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iam93percentstardust · 3 years

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what i know about you (would fill a thousand books)

A fic for @tonystarkbingo

Title of Fill: what i know about you (would fill a thousand books) Collaborator: iam93percentstardust Card Number: 4012 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29378016 Square Filled: S4 - Sharon Carter Ship/Main Pairing: Carter-Stark Cousins, Stony, Natsharon Rating: G Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Established Relationship, Past Abuse, Insomnia Summary: Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he used to love carrot cake but hasn’t touched it since the day his parents died while he and Sharon were out at dinner. He insists on always having her burner phone’s number when she’s a mission because the one time Fury told him he couldn’t have it, Sharon ended up with three broken ribs. He hates roses because they were what Tiberius always gave him after he did something like cheating on Tony or hitting him or mocking him in front of the press (Steve gives him blue poppies the same shade as the arc reactor and Sharon loves him for that). Word Count: 2284

Here is what the world knows about Tony Stark’s childhood: he’s born to Howard and Maria Stark and grows up surrounded by luxury. His father worked hand in hand with the Howling Commandos. Every year, Howard hosts a reunion for the Howlies, and ever since they’re introduced to a newborn Tony, they dote on him, despite Howard’s insistence that his son doesn’t need more people to fawn over him.

Here is what the world knows about Sharon Carter’s childhood: not much. The world doesn’t really care about a single blonde child. But here’s what Director Nicholas Fury knows about her childhood: she’s raised by a single father, who happens to be the nephew to one Margaret Carter, and when her father is killed in a car crash when she’s three years old, her great-aunt swoops in to take her in. Director Carter never explicitly says that she retires to focus on her great-niece but Fury is more than capable of reading between the lines.

Here is what only a few people know about both of their childhoods: Tony spends every summer at Aunt Peggy’s house until he goes off to MIT when he’s fourteen. He never tells her but those summers are the happiest times of his childhood. The year he turns ten, his idyllic summer is interrupted by the arrival of his favorite cousin, who has no idea of how to care for a newborn and needs his aunt’s help. Tony doesn’t know how to care for a newborn either, but he’s as enamored of baby Sharon as she is of him so he helps as much as he can.

By the time Tony leaves for MIT four years later, he and Sharon are closer siblings than Aunt Peggy’s known some flesh-and-blood siblings to be. She never tells anyone, but she counts bringing the two of them together to be one of the best things she’s ever done in her life.

Sharon’s exhausted by the time she gets back to Avengers Tower. She doesn’t really regret leaving her job at the CIA to take on being the Avengers’ liaison to the UN, but it certainly leaves her way more exhausted than her old job ever did. She gets it now, why Aunt Peggy had hated politicians so much.

It’s late, late enough that even JARVIS sounds weary when he welcomes her home as she steps onto the elevator. She leans her forehead against the cool metal wall as the elevator rises through the tower, dozing off just a little. Her phone chimes and Sharon pulls it out, smiling fondly as she reads Natasha’s text: Let me know when you land. Just like her girlfriend to send her a text asking her to check in. Natasha doesn’t know that she came back early, planning on surprising her for their anniversary tomorrow.

“Hey, JARVIS?” she asks.

“Yes, Agent Carter?”

“Don’t tell Natasha I’m back yet?”

“Of course. Only Sir and Captain Rogers are aware you’ve returned.”

In her sleep-befuddled state, it takes her a moment to realize why Steve would know she’s back. But of course, the team leader would need to be updated of the team’s whereabouts, even those not currently on the active duty roster.

“Thanks.”

The elevator stops and she steps out onto the team floors, intent on putting the chocolates she’d picked up in Geneva in the kitchen for people to swipe in the morning. The TV is playing softly in the living room and she pokes her head in, curious to see who’s still up.

It’s Steve, watching the playback from the team’s last mission. He perks up as soon as he hears her footsteps on the kitchen tile, only to droop when he realizes it’s her. It makes her pause, that reaction, and she sighs.

“How long has he been down there?” she asks.

“Three days,” Steve says quietly.

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.

She has a habit of taking on more than she can chew and going into what she calls “anxiety spirals” when she realizes what she’s done that only Tony can talk her down from.

He always blames himself for things going wrong, even when there’s nothing he could have done, and he’ll stay up for days making sure that it never happens again.

