. 

 “Goodnight, Steve.” You say and he kisses your cheek. “Bye, Tony!” You call as Bucky pulls you towards the door. 

 He’s silent on the elevator ride down to the lobby, across the wide-open space and outside. He’s walking slowly so you can keep up with him, but still silent. 

 “Are you mad that I came tonight?” You ask quietly. 

 He looks down at you, surprised. “Why would you ask that?”

 “Because now you’re not speaking.”

 “I’m just thinking. Definitely not mad at you.” He pulls you tight against his side. “Are you kidding? You were the best part of the last three days.”

 “I can’t believe you thought I would care about your arm.” 

 “I don’t have a decent response to that, so I’m just gonna shut up.”

 “Probably a good call.”

 “So, how forward would it be if I showed up tomorrow to walk you to work?”

 “It would be worse for you if you didn’t. Trust me.” You grin, poking his side. 

 A cold shiver trickles down your spine and you stop dead, looking around. You’re definitely being watched. You glance up to the windows on the side of the building but no one is looking out of them.

 “What’s the matter?” Bucky asks. 

 You want to tell him but there’s just so many benign explanations that you still don’t want to worry him over nothing. 

 “So, does this mean we can have dinner at your place now?” You ask, tilting your head to look up at him as you continue walking. 

 “Yes. I will pick you up from work, and then we can finally have dinner.”

 “Excellent.” 

 You walk in silence for a while, his arm wrapped around you and you couldn’t be happier. The implications of your happiness aren’t lost on you, you know what will happen if you fall in love but as long as he’s your favored, you can claim it’s all an act, that this is what he needed to get going again.

 But you know the truth.

 And it scares the Tartarus out of you.

 He walks you up to your apartment, hesitating outside your door again. If he leaves you a second time without a kiss, you’re going to throttle him.

 “You’re coming tomorrow morning, right?” You ask, tilting your head to look up at him. 

 “I’ll be here.” He promises, taking your hand gently. You lift it to his face, cupping his cheek softly. He lowers his face to yours and you meet him the rest of the way, capturing his lips with yours. Your skin prickles, nerves coming alive as he kisses you, backing you into your door slightly. Your fingers slide into his hair, curling into the strands and scraping against his scalp. 

 He pulls away breathlessly, his eyes unfocused. “I should go.” He mumbles. 

 You nod, hating to watch him leave. “Tomorrow morning.” You remind him. He smiles at you and turns for the stairs. You wait until he’s out of sight before unlocking your door and heading for the window overlooking the street. You watch him emerge and he glances up at your window, a broad smile on his face. You can’t stop the weightlessness of your heart. 

 This is bad.

 Really bad.

 But you can’t bring yourself to mind too much. Not after he kisses you like that.

 With a sigh, you turn and get ready for bed. 

  Bucky

 Why is walking to her apartment so difficult? He’s walked home from there plenty of times. He groans in frustration and reaches for his door handle again.

 “Just fucking open it, you coward.” He mutters. And yet, his hand hesitates just out of reach. He groans and pulls back, pacing away from the door. 

 “What are you so afraid of? She’s already seen you without your arm, and she wants to continue seeing you. She wants you to walk her to work.” He says to himself, pacing around his living room. 

 “And then what? Leave her at the museum while you go back to work and deal with Tony being insufferable? You’re no good for security with just one arm, so Fury makes you stay in the lab. You’re alone all day.” He sighs loudly and smacks his face a few times, trying to get himself together.

 “You like being alone, moron. It’s better than having to deal with Sam or see Nat. Definitely don’t wanna see her.” He catches sight of himself in the mirror and points at his reflection. 

 “Listen here, you little shit. Twenty minutes with Y/N is better than three days without her. Get your ass over there and walk her to work.” He snaps. 

 He marches over to the door, flings it open, and steps outside. He barely remembers to lock it behind him before he’s off, walking to her apartment before he can chicken out. But with every step, his stomach tightens into a series of knots and he can’t catch his breath. 

 “Damn it, Y/N, what have you done to me?” He mutters. 

 Her building comes into sight and it’s like his skin ignites with electricity, nerves ramping higher and higher. He steps up to her door and raises his finger to push her doorbell. His hand is shaking so bad he nearly pushes the wrong one.

 “Come on, man, get it together.” He shakes his hand as if that can expel all his nerves and pushes the right buzzer.

 “Hello?” Her voice comes over the box and he can’t answer. “Bucky? That better be you.” She says and he smiles, despite his anxiety.

 “Yeah. It’s me.” He replies.

 “Come on up.” She says, buzzing him in. He pulls the door open and goes inside, her voice echoing in his ears.

 He reaches her door and knocks nervously. His hand starts to go to his hair, maybe to flatten it down or fix it, but honestly, what good would it do at this point?

 She opens the door in her robe, with a tank top and long pajama pants on underneath, a big cup of coffee in her hand. “Come on in.” She steps back, watching him.

 He steps inside, trying to look anywhere but at the gorgeous woman in her pajamas. “You’re not ready yet?” He asks, turning his gaze to her living room. He wanted to be here twenty minutes ago, but now, with her swirling all around him, he just needs to leave. To get this over with.

 “I called in sick.” She says, giving a pathetic fake cough. 

 The knot in his chest loosens and he can breathe a little easier now. “You did?”

 “Yeah. I thought we could have breakfast, and then go back to SHIELD and work some more on your arm.” She says with a shrug. 

 “You did?” He repeats, stunned. She continuously surprises him. 

 “Is that not okay? I thought that since we haven’t really spent a lot of time together over the last three days that we could now, and under the pretense of a good cause.”

 “No! I like that idea. I just wish I had thought of it first.” He says and she laughs, walking passed him into the kitchen, catching his hand in her soft one as she goes. 

 “Besides, you still owe me for that kiss you withheld. Don’t think I won’t be collecting on that.” She warns and he can’t stop the grin on his face. 

 “I genuinely can’t wait.” He says as she pushes him into a chair, her hand trailing around his neck. 

 “Can you use a fork right-handed?” She asks, leaning down close to his ear.

 Her perfume clouds around him, seeming to seep into his skin, fogging his brain and he can hardly focus on what she’s saying. All he can picture is pinning her against the wall and kissing her for all he’s worth. “Um, yeah. I got used to it before I got the arm.” He answers nervously. 

 “Good.” She straightens up and steps back, leaving him feeling empty like he’s missing something. 

 It’s quiet in her apartment as she moves about the kitchen. He feels pressure on his shoulders, something weighing him down. He gets up and goes to the bar to watch her.

 “I’m sorry.” He says after a long minute. 

 She looks up at him in some surprise as she cracks eggs into a frying pan. “Sorry for what?”

 “Avoiding you.”

 “I understand, Bucky. Probably better than you might realize. But I want you to know something, okay?” She puts down the spatula and walks around to stand in front of him, easing herself between his knees. She places her hands gently on either side of his face, her skin soft and warm on him. “There is absolutely nothing that you can do, or reveal about your past, or say to me that will make me leave. Do you understand? I don’t care if you have one arm, one eye, and one leg. I’m in this.” 

 He closes his eyes and nods. “I understand.”

 “Promise me, no more secrets.”

 “I promise.”

 “Good.” Her hands slide down his chest and she grips his shirt, pulling him against her, kissing him deeply. Her lips are soft, sweet on his, and yet so urgent. 

 He wraps his arm around her, pulling her against him. She pulls back, her beautiful eyes closed as she rests her forehead against his. “I should make breakfast.” She mumbles.

 “I’m not done kissing you yet.” He sighs and she chuckles.

 “We have time. We can pick up where we left off later.”

 “You miss the arm.” He says softly.

 “I like the way the hot and cold feels. And I don’t like that you’re uncomfortable.” She pulls back out of his grasp and goes back into the kitchen. 

 “I’m feeling better.” He shrugs lopsidedly. It mostly has to do with the fact that she’s so accepting of this whole situation.

 “Be that as it may,” she pauses and looks up at him with a soft smile. 

 He sighs and sits back. “Fine. We can finish kissing later.” 

