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stevetonyweekly · 1 month

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SteveTony Weekly - March 24 - Week 12

Happy Sunday, my friends! Check out this week’s five recs, and be sure to kudos and comment on the ones you enjoy!

non functional requirements by lazywriter7

“Morning Tony.” Someone greets from close to the front row. Gwen, who’s waiting for her Macbook to complete its primeval, laborious booting up procedure, feels her shoulders sag even further down. God, not this shit again.

“Did your coffee machine explode again?”

“Implode, and no.” The lecturer – Tony – cracks a brief smile. The band t-shirt he’s got on is mostly just wrinkles, his hair flattened straight down the sides like it hasn’t been washed in a couple days. Really gives Gwen such an inspiring picture to look up to for her own prospective career in academia. “And just for that not-so-subtle commentary on my opening salvo today, I’m gonna teach this entire lecture using a metaphor.”

Gwen Stacy isn't having the greatest day, and that's before her System Designs Engineering professor starts explaining the material through the lens of his strained-sounding relationship. With his boyfriend in the audience.

arei’s thoughts: I really loved this. It’s outsider POV, and Steve is the ‘bad’ boyfriend in this, but they’re both trying--sometimes failing--to make things work. The way they lean into each other and learn from their mistakes is lovely.

An Educational Experience (The Good Things Come To Those Who Wait Remix) by valdomarx

Ults Tony has a nice day.

aka Tony talks Steve through sucking his cock.

arei’s thoughts: it’s no secret that I adore Ults and this one is so lovely, Steve is so grumpy and pining so damn bad if he’d get out of his own way, he could be SO HAPPY. And then it’s just hot. Check it out.

take a long line by ShanaStoryteller

Steve knows that Tony Stark is going to be a problem from the first line in his file.

Designation: Alpha

arei’s thoughts: I love the a/b/o dynamics in this. The way that Steve kind of fumbled them on account of his coming from a different time, and the way Tony was so anxious to care for EVERYONE around him. The scene where he tries to feed Steve a sandwich is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve read in months.

Even the Score by Sineala

After Tony risks his own life to save Steve from the deadly Bloodwash gas, he's in bad shape, and he needs immediate treatment. Thanks to the treatment, he doesn't quite remember what's going on, but he does remember that people have been trying to kill him and that he can't trust the government. Since the Secretary of Defense did try to murder both of them today, Steve can't exactly tell Tony he's wrong about either of those things -- but, unfortunately, Tony doesn't remember who Steve is. And, even more unfortunately, Steve taught Tony to fight.

arei’s thoughts: I love this fic. It’s a very simple plot and premise pulled from the comics but it’s just so well done, and I love seeing Tony competent and dangerous even without the suit. Sine’s characterization in this--on both Steve and Tony’s parts--is just so lovely and well done.

pretty baited trap by Areiton

The first time Tony walks into the Trisk, he’s following Tiberius, his eyes downcast, a perfect five steps behind his Alpha. He’s wearing a suit, cut in traditional omega style, because he’s an asset, a part of the display of wealth and power as much as the car they arrived in and the expensive watch Ty is wearing, the deliberate slight of being late and the bottle of wine that hangs from three fingers, careless, like it’s not worth several thousand dollars.

It’s the same display Ty has put on a dozen and more times since they Bonded. The only thing that changes is the location, the Alpha that Ty is trying to impress.

Where Tony ends up. His role in the evening’s proceedings. Those are already determined. This is a business deal and he is the pretty baited trap.

arei’s thoughts: well, I wrote this one but. I’m adding it to the list because I kinda love it. It’s very soft, and a little dark, but the devotion that grows between Steve and Tony is…lovely.

#stevetony weekly #steve rogers #tony stark #stevetony #stony #iron man #captain america #stevetony fic #stony fic #fic rec

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tichiamostellina · 1 month

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L'ansia mangia quando con lei non vado d'accordo

Fuori un'altra guerra scoppia, io non me ne accorgo

Dentro ne ho una bella grossa pezzi di me muoiono

Quante volte ci pensi alla morte? Io, fra', un botto

L'ansia mangia quando con lei non vado d'accordo

Fuori un'altra guerra scoppia, io non me ne accorgo

Dentro ne ho una bella grossa pezzi di me muoiono

Quante volte ci pensi alla morte?

A me serve amore però a lei le serve spazio

Mostrarti chi sono forse non mi serve a un cazzo

Dentro sono orribile fingo, ma non mi piaccio

Mi sembra impossibile pensare che mi salvo

L'habitat della musica ha dinamiche impostate

Il mercato musicale non è che offra varie strade

A volte è proprio chi fa bella musica che cade

A volte vedi solo merda e culi da leccare

Anche se non mi amo molto so di essere unico

Tu che fai lo scemo lì lo sai di essere un numero?

