#could be ambidextrous i guess

[basilica-gel]

now. the real question is. is link (skyward sword) right handed or left handed? like yes, he wields a sword right handed and all but he draws a bow with his left hand

[azidoazide-art]

okay ive decided to try actually making a monster-sona thing (again). i like how this is coming along

[thebendsbyradiohead]

last night i was reading about monika seleš and then started crying bc balkan women deserve the world even when it doesn’t deserve them

[koolades-world]

Obey me! brothers handwriting headcannons

gonna rank them best to worst by what I personally think!

1. Lucifer

He must have the world’s nicest and most gorgeous looking handwriting ever. Absolutely effortless. This man is constantly doing paperwork. He probably has a very nice, enchanted pen that never runs out of ink so he never had to worry about the pain of ruining something because he ran out of ink halfway through writing. His signature must look like a fancy font. Mc definitely asks just to watch him write because it’s so pretty and watching the magic happens makes it more real and believable. When he’s in a rush, his handwriting probably looks like a doctor wrote it.

2. Asmo

He works on his penman ship in order to have multiple styles of writing and a cute signature. He dots his I’s with hearts and connects his letters into hearts. How is he supposed to give out autographs if it isn’t exactly how he likes it? He uses this style of writing in class and on simple lists at home. The only time Mc has ever seen him not write super cutesy was when he was half asleep, which is rare on its own. It was worse than Beel’s handwriting, meaning he probably actively worked on his handwriting for so long. It was barely legible. Asmo made Mc promise to never repeat what they saw and burned this note after he has copied it down in his usual handwriting.

3. Satan

His handwriting is probably looks effortless, but it actually took him thousands of years to perfect it. Not that it was bad before, it was gorgeous actually. Almost too gorgeous, too much like Lucifer’s. After Belphie pointed it out in his drowsiness, he vowed to change it. So he did. I have to admire his dedication. While Lucifer’s is much larger and loopier, his is small and clean with very straight letters. If you asked really nicely while at someone like a cat cafe, he might show you what it used to look like, which is what Mc did. Satan can’t say no to you. He writes love letters often, where can can admire his penmanship and his sweet words.

4. Belphie

Despite always being in a state of rest, his handwriting is actually alright. It would be much better if he tried, but he rarely does that. The natural way his writing slants to the left and the way he connects most of his letters is endearing and feels very homey. If he actually tried, however, his handwriting would be better than Lucifer. I personally think both he and Beel and ambidextrous but prefer to write with their left hands. Belphie also seems like the kind to be very good at mimicking other’s handwriting and signatures, which is ideal for pranks. Mc once caught him writing a note as Diavolo to Lucifer to get him out of his office so they could prank it. You would have never guessed unless you saw him writing it.

5. Levi

At first I though his handwriting would be the worst, but I should never underestimate the power of an otaku. He can probably mimic his favorite character’s handwriting for short periods of time, and has definitely entered and won a contest that needed lots of handwritten letters for limited edition merchandise. Normally, when he needs to write things, his handwriting probably isn’t too bad, probably like a high school boy who just wants to go home. Most of his notes, if any, are digital anyways.

6. Mammon

I mean, his handwriting isn’t great, but it’s usually legible. When he doesn’t want something to be legible, he usually makes it so it’s impossible to read by writing nonsense quickly, usually to try and fool Lucifer into thinking he finished whatever paper task he assigned him. It never works. Lucifer has even tried giving him handwriting lessons but they didn’t work out, meaning Mammon tried something stupid enough for Luci to just give up.

7. Beel

Let’s be so fr right now. His handwriting is chicken scratch. It’s to the point where only Belphie and Mc can tell what it says. He also exclusively writes in uppercase with the occasional lowercase thrown in at random. Even though he can write with both hands, that doesn’t change the legibility. He can read his own handwriting, which is all that matters to him. It’s nice that a few other people can too. If he needs to leave any kind of notes, he just doesn’t because he knows nobody will be able to read it. He has Belphie do it, or he just sends a text. Poor baby.

[fantomette22]

What are some Maria headcanons that you have?

( @izunias-meme-hole)

Lady Maria headcanons post (part 1) :

Alright! Well I already share those a while ago : https://www.tumblr.com/fantomette22/743244500505378816/lady-maria-vs-keeper-of-the-old-lords?source=share  +couple of other around my blog

So I will try to share other things not just related to « Maria could do pyromancy from her living if she really wanted to but was actually terrified by it! Because she didn’t want to use her own blood to inflict pain and death. » also I won’t explain in detail how I hc she got her Rakuyo : by directly going to the East herself! (Yamamura’s country).

🍂But why did she name it like that? The Rakuyo? Well Rakuyo means « fallen leaves » right? Well, when she finally got her blade she needed to baptise it, to use it properly for the first time. And guess on what she uses it? A fallen leaf! (naturally falling in autumn). Cut it straight in two halves. And that’s how she knew how she was going to name it.

Enjoy the ride t's going to be long ;)

⚔️She got an Evelyn gun during her teenage years and before the Rakuyo she often train & fight with both a chikage and a reiterpallasch (she really like dual wielding 😎 or maybe with another sword like the shadow could have been a thing she fight with 🤔 but yeah I guess she was trained with all type of weapons) I wonder if she could have been a bit ambidextrous too.

⚜️Ok now concerning her family (tree) I have at least 5 different headcanons for it 💀but let’s just go with my main one aka the fic verse one (where she’s just Annalise’s cousin XD). Because if you get me started on the alternatives it’s just never gonna be over XD (those are really in very different timelines. It’s not really the same characters & events are different)

🩸I imagined she had quite a mixed relationship with her family. It’s like when you love them bc it’s your family, you like the good memories and nice moments you have, this little chill & special outings etc but there’s also some stuff you’ll never be able to forget or forgive them. You feel you need distance and be autonomous to not get hurt by them anymore, to not get frustrated and misunderstood. Just have news and share things outside.

She never really fit in with her peers. Kinda an odd one who just masks really well to fit into the mood when asked of her. I prefer to say « a (white) wolf » in a pack of hounds in context but yeah black sheep in a white flock if it’s easier to understand x) She had a lot of pressure on her shoulder as well (being the last pyromancer and not far in the line of succession)

But she really likes her close cousins which she grew up with (Annalise, Vled), a couple of other friends (Charles, Svetta, a couple of future young knights etc) as well as younger relatives and kids (Leo etc)! But she doesn’t get that much along with the others. Like she goes along better with the servants probably. 

⚜️She mainly grew up between Cainhurst and where her parents had lands and their manor (in the north, near a coast). Her parents are often not there because they are sent by the crown to places so it's complicated . When her mother is in a good mood that’s mostly fine, her dad is a bit more chill (he taught her how to play a lot of card games and poker too! She probably played 2-3 times with money at stake. She prefers amical things. She will absolutely beat your ass at it too. She’s the definition of having a poker face XD)

👑She was a lil bit raised like a future lady in waiting but more as future knight (page (of the king), squire, knight training etc really rough training too 💀 very dark shit hm like beat the shit out of people while wearing a full weight armor, swim in a ice lake and idk shot hm dead things… I swear there’s more fun things but hm yeah…)

That one really isn’t fun as well but i imagined that during her teenage years she already had to deal with mental health issues (due to well some pb with her family etc). Thankfully, she did get better after spending a summer a bit far away at a friend's home (to simplify). Still she got scared for some years afterwards that some of those dark thoughts would eventually return. Thankfully it didn't for most of her life. She got some happy times…Bad times too but not that bad until well probably more than 15-20y later where you know… she would sadly not make it out this time.

🌌She was accepted as Byrgenwerth and went to mainly study sciences, astronomy, but did learn a bit of theology as well as medicine (basic medicine stuff,  nurse & help midwife etc). She did 5y and got a master degree. She also participated in underground expeditions arranged by Byrgenwerth.

⭐️She probably know how to speak way more than 2 languages : whatever they speak in Yharnam, latin/pthumerian language, whatever the equivalent of Japanese is and probably a bit of other European languages too. Oh a north/slavic languages as well, because she had ancestors from there too).

🐴When she was very little they got some borzoi I guess but most of her life at Cainhurst she got 2 siblings crows (I have Phobos & Deimos names in my draft) as well as her own horse, named Filan. (mean little wolf in gaelic/irish apparently? Speaking of which Maria's nickname when she was little was "little wolf" maybe in another language too). She probably had a couple of plants too.

(suppose to be almost a full black horse but i’m not 100% settle because i could go full horsemen of the apocalypse aesthetic with other knights if i change the colors… but in my first draft that’s a black horse yes)

🔥When she was very little they discovered she could eventually have pyromancer blood power.It might have been a huge pride for them and honor for her but… clearly Maria didn’t want to become like the shadows of the antics pthumerian royals. A silent and hidden knight who kills without asking questions… clearly she wasn’t really found of this idea 😅 Thankfully for her she don’t know or to use such power and didn’t put much effort to try to learn it (in life she will probably accidentally use it 2-3 time…)

She highly respects a lot of traditions and culture from Cainhurst but there’s stuff like exposing the remains of animal prey that she found a bit barbaric. She doesn't mind others using blood blades and she will do it alone/ for training or even in choreography but she doesn’t wish to hurt or kill with it.*

💔So she was supposed to become a royal guard but things didn’t go like they should have…the poor young knights got into a fight with something by accident… a mortal trap they couldn’t win… only Maria made it out alive. Very hurt and slightly traumatized… She then had a huge fight with her family & relatives about what happened. She couldn’t even send news to her friends bc they forbid it to calm any rumors about what happened…Hm then Maria’s family decide to send her more north where her parents have lands etc so things calm down and she could ya know do her knight work or smt. Anyway she run away at Byrgenwerth💀

Sorry for the meme jebfekb I am not giving lot of details for now but it's highly link with my Knight & Beast of Cainhurst story.

(Why this meme too? Well due to rumours her friends legit thought she died 💀 she went to Byrgen only 1-2 months later. During the holidays. So she sent to like Ludwig & the other who weren't there letters to tell them she was ok. That's were came this meme XD)

❤️‍🩹Anyway she was partially disowned of some stuff for a bit and didn’t came back at Cainhurst for while. But after some times, her and her family wanted to both apologize and reunite, but without an occasion it would be complicated. Well, until a CERTAIN SOMEONE stole the forbidden blood to Cainhurst and tell them Maria helped 💀 (she had no idea, and he only did that bc he owns her one). So she didn’t approve but she kinda reconciled and they gave her the occasion to do a mission for them later on, in JAPAN (the Eastern land) and well you know the rest.

⚓️She had the occasion to go to « Japan » and have her dream of becoming like half in charge of a ship after getting her master degree! (she just did navigation stuff with the stars but maybe she was captain lol that’s what she wanted to do when she was little actually. But reading Evelyn diaries and not just the novels she realised how hard it was to always have such life h24)

Congratulations Lady Maria! 

After really hard years.. and trauma… and a exhausting presentation 

You win : 

a master degree in astronomy (sciences & other things)

a nice meal with your parents & family that congratulate you

a big part of your inheritance back!

a super wine bottle to share with your friends

 a trip to japan

finally your promised personalised double sword

a personalised hunting attire when you came back

to able to work with gehrman’s hunters & the healing church when you came back

So proud of you ❤️👏

✨Other lil hcs : 

Laurence made her very interested in religion. I am not joking, I sincerely believe he converted her somehow. / Made her very interest into great one religion etc

Gehrman saved her life more than once, she did the same. They went into lot of hunt training/camping trip as the beggining of being hunters.

She became great friends with Ludwig, Rom, Caryll, friends Damian too etc back at Byrgenwerth. With Micolash it was a bit more nuanced for a while. Before becoming close friends they were roasting each other often XD but respected each other too.