 She laughs, grabbing a mug out of her cabinet. “Sounds like a plan.” She pouts him some coffee and sets it in front of him. He captures her hand, pulling it to his mouth, kisses her palm, inhaling the scent of her skin. Images of flowers, bright and full and oh so delicate, fill his mind. Peonies and roses and lots of others he didn’t know the names of. Soft pinks and deep purples and bright reds. So vibrant, so alive. He lets her hand slide out of his and his fingers itch to grab a pad of paper, but he doesn’t have his dominant hand. 

 Maybe she’s right, they need to finish his arm. 

 He lifts his mug and sips at the coffee, savoring the flavor of it. She hums softly as she cooks in the kitchen and a strange feeling washes over him. 

 The complete sense of domesticity about this scene. This gorgeous woman that he can’t get enough of, making breakfast for the both of them. The normalcy of it twists in his heart like a knife. 

 He knows he shouldn’t rush things, should take their time. It hasn’t really been that long in the grand scheme of things. It’s dangerous for her, he’s dangerous. 

 But he can’t make himself stay away from that look in her eyes when she sees him. Soft and affectionate, not disgusted, not terrified. She treats him just like he’s anyone else. And it’s been so long since anyone has done that. 

 Even Nat, when she came to see him. She had a hard time looking at him. She stayed across the room the whole time, afraid of him. It’s not her fault. She did what she needed to do for herself, to protect herself and he can’t blame her for that. 

 A plate sets in front of him and he blinks and looks up. 

 She’s smiling at him, teasing. “I think I lost you there for a minute.” She says.

 “Just thinking. This looks great.” Scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes and spinach, sausage and toast. 

 “Just breakfast.” She shrugs, bringing her plate around to sit next to him. 

 “Well, unless Stevie and I go to a diner for breakfast, mine usually consists of protein bars.”

 “That’s boring.” She sighs, digging in. 

 They eat in comfortable silence. He can’t stop looking at her. The gentle way her hair falls like a curtain between us, the casual way she flips it out of her face. Her cheekbones are a work of art, her long eyelashes laying against her cheeks soft and delicate like a flower. He has a sudden urge to sketch her, to get her lines down perfectly. 

 “Mmm. That was good.” She hums, scooting her stool back. “I’m gonna jump in the shower really quick.” She carries her plate into the kitchen and sets it in the sink. “Make yourself comfortable.” She presses a kiss to his cheek and heads into her bedroom. 

 He slowly finishes eating before taking his plate into the kitchen. He draws some hot water and quickly scrubs the dishes, setting them to dry in the dish rack. He settles into her comfortable couch, looking around at all the pictures and artwork in her living room. 

 There’s a statue sitting on her entertainment center. It’s of a couple waltzing. The woman looks like she’s wearing a flowing dress but the only details visible are at the bottom, her sculpted back looks bare. She has her face tucked into his neck in an intimate moment, a private affair just for them. The rest of their world faded away while they’re in each other’s arms.

 Bucky stands up and crosses the room to the statue, picking it up and examining the couple. His finger traces across her back absently.

 “Do you like it?” She asks behind him. 

 He nearly drops it as he turns around. He sets it down carefully so he won’t break it. “Yeah.” He looks up at her in time to see her struggling not to smile.

 “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” She steps forward and picks up her shoes. 

 “It’s okay. Ready to go?” He asks, holding her hand as she balances on one foot.

 “Yeah. Can we call a cab? It would be quicker.”

 “Sure.” He opens her door for her and makes sure to lock it, handing her keys back to her. 

 Master List

Tag List (to anyone I miss, I’m sorry. If you’d like to be added, send an ask. Strikethrough means I couldn't tag you)

@everythingisoverrated​ @dsakita​ @shreddedparchment​ @bitsandbobsandstuff​ @after-avenging-hours​ @alexblrus​ @thinkingsofamadwoman​ @i-dont-want-to-be-called​ @thefridgeismybestie​ @fortheloveofallthatsholy​ @crazychaotic​ @pleasureoftheguiltiestvariety​ @redstarstan​ @septic-boye​ @justreadingfics​ @themistsofmyavalon​ @sebastianstanslefteyebrow​ @wkemeup​ @thiccbinch​ @glide-thru​ @moli1497​ @ellaenchanted91​ @part-time-patronus​ @janeyboo​ @jensensjaredsandmishaslover​ @thirstybitchqueen​ @uncledaddykelbo

[otterbeesfanficblog]

The Only Friend I’ve Ever Had...

Request made by @actualhumans What if Connor got to Hank before he past out in the chapter Russian Roulette?

Obviously I changed the actually story line of it, because honestly, I wish this happened. So, sorry if you wanted me to stick to the story (Not many fanfics do but that’s whats fun about them). But still, I hope you enjoy!

Song I listened to while writing: Friend, Please by Twenty One Pilots 

WARNING: Angst, Suicide, Swearing (Obviously)

**********

Having finished talking with Amanda, Connor stood outside Lieutenant Andersons home. 

Amanda was not pleased that Connor didn’t go after the deviant, and despite what his programming told him to do, Connor wouldn’t have done it different.

He saw his partner almost fall off a roof.

And, yes he agreed in his mind, that there was an 89% chance that he would live, but something in Connor told him that it didn’t matter.

89% was still an 11% chance he wouldn’t make it.

Little as chance that is, Connor seemed to throw these percentages to the wind when he helped Hank up. 

Hank was... off put by Connor at first, but after a while of peacefully working together, Connor was sure that Hank’s relationship to him had improved plus ten fold since their first encounter. 

As Connor stood outside Hanks house, he began to worry question theorize that perhaps he should have called his Lieutenant before he had come to his home. He could even be at Jimmy’s bar.

Though, as much as his program told him he was alright, Connor couldn’t stop rubbing his hands together and playing with his coin. Something in him told him to be mindful of everything, his blue blood running fast and slightly messing with his reasoning skills.

Whatever it was, it hadn’t gotten better as he knocked on Hank’s.

No answer.

Knocks again.

“Lieutenant? It’s me, Connor!”

No answer.

Ring the door bell. 

Nothing.

Hold door bell for 15 seconds.

Nothing.

Software Instability ^^

He didn’t know why, but Connor started to get scared get worried look of another way in. 

Connor knew that Hank was a drinker, and it would have been no surprise if he had found out Hank had simply drank himself to sleep. Or that he was at Jimmy’s Bar. The lights and the small sound of a TV on told him that he was home.

But no matter how Connor tired to think up what could be wrong, everyone of them was thrown out of his head as he put his ear to the door and heard something that made his thirium pump skip several beats.

The click of a .357 magnum revolver.

Connor had analyzed that it indeed was a gun he heard from inside the house, being a detective android he could do this often by just sounds but, this for some reason gave him enough courage to brake Hanks door handle lock by turning it so hard he could hear the lock break inside the handle.

Not that he cared.

His mission was updated.

Protect Hank Anderson

With the door being broke, Connor swiftly opened the door, and what he found he definitely didn’t expect.

Hank Anderson, a Lieutenant and someone he called his friend his partner in the investigation, sitting at a table in the kitchen across from him, gun in his hand and a stunned look on his face.

“The fuck are you doin’ here, android?! Get the fuck out of my house!” 

It was painfully obvious that Hank was drunk, not only by the bottle of Black Lamb Scotch Whiskey standing up on the table, but also by the slur of his voice.

Connor wasn’t focused on Hank’s words nor that he was drunk, not ever that his dog he asked him about, Sumo, was sitting growling at him.

No, Connors eyes were on the gun still in Hanks hand.

One bullet remaining. Searching term... Search Complete Russian Roulette: The practice of loading a bullet into one chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder, and then pulling the trigger while pointing the gun at one's own head. An activity that is potentially very dangerous.

Hank has suicidal tendencies? 

“Hey, are you even listening to be, you tin can?!”

Connor couldn’t find his voice for a moment, all he seemed to be able to do was slowly walk towards Hank, finally he got the words out, but... he didn’t know that he was going to say them.

