#brock gets to injure someone other than himself for a change

[quality-on-a-patch-of-awesome]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: SEAL Team (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jason Hayes & Trent Sawyer, Jason Hayes & Nigel Wickham, Nigel Wickham & Rufus, Jason Hayes & Rufus Characters: Jason Hayes, Brock Reynolds, Nigel Wickham, Rufus, Trent Sawyer Additional Tags: Swearing, Blood and Injury, Injury, Blood, Stitches, description of injury, Teasing, Febuwhump 2023, Febuwhump, Brock's ability to injure people extends to more than himself now, Minor Violence, medium injury Series: Part 13 of Universe of Trios, Part 11 of Two Guys, a Girl, and a Navy Base Summary:

The continuing saga of Jason’s misadventures in football-

Jason is unimpressed, Brock gets to injure someone other than himself, Nigel is a little shit, Rufus is an even bigger shit and Trent is just trying to keep things together. Literally.

[avengershumanresources]

blood 11 - Strange/Stark!Reader

Relationship: Dr. Strange/Princess!Stark!Reader

Rating: M

Warnings: Adult Themes, smut, adult language, implied sexual violence, general violence

Synopsis: Reader is the daughter of the legendary King Anthony Stark, Uniter of Lands, The Iron Defender, and leader of the realm. When the king disappears during battle, hope is lost and he is presumed dead.

When the late king’s uncle, Obadiah, takes the throne until your brother Peter is of age, he quickly arranges a marriage for you with a wicked king in a neighboring kingdom.

With the realms politics in question, and rumors of an upcoming siege to overthrow Peter’s rule before it starts, you quickly learn who is loyal to the crown and who is not.

part 10 - part 12

Masterlist

Chapter Playlist

11 - a battle cry

“Good as new,” Wanda helped Stephen sit up, her arm wrapped around his torso, his arm sling over her shoulders. 

“I feel like a horse ran over me,” he grumbled, pressing a finger to his temple. 

You’d long fallen asleep, though you’d been too stubborn to leave his side and sleep in a proper bed. Instead, you’d curled up in one of the ornate chairs and passed out, hand draped as close as physically possible to the injured sorcerer. 

“It was an herb from Brock’s kingdom that stopped the blooding from clotting,” Wanda explained, summoning the book she’d read the antidote in. “It’s rare, even for that kingdom, and she wouldn’t have had enough to cover all the arrows.”

“Someone must be bitter,” he commented dryly. “I don’t know why, I’ve been nothing but nice to the old witch.”

“You weren’t exactly subtle in your romancing of the princess,” Wanda reminded him with a knowing smirk. 

“Not a good enough reason to try and kill me,” he decided, standing and giving his arms and torso a stretch. The wound still tickled slightly when he shifted, a side effect of the magic used to seal the cut. “Now, do we have any idea why the princess is a homing signal of magical energy?”

Both of their eyes fell on you. Your seidr had spread, making gentle waves of violet light over your skin as you slept. It was almost overwhelming how powerful it felt to the magic users. Stephen felt almost suffocated and he didn’t miss how Wanda skirted the edge of the room, avoiding direct contact with you. 

“Loki sent a raven to Asgard,” Wanda supplied. “Hopefully Frigga has a suggestion.”

“It won’t matter if Amora keeps her wards up,” he huffed in frustration. “There’s nothing at Kamar-Taj on the subject that I’ve been able to find. The ancient Asgardians were effective in their campaign.”

“I’ve solidified the wards around the keep as best I could, but this is going to break through and Amora will know,” Wanda warned, chewing her bottom lip anxiously. 

Stephen tried reaching for your hand but the seidr snapped back at him like a guard dog ready to fight. He ran a tired hand over his face, shaking his head at the situation. This certainly was not ideal.

(—)

“We maintain our plan of attack,” Peter instructed, pouting around the base of the castle. “We’re going to use the tunnels.”

“The wards are all around the castle,” Loki protested. “There’s no way in.”

“My sister, Gods rest her soul, had snuck past every ward that every Master had put on the castle,” he pulled up the map Sam handed him and drew his finger across the page. “They’re outside the boundary lines and protected by older runes. The wards don’t effect them.”

“The problem is, we can’t bring enough men to thoroughly attack their forces from within,” Sam continued, eyeing Loki. “We have to take down Amora and break down the wards so our men can get through.”

“That’s a suicide mission,” Loki frowned. “She’ll kill anyone on sight.”

“And you trained under your mother as well,” Peter noted. “You know her tricks and capabilities. If anyone is getting close to her, it’s you.”

“Peter, I appreciate your enthusiasm but I’ve tried killing her numerous times in the past,” Loki replied tersely. “We’re evenly matched. If she has any other magic users with her, that’s it.”

“We need something more powerful then,” Thor reasoned pointed, looking to Loki with a knowing stare.

“Short of a miracle, we’re limited in what we have until more Asgardians arrive,” Peter countered. “We need to get inside and take back the castle.”

Loki had fallen silent. 

There was a way. A force of magic more powerful than any known user could imagine.

It was risky to say the least, and he knew at least one person would disagree.

(—)

“Absolutely not,” Stephen snapped throwing his hands up. “Have you lost your mind?”

“She’s going to be found regardless,” Loki directed the statement to Tony. “And intrinsically, her seidr will lower Amora’s defense enough for myself or one of us to get a move in edgewise.”

“It isn’t entirely unreasonable,” Wanda voiced, earning a glare from Stephen. “We send in the guard with her to protect her from a physical threat... certainly she would be able to handle any magical ones.”

“She’s untrained,” Stephen stressed again, looking to Tony for support. “What if, Gods help us, the seidr stops doing whatever it’s doing? We don’t know. It’s too unpredictable and unreliable to make a plan centered around it.”

The trio had tasked you with helping some of the wounded men while they debated Loki’s suggestion after he’d returned from the battle front. The general agreement had been that you would have immediately volunteered and that didn’t bode well for some of the logistic issues that needed to be brought up ahead of you charging headfirst into battle.

“It defeats the point of faking her death,” Tony agreed, looking to Loki for a rebuttal. 

“It doesn’t,” he insisted. “Amora won’t see it coming. Not until it’s too late.”

“That’s rubbish and you know it,” Stephen snapped back. “She could be across the kingdom and anyone with a speck of magic in their system would sense her coming. She’s a storm of uncontrolled energy.”

“Is she?” Loki asked innocuously, quirking a brow. “I certainly don’t feel anything in here... isn’t she only the next room over?”

Stephen froze. 

The Asgardian prince was right. 

He couldn’t feel your seidr anywhere in the room, outside of it, or within the castle walls at all. 

“What did you do?” he asked, dumbfounded. 

Loki held up a small amulet and he heard Tony suck in a breath of surprise. 

“Where did you find that?” the king demanded, standing from his chair and reaching for the necklace. Wrapping his fingers around the amulet himself, he ran his fingers around the edges while he listened. 

“Your late queen entrusted it to my mother,” Loki explained. “It arrived an hour ago with her written incantations to seal the seidr temporarily. It had to be taken by Lady Sif to the Asgardian border, then transported to Kamar-Taj by Mordo, and delivered to me by Wong. A lot of trouble went into getting it and I would hate to see it go to waste…”

Tony clutched the the chain of the amulet in his fist and held it up for Stephen to better see. 

It was definitely old, with weathered metal and jewels embedded in the ridges that had long lost their luster to time. 

“If there’s a chance, it would be in this,” he stated firmly in agreement. “Alexandra used it while she was still training her abilities with Frigga. It saved a lot of trouble while she experimented and on her death bed, when her powers were in a frenzy, this protected the kingdom from harm.”

He turned it over and showed the sorcerer the rune on the back. Stephen was, admittedly, unfamiliar with the symbol. It resembled old Asgardian, but the way the letters curved suggested another origin.

“Vanir,” Tony explained when Stephen flickered his gaze up curiously at the king. “She found it in an old temple on the outskirts of Asgard near the old Vanaheim border.”

“The princess keeps it with her, and we slip in undetected,” Loki continued. “We ambush Amora, and Peter’s troops break the siege and the castle is once again under the proper Stark royal.”

“I don’t see why the princess can’t remain here, with the amulet, undetected and safe while we deal with Amora?” Stephen seethed. 

“Stephen, it’s as best a plan we have,” Wanda urged, watching him with a steady gaze. “You knew the potential outcomes. It isn’t ideal, but this isn’t unexpected.”

“What?” Tony looked to her, furrowing his brow. “What do you mean? Was there more than you told me?”

“Nothing has changed in your destiny,” she quickly assured him. “But your children... their paths have been sporadic.”

“Explain, now,” Tony shot back. “Are they in danger?” 

“Your majesty, it’s best not to dwell on potential futures,” Loki cut in, slipping between the king and the sorceress with an arm. “They’re possibilities, not guarantees. Tampering to avoid certain outcomes is how you end up in a worse scenario than anticipated.”

“I want to know,” Tony snapped, looking to Wanda. “What else did you see?”

She looked up at Stephen uneasily and he finally relented, holding up a hand in her direction and taking over the explanation for her. 

“They were cloudy,” he replied. “The princess was in the throne room during the siege. Prince Peter was nearly overwhelmed by a wave of Northern Kree. They were vague and not necessarily connected.”

He left out the part where you were stabbed. 

Stabbed through the heart, more specifically, but Brock Rumow’s sword. It’d devastated him for days after Wanda had shown him the visions. He’d worked so hard to keep you out of the castle, to move you t safety, and avoid the very outcome. 

But it seemed the fates were not done with your part of the story. 

“You told me this ended with me by the throne,” Tony turned on Wanda. “My children out of harms way. Peter’s coronation.”

“Nothing is certain,” Loki caught him by the arm and spun him back toward him and Stephen. Tony from, fixing up the prince who dared touch royalty so directly. “The visions are murky. They’re not clear and if they were to be solidified by the decision we make, we would know.”

Tony looked to Wanda who nodded slowly in agreement. His boyd language softened.

“Is this truly the only chance we have at taking the castle?” he looked between the trio. 

Stephen saw something in the king’s eyes that begged for one of them to disagree. 

But even Stephen could see the inevitable. 

Amora was too powerful and too evenly matched against any or all of them.

Using your seidr was the only way to overwhelm her and kill her.

He hated it. Gods he hated it so much and had prayed, despite not necessarily being a religious type, that someone would have a better plan. Loki and Wanda were among the strongest after himself, after all. 

The room remained silent at the kings question.

When no one objected, Tony swallowed hard and nodded to himself. 

“Bring her in then,” he murmured. “We must move quickly.”

Stephen offered to retrieve you, quickly filling you in on the idea. 

And to no surprise, you readily agreed and volunteered your help in whatever capacity you could manage. Stephen sighed, weaving his fingers through yours while stopping outside the meeting room.  

No seidr was fighting back at his touch. 

Loki’s amulet was working. 

“I’d hoped you would put up more of a fight,” he confessed, lifting your hand and seeing none of the violet glow that once emitted from your body.  

“You nearly died,” you reminded him tersely. “I have a bone to pick with Amora. Not to mention, there’s nothing more I loved to see than Brock’s body skewered on the top of one of our men’s swords.”

There was a venom to your tone that seemed almost unnatural considering your usual caring personality. Never had Stephen seen you so determined to cause harm to another human, but perhaps he’d underestimated the fury you felt toward the enemy king. 

“Right,” he murmured, giving your hand a squeeze and pulling away. He opened the doors, ushering you inside while the others began detailing the plan. 

(—)

Peter was directing his men when a portal opened up and Loki stepped through with Stephen and a cloaked figure. 

“We need a distraction away from the base of the castle,” Stephen explained briskly, maneuvering his body so Peter couldn’t get a good look at the third figure. 

Assuming it was just Wanda, Peter turned his attention to the battalion nearby.  

“I can have them make a move for the western wall, but it’d be pointless if Amora’s sorcerers have up their barriers,” he explained, running an anxious hand through his hair. “They’ve barred us off.”

“We just need attention diverted long enough to slip through the tunnel system,” Stephen supplied, sending a knowing nod in Peters direction.

Three powerful magic users? Going in undetected? 

They were going to break down the barrier, Peter realized and immediately started rallying more men. 

“Thor! We need a distraction,” he called to the Asgardian prince. Thor reached for the large hammer on the ground next to him and lifted it to the air. 

The sky began to crackle above them, and Thor’s expression filled with an excited glee.

“That, my friend, I think we can manage,” he bellowed, grinning between Loki and Peter, turning to wake the Asgardian soldiers who’d been sleeping in the camp nearby. 

“I’ll start the first wave, give us thirty minutes to start an approach before trying to breach the tunnels,” he instructed, again trying to catch the eye of the cloaked figure. 

He couldn’t be sure, but he almost thought the person’s eyes were glowing violet, not red. 

Chalking it up to a lack of sleep, the group started toward the castle in the darkness at the edge of the forest, and Peter focused on readying his men. 

What Peter didn’t know was what his father had planned for after the shield fell. 

The Wakandans had finally arrived and in greater numbers than King T’Challa had originally promised. 

They’d remained discreet and undetected by Rumlow and Obidiah’s forces, and once the shield was down, they were prepared to storm the castle with the entire combined armies of Tony, Thor, T’Challa, Carol, and Peter. 

The final key was taking down Amora and her circle of magic users. 

Ultimately, once she fell, the others would quickly fall in turn and that was exactly why you were trudging through the forest with Loki and Stephen toward one of your preferred tunnels to the castle. While Peter and his men readied their attacks.

“Natalia and James are still inside posing as servants,” Stephen explained. “They have agreed to lead us to Amora. They sent a message through one of the kitchen maids’ sons.” 

“No one recognized them?” you asked in surprise. 

“We both know how talented they are at blending in,” he hummed with a sly smirk. “In fact, I seem to recall Natalia being the one to show you the tunnels in the first place. They didn’t garner their reputation for nothing.”

You let out a small breath of relief. Of course he was right. If anyone had a penchant for survival and adaptability it was Nat and James. Still, they were your friends and beloved companions, you were going to be worried about their well-being assassins or not. 

At least Peter was still in one piece. And Morgan and Pepper were in good spirits in Asgard, at least according to Loki. Your family was safe, but even so, Stephen had insisted upon accompanying you and Loki into the belly of the castle. 

You’d protested significantly. He was healing. He was a target. It was too dangerous with Amora, and he’d countered backwith similar arguments. 

In the end, your father made the final call, sending you both and joking the two of you would do well to protect one another. 

“Perhaps when this is over, you and your sorcerer can come to Asgard to train,” Loki murmured while Stephen scouted ahead for any stray troops. 

“And here I thought the offered had been rescinded after Stephen showed up and started to tutor me?” you teased, recalling the conversation you’d had with the prince at the ball honoring Stephen’s arrival all those years ago. 

“It was always there, you know that,” he replied, glancing you over. “You forget I was tasked to look after you. My mother would be pleased to see you both. When Strange studied in Asgard briefly, she had nothing but high praise.”

You could tell the compliment bristled your old friend and you set a hand on his shoulder. 

“Everything has changed, hasn’t it?” you asked quietly, watching Stephen’s darkened form maneuver the wilderness ahead. 

“The dawn is going to rise on a new kingdom,” he agreed. “My father will be disappointed in your selection of a groom.”

You felt your cheeks warm at the off handed comment, though you didn’t bother to object. Stephen was the one. Your heart couldn’t even consider another. Not now. Not after all you’d been through together and how he so lovingly knew you mind, body, and soul. 

“And your mother?” you asked lightly. 

“She’ll be thrilled regardless,” he hummed. “You’re the daughter she never had. She adored your mother, you know that, and promised to take care of you. Marriage or not.”

You paused, carefully selecting your next words. 

“What about you?” 

He stilled. You must have taken him by surprise, or maybe no one had ever asked him directly. Loki looked forward at the tree line ahead, taking a few moments longer than expected to give you an answer. 

“I’ll be fine,” he said quietly.

You were about to open your mouth to ask him if he really meant it, when Stephen reappeared in the shrubs in front of you. 

“The areas clear and I can hear Peter and Thor have started their attack. We need to move now,” he waved the two of you over and you sent a final glance to Loki who flashed a small, reassuring, smile before following shortly behind. 

One step at a time, you reminded yourself, your heart giving a small throb of guilt at his reaction. Marriage, betrothal, none of it mattered until your enemies fell. 

(--)

12- a memory 

TAG LIST (message to be added!):

@ayamenimthiriel @ladynothing

@im-a-bi-disaster-help @idkwhatthisislol

@bluefaeriefury​

[wormstacheangel]

Since your last post implied it I would love to know about your AU recommendations ❤ I am obsessed too!! Thanks in advance 🙏🏻

hello! I hope you don’t mind if I just make a basic list of some of the AU stories I have read or want to read. Not in any order I just went through my bookmarks on AO3 :) Also I need to read more...Under the cut because it got too long! 

Angel's Wild (not gonna lie this is my favorite fic. I have read this almost a dozen times now)

Summary: But that’s the whole reason he’s here, isn’t it? He’s not out here hunting Humans. He’s not even hunting deer, or bears, or anything else that featured in Bambi. He’s out here, freezing his nuts off every night, because he’s hunting Angels. 

Sometimes Dean wishes that Angels were like how they’re described in the Bible. How people from time too old for him to care much about thought Angels were messengers and warriors of God, protectors of Humans. He knows that how they’re really described in the Bible is actually pretty terrifying, but at least they were told by God that they’re supposed to love Humans, right? 

That’s a thousand times better than what Angels really turned out to be.

Checked Out

Summary:  Castiel Novak can think of many writers who would not be welcome under the roof of Heaven’s Gate library, where he is the librarian: Ayn Rand ranks highly (no explanation needed), as does Charles Dickens (he hasn’t forgiven Charles for the month he lost to The Pickwick Papers). And, of course, Dean Winchester. Dean Winchester, local author and obvious a-hole, who is entirely too handsome to be true and who is clearly totally lacking in profundity, intelligence, sincerity, and self-awareness. Unfortunately, though, Dean’s been invited to do a book signing at Heaven’s Gate - and Castiel’s about to be confronted by some unexpected feelings when he finally meets Dean for the first time.

A Ghost Story

Summary:  Castiel Novak has haunted his family's estate for 150 years, awaiting the return of his lost love. Upon their reunion, Dean Winchester learns of his past reincarnation. After the night of Castiel's resurrection, the two try to find out why they've been given a second chance. The answers may be hidden in the forgotten memories of Dean's former life - but sometimes the truth is better left buried.

Patient Love

Summary: Castiel Novak is 27 when he suddenly loses his twin brother Jimmy, and his whole world turns to ashes. How do you deal with losing half of yourself when your whole life always revolved around the two of you, like yin and yang and black and white? How do you deal with a broken soul and old demons looming over you with no one to hold you back anymore?

After 10 years as a Navy Special Warfare Operator and more than a dozen deployments in both Afghanistan and Iraq, a battlefield injury forces 28-year-old Chief Petty Officer Dean Winchester to chose between being stuck behind a desk for the rest of his career or going back to civil life. When he learns about his friend Jimmy’s death, Dean makes his way back to Kansas with his heart in his throat and broken pieces at his feet.

Things are already complicated and painful enough as it is, but when former lovers Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak meet again after 10 years of radio silence and a galaxy of wounds and scars solidly standing between them, it feels like both a curse and a blessing has been placed on them both. Is there any hope in putting back their broken pieces together after a decade, and how do you deal with grief and broken dreams?

The Unbroken

Summary: Dean’s life had been made of running. He ran from a curse that had desolated his life ever since he was a child — whenever he got hurt, he turned into a goddamn human-torch, killing everyone around him — and he ran from himself and his own self-loathing.

But managing all that at the end of a world full of Croats lurking around every corner was easier said than done.

Until a mysterious man with tousled dark hair paired with blue eyes as clear as the sky during a hot summer’s day stopped him from free falling, literally. In one fell swoop, the stranger had not only saved his life but also calmed the wildfire threatening to burn everything in its wake.

There was something about Castiel that made Dean want to stop running but also hid something darker — something Dean couldn’t quite put his finger on. And between soft, pillowy lips and feather-like fingerprints, Cas could very well shatter Dean’s world and maybe help save the whole world in return.

While You Were Sleeping

Summary:  A Destiel version of While You Were Sleeping! Castiel is alone and floundering. He has a crush on one of the passengers who passes through his subway station every morning. When the man gets pushed onto the tracks, Cas saves him. But when they get to the hospital there's a mix up and Cas finds himself engaged to a complete stranger. Enter, the rest of the family, including big brother Dean. How will Cas navigate the relationship with his supposed future in-laws? What will he do when Sam finally wakes up? And why can't he stop thinking about Dean?

Purgatory, director's cut

Summary: this doesn’t have a summary but it is dean and cas in purgatory and it’s soooo cool! I promise it’s amazing and worth the read!

Basic Lessons in First Aid, Magical or Otherwise

Summary: Most people probably wouldn’t take the naked, heavily wounded man they found in an alley home with them. Most people probably wouldn’t also offer that man a place to stay and become his best friend after realizing he’s suffering from an intense case of post-traumatic retrograde amnesia. Most people probably wouldn’t then risk almost everything they know to save said man, and maybe save the world in the process.

But then again, Dean Winchester, RN (with a specialty in supernatural care), has never been like most people. He may not have a magical bone in his body, unlike his brother Sam, but he’ll do whatever it takes to help. Even if Castiel has questionable opinions about Star Trek.

What Greater Gift

Summary: Story idea: The most wanted woman in town has announced that she’ll only marry the one who can open her front door with the key around her cat’s neck. Many men try to hunt the cat down, chase and trap it, but to no avail, the cat is simply too quick, smart and clever, and always finds a way to evade and avoid them. You are the first one to figure out the obvious: Do not chase the cat. The cat is befriendable. Get the cat to trust you, to genuinely enjoy your company, and you can hang out with the cat. You may eventually be allowed to touch the cat. The cat will freely let you take the key.

