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findingjoynweirdstuff · 3 years

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Dream SMP Recap (June 2/2021) - Self-Care and Reconciliation

Fundy tries some speedy self-care to follow Quackity’s directions of “finding himself.”

Foolish finds out about the supreme fridge and isn’t pleased.

Antfrost seeks out Foolish, Bad and Puffy to find peace and make amends after what happened with the Egg.

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VOD LINKS:

Philza

Tubbo

Fundy

Foolish

Eret

Captain Puffy

Antfrost

Michaelmcchill

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- Phil works on the basement some more

- Tubbo works on his outpost

- Tubbo comes over to the Arctic and visits Phil in his basement to “spy” on him

- They go to Tubbo’s outpost and Tubbo asks if Phil would like to make a TNT canon with him. Phil sees Las Nevadas

- Tubbo’s a changed person since he tried to kill Phil’s friend, and now he and Phil are on good terms!

- Tubbo and Phil start attempting to wrangle a Ghast together for the outpost

- A few days ago, Quackity told Fundy that he could have a plot of land in Las Nevadas under certain circumstances, and Fundy has a choice to join the nation or not

- When he and Quackity spoke, Quackity said that this plot of land can be his if Fundy can find himself. Fundy needs to fix what’s broken

- Living in the middle of nowhere away from other people isn’t good, so today, Fundy wants to take care of himself and become a better person

- Fundy’s snow fox is outside, but Fundy decides to let him roam for the time being

- Fundy goes outside and creates a board with signs:

FUNDY’S PLAN TO BECOME BETTER MAN:

Healthy diet! fish, steak, vegetables, fruit, dary, grains

Take care of himself. be able to cut down tree fast

mine diamonds

be able to accept therapy say “im okay with therapy”

good friends, get 3 people to say im a friend

sleep

take care of pet :)

learn to count

- He sets up a timer to do these eight things, and once it starts, he immediately runs off to fix his diet

- Fundy fetches some cod from the sea and spots Tubbo’s outpost in the distance. Curious, he goes over -- if someone lives there, that can go towards his friend goal

- Seeing that Tubbo isn’t online, Fundy messages Phil instead. He asks if they are friends, and Phil just asks what he wants. After a lot more pressing, Phil says they are friends! Fundy is his grandson, after all

- Phil asks if Fundy is safe. Fundy is overjoyed that he cares about his safety, and counts that as two friends! Fundy says he should come by to play cards sometimes, and Phil likes the idea

- To himself, Fundy whispers: “You are a friend and you are appreciated and worth something. You are cool. You are special. You are loved.”

He counts this as the final friend, and has now completed one goal!

- He creates a small patch of dirt and plants wheat, then goes mining for diamonds

- Fundy chops some trees and returns to his house

- On his bed, he psyches himself up and musters up the courage to say something

Fundy: “I...accept...and am okay...with...”

(he struggles to say the last word)

Fundy: “I accept and am okay with...therapy. I accept and am okay with THERAPY!”

- He then goes outside and learns to count by killing zombies

- After that, he has to go find his pet snow fox. He asks a nearby Enderman where he is

- Fundy and the Enderman go searching together

- Fundy can’t find the fox. He keeps searching around the forest, until he comes back towards his house and finally finds the fox sleeping on a nearby hill

- With all his other goals done, there is only one remaining: sleep.

- He goes to his bed, hesitates...

...and sleeps.

(This is a set up for next stream)

- Foolish returns to his summer home from Las Nevadas and finds the WAR sign, confused. He then notices the disappearance of the supreme fridge

- He reads the war note left in the chest for Ponk and is outraged. That fridge was his gift! Of all the buildings that have been built here, the fridge was the one thing he allowed

- There will be consequences, but as Foolish will be gone for a bit, he can’t do anything now.

- Foolish begins to go through the stages of grief, mourning the fridge, before leaving a note:

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You destroyed my fridge. It was my gift from Ponk. The one structure that was built for me on this server was destroyed. Once I go through the 5 stages of grief...I will then add on a bonus stage.......REVENGE

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- He kills one of the L’Sandburg citizen llamas to send a message

- Foolish goes to the main area and visits Eret’s fortress, noticing the totem statue Eret made in mourning. He changes the sign to simply say “in honor of Foolish” instead

- While working on his pyramid some more at the summer home, Foolish notices Antfrost just over the hill. Ant comes over, seeking to apologize for killing Foolish

Foolish: Listen Ant. From the very start I blamed the egg. And I don’t believe the REAL Antfrost killed me. Nice to see some blue eyes as well

Ant: but we didn’t listen to your warnings, we had our chances and we betrayed you and our friends. I wouldn’t blame you if you killed me right here

- Foolish doesn’t. He tells Ant that he’s moving on.

- Ant asks if there’s any way to make it up to him, and Foolish says he could use some help gathering sand (Antfrost finds sand tasty, but Foolish doesn’t eat sand. It has too many calories)

- The two gather sand together

Foolish: I hold nothing against you

Ant: thank you

Foolish: Honestly I think the banquet has changed me for the better

Ant: how so

Foolish: It has given me new found strength. Basically from here on out...I’ll be less timid to take action

Ant: well at least something good came out of it

Foolish: So how about you Antfrost, what’s next for the old sly cat

Ant: I need to talk to Puffy and Bad and Sam and everyone I’ve wronged

- Ant asks if Foolish has seen Puffy anywhere, whether there’s something he can give her as a peace offering. She likes llamas

- Foolish thanks Ant for his help. Ant says if Foolish needs anything, to let him know. Foolish looks forward to happier times

- Puffy comes on later and finds the book Foolish left in the chest. She reads it, but she still thinks getting rid of the fridge was better for the aesthetic, and she had to get back at Ponk

- She writes another letter, this time to Foolish, titled “To my sharkyson”:

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Dear Foolish!

It was not my intention to make you sad or angry! I didn’t know you cared so much for the fridge as well. it was kinda ugly and it stood out so much from the rest of the builds! But I assure you I’m not allied with Bad, my whole goal behind L’llamaburg was to keep an eye on Bad so he didn’t build any further on your land or cause you more problems.

Once Bad was gone I fully intended to disband l’llamaburg and tear it down!

Sorry for any sadness I may of caused.. you don’t need a fridge though to be reminded of how Supreme you are!

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- Ant is at the animal sanctuary. Everything’s been destroyed, but at least Floof is still alive

- He saves Asshole the fish from suffocating out of the water and puts the fish back in the aquarium

- Ant goes looking for Bad. They need to talk

- They meet at the Community House. Bad hasn’t seen Ant in a while, he hasn’t been around. Bad asks if Ant is okay, and Ant doesn’t know. He died

- Ant asks what happened. Bad says things didn’t work out according to plan. Ant remembers Quackity coming in at the Banquet...

Ant: “Bad, what did we do? I killed Foolish...”

- Bad says stuff happens and he doesn’t think anyone would blame Ant

Ant: “Bad, I killed him! What do you mean you don’t think anyone blames -- Bad, we’re monsters! Do you know what we did?”

Bad: “W-well, I try not to think about it!”

Ant: “Well you can’t just ignore -- you can’t act like we didn’t do -- Bad, I killed Foolish, we were gonna kill E-- oh my god, Eret’s on the server too.”

- Bad thinks it’s fine, Foolish will recover and Puffy killed Ant but it was one for one. Ant remembers all the horrible things he said to Puffy before he killed Foolish and asks where Bad went afterwards

- Bad had no choice but to run. He couldn’t save Ant, they were outnumbered

Ant: “...Do you not feel bad about anything? Bad, we’re...we’re mon-- we did horrible things!”

Bad: “Well I mean, yeah, you did do some horrible stuff...”

Ant: “No, YOU! You did some horrible stuff! Who pushed Skeppy into lava, Bad? Who betrayed their friends? We betrayed Sam, Bad!”

Bad: “Okay, we did some horrible stuff -- hey, no! Okay, but -- there were good reasons at the time, or we felt like there was!”

Ant: “No! No no, Bad, we let the Egg control us! No! Did the Egg give you what it promised?”

Bad: “No, ‘cause...we never completed the plan...whatever it was. Ant, I can’t remember exactly...it’s not -- look, it’s -- I don’t know...”

- Ant asks if he’s talked to Sam and Puffy yet. Bad’s trying not to think about it, but Ant says they can’t ignore this. They’re friends, they should make amends

- Ant asks if Bad’s been back down there, but Bad’s steered clear. Ant is feeling normal again

Ant: “I...Bad, do you not...We’re fucked up! We did horrible things! Our friends tried to stop us, and we didn’t listen! We didn’t do anything!”

Bad: “There’s a lot of ‘we’ going on here...”

- Bad points out Ant didn’t really say anything. Ant accuses him of blaming him

Bad: “No, I’m just saying that...if the collar fits!”

- Ant says they both did horrible things, they dragged Hannah in, Punz too and Ponk. Bad hasn’t checked up on those three since. It doesn’t seem like Bad feels bad. Ant’s been gone because he felt ashamed

- If there’s anybody that they’ve hurt the most, it’s Sam. They were the Badlands

- Bad says they were brainwashed. He knows it’s not an excuse, that they should still own up to it even if they weren’t fully to blame

- They both killed one person each. Ant accuses Bad of putting the blame on him again and says that Bad killing Skeppy was worse because they’re platonic soulmates

- Ant wants an apology for letting him die and leaving him. Bad didn’t do anything, he just watched Ant die. Bad was caught off guard. On the other hand, maybe it was a good thing that Ant died, since otherwise they would’ve killed more people

- Ant says they should own up. Bad apologizes for letting Puffy kill Ant. He should have protected Ant, not just from Puffy but from the Egg too. Ant forgives Bad and says sorry for not protecting Bad from the Egg either

- Seeing as Puffy’s online, Ant suggests they go look for her. Bad says he’ll talk to Puffy later. Ant asks about Skeppy -- Bad talked to Skeppy right after what happened, but he hasn’t seen Skeppy since. They had a bit of a confrontation

- Ant wonders if Sam will forgive them. The Badlands wouldn’t be the same without him. He leaves Bad

- Puffy comes down the Prime Path and meets Antfrost face-to-face. The two have a bit of an awkward greeting

- Puffy reminds him of what happened. He doesn’t know how to apologize, but he says sorry. For saying awful things, for killing Foolish. He doesn’t expect her to forgive him, but he apologizes for what he did

- Puffy says it wasn’t right that she killed him, even though she was acting defensively, and she apologizes as well. Ant didn’t deserve to die either, he was blinded by the Egg. She holds Bad more to blame -- Antfrost talked to him recently

- Puffy forgives Ant. She asks how Bad handled it, and Antfrost says Bad is full of guilt and is hoping he can just forget about it

- Bad hasn’t apologized to Puffy, but Ant says he’ll get around to talking to everyone. Puffy made a burner Twitter account to hate on Badboyhalo and if she doesn’t get an apology, she might have to use it

- About L’Sandburg, Ant says he was there for like five minutes, but he doesn’t know what’s been happening since

Puffy: “Ant, you have to be your own person, Ant. He always uses you as his little pet to do things for you, and you murdered a man now because of it, because of Bad.”

Bad uses Antfrost to do things. Why didn’t Bad kill Foolish himself? Why was Antfrost thrown under the bus?

- She tells Ant that he needs to stand up for himself. She had to watch so many “RIP that pussy” and “Why’d you have to kill my cat” edits, it was the worst timing

- Puffy messages Bad asking if he’s apologized to Ant. They spot Bad nearby and walk over to confront him. He’s selling arrows

- Bad says he said sorry for letting Ant die, but Ant wants an apology for Bad making him do everything. Bad says they were both just following the Egg’s orders, that Ant had a grudge against Foolish -- but Ant says he didn’t, that Bad said he had to kill people

- Bad says sorry, but the Egg just wanted it that way. They accuse him of making excuses. Bad apologizes to Antfrost for making him kill Foolish, and the two hug

- Bad and Skeppy had a disagreement after the Red Banquet, and he has to check up with him to make sure he’s okay

- Bad says sorry to Puffy for what they did while under the Egg’s influence. Puffy was told that they were turning a new leaf, letting bygones be bygones so many times that if she took a shot every time she was told that, she would get alcohol poisoning

- Bad says sorry for everything to both of them, from the bottom of his heart. Puffy accepts to be the bigger person. They’ve always been a trio, always been friends, and now that the Egg’s no longer here, she’ll let it slide

- They do a group hug

- After some chatting, Puffy accuses Bad of having a Wattpad account to write Skephalo fanfiction and they continue talking about Skeppy’s merch boxes

- Michael joins the call! They all hang out together

- Later on, Eret and Foolish join in as well!