Sharon sighs again. Three days ago, Clint fell off a ledge during a mission; Sharon had watched the fight on the UN’s monitors. Clint landed in a dumpster, which broke the worst of the fall, but he still ended up with a broken wrist. He won’t be joining the team on their missions for at least another couple of months while he recovers. If she knows Tony, he’s been down in the workshop ever since, working on something that’ll make sure Clint never breaks another wrist.

“Code not working?” she asks Steve. He shakes his head, looking exhausted down to his bones. “I’ll go down there.”

“You don’t have to,” Steve says quickly. “I know you’re tired.”

She smiles at him, appreciating how much he cares, but... “I’m sure you two are both tired as well.” He grins ruefully back at her, confirming that he hasn’t slept either since Tony disappeared into the workshop. “Someone has to drag him out, and I’ll bet he hasn’t thought about blocking my access.”

Here is what Tony thought the first time he met Natasha Romanoff: You tried to shoot her the first time you saw her. You are not worthy of my little sister.

Here is what Sharon thought the first time she met Steve Rogers: You told him you knew men worth ten of him. You are not worthy of my big brother.

Here is what Tony thought the first time he saw Natasha and Sharon together: You bring her chocolate donuts and Queen Anne’s lace and know to put on Sleeping Beauty when she has a bad day. You might not be worthy of her but I don’t really think anyone is, and she loves you, so if I have to choose anyone, it might as well be you.

Here is what Sharon thought the first time she saw Steve and Tony together: I still don’t know if you’re worthy of him, but you learned how to make cheesecake for him and you bring him poppies and you always make sure my phone number gets to him, even when Fury tells me I have to go completely dark, and he loves you, so if I have to choose anyone, it might as well be you.

The workshop walls are dark when she steps out onto the floor, but the door opens for her as easy as it always does, and she smiles. Maybe Tony didn’t realize he’d need to block her access too or maybe he just knows that that won’t fly with her, same as it won’t fly with Pepper, same as it wouldn’t fly with Steve if he ever realizes that he’s one of the few people Tony would let pull him from the workshop.

“You weren’t there to say hi,” she says as she steps inside.

Tony turns and blinks at her slowly, the shadows deep under his eyes. “I sent a car for you, didn’t I?” he says eventually but he’s missing the usual venom in his voice. He goes back to his work.

“That’s not the same thing.” She comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist, hooking her chin over his shoulder. Just as she’d suspected, he’s working on a new wrist guard for Clint, something sturdy enough to protect him from breaking his wrist but flexible enough it won’t inhibit his mobility. Sharon doesn’t really speak technobabble the way Tony does, but even she can tell that there are several mistakes in his formulas, probably from his lack of sleep.

“Steve misses you,” she tells him.

“I’ll come up when I’m done.”

“Or you can come up now and catch up on sleep. This will still be here tomorrow.”

“No,” he argues. “I have to make sure this is ready for Clint—”

“When will he be back on the duty roster?”

“Seven weeks, three days, and twelve hours,” Tony says automatically.

“And you don’t think this can wait another day?” she asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Tony hesitates and then drops his head back onto her shoulder, saying to the ceiling, “I can’t sleep.”

Sharon wrinkles her brow. She knows that already, but Tony is already shaking his head.

“I mean, before…all this,” he explains, waving a limp hand in the air in the vague direction of the plans for Clint’s wrist guard.

Oh.

This happens sometimes, she knows. Tony’s insomnia acts up and he’ll spend a few days in the workshop, unable to sleep, or working from his bed because he thinks he should at least spend some time there. But as far as she knows, this is the first time it’s acted up while he’s been with Steve, and knowing Tony, he’s probably worried that Steve won’t like it if Tony spends all night in their bedroom working on his tablet. A silly concern really, she thinks Steve wouldn’t care if he was in literal hell as long as he was there with Tony, but Tony gets in his head about things like this.

“Well,” she begins hesitantly, “I won’t say that going to bed with your boyfriend is a sure way to get you to sleep, because that’s ridiculous, but I know that Steve’s been up as long as you have because he’s worried about you. So maybe you could go up there so he could get some sleep?”

Tony tilts his head to look at her. “He has?”

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: there isn’t a thing in the world she wouldn’t do for Natasha.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: there isn’t a thing in the world he wouldn’t do for Steve.