Her brooch either came from her mother or the late queen (aunt) so a family heirloom I guess. Ressemble a lumenflower. 

She helped the early healing church with treating people, make food, teach kids etc

She was highly respected by all the old hunters. Even if she had some tensions with dear Izzy at like the beginning they knew each other XD She earn their respect and everyone ended up very liking her being her kindness, abilities etc

When she was sent alone or with a couple of hunters to help in a secluded villages, people were of course really skeptical at first but she quickly proved them her worth.

I think sometimes she wears dresses…  but hey she never wears high heels or ballerina shoes (she hates it so hey she still has her special style! aka huge boots XD) It’s often very simple ones as well. Except at Cainhurst, it’s not very extravagant.

She loves to read tons of books (cainhurst library is there for smt XD)

With her cousins they loved to explore and wander the castle! At night too.. got them into trouble more than once.

Sometimes she wears sunglasses when it’s very sunny (poor girl has white eyelashes you see! she have an excuse)

She really loved the lumenflowers too like i explained last time.

She got some scars at the base of her neck. That’s why she almost always wear a jabot with her broach. (maybe on the hands too. that’s why she often has gloves).

She made (with a bit of help) Gherman’s red scarf while in japan.

“Of the Astral Clocktower” because she basically funded its construction with her own money. So like it’s partially hers on papers. (She did mostly astronomical studies & took care of the patients kind of like a nurse during her time at the research hall

She could play a couple of instruments (especially violin and cello). 

Of course she know many ballroom & court dance and taught other to others when they were invited to some places.

She actually can “sing” very well (but more music without real lyrics like the dream ost for exemple) ! She would probably almost never do that in public too.

Some books at the workshop are hers

Oh, did I already told she was very scared of pthumerian pyromancers before she fought the keeper of the old lords?

Ok now because I didn't know what to add to the post I asked some of my friends to help me with questions they wanted to know about! Thanks @heraldofcrow & @fareehaandspaniards there you go:

Was she comfortable with life at Cainhurst? (Before the Vileblood)

I think I answered that above ^ it’s very complex and complicated. Sometimes it goes well (especially in childhood) but sometimes it’s very complicated and not so good… (especially during teenage years and during some events where she got a lot of pressure and all. It got better after all this mess and Vilebloods mess of course (even if some distance was left compared to before). 

🩸🐦‍⬛Bloody Crow’s relation to Maria? 

In my main hc he’s the son of Maria’s cousin (Vled, the knight). So her little cousin basically. But to simplify I often say he’s like a nephew to her. I named him Voron! (I know very imaginative it means raven XD)  Still unsure if he’s born before or after the hamlet (probably after too) but in all cases Maria was around to help with the birth and to help take care of him for the first couple of days. She loved him very much. Also In the case something were to happen to his parents, well the king & queen would take care of him but if somehow they can’t/something were to happen to them too, Maria promised she would be the one to take care of him. 

Still, she died when he was very young. Probably like 3-6 years old. So he does remember a bit. But just a little and he has very good memories of her. But he also saw his family hurting from her disappearance and all and so he grew more mixed feeling but mostly it stays positive. He really looks like her in a lot of ways.

🕷️Rom and Maria friendship 🥺? 

I see you want to know more about their friendship! I think They had a wholesome friendship overall! But it didn't begins great. I am trying to write it in my fic since a few months but it's all hard and idk how to do that exactly XD

Like they were doing a group exercise and Rom was pretty bad and it (supposed to be quite easy) and Maria who got frustrated to explain it so much lash out a bit and tell her like “are you dumb or something?” 

Everyone in the class isn't very nice to Rom (and Maria) and said worst things behind her back so she thought that was, you know OK somehow and not that mean. But she quickly realized afterwards her mistake, that Rom was the Provost daughter and that she had some disability. But despite that, she was still trying hard and she must be very strong to have the lvl to be here you know! 

Maria feels very bad about it (Micolash had dark looks to give her too lmao)  but after a while (talking with other people cough cough) she decided to come to her and apologize sincerely and even try to help her on a few things.

Rom was quite surprised at first because nobody, you know approaches her like this to apologize and that's a huge thing considering Maria is from Cainhurst and a noble.

I mean she didn't even have hard feelings against Maria because everyone else is way meaner and she kinda forgot about it. She was quite surprised but also very thankful and they began to talk more. Micolash was the most surprised and he told Rom to be careful to not get walk over, to not believe lies and stuff but he quickly realized that it was genuine. And Rom had to reminded him (with Damian) that well, when he first meet Rom he was kinda of a bully at first!  Before becoming a mother hen with Damian.

So yes the two girls began to talk about a lot of things! She even got invited to Rom’s room. There’s tons of insects and underglass and stuff but generally people don't like that but Maria found it cool! She got some back home too and found it very interesting actually! So they quickly became friends with all the little gang. And also they are basically the two girls of the squad! I mean Caryll is in the girls squad too but they can also be in the boys squad so yeah anyway you know how girl besties can be x) you don’t share the same things exactly. Plus Caryll & Rom are really in the must protected squad.

 Maria even defends Rom from her family when she came back for the holiday and they asked her if she made some friends and who they were and stuff. And you know uh Mara had to told them in a very exaggerated manners that « oh I'm friend with the Provost daughter you know! » (You know because that's what they want to know, if she made strong connections with interesting people before anything else…)

But of course, you're going to have very rude comments from some relatives or something who’s going to say “oh the retarded one?” 💀  And everyone's looking at him like “can you please not say it like this?”  Poor Maria just standing there and dunno what to say because she really cares about her as a friend. She doesn't just want to have friends to show off she has important contacts. She genuinely values those friendships. Sadly, she can’t just tell her family that her friends are mostly “the weird introvert group kids! just like me!”(so she talk about Ludwig too! but don't put too much details on others…)

So yeah they stayed great friends for years. Sadly, in tough moments they didn’t really share what hurt them to the other… (after kos etc maybe a bit but not too much)

🗡️🛡️What or who inspired Maria's path of knighthood in her youth?

History books & knight novels! Her grand uncle, the other knights, king etc, Her family push her/ “let her choose” that way as well.

Lady Evelyn stories (she was like Maria grand aunt/ cousin of her grandparents, mostly an adventurer).

The bodyguard of Annalise’s mother who was at first a mercenary sent to Loran before becoming a royal knight.

🍜What were Maria's food preferences?

Hm i think if it looks/smells average and edible she’s actually not that complicated XD She made a lot of effort through the years to get used to more common and simple food.

My poor girl couldn’t really cooked anything when she arrived at Byrgenwerth besides cutting basic things, make tea, made ramen and skins animal meat (like rabbit) before Gehrman thought her other recipes 😭 (she made great soups afterwards! hunters like it, she cuts aliments well XD but yeah my boy cooks well for everyone he made her liked many simple things that if not done well many don’t like. But bro is the only one who probably likes some chard gratin or something out of everyone…)

Like most of her family, i supposed she would very much enjoy some rare/medium rare meat XD but when it’s EVERYDAY she got very tired 💀 I mean she tried to tell her family it was too much so they respected her wishes and gave her only vegetables for a couple of days… but not like normal meals no! like a whole ass not decorticate salad or full ass carrots with skins and all! 💀 She rapidly apologized like you can guess. (still she can’t stand those damn carpaccio when there’s too much!)

Besides that yeah only non meat dishes don’t bother her at all, she would even prefer most of the time. She likes both sophisticated but also very simple dishes she discovered.  Exotic food from the east. Of course my girl liked sushis, fish, sea fruit etc. I mean she used to like it way more before… you know… afterwards many hunters couldn’t just smell white fish for a few days without feeling nauseous…. for Maria she just couldn’t bring herself to eat like 95% of white sea fish anymore… (I guess salmon and thon and lobster were still ok but that’s it really).

And well of course deserts are always so nice so whatever 🤤

🌻Her relationship with Adeline?  /Who is Adeline to her in your interpretation? 

(Yeah both of you asked me this one! x) )

Well depending on the interpretations I have two main interpretations for her! (in the AU/very different timeline where Gehrman is like Maria's dad, that's her girlfriend lol) but in my main interpretation that’s not really the case. I prefer to see them as friends and very close friends I think? during her early time at the research hall. Another close friend she made who’s mainly outside of her main group. But both have quite an evolution through the years they knew each other. 

If i remember the draft in my head correctly it goes like this : 

After Maria graduated (and came back from her mission trip) she went to help the early healing church develop itself and its activities between hunts and going in the pthumerians labyrinth and that’s where she met Adeline.

I supposed Adeline is a Yharnamite? but she lost everything (her family. not sure what happened) and basically didn’t have a home anymore and clearly saw herself as worthless (poor girl had terrible self esteem issues all her life afterwards…) So the early healing church took in some people in need, gave them a place to sleep, eat and heal them if they were sick. Maria took care and helped Adeline during that time (after it was Laurence too).

And so the 2 became friends! In the end Adeline (who had nothing left) decided to dedicate her life to the healing church and helped others as well, so they saw each other with Maria afterwards! They advised each other and could have been a bit confident of each other as well. Of course Maria wasn’t very hyped when Adeline became a blood saint fully (seeing the bad things it could do to people) but she respected her choices.

During the research hall, before Adeline took part in the experiments, she helped Maria, Rom, Caryll etc around with the patients & other things. I suppose because of some dreams/ exposure to something, the decline of everyone's mental health, and maybe other people asking her... she decided to give herself fully to those experiments as well in the end… Her death was one of the last straws for Maria...

----

I know I have more questions left but I am reaching Tumblr word limit soon so I will reblog/make a 2nd post (or even a 3rd)💀 with the rest of the most interesting (and huge) questions! It's not quite written yet but for now this should be a nice distraction and a good reading I hope!

[wammypilled]

Successor Trio HCs in No Particular Order let's gooo

Matt is a lefty, Near is ambidextrous and Mello is right-handed. On that note, Mello's handwriting is a Rosetta stone worthy nightmare, Near's is so neat it looks printed, and Matt almost exclusively types bc dysgraphia.

All Wammy kids used fake names instead of their aliases when on trips. Near, Mello and Matt's were Nyx, Melvin and Manuel. Guess who'd gotten to choose his own, and which one had been assigned by Roger.

All three are some flavor of trans bi. (I could elaborate and give backstories but it'd probably take a wall of text)

Near was the first (and only, until Matt's arrival) person Mello bonded with when he got to Wammy's, as he taught the older boy the ins and outs of life in the House and in turn Mello would tell him stories from the outside.

Mello had known for years one of those days he'd end up running away, and had managed to put away some money by trading cigarettes for objects or money with other kids and stealing little ornaments from around the House to then pawn.

Matt has insane auditory memory. He doesn't even need to pay attention, if he's heard it it'll just come back to him. Whenever he actually needed to study something he either went to the teacher and gave them the ol' puppy eyes until they explained it to him or he'd ask Mello or Linda depending on the subject.

While never really being friends or understanding each other much, Matt and Near never truly disliked each other either and though they never really asked, one would happily help the other out, need be.

Jealousy aside, they were both too smart to blame each other for their failing friendship with Mello -> he was obviously the problem.

They're all pretty messy, but while Mello still knows exactly where everything is and Near likes to tidy up every once in a while, Matt has definitely had to buy new goggles only to check the freezer for fries months later and find his old ones half-buried in the ice.

Both Near and Mello are picky eaters, but in opposite ways. Near feels personally attacked by strong flavors and Mello hates anything too bland. They do agree on which textures are good or bad, though.

So, Matt can't really cook, but he's learned how to distill spirits for funsies. He likes to come up with ungodly concoctions and taste them like fine wine.