- A while after, they all go over to Ponk’s stairway to heaven to finally destroy it

(The build dates back to at least early July, possibly June, of 2020)

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Upcoming events remain the same.

#dream smp #dream smp recaps #long posts

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alexplayssimsnstuff · 5 years

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Bella Goth Disappearance FINALLY Solved!

Back in the day, I had originally subscribed to the theory that Bella was abducted by aliens that were set on her by the Caliente’s who then murdered her when she returned, and so I went in the game to do a walkthrough as to how I came to that theory. That’s when I found that I WAS WAYYYY OFF, there is a whole ass rabbit-hole here, and like a total Alice, I fell in it.

And, after 16 years of wondering and imagining different scenarios, I finally found out the truth. Turns out, we were ALL wrong, and the truth has been staring at us in the face the whole time.

Just as a warning, this is VERY dark and bleak and depressing. Bella wasn’t dealt a good hand, guys. What happened to her was all sorts of MESSED up.

Just for clarity, I do base this off of events that happen in the official sims storyline, because while the game is ultimately up to us to live life as we like, go ahead and do whatever with your game, there IS a story being told here, but in a way that doesn’t conflict with our own free will. It’s ingenious, really. This goes with the main Sims games released for PC and Mac. However, the console versions do provide a lot of insight to further details and situations. Specifically the Sims 2 for PSP, and the Sims 3 for the Nintendo DS.

So, first off, it has been verified what happened to her: In 2014, Twitter held an AMA for the SimGurus just before the release of the Sims 4. Someone asked the following question, and SimGuru Sarah responded.

It was later confirmed that Bella Goth of Lunar Lakes IS the Bella Goth of Pleasantview. She does look like the rest of the ghosts there with pale skin and yellow hair and eyes, and with that in mind, you can see for yourself…

That’s her, alright.

Okay, if she died on Lunar Lakes, there are still questions that need answers:

1. Did she ever go home?

2. Does her family know what happened to her?

3. How did she die on Lunar Lakes?

Well, she died of old age, that can be found out easily enough, but I found the answers to the other two: Kinda and no.

So, just to recap, I’m gonna review Bella’s life as we know it canonically.

Bella was born to Simis and Jocasta Bachelor of Sunset Valley. She grew up the road from her childhood best friend, and later, husband, Mortimer Goth, with her older brother Michael. She always had a sense of the macabre and dark and was known as “the best dressed girl in town.” Even then she wore a red dress. A more child appropriate red dress, but a red dress. She just came from an average suburban family who had a fascination for the not average. She’s still a child, and not a Goth yet. She still goes by the surname Bachelor.

Twenty-five years later, she shows up in the Sims 1 with her childhood best friend and now husband, Mortimer Goth, and they have moved into their own home, and have a daughter, Cassandra. Her in-laws moved out of their home in Sunset Valley and moved into what would later become the Goth House of the Sims 2 in the beginnings of what would be known as Pleasantview. Unless you got her a job, she was a housewife, and she was known to be athletic, elegant, and friendly towards her neighbors. I remember her often being the first to come and say hello to any new Sims I’d move into the neighborhood. Her brother, Michael, is also in town, however, there is no acknowledgement of them being siblings. A family tree system didn’t really exist in the Sims 1, and I’m sure they didn’t even think to make them siblings back then, but the fact remains that they have no relationship at this point in time. The only reason why it’s known that Cornelia and Gunther Goth are Mortimer’s parents is because it straight up says so in the bio. That and their names are the same, but anyway.

So far, things are simple.

That’s because in the 25 years between the Sims 1 and 2, a series of events occurs that really makes things interesting.

Michael joins the science career track. One can assume the reason why he settled into domestic living years after Bella had done so was because he was at grad school. Because he was graduated from grad school, he gets a jumpstart in the career and climbs the latter a lot faster than Mortimer does.

1. Scientist Sims contribute an invention into the Sims world. Michael’s invention was cloning technology. He cloned himself, and a test subject: Skip Broke.

a. Even though he died before it happened, arrangements were made so Brandi could be the next test subject and the first female subject, and when you start Pleasantview for the first time, she is pregnant with her own clone. The baby is always born a boy.

b. Michael’s clones have a 100% rate of being male, genetic identicals to those they were cloned from (Brandi’s just being a boy rather than a girl) and so far, a 100% rate of dying at the same time as the original. They are genetically identical, but wear different clothes.

2. Michael and Bella don’t really have a relationship in their adult lives because Michael leaves Pleasantview early on while Cassandra is still a child and moves to the city.

3. Mortimer follows after Michael, and invents the age reversal serum. Bella is the first test subject, and, the day of her abduction, she takes the serum until she reverts back to being a brand-new adult. Probably to allow herself to fit in her red dress as strikingly as she does, I don’t think an elderly woman could pull that off.

4. Cassandra enters private school.

5. Around this time, Gunther Goth dies. Bella, Mortimer, and Cassandra move out of their home and in with Cornelia to be with her in her last stages of life.

6. Michael marries Dina Caliente. It is speculated that, because of the age gap, they only marry for Michael’s money. But it is worth noting that Michael was Dina’s first serious relationship and she didn’t begin to cheat on Michael with Don until years later just before Michael died.

7. Alexander is born.

8. Shortly after Alexander’s birth, Cornelia dies at the same time Michael does.

9. Dina inherits Michael’s estate and moves in with Nina. They then move to Pleasantview.

10. Don follows them and moves the next day.

11. Bella goes to introduce herself to her new neighbor, Don. They get along, and Don gets the wrong idea and puts the move on Bella. Bella rejects him. He then runs off to go be with Kaylynn and is not there when Bella is abducted by aliens.

12. Bella is never seen again, but shortly after her abduction, a UFO crashlands in Strangetown, and reports that Bella is in Strangetown start rolling in. But, spoiler alert, that’s not the real Bella.

Then, after Bella’s abduction and before you start Pleasantview for the first time, the following happens:

1. Mortimer and Dina hit it off rather fast, and marriage is definitely in the picture when the game first starts.

2. Cassandra, Mortimer, and Alexander all age up on the same day 2 days after Bella disappears.

3. Cassandra goes to Don’s house to find out what he knows about what happened to Bella (jack squat since he wasn’t there) and that’s where they meet for the first time. Don tries to seduce her, probably not knowing who she is, and Cassandra, as much as you gotta love the girl, is naïve as all hell and thinks she won the jackpot and falls for Don quickly.

4. Alexander goes to private school

5. Mortimer retires

6. Cassandra gets engaged the VERY day the game starts.

That is an important thing to note because people like to speculate that Don had something to do with Bella’s disappearance because he made the moves on her mother and they were engaged and he didn’t want to jeopardize that by Bella opening her yap. This is NOT the case because Cassandra was still a teenager when Bella vanished. Don may be a hoe, but he isn’t a pedo. Chris Hansen doesn’t need to be called for this one.

Another important thing to point out is that it’s not known if Dina and Nina knew Bella. At least, not well, since it can’t be established if Michael and Bella had a relationship at all. Despite the fact that they were friends when they were younger, Mortimer has no memories of Michael, and neither do Cassandra or Alexander. They never met their uncle.

ALSO, yes Dina and Nina do have alien ancestry. Their father was a result of an alien abduction pregnancy. But he was born human, so they’re not part alien. Which means they didn’t order ANY aliens to go and kidnap anybody. Why would they? They don’t know her. Not even normal alien sims do that, y’all are just racist.

It’s also worth noting that Mortimer is COMPLETELY fine with Bella being gone. He’s not heartbroken and he isn’t desperately trying to find her like the game tries to suggest. He’s strangely cool about it.

Why is Mortimer fine with Bella being gone?

Because they are no longer married and haven’t been since around the time Alexander was born.

And THAT, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, is the BIGGEST part that y’all need to just remember. If you can only take one thing away from this part, take away the fact that they’re divorced. It’s S U P E R important.

Now, it is possible to bring Bella back with the Tombstone of Life and Death. She’ll only stick around for a short while because she has a death token that activates when you save the lot, go into Pleasantview, and reload the Goth House. She’ll disappear. Interesting to note that if she’s in the middle of doing something, like talking with a sim or cooking food, she doesn’t disappear completely until she’s done. She does turn see-through and it kinda glitches out…it’s really creepy. Give it a try, you’ll see what I mean. But when she’s done, she’ll disappear, and you’ll get a notification saying she died somewhere else and her spirit has returned to where she was buried.

However, if she dies this way, you cannot resurrect her with the resurrect-o-nomitron. It doesn’t matter who tries it, where they are, or anything. Grim acts like he doesn’t know anything about Bella being dead and even if the Sim COULD resurrect a sim, Bella is not listed.

Since we know Bella is buried in Lunar Lakes, this means she died sometime between the week of her abduction and Cassandra’s wedding where the game starts.

However, while you have Bella in your household, you’ll find she’s brought back with no personality points. She has no memories besides what happened to her children after the first load of Pleasantview. So let’s say that between loading the game and bringing back Bella with the Tombstone, Cassandra gives birth to twin boys. Bella will come back with memories that Cassandra had twins, and she will even know who her grandchildren are. (I use this example because in my most recent Pleasantview playthrough, Cassandra had twin boys named Hendrick and Caspian with Don Lothario.)

Bella will have NO relationship at all whatsoever with Mortimer. You can see before you bring her back on the Goth family tree that they are not married at that point, and Mortimer and Bella start their relationship over as acquaintances. If you let them progress their relationship naturally with no cheats, they actually fight a lot and do not get along at all.

Now, any townie and NPC created before Nightlife will have their turn-on and turn-offs randomized. But it seems to constantly make it so that Bella is never attracted to Mortimer and Mortimer is RARELY attracted to Bella. This is a consistent thing. Interesting to take into consideration.

It’s clear to me, at least, that there were some problems boiling up for some time before Bella vanished.

--they get divorced at around the same time Alexander is born

--they do not get along at all

--Mortimer is completely fine after Bella’s disappearance and isn’t the frantic husband he’s marketed to be at this point in time.

--Mortimer gets into a relationship with Dina Caliente extremely soon after Bella vanishes.

--If Bella does come back and Mortimer is still alive, they naturally do not get along at all.

Which is weird, right? They were always shown to be this desperately in love couple who couldn’t live without eachother. I remember them having a good relationship in the Sims 1.

Also worth noting, Bella is a romance aspiration sim. In the Sims 2, they tend to hoe around a lot. There are a few other adult sims in Pleasantview who are also romance aspiration sims.

1. Don Lothario (the epitome of the romance aspiration)

2. Nina Caliente

3. Daniel Pleasant

4. Skip Broke was also a romance aspiration sim when he was alive.

What is interesting is that while for the most part, romance aspiration sims like to hoe around, there is one exception to this rule so far: Nina Caliente. Nina Caliente’s only romantically involved with Don Lothario. Unless you have another sim start putting the moves on her, then it’s a whole other story. If it were a thing back then, Nina would have been a soulmate romance aspiration while the others would have been serial romantic aspirations.

Bella COULD have been the same way, but that wouldn’t make any sense with the myriad of problems with her relationship with Mortimer.

So, in conclusion, Bella had an affair. Mortimer found out about it, which caused them to, at the least, separate for a while. Then, Bella became pregnant with Alexander, which would have brought up an important question—who is Alexander’s father? Once Alexander was born, and as he got a little older, it becomes clear that he resembles Cornelia, therefore verifying that Mortimer is indeed his father. This would have caused them to try their relationship again, and Bella would have turned down Don in good faith to Mortimer.

Who did Bella have an affair with?

Don wasn’t in town yet, and they hadn’t met. Neither did she meet the Caliente’s yet. Which leaves two possible contenders for Bella’s secret lover: Daniel Pleasant and Skip Broke.