From a prompt found on Tumblr. Saw this and I couldn't resist a Destiel AU, and I've been wanting to write Witch!Cas for ages.

I know when you go down all your darkest roads

Summary: Dean and Castiel go undercover as a couple going through therapy, in order to catch a monster that specifically targets couples dealing with issues, feeding on their distress, anger, and pain.

They end up going through a lot more than a case, unfolding feelings left untold for so long, discovering parts of each other they never intended to uncover.

But will the feelings raging inside them be enough to bring their walls down?

A Fish Out of Water

Summary: To tie up the loose ends of a hunt, Dean is forced to go undercover and visit Brock Pleasure Ranch, a horrifying establishment that markets its inhabitants to people with ‘monstrous’ tastes.

It should have been a simple thing, to persuade a mer to give him a few scales for a spell. All part of the usual Winchester byline: saving people, hunting things.

But Castiel is far less of a ‘thing’ than Dean expected. He might not be human, but he’s definitely a person. And that means he needs saving, too.

The Way to a Man’s Heart is Through Chlamydia

Summary: Dean doesn't expect to see his one night stand again, but then again he also doesn't expect to find out he has an STD. Sometimes life is hilarious like that.

Just as lost as I

Summary: Dean's been in love with Castiel for centuries. He keeps it buried, never letting himself get too close, but when Castiel goes missing he doesn't hesitate. He's going to find him if it’s the last thing he ever does.

Love Bites

Summary: Cas Novak graduated with a 4.0 in Mathematics, but not even Naomi Novak’s money could help him at job interviews. Anxious and dissatisfied with life, at nearly thirty he’s still washing dishes in the back of his best friend Hannah’s café.Until one night when his cat drags an injured bat into his apartment.

Dean may be a vampire, but he’s not an asshole (well, not much.) He feels like he owes the awkward guy for rescuing him from the cat’s clutches, so he sets about changing Cas's life.

A silly story about families who aren’t quite what they seem, fake boyfriends, and falling in love with someone who’s never, technically, met you.

The Bad Cop, Worse Cop Adventures of Freckles and Feathers

Summary: Miami. A place with beaches, babes, palm trees, and a growing drug-fueled crime organization. To help combat the drugs littering the streets, Captain Singer puts together a Tactical Narcotics Team composed of Miami's two finest and fearless officers. Charming casanova Dean Winchester has fought tooth and nail, rising through the ranks for this position. Trench coat toting Castiel Novak knows more hand-to-hand combative techniques than he does people skills. Between Dean's big mouth and Castiel's take-no-shit attitude, their introductory meeting ends on a less than stellar note and a couple of hard to shake nicknames.

After six months of partnership, the nicknames have stuck and so has the sexual tension. When a murder in the middle of the night launches their biggest lead on a cleverly evasive drug lord, Dean is shocked to find Sam at the center of it. Sam comes clean with his involvement and Charlie, their witness, seeks revenge against the man responsible for killing her friend. As the stakes rise higher so do Dean’s feelings putting everything in jeopardy. Is a cop with everything to prove, a cop with everything to lose, one computer hacker witness, and a damn good ADA enough to save the day?

The Care and Feeding of Castiel

Summary: Dean’s quiet time in the bunker is interrupted by some stranger-than-usual behavior from his angel. Oh, and feathers...there are a lot of those, too.

First Gentleman Wanted

Summary:  President of the United States Castiel Novak is popular, charismatic, and knee-deep in campaigning for a second term. He’d be the ideal candidate if it weren’t for the fact that he hasn’t dated once while in political office. With his opponent’s relentless PR team calling him incapable of emotional commitment, Castiel’s staff decides to remedy the situation by finding their boss a fake, picture-perfect boyfriend. And when Dean Winchester enters the scene, he and Cas become America’s new favorite couple, except they’ve got a whole lot of history between them and complicated feelings to resolve.

The Graveyard Shift

Summary: Dean’s favourite coffee shop, The Graveyard Shift, is only open after the sun goes down. Which is perfect for him, because that’s exactly when he craves coffee the most while doing the overnight at the fire hall. The coffee shop’s owner is pretty perfect too, but it’s kind of a bummer that Dean never gets to see Cas during the day. In a world where the supernatural live more or less in peace with the rest of humanity, it’s a little impolite to ask Cas just what he really is - or what his dark past entails.

The Path of Fireflies

Summary: After his humanity is restored, Dean wakes up in bed with Castiel, a wedding ring, and no memory of the past twelve years.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Summary: Heaven is white.Well. Isn’t that fucking stereotypical.-Dean isn’t really sure how he got here. Or even why he’s here. And hell, for all the times the Winchesters have died, he thinks he ought to know the drill by now. But what he doesn’t know is when most folks go, they find something different.

There’s a system God put in place. That when you’re gone (for good), there are a couple things you gotta do first. There are five people waiting for you.

They are the five people you meet in heaven.

Doing this made me realize I need to read more longer fics. I usually just read the short ficlets on tumblr but I need to broaden my horizon and read more. But yes! These are the AU’s currently in my bookmarks. Hope you find one to enjoy :)

[thepartyresponsible]

welcome to the all fluff, all the time network. i said here that i was taking prompts, but i neglected to mention that i’m writing all of them as fluff. or as close to fluff as i can manage, anyway.

this one’s for the anon who asked for jason with anyone with the prompt “please don’t do this.”

it’s a standalone piece of a much longer hockey au. endgame is jason, bucky, and frank.

                                                          ---

“Please don’t do this.”

“Oh,” Jason says, “I’m gonna do it.”

“Jason,” Bucky says. He leans over, as close as he can get. He’s pale, a little wide-eyed, bottom lip red from his attempts to bite back the pain. “Come on.”

The trainer doesn’t look up from carefully rotating Bucky’s arm, checking the range of motion, but Jason knows damn well that the little frown on his face is not good news.

They were on Injured Reserve together, him and Bucky. Back when Jason first got traded, when he showed up with – no shit – hundreds of stitches in his throat and exactly zero endearing personality traits. Barnes had been quiet, distracted, kinda lost in his head, but he’d always been so Goddamn nice. From day one, when Jason showed up exactly like some prissy, sullen bastard who’d never been traded, never expected to be traded, never wanted to suit up in anything other than Bats’ black and gold, Barnes had treated him like he was something worth keeping around.

And here they are, five games into Barnes’ big comeback, and Brock fucking Rumlow just took a swipe at Bucky’s freshly-healed arm.

Castle’s out sick, or this would be his responsibility. Hell, if Castle were playing tonight, Rumlow probably would’ve kept his fucking hands to himself.

The Avengers don’t need an enforcer. That’s not Jason’s job. But Jason considers himself a well-rounded player. He can fill in where he’s needed.

“I’m gonna fucking do it, Buck,” Jason says, eyeing his route, sighting his target. “I’m definitely gonna do it.”

“Todd,” Coulson says, tone kinda sharp but not angry like he means it, “we don’t need any theatrics right now.”

“Philly,” Jason says, “Philadelphia. Cream Cheese. All I’ve got is theatrics.”

Coulson sighs and turns his eyes skyward. He keeps Jason on the bench until the Avengers score on the power play, and then he sets him loose. As far as Jason’s concerned, that’s practically a benediction.

Thor heads in for a change, worried eyes pinned on Bucky, and Jason’s over the boards and racing up the ice a full two seconds too early, like too many men is a summation of his recent dating history and not a perfectly fucking legitimate penalty.

Not that his behavior would indicate he gives a good Goddamn about taking penalties right now.

He does – and he hopes Bruce notices this when he watches the tape later, hopes Alfred appreciates the depth of his personal growth – wait to drop his gloves until after Rumlow calls him a pretty boy and a bitch and a coward who lost his balls. He waits, like a professional, until Rumlow’s own gloves hit the ice before he throws a mean, messy uppercut directly to his throat.

Rumlow’s a good fighter. It’s why his fans love him. He floods his Instagram every summer with pictures of himself shirtless and sweating in a boxing ring. Jason shouldn’t know that, probably, but it’s not like he’s ever had a problem compartmentalizing I wanna fuck you and I wanna fuck you up when he needs to.

Rumlow fights like someone who knows how, who learned in a ring with his knuckles taped or behind a school with someone to hold the other kid’s arms back. He knows to go for weak points, mainly. It’s served him well so far.

Jason hasn’t been in a fight since the one that damn near killed him. And he never had any formal boxing lessons, but he grew up doing his best not to get stabbed to death in Gotham’s back alleys, and the result of that practical training is a fighting style Roy Harper once fondly described as honey badger on a life-altering hit of PCP.

Jason’s swallowing blood when it’s over. His knuckles are fucked, and there’s an unfriendly tingling in his gumline that suggests his emergency dentist might be about to earn herself another tropical vacation, but Rumlow’s flat out on the ice, and he’s bloodier than Jason, and that’s all that matters.

Jason goes, easy and compliant, when the linesman pulls him away. Wide-eyed and innocent, who, me? all the way to the bench because maybe it’ll make the officials more lenient. It must work well enough, because they both take five minute majors, but Jason dodges the instigator penalty, saved by Rumlow’s notorious willingness to fight anyone smaller than himself or maybe by the mercy of officials who just watched him slam his stick against Bucky’s arm like he was trying to split firewood.

A five minute major with 4:38 left in the third period. So that’s the end of Jason’s game, then. Worth it.

Bucky isn’t on the bench when Jason gets skates up, but Wilson gives him an approving clap on the shoulder as Jason shuffles toward the tunnel, and it settles Jason enough that he gets all the way through the trainer’s pestering, weathers them checking his teeth and patching his knuckles, and then walks himself to the locker room before his lungs forget how to process oxygen.

“I asked you not to,” Bucky says, long-suffering but still so fucking nice. He wraps his good hand around Jason’s neck and tips him forward. “Breathe.”

“Fucking,” Jason says, as he tries to focus on a sane breathing pattern. “Fuck you, Buck. I wasn’t gonna—we just got you back.”

He feels like his throat is closing up.

It’s the blood in his mouth, he thinks. And the blood he saw on the ice. The crowd, roaring like that. Bloodthirsty.

They’d been thirsty like that in Gotham when he squared off against Bane. Biggest fucking guy in the league, and there was Jason, scrappy and pissed off, fighting Bane because Bruce wouldn’t.

He’d known he was gonna get hurt. He’d been ready for that.

It was an accident, what happened. Bruce didn’t mean it, and Jason’s heard, if you watch the footage, you can see Bane trying to stop it, his giant hands grabbing for Jason as he falls.

Jason’s never watched it. He doesn’t need to see himself catch Bruce’s skate blade with his throat. He lived through it. That was enough.

“I had to, Buck,” Jason says. He’s got his head propped against Bucky’s shoulder, and Bucky, because he’s a nice guy, because he’s a good teammate, is running his hand through Jason’s incredibly disgusting, sweat-soaked hair. “He hit you, and Frank’s not here, and Rogers can’t leave the crease, so--”

“You’re sweet,” Bucky says, which is something no one has ever said to Jason.

“Had to,” Jason repeats. Because it’s not about being sweet. It’s about making sure everyone knows what’ll happen if they hurt his people.

“My arm’s gonna be fine,” Bucky says. “They took some x-rays, just to check. But it’s gonna be fine.”

Jason breathes out, and his lungs remember their function, and he can breathe again. “Good,” he says. He scrubs at his face. His hands barely come away bloody at all.

“Shit,” Bucky says, with a heavy sigh. He takes his hand out of Jason’s hand, slides his fingers carefully along his cheek to his jaw, and then he lifts Jason’s face toward the light. He frowns at the split lip, the forming bruise. “Frank’s gonna kill me.”

“What?” Jason says. He runs his tongue over his lip, and Bucky’s eyes track the movement. There’s a weird, wrung-out feeling twisting in the pit of Jason’s stomach. “I’m the one who didn’t— he just whacked the shit out of your arm, Buck. Right in front of me.”

Bucky smiles at him, crooked and a little rueful. He stares at him for a second longer, and then he pulls back. There is, faint but still audible, the roar of a hometown crowd getting a victory.

Well, they were up 4-1 when Jason went after Rumlow. Whatever Bruce, and Tim, and all of Gotham’s management think, Jason isn’t incapable of growth. He’s getting better. He is learning, finally, to pick his battles.

Maybe all he needed was to get the fuck out of Gotham. And someday he’ll probably even feel alright about being wrenched out of his hometown and discarded like trash down a storm drain.

“You should take a shower,” Bucky tells him. “Put some ice on those hands. The guys’ll wanna buy you drinks.”

After Jason’s second-to-last fight in Gotham, he watched from the penalty box while the other team scored the goal that won them the game. Bruce was so mad that nobody in the locker room spoke a word afterwards. Nobody talked to Jason at all.

After his last fight in Gotham, the Bats traded him while he was still in the hospital.

It’s been a long damn time since anyone bought him drinks after he fought for his team. Since back before Roy was traded. Since way back in the early days, when he was a rising star instead of a letdown and a liability.

“You think so?” Jason says, biting back a smile. “No shit?”

Bucky rolls his eyes. He’s smiling when he does it, so there’s no sting to it at all. “Go get cleaned up,” he says. “No one’s gonna let you in a bar with blood on your face.”

There are bars in Gotham that wouldn’t recognize him any other way. But Jason’s starting to think – with a stupid, flickering hope he’d left for dead years ago – that maybe things will be different now.

[colbybrocksmolder]

Colby’s Blanket Burrito (Colby Brock x Reader)

This is an old Conor Maynard fic I wrote years ago and someone requested I turn it into a Colby Brock fic. I think the story-line fits him well, but it’s okay if you don’t like this one. Enjoy. 

----------------------------------- Colby had been one of your best friends for about 6 years and it had been over a week since he had answered his phone or his door. The only way he got away with it was because Sam had been out of town for a friend’s wedding and ended up extending his trip.

"Babe, answer your phone. If you don't call me back, I'm breaking into your apartment." You said into the phone.

You didn't want to call Sam or Jake because It felt like you were betraying his trust, but you had to check on Colby. Assuming the rumors were true, his girlfriend cheated on him. He had finally decided to try publicly dating someone and this is how she treated him. Sam was flying back in two days and you weren't going to let him find Colby like you knew he'd be. Giving in, you had asked Jake where the spare key was and you were on your way over with chocolate, wine, and Chipotle. 

Letting yourself into the apartment, you realized it was as bad as you'd guessed. The trash hadn't been taken out, there were broken picture frames and broken glass by the front door, and the apartment was absolutely freezing. 

You spent about 30 minutes cleaning before heading to his bedroom, taking a minute to dump the trash and run the dishes, as well.

"Colby." You said, sad to see your friend like this. 

"Just leave." Was all he said, not moving from his blanket burrito. 

"Babe, I'm not going anywhere." You said, setting your supplies and his food down on his desk. 

"Well I'm not moving." He replied. 

"You don't have to for a few minutes. I need to clean up in here, anyways." His eyes followed you around the room. You picked up trash and cleaned up more glass. Gathered his laundry and picked up his bathroom. "Why is it so cold in here?" You asked. 

"The heater broke. Everything is fucking broken and I just don't care to fix any of it." Colby said, still acting like you weren't going to get him out of bed. 

Seeing that one of the picture frames had blood on it, you started to worry Colby had stepped on the glass. "Babe, did you cut your foot?" 

"Yes." He said, wiggling his foot out of his blanket burrito knowing you weren't going to drop it. 

"That's pretty bad. We need to clean it up." You said, gently running your fingers over the cut. Seeing Colby's foot flinch, you apologized. 

"It's not you." He said, his voice cracking. 

You absolutely hated seeing him look so broken. You crawled into the bed behind him and put your arms around his middle. You simply laid there with him until he had cried himself out of tears. "Please let me take care of you?" 

Colby nodded yes, and then made you laugh by saying "God I need to pee." 

"Go to the bathroom." You laughed, pulling his covers off of him.

When Colby went into his bathroom he didn't even bother closing the door. You quickly stripped his bed of its stinky sheets and blankets to chuck them in the washer. When you came back into his room, he was just walking out of the bathroom. "You sneaky bitch." He half smiled at you. 

"You knew it was coming. You stink, babe. You need to shower." You said, pulling out the wine and pouring you both a glass. "Come on." You walked him to his bathroom and started the shower, grabbing a few towels. 

"Y/n, I just want to lay down." He said, sitting on the counter and drinking the wine. 

"We'll lay down after you're clean. You're going to shower and then I need to clean your foot." You said, coming to stand between his knees. 

Resting his forehead against yours, he sighed. "I don't have any energy to do anything." 

"You have food and chocolate waiting for you." You replied, sitting his wine down and pulling him down off of the counter and pushing him into the shower fully clothed. 

"Oh, you bitch." Colby said, pulling you in with him. "That's what you get." 

Laughing, you were happy to see a smile on his face. "I'll take it. It got you in the shower." You said, pulling his shirt off of him and leaving him in basketball shorts. "Strip so you can actually get clean." 

Colby's whole demeanor changed, his arms half covering his torso. "I'm good. I'll shower. I promise." 

"Hey, what gives?" You asked, placing your hands on either side of his face and making him look at you.

"I just don't need another person judging me for how I look." he snapped, turning to face away from you.

"Was that what she told you? That she cheated on you because of how you look?" you asked, your blood boiling. When Colby didn't reply you knew you were right, so you decided to level the playing field. Stripping your shirt and bra off you chucked them on the bathroom floor. You ditched your jeans, just leaving you in your underwear. You slipped your hands around his sides, one coming to rest on his chest and the other across his stomach. "Colby, there's not a thing wrong with how you look."

"Fuck off." he said, sounding sad and not at all angry.

"Cole, when have I ever fucked off when you told me to?" you asked, pulling him against your chest. "You don't want to hear it, but sometimes you have the worst taste in women."

"Yeah." he said bitterly. "No shit." His arms finally relaxing instead of trying to cover himself.

With him relaxed against you, you grabbed his shower soap and started running your soapy hands across his torso and down his arms. "You know better than to believe anything that bitch says." Your hands crawling lower and starting to push down the waist band of his shorts.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." he replied, letting his boxers and his shorts fall wet to the shower floor. You kicked them out to join the rest of the sopping clothes. Turning Colby so his chest was leaning against yours, you started rubbing soapy circles into his back. "Y/n." he said softly, lifting his head.

"What?" you asked, still running your hands up and down Colby's back.

"I just..." he said, his hands coming to rest on your bare waist. "I didn't realize you had undressed is all." You shampooed and conditioned his hair and felt his arms start to tighten around you while he buried his face in your neck. While it felt wonderful, this wasn't how you wanted to take the step from friends to more.

"Think you can manage the rest while I switch over your linens?" you asked, not wanting it to seem like he had done anything wrong.

Colby cleared his throat "Yeah. Of course. Thank you." He replied, leaving a slow lingering kiss on your forehead and watching you make your way to the stack of towels.

Wrapping yourself in a towel, you gathered the wet clothes in another towel so you could throw them in the wash. "I'm going to borrow some of your clothes. Make sure you get dressed and meet me in the living room since your sheets won't be ready." you called, leaving the bathroom.

Dressed in some of Colby's sweats and one of his sweatshirts, you handled the laundry. You re-heated the Chipotle and filled both water and wine glasses for both of you. The couch was full of pillows and blankets and you had a small first aid kit out so you could clean up his foot. Seeing Colby come out dressed but limping on his injured foot, you pointed to the couch. "Sit down here so I can clean your foot up." 

Grabbing his glass of wine, he sat down on the couch, allowing you access to his foot. "Is this food for me?" He asked, his stomach growling.

"Eat up." you smiled at him.  "And there are two more bottles of wine, so don't hold back." You had pulled a few small pieces of glass out of his foot before he started getting fidgety. 

"That one really hurts." He said, hissing. 

"I'm sorry. Just. This. Last. One." You said, finally grabbing the last little sliver of glass out of his foot. "It should feel a bit better now." you said, wiping the slices with antiseptic and bandaging them up. "I'm going to go get you some socks so this doesn't catch on anything.

Walking back to his room, you made sure the bathroom was straightened again and that the towels made their way to the hamper. You grabbed some socks and headed back out. "I can do that." he said, when you knelt down next to the couch to put them on his feet.

"Oh, hush. Just give me your feet." you said, slipping the socks on.

"Aside from Sam, you're the only person that has ever seen my at my worst." he said, looking deep in thought.

"And now I've bathed you at your worst." you teased, trying to lighten the mood. Cracking a smile, he nodded. "What do you want to watch? Something bloody? Something funny?" you asked, throwing away the Chipotle trash and filling his wine glass. You grabbed your glass and joined him on the couch. 

"I want to watch Up, but I have a feeling you won't let me." he chuckled. 

"Damn straight. None of this Notebook sad type shit. Why don't we watch Hot Fuzz?" you suggested, scrolling through his digital movies on the tv.

"Only if you cuddle me." he said, grabbing one of the chocolates.

"That's a given, Cole-bear." You said, selecting the movie, and laying down on the couch, opening your arms so he could lay his head on your chest. You pulled blankets over the two of you and softly played with his still damp hair. You both continued to drink wine and eat chocolate while enjoying the movie and by the end of it, Colby was properly laughing along.

"Y/n." Colby said, watching the credits slowly pass.

"yeah?" you replied.

"I'm sorry if I got too handsy in the shower." he said, clearing his throat. "I didn't mean to take advantage of the situation."

"It's fine, Colby. I did get naked in your shower." you laughed.

After your response, he paused for a moment. "Why have we never dated?" he asked, like there was cute little clean-cut answer to that question. When you didn't answer him, he lifted his head from your chest to look at you. "Y/n?"