Mello is quite a good actor, and being so high-masking he's developed a bunch of personas to serve different purposes throughout the years. But on the other side of the coin it's become almost impossible for him to genuinely connect with others, which is why Matt seems to be his only real friend despite his very social nature.

Mello has a pretty high alcohol tolerance, but one time Matt dared him to chug a glass of one of his experiments and it completely fd him up, took him out for hours.

This is pretty much fanon I think, but Near is one kinky mf.

[ckret2]

Guess who's finally satisfied with part 3 of "Human Bill Cipher (In A Purple Bedsheet Toga) Attempts To Get His Revenge On The Pines"! (Real title TBD.) Here's the masterpost for the whole fic. 7/30/2024 now edited for TBOB compatibility. When we last left off:

For all Bill's struggling, flailing, and wheezing, he couldn't do much from beneath an entire school bus's worth of Mabels and Dippers. Voice thin from crushed lungs, Bill demanded, "What—how—where did you come from?!"

The entire population of Mabels grinned. The one sitting atop the pile crowed, "I think you mean... when did we come from!" Her duplicates cheered.

"Two hours from now," a Dipper added. "Our bus gets here in two hours."

####

Two hours from then, Mabel, Dipper, and Waddles got off the bus from California and looked around the bus stop with wide smiles.

Mabel's smile faded when she couldn't spot anybody. "Huh, I thought Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford were meeting us. They got here this afternoon, right?"

"Maybe their flight was delayed?" Dipper suggested—then spotted another Mabel and Dipper running up. "Whoa, what—?"

At the top of his lungs, the new Dipper shouted, "AMBIDEXTROUS PLATYPUS FARTS!"

Mabel cracked up. "WHAT?"

Dipper gasped. "It's my password! After all the evil clones and shapeshifters and bodysnatchers we dealt with last summer, I came up with a secret password—"

New Dipper cut in, "—so if I ever came up to myself and claimed to be a time traveler, I'd know I'm telling the truth!" New Dipper and New Mabel skidded to a stop. "We have an emergency, guys. Bill is back—"

Mabel cut in, "Wait, Bill-Bill?"

"Bill-Bill!" New Mabel said. "And he's possessing a tourist and about to shoot Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford and Soos right now!" She paused. "I mean—right now, two hours ago."

New Dipper handed a time tape to his double. "You've got to go back to 5:18 p.m., take Bill down, and take his laser and this tape away from him! And then... do that again a bunch of times in a row, I guess."

New Mabel added, "I painted an X in the future so you'll know where to tackle him in the past!" She offered a can of red spray paint to her double. "Here, you'll need this."

Dipper dropped his duffel bag and shrugged off his bulging backpack. "We don't have any time to lose! We'll come back for our luggage later. Let's go, Mabel!"

She dropped her bags as well, and the four twins sprinted for the Mystery Shack with Waddles chasing as fast as he could.

Until Mabel skidded to a stop. "Hold on! We've got a time thingy, right? We don't need to hurry! We can just jump back to 5:18 from any time."

"Oh, yeah." "That's true." "Good thinking, me!"

The original twins retrieved their luggage, and the group headed toward the shack again at a leisurely stroll, with Waddles trotting happily between the two Mabels. The evening weather was lovely.

####

"What about you, Bill? What are you doing here?" Dipper demanded.

"Yeah," Mabel added, "I thought you were stuck in that dumb book we chucked into another universe! What happened to that whole thing?"

Bill let out as heavy a sigh as he could manage when pinned down by a ton of teenagers. "Well..."

####

This is where Bill's explanatory flashback would be, if he were cooperative.

He wasn't cooperative.

####

"You actually thought I was ever really gone? Boy, look at gullible over here!" Bill laughed.

The Dippers and Mabels exchanged a collective look, and without a word, shifted so more of the pile was weighing directly down on Bill.

He wheezed. "No sense of humor."

"I've got his time tape!" one Dipper shouted, holding it above the crowd.

"And I've got the laser," a Mabel called, waving it in the air. "Can I keep...?"

Ford gave her a stern look and held out his hand. She sighed and handed it over.

"Okay, Mabel Number One here!" another Mabel shouted, shaking her spray can. "Everybody move forward, I've got an X to mark!" The group obligingly shuffled forward, prompting more displeased grunts from Bill. Mabel considered his feet thoughtfully before spray painting an X where she estimated he'd been standing before.

"Not gonna lie, I thought we were goners," Soos said. "That was crazy! How did you two do that!"

Bill snapped, "By pulling the kind of time loop that ought to have Time Baby down here gumming you idiots to death. I throw one little party and he makes a personal trip to the 21st century just to invade my pad, but two brats pull off as clear-cut a paradox as you can imagine..."

The Dippers and Mabels worked through the logic of their own rescue as they realized they wouldn't have known to come if they hadn't told themselves. Dipper said, "Maybe this is actually the altered timeline, and in the original timeline you did kill them and we had to steal your time tape to change the past?"

Ford took a time tape from a Dipper who had two. "Although that does beg the question of why the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron isn't here to investigate all these time loops. Or how you got so many of yourselves here at the same time. Has this tape been tampered with...?"

Bill said, "Yeah, smart guy, everybody knows time tapes are designed to prevent overlapping time loops! So how are there so many kids here? The mystery must be killing you!" He laughed. "I could tell you, if you let me up."

Ford shot him a dark look. "You know I won't."

"I know." Bill sneered at Ford. "Just wanted to make sure you remember all the things I could tell you. Your loss."

Bill's eyes looked the same as they always had—maybe a little jaundiced, a little too human, but those were still Bill's eyes. Ford had never seen such wrath in his eyes before. 

He looked away. When he properly met the woman Bill was possessing, he wouldn't want to remember Bill glaring through her eyes.

####

While the adults found something to tie up Bill, the Dippers entertained themselves by journaling and the Mabels by decorating each other's faces with scented markers.

Without anything better to do, Bill twisted his head to watch the kids. "Hey. Can I get some art?"

The nearest Mabel looked at him, looked at the closest Dipper (who considered the odds that this was a trap, and shrugged warily), and looked back at Bill. Logically, he might be trying to get her hand close enough to his face for him to bite it and drink her blood or something—and ethically, the alien menace who'd threatened her family didn't deserve nice things—and pettily, she didn't want him to have nice things—but then, when she tilted her head just slightly, rather than seeing Bill Cipher, she saw a vast expanse of unblemished face skin just begging for artwork. Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter if a murderous monster got to enjoy the benefits of scented markers, as long as Mabel got to enjoy the benefits of making art.

Anyway, who else's face was she gonna draw on? Dipper had already turned her down and her duplicates were running out of facial real estate. "I don't see why not! What do you want?"

"Draw me."

Mabel grimaced. "Ooh, that's gonna be a no. Grunkle Ford says drawings of you are magic?"

Bill sighed loudly. "Sheesh, you sound as paranoid as him. What are my options?"

"I specialize in tiger masks, butterfly masks, rainbows, unicorns, spiders, aaand flowers!"

"Fine, gimme a butterfly."

"Colors?"

"Dealer's choice."

"Oooh." Mabel considered his face, grabbed her banana, cherry, and raspberry markers, held them from the very butt so Bill couldn't reach her fingers, and got to work. But Bill didn't try to bite her. He just stared off into space stoically.

He did start biting when the adults returned to secure him. As they tried to restrain his limbs, he kicked, clawed, struggled, flailed, and snapped his teeth—but without the advantage of the time tape and a gift shop of projectile souvenirs, he only wore himself out. By the time they determined him sufficiently immobilized—hands cuffed behind his back, up arms chained to his ribs, knees and ankles tied up—and the twin pile freed him, Bill was gasping for breath, eyes squeezed shut. He didn't even attempt to sit up. Stan and Ford tried not to look too close at the trembling human form collapsed on the stony floor.

"And the final touch..." Soos took off the fuzzy pink belt he'd been wearing all day and wrapped it around Bill's waist. "Yes. Finally." He paused. "Hey, I was right, this belt does look good with that bedsheet. Compliments the pink in your butterfly, too!"

Bill opened one eye. Voice strained, he conceded, "Doesn't look bad."

"Is that unicorn hide? Excellent work." Ford clapped a hand on Soos's shoulder. "A few moonstones and mercury, and Bill will be trapped inside that body until we find a way to extract and contain him."

"He will? Hey, whaddaya know!" Soos beamed. "Fashionable and functional."

Ford tried to ignore Bill's gaze on the side of his head—attentive, calculating, scheming. "I'll... get the supplies and be right back."

The Dippers and Mabels consulted the tally marks on their palms, added one more each with Mabel's markers, arranged themselves in a semicircle behind the X marking Bill's spot, and all returned to the past except for two. The Dipper and Mabel with twenty-five tallies high-fived. "Yes!"

Dipper sighed, "Finally. I thought we were gonna repeat the same fifteen minutes forever."

Stan—currently guarding Bill with Ford's laser—glanced over at Dipper. "Hold on. If you kids have been doing some kind of crazy time loop, then that means you've been tackling this creep over and over for...?"

"Over six hours," Dipper groaned.

"We ate my last pocket bus snacks ten loops ago," Mabel said. She held up her hand. "On the bright side, I smell so delicious now?"

Dipper sniffed his own hand's tally marks. "Ew."

"Haaa! You wanted the black licorice marker, bro!"

Wiping his palm on his shorts, Dipper said, "And we got up at five to catch our bus. We've been up almost twenty-one hours. I'm completely drained."

"Pffft!"

Stan, Soos, and the twins turned to give Bill a wary look.

"'Oh no! I'm a delicate little human! I've gone half a day without a REM cycle and three hours without glucose! How can I function like this?'" His laugh was a wretched, hacking cough. "It's pathetic how weak you are."

"You're one to talk," Dipper snapped. "These weak humans took you down! Again!"

"Wow, amazing, if you pile five thousand pounds of dead weight on top of a body made of calcium sticks wrapped in raw meat, it can't get up. Congratulations on learning how gravity works!" Bill rolled onto his back, and—with a laborious effort akin to a kid in gym class attempting one sit-up too many—managed to heave himself up to a sitting position. "You got lucky—" he cast a dirty look at the X spray painted on the ground, "—but luck changes." His lower butterfly wings crinkled as a smile twisted up his face. "I escaped death itself. Do you really think a bunch of stupid sub-centenarian children like you can stop me from escaping a little rope and chains?"

Stan bristled. "What I think is you've got a butterfly-shaped bullseye in the middle of your face and I've got a laser with your name on it if you don't shut up!"

Mabel gasped quietly. "My butterfly."

Bill laughed at Stan's anger, mouth open, all teeth. It seemed like far too many teeth, coming from a creature that shouldn't have had a mouth. "Oh, that's precious! Sure, go ahead, Stanley, let's find out what'll happen—!" Bill froze as Stan shoved the laser between his eyes.

"Maybe I will!"

Dipper flinched, "Grunkle Stan, what if it's a trap—"

Bill headbutted the barrel hard enough to knock the laser out of Stan's hand; and even with his body restrained in four place, with an unexpected burst of grace he was back on his feet. Bill's voice plummeted to a demonic roar that hardly seemed to fit inside the short human body. "Do you want to see what I can do?! You wanna see what I'm still capable of?! FINE! I'll SHOW you what... wh-what..."

Bill's eyes rolled back and his face went slack.

He flopped face first to the ground.

The humans stared. Stan asked, "Is, uh. Is this what you're capable of?"

The back of Bill's head didn't answer.

Soos rolled him onto his back and tugged up one eyelid. "Guys, I think he fainted. Is that a good thing, or...?"

Mabel poked his arm. "This again? You'd think he'd have learned to grab an energy drink by now."

Dipper said, "Maybe he's still trying to drink them with his eyeballs." Mabel laughed.