On one hand, Daniel was Bella’s neighbor. She knew the Pleasants, and was friends with Mary-Sue. Daniel had an affair with Kaylynn going on, so he definitely could have some action on the side with Bella, too. My only reservation on that would be that I couldn’t imagine her doing that to her best friend. But then again, she did have an affair on her husband, so who’s to say what her morals are.

Then, there’s Skip Broke. This one makes the most sense to me, personally. While she wasn’t close with Michael, that doesn’t mean she completely avoided him altogether. She would have heard about Michael’s cloning experiments and could have met Skip that way, or she came to say hello and that was how they met. There is a theory going around that Brandi found out Skip was cheating on her, and that’s why she killed him and took his insurance money.

Maybe I’ll do another thing on that because the Skip Broke incident happens to be another rabbit hole altogether.

So, we know that Bella had an affair with Mortimer and things weren’t going so well between them at the time of her disappearance. We know that the Calientes and Don are completely innocent, at least as far as her disappearance goes. (And Nina is innocent altogether, she just loves Don and is completely oblivious to the fact that he’s doing her sister and two other women. She is ALSO a victim here, you guys. Give some love to Nina Caliente, she needs it.)

She dies sometime in the week between her abduction and the first time the Goth household is booted up from old age on Lunar Lakes despite the fact that she was a brand new adult again thanks to Mortimer’s reverse age serum.

Then a UFO crashlands in Strangetown and shortly thereafter reports of Bella Goth being in Strangetown start swarming around.

And yes, this Bella is a clone—there are subtle facial similarities, she is not in the family tree at all for the Goth house, but other than that, she’s structured exactly like the Real Bella goes as far as her outfit, her personality, and her aspiration.

(The Wiki says it’s her despite the fact that it’s been verified she’s not, and it also has MANY discrepencies, saying she’s related to the Curious Family and they appear on her family tree, which is incorrect because Strangetown Bella’s family tree is COMPLETELY EMPTY.)

So, clearly, when Bella was abducted, something went wrong. But what?

Well, why would the aliens even abduct her in the first place?

They tend to go after sims who are wealthy, high-skilled, good-looking, popular, anything like that. Bella was ALL of those things. She was the epitome of the perfect sim to the aliens. They practically worshipped her and their queen took her name and appearance. (This is referenced several times, specifically in the Sims 3.)

So, if something were to go wrong, why would the aliens worship her unless she had been being watched for some time before her abduction?

And what went wrong that caused her to lose her memories, her skills, her personality, her youth, everything?

Aliens also do not abduct children, the elderly, and pregnant sims because their experimentation could go drastically wrong.

She wasn’t a child, and reversed her age so she wouldn’t be an elder for quite some time—

So the only thing that’s left is that she was pregnant when she was abducted and that was why things went wrong.

She wouldn’t have known this, and neither would the aliens—it’s possible that the baby was conceived that day, which helped Bella in the case where Don was hitting on her—she wouldn’t go cheating on Mortimer if she were trying to rekindle their relationship and they had made it to woo-hoo that day.

Also worth noting is that there IS another Goth on Lunar Lakes who happens to look exactly like Bella.

Anyone recognize her?

This is Mathilde Goth.

She is the long-lost third child of Mortimer and Bella Goth.

No, they don’t appear on eachother’s family tree, but they wouldn’t if Bella died shortly after giving birth to her and Mathilde was put in the orphanage.

Mathilde looks almost identical to Bella with the exception of her blue eyes. She also has a preference for blue where Bella preferred red.

Mathilde has no idea where her mother came from and the fact that she has a family on Earth who is just as oblivious to her existence as she is to theirs.

What happens to Cassandra and Alexander after they find out about Bella’s death?

Remember how I said scientist sims end up inventing something?

Cassandra’s invention is time travel. She makes a time machine and the first use is to send Don to the future after her, Dina, Nina, and Kaylynn find out that he was playing all of them. She then goes on to live her life. We don’t know how that looks yet, but she never finds out what happened to her mother and that she has a younger sister.

Alexander is greatly affected by his mother’s death. He has no memories of her being abducted by aliens. Normally toddlers remember things like that so it’s odd that he doesn’t when the rest of his family does. What he does remember is her disappearing, Mortimer being okay with it and getting together with Dina really fast after she vanished, and then finding out that his mother was dead.

Alexander is a child prodigee. He’s a smart kid. So, he would go with any other conclusion someone would go with that limited information: he believed Mortimer killed her.

Well, Cassandra still has her time machine after she uses it to get rid of Don. And as we all know, Alexander’s name shows up in the Sims 3 a few times despite the fact that he doesn’t exist yet. And, according to the Goth family tree, it’s not a family name of an ancestor of his, he is the only Alexander Goth.

Once again, we’re going to reference a console game. This time is the Sims 3 for the Nintendo DS. Alexander actually makes an appearance, and this time, he’s not alone: he’s married to a woman named Cecelia. The family bio says that their gloominess is BECAUSE of Mortimer. Alexander dyed his hair orange. Probably he was trying to bleach it and didn’t know what toner was. He doesn’t have that great of a relationship with Cecelia, as a matter of fact, she has a better relationship with Don Alto than she does her own husband.

Back in the realm of the PC games, Alexander wrote two books when he went back in time to the continuity of the Sims 3:

Baron Graff Van Gold, which comes with Supernatural,

And then there’s the one that appears in the base game.

Murder in Pleasantview.

To string it altogether, Alexander remembers her being gone, then learning she died. He suspects Mortimer was the one to do it but he never actually talks to his father about it. He doesn’t know anything about the abduction, if anything thinking it a ridiculous rumor. He grows up, gets married, and decides at some point in time to go back in time to try and prevent his mother’s death. So he and his wife go into the time machine and try to go back to when it happened, but instead get sent back wayyyy too far to when his parents are still children. What happens to the time machine? It breaks. He’s stuck in a period of time where Time travel wasn’t a thing and no one really knows how to help him and he sure as hell doesn’t know himself. Effectively, he’s stuck there.

So, he writes A Murder in Pleasantview to tell the story of what he thinks happens to his mother. He doesn’t know it’s really all for nothing, but at the same time, it is because of what ends up happening as a result. A result he probably didn’t even know would happen.

See, A Murder in Pleasantview is a best-seller. It blows up the world of 50 years before his time. Every bookshelf has a copy of this book, standard-load. Sims would have read this, and would be influenced accordingly. They would have made better decisions, not wanting this tragic thing to happen to them.

And yes, it does literally take the world by storm. Better decisions in the past truly make for a better future.

This is where the Sims 4 comes in. It is a different continuity, but it is different because they are aware of what Alexander believes to have happened to Bella. This would be why their personalities are so completely different, why the age gap between Cassandra and Alexander aren’t so extreme, why the Goths are so much more reclusive.

Alexander did something that inadvertently changed the future, eliminating himself and his circumstances entirely. He vanished suddenly, probably in a series of events identical to Back to the Future, where he is then allowed to live his life as a child with his mother in the picture, having no idea what he believed happened to her, nor knowing the truth. He erases his little sister altogether, but he can’t be blamed for that since he didn’t know she even existed.

What happened to his wife? Did she get erased like Alexander did?

No, actually she died. She tried repairing the time machine, failed, and was electrocuted to death as a result. She died young and is buried in the Goth mansion’s graveyard, confusing future generations because no one knows where she comes from because she has the surname Goth but they can’t find her on their family tree.

Lolita Goth was the wife of Alexander Goth.

Yes, it says she’s single, which means one of two things happened:

Either she tried repairing the time machine one last time after Alexander vanished and died,

Like Alexander’s marriage to Cecelia, they didn’t have the best relationship and they ended up getting a divorce, then, possibly with Alexander still around, did the same and died.

She clearly wanted to go back home to her time and wasn’t happy with Alexander for being stuck there.

And it makes sense that she would have been electrocuted with the time machine because there are no other objects in the Goth Mansion that would result in her electrocution.

Which would ALSO explain why the Goths of the Sims 3 can’t figure out who she is. You can’t list a descendent and their wife on your family tree if they don’t exist yet, can you?

Tragedy is just par for the course in the Goth Family, it matches their dark and dreary macabre air. But Bella’s story is just really extra sad. Imagine trying to repair your failed marriage, going to meet a new neighbor only for him to put the moves on you without invitation, then get abducted by aliens where their experiments go wrong, causing you to lose your memories, your personality, your youth, and then you find out that it went wrong because you’re pregnant, which you didn’t know about that either, and your kidnappers take a tissue sample from you, and then drop you on a strange planet far from home where you have no way to communicate to them that you’re there, but you don’t remember anyone but your children anyway, leaving you to have a baby you didn’t even know existed when you were abducted and live just long enough to name her?

The truth has been staring at us in the face since 2014, but we all missed it. Me included for the longest time. It’s been 16 years since Bella went missing, and we all had theories and ideas, but THIS is the truth, and it’s really. Messed up. Yeah, I found out what happened to Bella, but do I like it? No, not at all. Bella deserved better, and so do her children. Mathilde especially. She grew up in an orphanage never knowing she had a family who would have loved her so very much, only to become a mailcarrier on her home planet. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a mailcarrier, don’t get me wrong.

Dina Caliente is innocent, but seriously? Bye.

Nina Caliente is innocent, and really deserves better.

Don Lothario is innocent, but yet he sucks.

Mortimer Goth used to be my favorite out of the Goth family, yes, even over Bella. But after learning everything about him I have mixed feelings about the guy. I don’t blame him for not trusting Bella, and I don’t blame him for wanting to move on, but jeez, at least show a little genuine emotion, Morty, she was your childhood best friend, and, if nothing else, the mother of your children.

There was no plot to get rid of her and swipe the Goth fortune.

It was just poor timing on the alien’s end, and bad luck altogether.

So, yeah.

That’s what happened to Bella Goth.

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-Yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 1

It’s been a while since I visited the many times Yugi should have gone to jail, AKA season Zero, and I’m excited to visit it again.

If you just got here, this is Season Zero, which is very different vibe and a different direction plotwise than the other seasons and you can read the season zero recaps from the start in chrono order here: https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi%20muto/chrono

So be warned, this is a 90′s anime, and it will do 90′s anime things, and I expect y’all reading this aren’t like 12.

Like I said in an earlier post, I wrote this out fully when I was going through the symptoms from my second dose--which PS, is worth it--but those symptoms knocked me out for 10 days. I was kind of a space cadet, and yo, I made some mistakes. Including writing this post out in full and then not clicking “save” on this post and then not realizing I had done that until several days later.

So long story short, I don’t remember what I originally wrote here, but lets all assume it was weird, and didn’t make sense and wasn’t funny. We’ll just assume this was for the best that it was deleted forever.

So this episode is about 2 things: Yo-yos and Jounouchi. Both get used as a tool for violence, and both need to get just a little bit cursed by Yugi to scale it the hell back. So, understandably, we start off this episode with Jounouchi, who has eagerly identified with this off brand yo-yo he apparently got out of a dumpster for being just a huge ass defect.

(more Yo-Yo crimes under the cut)

I see you dodging copyright infringement, Yugioh. Eireboy.

Also whenever I read “Eireboy” I do it in my mind in the same pacing and vocal tones that Pegasus uses to say “Kaiba boy.” Something about it’s conjunction to Yugioh, I see anything with “boy” at the end of it, and it’s voiced by a weird guy with one eye.

So I wrote these caps under the influence of my second dose, just assuming y’all understand the life I lived, but I realized writing this episode...traveling bands of yo-yo performers that go to your school and shill yo-yos with yo-yo shows in the hopes that it will get you so obsessed with yo-yos that you will not join a gang and do drugs and have sex may be just an American thing.

So when I saw a yo-yo episode I was like “Tight! Clearly, the yo-yo clowns have come to town!” and I assumed everyone in this class would be draped in yo-yos, because I just assumed that at some point at School you will get MAD OBSESSED with yo-yos for about 2 weeks.

But in this episode, everyone was like “Jounouchi, why are you playing with a random yo-yo?” and it didn’t occur to me until typing this out just now: only Jounouchi is doing this. He did this unprompted, without the encouragement of a bunch of middle aged performers doing tricks to techno music.

