#i was inspired because my sister and i have been watching face off together (goated show) and reality tv has been on the mind.

[puhpandas]

What's an average conversation between Evan and Gregory like?

(also inspired by an instagram prompt about a flashlight duo sickfic)

Burrow-Nest-Fort

(2,922 words)

Gregory gets sick overnight, and Evan, who stayed over, gets sick as well. They hang out in their little quarantine together with no worries whatsoever.

Gregory groans, long and miserable as Evan takes the thermostat he found in the bathroom out of his mouth. "100.4." Evan says.

"Whyyyy..." Gregory asks aloud, bags under his eyes and completion pale as he sprawls out under his comforter. "I didn't even do anything."

"Nobody gets sick on purpose." Evan smiles a bit, putting the thermostat down.

"You slept right next to me like, all night." Gregory points out. "Do you feel sick at all?"

Now that Evan's thinking about it, he does feel that little prickle in the back of his throat that's the universal sign of an incoming sickness. "...Yeah."

He'd spent the night after coming home with Gregory after school on a Friday like he usually does. Throughout the night, he and Gregory had shared his bed, and Gregory had woken up this morning sick as a dog with no fanfare whatsoever.

Gregory groans again, the roughness in his throat accentuated by the dragged out line. "Great." He frowns, and the stuff clogging up his nose is evidently heard in his voice. "I get sick for no reason and now I make you have to deal with it too."

"Its okay." Evan says genuinely. "Its not like you wanted me to get sick. It's my fault for needing to get in bed with you when I'm too much of a baby anyway."

Gregory just narrows his eyes at Evan at that, his already sunkissed tan cheeks redder from the fever. He just sighs, letting his head fall back against his pillow. "I'm not even responding to that. You know what I'd say anyway."

Yeah. He does. The same thing Gregory's been telling him the past multiple months every time Evan feels sorry for himself. Evan himself sighs, feeling sorry for, well... feeling sorry for himself. "Yeah."

Theres a short spurt of silence after that, but its broken by Gregory. "Whatever." He sucks in through his nose, trying to breathe through the gunk. "Hey, since you're already gonna be a prisoner like me, come here."

Evan raises a brow. "Why?"

Gregory reaches at the foot of his bed to grab his laptop that has ten-thousand stickers on the back. He opens the lid, patting the empty space on the bed next to him. "Let's watch TV, or something. If I don't do something other than lieing here I'm gonna explode."

Evan giggles. "You look like it, too." He says, looking at Gregory's extremely red face from the undoubtedly harsh fever. "You better stop talking until you get a drink or your throat will feel awful later."

Gregory let's his head tilt back against the pillow as he shifts to get more comfortable. "Is my Dad home?"

He takes a look outside the window and sees the white van in the driveway. "Yeah?"

"Go tell him about our predicament." Gregory tells him. "I'd rather get the smothering over with before we get in the middle of an episode."

Evan smiles instinctively at that. "Okay." He replies. "But I'm about to be sick too, okay? It's almost my time to be bedridden too." He says on the way out of Gregory's room.

"Then hoard the snacks while you're down there!" Gregory calls at him, his voice sounding like death.

Evan only says the keywords 'Gregory' and 'sick' before Freddy is thundering up the stairs with Evan struggling to keep up with an armful of junk food.

He only gets to the door seconds after Freddy, but he's already doing said smothering. Somehow, three new throw blankets and a few pillows have appeared out of thin air, and are being tucked around Gregory like a nest of fluff and plush.

"What happened?" Freddy asks, ever worried. "Did something cause this?"

Evan watches Gregory shrug from his bed as he walks around the other side of Freddy, dumping the snacks onto his bedside table. "I dont know." He says, sniffling. "I just woke up sick. And he probably will be too."

Evan knows Gregory must have pointed at him because Freddy is smothering him the next time his brain catches up. "Do you feel alright, Evan?" Freddy asks him, crouching down and feeling his forehead and his temples. "Or should I quarantine the both of you."

Evan laughs slightly, and cringes at how the prickling is steadily getting worse. His head begins to feel a little warm. "Quarantine, I guess." He smiles. "I feel it coming."

"I am sorry." Freddy looks apologetic, despite him doing nothing. He pats Evan on the arm, and hes at the door in an instant. "Get comfortable, you two. I will make you both some soup and orange juice and get you some medicine later."

"Thank you!" Evan calls out half-hazardously as Freddy leaves the room. Gregory pats the little empty space in the next Freddy built for him and hoists his laptop on his knees. "We gotta pick something to watch."

When Evan finally sits down and gets settled with at least two blankets wrapped around his shoulders, he checks the laptop screen to see Gregory browsing an array of TV shows on some streaming service.

Gregory wrestles a hand out from underneath the blankets to point at one. "That one okay?"

Evan laughs at bit, making a miserable noise when his nose begins to clog up. "Yeah. Watching a baking show when your aunt isnt home and we cant get out of bed to make anything is a great idea."

Gregory huffs, and Evan cant see his face, but he imagines he's making one. "No I wont." He says. "My aunts cupcakes are better than any of these people could make."

Evan wiggles a bit, letting his body relax fully into the bed. Gregory's shoulder is pressed against his, and a bit of his hair is touching his forehead. "Stop." He laughs. "You're gonna make me want some."

Gregory laughs, pressing play and clicking on the first episode of a random season. When the episode starts playing and introducing contestants, he makes grabby hands at Evan. Evan just pulls his arm out of the blanket cocoon hes wrapped in and hands him a bag of chips, grabbing crackers for himself.

"This is a Halloween show." Evan points out. "Its January."

"This one is funny though." Gregory replies on the other side of the pillow, sniffling. "They have to carve stuff out of big pumpkins for like, a setting for their food."

Evan's brows raise. "Oh."

Theres this girl that says shes in the show because shes alone and wants to win the prize money for herself and to show everyone that she can do it. Shes one of the only people in the roster who doesnt have a partner or kids at home. Evan thinks hes rooting for her. Theres another guy who looks like hes fresh out of school and says he wants the prize money to start his career and open his own location.

"I'm rooting for him." Gregory says after munching on a handful of Lays. "I want to see how far he gets."

"You just pick the ones that look like theyll struggle so you can feel bad for them." Evan points out.

"I pick the ones who might struggle to watch how they fare against everyone else." Gregory corrects. "Its fun. The skill of watching reality TV is one you havent yet learned, Evan."

Evan scoffs a bit, laughing, and Gregory shifts next to him. "You'll learn as you watch." Gregory tells him. "Trust me."

So after that, Evan just stays quiet and watches. Gregory makes comments now and then, and then later complains about how his throat feels like sandpaper. Evan watches people rush around the kitchen and sketch elaborate sets for their food to be showcased in and carve faces and bodies and animals into pumpkins.

The judges are harsh and kind at the same time. A team's food gets burnt. Some come out perfect. A team gets pounded by the judges and the team the the guy Gregory is rooting for is on is the same the girl Evan's rooting for is. Their team wins the challenge and gets an advantage.

By the end of the first episode, Evan thinks he understands why Gregory watches so much. "Wow." He says just above a whisper, the prickling throat having finally set in all the way. Having nothing to focus on and away from how crap he feels makes him groan in misery, and Gregory isnt far behind him to follow.

"Anthony needs to step it up to impress the judges." Gregory manages in-between sipping at the bottle of water by his bed. "He almost screwed up the decoration."

Evan rolls his eyes, and thinks about how proud winning a challenge made the girl he's rooting for proud of herself. It makes him happy.

"I just want to see what happens next." Evan says, smiling. "I've never watched a lot of TV like this."

"You're missing out." Gregory replies. "Its fine. We can catch you up during our little quarantine."

Their little quarantine. Evan smiles outwardly. That sounds fun. Even if being sick sucks.

Its right before the second episode that Freddy returns to Gregory's room, a big piping bowl of chicken noodle soup in his hands with about two entire hand towels wrapped around the bottom and two spoons stuck in the bowl. He puts a tall glasse of orange juice on the bedside table next to Evan, and the other on the window sill next to Gregory.

Evan unwraps his sore limbs from the cocoon and sits up on the bed, pushing his head with a pillow as he and Gregory use their legs as a table. "Thank you..." Evan says to Freddy, grateful but not without the layer of guilt underneath. "I appreciate it."

"Its no problem, Evan." Freddy smiles in that kind, genuine way of his that's never ever made Evan feel on edge or nervous. Evan grins when Freddy pats him on the head, and Gregory smiles when he does the same to him. "Now I'm sorry, you two," Freddy trails off, pulling a bottle of cough syrup out of an invisible pocket. "But medicine before food, please."

He and Gregory both make ick noises at that, making faces. Freddy laughs at them while he pours the medicine into individual spoons for the two of them, and Evan watches with a twisted lip. "It will make you feel better."

"It better if it tastes like that." Gregory sticks his tongue out. "They're trying to kill us."

"Quite the opposite." Freddy shakes his head, holding out the spoon for Gregory to take first. "Its better to just get it over with, Superstar."

Evan watches as Gregory twists his face into the most dreadful expression hes ever seen, and he cant help but smile in amusement when he makes a show at swallowing it down and making disgusted noises.

Evan takes his with much less more fuss, but his eyes water at the awful fake quote unquote 'grape taste'. He cant help the way his face scrunches up, and both Gregory and Freddy laugh at him.

"Evan," Freddy begins suddenly after capping the medicine and taking the spoons back. His voice sounds more serious, and Evan "I'm going to have to tell your family something about why you aren't home."

Immediately, Evan's stomach drops to his feet.

He must have reacted outwardly, because Freddy frowns. "I know." He says. "But it will be alright. I'll tell them exactly why you're staying over, and--" He cuts himself off, and Evan dares to acknowledge the faint clench in Freddys jaw. "Surely if anything they would not care more than they would be upset."

And Evan finds that Freddys right. He's so used to Michael being in his face all the time that he forgets that his Father is at best neglectful and at worst barely present in his life. If his Father were to react in any way other than a quick 'alright' to the call, it would be a thanks that Evan is out of his hair for at least a few days.

The thought alone tends tears to his eyes. He ducks his head, squeezing his eyes shut when the tears make his nose that much more clogged and his face from the fever that much more unpleasantly hot. "Just tell them that I'm staying the night instead of being sick."

Better to not say he's sick in case his Father suddenly catches onto the maybe lie and thinks more than Evan wants him to. Besides, he could deal without the extra attention from Michael.

Freddy looks like he wants to say something about that, but he doesnt. When Evan peeks up through his home-cut accidental bangs, Freddy just nods, choosing not to linger.

"Alright, Evan." He smiles reassuringly. "Do not worry about it, okay? I'll tell them exactly what you told me to. Just let me handle it."

Just let me handle it. Something about that lingers to him, and it sticks to the walls of his mind.

He's never had anyone to handle it for him before. He's never had someone to take the reigns in regard to his dad and brother to the point where Evan isnt involved. Where he went have to worry about it.

He nods after a few moments, and Evan almost tears up again at the patience. "Okay." He says simply, his voice cracking and rough. He swallows, and ignores the gravelly feeling. "Yes, I would... I would appreciate that. A lot."

Nobody says anything after that, but the silence in comfortable. Freddy just grabs the back of Evan's head and holds it to his chest in a hug, and does the same to Gregory. Gregory snakes an arm around Evan's back and holds him close.

They stay that way for another minute until they break apart, and Freddy smiles that comforting smile at him that's like a weight taken off of his shoulders. "I will handle it." Freddy says again, jerking his head towards the soup. "Now finish your soup, boys. It'll be good for your throat."

Then he shuts the door, and the room is silent. The only sound is Gregorys table fan he always has running and the faint sound of cars outside. The heater kicks on in the house, and the sunlight spills through the open window and casts onto their little bed nest as the only source of light.

Gregory leans back into the bed and gets comfortable, dragging Evan back with him when all he's doing is picking at a roque thread in the hem of his shirt. When Evan looks up, Gregory is smiling with dry, cracked lips, and despite looking like death, its warm.

He doesnt mention anything that just happened. He doesnt try to guess what Evan's deal is and try to help him like he usually does, and Evan's thankful. Gregory seems to understand that now isnt one of the times to do that.

So Evan let's it go. And when Gregory gestures the the soup and nudges Evan's spoon closer to him, Evan just starts eating.

They're back to commentating the show in now time. The soup is only warm instead of hot now, but it still soothes their throat, and the steam clears up their sinuses some. Gregory keeps cracking jokes about the contestants and making fun of the corny host, and Evan laughs along with him, drinking orange juice when his throat prickles.

They marathon the season until the sun passes over the house and all that's left is the dim white sky of winter. The team with both of their favorites makes it to the finale.

The two teams fight over the biggest pumpkin. One of them is uncoordinated and theres a heated argument. Their pumpkin falls and breaks. The other splits up and finishes the pumpkin set in record time and completes their concept with no forks.

By the end, the team they both ended up rooting for wins, and Evan watches as the guy Gregory was rooting for gets his career started, and the girl he was rooting for talks about how she'll open her own bakery and she has friends for life now.

The soup is gone and the orange juice drained by the time the season is over. Gregory says theres eleven more available to watch.

Gregory puts on another season, and Evan burrows further into his little burrito and this time picks a contestant after the team's are decided to be against Gregory.

They watch a whole nother one, and halfway through, the sky outside darkens early like it does in winter, but despite the exhaustion from being sick, Evan wants to go another few hours.