Pushing his hair out of his eyes, you replied in a slightly sad voice. "Colby, you've never asked."

His eyebrows knit together as he considered your answer. "If I had asked would you have said yes?"

"In a world where sober, not on the rebound Colby asked me out? Absolutely." you replied. He laid his head back down, closing his eyes and snuggling against your chest.

"I want to watch Up." he said, downing the last of his wine.

Not having a clue what was going through Colby's mind, you decided to just go with it. "No problem, babe." You selected the movie and resumed playing with his hair. You weren't 20 minutes into the movie before you were both sound asleep.

Being woken up by a banging noise, you sat up and realized Colby wasn't with you on the couch. "Cole?" you called out, wiping the sleep from your eyes and running your fingers through your hair. You noticed it was fully light outside meaning you slept through the night.

"In here." he replied, yelling from the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" you asked, walking into the kitchen and laying your head on his shoulder. 

"I'm making us food." he replied, his hand coming up to rest on your cheek.

"I'm supposed to be taking care of YOU." you said, trying to take the spatula from him.

"Uh, uh. Nope. You did take care of me, now grab those two glasses of orange juice and take them to my room." he said, continuing to cook breakfast. "I even made the bed and switched the laundry over."

Kissing him on the cheek, you couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad to see you up and about." you said, walking the glasses to his room. He had, in fact, made the bed. He had also brought the rest of the wine and chocolate in. You even saw your phone plugged into the charger on his bedside table.

Opening your phone, you saw that you had about a thousand twitter notifications. Closing them all out and opening the app, you saw why. Colby had taken a photo of you asleep on the couch. Hair wild across the pillow and around your face, your body bundled up in his sweatshirt. He had tweeted the photo saying, "I have the best friends in the world." You screenshot his tweet and then replied to the tweet with "You deserve the best friends in the world."

Colby walked in with two full plates of breakfast. "Put a movie on." he said, setting the plates on the bedside table and pulling the blanket back so you could crawl in.

"What has gotten into you?" you asked, laughing at how the roles had reversed.

He stopped what he was doing and stood by the bed. "You." he stared for a second before pointing over at the tv. "Pick something funny." He walked around the bed and crawled in. "The apartment office is sending someone over to fix the heat, so we may hear someone in the other room."

"Thank god. It's freezing in here." you replied, clicking on the movie Super Troopers and starting to eat. "This is delicious. Thank you."

"Breakfast is about the only meal I can cook." he laughed.

You two spent the day watching movies and being lazy. You postmated dinner since you had eaten breakfast so late. You finished off the rest of the wine and a better part of the chocolate. Colby didn't mention the break-up once. He didn't mention the shower again or that he had asked why you hadn't dated. He was just happy Colby. That night you both fell asleep on separate sides of the bed watching an episode of Stranger Things, but you woke up wrapped in Colby's arms. Wriggling out of his hold, you made your way to the living room. You straightened the apartment up and had just started looking at your breakfast options when Colby joined you. 

"You left me." he said, his arms circling you from behind. "Sam just landed. He wants us to meet him and Jake for breakfast in a bit." 

"I need to shower if I'm going out in public." you laughed, folding your arms over his. 

"I don't know. You smell quite nice to me." he said, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. 

"I smell like you." you laughed, breaking out of his hold. 

With a grin on his face, he tucked your hair behind your ear. "I know. I like it." he replied. "You can have first shower and I'll make coffee." he said, shooing you out of the kitchen. "Your clean clothes are folded on the bed." 

"You are in rare form today, Brock." You replied, walking to the bathroom to shower and get ready. Hearing the blow dryer, Colby knew you were finished in the shower, so he knocked. You opened the door, unplugging the blow dryer so you could take it to another room and let him shower. "Sorry, I'll go in the other room." 

"No need." He said, plugging it back in and pecking you on the cheek. "There isn’t another good mirror." He turned the shower on and started stripping. "Plus, it's not like you haven't seen all of this before." He said, striking a dumb pose in the mirror. 

You couldn't help but laugh. "You really are back to your old self."  

"Not exactly. I think I'm a better version of myself. I was stupid to spend my time and energy on shitty people when I have amazing people already in my life." He said, climbing in the shower. 

The change in Colby's attitude and mood had taken you by surprise. "Babe, you can't be philosophical with your dick hanging out." You said, starting the hair dryer up again. You could hear his laughter over the noise of the dryer.  

Finishing up your hair, you left the bathroom to find your make-up and to get dressed. Not long after you were both ready, Sam text Colby's phone telling you to meet them at a cafe down the street.

You got a table and ordered drinks waiting for the boys. When they showed up, Sam and Jake both kept eyeing Colby and he finally cleared the air. "Guys, I'm fine."  

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked, trying to act like he hadn't been worried about Colby.  

"Yes, I was cheated on and treated like shit. No, I don't give a shit what she tells people or posts online. Yes, I'm perfectly fine." He said, placing his hand over yours for a moment. "This one kicked my ass and made everything better." He teased.

"I saw your picture of her on the couch. I was happy she found a way into the apartment." Sam said.

"How did you get in?" Colby asked, considering it for the first time.  

"Jake." You laughed. "He told me where the spare was. I'm not giving it back, by the way."

"Keep it." Colby told you. "And thank you for telling her about it." He said to Jake.  

The rest of your meal was normal, but the boys definitely kept eyeing Colby. You were all shocked he was acting so normal. 

The following two weeks proved that Colby wasn't going to relapse into his blanket burrito phase which made you and the boys relax a bit. He had gone out drinking and dancing a few times with the rest of his buddies, but he never brought a girl home or went home with anyone. The nights he convinced you to come along, he stayed with you and danced with you and took you home where you would fall asleep watching whatever movie you guys picked.  

One day while you were at work scrolling through your phone on your lunch break you saw that Colby had tweeted out that he had a new video up. *"I can’t sing. We all know this. I guess some girls are just worth making a fool out of yourself for."* he wrote, with a link to the video.  

Closing your phone, you sighed and put it in your purse. You had accepted a long time ago that you were never going to be that girl. You weren't even upset about that. He was the best friend you could have asked for, but knowing that you were going to be second in line behind another girl again made you a bit sad.  

You stayed late in your office catching up on work and made your way home around 8:30 pm. You knew your phone had been going off, but all you wanted was to pour yourself a glass of wine and sit in your bathtub listening to music.  

Feeling sleepy and relaxed, you dried off and picked something in your kitchen to cook for a late night dinner. Setting everything up to cook you finally picked up your phone. More Twitter notifications than you could count. A load of Facebook requests. Tag notifications from more people than you actually knew. About 20 missed calls. You decided to ignore the social media and open your texts.  

Colby - "*The link to the video*"

Jake - "Did you watch Colby's new video?" 

Sam - "Omg, I soooo should have known."

Colby - "Y/n, are you okay?"

Colby - "Please just tell me you're okay? No one can get ahold of you."

Sam - "Colby is freaking out. You should come over."

Jake - "Do you not feel the same?"

Colby - "Too soon?"

Sam - "Colby is in his blanket burrito again. Please come over." 

"What the fuck is happening?" You said out loud in your empty apartment. Clicking on the link, you saw the video was of Sam playing guitar and helping Colby sing "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars. You watched the video, unable to keep a smile from forming on your face. You loved seeing Colby step out of his comfort zone. You had always enjoyed his voice even though he was insecure about it.

"You can count on me like 1 2 3

I'll be there

And I know when I need it

I can count on you like 4 3 2

And you'll be there

'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah"

Half way through the song you clicked open the description. You were looking for whatever reason Colby decided to finally sing in front of people.  

"This one has been a long time coming. I met a very pretty girl years and years ago. That girl grew up to be an incredibly kind, capable, and beautiful woman. She has helped me through every one of my hard times and has been there to kick my ass when I needed it. (Not joking. Just a few weeks ago she pushed me into the shower fully clothed. I almost died). I don't know why I never pursued her. I think it's because she's the kind of woman you marry, and I was too busy trying to make my dreams come true. I was being a bit of a fuckboy that wasn't ready to commit to a favorite drink, let alone a relationship. She's watched me surround myself with girls that treated me like absolute shit (not all of them were bad, but some of them were horrible) and she was always there to pick me up. It's about time I treated her like I should have been treating her all along. Y/n, you make me a better person. Even more, you make me WANT to be a better person. I would be honored if you let me call you mine." 

Turning off the stove, you threw on leggings, a baggy sweater, and shoes. You grabbed your bag and your keys and made your way, quick as you could, to Colby's apartment. You didn't even bother knocking, you just let yourself in. "Colby!" You called, running into the apartment.  

“Whoa, why did you ignore us?" Sam asked, getting up from Colby’s couch. “We’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day.”

"I didn't look at my phone. I was at the office until almost 9 and I saw he posted about a girl and I just wanted to be alone. I didn't know it was me." You said, out of breath and looking a mess.  

Sam smiled, realizing you hadn't actually hurt Colby. Standing aside, he clapped your shoulder. "Go get 'em." before leaving the apartment.

You ran into his room and felt along the wall for the light switch. "Colby?", you called, but didn't get a response. Turning the light on, you saw Colby. Rolled up in his damn blanket, fast asleep. Pulling out your phone, you snapped a picture and opened Twitter. You retweeted his tweet with the link and added "This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." and then opened a new one. "I can't believe I get to call this adorkable burrito boy, mine." And added the picture.  

Setting your stuff down, you went into his bathroom and started the shower. Peppering his face with kisses, you woke Colby up. "Come on." You said, kissing him on the lips before walking into the bathroom.  

"Y/n?" Colby called behind you, obviously a little confused. You stripped out of your clothes and got into the shower, holding your hand out to him when he joined you in the bathroom. He stripped and hesitantly stepped into the shower.  

Like before, you lathered up your hands and ran them over his skin, a huge grin on your face. "Will you sing it?" You asked, pulling him to you, bare chest to bare chest and rubbing your hands across his back.  

A small smile formed on Colby's face as he started quietly singing, his voice scratchy from being woken up. "If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea, I'll sail the world to find you." His hands found their place on your waist and you tucked your face into his neck. "If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see, I'll be the light to guide you." He continued on, the two of you swaying back and forth under the warm water.  

"I thought you rejected me." He said, slipping his arms around you and pulling you against him. 

"Not at all. I didn't even watch your video until I got home from work and saw my phone blown up with texts." You said leaning back to look at his face.  

"I'm an idiot for not realizing I had already found you. I've spent the last few weeks trying to prove that you weren't a rebound." He laughed.  

"You don't need to prove anything to me, Colby. Even if your video was about someone else, I would have been here taking care of you when you needed me to." you said, leaning up to kiss him.  

"Mmmmm, I'm so glad I get to do this now." He said, deepening the kiss.  

"Me too." You replied, your hands coming up to sit on either side of his face. "I may or may not have posted a picture of you in your burrito."  

"Oh, God." He laughed. "It's okay, I'll get you back. I'm great at posting unflattering photos of the people I love."  

You couldn't help but smile at that. "Oh, I know what I signed up for. I'm also pretty sure you just said you loved me." 

"And I'm pretty sure you should know that by now." He said, resting his forehead against yours.  

"You ready for bed, babe?" You asked, rinsing the soap from you both.  

"Only if you stay. I've been an anxious wreck all day and I'm exhausted, but I don't want to go to bed without you." He said, pressing a kiss to your lips. 

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." You replied, turning off the water and pulling him out of the shower.  

Colby looked you up and down as you dried off, making your cheeks go pink. You went to throw your leggings back on for bed, but Colby stopped you. "Come on, blushing beauty." He pulled you into the bedroom, shut the lights off, and climbed into bed without redressing. He opened his arms and waited for you to join him.  

Climbing in and laying against his chest, you felt him tuck the blanket around the two of you. "I could definitely get used to this." You said, closing your eyes and slowly running your fingers up and down his side.  

"I think I'm already past used to it. I don't think I could live without it." He said, kissing the top of your head and trailing his fingers in designs on your back.  

"Sing it one more time?" You asked, knowing it was the cheesiest thing you could do.  

You could feel Colby's chuckle in his chest. "Of course, love." He said, starting the song over. You never thought you'd be the girl Colby sang to sleep, but his voice was the last thing you heard before you gave in and fell asleep, the rythym of his voice and the rise and fall of his chest serenading you into slumber.

[sykilik101]

Convey

“On second thought, Ash, maybe this isn’t the best idea.”

“Misty, I’m already carrying you, there’s no reason to put you down.”

“But my ankle isn’t hurt that bad, and I-”

“Misty, just be quiet.”

He always does this. Ash Ketchum, ever the friend, ever the hero. It was hard to tell if his heroism was a gift from destiny, or if it was why fate had chosen him to save the world over and over again. I don’t think Ash would have much of a response if someone asked him about it.

Today was supposed to follow the same old routine: Team Rocket digs a hole, our group falls into the hole, Pikachu almost gets stolen, and minutes later Team Rocket is blasting off again. Lather, rinse, repeat, every day without fail. Normally by this point we’d be making our way towards whatever town or landmark we were heading for, but normally I don’t have a sprained ankle from falling into the trap.

Team Rocket’s usually so good about making relatively safe holes, too.

Brock went on ahead to alert Nurse Joy at the nearby Pokémon Center that we were coming. Our original destination was still a day away, and I was in no mood to camp out with an injury. Potentially having to wake up and start running because of some random emergency would end disastrously. That’s not to say Ash wouldn’t have gone out of his way to carry me, just like he was doing now.

Ever the friend, ever the hero.

“I’m not too heavy, am I?”

“Trust me, if you were, I’d tell you.”

“You better not be lying.”

I felt the gentle vibration of Ash’s chuckle against his back. “Misty, believe me, you’re not. See?”

At this he took a firmer hold on my thighs, hefting me up the smallest bit before relaxing back into the hold. My heart hammered in my chest at the touch and I smacked him on the shoulder. “Ash, don’t do that, you’ll drop me!”

That same easy-going laugh returned. “I promise I won’t.”

His words were oddly relaxed for someone transporting their injured friend three miles through a forest to a Pokémon Center. To his credit he didn’t seem like he was struggling to hold me or walk along the dirt path, even after he’d exerted himself in the battle to get Pikachu back. Speaking of the battle...

“I hope Pikachu will be alright.”

Ash’s grip briefly tightened again. “He’ll be fine. Brock gave him a potion, and Pikachu is used to battling Team Rocket whenever they try to kidnap him. A few Tackles are nothing he can’t handle.”

“I guess you’re right,” I replied. Ash nodded wordlessly, leaving the conversation to fizzle out. Truth be told, it was a few Tackles on top of a Poison Sting from Arbok. We didn’t have any antidotes left, so Brock had rushed away with Pikachu after giving him the potion. I fully expected Ash to be the one to take him, but his logic was that someone had to stay back and help me, and he trusted Brock to get there the fastest without getting lost. I could only hope that didn’t mean we’d be the ones wandering aimlessly through the trees.

With any luck, Brock would get there quickly enough to get help. The sun was starting to set, and though the path was pretty easy to follow, it wouldn’t be the first time our group - Ash, specifically - had made one tiny wrong turn in the dark and gotten lost. Even so, I trusted Brock, and I knew Ash did, too. His silence was probably his concern mixed with him trying to seem composed so that I wouldn’t worry.

Leave it to Ash to know the right moment to be sweet.

I gripped his shoulders a little tighter, recalling the way my heart had jolted when he’d squeezed my thighs. Recently, Ash had been doing things that would randomly form knots in my stomach; it would be a smile, or something he’d say, or even the blazing look in his eyes when we’d argue. That fire that always burned me in the moment now left me warm in the aftermath. Even the way he called my name made my pulse pick up its pace.

Over the years a lot of people have teased Ash and I about liking each other. I’d always denied it because, I mean, it wasn’t true. Ash has a lot of really good qualities, despite being stubborn and immature, but I never really thought about dating him. It just sounds...weird. He’s my friend, someone I travel with. He still owes me a bike, after all.

But lately, the tousled way his hair looks without his hat seems more endearing than sloppy. When he’s in a battle, I sometimes have to remind myself to focus on the Pokémon instead of the determination and focus on his face. It’s always sweet the way he asks Pikachu if he’s ready for bed at night, but the look he gives Pikachu before they close their eyes is filled with a care and love that I’d never given Ash credit for. I wonder what it would be like if Ash looked at me that way.

I shook my head, clearing that thought out of my mind. This is the same Ash who’d rather go on a Pokémon catching spree than on a date. He’d never shown any real interest in the opposite gender; that was usually Brock’s job. I had a better chance of catching a Mew than becoming the object of his affections. Even if he happened to like me, it’s not like he would have any idea how to win me over. The mental image of Ash trying to be suave and charming made me giggle, though I tried not to be too obvious about it.

Ash quietly chuckled below me, and I worried for a second that maybe he’d somehow read my mind. “What is it, Ash?”

“I was just thinking, I bet after Brock makes sure Pikachu is okay, the first thing he’ll do is try to be all cute with Nurse Joy.”

This giggle I don’t keep to myself. “Yeah, I’m sure he’ll try something. Although, if it hasn’t worked on any other Nurse Joy, I doubt it’ll work on this one.”

“That sounds about right,” he replied jovially, making another arm adjustment that sent a flush to my face. Being carried by him shouldn’t get me this riled up, but defying the impossible was the Ash Ketchum specialty. “But y’know…”

“Hm?”

“Do you think, maybe, it might work if he tried doing that with one girl?”

I cocked my head, intrigued at the sudden direction this conversation was taking. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Ash took a breath, and I don’t know if he realized that his fingers pushed further into my legs, “Brock tries to be all romantic with almost every girl he meets, and it never works, right? I was wondering if being nice and talking sweet like he does would work if he only did it with one girl.”

I hadn’t thought Ash would give this topic any kind of consideration, but his curiosity piqued my own. “I don’t know about Brock’s methods, but what girl wouldn’t like a guy who keeps trying to show her that he likes her?”

“Would that work if most girls haven’t really liked how he’s acted?”

I pressed a finger to my head, knowing what I wanted to say but needing a second to articulate it. “Well, if the girl actually liked Brock, it would probably be pretty easy, I guess.”

“You think so?”

“Sure,” I replied, moving my hand back onto his shoulder. “After all, if Brock acting the way he does is why she likes him, then all he has to do is keep acting that way and she’ll keep falling for him.”

Ash hummed to himself before going quiet again. I’d expected the conversation to go on a bit longer before reminding myself that the topic was romance, something Ash hadn’t really tried before. Still, it was something, and the idea of Ash contemplating love in some capacity beyond just being a distraction, or something that he had no interest in, formed bubbles in my stomach. Maybe it wouldn’t be the last time he and I-

...wait, what had I said just now?

If Brock continues to act like a goofball in front of girls, and a girl likes him for that, she’ll keep liking him as long as he keeps being himself. It makes sense, after all. You like someone because of who they are, so as long as they don’t change a lot, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t keep liking them, or even start falling harder for them.

Does that mean I’ll keep falling for Ash?

...wait, keep? Since when did I even decide I’d fallen for him in the first place?

“Is your ankle okay?”

I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of his voice, taking note of how my leg was feeling. “It hurts a little, but I’m fine.” Why is my voice suddenly shaky? It shouldn’t be shaky around Ash! “You should hurry it up, though, it’s getting cold!”

Rather than answer me, he looked around the path, though for what I had no idea. Whatever it was, however, he clearly didn’t find it as he gently shook his head. He waltzed over to the side of the dirt, next to a tree. “Can I put you down for a second?”

“Huh? Sure.”

He eased me down onto my feet, or rather, foot, as I was quickly reminded that my ankle was in no condition to support me. Leaning against the tree I watched him take his jacket off before handing it over. “Here, put this on.”

I was no stranger to Ash being a gentleman, but the look in his eyes as he held the jacket to me made my throat feel three times smaller. “Ash...but then you’ll be cold.”

“Nah, carrying you has been keeping me warm, so I’ll be fine.”

I would have argued more if I wasn’t using a tree to balance myself on my one good ankle and in need of a bed as soon as possible. Standing on one foot I started working one hand through the sleeve when I felt my balance giving way. Before gravity pulled me to the ground Ash took a hold of my waist. For reasons I’d never understood his hands were perpetually warm, even through his gloves.

“It’s probably hard to put it on while trying to stand on one leg, huh? Let me keep you steady.”

A suffocating heat rose through my neck and into my cheeks. I could only nod as I finished putting his jacket on, my mind screaming “His hands are on your waist!” over and over again. His residual scent clung to the cloth and it only fueled the tiny inferno burning away in my head.

“Are you feeling any warmer now?”

“Yes! Yes, I mean, yeah, thanks.”

His head cocked to the side in confusion, and if I was being honest, I couldn’t blame him. Even I didn’t know where this was all coming from. In all the times where I’d thought about liking Ash, it had never gotten this bad before. Most of my musings were just speculation about the idea without actually feeling anything in particular. Suddenly all those romance movies I’d seen where the main characters went crazy were starting to make sense.

Ash apparently lost interest in my confusion, mercifully releasing his hold on my waist and kneeling with his back to me. “Come on, let’s get going before it gets too dark.”

My leg refused to move as I was drawn to his back in a way I hadn’t been when he first offered to carry me. His was a back that had shouldered all his hopes and the weight of the world on numerous occasions. Now it would be what ferried me to safety, and though I probably didn’t compare to his aspirations or the world in his eyes, the idea still made my heart flutter.

I don’t know how long I stared, but Ash turned to me, the corner of his mouth curling upward. “Misty, I promised I wouldn’t let you go, remember? You don’t gotta be scared.”

It wasn’t the words or even knowing how sincere they were that did it. It was the way he spoke, the spark in his eyes. Ash was the embodiment of lightning, from the way Pikachu was his first Pokémon to the bolts across his cheeks. He was white-hot energy and flashes of static that made my hairs stand on end. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Ash was a being of electricity.