So instead, I have to think of Jounouchi as Ralphie in this scenario, and he just got a official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas, but he’s gonna shoot his eye out.

Because yo-yos in this episode are basically guns.

...Kind of like a duel deck was also just a gun...

...or the wands in Harry Potter...

...which honestly...I’ve probably said this before but where I’m from, we just use straight up guns in these elaborate analogies because we freakin have to make the point crystal clear. The moment Ralphie finally got his hands on a bb-gun, he very nearly shot his eye out and broke his glasses. And that scene will haunt me until my dying day...

...but fine, we can use yo-yos, I guess it works, although to me, yo-yo’s are just teachers hoping you’ll become such a dork that no gang will accept you (and then in this universe, it does the opposite? So freakin weird).

The beginning of this episode is Jounouchi trying do his best to impress with his skills, but in actuality, getting very close to clubbing Anzu with a yo-yo. And, while Anzu is the strongest person in Yugioh in the later seasons, I feel like Season Zero Anzu is another level. It’s a serious tempt of fate that Jounouchi is doing, so Honda wisely cuts him off from doing any more of that so she won’t end up strangling yet another person in broad daylight in the middle of school.

Remember your yo-yo safety, children.

Straight up, Honda’s version of yo-yo safety is to just Never Use a Yo-Yo and that’s the most gun safety thing ever that they’ve slipped into this Yugioh Episode. I almost expected Yuugi to pull a “well, actually, I use a hunting yo-yo to get enough venison to feed my family.” But youknow, he lives in a city, so while Yugioh is pretty weird and Yuugi has to worry about a lot of things--he doesn’t have to worry about that.

This is actually foreshadowing, which I only realized in hind sight, mostly because I just can’t associate a Yo-yo with crime. Joey knowing how to use a yo-yo was foreshadowing that he was absolutely part of this gang in a past life.

Yeah that one went completely over my head the first time and the second time and it really wasn’t until just now that I finally caught it. Hoo boy, sometimes I wonder why y’all let me analyze this show.

Jounouchi decides to confront the yo-yo bandits and everyone else is like “Silly Jounouchi, he’s not gonna do that. That would be stupid.” And...in S0, they don’t know him well enough yet to know that he really is that much of a well meaning dumbass.

I think a S1-5 Yugi would have been sprinting out the door to keep Joey from killing himself (again), but Season Zero Yuugi had hope that Jounouchi would just naturally tucker out and fall asleep or something.

And he was so wrong.

Anzu’s “New Tricks” line was from the dub itself and man that’s a good line. I love Anzu’s sass in Zero.

So, Honda decides to help them find Jounouchi so all of them together could give Jounouchi an intervention for skipping school. This is the same Honda that once skipped school to babysit a tomagachi and said it was because of “Maternity leave,” but don’t worry about the hypocrisy, because from this episode we learned that Jounouchi needs a very short leash.

So this episode is a great Jounouchi episode to explain stuff that still hasn’t been explained in 5 seasons of Yugioh. In S1-5, we don’t get much about his home life other than his Mom left and his Sister lives far away and is like sickly as hell. We know nothing else. But this is the episode where we finally get to find out why Yuugi and his Grandfather decided to basically adopt him from S1 onward.

Yugioh is tackling some pretty heavy territory, but I respect the show for not trying to magically change Jounouchi’s parents like they did to Dartz. Instead, the crew decide to reach out and try to find their friend who clearly didn’t go home last night (and won’t be going back for a while), by checking every alleyway in Domino.

Fun fact Yuugi drops this episode, Domino is one of the biggest cities on Earth. This makes the Battle City Tournament even more crazy when you realize Kaiba shut down several blocks but, it also makes a tiny bit more sense how we have so many Millennium items in one place. (Yet...it still doesn’t explain Bakura and Joey’s accent.) And, I guess if your city is just extra large, you get an extra large warehouse district, too.

Speaking of, they eventually find Jounouchi at his new (but also old) crime antics mugging some random stranger next to this Game store that I just realized was cropped so it looks like it says “GANG.”

Say hello to our crime clown. He’s sort of like a discount joker, and that beanie is...man it is green.

I forget this green exists sometimes, but Season Zero has it as one of their prime colors. Good ol’ Retro Kaiba green.

I’m a little tempted to swatch Season Zero a bit and figure out their full color scheme--it’s really saturated, which is interesting when you compare it to the later seasons which are a lot more muted since...the 00′s were like that, they greyed a lot of colors out. But I’ll do it later if I do, maybe another post for another day.

Jounouchi and Honda, before they moved to the school with Yuugi in it, used to go to the same school and up until now I just assumed they were close friends. But apparently they were a lot more distant than that. I’m sure they met up several times as Jounouchi destroyed stuff and Honda came along in his volunteer janitor outfit to put the stuff the hell back, and maybe that’s how they got to know eachother better?

But basically, Jounouchi was the freakin worst, and Jounouchi’s best friend was Hirotani--this 45 year old 15 year old with the blue pony and turquoise fade--and Honda has SO MUCH hot goss to say about it.

I really get the gist that Honda may not have liked anyone else at his old school, like at all. Like maybe Honda likes cleaning up trash so much because his school was just trash top to bottom.

As is tradition, Yuugi got his tar beat in by Hirotani. Another concussion to add to his list of issues to tell his future therapist that lives in that puzzle he wears around his neck.

I still expect him to do a double cross, but it seems they wanted to keep it a relatable and more realistic fall-out, where Jounouchi has just bounced on them without even a goodbye. He and his Dad had a bad fight, and Jounouchi was like “well so long to all of this and everyone that has anything to do with it.”

In later seasons, Joey is the one trying to save other people. He’s saving his Sister, he’s saving Mai, he’s saving Yugi, but in this season Jounouchi’s friends had to save Jounouchi from himself a few times now.

I like this depth to his character, I’ll be honest. I can understand why S1-5 don’t touch on it, and I don’t think it’s because they didn’t want to have an abusive Dad storyline, because they did that several times over with Seto Kaiba (man the Dad situation in Yugioh is DIRE.) Instead they probably just felt like Season Zero already did it, so why do it again?

It’s just a shame that it wasn’t talked about in the other seasons. Joey makes a lot more sense to me now because we get to see why Jounouchi is so hard set on saving people. S4 Mai Valentine, who ditched everyone and joined a gang? That’s basically a Joey move, and that was why Joey Wheeler was all over that.

Really would have added a lot to that particular arc if the show...actually talked about Joey’s history at all rather than assume I would have watched something that was never released in the States. Instead...it just looked a lot like he had only romantic motivations, which may not have been what they were going for.

Speaking of romantic, check out this sunset. Like the sun is exploding for some reason--just a wild sunset you only see for a still frame before a commercial break.

As Joey, youknow, takes on an entire rival gang single-handedly.

Hey guys, I lived near a pretty big city most of my life and I have been on a roof...once. Just the one time when I was doing an internship in SF with a painter and we needed to take a reference photo of his painting for a gallery (and it was hella sketch, and we weren’t exactly allowed up there). Who are all these people giving teens Roof Access? It’s so hard to get! Even if you live in an apartment of a tall building, I can count on zero of my fingers the amount of times I was allowed on that roof. But TV shows and movies--they freakin love roof gardens and roof hangouts and roof fights.

Am I missing out?? How did y’all get on the ROOF? I know I’m on S5 of Yugioh now and I have seen a lot of roof stuff, but like...is this normal for everyone else? I know there’s schools that have roof sport--that’s common in the city everywhere--but that’s like...specialized roofs with 30 ft chainlink fencing and really good supports to your body doesn’t fall straight through it when you jump too much. The hell is using their normal ass roof?

This gang should have their legs swinging halfway into the floor below them, is all I’m saying, if my roof couldn’t handle our solar heating, then a normal ass roof cannot support a gang fight.

But it does look really, really cool.

Anyway, Anzu does some offscreen snooping and finds out where the crime hangs out, and suggests that we step right into crime zone and just yank Jounouchi out of there. Which is something you would only do and say if you were Anzu and cannot fear death.

If it were Jay’s it would be with an ‘s. That’s how you do a plural Jay. But it’s the 90′s, so we put a “z” on the end of everything that should have been an “s” and that’s how you get the...

I mean, thank you, dubbers, for not saying “Jizz” but for reals...that be Jizz.

Please don’t flag me, Tumblr. (which, PS, I think they turned off the flagbot, Tumblr hasn’t flagged me in forever and I’m so thankful. Mods are asleep, we can talk about anime again)

So even though Honda decided that he was fed up with Jounouchi and didn’t want to save his ass, he decided to give it another go but complete with some new sash. He also did this without telling any of the others, who just kinda spectated him for a little while.

Honestly, if they weren’t laughing at him, I wouldn’t have known that this sash was any weirder than any of his other sashes. I don’t know really know what a school uniform should look like. It’s a shame, I feel like this series has a lot of jokes and puns probably soaring right over my head.

A little bit embarrased he was caught being vulnerable, Honda decides to give us a little more context to why he ever decided to give Jounouchi the time of day in the first place.

They had PE class once, and Honda apparently loves the hell out of PE. Jounouchi ran really fast in a straight line that one time, and that is why he’s trustworthy friend material. He just needs to stop joining gangs, and he’ll be solid.

I have no idea if the fandub put that in there or if that was native to the show, but Miho legit stans Honda/Jounouchi and acts as if she’s off to write some fanfiction about it. Honestly if she did, it would make her so much more interesting of a character.

And so, until next time, we shall have to wait and see exactly what Yami Yuugi is going to do with a freakin Yo-yo and I’m sure it’s all sorts of real effed up. Excited to get there, honestly. A shame it had to happen on the part that isn’t dubbed yet, but I’ve done these subbed before, it’ll be fine!

#Season Zero #Yuugi Muto #Jounouchi #Honda #Anzu #yo-yo #Jounouchi joins a gang #Gotta go save Jounouchi's ass I guess #Miho #she was here too I guess #Just a great Jounouchi episode for the Jounouchi stans out there

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goji-pilled · 2 years

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MK-S: Dark souls update.

Did some research on the dragon. If I recall correctly, breath attack is both magic and fire; given the color, I thought it was some form of unique poison.

And he just levitated me into the air. This must be that “take double damage” thing I read about…well, that wasn’t too bad. You’d think he just eat me while I’m floating. Apparently you can cut his tail off, but he rarely brings it down low enough…I’m going to try it for a bit.

Screw it. It’s been five minutes and it seems the only opening is when he’s swinging the darn thing…there is a VERY pleasant upside to this though: my str and dex are both 25, so I’m not going to wield that weapon soon regardless, but the better news is a clarification on that time I gave. Not five minutes of attempts. Five minutes of the battle. I’m getting good at reading his attack patterns. In fact, if anyone is ever stuck on any boss in any game, I recommend the following: take a few attempts, not to try to win, but merely to survive. Learn their patterns, break bad habits, etc. Applies to Dark Souls, Sekiro, Hollow Knight, etc.

Got him down by about a quarter or a little less. Mask of the child helps with stamina regen. And I’ve gotten good at reading at of his attacks. But he’s keeping a few up his sleeve; found the rear tail slam attack. That one is the opportunity for hitting his tail with the CGS (to recap, an abbreviation of cursed Artorias sword). Going to check something: how much damage would a regular soul arrow do against him with Manus Catalyst? Increased strength, but halves spell uses; but if it does alright or even just chip damage, and even halved, I still have a bunch, then it may be usable.

Little over a quarter of the way that time. Lasted quite a few minutes that battle did. Definitely need to re-equip a wand; if I’m not close enough for melee, I’d like to be able to punish at least some openings.

Remember how I lost to Pinwheel? I think I have redeemed myself:

Believe it or not, I actually timed this fight. I figured it would be a good metric to use. Didn’t think I’d win this run. I think this attempt three or four for today, no idea how many other times I’ve tried in days prior. But for context, this fight took 10 minutes and 41 seconds. I did not get his tail, he doesn’t like to be facing away from me. But I got REALLY good at reading his attacks. Only consumed 10 estus flasks, but there were several points I lucked out and he did some attack I could easily dodge. In this dance, if I missed my “turn” I’d have to forgo a heal until he attacked and my turn rolled around. But now the ring of take more damage from everything is mine.