She steps off the elevator for the third time that night, Tony trailing behind her. He brightens as soon as he sees Steve, stumbling past her into Steve’s waiting arms. Steve leans down and kisses the top of Tony’s head before shooting Sharon a grateful smile.

She winks back at him and then heads for the team’s private elevators, only available from this floor and the only way to reach their rooms. Grabbing Tony hadn’t taken too long but it’s still longer than she’d like when she has Natasha waiting for her in their bedroom. Tony’s all taken care of, Steve more than up to the task, so she can head to bed now.

Her and Natasha’s floor is almost entirely dark when she finally reaches it, except for a small sliver of light stretching out from underneath their bedroom door. Sharon navigates the floor easily, stepping around the furniture she can’t see and over the heels she’s sure Natasha has left lying around.

The bedroom door swings open before she reaches it, revealing her beautiful girlfriend framed in the light. Sharon smiles and reaches for her, cupping Natasha’s cheek in her hand as she kisses her.

“Hello, beautiful,” she murmurs. “I’m back.”

“Early,” Natasha remarks, clearly surprised.

Sharon shrugs. “It would have been earlier but I had to make a stop to pick up Tony.”

Natasha’s expression clears. “Steve’s been worried about him.”

Sharon nods. “That’s why I dragged him out.” She lets Natasha pull her inside their bedroom, herd her into the shower, and rinse off. Neither of them are much in the mood for a lengthy shower, so as soon as Sharon considers herself clean enough, she turns the water off, deciding that she’ll take another shower when she’s better rested.

They collapse into bed, Natasha curling around Sharon as soon as they’re situated. Sharon’s phone chimes once with a soft text message. She reaches over to the dresser, intent on turning the phone off, only to smile when she sees the message from Steve—a picture of Tony curled up, sound asleep on his bed.

“Turn it off, babe,” Natasha says sleepily, and Sharon would never deny her anything, so she does, and then wraps herself around Natasha.

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she is loved, by Aunt Peggy and Nick Fury and the agents under her command and Clint and Natasha.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he is loved, by Aunt Peggy and the Avengers and Pepper and Rhodey and Steve.

Here is what they know about each other: they are loved, by a thousand other people, but by each other most of all.

#alle writes #tsbmiv #stevetony #natsharon #tony & sharon #if you like please consider reblogging

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cyrildb · 4 years

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COVID-19 & Working from Home | Article

All of us are currently facing the same enemy – the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only it’s a threat to our health, but it’s also hurting the economy severely. This pandemic has forced businesses to shut down and many people to file for unemployment claims.

But fortunately, we live in a world run by technology, that working and running a business from home is possible for just about every industry. Some jobs may find it easier to do their jobs at home than the others, but by knowing what to expect in this transition, one could have the edge.

In the early part of April 2020, a group of researchers from MIT launched a survey on 25,000 workers. About 34.1% of them were able to shift to remote working and 14.6% were already working from home. On the other hand, the rest have been laid-off, furloughed, or retained their job as normal. This suggests that almost half the workforce now works from home.

With the statistics mentioned, it’s safe to say that working from home could be seen as more normal in the near future. In fact, Twitter announced to its employees that they would be allowed to work from home permanently.

The Adjustment Period

For some people, working from home is not something new – thus the boom of Digital Nomad. On the other hand, for many, thorough preparation is needed for them to fully grasp the concept of it. But with the advent of COVID-19, no one was really prepared.

Within a matter of weeks, companies all over the world have snarled to transition their operations from traditional workplaces to completely home-based setup. That rapid transition in addition to the chaos of a global pandemic truly affected workforces’ productivity and workflow.

For businesses, it’s inevitable to face a period of adjustment since everyone has to develop routines to match the new working setup. Those in higher positions need to be more open-minded about the changes within the company.

Similarly, the transition is also tricky for many employees to deal with. A lot of these employees have never worked outside an office or establishment. The real challenge lies in how they will prioritize their work with all the distractions and lack of management in the comfort of their own home.

How is it different from working at the office?

The idea of working from home sounds so simple – you do the same job you would do in an office, except you do it at home. When talking about working from home, some of the first things that come to mind include not commuting to work every morning, having to wear the most comfortable clothing, and working at your own pace. However, there could be a broader definition of it. And to be able to understand it better, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly of working from home.