Credi alla lealtà ma la realtà ti sveglia subito

Come quando dichiari amore e lei ti fa, "Sei stupido?"

(Ma sei stupido?)

L'ansia mangia quando con lei non vado d'accordo

Fuori un'altra guerra scoppia, io non me ne accorgo

Dentro ne ho una bella grossa pezzi di me muoiono

Quante volte ci pensi alla morte? Io, fra', un botto

L'ansia mangia quando con lei non vado d'accordo

Fuori un'altra guerra scoppia, io non me ne accorgo

Dentro ne ho una bella grossa pezzi di me muoiono

Quante volte ci pensi alla morte?

Bella frate', ho visto, hai conquistato un disco d'oro

Peccato che il contratto che hai firmato ti fa fuori

Un ragazzino mi chiede un consiglio, come posso?

Appena fai due numeri vedrai chiamano loro

La tua direzione la dà il capo quando sbava

L'arte insegue il mercato, ma non vede la strada

Io cerco le regole e dei modi per infrangerle

Sentirmi così intensamente solo mi fa piange'

Ho dei pensieri strani a lei farei del male fisico

Per farle sentire cosa ho dentro e quanto tanto mi spaventa

Oh, adesso ti impressioni? Il mio dolore è un eufemismo

Non lo sai quello che sento, però lo vorrei tantissimo

Okay, questo mondo mi fa schifo, lo allargo

Lei vive come un cyborg, io la svito, è in allarme

La vita è agire mi agito e la schivo parlando

Per risolvere i problemi che ho non serve parlarne

I rapper che sentivi mo ti fanno imbarazzo

Perché quando cresci non ti rappresentano un cazzo

Sembra più un gioco di ruolo che una realtà di fatto

Vorrei più una poco di buono che quel culo rifatto

L'industria musicale segue i quattordicenni

Certi amici se ne vanno proprio quando li cerchi

Su un pianeta di sconfitti ridono quattro vincenti

Poi sei te con quattro spicci a fare i danni all'ambiente (tu-tu-tu)

Non me ne fotte nulla dei temi di attualità

Se non decifri cosa hai dentro, non saprai cosa c'è fuori

Tu puoi fare cento dischi se non c'è la qualità

Era meglio niente

Ci odio tutti quanti non scusate i toni

#Spotify

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curiositasmundi · 1 month

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La bozza di conclusioni uscita dal vertice dei capi di Stato e di governo europei sottolinea la necessità “imperativa” di preparare i cittadini Ue al rischio di guerra “in vista di una futura strategia di prontezza”. Il presidente del Consiglio europeo, Charles Michel, due giorni fa, ha usato le parole di Cicerone, annunciando esplicitamente: “Se vogliamo la pace, dobbiamo preparare la guerra”. E la presidente della Commissione europea, Ursula von der Leyen che aveva ulteriormente chiarito: “Il mondo è diventato più pericoloso e l’Ue si deve svegliare, sappiamo che le ambizioni di Putin non si fermano all’Ucraina”.

Il testo sottolinea anche la necessità di sviluppare un piano per una preparazione militare-civile coordinata e rafforzata, insieme a una gestione strategica delle crisi, considerando l’evoluzione del panorama delle minacce. Ciò che rende questa situazione ancora più tangibile è il fatto che questo appello è inserito nella sezione “militare” del documento. È un chiaro segnale che l’Unione Europea si sta preparando all’eventualità di un conflitto armato. Tanto che lo stesso Borrell ha invitato ad abbassare un pò i toni per “non spaventare i cittadini europei”.

Il nuovo strumento di assistenza militare all’Ucraina da 5 miliardi è stato approvato e sul tavolo dei leader c’è la anche la proposta sull’uso dei profitti degli asset russi per comprarci armi e munizioni fa fornire a Kiev. Dal febbraio 2022 la UE e i suoi Stati membri hanno fornito o impegnato oltre 143 miliardi di euro a sostegno dell’Ucraina, di cui 33 miliardi in aiuti militari.

Ma a rendere il tutto ancora più inquietante è lo spettro del casus belli che potrebbe portare i paesi europei alla guerra con la Russia.

“L’Europa ha bisogno dell’effetto Pearl Harbour, di uno shock devastante che ne scuota le democrazie, polverizzi la trincea di dubbi, egoismi ed esitazioni infinite, costringendola ad agire con il consenso delle sue opinioni pubbliche”. A scriverlo una veterana del Sole 24 Ore, l’editorialista Adriana Cerretelli che da anni segue la politica europea per il principale quotidiano economico italiano.

“Dietro garanzia di anonimato il nostro interlocutore, politico europeo di alto rango, evoca l’attacco a sorpresa del Giappone alla base navale americana nel Pacifico, quello che nel 1941 ruppe la neutralità degli Stati Uniti, facendone dal giorno dopo i protagonisti della Seconda Guerra Mondiale a fianco dell’Europa democratica contro la Germania di Hitler”.