Stan grunted. "I'm fine with whatever gets him to shut up a few minutes."

Dipper gasped. "Wait—if we let him escape this body, he could be anywhere! The belt! Grunkle Ford, the moonstones!"

He and Mabel ran to find him. 

####

Stan said, "I say we sit him up, shoot him in the back of the head, and bury the body right in here." Dipper and Mabel stared at him with wide eyes.

"Believe me, Stanley, I'd love to do that." (Dipper and Mabel turned their wide-eyed stare on Ford.) "But all that would accomplish is murdering some innocent woman who was probably unlucky enough to pick up his book, while Bill himself escapes. And that's assuming he hasn't already left her brain!" It had taken almost a minute after Bill fainted for Ford to coat the belt in mercury and duct tape on several moonstones. "Kill her and he'd just come back wearing another poor victim."

Stan considered that. "Could he escape her brain if we buried her alive?" (Dipper and Mabel turned again to stare at him.)

There were no good solutions. There was no point in being cruel enough to ask Fiddleford to make a new memory gun so they could retry the stunt they'd pulled during Weirdmageddon, since getting shattered into psychic dust had clearly only slowed Bill down; and setting the gun to erase "Bill Cipher" from the puppet's brain would just erase her memories of Bill rather than Bill himself. They could try going into the victim's mindscape after Bill, but all the tricks Ford knew to capture dreams or exorcise spirits only might work on an entity like Bill—or might let him hop into one of their heads. 

First, they needed to make sure Bill was still in this body; and if he was, they needed something foolproof to extract and destroy him.

And until then, they had to contain him.

####

Melody turned toward the opening vending machine door, relief on her face. "Oh, Soos! There you are! I was getting worried. I've been looking for you for twenty minutes, the gift shop looks like a tornado hit it..." She trailed off, taking in the sight of Soos and Stan carrying an unconscious, tied-up woman wrapped in a bedsheet with a butterfly on her face, and Ford training a laser gun on her. "Please tell me that's some kind of evil fairy queen and not an actual tourist."

"Worse, it's Bill Cipher!"

Stan flinched. "Soos—"

"Yeah, he took over this tourist in a cool toga, I think he's been staking out the Shack the last few months with time travel, and he tried to kill the Pineses—Dipper and Mabel had to stop him and..." Soos looked at Stan. "Oh, hold on, was I not supposed to share that?"

"Of course not!"

Ford said, "This is a very delicate situation, and the more people get involved, the less we can control it. We can't tell anyone—"

Abuelita stuck her head through the living room "Employees Only" door. "Mijo, here you are. Who is this? A... guest?"

"Oh, hey Abuelita. This is Bill Cipher—you know, the triangle guy? Yeah, we caught him trying to kill us, so we're gonna keep... him..." Soos trailed off under Stan's glare. "Oh, come on! You can't expect me not to tell Abuelita!"

Abuelita gave Bill's unconscious form a calm, considering look, said, "I will cook an extra serving for dinner," and let the door swing shut.

"Wait wait wait," Melody said. "Triangle guy Bill Cipher? Like, turned-us-all-into-statues Bill Cipher?" She'd been unfortunate enough to be on a weekend trip back to Gravity Falls for a date with Soos when Bill had invaded. He'd been in her nightmares ever since.

Soos shot Stan an apologetic look, then said, "Yeah, that one."

"So, have you called the police yet? Or—or the FBI, or...?"

"It's cool, we've got it all under control," Soos said. "We're gonna lock him in the cellar."

"You're what?"

"Yeah, I've got a mattress down there he can take. There's a TV, the pinball machine... Do you think Bill likes pinball?"

"He won't be here long," Stan reassured Melody. "I've got some out-of-state 'connections' from a previous 'business venture' who have 'resources.'" He'd hooked his arms through Bill's armpits to free his hands up to make finger quotes. "I'm calling in a 'favor.' They can hold him somewhere 'comfortable,' until..."

Firmly, Ford said, "Until we've come up with something more permanent."

Stan nodded. "Once we're sure we trapped him in this girl, he'll be outta here."

Soos said, "Oh, hey—do you think we might need to close the Shack tomorrow? I should go tell Wendy. Be right back." He handed Bill's feet to Ford and headed to the living room.

"Oh no you don't, hold on!" Stan dropped Bill's head on the floor and followed Soos.

Ford looked down at Bill in dismay, trying to figure out how best to pick him up without risking Bill trying to bite out his throat again if he woke up. From the stairwell, Mabel and Dipper peered around him to help consider the predicament; Mabel said, "Just drag him." Dipper nodded.

Melody screwed up her face, but sighed in resignation. "I've got it." She helped heave Bill back up. "But I want a really good explanation why we aren't letting the cops handle the dangerous superpowered criminal."

Ford said, "Melody, I know you haven't lived here long. But have you seen the police in this town?"

Melody sucked thoughtfully on her teeth. "Fair point. But what about the government? If there are actual aliens on the planet, surely there's some kind of Guys In Black or X-Folders squad to deal with them?" She paused at the gift shop exit.

 Mabel got the door open for her. "I think we brain damaged the last guys in black that came to town."

Dipper laughed. "Yeah, they could barely handle zombies. I don't think they'd have any idea how to handle Bill."

"Precisely," Ford said. "They don't know his abilities like we do. Once he's out of our hands, we wouldn't be able to ensure he's properly contained." Voice lowered, he added, "Besides—I'm afraid involving the government might play right into his hands. He's been pulling the strings on human politics for millennia, and there's no way to know who secretly answers to him—"

Melody made another face. "Yeeeah, no, nah, I don't believe in any of that... 'shadow government' conspiracy theory stuff."

"And in most contexts, your skepticism would be wise." Ford and Melody let Dipper and Mabel haul open the cellar doors, and then carefully descended the stairs. "But where Bill's involved—there are few facets of human history that haven't been drawn into his tangled web. He's a master manipulator, and our world has been his pet project for millions of years. For crying out loud, he even helped fake the moon landing—"

Flatly, Melody said, "The moon landing."

"Yes!"

"How do you know this."

Ford and Melody dropped Bill on the bare mattress, and Ford gestured impatiently at him. "He admitted it himself! When he was busy boasting about how he helped 'inspire' Kubrick's work."

Melody planted her hands on her hips. "So, you're telling me a 'master manipulator'... told you he faked the moon landing... and... you believe him?"

Ford stared at her.

####

"Hey Wendy," Soos said, fiddling with office phone's cord. "This is Soos. Your boss. Listen, I know you have a shift tomorrow, but uh, you might not need to come in, okay? I mean—maybe. It depends. Still figuring it out. I'll call you in the morning." He glanced at Stan, who sharply nodded.

Wendy said, "Oh? How come?"

While Stan furiously mouthed Soos do NOT tell her anything or I swear— Soos said, "Uhh, Shack might be closed tomorrow, that's all."

"Oh, is it for like family reunion stuff?"  Tone brightening, she said, "Hey, is it cool if I swing by anyway? I wanna come say hi to Dipper and Mabel."

Soos frantically waved a hand. "Nooo, you can't! For. Reasons."

Wendy was silent a moment. Soos bit his lip. Wendy said, "For... weird scary paranormal stuff reasons?"

Soos looked at Stan for guidance. Stan shrugged and made a so-so gesture. Soos said, "Yeah, pretty much."

Wendy laughed. "Oh man, seriously? Give the Pines heck for me for getting into something the first day of summer vacation. Text me every half hour so I know you're alive and I don't have to come over with an axe."

Soos sighed in relief. "Thanks, Wendy."

As Soos was hanging up, Ford barged into the office, Dipper and Mabel behind him. "Stanley, this is urgent. As soon as we've dealt with Bill, we need to visit the moon."

Stan processed that and grinned. "All right, I'm game!"

Ford's watch beeped, startling him. "What—oh! That's right, I set a reminder for us to go..." He paused, looking at Dipper and Mabel. "... Pick you two up from the bus stop."

Dipper gasped. "Right! Mabel, I almost forgot! We'll be here any minute! We've got to go tell ourselves to stop Bill! Where did the time tape go?"

"And the spray paint! I gave myself spray paint—"

"Kids—hold on a second." Stan nudged past Ford to kneel in front of Dipper and Mabel. "Listen. I know this isn't how you wanted your vacation to start—especially after we spent all year convincing your parents there won't be any more apocalypses this time—and, I'm sorry. But as soon as you get back from the bus, treat it like you just got here for the first time. We'll say hi, we'll have dinner, you two can make plans to visit your friends tomorrow—and we'll keep all this as far from you as possible."

Dipper started in first. "But, Grunkle Stan—"

"What if you need our help?"

"We've defeated Bill more times than anyone else—"

"And we just saved your lives again!"

"Whoa, easy!" Stan put his hands on their shoulders. "I know you can deal with him—but you shouldn't have to. You're kids, it's summer, you're here to have fun."

"Stan's right," Ford said. "We've already contained Bill—so try not to let him weigh on your mind."

Stan gave them an encouraging smile. "Let the old guys clean up this mess, okay?"

They didn't answer. Instead, they exchanged a glance, and then leaned in to fling their arms around Stan's neck. 

"Hey, hey! C'mon, kids, what's..." His voice caught on a lump in his throat. He wrapped his arms around Dipper and Mabel and squeezed them tight. After a moment, Ford joined in.

They didn't separate until Soos leaned in to crush their lungs.

####

As they ate dinner together around the large living room table, the Pines didn't talk about Bill. They talked about who they wanted to catch up with in town and what events they'd participate in this summer, and the kids' last semester of school, and the places Ford and Stan had traveled, and where in Gravity Falls the kids might be able to continue their judo lessons (by the sound of it, nowhere), and what Stan and Ford remembered about taking boxing as kids, and Dipper's indecision over what electives to take next year, and Mabel's enthusiasm over the parkour classes she'd started at a gym near home.

They didn't talk about why the kids had decided to pick up sports that could help them fight or escape. They didn't bring up all the times Dipper had called Ford after recurring nightmares of being pulled out of his body and left adrift. They didn't comment on Soos and Melody's absence from dinner as they took first watch over the cellar. They didn't ask questions when Stan left the living room table to take a call in the kitchen from his "connections." They didn't speculate on whether Bill might have escaped his puppet's body during the precious seconds between when he passed out and when they completed the barrier belt. They didn't talk about fear.

Down below in the cellar, the unconscious body didn't stir.

[stqrmyskies]

skyward sword headcanons time let’s go!!

lanaryu desert, was an ocean with a forest in the past, as stated in game. hence, it makes sense that it is much closer to faron woods than it is to eldin volcano. BUT!! what if eldin’s volcano was actually a mountain in the distant past? a small mountain, sure, but a mountain nontheless! it would definitely explain why there were trees and water springs in the volcano! it was actually just a dormant volcano the whole time until like 100 years ago when it exploded and people on skyloft could see it (or when demise made it explode, that works too)

link is definitely not just right handed. if you look at his desk, his quill is left laying on the left side of his notebook/journal. my guess is that it was just easier to train everyone in right handed sword fighting. link also pulls back his bow with his left hand, another implication that he is most likely ambidextrous or cross dominant.

zelda prefers to wear pants!! i think people tend to forget that she was dressed up (i don’t blame you though) for the Wing Ceremony to play the role of the goddess. pants are definitely more comfortable for riding loftwings, and it would make sense as she was in training to become a knight

in general, most people on skyloft are tanner or dark skinned, it just makes sense in my mind since they are closer to the sun

link has many freckles. i don’t accept otherwise

link and zelda would sit together and make flower crowns for hours as kids, which often ended with link falling asleep for a little bc he was tired

link is asthmatic. running for too long made him tired but he pushed through to save zelda and definitely pushed his body to the limits at times.

this headcanon isn’t mine, but i think it’s really cool! @the-phantom-peach has this headcanon that having a feather of your loftwing and another’s indicates close friendship or romantic attraction! link and zelda both have one (i hope you don’t mind the tag!)

this one’s silly but whenever link had to get the gratitude crystals he had to go on his toes to grab it and put it in his bag

that’s all for now! but i’ll definitely add more later

[ghostradiodylan]

Vital Dylan Lenivy discourse. Are we cutting off his dominant hand or is he conveniently putting his less important hand in the werewolf nibble zone? Or is he one of those rare ambidextrous unicorns?