The Good

The flexibility offered by working from home is one of the best things about it. Working from home eliminates the restrictions that are commonly associated with working at a traditional workplace. Most of the time, you don’t have to worry about being there on time or starting a task on a specific order. Aside from flexibility, working from home also allows people to spend more time at home with their loved ones.

The Bad

While flexibility is surely a good thing in a way, it could also be the devil. Too much of anything can be bad, and the same thing goes with flexibility. Having the freedom to do the work at your own pace and lead to unproductiveness. Working at home, it’s also easy to fall in a pit of distractions. Having to focus only on the work at hand can be a real challenge most of the time.

In 2015, the Quarterly Journal of Economics published a paper commending the benefits of from home. The research highlights a randomized control trial on 1000 employees of a Chinese travel company named Ctrip. It revealed that throughout the 9-month trial period, the employees’ performance increased by 13%. However, Stanford economist, Nicholas Bloom said that “Working from home with your children is a productivity disaster.” He says that the research performed on the Ctrip employees is different from today’s pandemic because of these four main factors: children, space, privacy, and choice.

The Ugly

For many fulltime office workers, this COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to be isolated from their coworkers and for some from their family, for the first time. This isolation has also affected many workers’ mental health. Based on research published in 2015, isolation can be twice as harmful to physical and mental health as obesity. In another study by Buffer, it revealed that for people who normally work from home, 19% of them report loneliness.

The Practices Needed to Succeed

During this time of economic uncertainty, being able to work from home can be a huge blessing. With many people lost their job, having a job amid pandemic is a privilege. And with privilege comes responsibilities not only to your work but also to yourself. Here are the practices you need to perform to be able to be successful at working from home.

The Challenge: Keeping Productive

Distractions are the biggest enemy of people working from home. Checking your phone for social media updates and just simply walking around the house and laying on the couch has never been so irresistible. This is even more challenging if you have kids running around in the house because if you’re forgetting, school is also canceled!

The Solution: Bring Your Office to Home

The most straightforward answer is to have a home office – if possible, a separate room where no one is allowed to get in while you are working. The most effective way to regain your productivity and motivation to work is to replicate your former working space. Not only you should replicate your working space, but it would also be a good idea to follow the same structure of your previous work schedule.

Setting a schedule is also beneficial. If possible, follow the same work schedule you used to have in the office. This way, you can avoid underworking and overworking.

The Challenge: Dealing with Boredom without your Colleagues

For many, a day at work without greeting your coworkers whom you build strong connections with may feel so weird, particularly in the beginning. This is when one can truly get lonely, especially for those who are working from home.

The Solution: Reconnect and Keep in Touch

One of the beauties of living in the 21st century is the ease of connecting with anyone anywhere on the planet in real-time through the internet. If you miss talking to someone, call them, even just for a brief moment. Are you used to venting out to your coworkers when something goes wrong at work? You can still do that. Don’t hesitate to send a text or an email.

The Challenge: Taking Care of Yourself

Some people think that because you work at home, you can easily save yourself from the stress of doing your work – after all, you don’t have your boss hovering on your back while you’re working. Right? Wrong! Based on a UK research, being “always-on” and accessible by technology while working from home can lead to distorting of work and non-work boundaries. On the other hand, a United Nations report in 2017 found that 41% of remote workers said that they are more stressed working at home, versus the 25% who said they found working from the office more stressful. This data alone shows that working from home is not always better than working from an office.

The Solution: Practice Self-Care

It’s important to be kind to yourself. Do yourself a favor and always take time to have a break to do something for yourself. Managing your time is the key – again, set a daily schedule, and always make time to prepare healthy food and exercise. If you’re feeling distracted, don’t pressure yourself to work until your mind is all clear. It’s also important to get enough sleep. Working when you’re ready and happy is not only benefiting your health, but also your company. A study by Robert Half assessed that the happiness levels of more than 12,000 working professionals reveal that happier workers also perform better at their jobs.

Working from home can seem like a perfect scenario for both businessmen, employers, and employees. After all, it minimizes overheads, decreases the need to commute to work, and of course, offers better flexibility. However, it’s important to keep in mind that working from home requires unique skillsets where one can practice discipline, self-care, and time management.

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