La Cerretelli scrive su Il Sole 24 Ore del 20 marzo che il vertice del Consiglio europeo in corso a Bruxelles “è il secondo vertice europeo di guerra dopo quello che due anni fa si tenne a Versailles”.

L’editorialista sottolinea come ci siano ancora divergenze in seno all’Unione Europea ma che “la certezza dell’instabilità continentale, l’esplosione del Medio Oriente dopo il massacro del 7 Ottobre, lo shock di novembre se l’America optasse per il ritorno di Trump, salvo sorprese antieuropeo, antiNato e filo-Putin, hanno prodotto profondi ripensamenti”.

Secondo la Cerretelli l’invio di «soldati sul campo», evocato dalla Francia di Macron e sconfessato a metà dopo il no generale, non è sparito dai radar. Come la questione dei missili tedeschi Taurus, che per il cancelliere Scholz è «prudente» non dare agli ucraini ma per altri sono un deterrente indispensabile.

In Europa, dove in alcuni paesi torna la coscrizione obbligatoria, il presidente del Consiglio Ue Charles Michel nella consueta lettera di invito ai 27 paesi membri della Ue, ha scritto che: “Siamo di fronte alla più grande minaccia alla nostra sicurezza dalla Seconda Guerra mondiale, è tempo di fare passi concreti”. E poi ha citato Cicerone: “se vuoi la pace prepara la guerra”.

La storia insegna molte cose, anche come cominciano le guerre. Più difficile è sapere in anticipo come vanno a finire e di solito finiscono male per molti.

Fermiamoli, con ogni mezzo necessario!!

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heybiji · 4 months

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he has a library card

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xochiquetza3autora · 4 months

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Mi Top 5 de Escenas XXX Navideñas Para Disfrutar es estas Fiestas.

Estos días son de celebración y jubilo por las fiestas invernales, Tal vez la más importante o conocida sea la Navidad que esta apunto de llegar. El frio domina el ambiente (por lo menos en el hemisferio norte) y que mejor que combatirlo que compartir un poco de calor corporal y a industria del cine XXX lo sabe. Para la industria del Cine para adultos no hay fiesta que no se pueda celebrar por lo que la navidad no es una excepción, por eso les traigo unas recomendaciones de escenas "NOPOR" con la temática de estas fiestas que nos puede a ayudar a mantener el espíritu navideño sin dejar nuestro lado pervertido.

05) How The Grinch Fucked Xmas! (¡Como El Grinch Jodió La Navidad!)

(2008) Una adaptación muy pero muy libre del clásico cuento del Dr. Seuss "¡Como el Grinch Robo la Navidad!", en el que el Grinch es interpretado por Keiran Lee y cuenta con la participación de las ahora legendarias Carmella Bing (retirada) y Shyla Stylez (fallecida) que hacen el papel de vecinas "Ho" (algo así como putas o cachondas) en forma de parodia de lo "Whos" (Quienes) del cuento original. Cuando sus vecinas amantes de la navidad llegan a tratar de alegrar al Sr. Grinch, el amargado las folla por todos los agujeros, así es hasta por detrás, antes de lanzarlas a la calle.

04) Jiggle All The Way (Zangolotea todo el camino)

(2012) Otra parodia de una historia navideña, Esta vez se trata de "El Regalo Prometido" ("Jingle all the way" en inglés). En plena Noche Buena Puma Swede esta buscando un juguete para su hijo, "Cosquillitas Woody" (una horrible parodia de Elmo vestido como Woody de "Toy Story") Todas las tiendas están por cerrar y los juguetes están agotados salvo por un muñeco que queda en el estante pero antes de que pueda tomarlo Diana Prince se le adelanta. Ambas MILF comienzan a pelar por el juguete para sus hijos, por lo que Will Powers, el encargado de la tienda decide que no dejara que ninguna se lleve el juguete si antes no aprenden a compartir y lo primero que tendrán que compartir será la enorme verga del amable dependiente por sus seis agujeros. Ambas madres se esfuerzan por complacer al buen dependiente creyendo que la mejor se quedara con el juguete pero las deliciosas y generosas mamás aprenderán que toda buena obra tiene su recompensa (plot twist: Will tiene un segundo juguete guardado en la bodega).

03) Naughty or Nice? (¿Traviesa o Amable?)

(2013) Santa Claus, Encarnado por Toni Ribas, necesita una nueva Señora Claus, por lo que uno de sus duendes le presenta un par de chicas suculentas de pechos grandes y traseros enormes: Phoenix Marie y Ava Addams. Una se comporta como una chica picara y traviesa y la otra se porta como una niña simpática y amable. Para demostrar quien e la mejor pareja, las dos chicas tetonas se turnan para lamerse los coños y los anos, y luego chupan la polla navideña de Santa. Después de eso Santa se mete profundamente en sus coños y en sus apretados culos ¡Una vez haya terminado de follar sus dos culos gordos, es hora de que Santa dispare una carga caliente de "espíritu navideño" en las bocas de las chicas para que lo compartan! Y entonces Santa tendrá que hacer su elección.