And I, a being of water, was made to conduct electricity.

I hobbled over, allowing him to wrap his arms around my thighs once more as he hoisted me up.

“There you go.”

I wasn’t even sure I was supposed to hear that, especially since his voice was barely above a whisper. He made one more adjustment with his hands before he seemed satisfied. Maybe, to him, I belonged here. Not exactly like this, but close by, within arm’s reach. Maybe he was comfortable having me here, where he could protect me when I needed him. Just maybe, I feel the same. Or, maybe this is all just my imagination and something else entirely unrelated is causing these palpitations in my chest.

I needed to know. I wanted to be certain.

I leaned against him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and letting my chin rest in the crook of his neck. My hands settled on his chest, and I don’t know why I was surprised at how fast his heart was beating. He’d been carrying me for nearly a half hour now, so of course he’d probably be a little tired. My own heartbeat matched his and I wondered if he could feel it.

“Misty? Are you okay?”

I nodded, enjoying a new elation at the way his cheek grazed mine as he spoke. “This is warmer.”

He was wordless for a moment before I felt him nod. “Yeah, it is.”

This was too close, too intimate; there was no way I could write this feeling off as panic from being lost or a pain-induced illusion. And yet, it was also stupidly unfair. This was Ash. He and romance don’t mix. The odds of him somehow deciding I was a girl he wanted to be affectionate and loving towards were slim to none. Still...I nuzzled my face closer into the side of his neck. If Ash could believe in becoming a Pokémon Master without losing faith in himself, then I could believe in him eventually feeling for me what I now feel for him.

I didn’t compare to his aspirations or the world, but maybe Ash could find some space on his back for one more dream.

“Ash?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t let me down, okay?”

Being so close, I heard him hum confidently. “I won’t.”

Ash Ketchum, ever my friend, ever my hero.

xxxxx

Fun little fact in case you didn't catch it: In this story, Ash already has a crush on Misty. Reread it knowing that and see if you can spot Ash's motivations for some of the things he says/does. :P

This fic was inspired by the artwork shown in this tweet. I do have permission to post it here, so be sure to go show her some love for this art!

It’s been a while since I’ve written a first person POV story, and I don’t recall that I’ve written a story where Misty had yet to realize her feelings for him. Combine that with this artwork that I found, and, well, sudden inspiration. Hope you all enjoyed it.

[phantaloon-books]

I finally read The Tyrant's Tomb and boi I loved this one so much, so here's some my opinion on it (they're not in chronological order)

warning, this is long af and sorry for cursing a bit, I can't help it

Apollo's character arc is lowkey one of the best Rick has written, I'm sorry if you don't agree, but he's gone from wanting others to solve his problems and relying on the halfbloods to intentionally avoiding others doing things for him, volunteering for the quests and saying it should be him that faces the terrible stuff so that demigods and other creatures don't suffer

something really interesting is how his perception of himself has changed, and it's almost worrying how genuinely self depreciating his inner dialogue is, because he no longer sees himself as mighty Apollo, he sees himself as worthless and useless Lester, and his narration is highkey depressing

Also, Apollo disliking and being somewhat disgusted of the god he used to be, realizing the horrible things he had done and how horrible he was and that he looked worse as the former Apollo than as Lester, regretting things he'd done, that's top tier development

(I'm sorry but I love the entire scene with the ravens, the part where he just screams "I'm sorry" it feels as if he isn't just apologizing to the ravens, but to everyone who's been affected by what he's done as a selfish god)

Reyna so openly turning down and laughing at Apollo for suggesting they be together is my favorite thing ever lmao I couldn't stop laughing, like she knew what gods can do if you turn them down (even if it was just mortal Lester) and she didn't give a damn, it was so fucking funny

people say Rick only includes diversity for the sake of including it and to gain popularity, but I still enjoy the fact that he does, because as a teacher he must have had all kinds of students of all religions, colors and sexualities, he includes diversity because he's seen diversity. anyway my point is I love that we have Lavinia, a Jewish lesbian from a Russian family, and she's not ashamed of being any of them

I'm sorry I just love Apollo so much, I've grown to respect him so much, and even if Hermes once said them gods often forget their oaths and promises, I have a feeling Apollo won't ever forget Jason's request that he never forgets what's it like to be mortal

Frank still admiring Apollo despite everything, and despite the fact that he looks like a messed up teen makes me go all uwu

Frank being portrayed as this clumsy and awkward kid but also this powerful and brave leader is my favorite thing ever because I think Frank is underrated and I dare to say that he's one of the strongest demigods we've ever met, even stronger than some of the nig three children

the whole thing about the undead army is honestly so creepy, especially when we see it from Apollo's perspective cause se him slowly succumb to the venom's effect, and that part in Tarquin's tomb where he "calls Lester to be part of his undead" was genuinely disturbing, at least to me

some books in the past have touched the part of the nature spirits not being given enough attention, but I really enjoyed how Apollo comes to realize that he only worries about demigods and gods when all lives are worth the same - mortals, halfbloods, nature spirits, gods, and even monsters

again, I love Apollo's arc, it's just AHH he's becoming so caring of life it just makes me happy

Reyna choosing herself to make herself happy is everything, and inspiring to every single woman who is told by others that they need someone to be happy, I just love it, because self love is the most important love of all

I haven't said anything about it, but man I love Meg and Apollo's friendship, they just care so much for each other, Meg who's so scared of losing her loved ones and Apollo who's so scared of not being able to be loved or to love, but they still love each other, and I'm glad it's not romantic, because yes fraternal love is also what people need, and their friendship is what they need

aurum and argentum being cute doggos rather than the steely (no pun intended) and cold dogs we met in HoO warms my heart. I don't understand why they're so cute and adorable, or maybe that's just how Apollo sees them, but they seem to act like actual dogs in this book

the fact that Reyna never confirmed nor denied being attracted to Thalia just makes me all hyped up, like we love Theyna

Apollo just gives off Eddie Brock vibes throughout the entire book and that's hilarious asf. ever since the start he's said to look like shit, feel like shit and be injured with deathly poison that will turn him to a zombie. if that isn't Venom vibes I don't know what is

I've said it once and I'll say it again, Frank Zhang is one of the strongest demigods Rick has ever introduced in a series, and him facing two immoral and godly in power emperors, burning one to death with his own life fire and injuring the other enough for Apollo to do the final kill is top tier

"If I'm going to burn, I might as well burn bright. This is for Jason." bitch actual goosebumps

We've seen countless deaths before, but something about Frank killing Caligula and Apollo killing Commodus seems so... mature I guess is the word, or well for a more mature audience. I can't describe how or why, but it feels more real, more like actual human death

I can't deal with how human Apollo seems in this book gosh I really am sorry I keep bringing this up, but I feel such warmth

the story of how Frank overcame his curse is actual BS and as much as I love Frank, it makes no sense that they spent all that time thinking of ways to keep the wood secure only for this. idk I mean id that were the case wouldn't the curse had vanished when he broke Thanatos free? he was willing to die then just like against Caligula, so why now but not then?

Don reincarnating into a laurel is peak bittersweet feeling and it actually hurt because in a camp where fauns were seen as dumb and useless, he helped Lavinia organize everything and destroy the canon things on the yachts

I'm still not over Jason's death, he really did deserve better. It makes sense, plotwise, because out of all of the huge characters from the past, Jason, Percy and Annabeth's deaths would impact others the harder, and push them to do better. And I understand that you gotta show, not even the main characters survive sometimes. Still, I'm hurt.

Thalia talking to Apollo during the funeral for the fallen campers made me actually weep. I'm not sure if it was because of Jason, or when Thalia talked about how much Artemis loves Apollo, or when Apollo "accepted" halfblood children of Zeus as his family

Also, you know who deserved better? Harpocrates, damn right he deserved better. I nearly cried when I read his death, cause he embraced it like one would an old friend in happiness. He and the Sybil deserved better. Dakota also deserved better

On the other hand, I tried so hard not to laugh at 2 am as I read Tarquin demand answers from a cat? he genuinely thought a cat would tell him where the Sybilline Books where and I couldn't handle that

This book is cruel but in a much more human way? The maiming of the pegasi wings? that's horrifying, but in such a human way, unlike what we've seen in any of the greek/roman gods series, and it's unsettling

Meg is braver than any of the other demigods were at that age (maybe excepting Nico), cause she's not embarking on a quest to retrieve an item or rescue someone or bring back their sister from the dead, she's facing her own abusive father while aiding a somewhat weak mortal in releasing the oracles and gaining godhood back. what's she getting from it all? absolutely nothing, she's gifted some seeds and she hangs out with unicorns more than other people and she's lost everything, but she's willing to lose more to help her friend. she's heroic like no one else is, because she's the first who doesn’t want anything more than being with her friend (Percy wanted whoever was taken back, Annabeth wanted to be able to be more, Nico wanted to bring back Bianca, even Bianca wanted freedom). the only other person who didn't have somewhat selfish (but kot wrong) interests while doing something heroic at a young age has been Hazel. What I mean is I love Meg and everything she does

Thalia being that chill over Jason's death bothers me so much, as if she wasn't the happiest when she found out the brother she lost 14 years ago was alive after all, and she had a part of her family back, and it was ripped from her, and Thalia is just not one to easily forget or move on from things, it's just unrealistic that she would only need a little furious session of throwing things to be okay with Jason's death as if her brother was not just taken from her all over again. it's impulsive Thalia we're talking about, who fought Percy when dealing with Annabeth going missing, it's just not her to be over his death that quickly. Sorry for Rick but I think differently

I also kinda don't like that Tyson went from being freaking General of the Cyclops, to the guy that has the Sybilline prophecies or whatever, it's important and all, but he would have been of great help during the battle and they had him waiting for help in the shrine hill like his potential went down the drain

but a thing I really loved was how different Camp Jupiter seems from Lester eyes compared from Percy's or Hazel's or Frank's perspective, it's hilarious. The other three see this place where everyone is serious and shit but Apollo just sees beyond the seriousness and it's actually refreshing, cause he's the first not to make CHB seem immature in comparison and like I said before I hated that in previous books

also Reyna laughing watered my plants, cured my depression, and made the world okay again, I just love her

all in all, this is my favorite book of ToA so far, and I'm really excited to see what's to come, and how Apollo and Meg will face Nero and Python, but more  than anything I'm looking forward to what will happen to Apollo, and whether if given the choice, he'd go back to being a selfish god or remain mortal for a while, with his newfound friends

Also I really miss Annabeth so can I please see Annabeth, I just want to see her cause she won't deal with Apollo's shit and I can't wait to see that, I miss my girl

[lettersinscarlet]

Overnight Gone Wrong (Colby Brock Imagine)

Okay, so I’d been toying with this idea for awhile and I finally just caved and decided to do it. I’m trying to be more active this break and get some stuff done for you guys! Sorry my schedule is *ahem* nonexistent but thank you for sticking with me! Anyway, my requests are still open for Sam, Colby, and Jake so you can send them in! Hope you guy enjoy!

——————————————————————————

“Whats up guys? It’s Colby and today, I’m doing something dangerous,” he announced with a spooky voice. “From my earlier video, I stayed in Sam’s apartment without him knowing, and it was a success, except for me getting out. THIS time, I have an escape route and all my supplies I need, except for snacks. I really have no good food in my house,” Colby remarked with a sigh. “Oh, and if you didn’t know, I’m going to be staying in my girlfriend’s apartment. I’m going to store my stuff in the closet and I’m going to start getting ready.”

Colby turned off the camera and then he loaded his stuff into his car and started the drive to your place. He had a key to get in and he was able to stash his stuff in your closet. He checked his phone and saw that it was close to the time that you would be getting home. He quickly threw himself in the closet and shut the door, moments before you opened the front door. He knew that you didn’t have too many plans tonight because he had checked in advance.

You walked in and you set your stuff down near the door. You liked your job, but you were really tired and wanted to go home. You went first to your room to change into some comfy clothes and then you came back down to the kitchen. You checked the time and it was 5:45, so you decided that you were going to start dinner. You could’ve ordered food in, but you decided to be spontaneous and cook.

It took everything Colby had in him to night chuckle when you started humming your “cooking song.” Sometimes, when you cooked, you would start to hum this random tune and it always made Colby smile.

While you were cooking, you decided that you would FaceTime your best friend, Kat. She didn’t have anything going on that night and you wanted someone to talk to. You would’ve called Colby, but he said that he was going to be doing something with Jake tonight and you didn’t want to bother him and interrupt his “bro time.”

Kat answered after two rings.

“Wassup, girlfriend!” Kat shouted when the call connected.

“Wassup,” you chuckled back. “On today’s episode of (Y/N)’s Kitchen, we are making pasta!” you announced to her. She laughed and then you guys talked about your days.

“Where’s Colby?” Kat asked when you guys had a quiet moment.

“He’s out with Jake,” you sighed. Kat snickered and you looked at her and waited for her to explain.

“You guys are just so cute and you missing him is adorable,” she answered. A slight blush rose to your cheeks as you started thinking about your boyfriend.

“He’s just so sweet,” you started, and Kat hummed as she waited for more details. “Like just the other day, he bought me flowers for no reason. Just said that he was thinking about me. He writes me little notes on the mirror while I’m taking a shower about how he loves me or that he finds me beautiful. When he takes me out, he always makes me feel so special. He just makes me feel so...” you trailed off, trying to find the word, “whole.”

Colby wanted to jump out of the closet and hug you right there. He wanted to wrap his arms around you and kiss you all over. But he forced himself to stay in the closet. He wanted to finish what he started.

Your timer went off and you saw that your food was done. You showed Kat and then you said your goodbyes before you hung up. You got your food and you tried to make it look super fancy. When it looked somewhat satisfactory, you took a picture and you started eating. You sent the picture to Colby.

“Missing you! Maybe I’ll save some for you when you come over tomorrow, considering you’ll probably be eating something you found on the side of the road for dinner...”

Colby opened his phone and smirked. Luckily, he had turned his ringer off before hand.

“I miss you too. And that looks delicious,” he replied.

You chuckled to yourself and then sighed.

“See you tomorrow. Be safe and I love you!” you sent. Colby smiled at your message.

“I love you too.”

You closed your phone and then started to eat your pasta and to be honest, it was pretty good. If only you had thought to make garlic bread to go with it.

When you finished, you packed up your leftovers, putting a sticky note saying “For Colby” before you put it in the fridge. You then grabbed your speaker and decided to jam out.

Colby couldn’t help but chuckle while he was hiding out. Typically, he thought your singing was actually pretty good, no matter how much you insisted it was bad. But this was a different type of singing. This was your I-don’t-care-who’s-listening type of singing and it made him smile. He could just picture you doing your dance moves while you rocked out to your music.

After you listened to your music, you decided to shower. When you got out, you went to your living room and you surfed through Netflix, trying to find something to watch. You finally found something that looked interesting to you, so you snuggled up in a blanket and clicked play.

Colby, luckily, had prepared for this situation so he found his earbuds and started watching Netflix on his phone. He wasn’t too worried about battery percentage, considering he had a portable charger.

Somehow, you had drifted away into the timeless vortex of binge watching, so when you checked your phone for the time, it was around 12:30. You had gotten up earlier than usual for work that day and you were pretty tired. You gathered your things and went to your room. After you were ready to go to sleep, you texted Colby to stay safe and that you were heading to bed with tons of hearts and kisses. He had grinned when he received it and sent you a goodnight text as well with almost double the amount of hearts and kisses. You had a warm smile on your face when you plugged up your phone and closed your eyes to sleep.

Colby waited about 15 minutes before he stood up in the closet and stretched. He was preparing himself to go out. Almonds really were terrible snacks and that food you had been cooking earlier smelled absolutely delicious.

Carefully, Colby cracked opened the door and listened for any sounds of movement. Sometimes, it took you awhile to settle down to sleep. Colby confirmed that there were no sounds and quietly, he stepped out into the hall. He walked and cringed at the sounds of his feet on the hard wood. He didn’t think that you would hear it, so he proceeded with caution into the kitchen, camera in hand.

When he arrived at his destination, he set the camera down on the counter and gripped the handle on the refrigerator. He made faces at the camera as he pulled open the door and it made some noise. He found the leftovers he was looking for and set them on the counter near the camera. The bag opened with a small popping noise and he looked around and listened for footsteps. Nothing happened, so he dished out the food, closed the bag, and as gently as possible, closed the refrigerator door. Colby opened the microwave and cursed at the loud noise it made when he closed it. The number buttons beeped terribly loud and Colby froze. Still, you were asleep. He turned it on and the microwave whirred to life, heating up the food.

It was the buzzing of the microwave that woke you up. The rhythmic hum was enough to stir you out of your sleep. With wide eyes, you sat up in your bed and looked around. Quietly, you got up and walked out your door and down the stairs. Someone was there, in the dark, with their back turned to you. You crept close to the counter and grabbed the first thing you could find, which happened to be a rolling pin. This surprised you, because you had no clue that you even owned a rolling pin.

You tiptoed closer to the figure and just when you got close enough, they started to turn around. As they turned, you rated back and swung as hard as you could and hit the person in the side with your pin.

“OW!” the person screamed. You went to swing again but you paused. You knew that scream.

“Colby?” you asked incredulously. You went over to your wall and flipped the switch. Colby was standing near the microwave, clutching his side. Your hands flew to your face as you rushed over to your boyfriend. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry are you okay?”

Colby started laughing and then wincing when it hurt.

“What’s so funny?” you asked as you examined his side.

“You attacked me with a rolling pin,” he started laughing.

“Why were you even here?”

“Remember that thing I did to Sam when I stayed in his apartment without him knowing?” You nodded and he continued. “I was trying to do it to you. I don’t know how you didn’t wake up earlier because I was being so loud.”

“You really are an idiot, Brock,” you said and kissed his cheek.

“Now that you’ve injured me, can I maybe sleep in your room instead of the hall closet?” he asked and looked at the floor.

“Of course you can. Now I’ve got to cuddle my baby back to health,” you said with a smile. You grabbed his hand and tugged him up to your room. Before you got to it, you stopped and ran back to the kitchen, grabbing the rolling pin. When you got back, Colby quirked an eyebrow at you.

“What? It’s a good weapon against criminals that break in to microwave leftover pasta,” you said with a smirk. Colby just shook his head at you before crawling in the bed and opening his arms for you. You crawled in next to him and snuggled in close to him. He kissed the top of your head before whispering something to you.

“Just so you know, I heard what you told Kat earlier, and I love you so much and I just wanted to remind you how amazing you are.”

You smiled against him before getting even closer to him.

“You’re even more amazing but thank you for the reminders they are greatly appreciated.”

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” you responded before you closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep.

———

Taglist:

@sp00kybrock @yikes-xander @daddydobrock @trapbrock-local @thenameisbabe @far-to-many-bands @lyssaholic @wacky-webber-458 @colbysbaby @katiaw2 @brocks-girl @chesterbenningtonaremylife

[alternate-pokemon-next-gen]

Alternate Next Gen (Main Cast): Golda Harrison

Golda is the daughter of Brock and Olivia. Golda always admired her father for being a Pokemon doctor and her mother for being an Island Kahuna and a jeweler, she’s been deciding what she could do and isn’t sure what she should pursue. After a while of pondering, she decided to become an assistant for both of her parents, she would help her mother with her new shop in Pewter city both by looking for jewels to use, creating accessories like necklaces, bracelets, charms and other things and by creating her own clothes to go with each piece of jewelry. She also assists her father in his office, mostly by caring for Pokemon that weren’t too badly injured and by feeding and grooming them when he’s busy to do so himself, she also acts as the referee for her uncle Forrest when he’s battling against a challenger and she helps him care for the Gym Pokemon when the Pokemon aren’t battling. Golda is a lot like both of her parents. Like Brock, she’s an older sister figure to others but she gets embarrassed when someone calls her big sis. She can also be stern and harsh towards someone if they aren’t properly caring for their Pokemon, as such she often acts as a mentor to beginning trainers and will give them advice on what they can work on, another example of her being a big sister figure. Golda also has her father’s cleaning and cooking skills and often takes over if Brock is going to be late due to work or if he’s going to be staying at work because of emergencies. It’s also thanks to him that Golda learned how to sew clothes for her mother’s shop. Despite being a care taker, she does have a knack for battling and is very good at doing so even if she doesn’t battle as often as her parents. She also will flirt with any cute boy she sees. Like Olivia, she can communicate with Pokemon on a different level than others despite the fact she’s also a little clumsy, she’s still sweet and energetic like her mother.

She has a Key Stone attached to a charm that she made and attached to her vest. She also has a Z-Ring that was given to her by Olivia on her tenth Birthday.

Her Pokemon:

Amaura- Amaura was restored from a fossil and was given to Golda on her tenth birthday. Amarua is very playful and friendly, she loved to play with Golda every chance she got or when she could. She also enjoyed helping her trainer with finding jewels and gems to use for making jewelry with her mother, Amarua would freeze some of the rocks and then use a Rock type move to break the ice to make the jewels easier to get from the walls. While Golda is working, she’ll often wait around for Golda to finish by just sitting next to her or she’ll rest next to her. Amaura also helps provide Golda with ice for any Pokemon that have fevers should they need ice right away. Amaura will also help around Brock’s office by freezing ice packs for them to use for multiple Pokemon with fevers. Despite her size, she’s very good at battling and she’s very strong. She’s often seen out of her Pokeball.

Given in a Pokeball.

Ability is Refrigerate.

Moves are Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Return, Ancient Power, Rock Slide, Frost Breath, Zen Headbutt, Water Pulse, Rock Tomb and Mirror Coat.