Eventually, right near the finale, Evan and Gregory are forced to leave their blanket armor because Chica apparently came over at some point and baked them cupcakes as a suprise. She brings hot chocolate with her with peppermint sticks in them for their throats, and they eat through them like beavers with wood.

They dont move all day. They only get up to go to the bathroom at the end of the second season (Evan's team won, by the way) to brush their teeth, then they're back in their burrow-nest-fort without asking Freddy to get the air mattress.

Evan still feels like crap when he smushes his face into Gregory's pillow, but it's alright because they're in their little quarantine, and he's out like a light either way, looking forward to another season tomorrow.

ao3 link

#the show theyre watching is halloween wars btw. #i was inspired because my sister and i have been watching face off together (goated show) and reality tv has been on the mind. #ive always been a fan of baking shows and halloween wars has been a favorite since i was a kid because of the elaborate pumpkin sets lol #just wanted to write them hanging out. being bros. #nothing too crazy happens and evan doesnt let his family ruin having fun because for once #he has his real family to handle it for him sometimes. that means the world to him. #evan also was thinking william might think that hes somehow done that 'toughening up' #williams been pounding into his brain since he was little. #of course its toxic masculinity but by now evan knows its not right and he is the way he is and isnt changing. #its just not nice to hear. and michael would be teasing him for 'rebelling' and shit like that #also kudos to you if you noticed the girl evan was rooting for reflected him =) #pandas writes #my fics #flashlight duo oneshots #flashlight duo #gregory #evan #oneshot #sickfic #fnaf gregory #evan afton #basically just put prompts i thought could apply to this oneshot at the top lol

[starbuckie]

𝐢𝐟 𝐢 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

words: 2,393(with song lyrics), 2,300(without song lyrics)

warnings: LaNgUaGe, a little baby bit of angst, fluff, and soft!bucky

summary: y/n tried to move in after the events of infinity war.

a/n: i bring you my first bucky oneshot! dear evan hansen is one of my favorite musicals in the entire world,  and “if i could tell her” is the sweetest song. i thought it would fit well with this plot i came up with and i really enjoyed writing this, so if y’all wanna read more musical inspired fics just let me know (even though i’ll probably still do it anyway). anywaaaaays, enjoy as always, and i hope you guys have a great day <3

main masterlist || sebastian stan characters masterlist

He thought you were awesome

He thought I was awesome? My brother?

Definitely!

You sat in the compound with Nat in silence. Grieving over Chinese food together had become a norm over the past five years. Ever since the snap, losing your teammates and half of the universe had taken a toll on your friendship. You two worked in tandem together still, but there was always that tension in the air, the elephant in the room. Neither of you addressed the “blip” unless you were on a call with the remaining heroes. Five years later, and you two still have trouble speaking about it. 

Quiet footsteps approached letting you know that Steve had arrived. You looked up, and there was your blue-eyed friend, leaning against the doorway, lips turned up in a small smile.

“Chinese food again?” He walked over and sat next to Natasha to grab a plate. “Everytime I come over here you two are sitting at the table eating Chinese takeout without speaking to each other. Natasha, get your feet off the table.” 

Both of you smiled at this. “Okay, dad.” She snarkily responded. Those were the first words she had said all day. Of course Steve could get her to talk. Whenever he came to visit, he was always the one to break the quiet. To get you to smile. Three of you sat and chatted a bit about your days, until there was nothing left to say. Silence heavy in the air, Natasha set her plate down on the table. “I’m going to my room to work on some stuff. I’ll be gone for a bit.” She put her hand on your shoulder and left.

“We’re both aware that that’s code for her going to track Barton down, right?” You sighed heavily and nodded. He knew that she was spending any free time she had trying to find her best friend, but whenever she did find him, she would look at what he’d done and decided to leave it. Clint was grieving too. Natasha had been very reserved, and though the two of you were still close, the distance between her and everyone else seemed farther than ever.

You respected Natasha’s privacy and solitude, but sometimes you really need to talk to her. Much like Natasha, the Avengers were the only family you had, and you had lost them. You had survived and they hadn’t. Feelings were always bubbling in the pit of your stomach, but you had no way to express them. Exhaustion had kept you from your tears, but now that Steve was here, you broke down.

“She needs to grieve.” You took a long breath. “And so do I, frankly. Because everyone’s gone now Steve. There’s nothing left to fucking do. We have no leads about where they may have gone, or what the hell happened! Nothing is in our control anymore. There’s nothing left for us.” After your small outburst, the two of you sat in silence, hot tears trailing down your face.

“He loved you too, you know.” You looked up, red rimmed eyes, staring at him imploringly. “Bucky.”

Bucky. The one person that you had felt strongly towards. God, you wished you had just told him when you had the chance. But you let him walk off into battle before you could say anything. 

You remembered the first time you saw the blue-eyed man. Clint had rushed you and Wanda out of the compound, exclaiming that Steve needed your help. Your friend had literally just thrown her boyfriend(?) through the ground, and everything about it seemed very illegal. Tony had told the two of you to stay inside the compound, but if Cap needed you, you went. After a fun journey to San Francisco to pick up Scott, the four of you found yourselves in a white van, traveling to an airport in Germany.

The first time you laid eyes on him, you could have sworn you were in heaven. Steve’s description of him did Bucky no justice. Long brown hair that fell right above his chin, and pink pouty lips. He had an angled jaw, that at the time you swore could get you pregnant it was so hot, and stubble that covered most of it. He had broad shoulders and you had to stop yourself from ogling his thighs. But what really caught your attention were his eyes. Bright and vibrant, yet tired and dull at the same time. In that moment, you had fallen in love. 

However, your time with him wasn’t very long, as you soon after had to go and fight your old team. Once Steve and Bucky had gotten into the quinjet, you thought that was the last time you would see the pretty, blue-eyed boy. Months later though, after Steve came back to free you, Sam, Clint, Wanda, and Scott, he offered to take you to Wakanda. He knew you were tired, not looking to fight anymore, and T’Challa had offered asylum. Eagerly you had agreed, and flew to Wakanda, where you truly fell in love with James Buchanan Barnes.

Though Bucky was brought out of his cryostasis chamber three months after you had gotten there, the two of you had bonded fairly quickly. It did take him a while to open up to you, considering you had only a brief interaction, but after that, the two of you were inseparable. You would spend mornings watching the beautiful sunrise outside his hut and playing with the goats, afternoons working in the fields, and nights wrapped around each other with blankets, talking about nothing and everything all at once. Over the months, you found yourself falling farther and farther in love with Bucky, but you didn’t know what the two of you were. He always called you “doll”, “honey”, and “sweetheart”, and gave you forehead kisses. He came to you at night when he had nightmares and let you hold him until he fell asleep. But was that love? Did he feel anything for you? You hoped he did. But you let him get away, and now there was nothing left to say.

How?

Well, he said

There's nothing like your smile

Sort of subtle and perfect and real

He said

You never knew how wonderful

That smile could make someone feel

Snapping out of your reverie, you focused back on Steve. “H-he loved me?” Steve chuckled softly and leaned over the table slightly, taking your hand in his. 

“More than anything.” Nodding at him to keep going, he continued. “He told me right before we went to fight. Horrible timing, but that’s how it always is, huh. So goddamn cliche.”

Steve thought back to the conversation he had had with his oldest friend, and recounted it for you.

“What’s going on with you and Y/N, pal?” Steve smiled brightly at his best friend, even though they weren’t in the best circumstances for a catch-up, he was dying to know what was going on between two of his closest friends. Bucky bashfully grinned and dipped his head down in hopes that his best friend wouldn’t see his blush, but to no avail. “Aw, you’re sweet on her, aren’t you?”

“Steve, I’m not sweet on her.” Steve’s smile fell, but Bucky’s only grew. “I think I love her. No, I know I love her.” He smiled fondly into the distance, watching where you were exchanging greetings with Sam and Natasha near Shuri’s lab tables. You were laughing, head thrown back and teeth sparkling in the light. You had a tactical suit on, hair tied up in a sleek ponytail, a rifle in hand, and Bucky thought you never had looked prettier.

Steve had never seen Bucky like this. Calm, peaceful, in love. Granted, they hadn’t exactly been spending lots of time together in the past seventy years, but it made him happy to know that Bucky was happy. “In love? What about her?”

Bucky chuckled and looked back to his friend. “Where do you want me to start?” Bucky sighed before beginning his speech. “She is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. And from what I can remember, I knew a lot of girls back then. I know that waking up and getting to be around her everyday is a blessing, and makes me forget everything. She’s all sunshine and pure happiness, Steve.”

“What else, Buck?” 

“She has the sweetest laugh in the world, and God, her smile is enough to make my entire day. It’s so real, just perfect. I only want to see that for the rest of my life. And she’s always there for me. Y/N is the most open-hearted person I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. She’s strong, hot-headed, kind, beautiful, funny, patient, and just so goddamn beautiful, inside and out. I would spend every single day with her by my side if that were possible.” Bucky then sighed, and his heart ached. Because though she was this wonderful human, how could she want him? His old, broken, damaged, quiet self? She deserved much better.

Steve grinned, completely missing Bucky’s face filled with self-doubt. “I think you’ve got it bad, Bucky. You should tell her.” The brunette simply shook his head.

“Maybe someday.”

But he kept it all inside his head

What he saw he left unsaid

And though he wanted to

He couldn't talk to you

He couldn't find the way

But he would always say

Your eyes started spilling more tears with Steve’s words. Bucky loved you. Bucky loved you. That information should have made you happy, but it just filled you with more grief. Silent sobs were felt through your whole body. “Oh sweet girl, what’s wrong?” Steve immediately got up to hug you, pulling your form into his body.

“We could've had a chance.” You managed to croak out. “We loved each other. We could’ve been happy together. It's strange really. We missed our opportunity.” Steve looked down at you and prodded you to continue your thoughts. “Stevie, I had so many reasons listed out in my head as to why I shouldn’t have told him. Maybe he thought of me as a sister, or wasn’t ready for a relationship. But to find out that we could’ve been happy together… it hurts worse than any of those options. We never told each other, and kept it inside of our heads. And now he’s gone.”

Steve continued to hold you throughout your breakdown. Your tears soaked his tee shirt, but he didn’t mind. And it was on that day in March of 2023, that the two of you mourned James Buchanan Barnes.

But we're a million worlds apart

And I don't know how I would even start

If I could tell her

If I could tell her

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

If someone had told Bucky that he would pass out in one battle and wake up to yet another one five years in the future, he probably would’ve hurt them. However, the only people he thought of hurting right now were Thanos and his stupid goonies. Blasting another creature to the ground, he grunted and pulled a hair tie off his wrist. Thank God Shuri forced him to carry them with him all the time, because his hair really was unmanageable. Tying half of his hair up in a small bun at the back of his head, he wondered what the hell was happening. No one had told him anything before they came onto this destructive wasteland. T’Challa just gave him a hand to help him off the ground, and told him that Steve needed his help.

Suddenly, a flash of navy blue sailed past him and it was like he was seeing you for the first time again. He stared at you, dumbfounded. Though he had only been gone for a few hours(in his point of view), you looked older, more mature, and a lot more tired. Your hair had been cut shorter, but you were still as beautiful as ever. 

You brushed off some dust and looked around. The rest of your team had come back. Though you were in the middle of a battle, you couldn’t stop smiling. Tears were blocking your vision, but your emotions were on a rollercoaster right now, and you wanted all of it to be over. You saw Doctor Strange lifting up a storm along with many other wizards. Actually, were they wizards? You had no clue. Tony and Pepper fought side by side in the skies, and even Peter was holding the gauntlet as he rode on a pegasus’ back. But what caught most of your attention was the tall brunette, blue-eyed man staring right back at you. 

“Bucky?” Tears found a path down your face, but you really didn’t care anymore. You ran towards him, aliens be damned. They could wait. After all, you had to wait five years. 

Bucky saw you run towards him and he sprinted towards you with the same fervor, hot, salty tears falling from his eyes. His heart was filled with relief as he took you in.

And how do you say

I love you

I love you

I love you

I love you

Finally meeting each other in the middle, you grasped his face and brought your lips to his. He immediately gripped your waist and tugged you as close as he could to your body. This kiss was needy and heated, filled with hurry and passion. His tongue ran along your bottom lip, and you opened yourself up to him. When you finally pulled back for air, your heart was beating, fast.

“I love you, Bucky. So goddamn much.” Tears continued to flow down your cheeks, but you laughed, because after all these years, he was real, alive, and right in front of you.

“I love you too, Y/N. More than I can say.” He took his vibranium hand to wipe tears off your cheek, and pulled you back in for another kiss. This one, unlike the first one, was full of pure emotion, and the two of you put much more love into it. You smiled against his lips, and soon enough he did too. Because right now, in the middle of a battle, you found each other, and for now that was enough. No thoughts about the future, or the past. Just raw, pure, real love.

#buckybarnes #bucky x you #bucky barns imagine #bucky x reader #james buchanan bucky barnes #james barnes #james buchanan barnes #oneshot #fanfic #fanfcition #buckybarnes fanfiction #fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel #sebastianstan #sebstan #sebastian stan #sebastian stan character #sebastian stan characters #avengers #avenger #reader insert #bucky barnes x reader #readerinsert #endgame #avengers endgame #avengersendgame #dear evan hansen #if i could tell her #covidー19

[onthepageoftears]

Nights Like This (Geralt x Reader) // Witcher

A/N: I was hesitant to write this, but because it was a request I decided to try out some Geralt x reader. I hope it came out okay but lemme know what you think!