Heh…I kinda feel almost hollow, no pun intended…alright, a little intended, but not by much. This journey is starting to come to a close.

When, because it will eventually be a when not an if, I buy Dark Souls 2 and 3, would you like similar updates on progress for those? (Or if you’d like I can put my experiences through the frame a a “Candeloro plays video game journal” sort of work. That may be fun.)

Here’s hoping I can resist buying them Before they go on sale. I can afford them, but if I can muster the will to wait for a sale, I could afford them AND…well, literally anything else, the advantage of saving money when you can. I always was tempted to buy them, but always took them out of my Steam Cart, under a motto of “play the first one, before you buy the series.”

I’m gonna farm a bit. Then I gotta kill the daughter of chaos for her soul, kill the hybrid in the painted world, maybe make sure I upgrade as much of my stuff as I can, etc.

oh, apparently the kiln knights drop what I’m looking for. Off to there I go!

I will never get used to this place. Is this…wait, I can reach this place without the serpent by just jumping in a hole and then…something softens the fall. So it is just down. But then where the heck is this place? Is it not just time that has been torn asunder in Lordran, but space as well? …actually, that could make sense; Gwyn linking the fire did Something, and such an act could alter local space-time.

These broken pillars and bridge supports look almost…organic. Like they’re fossilized remains of something once alive, trying to look like a building. Almost looks like I’m entering a giant rib cage…and if I am, the heart is where the fire’s at…

Oh there’s a Ornstein statue by the Anor Lando Bonfire. Cool.

Think I’ll get my head infected with parasites. There’s some final pyromancy I want to buy but I need to be infected first.

My character has an itchy head…so do I come think of it. You guys hear that chittering sou- wait no, this is a message, not a live chat.

Oh my head is an egg now.

Got the cure, bought more and currently grinding for souls and white ore.

Finally figured out how to intentionally backstab; I have to be behind and at WALKING speed. Good to know. Hadn’t realized it consciously before.

“Pardon me Black Knights, I must shove this Greatsword up your bums and out your lungs…or heart, but whatever it came out of was probably important…actually, it’s more in through the back around the second to last vertebrae, but you’re turning to dust so it doesn’t really matter anymore.”

Alright, time to kill percilla then a fire keeper, then Gwyn. Then on to new game plus. (Let me know if you’d like new game plus updates as well.)

Off to kill percilla.

That was easy: she turned invisible before I could cut her tail off. Oh well, One Chaos Storm killed her stone dead. Oh, and I have all pyromancies now.

I am now level one hundred. It’s time. I’ll kill the daughter of Chaos, consume her soul…then kill the firelink shrine firekeeper too; I won’t be leaving that place…no, I feel bad about killing the spider…actually no, I’ve had no interaction with the firelink shrine firekeeper this playthrough since I skipped the quest that restores her tongue; something to look forward to for next playthrough. But the spider one, even though I had no talk with her for most of the relationship, I at least interacted with. Her I feel bad for; but the firekeeper of firelink is just a gameplay mechanic. Though I love how I’m feeling guilt over a fictional character. I deliberately wore the witch ring to tug at my own heartstrings, put some real regrets into my action. Her butler’s last words were to try to warn his lady. And he invented several swamp pyromancies.

Scratch that, I guess I can’t kill her.

I want to be human for this.

Pha-haha! A black knight bounced off my shield then fell to his death.

Oh, a Solare summon sign. Sure, why not?

Well, he’s apparently got a laser. But now…

Time for the last fog gate. At level 100.

…well that was fast. I think im a bit over leveled for this. Just three or four Manus Catalyst Soul Spears. Solaire helped when I realized I forgot to equip a catalyst by distracting Gwyn while I fumbled around in the menu.

That was fun. Definitely one of my new favorite games of all time.

And thank you Kechi, for being the place that finally got me to give this game another go.

New game plus. Let’s go. Oh yep, you can see stray demon walking about. Manus catalyst is a powerful melee weapon. Oh, while my gear carried over, I did not get a refresh on my used spells. So no soul spear for the demon. Never mind there’s a bonfire before him. Time for a nostalgic beat down. And look who’s up on the roof….that photo came out really well too; could act as a nice poster.

Three hits. I am over leveled. He didn’t even get to react. And I can hear stray demons footsteps. Love how I initially had thought those were asylum demons.

Ah, time to put my +10 divine gargoyle halberd to good use, and my old trusty shortsword is now a +5 occult shortsword. (Does that inflect curse on enemies?)

Found out how to kill one skeleton without divine weapons: knock him off a cliff.

Well, I’m off to bed now. Have a good day everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this…series, I suppose.

Well congrats on beating the game! Now you play through NG+ until you get to number 7 and get the hardest difficulty

Also yes, Gwyn was a suprisingly easy bossfight he first time, especially with Solaire.

It was harder in NG+ and without the sun boy around

#felix answers #also if you do get dark souls 2&3 id prefer if you dont do these uupdates #as i havent played the games myself and dont want spoilers until i someday can :)

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angrypedestrian · 3 years

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THE TIME IDIOTS EPISODE 701 (christ) TITLED “I, like Ava, am lying on the ground ” MY THOUGHTS:

PREVIOUSLY: It has been less than 2 months since we last saw this show I am so FUCKING tired

Y’all I live on the west coast now and am (currently) not insane enough to find and stream an east coast broadcast so these will be coming out real late and real irrelevantly, as god intended

I look forward to seeing which of you are the TRUE angrypedestrian fans

lol

oh thank you various locals for this helpful recap of the season finale that happened LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AGO

i will say it is satisfying to see the ship blow up again

my girlfriend keeps yelling “they killed my wife” at them blowing up the waverider

the pastor is here to try and save us

jesus cannot save us now, sir

Nate shut the FUCK up zari is MOURNING

i love when this show remembers the time bureau, because the federal government indignation roars in my heart like a mighty lion

tala and shayan are the best they deserve the world and also to be on a better show

a HEADPIECE and you deserve MANY fascinators

every time they show that sheriff sign it feels spelled wrong even though i know it’s not. not sure what that means for me. probably nothing good

clowns

of course the answer is clowns

because WE are the real clowns here. every day phil clowns me and i fall for it

astra and spooner....in love? it may be more likely than you think!

at least zari gets to do a group makeover montage. i DO love a montage

guggenheim circus are you FUCKING kidding me. I DON’T GET BILLY ZANE AND NOW THIS

literally putting on our collective clown shoes here aren’t we

nate and ava sibling team up always a fav. a good natured ribbing is always a fun time

hoover....we’re letting nate be hoover....

homosexual implications

despite how zany they all are they are not great circus performers

nate’s biggest super power is his ability to make anyone think he wants to fuck them. because he does

and he should be celebrated and commended for that

my headcanon of a stadium light sized flasher in the time bureau arsenal remains intact, it’s truly the only efficient way to make this whole thing work

odessa def does not have enough weed to keep them all functioning long term

nick zano reflexively crossing himself as an italian-american man and the editors just kept it in

GARY DON’T ACT LIKE GIDEON ISN’T A PERSON

she IS she’s ALSO a timeship

sorry olivia that you have to take up the mantle of acting like an absolutely fool to do magic spells

JOHN IS NOT SOMEONE TO MODEL YOURSELF AFTER ASTRA

john FREQUENTLY caused himself anguish

spooner....concerned....romance is alive

NATE WHY ARE YOU IN A SLEEVELESS SHIRT

there is no reason for this other than punishment to me personally

you’ll have your day in court phillip

spooner in shirtless shirt is valid. nate is not

love that everyone is just chill with the anachronistic clothes these dummies are constantly wearing

we have the set for john’s house we’re not gonna stop using it!!!

so much of the budget went into the set we can’t get rid of it

gary’s love for john...so pure...so misguided

of all the legends, if i am being real, i am probably most like ava

and recognizing and accepting that? is growth

eat the weed gummies zari

girlfriend is now shouting “SARA SHOULD NOT BE IN CHARGE”

which is correct, she should not

crime spree it is!!!

love these character shoes on sara and ava lol

this is a fun hijink, i do legitimately enjoy it

true crime fanaticism is a historical disease

thank you ava for trying to pretend that there may be historical consequences to any actions anymore

time is pudding, famously

or perhaps cement?

maybe jello

nate wants to get his money’s worth on that $3 vocab

oh that steel up cgi is lookin ROUGH

welp y’all fucked that one didn’t you

ava IS the mood

IS the moment

also ava do you really want to know how badly this fucked everything up

true crime fanaticism is a historical disease

and ava is a ruthless bitch, good for u girl

oh that alien cgi is also bad, did they lose the rubber suit?????

john wouldn’t be disappointed in you, he rescued you from hell???

we can’t have two wlw ships on this show that don’t own any shirts with sleeves

best friend???? OR LOVER?????

SEE GIDEON IS A PERSON

and she’s naked as hell

“MY WIFE” -my girlfriend

“LASER WIFE” “i love you”

NEXT WEEK: where is gideon in this preview this is some horseshit

#legends of tomorrow #legends of tomorrow spoilers #missed y'all enjoy my nonsense #the time idiots #my thoughts as i have them

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something-tofightfor · 4 years

Text

Welcome Home // 4

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader (He’s Not Here follow-up)

Word Count: 9633

Rating: NSFW.

Summary: There’s a development in your relationship with Billy, but where will it lead? Can the happiness you’ve found at Billy being back in your life - by his own choice - last? Not if Madani has anything to say about it.

Author’s Note: I wanted to end 2020 on a positive note - and what better way to do that than by celebrating He’s Not Here Billy Russo’s birthday with a reintroduction to the man in the best possible way? (Let’s be real, this is what you were all waiting for.)

Happy Birthday, Billy Russo.

This ties up this portion of their story - it’s still an uphill struggle moving forward, but let me tell you - they are PREPARED. Thank you for all of your support this year. Thank you for the comments and the messages. Thank you for even wanting me to continue this story. I hope you are all safe and happy, and that the beginning of 2021 is the start of a much better - and more promising - year.

Recap:

At the end of He’s Not Here, you’ve managed to convince Karen, Matt and Foggy to take on Billy’s case. Bringing Frank on board takes some convincing, but when he sees the truth - that Billy only acted the way he did to save you - things change.

This completely breaks the Season 2 timeline. I HC that Billy was unconscious from mid/late November - the end of February. I think he would have needed another two months of rehab and recovery before they would have even considered releasing him. So this story begins the May after TPS1 ends (Billy is roughly 4.5 months post-carousel at the beginning of this story - so in part 3, we’re at about 5.5 months in).

(banner made by @the-blind-assassin-12)

Billy’s grip on your hips tightened, but he didn’t look away as you spoke, and that was a good sign. He’d never been one to approach emotion head on, but since coming back to stay with you, he’d avoided it at all costs, except for a few flashes here and there. But not tonight. Tonight it’s … You nodded, tongue wetting your lips quickly. Sink or swim. “I love you, Billy.” You heard - and felt - the shudder as he inhaled, but you didn’t stop there. “I need to tell…You’re right. I can’t keep feeling guilty about how I feel about you. I can’t. And I can’t lie to you. I won’t.” You slid your hand up the back of his head, still waiting for him to respond. “I don’t just want you here until this trial is over, either. You’re gonna do what you -”

“How can you love me with this face?” He swallowed, his voice quiet. “It’s bad, it’s… we couldn’t be together outside of…” But you just…

“Why not?” Your heartbeat sped up, brow furrowing. “Who the fuck cares, Billy?” You lifted your other hand from his shoulder, again tracing the curved scar around his eye before your fingers drifted over to the bridge of his nose. “Your face… these scars aren’t what you did wrong, Billy, they’re…” You closed your eyes briefly, head shaking back and forth. “You would have died for me. You… you kept that secret for a year and a half, and then you…” He tried to look away, but you didn’t let him, saying his name once more. “If anyone says anything to you, I’ll…”

“You’ll what, kill ‘em?” He was trying to make a joke, but you heard the shame in his words and in his tone. “I can give you some pointers on -” But you cut him off, breaking your rule and pressing your lips to his. No. You don’t get to do that to yourself. The moment you made contact, Billy’s grip on you tightened and he pulled you closer, your body finally relaxing against his. “Are you sure?” He mumbled against your mouth and you nodded, pulling away to breathe. “You’d be willin’ to spend the rest of your life with this?”