02) Our Holiday Three Way (Nuestro Trío de Dia Festivo)

(2015) El pobre y solitario Levi Cash esta ansioso y deprimido en Noche Buena que le pide a "Santa Claus" una Esposa que le haga compañía, como nadie toca a su puerta vuelve a pedir su deseo pero esta segunda vez se lo pide al "Espíritu de la Navidad". Esa misma noche, mientras duerme, Aparece Peta Jensen para hacerle compañía y mientras hace de todo con ella escucha mas gemidos en la sala ¡Sorpresa! Ahí esta Nicole Aniston esperándolo como su segunda esposa. Parece que tato "Santa Claus" como "El Espíritu de la Navidad" le cumplieron si deseo para recompensar su espíritu noble y generoso

01) Ofice 4-Play: Christmas Bonuses (Oficina para jugar: Bonos de Navidad)

(2017) Esta es quizá una de las mejores escenas Navideñas que existen ya que no aparece una o dos actrices ¡SON CUATRO! Monique Alexander, Nicolette Shea, Romi Rain y la siempre maravillosa Ava Addams. Cuando regresa esa época mágica del año: fiestas navideñas, travesuras en la oficina, y recibir un gran bono de Navidad. Al menos debería serlo, pero después de la desordenando fiesta navideña del año pasado, Keiran Lee tiene otra idea: Este año retendrá los bonos de Navidad hasta después de la fiesta, de esa manera de seguro todos se comportaran de la mejor manera. Afortunadamente para él, las chicas de la oficina tienen una opinión diferente sobre cuál es exactamente su "mejor comportamiento" y antes de que se de cuenta estará teniendo un quinteto caliente con cuatro hermosas chicas tetonas, como en todas y cada una de las escenas de la saga de videos "Office 4-Play".

Menciones Honorificas:

*Ebenazer Keiran (2008)

*Nighmere Before XXX-Mas (2011)

Como pueden ver en esta lista solo incluí escenas de la productora Brazzers, al principio hasta a yo misma me sorprendí, pero me parece que las tramas mantienen algunos de los temas mas característicos de la navidad (mas allá de solo sexo) y los mezclan de forma fantasticamente perversa con la escencia del nopor y el "cine para adultos". Pero si alguien tiene alguna escena favorita que le gustaria sugerir de esa o alguna otra productora, me encantaría leerlos en los comentarios.

¡Feliz y caliente Navidad, Yule, Saturnalia o cualquier festividad que celebren en estas fechas!

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lazywriter7 · 9 months

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Written for Stony AUgust over at @stonyauniverse , for week one/alternate professions.

non functional requirements

There’s a man-shaped twig blocking the door to the lecture hall.

“You coming or you going?”

The twig startles – blue eyes darting under wheat yellow hair. Gwen pulls the worn strap of her tote bag more firmly over her shoulder, MacBook weighing it down, grimacing all the while.

“Sorry.” The twig apologises in a surprisingly deep voice, then opens the door for her. Cute gesture if class hadn’t already started and now she’s gotta squeeze past him through the tiny door.

The guy re-evaluates his chivalry after a couple seconds of awkward silence. He ducks through into the hall but lingers, and Gwen sidesteps him to dump her crap on the floor near the closest seat on the second last row.

“Recording’s kicked off, so we might as well. This is lecture four of System Design Engineering.” The lecturer’s voice crackles over the speakers. Looks like he’s just gotten started, so that gives her a couple minutes to get setup. “Today we’ll be going over NFR’s, or non-functional requirements. What they are, how they’re defined. These can apply to any kind of computing systems, system architectures, front end or backend APIs, you name it. Any kind of – sorry, was that a hand?”

“Did your coffee machine explode again?”

“Was it Justin Hammer?” Someone else calls from the front. “Did he hog the servers to train machine learning models on LinkedIn posts?”

“Fuck no.” Tony says, and winces immediately in the bout of snickers that erupt. “And now you’ve got me swearing on the recording. Gonna put all of you heathens on a bus to the downtown community college, don’t think I won’t do it.”

The students hush in anticipation. Tony blinks, knuckles at his nose under the wireframe glasses, and looks to the ceiling as if in despair. “I mean. I… pre-emptively apologise, and intend no insult to any students, or family of students listening to this, who may have attended community college. Community college is an institution. Just like… jail.”

“You sure your coffee machine didn’t explode?”

“Shut up Miles.” Tony gestures half-heartedly at the screen behind him, where the slide has finally changed.