“Hank... Please don’t.”

Software Instability ^^^^

It was quiet and soft, it also sounded as if it was hard for Connor to breath, not that he needed to. Hank, shocked by his words, lowered the gun, but didn’t put it down.

“Excuse me?”

“I...”

Software Instability ^^^

Connor didn’t notice, but... his hands were shaking as well as his none existent breath. He was now standing right in front of hank, one hand clenching the wrist of his other one which was balled into a fist, and for some reason Connor couldn’t stop shaking.

Though, androids could not feel anything, Connor felt his stress levels rise to a high 88%, too high for someone in his position.

Software Instability ^^^^ 

Mission Update

Take gun from Hank and sober him up

Connor ‘breathed in’ a deep breath. Quickly and gently, removed the gun from Hanks hand. In this swift movement he got Hanks arm around his shoulder and standing him up.

“Hey what the --! Get the fuck off me!!”

“I’m going to sober you up... Thank you in advance for cooperation...”

Connors voice was low and soft, as if he was to scared to raise it.

Software Instability ^ 

Despite Hanks protests, Connor had gotten hank into the bathroom, into the tub, and just finished spraying water on him.

Hank, having come out of his drunken state, gives Connor a confused look.

“What the fuck are you doin here?”

At first Connor didn’t reply, the words he wanted to say were in his head already.

“A homicide was reported 43 minutes ago. I came to see if you were at home.”

That’s what he wanted to say, but instead...

“I’ll go get you some clothes....”

Connor left the highly confused lieutenant in the bathroom, but Hank wasn’t stupid.

There was something wrong with Connor.

Very wrong if he just up and ignores a question.

Before Hank could ask however he felt himself getting sick, Connor coming back and set the clothes down without a word, then leaving and closing the door.

Sumo, even though he was an android, could sense Connor was not okay, and came up to him. Brushing his nose on Connors hand, Connor seemed to be knocked out of his head. 

Connor, knelt down to Sumo and gave him a pet, Sumo licking his hand in return. But even so, what normally would have made the android smile, his face remand at a frown.

Connor walked over to the table, took the gun, and stared. 

Software Instability ^

For some odd reason... Connor wanted to scream. To throw the gun away, to break it, to get rid of it. The gun shook in his hand as he glared at it, as it were one of the deviants he was supposed to hunt.

Software Instability ^^

But instead, he simply took out the bullet in the gun and put it in the garbage. Not the best place to put it, but at the moment, Connor didn’t care. 

Software Instability ^

Walking back over to the table, he picked up a tipped over picture frame. It was a picture of Hanks son, Cole, who was deceased.

Connor understood where Hanks depression cam from but...

Hank walked out of the bathroom, having cleaned up and gotten ready to leave, as he assumed that’s why Connor was here.

He saw Connors back was turned on him.

“So are you gonna tel me what-”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone...”

Software Instability ^

The silence in the room was almost deafening, as if both men had just lost all hearing, the only thing reminded them that there was sound was the rain falling outside the windows and the sound of the TV.

Hank sighed and looked down at the ground, tired and slightly... Ashamed? To be found in such a state by an android.

Androids don’t feel, they don’t get depressed. 

Connor must have thought of Hank as a weak old man now.

“Connor-”

“Would he want this from you?”

Software Instability ^^^

Stress level 91% In critical danger of self destruction

“Conner...” Hank sighs again this time going over and sitting at the table, head in his hands.

Hank didn’t know what to say.

No one had ever seen him like this, and he had hoped that he would be dead before anyone found out.

But as Hank went to speak to Connor again, he saw something he never thought he’d ever see.

Connor was crying.

No sobbing, no whines or whimpers.

Just big brown puppy eyes, spilling tears as he looks at Hank.

No amount of words could describe the shock that Hank felt.

No words could describe... the pain.

“Lieutenant... Hank?...”

Software Instability ^^^^^^

Stress level hitting 95% Critical danger of Self destruction

Cooling system Failing Thirium Pump detecting anomaly 

Attempting clearing of system...

“Hank... I can’t begin to imagine what you feel. Because I can’t feel, but...”

Hank is standing in front of Connor by this point, very aware of what the young android is saying.

Hank already knew that Connor was different, he wasn’t like all the other androids following their programs.

From the way he got the android to confess peacefully, and how he stood up for it when Gavin was being an ass.

Or, more recently, deciding to save Hank instead of going after the deviant.

It was obvious.

Connor was changing. 

And, Hank actually wanted that change. Seeing Connor care about something, made Hank realized that.

Maybe he wasn’t as alone as he thought.

But while thinking of these things Connor was looking at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. Tears still slightly falling the android look Hank in the eyes, brows frowned and a very apparent frown on his lips.

“I know you want to leave... But Hank... Don’t take your life away from me. You’re the only friend I’ve ever had...”

Software Instability ^^^^^^

Nothing more needed to be said as Hank put his hand behind Connors neck, pulling him into a hug.

Connor, never having been touched like this, had no idea what to do. 

But...

Stress level at 2% No anomalies detected Thirium pump cleansed

Mission Update

“Hank?”

“Yes Connor?”

“.... I’m sorry about your door.”

“HAHAHAHAHA!! Shut up and get in the car, idiot.”

Be there for Hank Anderson.

[ahumanintraining]

on call (ch. 2 of “follow up”) a shallura modern era hospital au ft. dr. allura and patient shiro

— original concept written for @shirofied, who wanted to see this prompt in shallura form. continued for @sugarspuncoeurls, who deserves the world for supporting my writing. save me, for this is the first multichap i am attempting in a very long time. — [link to ao3]

Shiro thinks he’s done repeating his embarrassing story of falling off the monkey bars after telling the entire emergency room throughout his treatment, but soon after walking out from discharge, his mother calls and he groans to himself, realizing he now has to repeat the same damn story in Japanese.

“What happened?! I just saw your text,” his mother immediately blabbers after he greets her, her Japanese piqued and staccato-ed.

“I was just… I was hanging out with Matt, and I fell.”

“Matt?” his mother repeats. “Where? Are you still in the hospital? What happened?”

Shiro methodically goes through all her questions. “Matt, my friend from high school. Remember I went to his house for Thanksgiving once? And I fell at the park. I just got out of the hospital. I broke my arm.”

She zeroes in on his last sentence. “What were you doing to break your arm?!”

“I, uh… was at the park and I fell.”

“You weren’t skateboarding again, were you?! Remember when you fell the last time and now you have that scar on your face?! Grandma was so unhappy!”

“Yeah, I remember,” he sighs, leaning his face into his left shoulder to hold his phone as he signs the discharge papers — an awkward scribble with his immobilized right hand. “No, I wasn’t skateboarding.”

“What were you doing then?!”

He doesn’t know any word in Japanese that can translate monkey bars.

“I was on the monkey bars,” he sighs.

“Mou…n…ki…ba?” she repeats in a flawless Japanese accent.

“Yeah, like…” he groans as he tries to think of the description, deciding to go for the function instead. “Like the thing that kids play on in the playground.”

He hears her sharp inhale, and he knows it’s coming.

“How old are you?!” she berates in English.

He sighs. “I know, I know,” he replies. “I’m sorry.”

He presses his discharge papers between his chest and his arm splint. He silently thanks some of the nurses as he steps out of the emergency room, looking around to see if he could catch a glimpse of the very beautiful doctor whose business card is very safely tucked away in his pocket.

The sound of his mother’s voice interrupts his search. She sighs, switching back to Japanese. “Don’t do that again! You are not a child anymore.”

“I know.”

“What did the doctor say?”

Just at that moment, he thinks he sees the familiar combination of a silver bun of hair, gray pants, and white coat, but she’s turned the opposite direction, talking with one of the hospital staff members. He thinks maybe to linger a little bit to see if he could catch a goodbye but decides maybe that’s too creepy and heads on his way out to the hospital’s main lobby in the direction one of the technicians point out to him.

“It was just a broken arm,” he answers, attention returning to the phone. “I’ll need to go get a cast later, but everything’s fine.”

“Take a picture and show me.”