“I mean… I miss your hair, Billy…” You smiled at him, nose wrinkling. “And I don’t know what this weird beard is, but…” He laughed, the sound breaking the silence in the room, and you felt his hands sliding around to your back, fingers moving beneath your shirt. The rest of my life? “We don’t need to rush into anything, you’re still… remembering, you might not…”

“I want you.” He tilted his head, lips moving over the skin of your cheek. “I wanted you then. I want you now. I want you tomorrow.” That’s not Billy, that’s not… this isn’t him, it… “I wasted so much goddamn time.” He sounded almost defeated, and you realized that even though it wasn’t the Billy Russo from before, things were different now - and the man in front of you was what you had. In the span of a few months, you’d found that Billy had sacrificed everything for you, gotten him back into your life, found a potential way to clear him of much of his wrongdoing, learned that he still loved you and had him holding you on your couch like he meant to stay. This is what you want. This is what you’ve wanted for two years. He is who you want, no matter what. “I love you.” He took a breath, removing his hands from your hips and raising them, his long fingers sliding beneath your chin. “I’m in love with you.”

He’d never said that to you before, and while you didn’t know how you felt about him saying it while he still didn’t remember everything, the certainty in his voice convinced you. He might not remember it all, but he believes it. “Yeah?” He nodded, his eyes serious. He took the first step. It was him. “Good. It’s time you finally caught up with how I feel about you.” The smile that spread across his face sent a flood of warmth throughout your body and you made a decision without any more thought as his fingers tightened against your jaw. “You’re not sleeping on the opposite side of the bed tonight, Billy.” His brows shot up, but he didn’t say anything. “And I think we should…” You eased yourself away from him and stood, feeling his hands fall away and onto your cushions. “I’m going to bed. Are you coming?” You stepped backward, turning toward the hallway, and before you’d taken more than a few steps, you felt his hands at your waist, pushing you forward.

“Yeah, and so are you.” For the first time in months, Billy sounded absolutely confident, and the twenty feet from your living room to your bedroom hadn’t ever felt so long.

---

You reached your room before he did, Billy nearly shoving you the last few steps, but once you were there, you stopped after switching the light on. Shit, I didn’t think… “Billy, I don’t -” You turned back to him, disappointment coursing through your veins. “It’s been two years, I don’t have…” He sucked in a breath, a flicker of worry visible in his eyes before he shook his head, reaching into his back pocket.

“Old habits.” Billy swallowed, pulling out his wallet and opening it, his fingers dipping into the bill slot. “When I left the hospital, it was suggested to me that I do what made me comfortable.” His lips twitched for a moment and then he continued, finally looking up at you as he flipped the leather shut. “I always carried condoms in my wallet, from the time I was sixteen until … well…” He held up a square packet, extending it toward you. “It’s new, it’s not from before, but I didn’t buy it because I wanted to use it with anyone, I -” That makes things easier. You had a feeling that even though your relationship was progressing, that things had seemed to cascade one after the other and lead you back to your room, if you’d had to leave to go to a store, the moment would have been broken. Should it be? No.

“Hey.” Shaking your head you stepped closer to Billy, reaching for him with both hands. “I get it.” He looked surprised, but was even more shocked when your fingers closed around the zipper of his hoodie, pulling it down. “We don’t need that just yet, though, Russo.” His hands went back to your waist, holding you in place, and you pressed both palms flat against his chest, pushing the sides of the sweatshirt apart. “No need to rush this.” He leaned in then, hesitantly, but after a nod from you, Billy kissed you again, this one slightly more aggressive than his previous kisses, his nose pressed against your cheek. You remembered the first time the two of you had been together in your room, how hesitant you’d been, scared to let yourself feel anything more than the physicality he was offering you. That’s not this. That’s not now.

Billy broke the kiss, slowly pulling away from you, and when you looked up at him, you saw that while he looked determined, he was still holding back. You spread your hands apart, pushing the material back over his shoulders, and when he released his hold on you, Billy shrugged out of the hoodie, letting it fall to the floor. “You’re sure?” You nodded, staring up at him. “Even -”

“Stop trying to talk me out of this.” You curled the fingers of one hand around the neckline of his shirt, tugging down slightly. “You aren’t going to, unless you tell me that this isn’t what you want.” He seemed shocked at your words, but you felt his hands on your back again, the tips of his fingers curled against you. “It’s alright, Billy.” You needed him to believe your words, and so with reluctance, you pulled yourself out of his hold, taking a deep breath and reaching down to remove your shirt, pulling it over your head in one movement. “What are you waiting for?” You spoke again after you let it fall to the ground, arms hanging by your sides. “You-”

“Goddamn.” His voice low, Billy stepped forward, his head angled to one side. “I …” You watched him lick his lips, the upper one curling slightly. I missed that look. Stepping backward, you reached the end of your bed, Billy’s eyes still on you. “Wait, let…” He sighed, turning away and stepping back to the doorway, his hand moving to the light switch. “I don’t want…” Oh, Billy. You don’t need to... The room went dark, though you could still see because of the light filtering in from the living room, but Billy was little more than a shadow as he moved toward you. “I know you wanna see me, and I want to see …” He reached up, laying his hand against the center of your chest and pushing. “But I want to enjoy this, and …” His hand slid up, grip tightening just enough on your throat as he leaned in, lips hovering over your ear. “And if I’m worried that you’re…”

“Billy.” You couldn’t hide the need in your voice, and as you said the one word, his hand tightened more, the other one trailing up your side as he pushed you backward, your knees bending as you sat down on your mattress. “You’re here, that’s all I care about.” It was true, but you would have been lying if you’d told him that you didn’t want to see his face, so you left it simple. “This is all I’ve…” He kissed you again, catching you by surprise as he leaned over you, and you stopped trying to speak. I don’t need to. You felt his weight settle against you, Billy using one arm to support his upper body, but he didn’t completely remove the hand from your neck, even as the kiss deepened. You lost yourself in the sensation of Billy Russo, back in your bed, hands on you, and when he pulled away to take in a deep breath, removing the hand from your throat, you sighed. “You doing OK, Billy?”

“Yeah, I’m…” Billy groaned, rolling off of you and onto his back. You took the opportunity to stretch out on the bed, moving to your side to look at him. “I didn’t think I’d be…” You reached over, your hand against his abdomen, but this time beneath his shirt. He whispered your name, and you heard the pillow rustle beneath his head as he turned to look at you. Oh Jesus, this scar. You’d never seen it, but your fingers found the jagged, raised edges of the injury, still swollen, and you realized that while the focus had been on repairing his face, the surgeons had likely only done what they could to remove the glass from Billy’s stomach, stitching it up and making sure it healed properly. “It’s bad.” You heard the pain in his voice. “That one hurts, I can -”

“Hey.” Your hand moved up, away from his waist, and you scooted closer, head propped up on the other hand. “Billy, I’m more than happy to talk to you about everything... and I want to.” You took a breath, tilting your head forward to press your forehead against his in the dark. “And if that’s what you need to do tonight, we can, but I-”

“No.” You heard the change in his voice, heard him make a decision. “No, we’ll have time to talk about that. Tonight I … I just want you.” Hearing Billy say those words to you - the ones that you’d repeated to him over and over throughout the time you were together - nearly broke you, but you just nodded, letting out a breath. “Hang on, let me…” He sat up, and you felt the bed bounce as he took his shirt off. “Here.” Billy reached out, taking your hand and bringing it up to his bare skin, urging you to touch him. “I owe you.” Owe me? “I owe you a night… a lot of nights, but…” He eased himself backward, leaning against the headboard, using both hands to pull you onto his lap. You didn’t pull your hand away from him, and once you were settled against his waist, you pressed both palms against his skin, waiting. “There are things that I don’t remember, and I might not ever.” He exhaled, but as he talked, you felt his fingers creeping up your stomach, thumbs circling over your belly. “But I won’t force it.” His hands reached your ribs, pausing. “I don’t think I’ll need to, with you.” You won’t. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” he continued, the tips of his fingers brushing the bottom edge of your bra. “But I’m gonna… fuck, I’m gonna make the most of this with you.”

“Good.” Your eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and you could see Billy’s pale form beneath you, the darkness of his eyes standing out, even though you couldn’t see where they were focused. “All I can ask for, Russo.” He laughed, and while you heard it, you felt it, too, beneath the skin of your palms.

“That’s all?” His tone changed again, hands moving higher, and you couldn’t help rocking your hips against his as his hands reached your breasts, the gentle pressure too much and not enough at the same time. “You sure there’s not anything else -”

“Shut up, Billy.” He squeezed as your fingers dug into his shoulders, and you closed your eyes, concentrating on what you felt. The few dates you’d gone out on after Billy had broken up with you hadn’t ever felt right, but his hands on you - even after everything you knew that he’d done in the between time - erased everything else. There’s so much we have to worry about, but we can… His hands continued upward and you leaned forward, giving him better access while you slid yours down, and by the time he was sliding the straps of your bra over your shoulders and down your arms, you’d pushed every thought to the side except for the two of you, wanting to give him your entire focus. He deserves it.

It would do you no good to feel guilty, you realized as Billy reached around you, unhooking your bra with one hand and throwing it to the side before returning his hands to your chest. Frank and Karen had told you that, and Billy had as well, but you knew him well enough to know that if he truly did have anything against you, blamed you, even a little for what had happened to him, he wouldn’t have been in bed with you, exploring your body with both hands like he was discovering it again for the first time. I needed to believe it, just like he did. “Think you need to lose those pants.” His voice low, Billy spoke again. “I don’t want you to move, but…” He groaned as you shifted on his lap, both of you nude from the waist up, his hands cupping your breasts gently. “And grab that -” Yes. You climbed off of Billy and planted your feet on the floor, undoing the button of your jeans and pushing them down, your fingers returning to your hips and hooking beneath the waistband of your underwear. “No, not that.”

His eyes adjusted. Much faster than mine, he - So focused on your own clothing, you hadn’t noticed that he’d removed the sweats he wore, leaving him sitting in your bed - wearing nothing - and waiting for you. “Alright, Billy, let me…” You reached over, picking up the condom from where you’d placed it, but as you straightened up, you felt Billy’s hands at your waist again, pulling you down into the bed, your body making contact with his before he rolled you over and onto your back. “Billy, wh-”

“You still trust me?” His voice low and lips moving against your ear, you froze. I wasn’t ready for this, I… “I don’t want this to be quick.” He kissed the side of your face, beard rubbing against the skin there. “I wanna take my time with you, ‘cuz you deserve it… and because I missed you.” Speechless, you nodded. “Need to hear you.” His lips were on your cheek, inching closer to your mouth, but his body wasn’t on you, it was over you, the only part of him that touched you his lips and nose, glancing off of yours as he moved. “Need you to -”

“Yes.” You sighed out his name, turning your head - unable to wait a second longer. “I trust you. I -” He kissed you hard, lips parted in an eager hopefulness that reminded you of before, and when you felt his tongue slip into your mouth, you met it with your own, reaching up to grip his shoulder, your other hand seeking out the wrist of the hand he was using to hold himself up. This is exactly the way it… “Billy.” He pulled away slightly to breathe, and you took the opportunity to slide your hand down his chest, fingertips landing over his heart - which was beating rapidly. “Take as long as you want.” He said your name, returning his lips to yours and sucking your lower one into his mouth, teeth closing around it. You squeezed his shoulder, pulling him closer, but Billy held his position, not letting his body rest against yours. “What -” You swallowed, eyes still closed and you heard Billy laugh quietly as he pulled back completely, fingers brushing against your arm.

“Open your eyes an’ look at me.” You did, finding that even in the dim light, you could see that he was kneeling next to you, arms hanging at his sides. “Don’t… do this because you feel…” He sucked in a breath. “Tell me to stop and we can go back to sleepin’ in separate -”

“Billy, I’ve waited for you for two years. This is what I want. You are what I want.” Voice sure in the darkness, you reached for him, hand landing just above his hip, your thumb pressing against the scar from the bullet hole he’d gotten on the security mission with Frank. Even after all this time, I still… “I’m not going to tell you to stop.” You said the words and believed them, though the thought that Billy had been with numerous other women since he’d last been with you was rooted in your brain. It doesn’t matter. He had to stay away. I love him. I want him here. “I’m never going to tell you to stop.” Billy leaned down again, using his hand to cup your cheek, thumb circling slowly over your skin before it stopped on your lips, pressing down. Unconsciously, you parted them, taking the tip of his finger into your mouth and running your tongue over it, humming happily as he hissed out your name.