I’m left-handed (though ambidextrous in a lot of ways, I can’t write for shit with my right hand) so I was extra upset about his hand until I remembered we are in such a minority that he’s probably right-handed. But it’s hard to tell. He reaches for the door handle in Chris’s office with his left hand, but catches (or beefs) the keys with his right. I feel like they leave it kind of ambiguous. Which I guess could point to ambidexterity!

I’ve thought about this a normal amount. Please join me.

[tj-crochets]

So I was thinking about my recent realization that I am ambidextrous and that it's not something everybody can just naturally do (like I thought it was) and I have another "can everyone do this or is my family just weird" question for y'all: Can most people consistently hit the target with ranged weaponry the first time they try it? wait okay unrelated follow up question: can most people (if they do not have an injury or condition that prevents it) sit on the ground cross-legged and lean forward until their torso is like flat on the ground? editing again: I am trying to come up with more things I thought everybody could do but that, in retrospect, might just be my family. High kicks? I guess? I know not everyone can do like head-height kicks, but can most people kick like chest high?

[incorrectmarvelquotesss]

— abience —

Warnings: fluff, angst, self-loathing!Bucky, mentions of PTSD, light mentions of racism

Summary: His head wasn’t clear and you were just in the way of his anger. || Soulmates AU

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Word Count: ~6k

A/N: This took too much time to edit and I’m pretty sure there’s still some mistakes. Anyway, it’s almost my birthday which means I want to do something for it here. Let me know if you guys want a drabble day or something like that. Enjoy!

*the strong urge to avoid someone or something*

Bucky grabbed a pen and looked around for a paper, telling Tony to calm down over the phone. When he finally gave up on finding a piece of paper, he opted to switch hands and scribble the address down on his right arm. He mentally thought that he should be happy for being ambidextrous even though it was Hydra’s doing, but Tony’s voice made Bucky tune back into reality before he could get too lost in his head. 

“That’s the restaurant and remember to wear something casual,” Tony started, ranting about Morgan’s birthday dinner party. Gone was the Tony Stark that wanted every magazine to know his whereabouts and have overly sized parties. Now he would rather spend time in a diner that Steve had taken Morgan to, which she absolutely adored, and only have his family there. 

Him and Pepper had the life that Bucky had wanted. He knew that they were soulmates, hearing about the time when Pepper had written a time and place on her forearm to meet with a client. Tony’s forearm had displayed the exact writing—and he claims to have recognized the handwriting—and decided to drop by the place where he pulled Pepper’s sleeve up and finally found his soulmate. They had their ups and downs, but they complemented each other and brought out the best in each other. 

Bucky figured that that was what soulmates did. Complement each other. Brought out the best in each other. Complete each other. Help when one didn’t help themselves. He sometimes couldn’t help but wish he knew his soulmate, but he had decided it was better if he didn’t meet them. The Winter Soldier was still infamous for his actions, no matter how many times Bucky joined the Avengers for a mission to save the world—or universe. The lingering stares and whispered hatred followed him and he was sure it would eventually get too much for his soulmate. 

Unless it was Natasha, he guessed, having been through something similar, Though she had found her soulmate a while before Bucky showed up. Steve had always thought that Peggy was his only soulmate in existence, but fate had proved him wrong when he had seen Natasha’s perfect cursive cross his arm as she drew out the words she wanted to get tattooed one day. Bucky had realized that they were a perfect match in more than some ways. The two were always coordinated and in sync, so it didn’t phase anyone on the team. 

“I know,” Bucky huffed out, head snapping up as the doorbell echoed throughout his apartment. He looked at the clock and knew that there was only one person who could be here this late at night—it was only nine, but no one showed up that late. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Tony.” 

“Yeah, alright, Buckaroo. And don’t forget to wear your happy face,” Tony said before hanging up on him. Not unusual for the genius, billionaire, philanthropist. Bucky had long gotten used to it, knowing he hung up on everyone, except Pepper and Morgan. Bucky couldn’t even resent him for that—Bucky would never dare hang up on Pepper or Morgan. 

The doorbell chimed again and Bucky rolled his eyes, placing his phone on the island of his kitchen and walking towards the main entrance. He paused for a second when he caught the scent of cinnamon, hand frozen on the doorknob. It reminded him of a sweeter time, a bittersweet memory surfacing with hazy edges and leaving the lingering taste of a velvety texture in his mouth. 

He twisted the door open. 

“Hey, Bucky!” Sam said, barging in and toeing off his shoes without wasting a second for an invitation. He had gotten used to that ever since Sam decided to move into the apartment across from him. Even though he used to do it before moving into the building. It was just more prominent now to Bucky, the barging in with late night leftovers or pastries and sweets from the bakery down the street. The one where that sweet woman, who Sam didn’t shut up about ever, worked. 

“What do you want?” That was his regular greeting and Sam accepted it. 

“Well, you know that bakery down the street?”

“No, I don’t.” 

Sam ignored him and said, “That girl I told you about tried out this new recipe with cinnamon buns and wanted me to try them, but being the good friend I am, I brought some for you to try too.”

“Jee, thanks,” Bucky drawled out as Sam placed the buns into the two plates Bucky owned. He had only one before, but Sam bought one for himself and left it here for things like these. 

There was a reason why he never invited people over. 

The living room had one two-seater with a small side table that was usually stacked with books from a shop he had found tucked between a few larger buildings. The carpet was actually a blanket that Bucky had bought a few years ago and often used it as a mattress. The two bedrooms were practically empty, a bed and a night table the only two things in each. Bucky used neither rooms nor the dining room, hence why there was no table in there. The two stools were pulled up against the island in the kitchen where Bucky, and Sam occasionally, ate any meal. 

“Well, you are very welcome,” Sam sassed, chuckling to himself as Bucky’s broody mood lightened slightly at the familiar sight of cinnamon buns. “The woman said that she finally has a lead on her soulmate, y’know? 

“That’s good for her,” Bucky said, not exactly in the mood for more soulmate bullshit. His left arm was permanently gone from existence so if his soulmate was right-handed, the chances of finding her decreased immensely. So there was more that Hydra took from him then. If he focused on it, he could probably find about a gazillion things they had taken from him. His sanity being the first one. Control, emotions, soulmate, time, name, the list could go on and on. 

Sam bit into a bun and groaned, falling into the stool and smacking the island with his hand twice. Bucky bit back an insult, feeling like Sam was being a bit more dramatic than usual for something so small. He was used to the sounds and compliments that left his mouth after a bite, but the actions were new. And Bucky could say they were stupid and unnecessary, but held back because the previous pastries had been good too. 

“Good sweetness, this is amazing,” Sam moaned, making Bucky pick up his own cinnamon bun. He eyed it with distaste, but bit into it anyway. 

He felt his heart warm as the heat of the bun hit his tongue. Then the flavours flooded his mouth, bursting through the dough and making him inhale sharply. The sweet taste of cinnamon made him lick his lips. The light pinch of strawberry made his mouth water, desperate to take another bite and another. He barely registered when he had taken the second bite, the flavour of the pastry making him feel fuzzy and cozy. Comfortable. 

“So,” Sam stressed out, his eyes already telling Bucky that he was about to tease him, “how is it?” 

“It’s good,” Bucky grunted, putting the bun back on the plate while his face burned. He averted his eyes from Sam, wiping his fingers against his thigh and then flicking the dust off of his sweatpants. He didn’t know what it was about the bun, but it made him flustered. Nervous. Unsettled. There was a memory attached to cinnamon, that much he had clicked together. He just had a gut-sinking feeling that the memory was connected to his mother. 

His mother had already been a sore topic of discussion. He could remember his sisters just fine, Rebecca being the most occurring between her, Eleanor, and Mary. Other than Rebecca, the three of them had bright steel-blue eyes. Rebecca had inherited his mother’s brown eyes, but she looked like the feminine version of Bucky. He remembered the countless times someone had pointed it out, saying that they could have been twins if Rebecca was a bit older. His father had always laughed and said it was in his strong genes that the two of them looked like him.

Steve had tried to talk about his mother—the one he barely even recognized—but Bucky had somehow managed to ignore all of those conversations. Steve, retired with Natasha by his side, had yet to finish a whole sentence about Winifred Barnes in front of Bucky. 

“I was wondering,” Sam started, giving Bucky a glare when he sighed, “if you were going to Morgan’s birthday party?”

“I am,” Bucky replied, lifting up his bun and eyeing it, pondering on whether he wanted to indulge in the memory or not. If he took a bite and remembered what made cinnamon so special to him, maybe he would finally remember the brown eyes he adored and the warm arms that welcomed him home everyday after school. 

“Great! We’re going together then,” Sam stated and stuffed the last piece into his mouth. Bucky cringed inwardly and shook his head. 

“No.” Bucky put his bun down and Sam eyed it. 

“Yur nof guha eaf faf?” Sam pointed at the bun, voice muffled, but gestures telling Bucky exactly what he was asking. Bucky rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively, watching Sam jump in his stool slightly before grabbing the piece from his plate. Sam swallowed down the piece that was in his mouth and added, “We’re so going together tomorrow. My car’s at the shop.” 

“Why?” That was the one question Bucky ever asked. He found it easier to ask that and have the other person continue to talk than small talk. Idle chit-chats that he could barely remember were the worst and his biggest nightmare at this point. 

“Well, the engine started making this noise,” Sam began, gesturing with his hands and elaborating on the noises more than Bucky wanted. Bucky’s shoulders started to relax as he realized he was in for a long night. 

———

Sunlight glared at him through the blinds, waking him from the dreamless sleep he was finally getting. Bucky begrudgingly rolled out of his makeshift bed, cursing Sam for staying until midnight watching Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs after Bucky let it slip that he took his sister to go watch it. He rushed down the steps of his apartment building, still shrugging on his damn flannel and biting into his plum as he turned the corner. He finished it off by the time he had crossed the street, sending up a hand to a car that had stopped for him. 

His shoulder knocked into someone as he entered the bakery, desperate to have something in his stomach before he took the subway into Manhattan. He muttered out an apology—the person had already disappeared—and continued his venture into the bakery Sam always talked about. Bucky had never been inside nor had he realized that it was a cafe/bakery. The scent of coffee and pastries made him pause for a second before he stepped into the queue. Ordering his coffee and paying for it, he found himself looking around the place.

It was made to look vintage, that much was obvious. The walls were a cool brown colour with beige accents creating swirly patterns around the whole cafe. The tables and stools lined up on the walls were another shade of brown that matched the round tables in the middle of the floor. The chairs for the tables were a light cream colour that matched the ceiling and the register counter. There were pillar replicas cut to fit into the corners of the walls, ninety degrees perfectly. 

Once the barista called his name and held out his coffee, he rushed forward to grab and then walked out of the bakery. Cafe. Cafe/bakery place. He turned slightly as he walked away to glance at the name; Moonstruck. That didn’t help calm the debate happening in his head. Was it a cafe or a bakery? Is it both? Is it—

“Hey, Buck!” Sam called out from behind, a cunning smile on his face. He waved a hand teasingly as he lightly jogged over, a coffee in his hands as well. “Thought you could go without me, did you?” 