Request: @haade-s​ The last fic was amazing! I was wondering if I could request a Geralt x reader this time. When they're around other people (including Jaskier) she's very much like Geralt where she only replies to people with grunts or "hm" like him but when they're completely alone she just talks & talks & talks & Geralt loves hearing about all the thoughts she's had to hold in bc she hates people just as much as he does. Jaskier sneaks up on their camp & just knows they are perfect for each other 💖💖 thanks!!

Warnings: Jaskier being an idiot brother, mentions of fighting

Words: 1,091

Please Don’t Plagiarize My Work!

Being a bard’s sister was one of the hardest parts of your life.

Yes, you loved Jaskier. Yes, you would do anything for him. But sometimes, he was the biggest idiot you’ve ever met — and you had come across a lot of people while you two traveled together.

When you two were younger, your differences were astounding. You were only a year apart, but as Jaskier reached for anything that could be donned an instrument (sticks to rocks, the bell in your mother’s kitchen, sometimes even your own hair), you reached for something that could be used as a weapon. Which, to be fair, was much easier to find and use against Jaskier than any musical instrument. Jaskier was the younger sibling, and you used your older sibling advantages as much as you could. Of course, that meant beating him up whenever your parents turned around.

Soon, though, you both grew up to the adults you were. Jaskier continued his love of music, and you continued your love of fighting — sort of. You were never truly allowed to become a hunter as you wished, but you settled on becoming Jaskier’s ‘bodyguard’. You and Jaskier traveled together; he relied on you for some protection, and you relied on him for coin and his idiotic company. You were a pretty good team, though Jaskier’s rise to fame was taking a little longer than planned.

At least, until you met the Witcher. The first time you laid your eyes on him, you thought he would be trouble. You nodded your head over to the brooding man that sat alone in the corner, seeing his silence as a threat. Of course, Jaskier didn’t catch your warning at all. Instead, he ran right over to the man, introduced himself, and asked for a review.

So, yeah. Being a dimwit’s sister was one of the toughest jobs you would ever take.

By the time you got over to Jaskier, he was introducing you to the Witcher.

“This is my sister—“

“Bodyguard.” You corrected, flicking your cynical eyes to the white-haired man.

He looked back at you. “You’re siblings.”

You both nodded.

“You look nothing alike.”

“Meaning I am incredibly handsome, and Y/N here is the spitting image of a goat’s arse—“

Your whack to the back of your brother’s head made him squeal in pain.

The bold move to speak the witcher, who you learned was named Geralt, proved to be a good one. Both you and Jaskier had been trying to find some more adventure — him for the inspiration, and you for the thirst of the fight. Moving from place to place wasn’t good enough for either of you, especially without some thrills in between. But you two learned that traveling with Geralt wasn’t as fun as you thought it would be.

“Wait here.” He grunted, gesturing towards his horse. Yet again, Geralt expected you to wait around while your brother tried to compose his next song. You both decided to tag along with Geralt to get new experiences, and here you were having to watch the fights from a way too sparse of a distance.

This time, you needed to do something. “I can help.” You stepped forward, expecting another cold shoulder.

Instead, Geralt turned back around and nodded. “I know you can. Which is why I need you here.”

It was the first time Geralt trusted you with his plan. He was to lure the creature from its cave, and you were to make sure it didn’t escape. The two of you ended up fighting it together, finishing it off with two final blows of your swords.

That night, you and Geralt were sitting against the same tree near the fire. 

Geralt shifted in his spot to look at your dimly lit face. “You're a good fighter.”

“I know.” You barely looked at him as he let out a predictable ‘hm’. You didn’t expect him to speak further. 

“You don’t talk much,” he noted.

“Neither do you.” Geralt continued to look at you, waiting for a real answer. You shrugged and placed your hands over the fire. “Julian speaks enough for both of us.”

“He speaks enough for the city of Novigrad.”

You laughed lightly, then looked over to your brother, who lay asleep. It was true; he was the talent, and you were the muscle. It just worked that way and had for a long time. You never felt the need to share anything more about yourself, unless it was absolutely necessary. Which, to be honest, was quite rare.

But the more you spent time with Geralt, the more you felt yourself open up. It was like someone finally understood your need to fight. It was a thirst that could never be quenched, an itch that could never be scratched. 

You and Geralt would talk lowly into the night, exchanging stories and experiences — though, Geralt had millions more than you did. You shared your favorite techniques, which armors worked best for which jobs, how many blades you went through in a month’s time. You felt like you hadn’t spoken this much in your whole life — as you went to sleep each night, it left a small smile on your face knowing Geralt would be there to talk to when you woke up.

You would never admit this to Jaskier, of course. He’d tease you so much you’d probably have to shove his face in a Drowner’s guts before he shut up. And even then, he might still run his mouth. But little did you know that Jaskier already knew about your long nightly talks with Geralt, and the way your face brightened hotter than the fire at your feet. Besides, you and Geralt never spoke that quietly. The first night it happened, Jaskier almost yelled at you two to shut up. But the smile on your face was enough to keep him quiet, for that night and the rest to come.

Jaskier wasn’t blind to Geralt’s affection either — when the Witcher typically spoke one to two words at a time, with you he was speaking actual, fully thought out sentences. Your brother didn't think that was possible, nor did he think you would be the one to rip those sentences out of the man. 

Anyway, Jaskier dealt with your oddly satisfying affection towards one another because even though he teased you endlessly, he too wanted to see you happy. And if that meant having to watch you snuggle up with the Witcher himself by the fire, then so be it.

#the witcher #the witcher imagine #geralt x reader #geralt imagine #geralt of rivia #reader insert #self insert imagine #jaskier #imagine #drabble #the witcher netflix #request #my writing #writing

[thestarkerisobvious]

Black Cats Are Delicious

inspired by @starker-sorbet​        

moodboard by @von--gelmini​ aka @starker-stories

A snugglefic for @mrstarksbabyy​

With great thanks for the betaread by @mrstarksbaby​

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At 13, Peter made friends with the Thing that Lived Under the Bed.  But things change.  Nothing stays the same (not even  2000 year old demons.)

SEVENTEEN

Chapter 2         Black Cats Are Delicious

In the rose-strewn bedroom, Tony fed.  When he was finished (and after he had done other lovely things with his mouth, other secret things) he lay his head on Peter’s chest.  Peter combed his fingers through Tony’s hair as he spoke about his research. 

“…and I’ve talked to Matthew and Mike’s Mee-maw, and I’m going to go back and talk to her after church Sunday.  She’s blind but she still knits and she can talk for hours, Matthew says, but she hasn’t talked to me much.  She’s still trying to find out how we’re related and Matthew says I should just give up and say I’m a cousin but then she keeps asking questions about how we’re cousins and that gets confusing.  Or she keeps thinking I’m a Post.  Because she can’t wrap her head around why anyone who wasn’t a Post would live in our house.  Is it true that everyone knew the Post girls were witches and didn’t care?”

“The townspeople believed the Post Daughters were excellent and most honorable curandera and wise-women and folk-healers and Aunties and Grandmothers.  They never used such crude, base words as ‘witch’ or ‘bruja’ or ‘hag.’  How dare they? It was ignorant and embarrassing. It was bad luck.”

“You convinced them it was bad luck.”

“Of course I did,” Tony said, kissing Peter in the center of his chest.  “I am your dreammaster.”

“Is it true that all those spellbooks were full of spells to find buried treasure?  And how to heal people?  Did you help Lavern Post heal people?  Matthew’s Mee-maw said everyone loved Lavern Post because she healed people…

“Lavern was the daughter of Micaela D’arruda,” Tony said, as if that explained it.  He began kissing a path to Peter’s left nipple, pouting a little when Peter asked him for more information.

“Micaela D’arruda had come with her brother from Portugal to tutor the Post children.”  Satisfied with his answer, he began teasing the pebbled flesh with his lips, giving a little mew of frustration when Peter inserted a hand in between Tony’s mouth and the reaction it caused.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he giggled.

“I did,” Tony pouted. Unable to kiss what he wanted, he settled for kissing Peter’s hand.

“No, you told me about the Portuguese tutors which the family was constantly hiring straight from Portugal that kept marrying into the family.  I already learned that on my own.  I asked you if you were helping Lavern Post be a famous healer.”

Tony glared at him a little and kissed his way across Peter’s chest.  

“I just told you that Lavern Post was the granddaughter of Tia Micaela, the witch of D’arruda,” he said, as he began nuzzling Peter’s right nipple.  “Tia Micaela was a very gifted bruja from Cueva de Salamanca.  Her grandaughter had very little use for me...” he concluded sourly as he lay his mouth down completely and began to suck. 

Peter relaxed and enjoyed the sensation, even as his mind tried to process the information he was given.  A line of powerful magical women with no need for Tony.  Tony’s hurt pride that Lavern Post had no need of his remarkable healing ability because she had a remarkable healing ability of her own.  The fact that his third nipple was becoming painfully hard because of what Tony was doing to other parts of his body.

He carefully considered all the information, and finally he posed a question.

“What are you doing?”

Tony looked up at him slyly.  “Feeding on your light.”

“How is that different from this?” Peter asked with a grin, gesturing to his witchesmark, now pulsing and eager for attention. 

“This is meat…” Tony said with a growl, descending his mouth upon it.  He suckled for a few moments before he returned to where he had been before.  

“But this is red wine.”

“Well the red wine is getting ticklish,” Peter scolded, covering his right nipple with one hand.  As much as he loved watching Tony’s mouth, his sensitive bits could only take so much.

Tony pouted again, so Peter moved his lover’s head gently to the other side of his chest.  “And what is this?”

“This is white wine,” Tony crooned as his mouth descended again.  Peter tried to relax and let Tony enjoy himself for a long as he could. 

Still, he had questions.

“Then what is the vein in my neck?”

Tony pulled up with a smile.  “This…” he said, turning Peter’s head to one side and kissing a path along the vein, “is what my master loves the most.”

“Well… it’s one thing I love the most,” Peter murmured as Tony sucked at the vein.

“And this,” Tony whispered as he pulled Peter’s left hand to his mouth, “Is the vein that leads to your heart.”  He kissed the wrist once, then took Peter’s last two fingers into his mouth and sucked. 

 Peter allowed it for a moment.  Then he pulled his hand free, took Tony’s hand and led it downward.  

“And what is this?” 

Tony made an appreciative noise as he gently wrapped his fingers around Peter’s cock.

“This is ambrosia.”  

He sank down to kiss the object in question for a few moments, but then returned to lay his head back on Peter’s chest.

“Did the other Posts have witchesmarks?” Peter asked quietly.

“Very few.  They are very rare.  Nehemiah Post had one upon his…”

“Nevermind,” Peter said quickly.  

Tony gave a wry grin, but didn’t finish his sentence.  “And his grandson did, and that grandson’s son.  Very small ones.  None other of the Post men would bear one.

“Tia Micaela was said to have had one, and more than one of her granddaughters did also, but none past the age of 16.”

“Wait… wait… you mean they go away?”

Tony nodded sadly.  “The natural ones, yes.  To  bear one for your entire life, that is very rare.”

Peter was secretly glad.  He didn’t want to know if anyone else had enjoyed Tony the way he was enjoying Tony now.  He had read in a book that demons took the form of cats to nurse at their witches’ mark.  Peter decided that’s how the other Posts had fed Tony.

“Is a Mee-Maw a Tia?” Tony was asking now.

“It’s a great-grandmother.  What is a Tia?”

“A ‘tia’ is an aunt.  A ‘Tia’ is an older woman who helps many people.  The Mee-Maw of the DeSlaughters sounds very knowledgeable.”

“She said Lavern Post could turn snakes into black cats, and that’s why this property has so many cats and no snakes,  but I know you are the one who got rid of the snakes,” Peter said, noting the pride on Tony’s face.  “But she said that’s why the place was overrun with black cats.  Is it true the place was overrun with black cats?”

Tony made a noise that was a cross between a hungry sound and a purr.  “Black cats are delicious.”

“What?  Why did you say that?” Peter said, laughing a little, pushing Tony off his chest.  “I keep wondering why all of  the cats are all over our property and I don’t see any all-black ones.”

“They are delicious because they are so rare.”

“Why!?” Peter tried to sound angry through his giggles.

 “Why are they rare?  They are rare because I ate them all.”

He laughed at Peter’s pretend blows to the chest and pushed his hands away playfully, bringing their mouths close together and whispered, “My Master-Doctor.  I will tell you a riddle.  

“Little-Micaela claimed that there were no black cats in the spellbooks of her family.  Her grandmother’s spellbooks called for white cats, very well fed and well groomed, with a black spot in the chest, over seven years old, to be washed three times before sacrificed to her demon-servant.  Now you must discover why.”

“Are 7-year-old clean white cats with black spots very rare?  Because they were all eaten?”

Tony looked slightly impatient.  

“You must ask “what one does with the white cat?”  It is used in the spell to kill a lover.  Tia Micaela’s servant had searched out a most handsome and wealthy lover, all the away from Brazil, had convinced the royalty to allow him to return from exile and live at her side.  Within a year she had tired of him and bade her servant kill him.  Her servant agreed, for the sacrifice of a well fed white cat of seven years with a black spot on its chest.  Now discover why.”