“Okay.”

“What about your job?”

He takes another breath. Ah, yes. Time for a comprehensive life update. “I’ll find one,” he replies. “I have an interview next week.”

“With who?”

“Some software company. I’m trying for assistant product manager,” he says, frowning to himself at his broken Japanese.

His mother doesn’t seem to care for his grammar. “Okay. Call me right after the interview.”

“Yes,” he promises.

“Don’t forget to take a picture of your arm for me,” she reminds him. “No more playing.” Then just as he’s about to say goodbye, she asks, “You don’t think they’ll see your arm?”

“I think it’ll be fine,” he reassures her. “I’ll just say it was an accident.”

“They’ll think you are wild.”

He smiles. “It’ll be okay.”

“Okay…” she says, her tone still undoubtful. “Good luck, Takashi.”

“Thanks,” he replies. “And I’ll take a picture for you. Bye.”

“Bye bye,” she tells him — in the most adorable Japanese mom way, he can’t help but smile.

He hangs up and awkwardly scrolls through his phone with his left hand to get to Matt’s contact information, finally pressing on the call function. He waits for a couple ring tones before Matt picks up.

“You’re good?”

“Yeah.”

“Need me to drive you back?”

“Please.”

“So what ended up happening?”

“Eh, a broken arm. I’ll have to get a cast later.”

“Okay, you’ll catch me up when I get to the hospital.”

“Sure.”

When Matt drives up, Shiro tucks himself into the front passenger seat, figuring out everything with his left hand. He draws the seat belt over his torso and Matt helps him buckle the belt.

“Thanks,” he says.

“Sorry about not being able to stick around,” Matt apologizes, shifting gears to drive. “I had that conference call to do and I couldn’t trust the hospital to have wifi, you know?”

“Don’t worry about it. There was no wifi, and nothing interesting happened anyway,” Shiro says, waving off with his left hand. “I literally just got this splint and some painkillers, and then these discharge papers with instructions to keep the swelling down and to see an orthopedist later.”

The corner of Matt’s mouth starts to curl up in a smile. “Did you end up saying you fell off the monkey bars? Or did you lie to protect your ego?”

“Nah, I didn’t see a point in making up a story,” he replies. “Besides, I didn’t know if how I broke my arm was going to affect my treatment or something. I don’t know. I wouldn’t know what would equate to falling off the monkey bars.”

“True.”

“I mean, my mom gave me shit about it.”

“I mean, rightfully so. We were being pretty fucking idiotic.”

Shiro laughs. “Yeah, for sure,” he agrees. “The only thing is that I have to drive my car back to my place from the park.”

“Oh, just give me your keys. I’ll do that,” Matt offers. “You literally just broke your arm. I’m not going to risk you getting into another accident.”

“Thanks.” He raises his hips up from his seat and leans to the left, allowing for a left-hand reach into his right pocket to produce his car keys.

“Just put it there,” Matt says, pointing between them. “Did they make you do a bunch of tests for your arm?”

“Nah, just an x-ray.”

“At least that’s not going to cost too much with insurance.”

“Yeah, I think it should be fine.” He stares out the passenger seat window, falling to silence.

Matt looks back and forth from him to the traffic ahead of them, his smile growing even wider. “Let me guess. The doctor was hot.”

Shiro furrows his eyebrows, shooting a glare at Matt. “What? How did you even—”

“Shiro, you are definitely the most easily read person I know, and that’s saying a lot because Pidge is a pretty easy tell too.”

Shiro scoffs. “You’ve just known me too fucking long.”

Matt cackles. “But the doctor was hot, right?”

“Yeah,” he admits.

“What’d they look like?”

He blinks, letting himself recall as much as he can without seeming as overly smitten about her as he actually is. “Really pretty,” he muses. “I think she’s black. Silver wavy hair, blue eyes. Super cute nose… honestly she looks like a princess…”

Matt interrupts him. “Okay, you don’t have to get all cheesy on me—"

“—and she gave me her number.”

“Oh see, now that I couldn’t read from your face,” Matt says, his voice growing louder and giving a small hoot. “Wow. Wow, wow, wow. This is actually exciting. Are you going to ask her out?”

“Well, I mean she technically just told me to follow up with her if I had any concerns.”

Matt sighs. “I hate to break it to you, Shiro, but I think that technically means she’s just doing her job and not flirting with you.”

“Yeah… that’s what she said but I feel like…” he trails off, shaking his head. “Okay, sure. I don’t know. She circled her cell number as she gave me her card, and maybe she winked at me as she was leaving, but I don’t know.”

“She winked?”

“…I think so.”

“Well…” Matt says, the gears in his head turning. “Maybe it won’t hurt to call and just see.”

“Yeah.”

And so that’s exactly what Shiro does — of course only after about eight hours obsessing over what he’d say when she’d pick up the phone.

But finally when he’s built enough nerves, he calls her, holding the phone close to his face with his left hand. He holds his breath as he waits through a few dial tones, sweating like he’s in a full sprint. It suddenly occurs to him that he actually hasn’t figured out exactly what to say yet, but god damn, whatever the fuck, because he’s already calling her and —

“Hey—”

And what a beautiful sound, her voice. She says ‘hey’ so gently, as if she was waiting for him, that there is no doubt in her mind that she just happened to give him her cell number.

“I—”

“—it’s Allura Altea. Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave me your name and message and I’ll get back to you.”

He stops. Oh, he’s such an idiot. That was just her answering machine. And of course. No one would ever start with ‘hey’ to an unknown caller. It isn’t like she would know his phone number before he even calls her right? — unless she actually truly expected him to call?

Then a long hard beep sounds — and he realizes he is completely unprepared to leave a message at the tone.

“Um—” and he actually hears himself stutter.

Stop it! Stop talking, he tells himself, to no avail.

“—it’s Takashi Shirogane. I was, uh, your patient the other day,” he says anyway.

Okay, stop it. Seriously.

“I guess I was just giving you a follow up call,” he continues despite his internal screaming. “Thanks for everything.”

Okay, that’s fine. Drop the call now.

“Hear from you soon,” he finishes, pressing the end call button as soon as the last word slips from his lips.

God damn it, Shiro.

He falls backwards into bed, covering his eyes with his hand. He runs his hand over his face and stares up at the ceiling, letting himself inhale and exhale to calm his nerves before lifting his phone again. Unable to think of anything else to do, he texts Matt.

Just called her.

Matt, ever the quick responder, gets back within a few seconds: So? Congratulations?

Fuck you, he replies.

What’d she say?

She didn’t pick up. I left a message.

Lol. Loser.

And then, almost as if Matt’s mocking caused the heavens to split open and grant a wish to pity Shiro’s soul, a caller shows up on his screen. The number looks familiar and it looks like—

“—shit,” he curses, getting up and searching for the business card. He picks his body off his mattress, nearly dropping his phone. Once he locates the small white paper, he matches the number on his caller ID to the number right next to her circle.

His heart thumps hard.

“Hey,” he responds, accepting the call.

“Is this Takashi Shirogane?”

“Yeah,” he replies. “Thanks for calling me back.”

“Of course. How is your arm? Is the splint alright?”

“It’s good. I took some over the counters to keep the inflammation down,” he reports.

He holds his breath. He still hasn’t figured out what kind of a conversation this is. Maybe she really did just mean for him to call her for purely business reasons.

“I’m glad to hear that. Were you able to get in touch with your primary care provider about referring you to an orthopedist for a cast? If not, I can happily refer you to one of my colleagues.”

“Oh, no, I got in touch with him,” he replies. “They’ll reexamine my arm in a few days.”

“Perfect. Just keep doing what you’re doing and take care not to use your arm too much. We don’t want to displace your bones,” she says. “You seem responsible about all of this though, so I trust that your recovery will come without complications.”

She sounds so official. He almost wants to just give up and call it all off. This was a stupid idea in the first place. He should have never called her.

“Thanks,” he says.

He hears her smile over the phone, and he can just feel how radiant and beautiful it is. “Any other concerns?” After a moment, she adds, “I appreciate you taking the time to call me. I really like to hear how people are doing after I see them.”