‘You gotta stop that or I’m not gonna be -” Do you really want me to though? But even as you had the thought, he pushed his finger further into your mouth, moving so that he was straddling your thighs. “Shit.” Billy gave you a few more seconds and then pulled his hand away, sniffing. “I remember lots of things about you,” he said as he leaned forward, moving his knees back. “Remember how much you liked it when I kissed you...here,” he whispered, planting a kiss on the place where your jaw met your neck, lips soft. “And how much I like it when I do this,” he continued, licking his way across your collarbone. Yeah, you like it much more than I do, Russo.

His mouth was quickly joined by his hands, long fingers stroking up and down your ribs as he moved his mouth from your shoulders down, the hair on his chin scratching over the sensitive skin of your chest. I need him to… “S’ok, you can touch me.” He barely stopped what he was doing to speak to you, and you complied immediately, raising both hands. One rested flat against the back of his shoulder, the fingers of the other moving over the short hair on his head, nails scratching against his scalp.

Billy growled at the contact, the sound vibrating against one breast, and then his teeth bit down on your skin, hands moving from your sides to your chest. Oh, shit. You curled the fingers of both hands involuntarily, swallowing hard at the feeling of his mouth and the sting of the pressure, and then he’d let go, moving his mouth a little more and sucking one nipple between his lips, tongue flicking against it. You lost track of time as Billy lavished your chest with attention, each movement drawing a new sound from your lips - quiet sighs, moans, whispers of his name… you let them all out, knowing that he’d love hearing them almost as much as you enjoyed saying them again. He’s here. He’s with me, we’re… He moved down from your chest, hands following the progress of his mouth and when Billy dipped his tongue into your navel, you lifted your hips from the mattress unconsciously, writhing beneath him even as he pushed you down and held you against the bedding. Watch him. Look at what he’s doing.

You raised your head, looking down, but all you could see in the darkness was the shape of Billy’s head, his hands against your hips. “Stop movin’.” Billy sighed, head moving from side to side, the short hair on his chin prickling against you, but his tone was playful. “Gotta wait ‘til I…” He tugged at your waist, urging you to lift it. “‘Til I tell you.” He sounded confident, and you realized that it was because Billy was comfortable - in bed, in the dark, his hands on you. Is it me, or is it just… He said your name and you closed your eyes, locking your legs as you lifted your lower body from the bed, waiting. I’ve wanted this for so long, does it even matter? But it did, and you knew it - just as much as you knew that even in Billy’s state, he wasn’t simply on autopilot. Don’t get lost. “You have no idea,” he said quietly, both forefingers beneath the elastic edge of your underwear, the material slowly moving downward. “I… you’re all I’ve been thinkin’ about.” He tugged at the material, it passing over your thighs as you closed your legs slightly, making it simpler for him to remove them. “Sleepin’ next to you? Barely touchin’ you?” Billy lowered his head, kissing your abdomen. “That shit hurts.”

He continued to brush his lips over your skin, never daring to move lower, his breath warm with each exhale. You knew what he meant; he didn’t remember everything, and the last thing he was certain of was that you’d been together - and if you were both on the same page, you’d been happy. The time between his final deployment and him waking up in the hospital was still fragmented, but he knew enough to know that there was a distinct change that had resulted in what he’d done, leading to the two of you living together… but staying apart. No more. Not after tonight. “You’re touching me now, Billy.” You raised your hand as he looked up, taking a deep breath, and your fingers landed at his temple, touching the top edge of one of his scars. “Doesn’t have to hurt so much anymore.” He paused - only for a second - and then lowered his head again, the tip of his tongue tracing a line down the center of your abdomen. Is this really going to happen? Is he…

Your question was answered as Billy gripped your hips tighter, urging you to relax atop his fingers, and so you did, sighing as he deviated from his path, tongue tracing along the place where your leg connected to your torso. He kissed the inside of one thigh, taking a deep breath, and for long moments, you thought he was going to pull away, but then Billy’s lips returned to your skin, and you forgot how to breathe.

He wasted no time extending his tongue and using it to delve into you, his grip on your hips changing with every movement of it. For the first time in months, you thought of nothing but Billy as the man you loved - as your Billy - the rest of your situation fading, focused only on the way that he was making you feel, the way that he was touching and tasting you. No, you thought as he lengthened the strokes of his tongue, slowing down slightly and humming, the vibration moving along your slick skin. This isn’t about me, it’s about us.

Nothing about his need for you had changed, and even though it had been years, he still knew exactly what you wanted. Billy knew the best way to touch you, to stroke your skin with his thumbs, tilting his head to drag his nose up the inside of your thigh; when to take a breath and when to purse his lips against you, sucking while still using his tongue, still pushing you ever closer to the feeling you’d been missing - but not nearly as much as you’d missed the man responsible for it.

“Billy, you have to stop, or…” You fought to get the words out, not wanting him to stop, but knowing that if you let him continue, you’d finish before he was anywhere near inside of you. “Cant…” You cried out as you felt his teeth graze you, wishing desperately that he had hair for you to grab. “Billy, I don’t want…”

“Want you to.” He paused, taking a deep breath and raising his gaze to meet yours - you could see his eyes in a pale, thin strip of light from the edge of the curtains. “Want to make you -”

“No.” Fighting back panic at the way he’d perceive the word, you shook your head. “No, not the first, not…” You licked your lips. “Gotta be you, Billy. You. Not your…” He sucked a breath in, but you heard him swear quietly under his breath a moment later, pulling his hands away from your hips and climbing off of you. He laid down next to you and reached for the condom, tearing it open and wasting no time rolling it on, his eyes never leaving your face. “Finally got you back, Billy, it’s got to be the real thing.” You spoke without thinking, but he nodded, one hand slowly trailing up your chest, fingers tracing up and over your throat and then your jaw, finding their way into your hair.

“I know, I just…” He said your name again. “Got carried away, I -” You cut him off, leaning forward to kiss him, surprising both of you. I don’t even… “Wasn’t expecting that,” he muttered, amusement in his voice. “Not complainin’ though.” Billy reached out again, rolling toward you and pulling you onto your side to face him. “You sure?” You nodded, forehead pressed against his, your hand resting low on his waist as you lifted one leg, bending your knee and laying it on his thigh. “Tell me if it…” He reached between the two of you, and you felt a faint pressure between your legs before he pushed in, hand moving away from his body and to your back, pulling you closer.

The moment he was in you - fully in you, you cried out, the sound a combination of his name and the happiness you felt, your hand lifting from his back and moving up to his neck, fingertips digging in at the base of his skull as he tilted his head again to kiss you. Oh, fuck. With every thrust of his hips, you were reminded of why you’d fallen in love with the man in the first place, memory by memory. Meeting him, the kiss on the sidewalk, the way you’d flat out told him if he didn’t want anything more, you could only be his friend. The way he’d relied on you, told you the truth, treated you like you mattered. He showed you every one of those things and more with each movement.

The zoo. The morning of his deployment. The Skype calls. Him finding me at that bar. You cried out, Billy swallowing every sound in a hard kiss, his pace quickening. Christmas. New Year’s. Valentine’s. “Billy.” You spoke quietly, letting him hear how much you still needed him in the single word, the hand that wasn’t against his neck caught between the two of your bodies, your fingers curled against his abdomen, directly above the scar.

Billy held you close, the fingers of one hand gripping you tightly enough to bruise, the movement of his hips fluid - and before you allowed yourself to think about everything he’d done on his deployment and after coming home, you felt yourself tumbling over the edge, teeth closing around his lower lip. You clenched around him but urged him on by rolling your own hips and refusing to let him go. You’re not going anywhere. He hissed and pulled his head away from yours, dropping his mouth back to your shoulder and biting, teeth clamped against your skin. Billy said your name and then you heard him grunt, the sound loud in the room, filling it with the sounds of him again - after two years - and with one final thrust, he let out a long breath, his forehead resting against the crook of your neck. You were both breathing heavily, grip on each other tight, but after only a few seconds, Billy released you, the hand on your hip relaxing and pushing you gently away from him as he pulled his hips back, rolling so that he could stare up into the darkness. Shit.

You did the same, staring up at the ceiling and trying to catch your breath. That… it… he… “You alright?” You heard the apprehension in his voice, but he still didn’t move, except to turn his head toward you. “I was a little…”

“Stop apologizing.” Though you were tired, you rolled back toward him, reaching out with one hand to touch his stomach, brushing lightly over the scar there as you raised your leg again, settling it back on his thigh. Get close to him, don’t let him… “I’m fine… more than fine, actually.” You leaned in against his chest, cheek pressed to the sweat slicked skin there, and were relieved to feel Billy’s fingertips moving gently over the center of your back. “You don’t know how long I’ve…”

“You waited for that as long as I wished…” He swore. “Feels good to be back with you. Not just with you here, but… with you, too.” Sex to Billy in most cases wasn’t about emotion or meaning; it was an act, a way for him to release stress and to occupy his time with someone he found appealing. Even as you had the thought, Madani’s face flashed in your mind, but you pushed it to the side, focused on the feeling of his breaths against your cheek, the way the hair on his lower abdomen felt to your fingers. “I remember that mornin’ I shipped out.” You froze - only for a second, and then resumed the movement of your fingers, trying to soothe the skin beneath them, to take away the pain that he’d said he felt from the freshly healed wound. You do? “Woke up early an’ shaved my head, then came back to bed and … I made sure we had time. Made sure you knew how I felt about you before I left.” You did. “It’s comin’ back to me.” His voice was even - sure. “Slow, but it’s… it’s right there, all of it. I can feel it, and -”

“Hey.” You pushed yourself up onto one elbow, bringing your hand up to his chest. You looked down at where he laid on the pillow, head turned toward you. “It’ll come back, Billy. You don’t need to force it.” He took a deep breath, waiting. “Look.” You leaned down, pressing your lips to his chest and kissing your way across it, working up toward his shoulders. “I know it’s coming, Billy, because even after so long…” You lingered near his jaw. “What you just… what we just… that was all you, Billy. And it was…” You swallowed. We’ve already jumped across that line, it doesn’t matter anymore. “That’s how we were after you came home that last time, and… fuck.” You felt your heart pounding, but continued. “Your mind might not be there yet, but your body, it… you remember us.”

It was the truth. After weeks of denying yourselves and dancing around the way you felt about each other, you had proof that even if Billy couldn’t remember everything, your bodies were still in sync, even after years apart. He says he loves me, but maybe this will… You stared down at him, watching as Billy watched you, eyes focused on your face. He can’t deny that, and neither can I. “Can you do somethin’ for me?” Billy sat up, reaching for you and bringing your face level with his with one long finger beneath your chin. “Can you stop fightin’ me?” Fighting you? What? “You wanna talk to me, talk to me. Say something to me? Say it. I don’t mean about the case, I mean about you an’ me, and the way we -”

“Yeah.” You swallowed, leaning in to hisss him. “I can do that, Billy. I think we both need to stop… fighting.” But not for you. Never for you.

---

You didn’t leave the apartment the following day - you didn’t even really leave the bed, except to eat, use the bathroom and shower before falling back onto your freshly changed sheets. It was the best day you’d had in a long while, and even though you knew that you’d eventually have to leave the seclusion of your apartment, you didn’t want to. What you wanted was to stay wrapped in Billy’s arms, continue listening to him whisper your name as he gave attention to every inch of your body, the two of you laying tangled up with each other while you recovered. You wanted to keep talking in low voices about the past, about what memories he had and whether or not they were correct. Aside from the case, this is the perfect weekend, it’s… You had Billy back - in your life and in your bed - and you never wanted to let him go.