Gwen’s brought up her note-taking tool by habit on her up-and-running Mac, but she doesn’t have high hopes. It’s not like the guy doesn’t know his stuff, he’s just easily derailed into tangents and rambles and spicy opinions on SpaceX, and Gwen likes to be systematic about learning new things. Start at the beginning, finish at the end, with preferably zero stand-up material along the way. If she’d wanted jokes, she’d put on a late-night show.

And then to add insult to injury, someone creeps up the side and sinks down on the seat right in front of her, blocking her eyeline to the lower third of the screen. The bluish light dances silver over the light-coloured mop of hair… it’s the twiggy dude, from the doorway. Did he just find a seat?

“Think about a relationship.” Tony’s saying, up at the lectern. “Parent and child, cousins twice removed, romantic partners. Whoever. There are the expectations, the responsibilities… the requirements, you could say, which are obviously defined and the bare minimum for the relationship to exist. If you’re a parent, you gotta house and feed your kid. If you don’t do that, you fail at the basic requirements of being a parent. So if you turn up with your deadbeat ass at your kid’s wedding, they’re justified to go all, ‘you’re not my dad’.”

A guy in the third row raises a pen into the air. “Can I explain it like that in the exam?”

“I’m not going to be the only one marking, Ganke, so I’d actively encourage it.” Kinda nice, how he remembered so many names though. Gwen has been in this course for six months and only knows faces. “However, there are certain requirements which may not be essential for the relationship to be defined and functional but are still important. Like if your parent loves you.” A twitch. “Loves the kid, that is.”

In the seat ahead of her, Twig’s shoulders have risen up to his ears, frame gone all stiff. Gwen bites back a sigh and moves over to the next seat, just to eliminate the distraction.

She thinks about Dad in the next breath, awkwardly jabbing at his cereal and darting glances at her over the table, and immediately shoves it down.

“You might be tempted to think of it as how good a system is at fulfilling a base requirement – like how good of a parent they are, depending on if they do or don’t love you. And that’s not incorrect; whether a website is able to serve a high volume of traffic, or have an uptime of ninety nine percent, is absolutely about how good it is at serving its base requirement, which is to present an accessible resource over the internet. But if the thresholds of those non-functional requirements aren’t met, if the website keeps throwing a 404 more frequently than is acceptable, then it impedes said basic requirement. Even though uptime isn’t in the strict definition of the deliverable. You feel me?”

Silence. Someone from the far end meekly chirps a yes.

“Ohhkay.” Tony paces out from behind the lectern, keen eyes scanning the room like he’s actually, really invested. That’s… that’s a nice thing about him too. “Imagine I’m in a relationship, right? My partner and I, we define what a romantic relationship means to us and what we expect of each other going in. Like… monogamy, maybe. Or meeting at least once a week. So as long as I don’t go cruising, or ghost this guy for a month, I’m technically fulfilling my promises as a boyfriend. Those are your functional requirements.”

There’s a tiny murmur in the room at ‘guy’, but it dies out quick. Not exactly a surprise from the man who wears bi flag-coloured sunglasses to Orientation week.

“But to the enlightened, relationships are about more than that.” Tony’s lips curl at one end, like the words amuse him. Or that he’s speaking them? “Dependability. Emotional support. Prioritising the other person’s needs. All that chicken soup for the soul stuff; your non-functional requirements.”

“So I gotta think about it, the third time I reschedule date night. Get lost in a work thing and forget to respond to a text. Several texts. Forget to buy the milk, even though he told me to and put a reminder on my phone. Make life decisions on my own. These things take… a toll.” Tony isn’t making eye contact with the crowd anymore. His eyes skitter up to the ceiling and away again, restless even as his voice continues on methodically. “Maybe my partner can put up with it. Does put up with it. But just because I’m serving the base functionality of a romantic partner, doesn’t mean I can ignore these things. These are also essential to the health of the relationship.”

“But you gotta design for that. I can’t sit there like a dimwit going, ‘oh I’ll just do better next time’ and expect it to magically happen. That I’ll just… be better, with no effort on my part aside from intending to.” Gwen drops her eyes to the plastic tabletop, scratches and pen marks running over the surface. This is weirdly intense. “I have to have the right system in place. Maybe I vow to reply to a text every time I’m downing a cup of coffee. Set up regular delivery orders for milk online. Make it to the date, even if it is an hour too late and not in the place I wanted, just so we’re there together. Plan in advance so that things can get better, instead of crossing fingers and blowing on an eyelash. Do the work.”

She lifts her gaze by an inch, still vaguely discomfited, and catches Twig’s jaw clenching in profile, limned by the light of the screen. He shifts in his seat, raises a fist to wipe brusquely at something under his eye. It’s all very quiet. Tightly controlled.

“And that’s how systems need to function. Sure your primary focus is to get the thing up and running, but you need to think about performance, and security, and reliability when you’re architecting a solution. Two weeks before go live is not the time to realise that you’re pulling from an old-timey relational database when you actually needed caching. That the base components of your system just… don’t work together the way you want.” Tony pauses, blinks a couple times. Like his words have outstripped his thoughts and it’s all starting to come together. Form an obvious conclusion. His mouth turns down, goes wry again. “It gets real expensive to fix things then.”