“Well, I thought I’d… at least return the thanks.”

She’s patient-zoning him. She totally is. He should just—

“Yes, thank you. I had wanted to hear from you.”

His words get caught his mouth. “I—”

He’s not sure if she’s just being polite and not interrupting him, but she’s eerily quiet on the other side of the line.

Okay, Shiro, just fucking do it. Fuck.

He braces himself and shuts off his brain and just goes for it.

“I… I don’t know if this is appropriate for me to ask, but can I treat you to dinner maybe?” he blurts, just letting himself go. He doesn’t let himself think. “Or maybe lunch? You must have a busy schedule. I don’t know when you’d have the time.”

He swallows, pressing the phone hard against his ear, palms sweaty again.

“Dinner sounds lovely,” she finally replies.

And he lets out his held breath as quietly as possible, feeling his stomach rising into his chest. The sudden surge of happiness coursing through his system is so intense his vision almost blacks out. He can’t help but raise his free arm in victory, but then winces silently when he remembers it’s broken.

He hears some pages rustling in the background, as though she’s looking through a calendar book. “When are you free?” she asks him.

“Oh, I am always available,” he tells her.

He doesn’t think this is the moment to confess that he is currently unemployed.

“I suppose maybe Thursday night works best for me,” she replies, after a moment. “I switch to nights the day after so I don’t need to be anywhere the next day.”

“Yeah, that works for me,” he pauses. He feels like he’s forgetting to ask something… “Oh, did you have a cuisine in mind that you like?”

“I’m fine with anything.”

Damn. For as much as he prepared his opening lines, he nowhere near got as far as to figuring out specific restaurants, or even a plan for in the case she actually did say yes.

Like now.

“Maybe we’ll just figure it out the day of?” he suggests. “Maybe around 8 pm?”

“That works for me. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” he says, his heart suddenly pounding hard. “I’ll pick you up?”

“I would love that,” she replies. “I’ll text you my address?”

“Yes, please.”

“To this number?”

“Yeah,” he replies. “It’s my cell,” he adds right after — something he later regrets mentioning because of how lame that sounded.

“Okay, will do,” she chirps.

“Great,” he says, lingering.

And then after a small moment of silence, she says, “Well then… I’ll see you soon, Takashi Shirogane.”

He feels heat rising in his cheeks again. “Yeah, I’ll see you soon,” he replies.

Before he can make a bigger fool out of himself, he ends the call and then takes a deep breath, curling down onto the floor and leaning against his bed.

He can’t help the big smile over his face.

He did it. He asked the pretty doctor out, and she said yes.

He sighs again. Shit, he hasn’t felt like this about anyone in a very long time. Not since he first fell in love more than a decade ago.

He looks at his phone, thrown onto the floor in his excitement. He smiles again, replaying her voice saying “Dinner sounds lovely” in his head. Dinner sounds lovely. Lovely.

Even the way she said that was lovely.

He can’t believe it. She said yes.

He stares at the black screen for a little longer before picking it back up, thinking to text Matt the updates, but before he even unlocks his phone, he receives a text from that number.

He checks it immediately. This is absolutely her number, and this is absolutely her texting him her address — within a minute of their conversation! He looks her address over, tapping it to lead to a maps application, and studying her location for a moment.

She lives about fifteen minutes away from him. Even the fact that she is within that close of a drive is exhilarating. All he’d have to do on Thursday is leave by 7:30 pm (in case the traffic is horrid because there is no way in hell he’d let himself be late for her) and then drive up to her place and —

But this is the moment Shiro realizes his grave mistake.

His right arm would still be in a splint on Thursday. And he definitely would not want to be driving her in his passenger seat when one of his limbs is completely functionless.

He definitely would not be able to pick her up for their date on Thursday.

[link to chapter 3!]

notes: admittedly, i was asked to write the allura-side pov of this piece where she's absolutely smitten by shiro, and i didn't quite get there yet, but that part is definitely coming up in the next chapter ;)

also, totally cracking myself up writing about shiro's mom roasting him, btw. so relatable.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/technology/how-to-tap-less-on-your-phone-but-get-more-done/

How to Tap Less on Your Phone (but Get More Done)

When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone in 2007, he dissed the tiny keyboards on rival smartphones. “They can’t change down the road if you think of another great idea you want to add to this product,” he told the audience. “We’re gonna get rid of all these buttons and just make a giant screen.”

That design decision eventually opened Pandora’s container ship: the teeming world of full-screen, touch-sensitive apps.

Yes, eliminating the keys and buttons left a bigger canvas for displaying apps. But it also eliminated the keys and buttons. As a result, almost every smartphone task now requires tapping on glass. Typing text, correcting errors. Entering numbers, correcting errors. Changing settings, correcting errors.

Over the years, Apple and Google have put enormous effort into reducing the tap tally for tedious tasks. With each software update, we get more features that streamline the steps.

Unless you’re a hard-core geek, though, you may not have had time to keep up with them. Here are five ways to get things done more efficiently on your phone — to tap less and smile more.

Set up self-expanding abbreviations

You probably do a lot of repetitive typing on your tiny onscreen keyboard. You enter your contact information into one website after another. You reply to dozens of emails. You text stock phrases like “Got it — thanks” or “On my way!”

Fortunately, you can set up short, quick-to-type text abbreviations (like ph) that type out much longer expressions (“Here’s my number: 212 718-2034”).

To set up these shortcuts, begin like this:

iPhone: Tap Settings, then General, Keyboard, Text Replacement.

Android: Open Settings, then Language & Input. From here, the navigation depends on your phone model and Android version; you’re looking for Personal Dictionary. Getting there might involve tapping things like System, Advanced, Virtual Keyboard or Dictionary. (Some keyboards offer no text expansion at all.)

In either case, when you tap +, you see boxes for both the phrase you want typed and the abbreviation (called Shortcut on the iPhone). Fill them in, tap Save and then try out your new tap-saving device in any app.

You might set up addr to type out your street address, apm for “Airplane mode! See you when I touch down,” ily for “I love you” and so on. The best part: You never have to correct the typing.

Give your voice assistant another shot

You’re forgiven if you’ve abandoned the dictation features of Siri or Google Assistant. Text-to-speech is still an imperfect technology.

But the other function of these voice assistants — executing tasks — is far more reliable, and you’re probably not using it enough.

Here’s your homework for the week: Adopt five new voice commands. Set your next alarm with “Wake me at 7:30 a.m.,” which saves seven taps. Avoid fumbling in the dark by saying “Turn on the flashlight” (two taps). Saying, “Text Casey that I’m running 15 minutes late” saves about 24 taps, and “What’s my next appointment?” saves a few more.

It’s also worth learning to say, “Do not disturb” as you enter a movie theater, a meeting or your bed.

Make a home screen bookmark

To open a website, you usually tap to open your phone’s browser, tap for your list of bookmarks, then tap the bookmark you want. Or, worse, you painstakingly type in the web address.

But you can also create bookmark “app” icons on your home screen that require only a single tap to open.

To create one, open the web page. Then:

In either case, edit the icon’s name, if you like, and then tap Add. From now on, getting to your favorite site requires only a single sloppy tap.

Squeeze for silence

When your phone rings at a bad moment — at a movie, for example, or in church — don’t extend the embarrassment by pulling it out and fumbling for the Ignore button.

Instead, just reach into your pocket or purse and squeeze the phone. Pressing any button on the edge of the phone means “Silence the ringing, stop the shame” — and when you grasp the phone this way, you’ll hit one of those buttons in a hurry.

Customize your controls

Today’s smartphones are almost ridiculously customizable. A typical iPhone’s Settings app contains over 11,000 options. (How do I know? While you were out having a life, I counted.)

To avoid swimming through that sea of settings, you can summon a subset screen of Settings shortcuts. Swipe in from the bottom or top of the screen to see these important controls, like Brightness, Volume and Airplane Mode. On Android, swipe down from the top and you’ll get a similar selection, just above your notifications.