Diancie- Golda had met Diancie while she and her Amarua were exploring a cave to find some gems, she didn’t expect to find a Diancie while she was there. After a bit, she had befriended Diancie ended up catching her. Diancie proved to be very helpful for Golda as she can create diamonds from carbon in the air she uses that ability to make diamonds for her new trainer to use. While during a trip to Olivia’s home town, a collector had given Golda Diancie’s mega stone and Brock had given Golda a Key stone. Wanting to make both items special, she had Diancie make small diamonds for both items and made both the Key Stone and the Mega stone into matching pins for both of them. Diancie was very happy to have a matching pin that her trainer had given to her and was even happier to have them be made by the diamonds she made. Diancie is very friendly and generous, she has no issue giving Golda the diamonds she creates to use for her jewelry, in fact she’s always happy when she sees humans buying her trainers creations with her diamonds. She doesn’t battle as often as Golda’s other Pokemon, but she does battle when it’s an emergency due to how much stronger she is than her teammates. Despite the fact she’s genderless, she likes being referred to as a girl.

Caught in a Luxury Ball.

Ability is Clear Body, changes to Magic Bounce when Mega Evolved.

Held Item is Diancite.

Moves are Diamond Storm, Moonblast, Power Gem, Nature Power, Trick Room, Gyro Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Helping Hand, Psychic and Protect.

Midnight Lycanroc- Golda’s Lycanroc has been by her side since he was a Rockruff. When he was a Rockruff, Lycanroc was very friendly and helpful when Golda is exploring caves for gems to use for jewelry, he would often smash rocks containing gems so that Golda could get to them more easily. After evolving when it had gotten dark, he started becoming more aggressive but despite that he’s still loyal to Golda and will help her with getting jewelry because she didn’t scold him whenever he had gotten too rough when he was ready to evolve as a Rockruff. In order to help Golda with what she needed, he would pretend that the rocks were a powerful opponent for him to defeat for his trainer to get something that she needed. Lycanroc is also very protective over Golda, always wanting to keep her safe if she happens to be in a dangerous situation. 

Caught in a Pokeball.

Ability is Vital Spirit.

Moves are Counter, Rock Slide, Crunch, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Mega Punch, Brick Break, Outrage, Iron Tail and Stone Edge.

Wigglytuff- Wigglytuff was given to Golda by a Kalos Nurse Joy after seeing how well Golda was doing as an assistant to Brock and thinking that Golda could use an assistant of her own. Wigglytuff was pleased to be given to Golda and always did her best to help Golda with her work as her personal assistant, Wigglytuff would often be in Golda’s care when she’s working with her father but when Golda isn’t around Wigglytuff will still work with Brock especially if he’s very busy. Wigglytuff is a very helpful Pokemon, she loves caring for others both humans and Pokemon and she helps them with whatever they may need. Wigglytuff assists with helping restless Pokemon fall asleep, healing Pokemon with Heal Pulse and various other things around the office. Despite the fact she’s mostly a nurse, she’s very good at battling and will battle to protect her trainer and other sick Pokemon or Pokemon who can’t protect themselves. 

Caught in a Heal Ball.

Ability is Cute Charm.

Moves are Sing, Disarming Voice, Heal Pulse, Hyper Voice, Ice Beam, Draining Kiss, Gyro Ball, Play Rough, Return and Dazzling Gleam.

Ribombee- Ribombee was caught by Golda while she was in Alola with her family, she remembered that Ribombee could create pollen puffs that could heal others and thought it would be a good Pokemon to have around the office. After being caught, Ribombee was quick to fit in with the other Pokemon working at the doctor’s office Brock worked at. Ribombee is a generous and kind Pokemon, she has no issue giving injured Pokemon her Pollen Puffs if they need it. While she is kind to others, she doesn’t tolerate if someone is being rude to her or others and anyone who is will get a bad Pollen Puff while sassily fluttering away. Ribombee really likes being near flowers and will often pick flowers to give to patients or others doctors. She gets along with Golda and is happy to give her a Pollen Puff when she’s tired and needs a boost with her work. She gives honey that she collects to others for them to use in their down time.

Caught in a Pokeball.

Ability is Honey Gather.

Moves are Pollen Puff, Aromatherapy, Sweet Scent, Dazzling Gleam, Bug Buzz, Magical Leaf, Moonblast, Silver Wind, Psychic and Helping Hand.

[liloelsagranger]

Viridian Love Story - Chapter 5: Shattered dreams

Hello my dear friends! Chapter 5 is online. Enjoy :)

@ndbern-rocketmonsters @ndbernarts @jessicarocket @estrelarabyss @prepareforetrouble @masterstarpikachu @tothestarsabove @teamrocketfanart @thelovelyjessie @webelieveinlovepower @chaosandhope @james-team-rocket @danadiversity @krazy-holly @keksrocket @harmonyrocketeeveon @pok3ship @yesjanii @thecomputergirl @elysiiandream @fugly-chan @batfamfan1 @ghostkitty @pikamofo @eclipsing-dreams @abatwc @emily1037 @texansman20 @inuyashaeienni @zayphantomslayer @cat-0301 @james-kojiro-team-rocket @stjarnflicka @diehardrocketshipper @eclipsing-dreams  Chapter 5: Shattered dreams

At six o'clock in the morning, Jessie awoke from one of the most beautiful dreams that had ever accompanied her through the night. She was walking along the beach of Alola, hand in hand with James. Newly in love, they played and joked, completely carefree and far from the past. James would wrap his arms around her waist, placing a row of kisses down her neck. She enjoyed his caresses and felt the need to never let go of him again. Eternal partners who didn't have to abide by laws and rules, but were finally allowed to deepen their relationship. A smile flitted over Jessie's face as she reviewed the nocturnal pictures again. Part of that dream had finally come true. James was lying next to her, slumbering with a blissful smile. He seemed so vulnerable and she felt de desire to protect him. Protect him from past atrocities, from her and from the grunts that use to question his abilites. The grunts! Her heart skipped a beat. Jessie reached for the nearest pillow and slapped it in James' face. «Ouch, what have I done to deserve this, Jess ? » He rubbed his nose. «We're late, James. The grunts are waiting for our instructions! Get up! Now!» She was about to jump out of bed, but James held her back. «Give me five minutes to brighten your day,» he grinned mischievously as he kissed Jessie's hand. Of course, she would rather spend times of treachery with James, but duty called, so she freed herself from his grip. «This has to wait! You should probably get dressed,» she looked at him from top to bottom, finding it difficult to suppress an embarrassed smile. He was an extraordinarily handsome man, and a gifted lover, but they couldn't afford another faux pas with Giovanni, even if the urge to press her lips on his almost overpowered her. Uniformed and ready to give instructions, the trio arrived at Team Rocket's headquarters. Jessie and James tried as hard as they could to avoid Meowth's gaze, who had been looking at them sceptically all the way to the phone booth. He smelled the rat, he knew what was going on, but the couple didn't bother to explain. They dialed the number and concentrated on the plan. It rang at least ten times before someone picked up the phone. That's how much the trio was valued. They were at the bottom of the food chain, expected to make nothing but missteps. «It was about time, losers,» Cassidy said, Jessie clenched her hands to fists. Each and every time she tried to score off the trio with her titlings. «Let's hear your master plan, we're all very excited about it», her call was more than sacrastic and Jessie could hear some grunts laughing in the background, but she gathered all her self-confidence and they reported on their plans. «Prom night takes place in the big hall. We found out that there are four emergency exits. They either lead outside or into a bunker. The bunker is of course out of question for our project, but cars equipped with nets and cages for the Pokémon will be waiting outside. We'll keep the crowd at bay, you just run away and deliver the root to Giovanni. It's simple. On our callsign you storm the hall. We use smoke bombs to put the students out of action while the smoke detectors are turned off. Easy as pie, isn't it ? » Jessie was totally convinced of the plan, James and Meowth nodded in agreement, but Cassidy snorted derisively. « Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, you no-goods ! » she replied. « Whatever Cass ! See you tonight ! » Jessie ended the call and yelled out loud. «Who does she think she is? She always has to badmouth our ideas. That conceited b…» James shushed her. «It's okay, sweetheart» he whispered. «It's going to be a blast», he made sure Meowth was out of earshot. «Can't wait to see you in that beautiful evening gown tonight. You'll be the most charming woman on the dance floor and I'll be your suave companion, okay ? » he lifted her chin, placing a quick kiss on her lips. Ash was nervous, but he couldn't really place his excitement. For almost two hours he had been waiting for Serena, who wanted to look pretty for the occasion and she did. Serena was wearing a pink dress and a mother-of-pearl bolero. She wore her hair in a complicated updo. Her red lipstick shined like ruby on her lips. «Ready, Ash?» they linked arms and entered the big hall. Students and Pokémon had already gathered on the dance floor. There was laughter, drinking and partying. The organizers had really worked hard. Nothing was lacking. Snacks, fruit punch and delicious and tasty desserts were served at the buffet. Ash spotted a long line of people waiting to take pictures in the photo booth and then he spotted her. Misty was dressed in a light blue evening gown. She wore her hair loose, discreet make-up and a stunning smile. «Hey Ash!» she and Brock cleaved their way through the crowd. «Hi Misty, Brock» Ash couldn't avert his gaze from her. She looked so mature, not like that frumpy little girl she used to be. He swallowed hard, internally struggling with some unknown feelings. Misty noticed his glances and blushed. 'He's your friend! Don't do anything you'd regret' she scolded herself. Trouble was brewing between the arragned couples. Serena could no longer control her jealousy. « You know what, Ash, enjoy your night with Misty ! I'm out. I thought we would spend a romantic evening together, but it seems that someone else caught your attention ! » She speeded toward the buffet and poured herself a large glass of fruit punch. Brock, once again feeling like the fifth wheel, left Ash and Misty alone, trying his luck with a little brunette lady. Misty didn't really know how to make this encounter less akward. They faced each other, but no one dared to take the first step. «Ehm, hi» what a meekly start. «Hi, Ash» Misty wasn't a whit better. «Would you like to dance? Or shall we have a snack ? » he asked her. She took his hand and led him to the dance floor. They found a tiny spot between the dancing couples. Misty didn't hesitate for a second, but wrapped her arms around Ash's neck. The young student felt slightly uncomfortable. He was plagued by a guilty conscience. He hadn't followed Serena and strangely enough, he felt no urge to win her back either. So he smiled at Misty and moved closer to her. Jessie and James had been watching the whole scenario. «The twerp's in love. Didn't we once advice him against putting himself in danger beacuse of the opposite sex?» James laughed out loud. « We did, but you know what ? This is the kind of trouble I really enjoy getting in to» he hold Jessie by her waist, pinning her closer while kissing her very hard. Her knees threatened to give way, James caresses drove her crazy. «Nevertheless, we need to put our plan into practice» he said and Team Rocket left the dance floor to get ready for their raid. «Hey Ash, do you want to take pictures like we used to do when we were kids?» Misty didn't even wait for his reply, but dragged her friend to the photo booth. The onslaught had somewhat subsided and the two of them entrechned themselves in this very small space, smiling into the camera. «Think of a cool pose» she asked him. Ash remembered the funny grimaces Haunter had taught him. « Great, now it's my turn» and before the camera could take a picture, Misty kissed Ash briefly on the lips. They were both perplexed. At that moment their friendship had reached another level. It didn't feel wrong, on the contrary, it was long overdue. « Sorry Ash » she blushed scarlet, « I didn't mean to overwhelm you, I just wanted to… » Ash placed a hand on her face, pulling her lips closer to his. She hesitated briefly, but then they decided to seal this moment with another kiss. Ash had never felt so free. Unknown feelings raged in him. He had always kept an eye on his friend, but as a young boy, the Pokémon-championships were his biggest goal, girls had absolutely no place in his life. He wanted more, he wanted to feel Misty's lips, but a deafening bang made him wake up from this dream. Ash pulled the curtain aside. The atmosphere had changed. Where students were celebrating and chatting before, there was chaos. Grunts entered from all sides, shot around with net canons, captured Pokémon and showed no leniency. The young people screamed, tried to protect their little companions, but they did not succeed. The first smoke bomb burst on the dance floor and a shrill laughter from the past caught up with Ash and Misty.« Prepare for trouble » Jessie, still dressed in a breathtaking burgundy gown, sicced Arbok on the students.«And make it double» James was surrounded by a dark purble cloud.« Team Rocket » Ash should have known. He and Pikachu go ready to fight.«To protect the world…» Jessie got shushed by the grunts. «Stop talking and help us!» they grouched. «Long time no see, twerps » with a clear goal in mind and the last hope in their hearts, the trio walked up to Ash and Misty, ready to take Pikachu into their custody. « We won't put up with that anymore, Team Rocket ! « Ash ordered Pikachu to strike the criminals with a giagantic thunder shock. He could hear various trainers asking their flying Pokémon to swirl away the smoke. The grunts couldn't compete with the mighty Pokémon. They continued to fight, but their strength waned. They were struck by water vortexes and lightning, got injured and torched. «Retreat! Retreat!» one of the evildoers shouted and little by little they left the hall to save their lives. «Hey! What do you think you're doing? Fight for Giovanni!» Jessie tried to change their minds, but the grunts had already left without prey. Now the trio was surrounded by angry students and their Pokémon. «What a mess, Team Rocket. I think you're going to blast off once again!» Ash laughed gloatingly, but Misty had discovered the pendant on Jessie's neck – a star. It seemed so familiar to her, but she couldn't place it properly.« Goodbye and don't come back ! » The group of students moved closer to Team Rocket. They threatened them with the strongest attacks of their Pokémon and once again the trio had to admit defeat. Now they sure were in need of explanation. The trio faced Giovanni's rebuke with shaking knees. «You had one job, Jessie, James and Meowth ! You failed ! What's the matter with you guys ? What about your brilliant plan ? It sucked, huh ? Who's responsible for this disaster ? » James was the first to find his voice again.£« It was Jessie's idea, Sir. We didn't know her plan would fail. We trusted her. Please, don't be to harsh on her,» Jessie flashed her eyes at James. Rage and bitter disappointment boiled in her. James had betrayed her to save his own butt. «Jessie, if you weren't Miyamoto's daughter, I'd have stashed the Zubats on you, but I want mercy. You and your partners are suspended for the next three months!» The call was interrupted. James smiled at Jessie. «We got off cheaply, right?» he wanted to high-five her, but she pierced him with the most hateful look she could give him. «Screw you, James!» With tears in her eyes, Jessie ran away. Something else happened that night. Although they had once again driven Team Rocket into flight, Misty could not find a restful sleep. Again and again she was haunted by curious dream pictures. Blurred figures, hearty laughter, warm embraces and the star pendant Jessie wore was dangling before her eyes. She rolled from one side of the bed to the other. Misty was restless. A familiar figure appeared, smiling at her. She was wearing the notorious necklace. «Good luck, my little girl. One day you'll be a famous water-Pokémon trainer» never had Misty felt so safe and secure in somebody's arms. Suddenly she realized who the star pendant belonged to. «MOM!» To be continued...

[marvelousbirthdays]

Happy Birthday, loriemitchell

September 10-Rumlow/Bucky soulmate AU fic for @loriemitchell

Written by @lj-todd

Brock had been born with the words etched across the back of his hand in a scratchy, shaky script that had not been English. 

<i>“Ya gotov otvechat.”</i> He was nearly twenty-three, fresh out of basic training, before he finally learned what the words meant. He’d been stationed at a base in England when a British soldier, Russian born but raised in London, had, after questioning whether Brock had met his soulmate, told him what the words meant. <i>“Ready to comply.”</i> Brock had assumed it meant his soulmate would be a soldier. Someone under his command. And, clearly, they would be Russian. So, despite languages never really being his thing, he learned Russian. It would be years more before he would actually meet the person who would give voice to the words. It would be long after he had chosen HYDRA, seen the wisdom in its whispers, in its promise of order and unity and world salvation. So long after that he had given up hope of ever meeting his soulmate. Long enough he had taken to wearing gloves nearly all the time, hiding the words, pretending they did not exist so that the pain, the sting, of being alone might somehow be lessened. So when he finally met his soulmate he was torn between shock, relief and horror. He had spoken ten words. All simple. All in Russian. Ten words to take full control of HYDRA’s greatest, and oldest, weapon. The Winter Soldier. Responsible for helping create HYDRA as it now was. Ten words that stripped away all traces of humanity and left nothing but the perfect weapon. Ten words that were responded by a cold, emotionless, robotic response. <i>“Ya gotov otvechat.”</i> He swore his hand had burned and it had taken all his self control not to visibly react or say anything. He had continued on as though nothing had changed all while his emotions swirled like a hurricane, tightening his chest and shortening his breathing, heart racing wildly. It hadn’t taken much to learn who his soulmate was. Who he truly was or what had been done to him all in the name of a better world. And Brock had been unable able to leave his soulmate in the hell he’d been trapped in for nearly seventy years. So, he worked out a plan, a way to get them both out, to get Bucky out. He didn’t even care if the other man wanted nothing to do with him after. He just couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t do something to save the other man. Unfortunately his carefully laid plan was blown apart by Steve freaking Rogers. Everything blew up. HYDRA. His plan to save Bucky. His life. Hell, he had a building dropped on him, and then Bucky disappeared into the wind. Brock, injured and weak, had not exactly wasted time escaping the hospital and the guards placed to keep him there. He had tried to track Bucky down but the other man had gone to ground so well that not even the great and mighty Captain America could find him. It tore at a piece of Brock’s soul, whatever was left of it, but he decided that maybe it was for the best. He wasn’t really worthy of Bucky. All the things he’d done. The people he’d willingly killed. Hell, he’d been a willing and proud part of the system that had kept his soulmate prisoner and used him like a machine rather than a man. And then everything had gone to hell in a hand basket. Thanos had struck. Wiping out half the universe’s population with a snap of his fingers. The Avengers, broken and scattered, had been unable to stop him. Brock wouldn’t have cared, he was too busy working as a mercenary in what remained of Sokovia, but then the names of the lost began to trickle through news channels and he heard a name that made his heart drop and ice fill his scarred being. James Barnes. He went on a drinking binge for four days, unable to hand the emotions he was feeling, but, after the worst hangover he’d experienced in years, he made a decision. He left Sokovia and traveled the world, cutting down criminals and what was left of HYDRA scum along the way. Trying to do some small amount of good in what was left of the world. Five years. Five years of death and mayhem in the name of a man who would hate him for it all. Who would hate him for not being the one to save him. And then, in a bar in Bucharest, nearly six years after the snap, six years of blood in the name of a soulmate who had never really been his, Brock received a shock nearly as powerful as the one he’d had upon learning who his soulmate was. He was sitting in a dark corner, nursing some crappy beer, when someone pulled the chair out from across the table, which he assumed they wanted for another table, only to be surprised when they sat down rather than just leave. He lifted his head to snap at them, to tell them to get lost, only to have the words stick in his throat at the sight before him. “Bucky,” he croaked, still unable to believe what he was seeing, and those bright eyes flickered uncertainly for a moment, before a half grin graced that handsome face. “Brock.” Brock blinked a few times, certain he was hallucinating, or dreaming, but Bucky was still there. Maybe he was just going crazy. Because the Bucky before him looked so different than the one he had last seen that morning at the Triskelion. Dressed well, hair washed and tied back, the dark beard neatly trimmed down. Bucky looked like a person. And it made Brock’s heart swell to see it and broke it to know he hadn’t been able to help make it happen. “You here to kill me, kid?” “Do you think I should?” Brock shrugged, pushing his beer away, knowing if Bucky wanted to kill him then and there nothing and no one could stop him. He’d seen Bucky fight. He’d seen him go toe-to-toe with Rogers and all but beat the crap out of the legendary Captain America. And that had been without the trigger words unleashing the beast. He knew he wouldn’t stand a chance. “Wouldn’t blame you if you did,” Brock admitted quietly. “Gotta admit, I’m a bit surprised to see you.” He grinned slightly, his scars making it look more like a grimace. “Guessing Rogers and his pals managed to fix whatever that purple grape-nut did.” Bucky gave a faint nod, hand, the right one, the flesh and bone one, clenching slightly on the tabletop and, worried what that meant, Brock quickly spoke again. “You look good.” Shit, had that just really come out of his mouth? Like he had any right to say it? To notice it? “I’m glad Rogers’ has been taking care of you.” “All he did was get me to some folks who knew what the hell they were doing.” “Still did more than I was able to.” Brock winced. Shit. Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut? What was wrong with him? Bucky studied him for a moment, looking for God knew what, before giving him a gentle look. “I remember, you know,” he finally said after a moment of tense, awkward silence. “What you told me that morning.” Brock swore his heart jumped up into his throat. “You…What?” “You told me you were going to get me out. That you had a plan. That I wouldn’t be their weapon anymore. I’d be free. We’d be free.” Brock’s heart began to hammer so hard against his ribs. “Part of me wonders what might have happened if Steve hadn’t come charging in like he always does,” Bucky continued. “I wonder if you’d have actually succeeded in getting us out. I wonder what would have become of us. I wonder if…” “You deserve better than me,” Brock cut in sharply, hand starting to tremble, his soulmark burning beneath the glove he wore. “You always have.” Bucky blinked and studied Brock for a moment before reaching across the table, catching his hand, feeling Brock tense but the scarred man did not pull away. “Say them,” Bucky said softly and Brock tensed further, half tempted to try and bolt. “Say the words.” “I don’t think that’s…” “Say. Them.” Brock watched how Bucky’s eyes danced in the bar’s dim lights. How calm and centered and certain the other man was and, though he was reluctant to do it, he drew a deep breath, closed his eyes, and voiced ten words he had sworn never to utter again. “Zhelaniye. Rzhavyy. Semnadtsat’. Rassvet. Pech’. Devyat’. Dobroserdechnyy. Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu. Odin. Gruzovoy vagon.” He felt Bucky squeeze his hand but heard no cries of pain or resistance and he opened his eyes just as the other man spoke softly. “Ya gotov otvechat.” Brock blinked and Bucky smiled. “I told you,” Bucky said. “Had some help. Fixed up my brain. Still got nightmares but I suspect you got ‘em too, yeah?” Brock nodded, still uncertain but suddenly hopeful in a way he hadn’t been in decades. “I know you’ve done some bad shit,” Bucky continued, still holding Brock’s hand, thumb brushing over the back as though sensing that’s where Brock’s soulmark was. “Seen the reports, talked to Barton a bit, and I don’t care.” Brock jerked slightly and Bucky tightened his hold on his hand. “My hands aren’t clean,” Bucky pressed. “They never will be again. No matter how much good I do. But sometimes what matters most is that we try to do better. To be better.” Brock shook his head. “Don’t know how to be better,” he murmured. “I just…all I know is violence and death. I don’t know who I am without it.” “You’re my soulmate,” was Bucky’s simple reply. “Just like I’m yours. The rest is just whatever.” “Barnes…” “Bucky. You call me Bucky.” Brock blinked, feeling the tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, glancing away briefly, before meeting that calm blue gaze again. “Bucky,” he whispered the name, clutching at Bucky’s hand, a lifeline for a drowning man, and a smile spread, slow and warm, across his soulmate’s face. “Brock,” was the whispered reply and, for a moment, it was like the stars had aligned and nothing else mattered but them.