“Because…there was no such thing?”

Tony rolled his eyes, but Peter found the face too beautiful to let the expression hurt his feelings.  “Alright I can’t discover the riddle.  Tell me the answer.”

“Tia Micaela loved a white cat with a black spot on it’s chest.  And kept it at her knee for seven years!”

“Oh!  Was the cat… did the cat give her dem… I mean her friend, more power?  Because it was her own pet?”

“Perchance.  But I suspect her demon sought to force her to decide, would this loathsome task be worth the death of her bebê.”

“Did she decide she could live with her lover, since it meant she could keep her cat?

“No.  And that is why all the Books of St Cyprian of that family call for the bones of a white cat with a black spot on his chest.”

“Wait… did her demon like her lover from Brazil?  Is that why he didn’t want to do it?”  Peter said carefully, thinking.  It occurred to him, just then, how Tony had gladly fulfilled a suicide request, without hesitation, for Tom Dylan.  But not for his sister Ada.

“Perchance.  Perchance he did not wish to return to Brazil to find another lover.”

“Are you saying… are you saying all those spellbooks call for a black cat because SOMEONE once had sacrificed their beloved black cat to a demon, and that fact just got copied over and over and over again?”

Tony shrugged carelessly, then he smiled.  He reached out and stroked Peter’s face.  “All the chickens in the coop.  Strut around the egg in the hole.  They feed the family.  But the black chicken, that one is mine, and all the family knows it.  All the goats in the pen.  They meh and stamp.  They get pat on the head.  They feed the family.  But the black one is mine, and the family knows it.”

“And that’s what makes it delicious.  Because it’s special.  I get it.  But those were going to get eaten by someone anyway, those aren’t pets.  Pets aren’t supposed to be eaten.  

“So…  if I had a pet, and I loved it, would you ask me to sacrifice it to you?

“If you asked me to kill the lover I brought to you all the way from Brazil?” Tony  said casually.  “Yes.”

“Would you really go all the way to Brazil to bring me a back a lo… a boyfriend?”

“The handsome men upon the television, the ones you dream of, you say they all live in California...”

Peter was quiet for a long time, thinking.  He opened his mouth, but then closed it again.   Tony watched him, waiting.  

“In America… some men get married to other men.  I read that in a… book.  So…”  he said.  He looked down and their fingers as they tangled together.  Then he laid his head down on Tony’s chest.

“Tony,”   he said finally.  Would you be jealous if I grew up to marry another man?”

Tony moved away little and tucked his arm under his head.  He looked up at the canopy over the bed,  which meant he was trying to remember something.

“Do you mean…in “a Ligação de David e Jonathan?” 

“I don’t know… I know who David and Johnathan are, but I don’t know that.  Would you be jealous?”

“When the ceremony was complete, I would serve him as well.  Are you speaking of Matthew DeSlaughter?”  

“What?  No!  Why would I… no.  I mean… I mean after I go to college and meet someone and we got married.  Would you be jealous. That's what I meant.”

“Marriage creates bindings, and bindings create family, and family I am obliged to protect,” Tony said simply.

“And you wouldn’t be jealous?”

“Of your mortal lover?”  Tony asked, looking both amused and confused.

“Oh!  Oh, I see.  So if …. So if I found a spellbook that called another demon…”

“I would tear him to little pieces.”

“Oh!”  Peter said, a little taken aback.  He tucked his head into Tony’s shoulder, blushing.  

“There are many black cows, three leagues south of us,” Tony whispered, kissing the top of Peter’s head, a smile in his voice.  “And many cows with black spots a good league east, so very many…”

“Those cows belong to other people Tony,” Peter scolded, smiling even as Tony kissed him.  “I told you, no stealing…”

Tony made a groaning noise as he pulled Peter close, but Peter knew Tony’s way of teasing.  One hand was slyly moving to caress Peter’s witchesmark, which meant Tony wanted to feed again.  Peter moaned in response and tangled their legs together.

He truly hoped it would rain all summer long.

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The Master Post (not that one, the other one)

as always please direct comments, questions and constructive crit to @witchwayisright

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#The Thing That Lives Under The Bed #Demon!Tony #TheWitchwayWritesStuff #Von's Moodboards #Peter Parker/Tony Stark #Starker

[bloodtroth]

Hum... 31 or 99? I can see both go either fluff or angst. Choose whichever inspires you, because you are good at writing both 😀

@luckymoony

99. ���I fell in love with you, not them.”

"I don't see why, I fell in love with you, not them," Gellert said, a frown marring his handsome face. He watched as the rock he had thrown bounced off the surface of the lake one, two, three times before inevitably losing its trajectory and sinking beneath the surface.

Albus put a leaf inside his book to mark the page he was reading before putting it away. "Gellert, they are my family. You could at least make some effort to get to know them better."

Sullen, Gellert stared at the lake and threw another rock."Aberforth hates me."

Albus sighed and reached out for Gellert's hand before he could throw a third rock. "Aberforth- well Aberforth is Aberforth, he's always been difficult."

He moved closer to Gellert and cupped his head within his palms. He turned Gellert's head to face him and smiled pleadingly. "You could at the very least get to know Ariana better since we are taking her with us."

When Gellert just looked at him, a frown still evident on his forehead, Albus became uncertain. "We are still going together, aren't we?" he asked, hoping that the insecurity he was feeling didn't show in his voice.

Gellert gripped the hands holding his face and pressed them even closer to his skin. "I'm sorry, of course we are. I couldn't imagine parting from you."

Relieved, Albus smiled and pecked Gellert on the lips. "So, will you make an effort to get to know her better or not?"

Gellert nodded, "If it's that important to you, certainly."

---

Albus yawned and rubbed his eyes as he descended the stairs to the front room of the house. He frowned as he heard giggling coming from the living room. Curious, he went to the open door and peered around it, blinking in astonishment as he realised what he was seeing.

Ariana and Gellert were sitting on the living room floor, entirely covered in flowers. Gellert was wearing a bemused smile as he let Ariana tie yet another flower bracelet around his wrist. He was already wearing two flower crowns, three flower necklaces and four bracelets in both arms. Ariana was similarly attired.

Albus covered his mouth to prevent a laugh from escaping him. Despite his efforts, Gellert heard him and turned sharply towards the door. When he saw it was just him, he smiled sheepishly and waved for him to come in. Albus took the invitation and walked over to the pair on the floor. Ariana smiled as she saw him and pointed to the one flower-free spot in the room, which happened to be located next to Gellert.

Albus smiled and took the indicated seat, "Good morning, Ari. I see you have established a florist shop."

Ariana giggled and selected a flower crown made of lilies from the pile on the floor and extended it to him. Albus bent down so she could place it on his head. When he straightened, he turned his head to show it off to delighted Ariana. Ariana clapped her hands in joy and went back to digging through the pile of various types of flower jewellery.

Albus smiled at Gellert who was still looking bemused to be wearing so many flowers on his person. He did make a funny sight with his elegant, all-black clothing contrasted against the softer colours of the flowers that were practically covering his whole body. Albus let out a small snicker. Gellert glared at him, but slight twitching of his lips betrayed him. Thank you, Albus mouthed in his direction. Gellert smiled a bashful smile and shook his head. Anything for you, his eyes seemed to say.

Their silent conversation was interrupted by Ariana tugging on their sleeves. They looked at her and saw that she was holding two flower rings in her hand. They both took one and were about to put them on their fingers when Ariana interfered.

"No."

Albus frowned and looked at Gellert. "No, what Ariana? You don't want us to put them on?"

"Each other. Put it on each other," Ariana said, indicating between them. Albus looked at Gellert and blushed. He smiled apologetically, but Gellert shook his head to show that it was fine.

As Gellert took hold of his hand and slipped the ring on his finger, Albus couldn't help but hold his breath. With a shaking hand, he slid the ring he was holding onto Gellert's finger.

Ariana beamed at them and said, "Now, kiss."

Albus blushed deep-red, absolutely mortified. His siblings weren't supposed to know about them. "Aria-"

He was cut off by Gellert's lips on his. Immediately forgetting that his sister was in the room, he leaned in and returned it. Ariana's delighted giggling brought him back to reality, and he pulled away, his ears pink. Gellert just smirked at him, the bastard.

After a moment, Albus smiled and shook his head, leaning against Gellert. There was no use hiding it now, after all.

Ariana went back to rummaging through her collection, and they stayed there sitting on the floor -and wearing an increasing number of flowers- until Aberforth came back from feeding his goats.

#wow this is fluffy #grindeldore #fic #my fic #prompt fic #luckymoony

[pepperonijem]

In the Ashes || Bucky Barnes

masterlist

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Warnings: major angst and INFINITY WAR SPOILERS

Word count: 2.6k

Summary: “What’s left to do with these broken pieces on the floor? I’m losing my voice calling on you.”

A/N: This was originally sent in as a drabble request, but I felt I couldn’t do it proper justice in less than 500 words, so here we are. (I put the request under the cut, to avoid spoilers) Grab some tissues y’all, it’s about to get angsty

A/N pt 2: “can i request bucky and the reader during the fight at wakanda where thanos uses the reality stone to make bucky believe the reader is thanos and he kills her on accident and he only realizes it’s her when she begins to fade away, he doesn’t even get to say goodbye (sorry it’s dark, ilysm❤️) maybe even inspired by Ashes- Céline Dion” from @awyglenxkbskcbs 

“You gonna be okay?” Steve asked as he sat down beside you. After telling Sam to fly the quinjet towards what appeared to just be a mountain range, Steve noticed you had the jitters and wanted to check on you. “I know you haven’t seen him in a while, but I also know he’s excited to see you.” You smiled softly and nodded, but your gaze fell to the floor.

A soft sigh escaped your lips as you fidgeted with the straps on your gloves. “I know, it’s just… I wish the circumstances were better.” You finally turned your head up to look at Steve. “I wish I was at home, watching The Office reruns with Bucky, instead of trying to fight against the apocalypse.”  

Steve didn’t respond, instead wrapping an arm around your shoulder as you leaned your head against him. You looked up to Steve, not just as a captain or a hero, but as a friend. He knew what it was like to be separated from the one you love, and he was always there to lean on and you were thankful for him.  

You continued to rest against Steve until Sam called out from the pilot seat of the jet. “Cap, I think we’re here.” You looked out of the windshield to see Wakanda for the first time and the sight had you breathless. The city was beautiful and modern, the epitome for technological progress, the literal definition of a hidden gem. Steve pat Sam on the back as he directed him towards where to land, and you stood up along with Natasha and the rest of your group. As the jet approached the landing site you noticed a group of people gathering around, including T’Challa and Okoye, whom you’d met before. You heard Bruce whisper to Rhodey behind you, asking if he should bow, and let out a small laugh when Rhodey answered yes. Wanda and Vision stood behind them, also snickering at Bruce’s question, knowing he took it too seriously.

When the quinjet finally landed, you walked out beside Steve and Natasha. You scanned through the small crowd in front of you as Steve greeted T’Challa until your eyes found a familiar pair of worn blue ones. You reflexively smiled at him and when he returned it, your heartbeat went crazy. It wasn’t until Natasha nudged you in the side that you looked back over to T’Challa who was smiling at you warmly.

“(y/n), nice to see you again,” he greeted before taking your hand in a firm handshake. “I see you’ve already found Mr. Barnes.” T’Challa laughed before looking towards Bucky and gesturing for him to come forward.

Steve greeted Bucky with a quick hug and a pat on the back, and even though Steve was here only two weeks ago to see him, they made it seem like it had been months. Bucky then turned to you, and you felt your stomach drop to your knees when you realized he was close enough for you to smell the ever-familiar scent of his cologne. The smile on his face was unlike the ones he used to show before he left for Wakanda. Back then, his smiles were forced and restrained, like he was afraid of his happiness being snatched away. But this smile, this smile spread all the way to his eyes, and if you weren’t so lost in the moment, you would have noticed the almost literal twinkle in them when he looked at you. He quickly pulled you into a tight embrace and you buried your head in his neck, savoring the feeling of being in his arms. For the last two years you had been on the run moving from run-down hut to another, never quite being able to settle down, but here in Bucky’s arms, you were home, and even when he pulled away you were stuck on cloud 9.

“Hi,” he finally said. You let out a small chuckle playfully pushed him.

“Hi yourself,” you smiled. You and Bucky continued to look at each other, just appreciating the other’s presence with a comfortable silence resting between you, until Sam broke it.

“Just kiss already,” he teased. “We know you’re just trying to not make it awkward for us, but trust me, this weird staring game is more awkward.” Natasha laughed in agreement and you matched the blush that was creeping onto Bucky’s cheeks. The rest of the group began walking towards the inside of the palace, leaving you and Bucky to yourselves. He shyly bit his lip, before pulling you in for a sweet and long overdue kiss. His lips felt soft and relaxed on yours, much opposed to the rough and tired kisses he gave you before going back under.

After remembering your human need to breathe, the two of you broke apart and Bucky took your hand and the two of you went off to find the rest of the group. The halls echoed with your laughter as Bucky caught you up with his new life in Wakanda, he told you about the goats he named after you and Steve, how you just have to see them because he knows you’ll love them, about the new arm Shuri had made for him, and about the new coconut oil he was using to keep his hair healthy. You brought him up to date with your life as well, about how you haven’t slept on a good bed in so long, but you’ve learned 3 more languages, and that you have a newfound love of German food.