Bucky rolled his eyes and continued to walk away, muttering, “Don’t know what I was thinking.” He took a sip of his coffee and looked up just in time to avoid a collision with a cyclist. 

“I’m gonna ignore that and—” Sam paused to sip his coffee and gave the cyclist a glare— “tell you flannels are a good look on you.” 

Bucky glanced down at his attire and shrugged dismissively. His black pants, black shirt, and red flannel were nothing to compliment. He found them all too casual and, quite frankly, the only decent pair of clothing he had for this outing. He didn’t say anything to humour Sam, instead taking another few sips of his coffee. It was good, very well-made, but that was another thing Bucky kept to himself. 

“Oh! You got that coffee from Moonstruck, didn’t ya? I’d recognize that logo from a mile away,” Sam started, wiggling his eyebrows when Bucky sent him a glare. They reached the station, taking the steps down and scanning their cards to get in. Sam had, thankfully, kept his mouth closed for the time they waited for the subway to arrive, sipping his coffee and sending smiles at a particular woman who kept eyeing him with a smirk. 

They both had to stand in the subway; apparently Saturdays in the middle of fall meant rush hour in the early afternoons. Bucky wondered briefly if he had rode in the subway back in the 40s. He knew there were working subways in New York then, but he doubted he ever took it. If he had to compare the money his parents had back then, he was sure they would be living as luxurious as Tony was now. They had a car and some foods that others would have had to work for months straight for. 

As the subway started nearing the stop they were due to get off at, Sam started getting jittery. 

“Do you think Steve’s gonna be there?” He asked, eyes darting to Bucky as he leaned against a divider. After Steve had given the mantle over to Sam, Sam had been doing nothing but trying. His view on the idealistic Captain America was different from what Steve’s was. He wanted Captain America to not just represent the country and the people in it, but also shed light on what America really was. It wasn’t the best country in the world, nor was everyone living in it the best people. Sam wanted to put that out to the world. 

Bucky and Steve could respect him for it. Sam thought that they wouldn’t, simply because they didn’t share the same life experiences as him. They didn’t have police pulling up behind them already on high alert, just based on the colour of their skin. They didn’t have to endure the stares and subtle gestures of moving away or moving something away from them. Sam had explained what he saw Captain America to be with hesitancy, seemingly fully expecting the two to laugh in his face or tell him that it was wrong. But they had nodded solemnly and agreed, knowing that they would never know the struggles but could at least try to understand and help in any given way. 

“Probably,” Bucky replied after a moment of thinking, shrugging. His one-word answer wasn’t enough for Sam. 

“You think he watches the news? They’ve been dragging my name through the dirt with last week’s disaster,” he continued, grabbing the rail as the subway stopped to let passengers down at the stop. Last week’s disaster meant the tabloid of Sam talking to Zemo before the Wakandans took him in. He had watched a news channel dissect the picture, drawing to the stupidly hilarious conclusion that Sam had links to Hydra. The mere idea was laughable. 

“Don’t worry,” was all Bucky grumbled out, stepping between a few people as they made their way to the doors. It wasn’t the best thing to say because Sam let out a frustrated sigh and had an irritated expression on his face. Bucky knew he should have had more things to say, to comfort Sam, but words were complicated. Bucky could never find the right ones and he found himself cutting his sentence down to just a few words. 

The speakers went off with an automated voice telling them to stay clear of the door just before a ding and the doors slid open. Sam and Bucky slipped out of the subway, moving past the crowd that waited to get on and jogged up the stairs out to Manhattan. The stench in the air never failed to make Bucky’s throat itch for a few minutes. It was better when they passed the rush of the tourists and traffic in central Manhattan and made their way towards where the diner was nestled. Sam decided against saying anything for the time being and Bucky was thankful. 

———

“Ay! Buckaroo and Cappie made it!” Tony announced, clapping Sam on the back as Sam glared at him. Tony kept his grin on his face, making it bigger for the sheer amusement of seeing Sam get all riled up at the nickname. Bucky had long accepted his, hearing it from Morgan a few times, said just a hair wrong and decided it was cute. 

“Buckaroo!” Morgan shouted at the top of her lungs and ran straight towards Bucky, launching herself at him. Bucky, being an ex-assassin and having been greeted like this since the third time, let a smile grace his lips as he extended his arms just in time to catch her mid-jump. 

“Hey, Mags.” He felt her arms wrap around his neck and arms around his middle as he held her close to his body, giving her a long hug before squeezing her tightly and letting her go. She jumped in his arms, bright eyes looking right at him with an excitement he hadn’t seen before. 

“Did you write the address on your arm?” She asked, eyes widening as she whipped her head to look over her shoulder before turning back to look at him, hair slapping his cheek lightly each time. Bucky cocked an eyebrow and nodded slowly. She grinned wider, if that was possible with her small cheeks and face, and said, “Your soulmate’s here!” 

Bucky’s heart dropped, feeling the blood drain out of his face and head towards his ears, thumping loudly. His face must have been somewhere between shock and horror, but Morgan mistook his expression for surprise and wriggled in his arms to be put down. She darted towards the back of the diner, towards his soulmate, shouting something at him along the lines of come on, buckaroo, she’s waiting. Bucky snapped out of his initial shock, but it turned into panic. Full blown panic. His head was spinning with worry so he did the only thing he could do. 

Run. 

Fight or flight, and he, like a coward, took the latter. He spun around on his heels, knocking his shoulder against Sam as he exited the door they had just entered. His chest rose and fell with each laboured breath he took, a shiver licking up his spine as he felt the cold seep into his bones. It was deeply embedded, drawing out a shudder from him as he fell forward, one hand on the wall as he tried to catch his breath. His chest felt heavy, suffocating him from the inside, squeezing his ribs and never letting go. Breathing was getting harder and it felt better not breathing. 

“Bucky?” Steve’s hand was on his shoulder, squeezing tightly to let him know that he was here. Bucky wanted to throw his hand off and tackle him to the ground, but all too soon, his mind cleared, breathing got easier, and his panic subdued to calmness. His eyes darted up, meeting yours with a sharp gasp. 

“Why?” He asked, more harsh than he wanted to. He knew that soulmate’s could feel and transfer feelings, with so much more he had to discover, but he didn’t want you to do it. He was fine, suppressing his feelings from you for so long and pushing yours away from him, so why did you do it? 

“I—I could feel it,” you said, almost hesitantly as if you knew he was trying to hide it. Sam, who Bucky hadn’t noticed, spoke up from beside you.

“This is bakery girl, man! You’ve had so much of her food to taste,” Sam started, gesturing to you with a sweep of his hands. “Y’know she’s a keeper when her food tastes that good.” Bucky’s eyes felt tighter as he looked at you, sensing the change in your mood the second he did. He didn’t even feel the sick and twisted smile on his face until he went to speak. 

“So? What difference does that make? I. Don’t. Want. It,” he seethed out, grin fading out when he saw the tears in your eyes. The betrayal and hurt he felt at that moment was more painful than any bullets he had taken. Utter bullshit. The second a sob broke through your lips and you turned away, a piece of him broke. He was sure what it was—his arm, leg, nose, or whatever—but something broke. It left a stinging pain in his chest. 

“What the fuck, Bucky?” Steve hissed, grabbing and pulling him to turn by his shoulder. Steve’s anger radiated off of him in waves, making Sam slip back inside with a single glance towards your figure in the distance. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Bucky muttered, not even meeting Steve’s eyes. He knew he screwed up, fucked up big time, but his mind was made. He was clear before with his thoughts about soulmates and the sudden appearance of his, of you, made him freak out. He wasn’t ready. He just wasn’t. 

“Well, you better find the fuck out before I fuck up some else shit of yours, James,” Steve retorted with a slip of desperation. 

“Get off of it, Steven,” Bucky tried, finally raising his eyes to meet his. Steve’s nostrils flared in anger, face turning the lightest shade of red as he grabbed Bucky by the shoulders and shook him. 

“You better get your fucking act together, Barnes. That woman didn’t deserve being called it or your shit. Your anger is displaced; you’re mad at yourself, not her. You’re a fucking asshole when you don’t think, y’know that?” Steve finished ranting and glanced at the door to the diner. “Now, we’re gonna go in there and act like you didn’t just fuck up and then, later today, you’re gonna go apologize to her. And you make sure you do that properly. The second she stepped in here and realized who she might potentially be soulmates with, she baked a whole ass cake for Morgan. In blueberry flavour because Morgan had told her so when buying her slushie. She’s nice and didn’t even bat an eye when Wade showed up.” 

“Hey,” Tony’s voice came, head peeking out of the door. His eyebrows furrowed as he took a quick sweep of the scene before sighing and stepping outside. “Go inside, Old Cap.” Steve scowled at the name, muttering something about the team being a pain in the ass before heading in with a shared glance with Bucky. Tony replaced Steve’s spot and held his hands up in mock surrender with a smirk on his face. Bucky started scowling at him. 

“Look,” Tony started, putting his hands down and wiping the smirk off his face, “I don’t know what just happened, but I’ve got some clue with the way you ran out here like your ass was on fire. I don’t know what Steve said to you, but I’m not here to tell you what to do with your life. Though, you do need to get a life. Jokes aside, I felt the same way about soulmates as you do.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow, scowl falling and a non-amused expression on his face, doubting that they thought the same way about soulmates. Tony rolled his eyes and huffed out an annoyed breath. 

“Fine, not the exact same way, but similar. I—I was a fuck up. I screwed every woman who threw themselves at me and the ones who didn’t, I tried my best to break down to the point they’d want to throw themselves at me. I—Pepper never cared much about that side of me. But she saw and saw past it. When I found out she was my soulmate, her handwriting gave her away. But I didn’t want it to be her. I couldn’t have had it be her, because she knew everything about me, from the drinking to the girls to my traumatic childhood. But—but she looked past it. She didn’t hate me or throw me out of her life. She gave me a chance.” 

Tony looked at him expectantly, visibly awaiting an answer. 

“What?” Bucky gruffed out, not seeing the point of this. He already knew that Tony was a womanizer and Pepper was a saint for putting up with him. The past few years had changed Tony in a good way and they all had Pepper and Morgan to thank. 

Tony huffed out another annoyed breath, narrowing his eyes slightly and looking at Bucky as if he should have known what he was trying to say.

“If Pepper can forgive me for mistreating her for years, Y/N can forgive you for whatever impulsive asshole move you made.”

“Y/N,” Bucky mumbled, liking the taste of your name on his lips. 

“Listen, Bucky.” Tony hesitated after that, but nodded and continued, “I’m not usually this sentimental or emotional, but I’m gonna be for your thick head to understand. Soulmates are better together. There’s this—this aching in your bones when you're not with them and—and their scent, their presence, calms you. Pepper, she makes everything feel better too. You go find her—after the party cause Morgan likes you more than anyone else—and tell her you’re sorry.”

Bucky nodded, finally realizing that the ache in his chest was just that. The feeling of being away from you was settling into his chest, deep in his bones, and his head was feeling light. It was the distance from you that was doing that to him. He was going to apologize, no matter how many times he needed to. 

He figured he had a better shot at it, knowing Pepper forgave Tony. 

———

The party was still in full blast when Bucky felt he had had enough of the building ache in his stomach. The ache seemed to worsen every time he felt a twinge of hurt, knowing exactly where it was coming from. Your tears, the anguish and hurt, all of it was digging a hole in his chest deeper and deeper. The invisible knife was twisting his insides as he gave Morgan a long hug and shook Tony’s hand. Tony gave him a smirk and pushed his glasses up his nose with the middle finger with a smug expression. Bucky ignored it, dropping his hand and walking out of the diner. 