[letswritefanfiction]

“There’s a reason I called you all here today.”

The room was dark and Giovanni sat in shadow. He could see the faces of the other four at the table, and they could see him, but he was certain they couldn’t make out his face. Unlike the rest of these idiots, he had rarely made the mistake of being seen in public; his identity wasn’t yet compromised, and it wasn’t about to ruin that today.

“It had better be a good one, for me to be seen with this idiot,” Archie growled, turning his head sharply to look at Maxie. “You know that Water Pokémon are the most plentiful variety of Pokémon, right?”

Maxie didn’t deign to look at Archie. “Where would you be sitting right now if the world were covered with water?”

“On my boat!”

“That’s enough,” Giovanni said firmly. He’d called this specific group of people together because of a single common bond, but perhaps that had been a miscalculation. If it was going to be like this—this being what he imagined wrangling preschoolers to be—then maybe he should have gone with a more loyal group. Less powerful and driven, but easy to control. It would have been safer.

“What’s the reason, Rocket?” Ghetsis asked.

He also hadn’t given any of them his name. They all knew of Team Rocket at this point, thanks to Jessie and James—the real impetus for this meeting—and just being the leader of the organization provided enough clout to this crew without having to give up his anonymity.

“We all have one thing in common,” Giovanni stated as the beginning of his planned speech. “Our plans have been foiled by this young man.”

He presented a photo of a one Ash Ketchum, the same ID photo that had been used in his League competition in Kalos. His image was enough to draw a reaction out of all of the men at the table.

“That damned kid!”

“Ah, of course.”

“I don’t know how he did it.”

The one not to respond was Cyrus, who hadn’t uttered a word since he arrived. However, Giovanni had a careful eye on all the men, and he noticed tension in Cyrus’ shoulders as he heaved a silent breath.

“My team has been trying to catch a single Pokémon of his for years,” Giovanni said, unable completely to tamper his annoyance. It was all he could do not to seethe. “And they have never succeeded.”

Archie smacked the table. “That Pikachu!”

Giovanni didn’t bother responding. “While the boy and his Pikachu are powerful in their own right, there’s one thing that lifts him up.”

“His companions.”

The answer came from Cyrus. Giovanni was a little irritated at his speech having been interrupted, but he continued on as if unfazed. “Yes. Without his friends—his backup—he would not be able to pull of the feats he did against any of our teams. And with this boy’s unique proficiency at showing up right where our plans are meant to take place, taking his strength out of the equation should leave a clear road ahead for all of us to follow through with our plans.”

“Even if our plans are counter to each other?” Maxie asked.

Giovanni waved him away. “That will be something for you both to work out. I only intend to provide the path. You can do with it what you will.”

“So what’s the plan?” Ghetsis asked.

Giovanni leaned forward, his arms going into the light as he placed his elbows on the table and steepled his hands.

“Well…”

*     *     *

It was when Ash arrived in the Melemele Island Pokémon Center that he heard.

He had already been on the island for a couple of days before hitting the Pokémon Center. He and his mom were just visiting Alola, thanks to Mimey winning a contest, but today was the day that he’d finally had a friendly Pokémon Battle. Pikachu hadn’t been injured, but it couldn’t hurt to stop in and give him a check-up anyway.

“Are you Ash Ketchum?”

Ash hadn’t even managed to hand Pikachu over to Nurse Joy before she was asking him, and he could only look on quizzically as he answered, “Yeah, that’s me.”

“You received a phone call from a Brock Slate yesterday morning. He said you should call him back as soon as you can.”

“Are you sure he didn’t want you to call him back?”

As much as Ash enjoyed receiving phone calls from Brock, this wouldn’t be the first time that the whole game of telephone tag devolved into more sad attempts from his friend to hit on one of the many Nurse Joys they communicated through.

This Nurse Joy, however, was confused. “Um, no? He said it was urgent, though, so I suggest you call him back promptly. Why don’t I take your Pokémon and you can make the call while we’re in the back?”

“Sounds good.”

Pikachu went willingly from Ash’s shoulder into Nurse Joy’s arms and, without any other Pokémon on him to be healed, Ash went to the video phones. He was no whiz with numbers, but, by now, Brock’s uni number was a familiar one. He dialed the digits and didn’t have to wait long before Brock picked up. His screen was already on and Ash could see his friend’s face turn quickly from being blank to one of urgency.

“Ash? Thank goodness you got my message.”

“Well, thanks for taking the time away from ogling Nurse Joy to leave it.”

“Ash. This is serious.”

Ash had never heard is friend use that tone of voice before. Of course they’d been in dire situations in the past, but something about the gravity in his voice, the clenching of his jaw, and the wildness of his eyes scared Ash straight. He was listening.

“What is it?”

“Misty’s missing.”

*     *     *

Ash ran out of the Pokémon Center with no more sense of a plan than he had to get moving.

Misty was missing. Her sisters had realized it sometime the day before at which point Misty couldn’t have been gone for more than a few hours. But she was definitely gone and there were no leads on where she might be or who might have taken her.

It was assumed that she’d been kidnapped. The Cerulean Gym had never invested in security cameras—though they certainly would be now, even though it was all but closing the barn door after the Taurus had all left—so someone easily could have slipped in, incapacitated her somehow, and made their way out with her, providing no one had been around. Which, it appeared, no one had been.

He hadn’t made it ten feet out the front door before his mom came out of nowhere, grabbing the back of his collar, and stopping him in his tracks.

Ash choked a little—his collar had dug in just under his Adam’s apple—and wheezed as his mom stepped in front of him with a stern look.

“Just where do you think you’re going, mister?”

“Misty’s been kidnapped!” he blurted out. “I have to save her!”

“Is that true?” Delia asked, her reaction unchanging despite the, in Ash’s opinion, world-changing information. “Then tell me: where’s Pikachu?”

Ash’s hand flew to his shoulder where, sure enough, Pikachu was not. He suddenly realized that, in his haste, he’d left Pikachu with Nurse Joy. Immediately, Ash turned around to run back into the Pokémon Center when, again, his mom pinched his collar.

Stopped once again, Ash batted his mom’s hand away and coughed a little. “Mom! What are you doing?”

“What are you doing, young man?” Delia asked. “How do you think you can help Misty right now?”

Truth be told, he hadn’t thought that far. Brock hadn’t provided him with enough information to go off of, and it hadn’t seemed as though the other boy had concocted any plan himself as of yet. But that didn’t stop Ash from thinking on the fly. “I just need to get to Kanto. She’s probably in Kanto, right? Then I can start looking for her and battle whoever did this!”

“That is exactly what you won’t be doing, mister. You have no idea where she is and, might I remind you, you have no way of getting back to Kanto right now. And, might I remind you, you have school. In about ten minutes. Principal Oak is expecting you.”

“School can wait!” Ash exclaimed. “My best friend has been kidnapped!”

“And there’s nothing you can do.” Finally, his mom’s expression melted from one of austerity to tenderness. “I really am sorry about Misty, and I hope to heaven she’s okay. But, Ashy, you have to understand that you being in Kanto or not isn’t going to do anything for her. I know you’re used to playing a heroic role in these things but, for once, can you just do a favor to your mom and go to school like a normal boy and saving the heroism for the professionals?”

No, Ash wanted to say. No, no, no, no. Misty needed his help. She rarely had before, and he wanted to be there in her time of need. But, unfortunately, he was once again in a totally different region from her, unable to give her anything other than his thoughts and prayers.

He wasn’t going to say yes. He couldn’t find it in him to do that, even for his mom. But he did look her in the eye and say the simplest truth he could: “I’m going to get Pikachu.”

*      *     *

In the five years Ash had gone to school, he’d never particularly liked it. He didn’t totally remember the details of it at this point, since it had been years since he’d spent regular time in a classroom, but he had vague memories of being really bored and getting in trouble for being distracted. He wouldn’t do well and then his mom would have to meet with his teacher and then she’d be sad. He hadn’t liked any of that. The only reasons he’d agreed to go to this school in Alola was because, 1.) Professor Oak had told him that Principal Oak would love to have him, and Ash wouldn’t want to refuse Professor Oak and 2.) it was called The Pokémon School. At the time, that had been enough for him.

Now, though, he wasn’t sure he would have been willing to sit at a desk even if the school had been called ‘The Pokémon School that Guarantees all who Enter Shall be Pokémon Masters and We’re just Going to Talk About Pokémon Except for When We’re Training with Them.’ Though that did sound really cool.

His mother had walked him to the classroom, probably knowing that he would have been late otherwise. Or made a run for it. Truly, he hadn’t ruled that latter option out yet. But, so far, he was the second person there, even though class was set to start in a couple minutes. The only other person was a girl wearing all white and she’d been furiously writing in a notebook since he’d arrived.

But as his leg bounced up and down like a jackhammer and Pikachu looked up at him from the desk with a worried expression, Ash knew he was bound to burst before class started. So, with a somewhat panicked tone, he shouted, “Hey! What’s your name?”

The girl turned around, startled. Ash wasn’t even sure she’d noticed that he was there until that moment. He put on a forced smile, hoping that he wasn’t scaring the girl. She did look a little uneasy.

“Oh—I’m Lillie.”

“I’m Ash! Nice to meet’cha!”

Lillie smiled—a timid one, but a smile nevertheless—and said, “Hi, Ash. Are you new?”

“Nah, I’m just here on vacation. Just coming to class today because I’m friends with Professor Oak and then I have to head back to Kanto.”

“That’s very interesting,” Lillie said. “It’s a shame you can’t stay longer.”

“Well, I was gonna,” Ash said. “But my friend, Misty has been kidnapped and I need to get home as soon as possible to rescue her.”

“Oh, dear!” Lillie’s hand flew up to her mouth and her eyes went incredibly wide. Her eyes were green, like Misty’s, but the tone was different. Misty’s had flecks of blue, while this girl’s were more golden. Totally different, really. “Did you say kidnapped?”

“That’s right.” Ash’s smile grew more forced and his leg was bouncing so much it was thumping his desk. Really, it was causing a great racket, and Pikachu was bouncing around on it a little. “And no one has any idea where she is.”

“That’s terrible!”

Just then, the rest of the class came trickling in. Two more girls and two boys, all of whom were chatting cheerfully, seemingly happy to be at school. Ash couldn’t relate.

Eyes immediately turned to him, as he stood out as an odd fixture in their small class. The girl with the long green hair smiled—a real one, not like his or Lillie’s—and said, “Alola! What’s your name?”

“His name is Ash and his friend has been kidnapped!”

Lillie blurted the words out and then covered her mouth with both hands, looking wildly between Ash and the green-haired girl.

“Is that true?” A boy with dark skin and wasn’t wearing a shirt took a step toward Ash, the question seemingly directed at him instead of Lillie.

Ash nodded, his eyes all crazy again as his mouth seemed stuck in a phony-bologna smile. “Yup. Found out today.”

“That’s just terrible,” the blue-haired girl said quietly. “You must feel awful.”

“Yeah, my mom says there’s nothing I can do about it.” He still didn’t believe that for a second, though. There was always an action to take. At the very least, he could go to Kanto. That would be a start.

“Of course you can’t,” the dark-skinned boy. “That should be left to the professionals.”

Ash grunted and turned away. “You sound just like my mom.”

The short boy looked at the other boy with wide eyes. “You sound just like mine too!”

“Well, I think Ash is right!” the green-haired girl said, punching a fist into her other hand. “His friend needs help—of course he should at least try!”

Just then, the professor came in. He was wearing a lab coat with no shirt underneath and a baseball cap. He wasn’t like any teacher Ash had ever seen before.

“Ah, I see everyone’s met our visitor for the day. Class, meet Ash Ketchum. Ash, I’m Professor Kukui. Everyone else, please introduce yourselves.”

Mallow, Lana, Kiawe, and Sophocles. And, of course, Lillie. Now Ash had a name for every face.

“Professor?” Sophocles asked, raising his hand before the Professor could begin his lesson. “Ash’s friend was kidnapped!”

Professor Kukui’s eyes widened. “Really, now? That’s terrible.”

“It’s the truth!” Mallow said, standing up. “And we want to help!”

The professor frowned. “I wish we could. But I think the best thing we can do for Ash is to take his mind off of it and try and distract him. So let’s get on with the lesson.”

Mallow sat down, looking defeated. She turned back in her chair to look at Ash with sad eyes. She shrugged and gave him an expression that said, I tried.

*     *     *

It was the next day, and he was still in Alola, when Ash learned of another call he’d received. He’d been hoping for one—that’s why he’d gone to the Pokémon Center in the first place; he’d wanted to hear if there had been any updates. However, this time the message was from Daisy, not Brock, and it turned out it was for the worst reason.

“Brock’s gone too?” Ash exclaimed, disbelief flooding him as Daisy looked at him tearfully.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “The police told us this morning.”

“Why did they tell you?”

“They thought it could be related. Misty’s a Gym Leader and Brock used to be one.”

Ash shook his head. “No, then they would have taken Forrest, not Brock. That can’t be it.”

Daisy shrugged. “Well, we still don’t have anything else to go on.”

Ash narrowed his eyes, thinking as hard as he could. “Yeah, but we will.”

*     *     *

In Ash’s experience, all that was needed for ideas to come about was for more than one head to put themselves together. Right now he was one head. But very shortly, he would have more.

Ash ran the way to the Pokémon school. Against all odds, he was there for a second day. Well, maybe not all odds. It was what his mom had intended after all. But it sure hadn’t been his plan. Unlike the day before, however, he arrived in the classroom—early, mind you—and everyone else was already there.

“Ash!” Mallow exclaimed. “We were wondering if you’d be here!”

“We thought you’d be in Kanto by now,” Sophocles added.

Ash shook his head, panting as he tried to catch his breath. “My mom still won’t let me go. We’d have to buy new plane tickets and I don’t really have any other way of getting there.”

“Well, we’re glad you’re back,” Lana said quietly.

“Thanks, I’m glad to see all of you too, because our problems just got a lot bigger.”

“Our problems?” Kiawe asked. But Ash just barreled on.

“Another one of my friends has been kidnapped. He used to be the Gym Leader of the Pewter City Gym in Kanto.”

There were gasps around the room. The only one who stayed silent was Kiawe, though his eyes did widen.

“Ash, I’m so sorry!” Mallow cried.

“I wanted to ask your guys’ advice,” Ash said whilst throwing Mallow a grateful look. “These have to be related, right? One right after the other like that? So that has to be a clue. But I don’t know what it might mean.”

“Okay, let’s get the facts,” Lillie said. “They’re both in Kanto. Misty—Misty, right?—Misty is a Gym Leader, Brock used to be one. Umm…”

“They’re both good friends of yours, Ash?” Mallow asked.

“The best!”

“Like, actual best friends?”

Ash didn’t know what Mallow was getting at. He’d definitely used the term best friend before, but he’d never thought about his friends on a sliding scale before. Who might be ranked below or above another one. He just had a lot of friends!

“They both traveled with me for years. Sometimes all three of us, sometimes one of them and other people. But all three of us are, like, really, really, super good friends.”

“Do you have any enemies?”

That had Ash even more confused. He immediately started to say no. After all, most people he met he thought of as friends. But then he remembered all the bad things that had happened over the years. How many bad guys he’d met. Maybe Mallow was onto something.

“I guess I do.”

“Really?” Mallow actually looked surprised to hear the answer. “Powerful ones?”

Ash nodded. “Yeah, actually.”

“Oh my gosh!” she gasped. “Ash! That’s the clue! The clue is you!”

“Then I know what we need to do!” Sophocles said. “We need to give tracking devices to all your close friends, then we’ll see who’s taken next and where they go!”

“Sophocles, that’s ridiculous,” Kiawe said.

Ash, on the other hand, was intrigued. “How would we do that?”

“Well, I just need to whip up some small tracking devices—very common technology nowadays. And then we just need to ship them to your friends. How many do you think we’ll need?”

“Er…”

Ash had a lot of friends. Like, a lot. But he didn’t think he could ask Sophocles for the dozens and dozens of trackers that he would need for all of his friends. He had to narrow it down.

Lana suggested he think about his best friends. And while he still didn’t know how to separate those categories, he did know that Misty and Brock were two of his traveling companions. Two people that he’d been seen together with often. An innumerable amount of times. That was probably the place to start.

So that meant May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie…yeah, better stop there.

“Eight,” he answered definitively—before he could rethink it and get all tangled up. “But they live all over the world.”

“Hmm.” Sophocles put a finger to his chin. “Kiawe, think your Charizard could handle that?”

“What‽” Kiawe asked, nearly shrieking. “Of course not! In one day? No, Sophocles, it’s not possible.”

Sophocles threw his hands up. “What? I was just wondering!”

Then Lillie piped up. “I might be able to help.”

Everyone turned to look at her. Ash had noticed it the day before, but she was the only one of them who didn’t have a Pokémon out. For once, he wasn’t the strange one by allowing Pikachu out of his PokéBall all the time—lots of people in Alola seemed to do it. But not Lillie. He wasn’t even sure that she had any Pokémon, so he wondered what she intended to offer. And he wasn’t alone in that thought.

“What are you talking about, Lillie?” Mallow asked.

Cryptically, Lillie answered, “You don’t know my mother.”

*     *     *

The hard part, it turned out, was getting in touch with all of his friends. Fortunately, unlike him, most of his friends had PokéNavs and the like so they could receive calls remotely. Especially after he called them three and four times. They were bound to pick up then.

He did get a hold of each of them eventually, but it did take some time. And then there was the matter of specifically locating them for Lusamine—that was Lillie’s mother—to ship each of these trackers that Sophocles was putting together for each of them. Some were easy, like Cilan, who was at his Gym. Others were harder, like Dawn who was traveling through the middle of even she didn’t know where in Kalos.

But, luckily, all of his friends believed him when he told them that they might be in danger. Or if they didn’t directly believe him, they were willing to go along with it.

Then he just had to wait as slowly, one by one, they all appeared as little dots on Sophocles’ tracking device. After that, it was just a matter of waiting.

It was the middle of the night when Ash received a phone call—Sophocles had set him up with a longish-distance walkie-talkie of sorts—saying that one of the dots was on the move. Of course, that shouldn’t have been happening; all of his friends had already settled down to sleep for the night. So that meant that someone was being taken. And that their hypothesis was right.

“Who is it?” Ash asked groggily, still half-asleep.

“Clemont.”

*     *     *

When Ash made it to the Pokémon School—in the middle of the night with nothing more than a note for his mother—he was surprised to find everyone already there waiting for him. Everyone meaning Sophocles, Lillie, Mallow, Lana, and even Kiawe, though the latter of those looked very tired and unhappy. Mallow must have noticed Ash’s lingering gaze on Kiawe and said, “He flew here from Akala Island!”

Now, Ash had no idea where Akala Island was, but he did know that this was Melemele Island. An entirely different island must have meant that it was pretty far away. He wouldn’t have thought that Kiawe would have made a trip like that just for this. Just for him.

“Thanks, Kiawe,” Ash said.

Kiawe, for his part, shrugged. “Whoever’s doing this can’t get away with it. If I can help bring them down, then why wouldn’t I?”

“So what do we do now?” Lana asked, looking to Ash. Lillie, however, is the one who spoke up.

“Um, my mom actually thought of something.”

Hesitantly, Lillie pressed a button on the wall—one that Ash hadn’t noticed before—and a part of the wall opened like an elevator door. Lillie stepped inside with a shy smile and gestured everyone follow.

“Wow, how did your mom do this, Lillie?”

“She has a lot of resources.”

The next thing they knew, the group of humans—and their Pokémon—were being shot down a chute and into a chamber that held a Flygon, Altaria, Charizard, Garchomp, Metang, and Dragonair, all saddled up and ready to go.

“Woah, are these for us to ride?” Ash asked, his eyes wide and sparkling.

“Yes…Alolan ride Pokémon…”

Lillie’s voice was suddenly halting, nervous. She looked ahead of her—at the Altaria—and her face seemed even paler than usual.

“Lillie’s afraid of touching Pokémon,” Mallow explained, a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Lillie, however, shook it off.

“No, I can do it!” Lillie shouted, clenching her hands in front of her. “I just need to…close my eyes.”

She did exactly that and held a hand out. “Mallow, lead me there, please.”

An eyebrow arched, Mallow took hold of Lillie’s hand and began to lead her towards Altaria. Lillie was holding her breath, and her brows were furrowed to the point that they were nearly touching. But, nevertheless, she climbed atop Altaria, and let out a breath.