But your happy nostalgia came to an abrupt halt when you entered the room. “They’re on their way, and we don’t have much time left,” Bruce said. “They know the soul stone is in Vision, and they won’t stop until it’s out of Vision.”  You and Bucky looked at each other with concern, before turning to Wanda who had tears spilling out of her eyes, knowing that she would have to be the one to destroy Vision and the stone if it came to that. T’Challa’s younger sister Shuri spoke next.

“Then why don’t we take it out of him first?” She suggested. She and Bruce began to discuss with Wanda and Vision the scientific possibilities of removing the stone and destroying it without harming Vision while Steve pulled you, Bucky, Sam, and Natasha off to the side.

He explained that no matter what happened, the mission was to not let the Black Order near this room. “This is what we’re here to do, and really, it might be the last thing we do,” Steve explained. “But we’re soldiers today. We’re not just fighting for one people today, but the whole universe. So think of the people around you, those you love and those who love you.” You and Bucky kept your eyes ahead, but his metal digits found yours and gave you a small squeeze. “Those are the people looking up to us, so whatever it takes, we’re not gonna let them down. Not today, not ever.”

The sound of a crash ended Steve’s speech and the group flocked to the window to see the first aircraft land and crash. They were here. The team flocked out, leaving behind Wanda, Vision and Shuri but before you could leave, Bucky grabbed you by the arm. “Listen, doll, if anything… if anything happens--” but you cut him off with a kiss before he could finish his sentence. You grazed his cheek with your palm and he softened his grip on your arm.

“No, Buck,” you countered. “Tonight, after all this shit is over, and we’ve done our job, we’re gonna take a long shower, make some hot chocolate, and then lay in your bed and we’re gonna watch The Office until we fall asleep, while your goats bleat around us, okay? Because I love you, and you love me, and we’re not going to let each other down.” You kept a smile on your face but you could see the worry still etched in the wrinkles around Bucky’s eyes. “So let’s do this the way we’re gonna do the rest of our lives -- together.” His face finally softened and he leaned in to kiss you on the forehead with a whispered “I love you” before you sped out to meet with the group.

The battle was shifting in your favor for a while. By opening the small section, you and the other avengers were able to streamline the creatures summoned by the black order. You fought alongside Natasha, the two of you teaming up to maim and kill the alien demons. But eventually you realized that no matter how many you killed, there were another 10 to replace it and you began to grow tired, but you continued to fight, feeling all the more hopeless by the day. It wasn’t until Thor arrived that you once again had hope for the battle. But when Vision came down and Thanos arrived, you and the other Avengers rushed over to try to defend the stone. Thanos was powerful, but so were you and your friends.

While Steve had Thanos distracted you made an effort to immobilize the glove, as Bruce had mentioned that’s where his power was concentrated. Steve was throwing jabs left and right, and Sam covered for you as you attempted to plant a grenade in the palm of the gauntlet, hoping to at least make a dent in it. But before you could reach the palm of his hand, he shut his fist, causing the gauntlet to glow, and smacked you away from him. The magnitude of his attack sent you flying against a bed of rocks and you rolled off and onto your back, almost unable to move. You slowly stood up, leaning against a tree for support. Every bone in your body felt stretched and brittle and you sucked in a breath at the sharp pain. The world around you seemed to sink low and you felt heavy, as if your center of gravity shifted. Your vision was still hazy from the impact, but you could see that Thanos was nowhere to be found, your bet was that he used the stone to disappear to another part of the dense forest, and you were thankful because right now you couldn’t fight. There was no energy left for you to. You watched as your friends rushed over to where Vision was, trying to create a wall of defense around him in case Thanos showed back up, and you made an effort to shuffle over. But your legs wouldn’t budge, and every effort felt like fire in your bones. You continued to try until you saw Bucky and Natasha leave the group and run over towards you and a smile spread on your face at the sight. You extended your arm to them, but then you let out a gasp once you saw it.

That wasn’t your arm.

As Bucky and Nat got closer, you saw that the looks on their faces were not of concern, but of anger. Bucky, full of fury, let out a battle cry before swinging his metal arm against you. You had no time to react, as every movement brought you more pain, so instead you allowed yourself to be knocked down. You tried to speak, to call out to Bucky to let him know that it was you, but the only thing you could let out was a pained gasp as Bucky took a jab at your chest.

“Where the hell is she?!” he demanded, not relenting on his hits. Natasha watched as he continued, and tried to call out to him and pull him back, but Bucky resisted. He heard nothing but the sounds of his own sobs and the thuds of his metal fist against the broken purple body in front of him. “What did you do with her? Bring her back!” He moved his fists to your jaw and although your arm reached up to try to block the hits, you were too distracted by the pain in Bucky’s voice to push him away from you. Time seemed to move slower and the world slowly got darker, and you couldn’t help the guilt that made its way into your stomach when you thought about how you were going to be letting down a lot of people today.

It wasn’t until Bucky heard the pained shouts of Wanda from the group that he finally stopped attacking you and allowed Natasha to pull him away. “Jesus Christ, Bucky, something’s wrong,” she chastised him. He turned around to where Nat was looking to see two beams of red energy streaming in both directions -- one towards the stone in Vision’s head, and the other towards…

Bucky was finally hit with the realization and he fell down to his knees. He gave out a gradual crescendo of “No”s until he was screaming it with every ounce of oxygen in his body. Bucky couldn’t even keep his eyes open, feeling too guilty to even face the bloodied body in front of him, the body that was destroyed at his hands. At his cries, the real Thanos once again shut his fist and you returned to normal. “Buck,” you called to him, your voice now hoarse and laced with pain -- pain that he caused -- and he finally opened his eyes to look at you. He crawled over to you and lifted your head and laid it on his lap, still chanting “no, no, no,” like it was a prayer. He tried to stroke your hair, and you felt his hands tremble against your scalp. You forced out a smile, not wanting to Bucky to see your pain. “Don’t forget to add the cinnamon on my cocoa,” you whispered softly. Even over the sound of Wanda screaming in the distance, and Thanos ripping the stone out of Vision’s head, and the sound of Thor’s battlecry approaching, Bucky only heard your voice. You felt that you were allowed to be selfish, just this once, to want this moment to be only about you and the love of your life, since it would be the last one you shared.

He let out a sad chuckle in between his sobs, and began to speak. “How can I forget, doll? You’re always remindin’ me.” he rested his hand on your cheek, getting colder by the second. He bent down to press a kiss against your lips, barely feeling yours move under his. He pulled away and rested his forehead on yours, cradling your body in his arms and consumed by the ever familiar feeling of guilt. Even with HYDRA’s brainwashing out of his system, he managed to hurt someone else he loved, and although you would deny it, the guilt would forever haunt him. “I love you.” he whispered with a sad smile.

But before you could return his feelings, the echo of a snap hit your ear drums and you watched Bucky’s eyes widen in terror. You looked down at your hands to see yourself fading into ash. “Make it stop,” you cried, your breathing now erratic. “Bucky, I don’t want to be alone,” you sobbed as your body faded away into nothingness. Bucky tried in vain to grab the pieces as they flew away, hoping he could piece you back into the beautiful light you were out of the scattered ashes, but he every time he got close to a piece of you, it drifted away. He couldn’t even tell what was you anymore, as the pieces of you got lost with the ashes of the others who were ripped away. Thanos didn’t just destroy half of the universe, he wiped away all of Bucky’s heart. Now all that was left was a ghost of him, merely an echo of the man he was with you.

He looked around, seeing others in positions just like his: kneeling against spaces where bodies of their loved ones once lay, and the cries of guilt rose up in his chest as the sound of your last words echoed in his mind. Why were you the one paying the price for his mistakes? You didn’t deserve the ending you got, and he didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be alive. Not without you. Not alone.

#Sebastian Stan #sebastian stan fluff #sebastian stan angst #sebastian stan smut #sebastian stan fic #sebastian stan headcanon #sebastian stan x reader #Bucky Barnes #James Buchanan Barnes #Bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes headcanon #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #winter soldier #winter soldier fluff #winter soldier fic #infinity war spoilers #infinity war #iw spoilers #jem speaks

[ladyemberswrites]

Regrets VI

Rukia//Ichigo

Ishida//Orihime 

This is a canon complaint because I refuse to accept chapter 686 existence. But, I’m doing a fix it fic, where everyone starts to regret their bad choices and angst ensures. But, it’s going to get a happy ending don’t worry, but we gotta get through the bs first. In other words this is a divorce Au. 

Warning: Anti-canon pairings, anti-bleach ending,  you’ve been warned. If like said  canon pairings then don’t read this. 

Comments are much appreciate it. and Thanks to @hashtagartistlife for the inspiration for the Ishida’s is Kazui’s father theory. 

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Regrets are hard to swallow. It’s like a bitter pill.

Scraping all the way down.

Blistering you’re throat raw, And feeling like your choking something large, when it’s barely the size of a pebble.

No one likes regrets, yet we all live with Them. Whether big or small. Because, No one likes living their life wishing they couldn’t of done better.

So, many times are we filled with “ I should of done this or I should have done that”

It’s always that way, Ichigo thinks. That’s how life just is.

How many times has heard those phrases repeated over and over again at work.

Old men and women, middle-aged men and woman, constantly complaining and grumbling, about I wish I did this. I wish I had done this. I wish. I wish. I wish.

It’s like a broken record. Repeating over and over again.

Ichigo was tired of this. He was tired of this world and everything it offered.

The honking horns. The bustling people. The glaring lights. It was all, so tiresome.

He hated it.

He hated it.

He hated it.

He wanted so, much more.

He wanted to grab fate by the horns,

And that’s what he did.

He slammed his hand upon his boss desk, with his crumbled up letter of resignation clenched in his fist. And left without another word.

He cleared his work space and tossed everything into the garbage where it belonged.

He wasn’t meant for his world and everything it offered. Ichigo kurosaki was so much more than this.

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 Previous Day;

 It was late night when Ichigo returned home. The lights were off, all except for the small light above the stove. His shoulders felt lighter and he felt heavy due to exhaustion. This night was more them he bargained for, it felt as though he were gone for days, despite it being only a couple of hours. He just wanted to sleep

 “ Ichigo.” His heart stopped, he peered at the clock emitting the numbers 5:00 am in bright red. He didn’t want to talk to her, at least not now anyways . Then again Ichigo was always the one to cut the chase and get it over with.

 " I’m in the kitchen" He heard her gentle foot falls press against the reckty stairs. 

 Once, she entered,  Ichigo had taken a seat a the dinner table. But, something was different, that look in his eyes were those of 

 Ichigo had made a decision and so, had she. 

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Neither of them said a word. 

The coffee pot sizzled.  

“ I-Ichigo?” 

“ Yeah.” 

“ Can I ask you a question.” 

“ What is it?” 

The coffee pot sizzled again. 

“ Do you still love her, Kuchiki-san. Be honest.” 

Ichigo’s entwined his fingers together. 

Don’t lie. Zangetsu bellowed. 

I won’t - I  just

No. No more. No more facades, no more lying, just stone, cold, clean truth. 

“ Yes.” 

She shook. She felt the tears swell in the back of her eyes. She knew the truth, she knew,  that was no secret, she had known all along, but had denied everything in order to ease the horrid, pain in her chest.

She leaned back in her chair, gazing outside the partially covered window. The rain had come to a drizzle. 

“ You hate the rain don’t you.” 

Ichigo’s gaze follows hers to that of star-filled sky, slightly blocked by the disheveled curtains.  

“ I hate it. Always have, It  serves as a reminder of all my failures , of all the people I couldn’t protect, it’s depressing.” 

“y’know,  I always enjoyed the rain. I wanted to be the rain that could connect to people’s heart, like the sky and the earth. I wanted more than anything to connect to you’re heart. B-but-” the fresh, warm tears drizzled down her cheeks. “ Someone had already done that. It was Kuchiki-san. She dried you’re rain. Even, back then when we barely knew each other, you always seem to be gloomy and sad, but when Kuchiki-san came into our lives everything changed. You started to smile more often, and laugh and have fun.” 

“ Was it that noticeable.” 

She nods her head, straining to keep her eyes focused on anything, but him. 

Ichigo couldn’t see her tears. Like always he never noticed. He only saw the surface, a metaphor for their whole relationship, surface level, shallow. 

Though, her hair blocked his view of her face. 

His head was down “ Where’s Kazui?” 

“ He’s sleeping over at Tatsuki’s place.” she whispers. 

He didn’t inquiry any further, as he watched the lights of care flash by the window, causing the room, momentarily ablaze.  

“ Ori-Inoue.” he could never get use to using her first name. 

“  I’ve decided to go back to the Soul Society. ” 

The air conditioner, crackled and vibrated.

He waited for a response.

“ I’ve made a decision too. W-we should separate.” 

It was Ichigo’s turn to nod, out of the corner of her eyes. 

He was thinking the same thing then, she choked internally.  No inquiry, no argument, just silent agreement. 

Meaning ichigo had no qualms about divorcing, about leaving her. 

Her fantasy was crumbling right before her, decaying and eroding into ashes, and useless blobs of black. 