And so it continues. The hour goes by faster than usual, Gwen startling a little by the time Tony wraps up the lecture, a whole five minutes before time like he always prefers to do.

Or… plans to do, perhaps. Mid-morning lectures, people usually have to empty out of these halls fast to get to the next one, but there’s a disordered cluster of students still lingering around the lectern, shooting the shit and exchanging laughs with Tony. He looks visibly better at the end of the hour, more energetic than he did at the start of the lecture. Like it actually rejuvenated him – which isn’t the worst ideal to look up to as a prospective academic.

Whatever, Gwen isn’t getting ahead of herself. She’s got band to get to.

Of course, when she stuffs her laptop into the tote bag and does a brief check to make sure everything’s in there, she can’t see her fob. Can’t get into the rehearsal room without it, so she gropes for it fruitlessly for a couple of minutes, before resorting to dumping the bag out on her seat. Chocolate wrappers flutter to the ground, a pen cap without a pen rolling down to join them. Handouts from her other classes, worksheets, one physical notebook, a set of drumsticks… no fob.

Ugh. She ducks under her seat to check, nose twitching as the longer end of her bangs ruffle past. There, small and plasticky-blue against the maroon carpet. Fishing it out through the tiny gap is an ordeal, and by the time she has it secure in her pocket, the hall’s empty.

Or not quite. She’s shovelling her stuff one-handed while pacing up the stairs to the exit, when, “–mean to show up at your place of work.”

“You’re my boyfriend Steven, not a stalker. It’s fine.”

Hang on. What?

Tony and some guy – Twig, she can tell by the bony shoulders – Steven, are standing in front of the door. Tony and his boyfriend. Who was in their class. Who was probably not in their class, just physically present in this… particular class.

Tony seems to be frenetically running through similar thoughts, because his mouth just doesn’t stop moving, hands gesturing through the air like a conductor gone loose. “Well, not fine fine. I guess, considering what I – considering all of the… I didn’t know you were in the audience, obviously. I’ll just do as Taylor does and write a song about it the next time.”

Fuck. Can she just… push past them, really quickly? Or right in the middle of them. She’s been to parties where she doesn’t know anybody before, this can’t be any more awkward than that. Probably.

Steven’s already thin lips press tight together. He’s standing very, very straight, not a thing to criticise in that posture. Captain Stacy would be proud.

“Are we,” He starts, deep voice as startling out of that reed-thin frame as it was the first time, stumbling over the words just a little, “breaking up then?”

“What?” Tony breathes, and it’s like it’s stoppered his flow of thought completely.

Steven’s lips flicker up weakly. “You said Taylor.”

“No, no,” Tony’s hands flutter again – he pulls them back and tucks them close over his chest, just a little protective. “Stupid joke, you know me.” And then, just a little wry. “Of all the times to know a modern music reference.”

It’s like he’s laying out bait, an easy diversion. Steven could say something about preferring The Beatles and they needn’t tug on this line of thought, make things unravel.

Maybe it’s why Gwen hasn’t cleared her throat or done anything to clue them off to her presence yet. Something in her is so discomfited, twisted up with the second-hand awkwardness – she can’t let them go on but it would be worse if they saw her – but there’s also a second voice in her head, the one that’s good at moderating and peeling people open from a distance.

if you stop them talking now, when will they try again?

Steven doesn’t take the bait. Something in him strains like he wants to take a step forward, but he doesn’t move. Instead, he says quietly – “I do know you.”

“I know how much you think about us. How much it matters to you to get things right, and I guess I just…” Steven’s mouth purses, soft and unhappy, “take it for granted, all of that work, because it just happens to be who you are. Who you’ve chosen to be.”

“Steve, don’t – we’re both workaholics–”

“We are.” Steve acquiesces, but the words that follow sound implacable. “But you plan around it. Every single thing you said in the lecture, you… you booked those regular grocery deliveries for us, and I cribbed at you about it because they deliver in those plastic bags and the emissions from the delivery trucks–”

“It was a valid fucking point–”

“It was a stupid point, and you were right to tell me that.” Steve says it without hesitation. “I cancelled on our weekend away, again, and you were right to call me out on that this morning too. You just don’t…” A little softer. “Sometimes you don’t say anything.”

A beat.

Tony unfolds his arms, eyes fixed somewhere off-centre around Steve’s collarbone. His voice has dropped to match Steve’s, simmering with something indecipherable. “I was really… happy when you agreed to be with me. Stunned out of my head, sure. But happy. I wanted to get it right. It would have never occurred to me to… with our history, with my history, it just didn’t compute sometimes that…”

Steve cuts in, mouth twisting with it. “That I’d be the screw-up in the relationship?”