He took the subway back, keeping his head low as the dull throb in his head started to grow. It was gone in a few seconds—you had cut your emotions from him once again. Every time he had felt your emotions transfer over to him, they went away in a few seconds like you were trying to keep him from feeling what you were. He had done the same to you for years, so he deserved it—that’s what he kept telling himself. 

All those years, he felt your emotions through the bond, but he never dwelled on those happy feelings. At first it was because Hydra pumped him up with shit that blocked his soulmate off completely. They kept him protected from your feelings, but that didn’t stop them from making him send nasty emotions your way. The rookies would take turns making him send you all kinds of emotions through the bond, some of which he was sure he would be thoroughly ashamed of if he remembered them all. 

Then it was because he felt as if he didn’t deserve to be happy. He didn’t want the happiness that seemed to radiate from you everyday, so he pushed it back harshly, letting the tiniest bit of anger seep into you. Now, it was because he couldn’t let  other feelings get the best of him. He had been going on missions, back-to-back, for three months and those missions would not have been completely with a sense of sympathy. Until Steve made him take this month off as their superior, he was blocking your emotions from reaching him. He let them seep through him a few times in the past month or so, relishing in the calmness. 

The subway pulled to his stop and he got out as soon as the doors opened. He ran up the stairs, the hole in his heart starting to close the closer he got to your bakery. You were there. If the lights and shuffling were something to go by at least. His heart was ready to crumble when he peeked through the window and saw a teenager working his way through the shop with a broom. But then the kitchen doors were swinging open with you walking through, a pained smile on your face. Your tears had dried up, but there was no mistaking the puffiness around your eyes and the red tinge to them. 

Bucky knocked and walked in, surprised to find the door unlocked. 

“Sorry, we’re—” You cut off as your eyes landed on him. You took a moment to look at him carefully, eyes narrowing in both confusion and uncertainty, before directing your voice to the teenager. “Nico, you should go home now. Your mom said you needed to be back before eight and it’s already seven.”

“Are you sure you don’t—”

You turned towards Nico with a smile, thin-lipped, but a smile nonetheless, and said, “Go before I kick you out.” Nico grinned and shrugged, but placed the broom up against the wall, a pile of dust and garbage near the end of it and pushed past Bucky with a glare. 

“Don’t fuck up,” Nico whispered as he paused to grab his hoodie from the coat rack by the door. Bucky gave a mere nod, one that was barely even there, and heard the door close behind him. 

The tension that lingered in the air after Nico left made Bucky shift uncomfortably. He could tell the sun was going, probably touching the horizon with its end and painting the sky in orange and pink hues. The shop was going from warm to cold. The chatters and people that had kept it lively were gone, a quiet humming and buzzing coming from the kitchen. The displays were empty of the pastries and goods that were up in the morning, warm and fresh. 

“Did—Did you need something?” The slightest crack in your voice made his eyes dart back to you, unaware of when they had drifted off of you in the first place. Your hands were playing with the hem of your sweater, one on the zipper and one fiddling with the end of it. Your feet shifted on the ground, going from straight to tilted to straight again. 

“I, uh, I wanted to say sorry,” Bucky started, wincing when he tasted the words on his tongue. They didn’t feel right nor were they what you deserved. After what he said and did to you—not just today, but throughout your entire life—he had to give you more. He wanted to give you more and then some. “But I don’t think that’s enough. I—I want to show you that I’m sorry. Truly. Not anything half-assed or, you know, not real. I want to make it up to you.”

He stared at you for a long second. His eyes trailed over your eyes that had widened sometime through his little ramble, going down to your lips that pressed together in a thin line, and then to your hands that were no longer fiddling but fisted up together. You lifted one to comb through your hair, exhaling a gentle breath of a laugh. Your sweater rode up on your arm, his handwriting displayed across your forearm coming into view. A small smile appeared on your lips, one that only had the tips of your lips curling upwards. 

“You can start by helping me clean up,” you teased, sniffling slightly and tilting your head at him. The smile on your face slipped as you whispered, “Just don’t do it again.” 

“I won’t,” Bucky agreed quickly, head nodding fast enough to leave him feeling lightheaded. “I just—I’m a little fucked up in the head. I’m not the best man in the world and you could definitely do better than me, so much better. So if—so if you don’t want me at all, if you want someone else—”

“I wouldn’t have stayed at the diner if I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” you interrupted, voice soft and gentle. It was soothing enough for Bucky’s shoulders to sag with relief. He hadn’t noticed the tension in his body until then. You smiled again, a little more than the last one. “I mean, ending up at a diner with the Avengers who are basically in the media's limelight all the time, I kinda know what I was getting myself into.”

“It could have been Sam,” Bucky blurted out, trying to get a reading on you. 

You eyed him curiously as you answered, “Unless he has two soulmates, I’m pretty sure I knew who it could’ve been.” 

“What about—”

“Bucky,” you stressed, shaking your head as a breathy laugh escaped your lips. “You can’t push me away with your self-doubt or self-loathing. You’re stuck with me.”

That’s what he was doing. Pushing you to your edge with his constant self-hating and questions that would make anyone pull out their hair. He wanted you to be the one pushing him away after a slip-up, after a mistake, and be the one hurt. He wanted you to hurt him the way he hurt you. But you were smiling at him, laughing at his nagging questions, and trying to tell him that he was stuck with you. 

You’re stuck with me.

That didn’t sound too bad. 

“Bucky?” You took the few steps that were between you two and left a few inches of space between your bodies as you gazed up at him. “I know you’ve got baggage—Sam talked about his mystery friend up in that apartment building. He told him a few things here and there, letting me fill in the gaps. It didn’t take long for me to put the pieces together and chalk his friend up to being you.” 

Bucky clenched his jaw and looked away from you. A soft and warm hand touched his cheek lightly, hesitant fingers trailing on his jaw, before you pressed your palm into his cheek and guided him to look at you. 

“I’m willing to try this, Bucky, if you are.” 

Bucky’s eyes flickered between your eyes, once or twice flitting down to your lips. He could feel his chest warm and bloom with something close to adoration, resolve crumbling the longer you stared at him. His jaw unclenched under your touch and, before you could pull away from him, he curled his left hand around your wrist gently, so light that it was feather-like. He twisted his head enough to place his lips against your pulse point, lingering as he caught the scent of cinnamon. 

“I want to try,” he whispered, lips tickling the inside of your wrist as you grinned. His heart thumped against his chest in a way that made his insides melt, all in a good way. Your fingers patted his cheekbone lightly, tilting your head and narrowing your eyes slightly with a glint in them. 

“Then get cleaning.” 

[5secondsofmoxley]

Wrestling With Feelings // Part 2

Read Part 1 here

Quick reminder, I am not a pool expert. So the beginning of this chapter is brought to you today by Google 😂

————-

“Did you not see how bad I am? I’m a lost cause.” She huffed.

“You just need some guidance on aiming. It’s pretty easy once you figure out your grip.” Hook quickly reset the table for a new game. Once the balls were set, he put the cue ball in position and turned to her.

“Why don’t you start? You get an advantage when you can choose whether you wanna go for stripes or solid. If you get a good hit, you might be able to knock a ball right off the bat.” Hook stepped back, motioning her to take his place and go for the break.

She stepped forward hesitantly. Giving him once last glance, she focused on the task at hand. Leaning over the table, she lined up her stick with the cue ball. Hook had to remind himself that he was helping her learn to play better, focusing his eyes on her hands and not her ass. But damn, if she didn’t look good in those shorts.

“Are you sure I should start and not watch you take the first hit?” Startled from his thoughts, he quickly looked at her face, hoping she didn’t catch where his stare was. Two drinks and I’m thinking like a horny teen? Hook thought to himself.

Pulling his mind out of the gutter, he stepped forward next to her. “Right off the bat, I can show you how to hold the cue. Are you a righty, or a lefty?”

“Depends on what I’m doing.” Hook blinked at her. She sighed before adding, “for the most part, I’m a righty.”

Baffled at her response, he chuckled. “What does that even mean?”

“It means I’m ambidextrous, but for most things, like writing and such, I use my right hand. I can write with my left but it’s smoother with my right. But, I’m backwards when playing hockey, I was told I held the stick like a lefty. And I carry purses on my left arm. I don’t know, Tyler, I’m just weird like that. I walk my own path.” Ignoring the fluttering in his chest from hearing her say his name for what he’s pretty sure is the first time ever, he lets out a hearty laugh. He couldn’t help but find her nervous rambling absolutely adorable.

“Okay then. So, assuming that to play pool your right arm is dominant, you want to use that to aim. Your right hand is going to grip the back end of the stick. Use your left hand for the bridge. It’s basically just your leverage to hit the cue ball. Your right hand is doing all the work to aim and push.” Tyler leaned over, showing her what he meant as he explained it. “I’m going to break, but I’ll let you take the first shot after. Next round, you’ll break.”

“And that means?” She asked sheepishly.

“It just means you’re breaking the rack. Making the first hit after the balls are set in the triangle piece.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

Tyler smiled, shaking his head before making the first shot. Once all the balls stopped, he looked to her expectedly.

“Okay, I’m going now I guess.” She stepped to the table again before looking back at Hook. “Um, which am I going for?”

“Doesn’t matter, choose whichever you think you might be able to knock into a pocket right away.” He watched her as she walked around the table, carefully inspecting her options. He could see the gears in her head turning, but when he caught sight of her best shot, he guided her in the right direction.

“Come over here.” He motioned her to follow him to the side of the table. “This solid blue is your best shot. If you hit it at the right angle, and just the right amount of force, you have almost a clear shot into the pocket.”

“Tyler,” there’s that fluttering again, “I really think you have too much faith in me.”

“Lean in for your shot, and I’ll fix your form.”

She wiped a hand down her face, staring down her so called “best shot.” Leaning over the table, she took what she had thought was the correct stance.

Tyler hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was appropriate to lean over her and move her into better form. He couldn’t figure out a way to explain it to her that she’d understand. So, he convinced himself that she’d tell him if she wasn’t comfortable, before going in for the kill.

He took a breath before stepping next to her, and wrapping his right hand around hers. He gently twisted her hand, making it more comfortable for her and giving her a better grip. Moving his left hand forward, he fiddled with her fingers for a second to make her a better bridge. His eyes flickered to her face for a second, just in time to catch her eyes flicking back up to his from his mouth.

Holding eye contact with her, everyone else in the room disappeared. All the noise was drowned out, and suddenly it was just the two of them. Tyler couldn’t hear a thing besides his own heart pounding out of his chest. He wondered if she could feel it as he caught her just slightly pressing her back more into his chest.

And in his normal awkward fashion, instead of making a move, he helped with hers.

“Pull your right hand back, and just slide it forward with enough energy to hit the ball straight to the pocket.” He pulled his hand back, and since it was still firmly wrapped around hers, he gave her the perfect shot. The cue ball made contact with the solid blue ball and knocked it right into the corner pocket.

She turned her head just in time to catch the ball falling down the picket. Squealing excitement, she grinned at Tyler. “That’s the first time I’ve ever gotten the first shot! I mean, you did all the work, but it counts right?”

He laughed at that. “Yeah, ready to go for another?”

—-

“I can’t believe I actually won! Twice!” Tyler smiled at his feet, not having the heart to tell her he let her win one game. He wasn’t entirely sure she understood that she only won because he “accidentally” knocked the 8 ball into the pocket before his final striped ball. He was proud of the fact that she did legitimately win that second time. Hook was surprised how fast she picked up pool once she knew the proper way to hold the cue.

They had played 3 games total. She really got into playing after that initial game where he taught her how to play. He would’ve let her win that game, but he knew it would’ve been too obvious since she missed every shot he didn’t help her with.

“And you said you were a lost cause.”