“It’s just a chair, it’s just a chair,” Lillie murmured to herself as she took hold of the handlebars. She wasn’t actually touching Altaria, so hopefully she would be fine.

Barely opening one eye, she looked back at the rest of the group, who were all still standing, watching her.

“Well? What are you waiting for‽”

*     *     *

Clemont’s dot had stopped moving on Sophocles’ map by the time they’d taken off, so everyone felt comfortable assuming that that’s where he was being held captive. Surprisingly, it wasn’t in Kalos, but off the coast of Kanto, which was fantastic, because that meant that Ash and his new friends didn’t even have to spend an hour in the air before touching down near where Clemont was meant to be.

“The dot is gone!” Sophocles exclaimed once they’d landed. “I don’t understand it!”

“But is this the spot, Sophocles?” Mallow asked.

Sophocles nodded his head vigorously. “This is the last place the dot was, and it moved quickly to get here. He must have been on a plane or something. But now it’s disappeared!”

“It’s still all we have to go on,”

“This is the spot,” Sophocles said once they all had landed. He should be somewhere around here.

Kanto’s east coast had many tiny islands, most of which held nothing more than a lot of sand. And the area where the group now stood with all their Pokémon was no different. The ocean was pockmarked with spots of sand, but there were no buildings around. Nowhere that a person might be hidden. They’d hit a dead end.

But not according to Lana.

“I know what we should do! Popplio, make a balloon!”

Ash watched as out of Popplio’s nose came a bubble, small at first, then growing, growing, growing until it was about a foot wide. Then, Lana stuck her head in it, without popping it, and dove into the water. She didn’t come back up, but Popplio started right away making another balloon.

“Oh! We’re supposed to dive underwater and see if they’re being held there!” Ash exclaimed. “Popplio, give me a balloon!”

Ash took the next one and popped it on his head—with Popplio making another small one for Pikachu—before following Lana under the water. With the balloon on his head, he could breathe and keep his eyes open. The balloon made it look like he was seeing the world from inside a fishbowl, but at least his eyes didn’t sting.

Then, all of a sudden, Lana looked back at Ash and pointed eagerly forward, suddenly swimming much quicker while Ash struggled to keep up. He realized that she was swimming into an underwater cove and followed her into it. It was totally dark. The cove must have been covered at the top, because very quickly there was no light to speak of at all. Then, all of a sudden, his bubble burst, and his head was above water.

Despite having been able to breathe, Ash gasped at the sudden fresh flow of oxygen, and he heard Lana breathing heavily next to him. Pikachu had climbed to the top of his head and was shaking the water out of his fur.

“Pikachu, can you make a little electricity so we can see?” he whispered. “But be careful of all the water.”

Pikachu obliged, only sparking a little at his cheeks, but suddenly the whole chamber lit up with flickering light, like Pikachu was holding a candle in his hands. And in front of him, he saw Misty, Brock, and Clemont, partially submerged, gagged, and seemingly chained to the wall.

All of them let out muffled shouts when they saw Ash in front of them. Ash couldn’t swim quick enough to get to his friends and rip their gags off. Lana was right behind him to do the same.

“Ash!” Misty exclaimed after Ash took her gag off. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Of course I am,” Ash said. “I wanted to save you right away, but I needed help first.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I’m just glad you came.”

“Clemont, Brock!” Ash exclaimed, clapping each of his other friends on the shoulder. “I’m so happy you’re all in the same spot!”

“Us too, Ash,” Brock said, “Thanks for the rescue.”

And as he looked around, he realized that—much like Mallow had surmised—there were many other spots along the wall where it looked like more people were meant to be held. More chains in place, just ready to lock another of his friends up.

“What did they do to you?” Ash asked Misty.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Misty answered with a shake of her head. “There’s a tube in the rock to let oxygen in from outside, and they do feed us and stuff. I think they’ve been keeping us here while they figure out what to do with us or something.”

“Have you seen your captors?”

That question came from Lana, and Clemont is the one who answered.

“No, it’s been pitch black. They must have night vision goggles or something in order to see us.”

Ash reached behind Misty to feel the metal chains that were keeping her hands in place. They were just like any other metal chains he’d ever seen. And there wasn’t much that either he or Pikachu could do about it.

“Ash,” Lana said. “If we wanna get them out, we’re gonna have to go back above ground.”

Ash looked back at Misty, has hand falling from her chains to her arm. He didn’t want to leave his friends. Not just after he’d found them, and not in this condition. But the quicker he got them out of there the better. He squeezed Misty’s arm.

“We’ll get you out of here in two shakes.”

*     *     *

It was quite the group effort to get Misty, Brock, and Clemont out of the cave. As Ash and Lana surfaced—as quickly as possible, as they no longer had Popplio’s bubbles on their side to help with breathing—Lana was the one who kept track of which ‘island’ the group was being kept under. And on which side of the rock they were all being held. Then all it took was the sacrifice of Kiawe touching one of his Turtonator’s spikes. Little did Ash know that that would trigger a huge explosion, creating a crater in the rock. Then Misty, Brock, and Clemont were accessible from the outside.

Ash then talked everyone through his tried and true method of breaking through metal. Turtonator was used to heat up the chains, Popplio cooled them down with some water, then Pikachu’s Iron Tail was all it took to free his three friends.

They would have been home free. If a helicopter had not appeared at just that moment.

Everyone stood back, holding their hands in front of their faces as the helicopter grew airbags on its landing skis and landed on the water. Then, out stepped a shouting man.

“How‽ How did you do it yet again?”

“Giovanni!” Ash, Misty, and Brock all shouted.

“Yes, apparently anonymity is no longer on my side,” Giovanni muttered to himself. Then he continued, “How have you thwarted my plans yet again? I had you right where I wanted you!”

“Plans?” Ash asked with a furrowed brow. “Why would you be kidnapping my friends? I thought you only stole Pokémon. And my friends aren’t Pokémon.”

“I wasn’t stealing your friends,” Giovanni snapped, his voice sharp. “I was separating them from you so that you were weak. But it seems you’ve made a whole host of new ones instead.”

Ash looked behind him at Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, Sophocles, and Lillie. They were all his friends now. Of course they were.

“You’re right,” Ash said simply. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. Mallow is the one who figured out what was going on, Lillie and Sophocles gave us the materials to track my friends and bring us here, and Lana and Kiawe helped he save them. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that on my own.”

“But you made them so quickly! You’ve been in Alola for three days!”

Ash was a little concerned how Giovanni knew that about him. But before he could voice that, Misty spoke up for him, grabbing his hand.

“It’s because Ash is the most incredible, unique person that any of us know. If his new friends haven’t realized that yet, then they soon will, because everyone who meets Ash Ketchum walks away knowing that, right?”

Clemont was quick to answer. “Ash has inspired me in a way that no one else ever has. Traveling with him is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And it doesn’t matter how many more times I’m kidnapped for me to keep thinking that! …But please don’t.”

Misty nodded. “Exactly right. Me and him have never met, but we both think exactly the same about Ash. So you can isolate him and challenge him and try to stop him as many times as you want, but in the end, he will always rally for his friends, and they’ll always come for him. You lose, Giovanni, so call it quits.”

Giovanni stared between her and Ash for a few long seconds. Then he turned around dramatically and headed back into his helicopter before shouting, “This is not the end of Team Rainbow Rocket!”

After the helicopter flew into the distance and its sound dissipated, Ash doubled over in laughter. “Team Rainbow Rocket? What happened to plain old Team Rocket?”

“Are they trying to queerbait us?” Mallow asked, befuddled.

Misty shook her head, then turned back to Ash. “Really, Ash. Thanks for saving us.”

“Thanks for standing up for me, Mist. I didn’t know you had all those nice things to say about me.”

Misty blushed. “Yeah, well…” She trailed off, turning away towards land. “How are we going to get home?”

“You could take our ride Pokémon?” Lillie offered hesitantly. “Some of us can ride two to a Pokémon.”

“That’ll work for these two,” Clemont said, thumbing over at Brock and Misty, “But I think I’m going to need a plane.”

Lillie nodded. “We can do that too.”

*     *     *

Ash hadn’t put together that Lillie was rich until the group made their first stop at the nearest airport and she put down a card to pay for Clemont’s plane. Of course, Clemont insisted he pay, but there was one thing Lillie had that Clemont just didn’t and that was speed. She paid for the last minute flight in full before Clemont even realized what had happened.

Saying goodbye to a good friend, even when you hadn’t been expecting to see them, was quite hard. Ash was very practiced at goodbyes, but most of the time it didn’t make them easier. Everyone stood back while he and Clemont exchanged their farewells and Ash couldn’t help but apologize a couple more times for Clemont’s brief kidnapping. Then it was off to Cerulean City.

This time Brock was by his side as Ash said goodbye.

“I’m really sorry, Misty,” Ash said for the umpteenth time as he stood in front of the door to the Cerulean Gym.

“It’s okay,” she reassured him. “Even if this kind of thing happened every day, I would take it if it were the trade off for being your friend.”

“You’re just saying that,” Ash said, his eyes looking down towards his shoes.

“Nah.” That was Brock clapping him on the back. “We all would. It’s quite the deal for being friends with Ash Ketchum.”

Ash swallowed, his throat suddenly tight. “Thanks, guys.”

“Well,” Misty said after a moment, “you’d better be getting Brock off to Pewter City.”

Ash hesitated. It was so hard to say goodbye. “Guess so.”

Another beat. “Okay, then,” Misty said.

“It’ll be dark by the time we get back to Alola at this rate,” Kiawe said, cutting in. “And no one’s parents knows where we are except Lillie’s.”

Lillie tentatively raised a finger. “Kind of.”

“Right,” Misty agreed, her face suddenly flushed. Then, she quickly leaned in and gave Ash a peck on the cheek and ran to her front door with a wave. “I can’t thank you all enough! Bye-bye now!”

And then she was gone.

“Did that…” Brock started, staring at Ash, “did that just happen?”

“Aw, how cute!” Mallow exclaimed.

“She likes you!” Lana agreed.

“What‽” Ash shouted.

“You know, I’ve always suspected…” Brock mused, his thumb and forefinger to his chin.

“Even that blond guy seemed to like you a little bit,” Kiawe added.

“What‽” Ash was staring back and forth between all of them, unable to process what everyone seemed to be saying. “What? She was just…they’re grateful that…to all of us!”

“I think he just needs some time to accept it,” Lana said.

“That might be it,” Brock agreed.

“No, I don’t!”

“Fine, Ash,” Brock said, swinging an arm over his shoulders. “We agree with you. But the seed is planted. This conversation is not over.”

“But—”

“Oh, it’s over for the next long while,” Brock continued. “But it’ll come back. Just wait.”

Ash didn’t have anything more to say. Whatever arguments were still sitting on the tip of his tongue were falling away. He was outnumbered here. And while Ash wasn’t one to give up a challenge, this wasn’t one he was interested in playing with anymore. Brock was shelving it. That was enough. For now.

“So, this is what it’s like to be Ash’s friend…” Sophocles mused. “Interesting. I’m excited for it!”

“No, it’s—”

“Yes, it is,” Brock cut Ash off. “And like Misty said, none of us would have it any other way. You all are in for one heck of a ride.”

“Oh, we’re friends now?” Kiawe asked, his voice dry.

“Of course we are!” Mallow exclaimed. “You can’t go through something like this and not be friends!”

Mallow was right. There was something about surviving something together. Being saved by someone, or being the person doing the saving. It linked you in a way that other people didn’t understand. Ash and his friends knew that better than anyone.

“Ash is friends with everyone,” Brock stated, cutting through the static. “Legitimately everyone.”

He’d been saved so many times. And he’d done the saving just as many. All of his friends were special. And he had a lot of friends. So many friends. Just friends.

Right?

The seed was planted.

Pikachu tapped Ash from his place on Ash’s shoulder, bringing him back to the world. Ash blinked a few times and shook it off. He didn’t even know what he was thinking about. So, with a bright grin on his face, happy to have five brand new friends—and to have saved the day yet again—he said, “Off to Pewter and then back to Alola before my mom kills me!”

*     *     *

Meanwhile…

Giovanni was back in the room where he’d called the first meeting, in front of the failures he’d called partners, feeling humiliated yet again at the hands of a child.

“Foiled again!” he growled. “We didn’t account for the fact that he would make a whole posse of new friends in a matter of days.”

“If I may,” Cyrus spoke up, raising one finger and surprising everyone by speaking first. “Perhaps we should focus on the redheaded girl. She and the boy seem to have a particularly strong connection.”

“How do you know that?” Archie blurted out, for he sure hadn’t seen anything of the sort.

“I spied on their glorious return mission whilst our fearless leader was headed home on a private helicopter with his tail between his legs.”

It was all Giovanni could do not to spit with rage. Nevertheless, he had to admit, “Yes, there might be something there. Perhaps we were too ambitious, thinking we could cut out all of his closest, powerful friends…but if we focus our efforts on one…”

“Why her and not the spiky-haired boy that the majority of us saw travel with the boy for years?” Maxie asked.

“Because, he’s not the boy’s weak point,” Giovanni mused. “There’s always a weak point.”

“But no kidnapping this time,” Ghetsis raised. After all, it hadn’t gone well this time around.

“No kidnapping,” Giovanni declared. “At least not as the prime maneuver. But we’ll think of something. She’s important to the boy and that’s our way in.”

He steepled his fingers together, his face just barely catching the light.

“Team Rainbow Rocket is back in business.”

[marvelundercover]

Marvel Undercover 2019 Masterpost

Hello everyone, Marvel Undercover is officially closed. We’ve had such a nice mix of entires and we want to thank every creator, prompter, reader, beta, and fan for making this first run a success! We are so happy you joined us and we hope to see you next time! 

Now, here are all the entries! 

Fic

Title: Water Landing Author: romanticalgirl Rating: Teen & up Wordcount: 8059 Prompt #: 65 Pairing: Bucky/Steve Warnings: Canon-typical violence, mild animal harm, hospitalization Summary: My dog is the size of a mini horse and forcibly knocked you into the duck pond for that hot dog you were about to take a bite out of.

Bucky’s having a good day. Or he was.

Read it here!

Title: I dreamt a dream Author: Fluffypanda Rating: Explicit Wordcount: 3,062 Prompt #: 10 Pairing: Steve/Tony Warnings: Sexual Content, Summary: By day Steve Rogers is struggling to get along. He can barely put food on the table, let alone pay for his health care.

By night Steve works at a synth brothel, in the hopes that one day he’ll be able to walk home in a perfect body.

Read it here!

Title:  Not in My Wildest Dreams Rating: Mature Author: Deb Walsh Word count: 7873 Prompt #: 57 Pairing: Bucky/Steve, Bucky/OMC Warnings: Minor dissociative episode Summary:  Bucky Barnes isn’t the Winter Soldier any longer. In 1991, Howard Stark helped him defect and build a new life for himself. Now he’s a modern guy, enjoying the company of other men, and keeping a secret locked up in his heart.

Steve Rogers is newly thawed out, and shocked to learn that his old friend is still alive.

Then Steve goes to find Bucky, but James thinks this blond hunk is a Cap wannabe, just fine for a night’s pleasure.

Read it here!

Title: ‘Aw, castle, no,’ Author: StripedScribe Rating: Teen and Up Wordcount: 2307 Prompt #: 7 Met when a bouncy castle deflated on them Pairing: Clint Barton/Matt Murdock Warnings: None Summary: So technically, they should have never been in the bouncy castle at all. But it had been a long night, and the kids were all gone, and so why shouldn’t they use it for a private chat? Who knew they would turn off the power, and that castles deflated so quickly.

Read it here!

Title: The Art of Handshakes Author: Emmeebee Rating: T Word count: 2268 Pairing: Gen/(Pepper Potts/Tony Stark) Prompt: #126: Peter goes to a high end gala meet as Tony’s intern, accidentally shakes someone’s hand too hard and fractures it. They have to deal with hiding his identity whilst still getting them the medical attention they need. Warnings: Vague reference to past sexual harassment; set pre-Infinity War but incorporates some elements from it Summary: When Tony invites Peter to a high-end gala as part of his mentorship, Peter feels like he’s in over his head. Can he get through it without revealing his secret identity? And what do fancy parties have to do with learning how to be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-man anyway?

Read it here!

Title: You’re the Wine that I Want Author: WinterRaven Rating: Mature Wordcount: 1,833 Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers Prompt #: (self-prompt) Bucky signs up for a sommelier course. Steve is the instructor Warnings: None Summary: Bucky signs up for a sommelier course. Steve is the instructor. At the beginning of the first class, Steve asks everyone to introduce themselves and give the reason they’re taking the introductory wine sommelier course. Bucky realizes he signed up for the wrong sommelier course.

Read it here!

 Title: Thunderstruck Author: PixelByPixel Rating: Teen Wordcount: 5831 Prompt #: 145 Pairing: Elektra Natchios/Matt Murdock Warnings: No archive warnings apply, mild violence, some swearing Summary: Elektra Natchios isn’t sure who this man is who keeps watching her at the gym or why he’s watching her, but she’s determined to find out.

Read it here!

Title: It Was A Galactic Emergency Author: gold_pen_leaps Rating: Teen and Up Wordcount: 2,457 Prompt #: 3 Pairing: Eddie Brock/Venom Warnings: cannibalistic thoughts Summary: Eddie rolled his eyes. “Whatever. We’ll investigate a conspiracy, if that makes you happy. I just want my bike back.”

Read it here!

Title: Through Your Eyes Author: titC Rating: Teen and up Wordcount: 19k Prompt #: 114 Pairing: Matt Murdock/Steve Rogers Warnings: angst, whump, fluff, hurt/comfort, a couple F-bombs, mild medical unpleasantness Summary: Steve gets an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen…

Read it Here

Title: Cat Burglar Author: FestiveFerret Rating: Teen and up Wordcount: 9.9k Prompt #: 4 Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers Warnings: Temporarily injured cat, Swearing Summary: Bucky’s pretty sure this is not what his therapist had in mind when she said having something to care for would help him heal.

Mouse is pretty sure that having two people feeding her is better than one.

And Steve is pretty sure that it’s his civic duty to rescue a poor, hungry stray.

Read it here!

Title: Breaking and Entering (Your Heart) Author: muchmoremajestic Rating: T Wordcount: 2125 Prompt #: 119 Pairing: Natasha Romanov/Sharon Carter Warnings: Mild violence, blood and injury, knives, stabbing Summary: Natasha forgets a mission packet in Steve's apartment. Her attempt to retrieve it doesn't go as expected. Additional Tags: Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Minor Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson; Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov

Read it here!

Title: is that pepper spray in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? Author: kiwigirl Rating: T Word count: 3000 Prompt #: 90 Pairing: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov Warnings: No warnings apply Summary: She’s pretending to be a model. He’s pretending to be a clueless tourist. There’s no way this could go wrong.

Read it here!

Title: I fell in love in a toilet stall; the Brock Rumlow story Author: Kalika_999 Rating: Mature Wordcount: 1894 Prompt #: 6 - Met when one accidentally entered the bathroom/stall the other was using Pairing: Jack Rollins/Brock Rumlow Warnings:  First Meetings, Hiding, Bathrooms, Flirting, Blow Jobs Summary: Brock’s only escape from his bad date is the men’s bathroom.

Read it here!

 Title: First Contact Author: PixelByPixel Rating: T Wordcount: 12,537 Prompt #: 127 Pairing: Gen, Peter Parker, Shuri, Matt Murdock Warnings: Mild swearing, mild peril, canon-typical violence Summary: Neither Peter Parker nor Shuri is entirely sure that they want to be participating in the summer science program at Columbia University. Despite the fact that the expo where they will share their projects is approaching, Peter is more interested in the stranger he keeps seeing outside a lab, and the odd substance that is left behind after the stranger leaves. He’s also trying to figure out whether or not he should go to college, and hopes to get advice from a friendly neighborhood vigilante. Meanwhile, Shuri is glad for a break from her work in Oakland, even though a supervised science program isn’t necessarily what she would have chosen.

Who is the stranger in the lab? Will Peter and Shuri finish their projects? What’s that dog doing there, anyway? Who’s the guy on the roof? Tune in for the answers to these and other questions!

Read it here!

Title: Not the Best First Impression Author: Entwinedlove Rating: Teen Wordcount: 1,115 Prompt #: 13 Pairing: Rebecca Barnes/Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter Warnings: No Archive Warnings, Meet-Ugly Summary: Bucky knew his food stained shirt and faded boxers probably didn't make the best impression. He didn't hold it against him if Steve didn't want to shake hands.

Read it here!

Title:  Party Trick Author: storyspinner70 Rating: M Wordcount: 1226 Prompt #: #23 Pairing: Thor/Loki Warnings: AU, Lapdance, Adoptive Brothers Summary: Thor’s best friend had just gotten engaged and decided to buy everyone else a lap dance to celebrate. What could possibly go wrong?

Read it here! 

Title: Think Before You Act, Except Just This Once Author: Nixie_DeAngel Rating: General Audiences. Wordcount: 1.251. Prompt #: 42. Pairing:Steve Rogers/Tony Stark. Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply. Summary:

Okay, Tony thinks to himself as he eyes the big buff blond guy –seriously, did all of Rhodey’s buddies look like walking Adonis’s or did he just have an in with the guy who chiseled them out of stone?– who’s ranting and waving his hands about, this might not have been his most brilliant idea. Maybe he should have tried sleeping on the idea, like Pepper and Bruce would have suggested he do had he bothered informing either of them of his brilliant and hilarious idea.

Read it here!

Title: Selfish Prayers Author: barbarystags Rating: Teen Wordcount: 2730 Prompt #: 82 Pairing: Valkyrie/Carol Danvers Warnings: Canon typical violence Summary: Vers isn’t expecting much when Yon-Rogg tells her she must work with the lead Valkyrior on a murder investigation. What she learns will change her perception for the rest of her days.