But who says those are your most important controls? Maybe you, as an infrequent flier, have no use for Airplane Mode at all. Maybe you’d rather install a different button in its place.

Fortunately, you can (and should) edit this panel, so that the settings you need often are there at your fingertips.

iPhone: Tap Settings, Control Center, Customize Controls. In the list of options, the plus signs mean “add this button” and the minus signs mean “remove it.” Drag them (using the right-side handle) to reorder them.

Android: Swipe down twice from the top of the screen and then tap the pencil button or the Edit button. On this screen, you can rearrange the Settings buttons by dragging. See the “Hold and drag to add tiles” area at the bottom? If you touch one of these extra buttons until the phone vibrates, you can then drag upward to install it onto the Quick Settings panel. Conversely, if you touch-until-vibrate on one of the currently installed buttons, a “Drag here to remove it” area appears at the bottom.

It’s worth the effort. Every time you go hunting for a setting, you’re wasting time and taps.

Automate everything else

You can save even more steps by setting up macros: multistep sequences you can trigger with a single command, even a spoken one. They can be as simple as “Take a picture!” to snap a photo hands-free, or as complex as “Let’s roll” to make the phone play a certain playlist, speak your arrival time at work and your first appointment, and get directions based on current traffic.

The latest iPhone software version, iOS 12, comes with canned, ready-to-use macros — called Shortcuts — just for this purpose. Tap Settings, Siri & Search and then All Shortcuts to see them: “Get directions to [your home address],” for example, and “Record a new voice memo.”

If you spot a shortcut that looks useful, tap it to record a spoken Siri command that triggers it.

If you’re even slightly technically inclined, you can download Apple’s free Shortcuts app and construct your own shortcuts from scratch. These can be far more elaborate — and useful.

I made one that texts my most recent photo to my wife when I say “Hey Siri, send that to Nicki.” I use it constantly, which I’m sure she appreciates.

A sampling of other shortcuts you can build:

“Hush now.” Turns on Do Not Disturb until you leave your current location.

“Call in.” The phone checks your calendar for your next conference call and then dials the number automatically.

“What’s happening?” Displays the headlines from the News app.

“Back it out.” For Tesla owners only. The car turns on and carefully self-drives out of its parking place. It’s perfect when some idiot has boxed you in too tightly to open your door.

Apple offers a complete user guide for the Shortcut app here and the web is full of suggestions and sources for even more amazing Shortcuts.

Similar apps offer the same idea on Android phones, like AutomateIt (free) and Tasker ($3).

Fewer taps, brighter future

Each of these tactics requires a small investment in setup and learning time. But in the long run, you’ll save time, eliminate glass-tapping and delay the inevitable loss of your fingerprints.

[efosa123]