“Careful sweetheart.” Tony lifts his eyes, and they’re still warm. “Name-calling is my department.”

But he seems to be taking Steve’s previous words to heart.

“I know…” He swallows. Drops his hands completely, lifts his chin and talks. “I know how much that place means to you, I know how much you’d have killed to have a queer shelter in the neighbourhood, heck in the city, growing up like you did. I want someone who cares about what they do, I’d have been bored to shit with a person coasting by on a job that meant nothing to them. You wanna do paperwork till one am, I’ll be right there on the couch with you marking papers. That is fine, the donations from your own pocket are – don’t cut me off Steve – are fine, even if it is a little like Mrs. March teaching the kids to give away their Christmas meal to the less fortunate. That’s the guy I chose to be with.”

“You need to save the world. You can’t help yourself.” Tony bit into his lip, smile here and gone in a flash. “And I’m just a guy who teaches a couple university classes, while trying to get a startup off the ground for the last five years. But this morning when you…” He sucks in a breath, exhales it soundlessly. “When you looked like you couldn’t imagine how I’d think we wouldn’t cancel… how you disdained the idea of. Of spending time with me, instead of saving the world. Then it felt pretty shitty.”

For a moment, Steve doesn’t say anything at all. His face is pale, cheeks lost of any colour. His eyes have gone red. “I. I’m sorry.”

Tony clears his throat, voice forcibly bright. “Not gonna say you’d never think like that?”

“… doesn’t matter.” Steve says simply. “It’s how I made you feel.”

“There are those unrealistic moral principles I know and love.” Tony’s smiling, only a little watery around the edges. He moves into Steve’s motionless frame, hands reaching out again, this time to catch him by the elbows and smooth down to hang onto his wrists. “We’ll work on it.”

Steve is staring down at their hands, both like they’re condemned and something miraculous. “In the lecture. When you said that the components of the system didn’t work together the way you’d want…”

He looks up. Tony meets his eyes, gives a little shrug. “A better guy would know how important what you’re doing is. Would maybe resent its importance a little less.”

“Tony, I’m not a better person than you are.” Steve’s voice is thick, almost choking with the entreaty. His hands turn in Tony’s loose clasp, gripping back tightly. “Tony.”

Tony gives a little burble of a laugh. Bends over low, forehead brushing Steve’s shoulder. “We’ll work on me too.”

They lean into each other for a moment. Tony’s face is almost hidden behind Steve’s golden locks. “I don’t really care, if you’re better or worse than me. I’m keeping you.”

Steve pulls back. Leans up a fraction to press their lips together, both their eyes fluttering shut.

They pull apart, smiles pulling up on those mouths like mirroring sunrises. Steve leans in for another peck, then quietly pushes the door to step outside. Tony follows him.

Gwen sits down on the floor, fifteen metres away, laptop thunking into the carpet. She bends her head down to her belly, and breathes.

Fuck, she’s going to feel the anxiety of this in her back for weeks.

Band practice is a loss. The entire morning might be a loss. She needs a cupcake, and some grunge music. But even as vague ideas for the upcoming day begin to coalesce, she can feel a curious lightness shoot through her body. Like she can take it. The aches and pains, the barista shift in the afternoon. Like the world is alright, actually, and she’s not gonna keel over just yet.

This is why she doesn’t watch rom-coms.

She pulls herself up eventually and finally exits the hall. And there, by himself in the corner, completely failing to look like he’s doing anything but waiting for her – is Tony.

The world is a nightmare. She doesn’t stutter. “Did you know I was in there?”

Tony looks like he’d be rubbing the back of his neck abashedly, if he were that kind of guy. Instead, he visibly decides to brazen it out. “Not until the last thirty seconds before we left.”

Small mercies.

“Were you… did you have something to talk to me about? My office hours are 2-3, but–”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Gwen interrupts, entirely out of patience. That’s what’s going through his head right now?

Tony shuts his mouth with a click, eyebrows rising.

“There’s nothing.” Gwen forces. And then, just as involuntary as the swear – “You’re a good teacher.”

Tony blinks. Gwen remembers him bantering about with her classmates, not losing a step.

“Thanks, Gwen.” His nose looks a little red. So do the very tops of his cheeks. He looks unaccountably pleased.

Gwen’s lips tilt up.

“You could do better than him, you know.”

“I wouldn’t want to.” Tony beams at her. Turns around, waves two fingers. “See you next week.”

The rehearsal hall is in the same direction that he’s walking in. Gwen unerringly walks the other way. By the time she loops the quad and makes it there, she’ll have thirty minutes left. Half of band practice is better than none.

She taps a rhythm on her outer thigh, blows a strand of her bangs out of the eyes. Tugs the tote bag higher up. Band, then lunch, and then maybe she can call her dad.