It stung more than she cared to admit, in the end she couldn’t make Ichigo happy. In the end it was always someone else. In the end, despite her efforts, despite her sacrifices, despite everything, she couldn’t be his light, couldn’t be his everything, couldn’t be his rain. 

 Including the fact, that she still couldn't understand him, after all these years, which just added to load of weight hanging upon her shoulders.  

 Ichigo was not how she imagine him to be, up close and personal. All those years viewing him through rose colored glasses, had completely warped her perspective of him, he was no prince nor a knight in shining armor. 

“ I-” 

“ I’ve been holding you down, I don’t want to do that to you, I don’t want you to force yourself to be with me or Kazui. I want you to do what’s best for you.” it felt like her each word was like having her teeth pulled and yanked, painfully, from her mouth. 

There was a brittle silence, where the only sound was Ichigo tapping his foot against the kitchen floor. His chin rested on his entangled hand and his brows were raised and furrowed. 

“ Inoue, I’m sorry.”  his mind was blank, he honestly, didn’t know what to say or do, those were the only words that circled his thoughts. 

“ I’m sorry too.” 

“ What about Kazui? What are we going -

She wipes her tears away with the corner of her palm, as she looks him in the eyes “ Tell him the truth the best way I can.

“ You?” 

She shakes her head. “ I-I’ll take care of him, your not responsible for him. I am. I lied to you, to both of you, it’s time I own up to it.” 

He gazes at her passively - unable to conjure a retort. 

   Ichigo still didn’t know how to feel about Kazui. He couldn’t just abandon him, he just couldn’t stop looking at him as his own son, even though he wasn’t. He had raised him, loved him, took care of him, he did everything for him all these years. 

What didn’t he protest?

 How, would Kazui feel knowing the truth, would he even understand in the first place, would he care or would he cry, would he rebel. Would he come to hate them both. 

 He just didn’t know.  

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“ I can’t believe this is happening.” Yuzu sighs solemnly. 

“ It was bound to happen eventually.” 

“ Karin!” Yuzu grabs the hem of her robe. 

“ What!? Don’t yell in my ears, Yuzu!” she shoves her sister’s face away.

“ How can you act like that. Ichi-nii and Orihime are splitting up.” 

“ Like I said before, it was bound to happen.” Karin shrugs, as she sips on her sake. 

“ What do you mean?” her brows crinkled, perplexed. 

“ Can’t you figure it out for yourself.” 

“ Karin!” Yuzu hissed. 

“ It’s called observation. Subtle details.” she tapped her younger sister’s forehead.

“ Meaning, what? And stop patronizing me, I’m not a child!” she swats her sister’s hand away.

“ Oh! Come on, Yuzu, you’ve  it noticed just as much as I did. Even the goat  noticed, which is a feet in it of itself. Ichi-nii doesn’t love Inoue-san, and you, and everybody else with a functioning brain could figure that out.” she mumbles exasperated. 

Yuzu knew that, she wasn’t that oblivious,  she took note of the subtle details. The way he seemed to be uncomfortable using her first name, how reserved and passive he was around her and all the forced smiles. 

But still. 

“ Then why did he even marry Inoue-san in the first place.” Yuzu mumbles, slumping onto the wooden table, her face pressed against the smooth oak.

“ How the hell am I suppose to know. I can’t read minds. Maybe he pity her or something or just couldn’t say no to someone sensitive like Inoue-san.” Karin just wanted the conversation to end. She felt no reason to dwell on it any longer than she needed to, Ichigo was a grown-ass man, he can make his own decisions, it wasn’t her place to bud in or tell him how to live his life. 

Yuzu sighs lifting herself up, heavier than before, her face pressed against her hand, as she stares out the window. It’s pouring, no-stop, and for some reason it just makes her feel more depressed than she had at hearing the news. 

Why is life, so complicated, she wonders. 

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“ Are you serious!  You’re kidding right? Right, come one Tatsuki you’re just joking right. “ Keigo’s eyes dart from Tatsuki’s ire twisted face and Mizurio passive gaze. “ She’s joking right, Mizurio?” 

Mizurio shrugs. 

“ Chad?” 

Chad also shrugs before returning to munching on his fries. 

“ My Poor, poor Hime! “ Chizuru sobs into her hands “ I knew it wouldn’t last, I just knew this would happen. Her heart ‘s probably shattered into a gazillion pieces. That damn Kurosaki! “ the red head slams her fist into the counter of the bar, shaking it and spilling drinks in the process and gritted her teeth.

“ Grounding your teeth is a start of  a bad habit.” Mizurio says.

“Shut-up! I don’t have time for your smart-ass comments. The next, time I see him, I’m cutting off his balls. Disgusting male pig.” Chizuru mumbles to herself. 

“ Well, Your not the only one who wants castrate Kurosaki.” Mizurio points towards Tatsuki, who’s expression was blank and unreadable, as she absentmindedly sips on her beer,  tapping her foot in annoyance. 

“ It’s true then.” Keigo stares at his former classmates in complete bafflement. 

“ Wow.” Kegio glances down at his plate of half- eaten hot wings, somberly “ I guess what they say about teenage romance being fleeting is true.” 

“ Shut it, Keigo!” Tatsuki snaps, grabbing him by the fringe of his shirt.

“ Hey!Hey, watch the fabric, I just bought this shirt!”

“ I don’t give a crap about your stupid shirt!” 

“ Y’know I didn’t mean anything about that statement.”

“ You think Ichigo cheated on her, or was it the other way around? Is Kazui even Ichigo’s biological kid”  now it was Mizurio to face Tatsuki’s unyielding  wrath. 

“ Mizuro! What the hell! What are you trying to imply about, Hime!” she released Keigo from her iron grip and tugged Mizurio up by the hem of his t-shirt, though his expression didn’t change much. 

“ I was just asking questions.” 

“ Well, keep your questions and shove it up your ass, and don’t share them at all!” 

“ Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” 

“ What!” 

“ He’s asking why your, so pissy this morning.” 

“ I know what he meant, Keigo, so shut your trap!” 

Chad, and surprisingly, Chizuru remained quiet through the whole exchange. Though, on Honsho’s part she was too busy envisioning multiple ways she could mutilate Kurosaki Ichigo’s reproductive organs to pay attention to the noisy, commotion. 

“ You shouldn’t say stuff like that out loud.” Chad adds in. 

“ I wasn’t doing it to malicious.” 

Tatsuki sighs, dropping Mizurio back down into his seat before returning to her beer.

“ Rumors spread.” Chad spoke once more. 

An awful muteness befalls the group with everyone picking at their food.

“ So-umm-” Keigo couldn’t take the dreary quiet anymore and spoke up.

“ I heard Ichigo’s going back to the soul society.”  Tatsuki murmurs, her eyes downcast. 

“ Really, I thought he gave that up.” 

“ Seems he changed his mind after, he ran into that red-hair soul reaper with the freakish tattoos, again or something. 

“ So, he’s just leaving Inoue-san and his kid.” 

Tatsuki shook her head. 

“ No, Hime willingly took Kazui with her and moved out, a while ago.” 

“ Wow. Then where’s Ichigo’s staying.” 

“ He’s at that creepy hat guy’s shop, he’s staying until he’s able to go to the other side.” 

“ Oh.”

Another silence consumes the gang, each taking in and reacting to the new found information. 

A/N: So, here’s part four. I’m really enjoying writing this fic. I hope I kept everyone in character. Though, I made Ichigo’s friends/classmates and family a little insensitive, but it was mostly for humorous effect. 

#anti-686 #anti-bleach ending #canon compliant #ichiruki #soon

[thefemalehustler]

#MANAGEMENTMONDAY INTERVIEW: BROOKE HOLLADAY (NO MERCY GLOBAL FOUNDER)

Hey Brooke! Thanks for agreeing to be apart of ‘The Female Hustler’, I can’t wait to hear your story so far!

You are originally from St Louis, what was it like growing up there and is that where your journey in the music industry began?

Yes I'm from STL! Growing up in St Louis for me was a pretty diverse life! I grew up in the Nation of Islam which was a strict lifestyle but yet with my granny raising me in the hood I was able to get around some of her strict rules, I was a little fast, one minute I'm in tap and Jazz class the next I'm selling drugs in the hood at my God sister’s house.  I was very cultured but a little hustler at a young age! My grandfather was a famous Jazz musician so I was introduced to music early and my mother was a radio personality! So I had music and the industry all around me.

You are now based in Atlanta, when did you move there and what made you decide to make that move?

Yes I'm based in ATL! I moved to Atlanta in 2009 with Debra Antney whose Waka Flocka’s mother for the first month! She said that she could manage the group June 5th I was in from ST Louis! We was looking for an opportunity for the group and Deb had just blown Nicki Minaj & Gucci Mane up so I gave her a call and we drove down for the meeting then the next week we was living with her and signed.

Was it difficult adjusting to living / building a career in Atlanta compared to St Louis?

It was very difficult living in Atlanta compared to STL because we was royalty in STL and we all had our own nice houses there, but the living arrangements were very different in ATL so it was the ultimate sacrifice! Adjusting to the night life was easy because we fitted right in, we were fly, we attracted the same dope people we would back home! We ran around with the top promoters in Atlanta but it was a struggle making money, that was the only issue because we was really dedicated to our music so we couldn't get a job.

What made you decide to get into the music industry and what was your first role within it?

Lil Kim’s music is when I fell in love with Hip Hop and I wanted a piece of it so I started rapping and I took my word play and delivery serious and I joined a group.

Your Cousin Tiffany Foxx is also your artist that you manage, what made you two decide to work so closely together and is it ever challenging working with family or do you think it works better?

Well Tiff and I was in a group together, things got crazy with Deb so we was going our separate ways and everybody wanted Tiffany to go solo out of the three girls in the group anyway and she basically knew I was dope behind the scenes because I ultimately did everything for us anyway so we was like if she go solo I'll manage her! It's not hard for us as family, it's better it's us against them! Them is whoever not us.

The legendary Queen Bee, Lil Kim took Tiffany under her wing as her artist and they have featured on a couple of tracks together how did the two of them come to work together?

Yes the legendary Lil Kim co-signed Tiffany! Kim’s brother (Chris Bo Jones) was flirting with me at Lil Kim’s concert in STL, mind you we already met Lil Kim before when we sent her a Rolls Royce phantom and a chef to show her we respected her as the Queen Bee in our city so she remembered that but her brother made it official! He called me when he and Kim was in Atlanta, we came over to the house they was staying at and Kim came down in the basement heard Tiffany’s song Jay Z and the rest was history or should I say Herstory! She said “Tiff that's you spitting like that?”  and we partnered up that week! Thanks to Chris, he and I never really hit it off in terms of dating but we became business partners.

Was artist management something you always saw yourself getting into?

I never thought about being a manager but my personality since a kid was connecting the dots and taking on people's problems as well as being a good listener and the best negotiator! So the transition was easy as I already was managing things, my ex of 10 years said “your calling is management B” lol he said “you negotiate about making a sandwich for me shit!” Lol it was so easy!

What has been your proudest achievement as a manager so far?

My greatest high was partnering up with my female rap idol Lil Kim I couldn't believe that I did that! That was huge.

You also manage Swift, another very talented artist famous for his hit single 'Pull Up', how did working with him come about?

Yes I manage Swift! Chubbie Baby and I worked on a few things, that's my brother we fight, we argue but he came and got me for Swift and said “here is your first signed to a label act!” He said “Brooke I believe in you, you can be the next Sylvia Rhone” the rest was history or should I say Herstory.

For those not familiar with Swift what can they expect from his sound and what has he got coming up?

Swift is very dope and well- rounded, he does every type of genre of music! He went to the school of arts; he is really coming with R&B and Hip Hop.

You recently launched your artist booking agency, No Mercy Global, tell us a bit about that and the services you provide / clients you currently have.

Yes I went through a pretty dark time in my life last year and I was watching Queen of the South and she told her protégée that you can’t show No Mercy to men in this industry because they will take you for weak! That stuck with me!

So I'm dating this guy that came around in this very dark moment and on our first date we’re furniture shopping for him but, I spent the whole time on the phone booking artists! He didn't find it rude, he actually liked it and every day we spent together it was the same thing, me on my phone booking, negotiating and one day after 6months of that he said “B you need your own office and you need to start a booking agency! You need to take it to the next level, let people pull up on you and take it seriously” next he said “I got you, go find the office” and the rest was history/ or should I say Herstory. I asked him should I call it Mini Mogul or NoMercy and he said “No motherfucking Mercy that's powerful B”!

As for as clients I can book anybody if they available!

What challenges did you face launching a new company whilst juggling managing two artists?

The challenges I juggled are focusing on me real quick to even get in the mode of sitting down,  going there but I'm all over the place, I pay rent for an office I'm barley at because I'm moving around! But I'm getting a team to focus on all the areas of the company and my artists.

For anybody wanting to start their own company what advise would you give them?

Make sure it's your passion, be business savvy and make sure you study what you are into.

Are there any other artists on your radar you would love to work with?

I want to work with the Goat Jay Z and I will work with him not sure how but I will so you remember I told you that!

You call yourself the 'mini mogul' how did that name come about?

Mini Mogul came from my long-time friend Johnnie Cabell he said “Brooke I'm Big Deal and you Lil Big Deal” and then he said “you like the Mini mogul they don't see you coming you 4"11 and don't pose as a threat”.

The music industry is still a very male dominated industry, what advice would you give to any young females coming up that aim to get to high position within the music business?