eCompare review hey there everyone welcome to episode 941 of the Mike from Maine show the place where we do daily interviews with successful online entrepreneurs this is your host Mike Thomas and today on the show we have mark Bishop on and we're going to be talking about a powerful software that's going to allow you to create review sites with a twist on them this is something that I actually use all the time we're going to talk about some actual use cases and how you can use this to make money let's get into it here's mark we are here today with mark bishop mark welcome back to the show come on can we have five thank you I'm a little tired getting ready we're we're recording this before my product launch for we're both in the in the midst of craziness but the show must go on mark I'm taking the time out to bring you on the show even though I'm my own launch going on because you've got a really cool software coming out that I want to share with my audience I'm going to read off the headline for this ok and we can get right into it it says here a unique legal affiliate loophole generates passive income from 7 retail platforms new and unique price comparison app allows you to legally hijack commissions from the top 7 affiliate networks in the world in minutes now when I first saw this I thought to myself it's another kind of Yakama Philly excite builder which are great like they're powerful we've seen them but after taking a bigger look inside I know it's not just that so so bringing sort of this put salt up well ok I'll make you kind of hit it there my account there are a ton of store builders out there I'm actually quite rightly say to you that I'll emigrate but you know having a store there doesn't necessarily mean you're going to make money so even if you even if you target everything build an affiliate store on the back of them Amazon products Aliexpress eBay that currently you can you can fill out the store and it's great because you don't have the risk you don't have to buy it from the stock in you know I mean there's no issues with customs you you have it all there you make a commission on these affiliate products so you know from my perspective as a store builder affiliate store builder is fantastic however you know like I said it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to make money in order to to actually get something to actually purchase what we found is we have to offer them choices so we look to look at a number of sites and some of the biggest sites now on the sites are really grown in terms of popularity and revenue our price comparison sites so you know it's human nature we all do it so you jump online and you're looking for a product and you go to a site you might see that product there it might be look for any certain price being ever going to buy that one product re you're always going to open up save for other times and you're going to look around for a better deal and like I said people do it all the time we all do it so what we wanted to do and what we did with a compare is we built in a price comparison engine so essentially what happens is somebody comes to your store they're looking for I don't I say a cow or a laptop or whatever it is and they're looking for the best deal so this is a search for available they find that product on your store and what happens then is as soon as they click on it then the price comparison engine runs a comparison from seven different sites where I say seven different sites the plug-in itself API cooperates several different platforms such as Amazon Aliexpress ebay.com Walmart come others anyway it will find or it go off and it will scrape those sites if the products on there so it which results from every every platform that has updated private building and what it does is it delivers the best price in the best deal to that particular product so rather than and your customer or potential customers needing to open up them to another tab looking for the best deal its offered up right there in front of them okay that's the things going on in my head right now I don't think it to them all that this can makes complete sense to me if you think about one example with affiliate marketing if you think about what we do when we recommend products to our audience I don't bring you on my show and tell you and tell my customers to go buy from you and then they find out that there's some discount code from someone else when they can get it lower that happens if that people won't come back to me and purchase because they're going to go okay Mike's not giving us the lowest price on this that's why if I find out something like that's happening I get really angry with the vendor I'm like well I don't tell me about that because it makes me look really bad because I'm trying to provide a service to my audience and if you're doing that if you're truly trying to help people out then they will come back you enable purchase from you over and over again second thing I'm flying to southern Turkey tomorrow so we could do that where do we go to buy our plane ticket do we go from like Turkish Airlines to Pegasus Airlines to local into your Atlas jet in America you go Delta United like did I go to to open up all of those different size individually and search for this plane ticket no of course not I'm not an idiot okay way to show it one of the websites and there are a bunch of them because this model is really profitable because they know that if they can give the best price and it provides a service people will click and buy and they're going to get an affiliate commission for it so I went to the website I certify should I'm lying my wife went to the website together cousin she's probably no nobody talking about I get on to research for that my wife was there she found the best price in one open up showed all the different prices and we purchased from the lowest one the website that we purchased from they don't care they're going to get their commission I'm happy the airline's happy the website's happy we're all happy now I mean that basically is a right I mean it happens in in all in this business you know with hotels with flights and in this case you know with physical products but yeah absolutely I mean you just said you know looking for flights I mean in the UK it would be sort of something like tomorrow or booking car or something like that people don't necessarily go to direct me to the vendor directly to the you know the person selling the flights the airline or something like that then look around and look for the best deal and yeah this is essentially what we found with you compare so rather than and you shopping around for that particular product you can just go to one side and learn a price comparison and it will offer up you know the best deal the best price right there in front of your customer you kind of touched on this earlier actually make sure we're clear on it these are you're promoting stuff as an affiliate right so you're not you don't go out there and buy any product Magnus in English and Reglan used an affiliate that's right there's an awful lot of fun training products relating to ecommerce and you know if you get it right right it can be very popular you know very profitable however there's also an awful lot of risk involved you know you have to buy those products in you have to risk money and then you have to advertise those products and then you still have to hope you actually make setups and the onions or get rid of those products you've already purchased with affiliates econ what were you doing really is you just pulling in all the data all of the details the images are basically the store builder it just builds the whole thing for you so you put in a term you enter that in and then it calls all the details so all you have to do really is put your your affiliate links in your your secret Keating's whatever it is into the plug-in and then you've got that global affiliate link throughout the whole site so it really doesn't matter where a customer values the product so if you've got say a comparison running and there's four different platforms there the pop-up and you choose or your customer chooses one of them doesn't make any difference you know because you're globally that your affiliate link is globally embedded throughout so doesn't matter where the customer purchases who they purchase from more product encourages with you can pay still going to commission so I've got much more questions for you but I'm feeling that you're running out of some of them by actually showing us yeah so go ahead and when you're ready when I share your screen and show us under the bed so let's take a look okay you seen this man work yeah okay cool so I've got him running for the first early learning Pacific yeah we're looking for years over okay so he compare so he compares a package and it's made up or harm the plug-in and the theme so plugging the training tutorials so this is the plug-in itself so if we wanted products it would be a case of say let's put on there and we can set filters as well and just touch products and then to album see site so I give that power I get out that one and then up products like so I mean again this is much the same as any store builder nothing remarkable about this see analysis good so what do you now is going through right now I said it may take some time it's going to get better and pull all the different example privet to this side here and I'll show you which is perhaps the most important element of this particular product so see very store playbills so sliders everything it all comes with the plugin so the Sun let's take a look at the shop and we just were under comparison so let's say your customer is searching your store and you know maybe like this t-shirt here so I click here they can see the comparison there it goes right there there I like how it kind of is processing because it makes me as a potential customer I'm thinking okay this isn't some static thing going on you're actually processing this in real time and it's bringing up any any instant results absolutely absolutely so you know your customer comes up comes over here aren't you that this is a bunch of process there and let's say let's say clicks there and then you know straight over to whichever platform they choose they buy on asleep the store owner gets a commission so not gonna get them clicking on a bunch of different affiliate links and a bunch of different stores so they might not buy from you immediately but they might like something else later on in the day or in the week and you don't use any liquid that's also something important to mention on yes so you know when they're clicking these these different stores obviously dropping cookies there so if they let's go back to to this product here so let's say they look at this and then you think well that's quite cool you know and I'll get those as well so you're going to get Commission for whatever they buy so it's like if they click through they're going out and then you buy that maybe that as well and you get Commission all of that just thank you back here so you can see that you know it's it's a typical store builder so I've got to think yourself it's a pretty good one you might using a store builder right now but I'm pretty sure it's not going to do this so just having those you know the best price is offered up to you straight away it's going to it's going to mean that your your banks rates going to drop two people going to stick to your site it would be more inclined to actually purchase through you I mean it's a fantastic selling so like you said weekly flights Mike you know people they come onto the site and they look for the best deal now what we recommend people do is to target these sites do specific areas say you know just say for example sort of camping or hiking or something like that if you keep it really really targeted then people will find your site you know whenever they do actually find your site they're interested in a product on your arm on your store there's good chance can approach it through you is also a good chance that are going to purchase additional products come in an upsell if you like let me know let me get up for this one so that I'm still up before the day of baseball tournament okay yeah so okay we've got on we've got the couple of products that is there that we could we could share these on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest so that will give us instant traffic so if you are just starting I am and you're looking for traffic then you can share these in an in grymps in on pages that you manage an entire line in messages anything like that site you know if you remember if greek you've got a tar pit sites so you know like camping and hiking again you know you can find a facebook group you can join that you could share these posts these products inside that group well I know thinking like if you're going to meet one of these fakes you want to make it hard to a specific niche so and if you have that on a wordpress site you're going to get just natural organic traffic you I mean I don't even try to rank for stuff sometimes and I drink every artist things and you have you get longer tail keywords and you're creating in your creative stuff that people are actually sticking on you're providing value then your your on-page time is going to increase your your rankings are going to increase your your longtail keywords are going to are going to give you more traffic of course it's not going to happen instantly overnight from the SEO but I mean like you said you can go out there you can share on Facebook you share on Twitter you can share a Pinterest there's some great software out there that can help with traffic we just released want anyone that bought our board commander software and this is a perfect example of something that you can use board commander with to to give traffic absolute absolutely yes and I'll show you this here like so most store builders will come with perhaps three platforms that you can integrate so you can see here that we've got sent so we've got Amazon we've got Aliexpress Walmart BestBuy shop calm sea discount on eBay so what you do is you put your details in OOP sorry so you put your details in for each of those of course if you're not signed up with this you know it will take you up five or seven minutes to sign up with each of them to get more on your key but I'm not going to be the same with any store builder so you spend a little bit of time doing that add all the details in there and then basically you know as I've kind of demonstrated over here it doesn't matter which store your customer purchases from you're going to get commission so it's kind of global and just get back here so dashboard so when you add in all your different party the other men or do you just click that to add them in there how hard is it adding new products um well I mean like it's just as good back here profond it so basically it's a case of dropping in phrase there send your filters and then clicking fetch products and then you just basically you just click the ones you want to add you know it really depends on how many products you add at the same time as to how long it will take to put them all in your site but once you've done that and it just it built a page like this right when you first set up a store and you know the first couple of stores first couple of niches you enter it might be something that you're interested in but essentially we're all doing this for the money so you're going to go ostomy Shay's market that you're not really too familiar with I guess so you might think you know what what products you need to add to your store but there will be people searching your store for products you don't actually have kind of included let me show you this so I'm going to put this popular code for ladies so there are a part of the code for ladies on this site I normally that would mean we just wouldn't make any money because it wouldn't be anything on your site but or you can pair down as it goes off and it cause all of the details from for certain different platforms I like that that's like that's cool so even even if you don't have them on your site if people are searching for something you can still make money from them even though it you haven't thought about it in the you haven't already thought about it yes absolutely so it pulls all of the details and they're you know I mean if your customer might like to click there and then click there you know they can buy it you still make a commission store and it still makes a commission even though the product isn't actually on your store love it okay so mark on the front end there is there anything else that you wanted to show us on the front end before we move on to the OTO s okay so with the front end I haven't got the access page open but there's also training there's this thing on the belt we got I plug it we've got a theme so you've got the plug-in pretty much does what I've just explained to you so you've got you can set everything up from here so you can add the feature list store side store here there are sliders you can customize everything let me just have a look Sophie motions just bear with me a second so you pretty much customize everything so we're all going to be entering differently she's different marketplaces so you can get the look you want from the theme we have run it there and we have a blog built-in so again for organic traffic you can either do it manually you can even pull feeds in from WordPress sites RSS or easy with articles and it's a look we've kind of looked at that and the color settings there are number of details you can set up here you get a spinning and stuff as well yeah yeah cool okay so so that's basically that's the the front end offer there I think you guys as far as like limits on the front end before we move on to the OTO so there any like limit on there anything that people should be aware of yes around Mike um so there's two licenses on the front end so that you can set in compare that case the plug-in metallic theme on either 50 sites or you can do it on 10 sites okay so the 50 side of the license is 2777 but that's for the first 4 hours so we'll be going up and it rising to retail price of $67 and the 10 license is 2574 and that will be rising to 65 okay so that's the front end offer there bring it through the OTO is I think you've got a three of them yeah so the first upgrade is you can perform basically what that allows you to do is run this on unlimited sites so you can run it on as many sites as you want on top of that there are three additional things that I know I've said that you can customize the theme to unite the asymptotes but each theme has a different set up a different structure so you know you can customize each of these themes and it will look totally different so you know kind of a different layout a different feel and additional features with the plug-in so with the additional features there is a facebook compatible theme so if you wanted to drop a store into Facebook you can do that so you can have a fully functioning store inside of Facebook there's also an email League direction with a number of triggers there's a bunch of blog images so if you are looking for organic traffic then there's a ton of images that you can use there were two free so that included with this this upgrade and I think that's pretty much it on you can pair Pro Line upgrade through is res edition on I know a lot of people probably don't see the value in developers right but you know from my my end point of view on being able to take a product so to take this door here so you built this door and you build it with you compare and it's fully loaded everything works and it makes you money so in two or three months time so you make a fun guys a month from your store you can go ahead and you can flip that light you know if you make a thousand dollars a month two or three months time you can sell that for $12,000 you can even sell a site that makes money you can sell it up to 12 times the gross monthly revenue and I've done this just gonna say this isn't some theoretical thing I know marks made-up words if I remember correctly it was like a hundred and twenty-five or 65 or 70 I like you made a lot of money from it from one site yeah I mean I've sold numerous salsa one of the sites was suddenly 7,000 but I mean in terrible selling sites with with income I've sold a total of 163 thousand dollars worth so it's kind of something that anybody can do and if you have developers rights you can you know you can perfectly legally plently size so I don't have to contact us so it's something to consider I know it's not for everybody and I know an awful lot of people will be thinking I'm never going to do that we haven't seen it is so easy like I mean you can create some your value and you can you can sell it I mean I think it's one of those things that I think I think a lot of people see value in that I see value in that so that's that's an optional upgrade guys for you if you want to get the developer right to be able to actually create sites and sell those sites you can pick up the developer license there and I think you've got one more OTO yeah so the last upsell is resell it so if you wanted to sell the whole package the whole eekum pair package essentially you can sell it you'll get 100% of everything you make so it's kind of like Evan you're a software business if you like we just set you up with a special rink you refer people through that link and you keep 100% of everything you Richard so the guys the difference between that and me then the developer is with the developer you can sell sites with this installed on it when ya HST you can go out there and actually sell the software you don't worry about setting up a site for anyone you can just go and sell them the software itself and keep all the commissions mark thank you so much for coming on the show today is there anything else anything we missed anything you wanted to mention before we wrap it up I simply probably pretty much covered it I mean this if you do have a score building you're probably thinking I do a donate this but take a look at the comparison engine take a look a comparison that sites online they're making an absolute fortune and as you know Mike's already mentioned you know everything from flights to paid sales no physical goods you know it made sense people are more they're going to be more inclined to actually post you through year it's got a it's got a body bias right and you ultimately you can make more money I mean it's kind of a simple as a thank you so much for coming on the show today and best of luck with your launch hi spike thanks wrap me up I know you're busy good luck today I hope you enjoyed the interview today with Mark if you are interested in picking up ich impaired at its lowest price you're going to want to come back tomorrow at 10 a.m. 71 more words