#stonyaugust #stevetony #stony #lazywriting #fanfic #alternate universe #outsider pov #pre serum steve #no powers au #steve rogers #tony stark #gwen stacy #steve/tony #elaborate computing metaphors for the win

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usafphantom2 · 4 months

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US and allies warn Houthis of "consequences" if attacks on ships continue

Fernando Valduga

The U.S. and its allies issued a firm warning to the Houthi rebels in Yemen on January 3, telling the group to stop attacks on ships in the Red Sea or face "consequences".

“The Houthis will bear responsibility for the consequences if they continue to threaten lives, the global economy and the free flow of trade on the region's critical waterways,” said a joint statement from the U.S. and 12 other countries.

As of January 2, the Iranian-backed Houthis have carried out 24 attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea since November 19, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The crew of 25 people on a ship has been held captive since November.

The U.S. wanted to "send a very clear warning to the Houthis," a senior administration official told reporters on January 3.

The Houthis began attacking Red Sea ships following the war between Israel and Hamas. The Houthis said they defend "our brothers in the Gaza Strip".

The Houthis attacked commercial ships with drones, small attacks on boats and missiles, including the "first time that anti-ship ballistic missiles were used anywhere, much less against commercial ships," according to the senior administration official.

The U.S. defended itself against Houthi attacks with Navy fighters and missile defense systems. British and French ships also shot down drones launched by the Houthis.

The U.S. military has prepared attack options against the Houthis if the Biden administration decides to use force against targets in Yemen, according to U.S. officials.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said the United Kingdom is “willing to take direct action” if the attacks continue.

“I would not expect another warning” before the U.S. could take more energetic measures, added the senior U.S. administration official.

The U.S. military recently used force against the Houthis in self-defense. On December 31, four small boats fired at U.S. Navy helicopters that came to the aid of a commercial ship under attack. The helicopters responded, killing members of the group and sinking three of the boats, according to the senior administration official and CENTCOM. The Houthis said that 10 of their members were killed in this incident. The senior government official said that the Houthis could be trying to kidnap the ship or damage it in a suicide bombing.

"The ongoing Houthi attacks on the Red Sea are illegal, unacceptable and deeply destabilizing," says the statement by the governments of the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, New Zealand and the United Kingdom warning about the case. "May our message now be clear: we call for an immediate end to these illegal attacks and the release of ships and crews detained illegally."

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was held on January 3 to discuss the Houthi threat. The president of the Joint General Staff of the Air Force, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., spoke with his UK counterpart, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, on January 3 and "discussed the illegal Houthi attacks underway," according to a reading of the Call of the Employees Set.

"I think this demonstrates that the U.S. and its partners are trying to operate responsibly, but that there is a limit to the behavior they are willing to accept," said retired Army General Joseph L. Votel, who led the 2016-2019 CENTCOM.

The Houthis have missile and drone launchers, coastal radars and weapons storage facilities that could be targeted if the U.S. or other nations decide to use force.

The U.S. launched a limited salvo of cruise missiles at three coastal radar sites in Yemen in 2016, in response to attacks on Houthis ships during Votel's time as commander of CENTCOM.

“The message is considered, as would be expected, but it clearly highlights that there are consequences associated with continuous attacks and that these nations will hold evil actors accountable,” said Votel, an illustrious senior member of the Middle East Institute. He added that the declaration “emphasises the importance of taking advantage of all forms of national power, in this diplomatic and informative case, to put pressure on the Houthis and their Iranian supporters”.

Iran and the so-called Axis of Resistance of groups aligned with it launched attacks in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. But some U.S. officials and regional security experts say that the Houthis are more unpredictable and hard-lined than other groups supported by Iran.

Ships run a particular risk near Yemen because they have to use the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to cross between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a critical bottleneck.

“Almost 15% of global maritime trade passes through the Red Sea, including 8% of global grain trade, 12% of oil traded by sea and 8% of world trade in liquefied natural gas,” the joint statement noted.

The U.S. launched the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian in December to help defend against the Houthi attacks. American F/A-18 fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower slaughtered Houthi drones. Sometimes, U.S. Air Force fighters have been active in the Red Sea, said a senior U.S. defense official. The U.S. is also known to operate MQ-9 drones off the coast of Yemen, and the U.S. and the UK have operated P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft in the region in the past.

"Especially when it comes to awareness of the maritime domain, air power is always a significant contributor to this," said Pentagon press secretary, Major General of the Air Force, Patrick S. Ryder, on December 21.

The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are connected by the Suez Canal, but commercial cargo ships have been forced to redirect their ships around the Cape of Good Hope, off the southern coast of Africa, causing significant delays and costs for the global economy.

“These attacks threaten innocent lives around the world and constitute a significant international problem that requires collective action,” the joint statement states. "We remain committed to the rules-based international order and are determined to hold evil actors responsible for illegal seizures and attacks."

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine

Tags: Military AviationNATO - North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.