Yes the industry will forever be male dominated so you have to keep your legs closed! No man in the industry can ever say he slept with me, not one! I pride myself on that! That's why they respect me! They try though all the time and it has caused some bad vibes and has taken me longer because I will not sell my soul.

As you know the site is called 'The Female Hustler' which we definitely see you as! What is your definition of a 'female hustler' ?

My definition of a female hustler is one that bares humility and does what it takes to eat without compromising her integrity! I'm always able to sleep at night with my decisions.

Finally let us know what you have coming up that people should look out for and any key events / shows your artists have that people should go check out!

I'm building my own label, I’m also excited about Tiffany Foxx’s overseas tour and taking NoMercy Global to the next level! What I'm happy about most I can't speak on but it was inspired from watching The Defiant Ones so you have to stay tuned!

Make sure you follow Brooke on IG: @brookedabrand

NoMercy Global: @nomercyglobal

Follower her artists too: @1tiffanyfoxx / @swift

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

The Call of the Jersey Devil - Chapter 1: The Discovery

The Call of the Jersey Devil is a current fantasy novel I’m wrestling with, but I know how I want it to start and end. It’s always the middle part that I don’t know what to do with.

The story takes place in New Jersey, if the title didn’t give it away already. It’s specifically set in a particular time period - the turn of the new millennium. The current history will blend with the series, and it’s also heavenly inspired by my childhood in New Jersey - growing up in Catholic school, wandering around the woods, learning of urban legends, and getting into trouble. It’s a dark fantasy since it deals heavily with the occult, but it won’t be without comic relief.

I wasn’t sure what to do when I saw the body. I had never seen one before so I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Should I scream? Yell? I did none of those things. Instead I stared into the remains of death – a girl about 20 years old burned beyond recognition. Instead, curiosity gripped me. It wasn’t the curiosity of stupid little kids that have you touch everything; it was the type that had you stand there in solemnity, wondering about who this person was and what happened that led them to this terrible fate.

The fog still spread across the cranberry bogs – deep in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. I had gotten lost from my school group after wandering around and couldn’t find my way back. I spotted a light and chased after it, thinking it was the school bus or something. Instead, the light led me to the remains of some sick ritual.

The girl laid on her back with her hands tied together across her chest like a mummy. Strange circles in the ground surrounded her body. They looked like somebody made them with a stick. Four circles were on either side of her body, with one above and one below.

Sister Sherry, the principal of St. Veronica’s, always said to pray for the dead. I didn’t understand because if they were dead already then why pray for them? But at that moment I was compelled to kneel and pray, because somehow I knew that this girl’s soul was lost – wandering out there – and only the Pine Barrens knew the truth of it.

I scouted the area hoping to find anything else of interest. I kicked something heavier than the leaves and looked down to find a black notebook – tattered and worn.

The bibliophile in me jumped at the prospect of finding a lost book. This was no Star Wars Expanded Universe book; the language wasn’t even in English. I flipped through pages of incomprehensible writing, complete with circle diagrams that were similar to those drawn on the ground near the dead girl.

Then I came upon a frightening image.

A page depicted a hideous anthropomorphic goat. He sat cross-legged and raised his right hand to the sky and the left hand to the ground. A star was drawn where he pointed in either direction. There was nothing particularly gruesome about the drawing, but the goat-man’s eyes bothered me; they stared straight at me, and he seemed to grin.

In the middle of my reading, I heard twigs snapping. I shifted my attention to the sound. Nothing but fog. What also bothered me was that I hadn’t heard any animals – no birds chirping, no squirrels scurrying, no deer. I breathed in the crisp autumn air, although not too much because the dry leaves could trigger my asthma. That and hay – and it was the season for hayrides. Mom had nagged at me to bring my inhaler. I hated carrying bulky objects in my pockets, so I left it in my backpack in school.

The fog had appeared suddenly when I got lost, despite the fact that the day had been sunny without a single cloud in the sky.

A foreboding presence told me to get out of there as fast as I could. I got that feeling whenever I dangled my feet over the bed, or whenever I gaped in the darkness of the hallway at home in the middle of the night before rushing to the bathroom. You don’t know for sure what’s out there but you’re convinced something is out there.

I slipped the book in my jacket pocket, zipped it up, and ran off in a random direction. I didn’t look back because the foreboding presence still gripped me, raising the hairs on my back. I kicked up leaves and dirt, splashing over mud. The run didn’t bother me for a while – both my parents had pushed me to swim and play soccer, because my doc told them that I could combat my asthma with regular activity.

The fog obscured my visibility. I couldn’t see until maybe 2 feet ahead of me – 2 feet too early to realize that I headed straight for a lake.

I crashed into the water. The water level reached my chest. I sputtered a cry before swallowing a mouthful of cranberries; I had fallen into the cranberry bog.

Hundreds of thoughts flashed through my head, even those as inane as my mother scolding me for wetting my new clothes. The cranberries popped all over me, covering me in red – like blood.

Two great big hands lifted me out by my shoulders. They tossed me roughly back on the ground. Two great big hands could have meant Officer James Foley – the school policeman who tagged along with us in nearly every school trip.

I tried to speak but realized that a tightness in my lungs prevented me from doing so – damn – I was nearly having an attack.

But the face that looked down on me was a hooded man in a goatee – a scraggy, thinly white guy. He dressed in a black cloak, although I spotted a hint of a t-shirt underneath.

“What’s wrong with him?” he said, pointing at me.

I wheezed. “Who—who--who the fuck are you?” I shouted.

Two more hooded men surrounded me. It was starting to become some kind of weird convention, of which I wasn’t keen on becoming a fan.

“Kid’s got a mouth. What is he? Five? Six?”

“I’m eleven!”

“Not anymore, you’re not. You’ve seen too much.” The hooded man who pulled me out of the water gripped me by the collar. He didn’t reek of drugs or alcohol – in fact he didn’t reek at all of anything. I had very little perception of the world and had imagined these were bums or some kind of Satanists.

“HELP!” I cried.

One of them stuffed a cloth in my mouth. He kept my mouth shut while someone started tying my wrists behind my back. Years of growing up roughing it out on the playground made me tumble out of their grasp and fall into the cranberry bog again – only this time I realized I couldn’t break free of my bindings.

The bog was murky and red. I chafed my wrists together furiously hoping to get something loose. When I did, I barely had enough time to break through the surface of the water before I lost my breath. Still, my lungs were on fire. I once again suffered that fish-out-water feeling from an asthma attack.  

The next few moments were blurry. I fell into some kind of shock. I knew how to swim (thank you Mom for all those nagging days pushing me to swim) but I panicked at the shouting hooded figures. I kept thinking they were going to pull a gun and shoot me and then burn me like they did that girl.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing here?”

The voice came from a cranberry bog farmer. A loud humming deafened me after that. A huge trawler collecting cranberries approached me. I thought I’d get eaten up or torn apart or something – apparently I didn’t pay attention to the lecture on how they actually collected cranberries.

The cranberry farmer hoisted me up onto the trawler. I had swallowed a lot of water and coughed up cranberries. I passed out there while watching red and blue flashing lights on the other side of the lake, where the rest of my class watched my rescue.

#myfantasywriting #fantasy #dark fantasy #jersey devil #new jersey

[geekysweetie]

My Neighbor Totoro Ghiblifest 2017 Anime Movie Review

I went to see My Neighbor Totoro subbed last night as part of the 2017 GKids Studio Ghiblifest. The theater I went to seemed to have a fairly good turnout for the show, but not as popular as the theatrical SailorMoon Release which I reviewed here (dub) and here (sub)

Still it is nice to see anime getting more coverage in theaters. I drove almost an hour to go see Totoro, but it was still closer than the nearly 2 hour drive I made (twice) to go see Sailor Moon. It’s also awesome to see old anime like Totoro from the 80s and SailorMoon from the 90s finally on the big screen!

The excitement of seeing such childhood favorite films on the silverscreen inspired me to want to do a review for Totoro today.

Also be sure to check out the Studio Ghiblifest home page, there will be other Studio Ghibli films in theaters all summer long, with the next one being Kiki’s Delivery Service on July 23 (dub) and 24 (sub). I like Kiki’s Delivery Service so much, that I might just go to both of them :).

Onto the review:

Title: My Neighbor Totoro

Studio: Studio Ghibli

Release Date: 1988

Genre: Slice of Life, Adventure, Fantasy

Geeky: 2/5 This film is beautiful to watch, even now, 20 years after its initial release. But plot wise, this is a very slow moving film, slow and uneventful for almost the entire film, and then insanely rushed in the last 10-15 minutes of the film. Actually the ending feels really disjointed from the rest of the film and you can read about that under the Conspiracy Theory below. The languid plot and ending that feels out of place make this a hard film to like, unless you’re watching it for the beautiful backgrounds and cute characters. Systematically though, I can’t give it high “technical” points due to the poor writing.

Sweetie: 4/5 Like most Ghibli films, this is super charming with a lot of heart. It depicts every day life of two little girls living in a new home in the forest with their father as they wait for their mother to return from a hospital. The girls encounter magical creatures, and those creatures are super adorable to boot. Blending slice of life in traditional Japan in a quiet countryside rural village, alongside the mystical and fantastical secret world that only the girls can see, and all the new magical friends they make, this tale is full of sweet cute moments sure to appeal to anyone looking for a kawaii cute family friendly and feel good anime. — It loses one point because there is no plot or character development. Unlike other Ghibli films, this one just never seems to get off the ground or accomplish much.

Story: 6/10 The story is a slice of life look at the life of 2 very young girls. Their mother is sick in the hospital with some unexplained illness, and their father has just decided to move the family to a new home in the country, thinking the fresh air from the trees would be good for his wife once she returns back home. While exploring their new surroundings, the two girls stumble upon a magical creature which they dub Totoro. Their father says Totoro is a very old forest spirit, and the father, along with Totoro, teaches the young girls to love and respect nature.

Characters: 9/10 The real reason to watch this show is because all of the characters are cute, unique, heart warming, and funny. Not just the adorable Totoro and his friends, but also the human children. The anime puts a lot of work into making us like and care about the girls and their father. In fact, the entire film, until the very end, is just day to day stuff that the girls find exciting about their new home, or sharing loving family moments with their father. — That said, unlike most Ghibli films, there’s really no character “development” the characters do not change much at all throughout the movie. This, combined with a very slow moving plot, makes the anime feel slow and sleepy at times.

Conspiracy Theory: If you’ve already seen the film, here’s something you may be interested in reading. There are spoilers below here, so proceed at your own risk.

Spoiler

By the way have you heard the conspiracy theory that Totoro is actually a Shinigami and that the girls both die in the film? After watching the film again last night, this seems likely. Studio Ghibli denies those rumors and has even gone as far as asking fans to please stop talking about it.

A Shinigami is angel of death, often appearing to children who are about to die and taking comforting forms such as animals etc to help children cross over. Look at other anime such as Full Moon Wo Sagashite and how “cute” the Shinigami appear there. One of the Shinigami in Full Moon Wo Sagashite is even a white rabbit and there is a very old folk tale / superstition about white rabbits. It says if one appears in a village where someone is very sick, that person is sure to pass away soon. This same superstition is also tied to another superstition that says if you say “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” (note 3 rabbits) on the first and last day of the month, you will have good luck. And in the movie, there are 3 Totoro (who look very much like rabbits to me). Also the Totoro could be symbolic of the girls and the mother themselves! Mei says there is one GREAT BIG Totoro, a “little” Totoro, and a “tiny” Totoro. The big one could represent the mother, the little one the older sister, and the tiny one the young sister.

Even though Studio Ghibli wants these rumors to end, they just won’t die. And with the re-release of the theatrical movie, we can be sure more and more people will be looking for these clues and debating about if Totoro is actually the god of death.

Most of the film is very cute and innocent, with not much going on. It’s a slice of life about 2 little girls living in a new home with their father in the country side. They go to school, pray at the shrine, play in the forest, and take baths and have dinners with their father. But the ending of the film is just so dark and creepy and weird compared to the rest of the film; for me the biggest clue is when the nanny asks Satsuki if it is Mei’s shoe. Satsuki tells her it’s not, and she does this very quickly without even really looking at the shoe. When she tells her this, the old woman’s face is NOT one of relief (Thank goodness Mei is still alive), but one of sadness, there’s even a tear in her eye, and disappointment (in Satsuki not being able to face reality and accept the death of her sister.) the Granny tries to stop Satsuki from looking for Mei, but Satsuki runs off anyways.

From there, the last 10 minutes or so of the film, feel dark and different. As the sun is literally setting in the film, and time is running out to find Mei, everything begins to get really demented looking.

The catbus even explicitly SAYS he’s going to the GRAVE as his next stop to FIND MEI.

In the end, when the girls are in the tree, the mother in the hospital looks out the window and says she could have sworn she saw her children laughing in the tree, but the father cannot see them, despite them all being right there at the same time.

The film takes place in Sayama, and there was a real life murder/suicide with 2 school aged sisters. The young sister is kidnapped and murdered, and the older one goes to find her, but upon discovering that she has already been murdered, the older sister takes her own life / blames herself. And in Totoro, Mei is the younger sister who “disappears” and Satsuki is the older sister who goes to look for her. Satsuki also blames herself (she had yelled at Mei earlier).  Also this murder took place in the month of May and the girls are both named May: Mei and Satsuki (Japanese word for May).