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Life Update Notes: March 5th 2017

Hey everybody! I don’t think I can commit myself to doing things with any regularity, which is a huge bummer because I really wanted to force myself to make progress and not stagnate myself and break my own commitments.

But honestly, even though I fully intend to keep work at work and absolutely no more, actually living in a brand new place without any wiggle-room for cash until a couple paycheck roll in, as well as just being in an entirely different place in general has left me winded. I won’t go into all the things I’ve been feeling the past few weeks, especially since the worst of it has nothing to do with moving or work. It’s taken a toll on me, but trying to keep my chin up for the future.

Anyway, how did I even format these?

Living in Dallas

Honestly? Culture’s not that different from Irvine. Sure, people say yall and “Have a blessed day”, and are even generally friendlier, but so far it’s just been different people in a different place, but generally it’s more or less similar to if I had just moved out and still remained in SoCal.

Roads are shit though. And no; it wasn’t because of the traffic, Dallas. Your traffic is less dense than LA is at any given moment. No, your issue Dallas is your roads are stupid.

Let me explain: In Cali, freeway on ramps were typically handled with a bridge that had intersections nearby, and you wouldn’t have to wait to merge on easily. Roads on and around the bridges were two way, and very sensible. Off ramps dumped you at those intersections, where any signal made it clear who needed to go when. No need to have “yield” signs everywhere; if there was an accident it was because some idiot went when there was a bright red light telling them not to.

Another thing is that (at least where I had ever driven) major roads usually tried to stay in one direct, meaning you can take any number of parallel roads, and then cut over when you needed to get where you want to go just by knowing where the place was relative to you.

None of this is true in Dallas.

Your frontage roads are bullshit, one-way messes of confusion that waste space. Entering via these roads can be a huge pain in the ass, because a lot of places don’t even mark the onramp from these roads until after you’ve passed it. No, that’s not an exaggeration, It’s happened to me on 3 separate occasions. These being one-way roads also leads to getting to businesses  on these roads being a massive pain in the ass; forget ever turning left and feeling confident about it.

And Yielding. Fucking yielding. There’s this obsession with unprotected left turns here; the only streets that have green arrows on lights still also favor just the solid green light, saying to yield when you want to turn left becuase they just hate left turns or some shit. Also traveling on frontage roads means at any moment someone exiting the freeway could have to cut over several lanes until the next intersection, because off-ramps could go parallel for up to a mile before cutting in suddenly.

Fuckin, have some pictures

This is where the 5 meets the 405 in Irvine, CA. It looks kinda iffy at first, but it’s important to understand where the complexity in navigating these things are. You don’t see much perpendicularity at play with the freeways here; the normal streets do that. Speaking of which, look how there’s only one fucking street that deals with any of this: Bake Parkway, which you can use to go either north or south without having to worry about it. The Freeways themselves handle the rest; One simple on-ramp and you have long lines that don’t interfere with other roads at  all.

Now Let’s look at fucking Dallas.

“Wow C, that looks a whole lot simpler. I think you’re full of shit”

INCORRECT. LOOK AT ALL THOSE TURNS YOU HAVE TO MAKE. You’re coming from the East, and you wanna go south on the 75? First an intersection with the frontage road, which just had a bunch of people who exited the 75 going north frantically trying to get into their respective lanes while merging into traffic that already existed on that road. Now you cross over the freeway, make an unprotected left turn dealing with people also trying to get on and off the freeway and the normal traffic of the roads, and then get into your lane as soon as possible. And if you fuck any of this up, you’re either going the wrong way on a giant one way street, or you have to navigate the radial map shat on over a grid to try and approach the freeway at another angle.

AND THAT’S ANOTHER THING; FUCK THIS RADIAL STREET SYSTEM. Freeways were meant to take you from point A to Point B as fast as possible; not run you around the city to keep you equidistant from the center. Add in all of Dallas’ service, frontage, and toll roads, and suddenly you get shit like this all over the city as a common occurance:

So no, the issue isn’t the number of people on the roads, it’s the sheer stupidity of the roads themselves that throws all the cars at each other and  hopes they miss. And you can’t even fix this problem; it’s just fucked.

... You know what, we’ll call that my rant for the post

So what games have you been playing then you insanely angry man?

Fire Emblem Heroes, for a start. It’s grown on me, but there are aspects that are just pure garbage. I like the bite sized missions and it feels really rewarding to actually progress through, but man, it is dumb at times. The AI really like putting you in places where they’re going to spring a trap, and refuse to move until you fall for it. The potential thing is really annoying as well; hiding skills behind a prestige system that you can only bypass if you’re lucky. I like it, but it just has so many problems I’ll prolly drop it once I get a team up to Lunatic levels

...

I also dropped the D&D Campaign I was so excited to be playing last year due to personal reasons. Can’t think of a picture for that but I came to some realizations about what I as a player actually wanted out of the campaign for myself and others that just... weren’t happening. And clearly weren’t going to. I’d still love to play, so maybe someday with a different setting and arrangement I can get into it properly. It’s definitely made me understand what as a designer I should be looking to provide for my players, even if not directly in a tabletop context.

I do not have a Switch

And honestly I don’t intend to get one for a while; I was really looking forward to Bomberman R and Breath of the Wild, but apparently Bomberman R is shit, and while BOTW is amazing (apparently), it doesn’t justify the purchase of the first line of consoles. With no Virtual Console either I just have 0 interest in the thing; they dropped the ball at launch hard; I’d definitely bring this into work to play SNES games on my lunch break but holy shit your only really good launch software is a port of a WiiU game you wanted to release 2 years ago? Gonna need more than that.

Random thought:

Does consistently talking to yourself out loud but only when you’re at home alone seem crazy? I’ve been doing it a lot. Basically stream of consciousnessing out of my mouth. It could be just me telling myself what I’m doing, how I intend to do it, planning out my day, or even something as stupid as acting out conversations that have very little chance of happening.

I just don’t want to accidentally do it when people are around is all, really. That’d be weird

Anyway, have a good week everyone.