“I would’ve been without you.” He swore she could hear how loud his heart was beating. They were walking shoulder to shoulder back to their hotel. Sometime during their second game, Danhausen had gone over to them seeing if they were ready to go. Hook was exhausted, but when he saw the look on her face, he decided he’d stay as long as she wanted to. So, Danhausen had left without them, promising to take their luggage back and not take anymore of Hook’s chip stash.

Tyler smiled at her, not knowing how to respond. Tonight had been amazing. Though most of their focus had been on playing, they really got lost in their conversations. He didn’t think he’d spoken to anyone nearly as much as he had with her during those few blissful hours.

A gentle nudge broke him out of his thoughts. “Give me your phone.”

Confused at the demand, but not worried too much about it, Hook handed over his phone without a word. He watched as she tried to get into it, but was locked out by Face ID.

“Unlock it, dummy.”

Hook snorted at the insult, but again, obliged without question. He watched silently as she opened his texts, and started a new conversation. After a few seconds, she handed him back his phone. Looking at the screen, he sees a simple “hi” text sent to an unsaved number. Hook looked back at her, just barely catching her creating a new contact on her own phone. She glanced at him after feeling his stare.

“I needed your number so we can set up that pool game to kick Adam’s ass. I’m no expert, but you seem pretty good at pool. And if I beat you twice, imagine how we’re going to crush Cole.” She smirked, getting a good laugh out of Tyler.

“You’re hell bent on beating him, aren’t you?” He chuckled.

“You don’t even know how many times Adam has destroyed me. This vendetta has been long brewing but now, you actually gave me a good fighting shot. Especially with you as my tag partner.” She nudged him again.

Nudging her back, he looked up just in time to notice them approaching the front doors of their hotel. Trying not to be too obvious, he took a couple big strides to reach the door in order to open it for her. She offered him a soft smile as she quietly thanked him. Looking at the ground for a second, she glanced back at him with a smirk. “Glad to see chivalry is thriving with you.”

Stepping in behind her, he hoped she didn’t catch the flush of his cheeks. He couldn’t remember a time a girl made him blush like she could. Hook tried to think of something that could return the favor and maybe even surprise her.

“Well, chivalry is just one of my many charms. Care for a knight in shining armor to sweep you off your feet?" Acting fast and with the help of the alcohol still in his system from earlier, he wrapped one arm around her waist, and the other under her knees to pick her up bridal style.

Gasping out a laugh, she quickly wrapped both arms around his shoulders as if afraid he’d drop her. “Tyler!” She giggled.

A few heads of the staff working through the night turned their way, but Tyler’s focus was fully on her. He couldn’t care less of who was watching them. He carried her to the elevator, managing to hit the up arrow without having to maneuver her much.

Stepping in once the doors opened, he looked down at her bright, smiling face. “What floor, milady?”

She shook her head, still laughing at the cold hearted handsome devil’s surprising silliness. “Third floor.”

Hook couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Same here.” He couldn’t thank the universe enough.

It was a short walk from the elevator to her room. He begrudgingly put her down, before asking her an important question. “Doesn’t Danhausen have your stuff still?”

“Nah, he brought it up to Kris. He knew we were staying together.” She stated, digging through her bag for her room key.

Tyler ran a hand through his hair, not sure what more to say. He wanted to say goodnight, but he also wanted to do something to guarantee they’d hang out again. He thought quick on his feet, before coming up with what he thought was the perfect excuse.

“Wanna grab breakfast in the morning? You know, for team bonding.”

A smile took over her face again. She shook her head, chuckling to herself. “Just for team bonding?”

“And for the most important meal of the day, yeah.” He played it cool, but he was almost positive she seemed to deflate just a little bit. He swore her smile dimmed for a split second. He cursed himself for that one.

“As long as you let me sleep till at least 11, and there’s coffee, I won’t say no to that.”

“Sounds good to me.” Tyler went to walk away, before she quickly laid her hand on his arm. He turned back to her, brows furrowing in confusion.

“Goodnight, Ty.” She kissed his cheek, shuffling into her room without giving him a chance to respond. He thanked the heavens she did though, he was sure there was no way she could’ve caught him blushing for the millionth time tonight.

Danhausen’s right, he thought to himself, touching a hand to where her lips touched, I do have it bad.

———————————-

{Taglist:} @shawtys-things

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tags! As of now, I think this is going to be a multi-chapter story I’ll be adding to sporadically.

[p-receh]

I'm very curious for 2, 7, and 12 :]

Would love to hear your hcs!

Alright! Which character btw? How about Boboiboy as a starter? 😅

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

The fact that he's ambidextrous is really really amazing as a character. Not only he wields two weapons but also can constantly switching between right and left handed side in the midst of a battle.

And I be honest, the fact that Monsta keep that movie 1 white hairline glitch as canon is what people called a "Serendipity" or happy accident. Another serendipity glitch in animation media for me is the iconic nose touch scene from httyd 1.

Who knew this bug could become his sole identity? It doesn't lesser his image but it does made 10x better as the result of a genetic mark within generations. Thus it creates "the Butterfly Effect" in designing Amato and adult Tok Aba.

In sense, Oboi become a shonen character since child with that look lol

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I don't follow much with what happened to Boboiboy's fandom recently, still making me a headache whenever I visit, but I always appreciate when fandom united to correct blatant hoaxs. It's often surprised me.

Oh and memes lol. Screenshot memes whenever new episode arrived is a never not entertaining cus it was usually flooded in my timeline. 🤣

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Since I only made headcanon for elementals, I think it's not fair that the real main protagonist has not yet get his headcanon. My bad :p

Oboi may or may not able to make a clear communication with Amato after all these years and I have two scenarios:

If Tok Aba still alive, Oboi might be more comfortable and more open to Tok Aba about his daily life rather than Amato. He still talks to him, but struggles to keep up a simple conversation from both ways, and eventually Oboi starts to make excuses to end it by "Helping Atok at his shop".

If no. 1 doesn't happens, Oboi might a bit cold to Amato at first. He try so hard to avoid any conversations with him and just focus on continuing the Kokotiam Shop as an escape route.

One of my questions regarding him, "How does he remember every events during split/fusion/3rd tier?" My deduction to this headcannon is this: firstly after he wakes up all memories will be blur due to his dizziness in the aftermath. He might remember some of it but his brain is not yet fully capable to comprehend all of it quickly. Then, all those event will be shown during his sleep. It sometimes disturbing his sleeping schedule and wakes up abruptly in the middle of night from a lucid dream.

Idk why, but between Audio sensory, Visual sensory and Action sensory Learning technique. Oboi is the person who learn and solve problems by practice it in real time. He may not the guy who absorb a quick information, but when he tried to think about it, he implements his thoughts by action such as moving hands or walks around. (I onced very obsessed with psychology especially with self learning types during my high school days but now I forgot most of them lol)

He has a hidden fanatic side of him all over the news as a hero with the evidence of all his photos from movie 1. He might eventually remove them when he gets older. He doesn't want to admit his embarrassment with his obsession publicly lol. (Of course he treasure it somewhere )

I forgot where's the source of it, but I read a post that Oboi once tried to cut his white stroke hair but it grew back. He never knew why but he eventually let it be afterwards. Maybe he wears that hat not only as a gift from his dad but also to cover his white hair? Idk :-\

That's maybe all headcanons I got so far. I guess I'll admit I might need to dig for more Boboiboy magazines and older post of his social media ones. There's still so many trivias that I missed throughout my life. :(

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 205 Trivia

How does a baby, with their chubby little fingers, snap them? Ryusui was obviously gifted with strong, dexterous fingers from a young age…

The flashback makes it seem like Ryusui is remembering the event, however: babies start walking between 6-18 months and Ryusui is being carried, speaking clearly is 12+ months, and memories like this one would only start from around 2-3 years onward.

Thus, this isn't Ryusui's memory.

(He was probably told about it, however remembering the 20 digit number as part of a memory is pretty impressive…)

Speaking of, well, speaking: baby Ryusui sure learnt the word "desire" quickly, however pronunciation is harder. The baby speech is present in both languages, with the Japanese version saying "欲ちい"(hochī) rather than "欲しい" (hoshī).

If we assume Ryusui is about 1 year old here for the reasons I listed above, that means that Sai is only 3 years older.

Because of Ryusui's various petrifications, Ryusui's aged about 3 years over that time.

I'm not sure who's the older brother now…

Everyone's mental math methods shown here are references to the chapter 18 bonus story, when Chrome and Senku had the arithme-battle.

Ryusui's fangs seem a lot more prominent this chapter, I guess he's really sinking his teeth into getting Sai on board with their plan!

This man here is Ryusui's uncle, who's been shown in a few flashbacks before. Where Ryusui and Sai's parents are is anyone's guess.

The game character is wielding a gun and a sword, and wearing an outfit that looks like Ryusui's.

Or is Ryusui wearing an outfit that looks like the game character's..? 🤔

The airplane Sai takes is based on a Japan Airlines Boeing 747-300 (or a 747-400, the difference isn't visible from the image). Both types are currently retired, the 300 in 2009 and the 400 in 2011, meaning Sai was still fairly young when he fled to university.

None of Sai's code appears to be indented, but at least it's commented.

The specific integrated development environment (IDE) is hard to identify because most IDEs are highly modifiable and I believe almost any of them can be laid out like this.

Semiconductors take weeks to make even with all the technology we have now. Trying to replicate those numerous steps in the stone world will be, as Senku says, hellish.

The moon here is the exact same one shown in chapter 204, before the KoS arrived in India (literally the same, I superimposed them haha). It's a waning crescent, so it's around October 20th at this point.

We've still seen no proof of Sai's mathematical ability apart from the flashback which could have been an exaggeration by Ryusui, so it's fair that Chrome and Chelsea seem to doubt his capabilities.

Senku says they need "someone" to be ready 24/7 to do quick calculations, however forcing someone to stay up for 24 hours to do stressful math is asking for a disaster. They would have always needed more than one person doing math for safety reasons, even to just compare answers.

(Also the concept of Whyman threatening them and/or attacking them even in space gets me excited!)

Thanks to Sai's petrification scars, he probably doesn't even need his charcoal pencils wrapped since the stain from the dust wouldn't show up on his hands!

Also, Sai is ambidextrous!

The code is mostly base16/hexadecimal (a combination of numbers between 0-9 and letters between A-F), however one of the panels seems to be base32 or something else since the letters M and K are present.

Another code, perhaps? 🤔

Low-level programming languages like machine code and assembly language are difficult to use. Even Inagaki agrees!

This change already happened last chapter, but Chrome's cross-body bags got an upgrade!

There's some old Norse runes carved into the sword, however at least two of the letters are flipped and trying to translate the rest seems to result in gibberish.

In Dragon Quest, the lettering usually simply reads "DRAGON QUEST" so maybe this somehow says "DOCTOR STONE"?

Unsurprisingly, the characters drawn here are inspired by real Dragon Quest characters.

The gaming system shown is the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES): the Famicom. If you remember a differently-shaped NES, it's because it was replaced with a newer version for American markets.

[three-dee-ess]

it's so weird how the ds/3ds could be so ambidextrous but so many models have the stylus on the right side meaning you either have to flip the console over or do a little hand shuffle to get it to work !

imo the original 3ds's stylus placement was the best and they should have done more of that.

I guess that's why they started putting it on the bottom? The issue with the o3DS's stylus placement was that it limited the length of the stylus- so you have to deal with an awkward telescoping stylus that gets weirdly warm because it has to be made of metal. I think that the side stylus is fine, I usually just pop it out with my right hand, lace it with my fingers on my left (which are holding the DS) and then grab the DS with my right hand to free my left. I typically hold my DS with both hands and my stylus sits on my lap while I'm playing (or the stylus is pinned to the back of the console with my fingers)