Then there’s the references to Billy Goat’s Gruff. In the fairy tale, there are 3 goats trying to cross a bridge. “Crossing a Bridge” is pretty universal for crossing over into the afterlife. And in the fairytale, it is only when all 3 goats are together that they can cross the bridge. And in Totoro, the three “goats” would be the mother and the 2 girls. The billy goat’s gruff is referenced countless times in the film, peering over the bridges, the story books the mom used to read, and even Totoro’s name is some variation of the Japanese word for troll (supposedly, I dunno what that word is, but it was a trivia thing before the show started asking how did Totoro get his name, and it said it was because Mei mispronounced the Troll from her story book). There’s even a SERIOUSLY VERY CREEPY goat near the end of the film who tries to take Mei’s corn. And in the billy goat’s gruff, the goats get safe passage across the bridge by yelling very loudly. When in Totoro, the Totoros and the Girls scream loudly as they fly around with Totoro, etc.

And if Totoro can be seen by children, why do none of the other children see Totoro or the Catbus when the girls are flying around, they even fly right past the boy that likes Satsuki, and she says “I guess no one else can see us”.

And all throughout the film they keep saying how their house is haunted and everyone is afraid to go inside it, etc.

Lastly, people say that in the final scene, the girls have no shadow when they had shadows in all the rest of the film. Though I think this was maybe just an error or oversight on the part of the animators.

Anyways, it is an interesting theory. It does ask the audience to discount the last 2 minutes or so of the film where the girls return home and are greeted again by the Granny and other children in the village. But aside from that, everything else fits this theory.

End of Spoilers.

Artwork and Animation: 10/10 The backgrounds are lovely and all of the character designs are imaginative, quirky, and cute. Totoro has become so iconic that he is now the mascot for Studio Ghibli and known around the world.

Music: 10/10 I don’t really love the opening song. However, I do super love all the background tracks throughout the film. The ending theme is also catchy.

Voice Acting: 10/10 The two sisters are adorable and precocious. They give very believable performances with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Totoro’s well timed animal sounds are quirky and cute. And the father and mother both sound very sincere and loving. Granny sounds old and slightly scary, but also warm and loving as well.

Overall: 51/60 85% B “Very Good Anime for Girls”

PS: If you enjoyed Totoro also check out Wolf Children and My Summer with Coo

My Neighbor Totoro Ghiblifest 2017 Anime Movie Review was originally published on GeekySweetie.com - Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

#Animals #Anime #Anime Movie #Anime Movie Review #Anime Review #Children #Children's #Cute #Family Friendly #Film #Forest #Ghibli #Ghibli Fest #Ghiblifest #Gkids #Kawaii #Movie #Movie Review #My Neighbor Totoro #Mystery #Nature #Rabbits #Review #Shinigami #Slice of Life #Studio Ghibli #Theaters #Theatrical #Theatrical Release #Totoro

[thelazywreck241-blog]

Unsolved (An Altertale Story)

Tori saw... something beyond the dark abyss of which she was in. She wasn't sure how she was there or how she got there...but there was something. A figure, with goat ears like hers and her brother's... Teeth, with the same sharpened tips. The figure donned a lab coat and a long pair of brown pants. " who.... who are you? what do you want? why do you plague my dreams with your unneeded presence?!" Tori yelled, stomping her foot upon the non-existent ground. The figure stood, still facing the opposite direction. " My my... How disappointing. Out of all creatures, I simply cannot believe that my own offspring forgot about me." The figure spoke, his voice slightly raspy. " offspring?... sorry, creep. i think you've got the wrong goat.... " Tori retorted, becoming a little more rebellious towards the unknown stranger. " I think not, Toriel Dreemurr. It is I, who created you after all... You may not remember. But I remember quite clearly, actually. Haven't the thought ever occurred to you of....who brought you into this world, Tori? Has it ever occurred to you, that you might have had parents? Or a guardian? One who cared for you and Asgore? No. Ah. Well. You must be just as oblivious as the others... " The figure began to turn. " Of course. You must recognize me at least somewhat, if at all. You were so observant as a child. Yet, quite lazy. You were very protective of your broth-...... " " leave my brother out of this. we're talking about you. not him. now. continue. " " Ah, yes. I see you still are", the mysterious voice chuckled. Tori couldn't believe her ears. And that was saying something, due to the fact that she had large ears. Like ones of a rabbit. " i-if....if you are who you say you are. you will turn....and show me who you really are. or... were. so called "father". " She said confidently, though her voice box felt as if it were about to wiggle it's way up her trachea and out of her mouth. She shakily shoves her paws into her jacket pockets. " i.... i..... i don't have all day. " The figures body slumped a bit as he sighed. " Very well. But you mustn't be frightened, Tori. What you are about to see will startle you..... I'm afraid. But. Please, do not panic." The figure turned to face Tori, his head lowered at first. Tori looked closer as the figure slowly raised his head. What she saw caused her to stumble backwards and land. She felt nothing. It... it was just a dream. No. She couldn't wake up yet... She had thoroughly analyze the beings face. He had vanished. Everything warped for a few seconds. It was silent. Tori woke up with a start, sitting upright, breathing heavily. Tears were streaming down her face... Why? She was not crying in the dream...was she. After a moment of silence, The dream became a blur to her. Tori sat up and rubbed her eyes. Within the cold room that didn't contain of a heater, she smelt something that she smelt quite often. Her brother's biscuits. She hopped up, slid on her purple jacket and walked downstairs. Once she made it down the stairs she took a moment to analyze her surroundings. Everything was alright. Everything was great. She saw her brother leaning over the stove, basically inhaling the scent of one of the biscuits. She smiled as she walked over to her brother with slow, heavy steps. " greetings, go-..." Tori started but Asgore had already opened his mouth, preparing a lecture, a self-praise for one of his minor accomplishments, or just an announcement. " GOOD MORNING, TORI!! MY, MY, I THOUGHT YOU WERE NEVER GOING TO WAKE UP!! TODAY, I HAVE EXTRA SPECIAL NEWS!! " It was apparently an announcement. Lovely. Tori smiled for her brothers sake and leaned on the counter next to the stove. " what is it, bro?" She asked, fiddling with one of her brother's self-designed tea cups. " YOU, AND I, THE AMAZING ASGORE, ARE GOING TO BE VISITING DOCTOR ALPHYS TO WATCH SOME INTERESTING CARTOONS ALL ABOUT HUMANS! THIS WILL BE GREAT STUDY FOR THE FUTURE, WHEN I SHALL CATCH A HUMAN, AND GET IN THE ROYAL GUARD!!" Asgore yelled, standing in a triumphant pose. " AND I, THE AMAZING ASGORE, SCHEDULED THE VISIT ALL BY HIMSELF! ITS AT ONE O'CLOCK! BE PREPARED!!" Asgore marched off, presumably to pack some things to take to the lab. Tori chuckled as she grabbed her phone, fed her pet snail, and stuffed twelve cans of whipped cream into a small book bag. " bro, im ready to go!" Tori yelled. " NYOH HO HO! NOW WE SHALL GO TO THE...." Asgore paused and sighed. " HOTLANDS...." Tori shrugged. " we'll be there before you know it, gori. " Asgore grabbed Tori by the wrist and began walking, pulling his younger sister along. " WHEN WE GET THERE, I EXPECT THAT YOU WILL NOT FALL ASLEEP DURING THE SHOWS!! AND DO NOT DRINK A BUNCH OF WHIPPED CREAM, YOU KNOW THAT IT PAINS YOUR STOMACH. I ALSO REQUEST THAT YOU TRY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HUMANS..... " By the time Asgore had reached the third sentence in his lecture, Tori had already been dragged into her own thoughts. Her mind buzzed with dozens of thoughts that hadn't occurred to her in a while. She thought of past resets from a human, who was filled with determination. Genocide. That kind of stuff. Tori felt tears creep past her tear ducts. She quickly swiped her sleeve across her eyes, wiping the drops away. She thought of the dream she had endured the night before. Was the guy who he said he was? There was no way of telling. Was the guy really her... father? Or was she just a complete idiot? She was brought back to reality when she heard Asgore speak. " TORI, YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO A WORD I SAID, DID YOU?!" Tori looked around. Fire and lava. It was pun time! " i did bro, i was all ears." " ......TORI! YOU'VE USED THAT JOKE PLENTY OF TIMES, IT WAS NEVER AMUSING!" " gori, have i ever told you how much i lava you? " " OH MY GOD, TORIEL!! " " sorry bro. it's just that you set the flame in my heart aglow. cuz i lava you. " " SSSSSSSTOP!!!!" " hey az, i think we're here. " Tori pointed to the large white building ahead of them. In big bold letters, a sign said "LAB". Asgore smiled and began dragging Tori over to the entrance. Politely, he knocked on the door. After a few long seconds, the door slid open with a hiss. Inside, there stood a short dinosaur like monster. " W-Welcome! I really am g-glad you could make it! P-Please, come in!" To Tori, the monster didn't seem to be much of a threat, if at all. She seemed quite shy, and seemed to be quite anxious. Anxiety. Heh. Tori had been there, done that. Tori walked in and sat down on the ground in front if a large television screen. Alphys pressed a button on a TV remote which caused the TV to turn on. Fascinating, really. Asgore sat on a couch while Alphys got comfortable in a bean bag chair. She grabbed three bags of popcorn from a container of snacks and candy. " Hungry?" Alphys asked, holding up the bags of popcorn. " I'D LIKE ONE BAG, PLEASE!" Asgore shouted with his usual enthusiasm. Tori shook her head. " nah. im good. " Tori said simply. " A-Asgore, feel free to start watching without us. I'm going to find a snack that Toriel will like. " Alphys tossed Asgore one bag of popcorn and started the episode. Asgore smiled joyously and watched the screen as if it were a famous celebrity. Or himself. Alphys grabbed Tori's paw and smiled. " Come along. L-let's find you something to eat, okay? " " okay, i guess.. " Tori stumbled as she stood up and walked with Alphys. Alphys led Tori to the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards. " I have a million snacks to choose from.. Instant noodles, face ste....how did that get here?!... Huh. Mettaton...." Alphys continued with her unusually long list of snacks as Tori smiled. She couldn't pay attention, even if she tried. There was a door that caught her attention and wouldn't let go.... Without a creak of a floor tile, Tori snuck over to the door and examined it closely. No keypad, no lock, nothing! With great stealth and caution, Tori snuck down the stairs into what appeared to be a lab, nothing more. There were beakers, gradual cylinders, nothing out of the ordinary. With just a glance at the corner of the room, Tori saw something and slowly walked towards it. She reached to touch it. She couldn't help it..... That's when she was pulled back into reality. " T-toriel, don't touch that!" " huh?! " Tori stumbled backwards, falling right into a cart holding a bunch of syringes. " Toriel!!!!!" Alphys yelled, covering her eyes. By instinct, Tori swiftly dodged each syringe, one by one while sitting on the ground. By the time she was done, she was surrounded in syringes which were stabbed into the ground, creating a small cage-ish thing around her. Tori looked at Alphys who stood, her jaw dropped in awe. " H-How did you...?" " please. don't ask. anyways i have a question for you." " May I help you out before you ask..?" " please do. heh. " After Alphys pried twelve large syringes out if the ground, Tori began to speak. " what was that....? " " What was what? " " that.....machine... " "........." " i haven't got all day, doctor.... " Alphys sighed and began to tell what seemed to be a story. " Long ago... There was a... scientist. A royal scientist. His name, was Asriel. Asriel was an inspiration to us all. Such an intelligent being.... But one day, he vanished. No body. Some say he was erased from existence. Others say his body dissolved into dust before anyone was able to help. All we know is that he was never seen again. And no one really remembers him. He was a father.... of two.... of........ " Alphys looked over Tori. " You...." Tori paused and sat down. It was true. The figure wasn't lying... " i want to get him back... " " We've been trying, Toriel. It's not possible. " " oh it is..... it has to be. if he was erased from existence....there has to be a way. a machine! to bring him back." Tori growled as she grabbed two pieces of machinery from the ground and attempted to piece them together. " ........ " " Toriel. Why are you so set on bringing him back?...." " because, alphys. i want to dream again..." " Alright..... " Without another word, Tori and Alphys spent the next two hours trying to piece something together. Meanwhile, Asgore was upstairs, watching anime with his eyes aglow. Humans were amazing to him. Much more interesting than before. For a second, only for a second did he wonder what Alphys and his little sister were doing. He came to the conclusion that that mystery will remain unsolved. After much more working and physical labor, mixed with two intelligent minds and millions of attempts Tori and Alphys stopped. " this is hopeless..... " Tori groaned, her eyes beginning to water. " Let's go upstairs and watch some anime... That might help you.... " " good idea.... for now, mr. asriel," Tori looked at the sky. " i swear... all mysteries are solved by someone. yours will be too. whether it's me who solves it or someone from a distant land...." Tori and Alphys walked towards the exit to the lab. Once they reached the doorway, Alphys climbed up the stairs. Tori paused once she reached the doorway. " but for now. your mystery will remain unsolved." She turned off the light and closed the door, encasing the lab in pure darkness. (( thanks for reading! phew, this took a loooooong time... but it's done now, and I hope you enjoyed! bye! BTW, i know asriel doesn't actually speak to tori, but there's a first time for everything, right? anyways. c'ya. ))