Read it here!

Title: Taking a Dive Author: NachoDiablo Rating: T Wordcount: 1K Prompt #: 133 Pairing: Sam/Steve Warnings: Discussions of drowning, falling into water Summary:

This was it. This time, Steve would slow down and strike up a conversation with the cute-as-hell stranger he’d been lapping all morning.

Every time he made his way to cutie’s side, he’d lost the nerve to slow down. Instead, he’d breezed on by, calling out a quick on your left right before he passed.

Cutie had been a good sport about Steve’s cheerful goading so far, but every man had his limits, no matter how tight Steve’s shirt was.

And Steve’s shirt was tight.

Reading it here!

Title: though we're strangers, take a chance on me

Author: marvellingyou (tourmalinex)

Rating: T

Wordcount: 2209

Prompt #: 53

Pairing: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers

Warnings: None

Summary: Kids and teens were running about, splashing around in the shallow parts of the water. Bucky took in a deep breath, savoring the gentle breeze. But as he turned around, taking in the sight of the beach and the boardwalk, a smile caught his eye. Atop the lifeguard chair sat a paragon of masculine beauty. Blonde hair, crisp blue eyes and oh god, the way they crinkled as he smiled. His shoulders were broad, chest chiseled and arms that could either protect or hold Bucky down when—

Bucky shook his head. He was being ridiculous, but his heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

Read it here!

ArtTitle: Meow!

Artist: Rhiannon McBride Rating: G Medium: digital collage Prompt #: 4 Pairing: Gen Warnings: none

Summary: After the cat you’ve adopted starts coming back with different collars on, you become suspicious. You follow them, and verbally attack the person you believe is stealing them. They admit they thought they were a stray, and so tried to take them in as their own. Maybe a poly relationship, cat could visit multiple people and they all slowly end up meeting each other, not ever really sure who owns this cat.

See it here!

 Title: 01000100 01110101 01101101 01101101 01111001 00100000 01001001 01110011 00100000 01010011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001 Artist: CurlzForMetal Rating: General Medium: Digital Prompt #: 148 Pairing: Peter and Tony (Gen) Warnings: Robots Summary: “Mr. Stark, it’s fine! I have a spare lens in my bag, you really don’t have to … a dunce cap? Isn’t that a little harsh?”

See it here!

[wrestlemethis]

Thoughts on RAW

Didn’t do a hopes since I was working all day and night yesterday so I have nothing to compare thoughts to but anyway, here it goes.

1. I like that they opened the show with action, a short promo, that led into a good match. Not too excited that Bobby Lashley is involved in this feud with Seth but we got lots of great moments. Seth and Drew shared the ring again, the face team sold the face-in-peril to a hot tag so well every time, Seth was on fire once he was tagged in with some changes to his move set. Little surprised Lashley wasn’t there to take the pin out of the three heels but I guess if they have big Rumble plans for him(lasting long, lots of eliminations), they want him to look strong. But it means they sacrificed their IC champ to take the pin and that could mean bad things for Dean.

2. Triple H plays the caring dick so well. No way was he not watching a match involving six of his biggest names but he probably knew acting like he wasn’t watching would fire up Seth. And it worked.

3. The tag match was a lot of fun to watch. Roode and Gable work well together and Chad is so creative in the ring. Chad stopped being so enthusiastic during their entrance and I miss it. He was more serious and Roode-like this week. Maybe they’re going for a Single White Female story line eventually. Everyone thinks Roode will be the one to turn and it will be Gable.

4. Not sure what the point of Baron/Elias was. The match was fine but it killed all of Elias’ momentum and it feels like it’s way too soon to be building Baron up. He needs to hit rock bottom first then build him back up.

5. The Brock/Braun segment was painful. It gave Braun zero credibility as a threat to Brock. I get that they probably are taking it easy on him so soon after his surgery and there’s still the rumours that he’s working with bad knees but, even if he manages to win the UC at the Rumble I doubt he’s keeping it for long. It feels like the Braun Strowman experiment might be done until they find someone he can play off of as well as he could with Roman.

6. The Alexa Bliss talk show was awkward. She’s so good on the mic but Ronda is not. I’m not a Ronda fan in any way(I’d be totally fine if she left) but I’ve seen her give good interviews on talk shows where she showed personality so a fake talk show should have been better than any of her in ring promos. But it wasn’t. And it led into a Sasha Banks/Nia Jax match that gave me a heart attack with how many times I thought Sasha was injured. Corey seemed to enjoy himself.

7. So many thoughts on the Dean/Seth match. I love this new aggressive side of Seth. Not so much this new side of Dean. Since when does Dean Ambrose retreat from a fight? He spent most of the match retreating or getting his ass beat except for a few moments of offense. And his new heel character? It’s so dependent on Seth, destroying Seth and Dean’s delusions that he’s protecting the universe from Seth. Seth is clearly moving on to other feuds so Dean’s character now needs yet another rewrite. I guess he can move on to another fan favourite like Finn and keep his whole protecting the universe from “Fake” heroes. 

8. Everything about this episode said Seth is being groomed for big things. It should be a fun few months to watch. He was holding his ribs after stupid Lashley put him through the table so hopefully Lashley didn’t injure him and Seth was just doing his usual give-fans-a-heart-attack selling.

9. Lashley(and Lio) are idiots from interfering in the IC match. Seth had it won and Lashley could have made a claim toward an IC match if he’d waited until after Seth won to attack. Instead he gets no title match, helped a guy who won’t be loyal to him because Dean is a lone wolf right now, started a feud with Seth he won’t win, AND made Dean look weak in his win. Way to go Bobby.

[writeawayjake]

CHAPTER 12!!!!!

Chapter 12  Relentless

         “Damn that son of a bitch hits hard,” Jared panted, slumping into his stool.

         “Sit down and shut up lad, let me have a look at ye’.” Said brock, tending to his eye. Reaching into the bucket of snow next to him Brock pulled out a large silver coin, pressing it against the swelling welt. The only good thing about fighting in the winter was that you could always pack some snow in it. Even seated Brock only came to eye level with Jared.            

         “How’s it look?” He asked.

         “Ach, nothin' Nyah can't fix.” The old dwarf reassured him. “But fer now yer stuck with ol’ uncle Brock. Ya need to work yer way inside boy, slip that right o’ his and destroy ‘im.” Brock growled with his usual gruffness.

         “Easy for you to say, it's not your head he's bashing in.” Jared snapped back.

         “Oi lad, everyone's bigger than me but ya don't see mah ass whingin’.”

         “I still don't understand why I had to be the one who signed up, why isn't Kayle here? He’s the size of a fucking barn, he'd be tearing this guy apart.”

         “‘Aye exactly, folks bet on Kayle, no one's gonna bet on your scrawny arse. No offense intended laddy but we make more money this way.” Jared could see the bookie walking around taking bets, placing the audience members money into his hat.

         “There's no way I'm i can beat him in a fair fig-

         “Who thah bloody hell said anything about fightin’ fair?!” Brock bellowed. “This is a fight no’ a gentlemans duel. You do what ya have to ta win!”

         “How do you know I'm gonna win?” Asked Jared with a furrowed brow.

         “Well, cause you're a relentless little shit.” Brock replied. “And the meanest bastard ah know. Plus, you have a very good teacher.” he said with a wink.

          As if on que the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the next round. “Now. Go in there, an bury tha bastard.” Jared stood up, his cheek throbbing, and his lungs burning. Across the ring, if you could call the loose arrangement of hay bails and ropes a ring, his opponent stood up, easily ten years his elder, easily twice his weight, and no doubt at home in his current surroundings. But at least they were roughly the same height. The man looked like a bear; a broad chest, heavy rounded shoulders, long thick arms, and an entire body covered in black hair.         

         Gotta be something to go after, Jared thought. Gotta be an opening. The referee, also known as the least drunk man in the audience, beckoned them toward one another to begin the rounds festivities. Jared’s sharp eyes looked his adversary up and down, searching for a weakness to exploit. So far all he'd been able to deduce was that the man was capable with his hands, had been fighting for some time, and favored his right.

         That'll have to do. He thought.

         His opponent came flying at him, whipping a long left hook from under his shoulder. Jared barely had time to sidestep it, feeling the wind of the punch on his face. Immediately they followed it up with a quick one two, Jared managed to parry the jab with his palm but caught the straight right on his eyebrow. Not being one to lie back and take it, Jared quickly fired back a snapping right cross followed by flicking jab to block his opponents vision before sidestepping and slamming a right hand into the bastard’s kidney. Shuffling back to give himself some room he paused.

         Above the raucous crowd he could here Brock screaming,

        “Slip tha bloody right!!!”

        He's right, Jared thought. Never gonna win trading punches. Alright, let's do it your way old man. Jared dropped his left hand towards his belly but leaving the right firmly cocked back near his cheek prepared for the inevitable onslaught.

         Of course the bull rushed forward, more brawn than brain. The brute lurched forward throwing a wild right hook Jared leaned back slightly, letting the blow miss him by inches, and followed it with a snapping right hand to his opponent’s jaw. Making contact with a clear smacking sound. Stunned, the brute paused. Trying to make sense of what had just happened.

         He came forward once more, again throwing a right at Jared’s head. However instead of dodging it, this time Jared stretched out his left arm, catching and trapping his opponent’s. In an instant the look on the brute’s face went from one of confusion to anger, to shock as the realization of what was coming took hold of him.

         Jared’s fist came hurtling up, slamming into the brutes throat. Dishonorable? Maybe. Effective? Yes. The brute gasped for air and let out a sickening,

         “Gack!!!” accompanied by a mist of blood. Jared let go of the man's arm. Not wanting to injure him any more than necessary. The bear desperately gasped for breath, falling to one knee and holding his throat.

          Just stay down, Jared thought. The referee began counting,

          “One! Two! Three!” when, to Jared’s amazement, the his opponent began standing back up.

          Stupid proud bastard. Before the bear could get his composure Jared hurled an elbow that connected square on his jaw. He would not get up a second time.

         The crowd went silent, except for the sound of clinking bottles and shuffling feet. He was afraid they might storm the ring or throw bottles at his head. However after what seemed like an eternity they erupted into applause.

         Huh, how about That? He thought, surprised. The only one who stormed the ring was Brock, his stubby legs hurling him into Jared’s chest, choking him in an ecstatic embrace.

         “Hahaaaaa! Ya did it lad! We’re gonna eat like kings for a month!” Brock quickly let go and rushed over to the bookie, greedily snatching the hat from his hand. Jared followed close behind, stopping at the stool to grab his shirt.

          Brock swaggered toward the exit, kicking the door open and letting in the blinding white of the overcast of the day outside. Jared stepped outside, the cold air causing steam to waft and swirl from his scalp. As cold as it was, the fresh air was a welcome change from the stuffy, sweaty barn.

         Taking in a deep breath Jared felt a sense of shame wash over him. For the first time he was ashamed of winning a fight. Being built the way he was, fighting fair was rarely an option. So why was he ashamed now?

         He didn't have time to answer that question as a mass of curly red hair slammed into him, squeezing him so hard he thought he might break a rib. She let him go as quickly as she’d grabbed him and in a flash she had a hold of his face. Inspecting his eye, worried sick.

          “Its nice to see you too Nyah.” Jared laughed, trying not to fall as she pulled his head down toward her. Furrowing her brow she pushed and prodded the swelling. “Nyah I'm fine really.” He chuckled.

           “No you're not fine. Someone put their fist in your eye. Where is he I wanna talk to him.” She said scowling. Cupping her face in his hands he assured her,

           “Nyah, I won. I'm fine.” He said with a smile. Brock chimed in while counting the coins they'd won,

           “Thing a beauty Nyah, shoulda seen it.” She let out a long sigh,

           “Fine. Let's get something to eat. And put some ice on that.”

           “Sounds good to me.” Jared groaned, putting his shirt back on.

           “Me too.” Brock barked. As they walked toward the local excuse for an inn, Jared looked around at the squalid mining camp they were passing through. Puddles of filth everywhere, brothels and taverns every other building. Until his sharp green eyes fell upon a woman sitting at the entrance of an alley.

           In her arms, wrapped in a blanket was a squealing child. By the look of her, she’d been on the street a long while. The shame from earlier crept over him once again. Seeping into his bones, burning his blood, stinging his skin. Gritting his teeth he snatched the hat from Brock.

         “What tha bloody hell are ye doing lad?!” he screamed. Jared trudged over to the woman and knelt down, handing it over to her. A Look of gratitude spread across her face followed by joyful tears. Jared gave her a friendly smile in response and placed his hand on her shoulder. “That was all our cash!” Brock continued. Jared stood up and began marching back toward the barn with fire in his eyes. Taking his shirt back off mid stride he responded,

         “Then I guess we gotta make some more…”

[smarky-mark]

The Brock Lesnar Problem

The Conqueror. The Beast Incarnate. The Mayor of Suplex City. The Next Big Thing. The One in 21-1. Brock Lesnar has been called many things in his illustrious career. You’d think, with all of his accomplishments and nicknames, you’d think Brock’s got a pretty good thing going for him. And while that is true, it doesn’t change the fact that Brock is pretty much the worst thing in WWE right now. And in this post, we’re going to be taking in an depth look into The Brock Lesnar Problem. Before I can go into that however, I feel like I need to point a few things out. First of all of course that this is my opinion, so if Brock is your favorite wrestler and can’t handle me criticizing him, then this probably isn’t for you. That being said, what even is the Brock Lesnar Problem? It’s the fact that despite 12 years in total in this business his wrestling ability if anything has diminished, he’s World Champion and hardly defends it, much less show up for work. And he’s paid way too much money for not doing his job. That being said, now we can dive in.

March 28, 2002. A triple threat match between Al Snow, Maven, and Spike Dudley took place on Raw, for no real reason besides being a filler. At least, that’s what everyone thought. Halfway through the match, Brock Lesnar made his debut, brutalizing all three men in a way we’d soon learn only Brock Lesnar can. Accompanied by Paul Heyman, Brock practically came out of nowhere, having spent two years in WWE’s developmental territory OVW, but actually previously known as a NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Champion. (“Real” wrestling). Brock would go on to be one of the fastest rising stars in WWE, winning the 2002 King of the Ring and beating The Rock to become WWE Champion within five months of his debut. He would win the title two more times after that, beating the likes of Kurt Angle for his second and third titles. Now this Brock Lesnar was entertaining. His wrestling style was unique, his finisher was devastating, he had a ton of great matches, the company was behind him; so what happened? Well, in my opinion, it all started at Wrestlemania XIX, and that Shooting Star Press.

If you’re a wrestling fan, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re not, then I’m impressed you’ve read this far. Basically what happened was during Kurt Angle and Brock’s match at Wrestlemania, Brock attempted to perform his old OVW finisher, a shooting star press. Now I’m including a picture of Brock with this piece, and I want you to tell me why that was an awful idea. Brock fell about six inches short, landed right on his face, and concussed himself. Brock finished the match, because it’s Brock and he doesn’t feel pain like people do, and won. However, this was the first time Brock was severely injured, and I think that’s when he realized he didn’t like that very much. We never saw him attempt the move ever again, and we saw him protect himself a lot more from then on. However, Brock couldn’t stop being rough and tough on his co workers, that would defeat the purpose of his whole character, but his refusal to take as much as he gave was the beginning of Brock’s… condition. Brock’s who is now getting larger, and his boredom with wrestling suffers because of it.

After losing his third WWE Championship to Eddie Guerrero thanks to help from Goldberg, Brock began feuding with the WCW legend. Note that now Brock had become bored with WWE, he’s already won the world title, King of the Ring,main evented Wrestlemania, and won the Royal Rumble (the four biggest accomplishments in WWE at the time, three of them still being so), and anything else seemed lesser to him. So a match between Goldberg and Brock was set for Wrestlemania XX. It had all the makings of a history maker, two of the most dominant performers in wrestling history squaring off, with special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin. But then it was released Goldberg was retiring. And then it was leaked that Brock was leaving as well. For eleven years, that match was possible the most hated Wrestlemania match in history, fans booing both men for “selling out”. They both left, and Brock moved on to things like the NFL, where he never got to play. Then he  returned to wrestling, and became one of the few Americans to win the IGWP Heavyweight Championship at New-Japan Pro Wrestling. He also squared off with his old rival Kurt Angle, who defeated him for said title. Brock Lesnar once again retired from wrestling, and made his way to UFC and won the heavyweight title there.

Fast forward to 2012. John Cena lost to The Rock at Wrestlemania XXVIII. And Brock Lesnar returns, dropping the leader of the Cenation and making a resounding return to WWE. Vince asked Brock to come back, Brock now somehow becoming a bigger draw than he was before, and being more dominant than ever. Something was different now though. He didn’t show up as often. Brock’s moveset, while limited, was entertaining, and he didn’t wrestle enough for people to notice. He had some decent matches with Triple H, John Cena, and CM Punk, but all we really wanted was to watch him beat people up the way only he could. Now the problem has increased. Brock is getting paid more for less work, and he knows it. He’s a big name, and he knows he gets paid no matter what. Slowly, Brock starts getting lazier. And this climaxes at Wrestlemania XXX, when Brock beats The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at The Showcase of the Immortals. Brock now realizes that he is one of the most high profile names in wrestling. And he abuses the absolute shit out of it. Several months later at Summerslam, Brock beats John Cena in one of the most one sided main events in WWE history, delivering a cringe inducing sixteen german suplexes to John, who got practically no offense in. I’ll admit when this happened, I was hyped, and so were a lot of other people. Brock was champion, which meant we’d get to see Brock kick ass all the time. At least, that’s what we thought. But then Brock didn’t show up four five fucking months! If you’re champion, then you need to defend said championship, not disappear with it for months at a time.

But we were saved at Wrestlemania 31, when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to beat Brock and Roman Reigns for the title. Brock disappeared for awhile after that, and we soon forgot about his poor excuse of a title reign. Brock began feuding with The Undertaker in a really fun rivalry, he entered the Royal Rumble but lost, it was really fun to watch. It’s Wrestlemania time again, and we know Brock has got a spot on the card. And it’s in a street fight, with Dean Ambrose. Everyone was so excited for this match, Dean was getting these weapons from WWE legends, Brock was beating Dean up as much as he could but Dean kept getting back up, this match had all the potential to be Match of the Year. But then it fully set in: Brock’s laziness. The match was a bore to watch, hardly any weapons were used and it was disappointingly short, much to the dismay of fans. Brock stuck to two moves, the F-5 and the german suplex. To this day it’s the only two moves he knows. On the Stone Cold podcast, Dean declared that the reason the match failed was because Brock, and I quote: “had no desire to entertain, I had all these great ideas and I was met with laziness.” The interview spread like wildfire, and more wrestlers voiced their displeasure with Brock and how unfairly they were treated compared to him. Brock disappeared again however, and soon we forgot about the whole thing. Note that in my opinion, this next stretch in Brock’s career nothing really eventful happens, he beats Mark Hunt in a one off UFC match but it gets overturned because he failed a drug test, faced Randy Orton at Summerslam and damn near killed the man after splitting his head open.

We are now at Survivor Series 2016, and it’s the rematch of the century. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar. Goldberg hadn’t wrestled in twelve years, the last time he did was when he beat Brock, did he still have it? The answer we soon learned, was no. These men had three encounters from 2016 to 2017, and each match was slightly more disappointing and sub par than the last. First Goldberg beats Brock in a minute and twenty-six seconds, which is forgivable because holy crap someone squashed Brock and also the first time he’s been pinned in three years. Then Goldberg eliminates Brock from the 2017 Royal Rumble in a couple of seconds, for no real reason. Then it climaxes at Wrestlemania, this time for the WWE Universal Championship. I think it’s safe to say that nobody was really looking forward to this match. Goldberg made it clear he only remembered his two finishers, and Brock’s laziness and WWE’s refusal to have him show up was well known. The match was several minutes of the old men tossing each other aropund and hitting their finishers, with Brock winning the title.

And we now have the Brock Lesnar problem at its worst. Brock hardly shows up to defend the title, and when he does, we’re promised absolute dream matches. Brock vs Braun Strowman, Brock vs Samoa Joe, and every time it’s the same thing. Paul Heyman hypes up Brock for three weeks, Brock finally shows up to brawl with his opponent, and the match is just a couple minutes of Brock hitting suplexes and his finisher, and then disappearing again. It’s been over a year now, and this hasn’t changed. Brock demands so much for just an appearance, and everytime WWE seems to stop tolerating his shitty behavior and unreasonable demands in his contract, he threatens to leave the company. Vince doesn’t want to lose his big draw, so he renews Brock’s contract. But what is the point of having a big draw if he only shows up a couple times a year, and wrestles even less? Just last Monday, Seth Rollins defended the Intercontinental Championship more times in a month than Brock has even wrestled the past year.

So how do we fix the issue? I personally see two options. The first one is have Brock lose the title and just have him wrestle in some high profile matches throughout the year. This keeps Brock’s pay high and lets Vince keep his ‘big draw.’ However, it doesn’t change the fact that Brock A, can’t wrestle for crap, and B, is just downright lazy. Not to mention his ego is going to tell him that if he’s not champion, he’s wasting his time. So in my opinion, the better option is to cut the company’s losses, and let Brock go. He has absolutely zero passion for the company or the fans, he’s lazy and mediocre in the ring (and that’s being generous in my opinion.), and he just doesn’t bring anything really special to the company besides a few extra dollars, but how much are they really making when Brock asks so much for an appearance? I mean if you kept pushing guys like Seth, or Finn Balor, or even Braun Strowman, they will bring just as much, if not more than Lesnar. Because this will only get worse the longer it goes, and if this doesn’t change, the demands will get crazier and we’ll be lucky to see Brock or the Universal Championship ever again. And that my friends is the Brock Lesnar problem.