But by Sunday morning, you knew that it was time to venture outside, and even though both of you were slow moving, you managed to get up and dressed, Billy agreeing to go with you to the store. Don’t make it a big deal. He was going out in public more than you thought he would, but each time he ventured out, he did so either with his hood raised or a hat pulled low over his head, despite the warm temperatures. “You’re gonna wear that?” He was standing next to the dining room table, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. “Everyone’s gonna look at you.” Glancing down, you frowned. It’s just a sundress. “I don’t…”

“Billy.” You stepped closer to him, reaching out to touch his arm. “It’s eighty degrees out, I’d be calling more attention to myself if I wasn’t wearing something this lightweight.” He stayed quiet and you moved even closer, your hand sliding from his arm to his chest. I can do this again.

“But it’s short.” He tilted his head down. “Your legs are -”

“You know, not everyone finds me attractive.” You swallowed, putting your other arm around him and sighing in response to him pulling both hands out of his pockets and wrapping his arms around you. “I can go out in a dress, and it’s not a big deal, it -”

“But you’ll be with me, an’... people will look at me and look at you, and…” He let out a deep breath. “It’s not like it was before when we were out somewhere, they’re gonna see this face, and think…” I should have known. You let out a deep breath of your own before straightening up, eyes on Billy’s face. “Think that you deserve-”

“What’s the difference today?” You tilted your head. “We’ve been out in public plenty of times together since you came home.” His lips twitched slightly at your use of the word. That’s right. Home. “You’ve never told me that it worried you before, even when we were in that park, or-”

“We weren’t together before.” Billy swallowed. “I mean we were together, but we weren’t together.” He lifted one hand to swipe over the top of his head, not meeting your eyes. Oh, no. “But now it… we…”

“Nothing’s changed, Billy.” You leaned in, rising onto your toes to kiss him. “The people we see on the street or the ones we’re in the store with aren’t going to know the difference. The only people that will are the two of us.” You kissed him again, feeling Billy’s hand against your back, pulling you close. “And all I see is you when I look at you, so stop worrying.” He nodded without pulling away, and you finally grinned, biting your lower lip and raising an eyebrow. “Maybe I put this on because it’s nice to know that you’re looking at me again, Billy.” He laughed after a second, chin dropping to his chest.

“I’m always lookin’ at you.” You pulled out of his hold, Billy following you as you headed to the door, slipping your feet into a pair of sandals. “Even back before.” He paused, putting his boots on and lacing them tightly. “You know that, you watched those videos I made you.” I did. So many times. “Just wish I coulda done it from closer.”

“I know why you didn’t, Billy.” The two of you were in the hallway, your purse over one arm, the other hanging by your side. “After Anvil opened, it would have been… obvious if you’d even tried to come close, especially since Rawlins was watching you.” You stood in front of the elevator, waiting. “And who knows who else was keeping an eye on…”

“Doesn’t make it suck any less, does it?” He reached over, linking his fingers with yours. “Watched you through Facebook and Instagram, always… always wondered how I’d react to seein’ you post a picture with a new guy, even though it had to be that way, and…” He trailed off. Probably just as shitty as it was seeing you with another woman or hearing about you with someone or… But you shook your head, simply squeezing his hand more tightly. You can’t blame him for that, you know why he did it. “And then I had to pretend -”

“Billy, stop.” You took a deep breath as the elevator stopped on the ground floor, the doors opening slowly. “We were apart. We went on with our lives, whatever the reasoning behind it, but…” You turned your head to look at him, not expecting to see that he was staring down at you, a concerned look in his eyes. “But now we’re not. And you’re going to be living with me until at least the end of this trial, so… we should enjoy it, Billy. No more pretending.” He leaned down, catching you off guard and kissing you, but when he straightened up, he looked less concerned.

“You’re right.” He sniffed, using the hand that wasn’t holding yours to pull his hood up. “No more pretendin’.”

---

The two of you made it through the store in under an hour, choosing to take a cab home though you’d walked there in the first place. You put the groceries away while he returned a call from Matt, confirming their meeting the following day, and listened to a voicemail from Dr. Dumont, reminding him that his therapy was switching from Monday and Wednesday to Tuesday and Friday. Her voice is just… ugh. You were gritting your teeth as she spoke to him, the sound even more irritating through the small speaker, and when you glanced down, you were unsurprised to see that you were gripping the edge of the counter tightly. Relax. He doesn’t want anything to do with her aside from the sessions. And he doesn’t even really want those.

You watched as Billy leaned back on the couch, one hand behind his head, eyes up toward the ceiling as he listened. “You’re grinding your teeth.” He looked over at you, a smirk on his lips. “She bother you that much?” You have no idea. Eyes rolling, you moved to the living room, gripping the back of your couch. “She’s just my doctor, she -”

“We both know that’s not true, Billy.” With a shake of your head, you watched his face. “The way she spoke to me in the beginning, and the way she talks to Matt?” You rolled your eyes again. “There’s something more to what she’s doing, and I don’t -” You watched his jaw tighten, saw his eyes narrow for a moment, but then Billy was smiling at you before you could continue, standing up from the couch and reaching for his phone.

“Let’s go for a walk. Still got some time before I gotta be back inside, and we can go to the park, there won’t be as many people there right now.” What? Surprised at his abrupt change in demeanor, you couldn’t do anything but nod. “Unless you don’t -”

“No, Billy. Let’s go.” Heart pounding, you followed him to the front door, only pausing long enough to pick up your phone. “Do you have the -”

“Got the key. Don’t worry about bringing anything.” Both of you stayed quiet as you rode the elevator back down, and as you exited your building into the late afternoon sunlight, you felt Billy’s hand on your back, pushing you gently forward. “You were right, it’s nice out.” It is, but I still don’t get… Confused, you walked a few blocks, Billy’s hand never leaving your back although he stayed behind you. He’s hiding. Frowning at the realization, you waited until you’d reached the shady expanse of the park to address it, turning to face Billy after stepping off of the path and onto the grass. “What?”

“That was an abrupt change of topic, Billy.” You stared at him, wanting to be sure you phrased what you said properly. “I’m not accusing you of anything, but I… we have all -”

“No, you’re right.” Billy pressed his lips together. “The doc has been… unprofessional.” The word trailed off of his tongue, nose wrinkling as he said it. “She hasn’t crossed lines or anythin’ like that, but I think that… she treats me different than anyone else does, and the way she talked to you the first couple times you sat in on a session?” He shook his head, eyes narrowed. “She’s right about some things, but not all of ‘em, and it’s too late now to switch therapists.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “As much as I’d rather be… not in therapy, I gotta be, and it’s helped, so I just…” He looked down, swearing under his breath. “She says I gotta do the things I used to do, that it can help me remember, and one of those things is bein’ out in public, even though people…”

“Whatever helps, Billy.” You reached out, taking his hand, your fingers closing around his. “You already know how much I want to help you, but it just seemed…” Like you didn’t want to talk about Krista anymore, so you distracted me. “Like you really don’t want to talk to me about her.” Why lie about it? You promised. “Like there’s something more to… what the two of you have…” Billy reached for you, his fingers closing around your upper arm as he pulled you closer to him, his eyes locked on yours.

“There’s nothin’ - at least on my end - goin’ on except the sessions.” Billy stared at you and for long moments, he didn’t speak, jaw clenched. “After Frankie came back and came in, when Murdock and Nelson and Karen told me what … why they were helpin’ me?” Billy’s head shook back and forth slowly, no traces of dishonesty in his voice. “I stopped pretending that I didn’t know you. Kr… Dumont couldn’t believe it at first, but you were all I wanted to talk about in my sessions, an’ even though she wouldn’t let me focus on it every time, since then, I’ve never hid how I felt about you or what I remember.” Do you mean that? He finally grinned, the expression stretching the still healing skin of his cheeks as they went round, but the smile was easy. “This weekend’s developments…” He laughed, squeezing your arm and resting his other hand on your hip. “Won’t tell her all of ‘em, but…” Billy leaned in, lips next to your ear. “This is an important part of my recovery, so she should know.” He knows she wants more, he knows he needs to … “How much I lo -”

“Isn’t this sweet.” You heard the voice from behind you, feeling Billy flinch at the sound of it. “Careful, the last woman he got that close to ended up taking a bullet to the skull and -” Billy’s first instinct was to pull back but you didn’t let him, whispering his name and tilting your head back. Why are you following him? “I was under the impression there was a curfew for you, Russo, since you’re a dangero-”

“Dinah.” You spoke first, bringing your hand up to take the one Billy had laid on your hip, fingers linking with his. “I’d say that I was surprised to see you, but I’m actually not.” She laughed, scoffing as Billy turned and stepped next to you, lowering his head for a moment before raising it and staring at the woman. “What do you want?” Madani’s eyes moved between you and Billy, and you saw the curl of her lip, the early evening light flashing in her eyes as they narrowed. What?

“Unlike that judge that allowed Russo back out on the streets, I feel like someone should be monitoring him to make sure he’s not -”

“I check in every day with the cops, Madani.” Billy’s voice had an edge to it, but it didn’t waver. “An’ this thing tells ‘em exactly where I am at all times,” he continued as he lifted his pant leg, showing her the monitor that he wore. “I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to.” Billy paused, sucking air in through his teeth. “This is too important not to.” She laughed, taking a step closer to the two of you, both hands on her hips.

“I can’t believe this.” Madani licked her lips, pausing. “You’re just walking around like you…”

“Dinah.” You spoke again, knowing that Billy didn’t need you to, but still wanting to step in. “You don’t make the laws. He’s out, he’s doing what he needs to, and he’s not bothering anyone.” she scoffed again, tossing her hair, but you didn’t stop. “You -”

“And what’s this?” She gestured to your joined hands, her eyes on your face. “Holding hands with him? Like he’s your goddamn boyfriend? Like he didn’t go on a killing spree just a few months ago?” It was your turn to wince, but you didn’t pull your hand away from Billy’s, instead inching closer to him, your fingertips brushing against his thigh. You have no right. “Like he didn’t abandon you to go off and fuck other women for -”

“Dinah.” Billy finally spoke up, and though you knew that the other woman likely wasn’t familiar with what his tone implied, you felt a chill run through your body as you heard the single word. “You’re out of line.” Cool it, Madani, he’s not… “She’s got nothin’ to do with whatever you feel about me.” Billy squeezed your hand again, and though you didn’t think it possible, his tone got even colder. “I don’t remember bein’ with you, but I almost envy you for bein’ this angry about it, because -”

“You envy me?” She laughed, the sound bitter. “Envy the fact that I remember every time you screwed me - and screwed me over? Every time you lied to me? The way it felt to find out that you killed Stein and all my men? The way you killed Castle’s -”

“Madani.” You interjected, but the woman was on a roll, her voice staying low, but the anger apparent. “Dinah, you -”

“It’s convenient that you don’t remember any of that, but you remember enough of her to run straight back to -”

“Everything I did was for her, Dinah.” Billy’s voice wasn’t cold anymore, instead it was full of emotion, the man leaning toward the second woman, head moving from side to side slowly. “And I don’t remember everything about us either, but I remember enough.” He dropped your hand, winding his arm around your hip and reached up with his other hand, pushing his hood back so Dinah could see the entirety of his face. “I paid for what I did, Dinah. Maybe not enough for you, but this is a constant reminder of what I did to Frank, to you, to all of them… to her.” Billy sniffed, fingers tightening on you. “Whatever happens during this trial is gonna happen, but you’re not blameless. You didn’t have anything to do with what I did, not really, but…” Billy sighed. “But you and… and your bosses aren’t clean, either.” Cool it Billy, don’t give anything away. “So you can stand there and act self righteous if you want to. Does it help you sleep at night?” You looked up, watching as Billy cocked his head to the side, eyes focused on the petite woman in front of you. “I bet it does. Pretendin’ you didn’t do anything wrong, that you aren’t just as guilty of usin’ me, usin’ Frankie.” Billy wrinkled his nose, lifting one eyebrow. “I might not remember everything, but he does, and Frankie’s got a long memory, Agent Madani.”

The woman looked nervous for one second, taking a deep breath, but then she recovered, a bright but fake smile on her face. “We’ll see about that, Russo. See about what you remember, what you can make everyone believe.” She moved her eyes to you, a smile curling the corners of her lips upward. “Pretrial starts next week, so I hope you’ve got your shit together.”

“What?” You spoke without thinking, surprised. Next week? How is it… “Next week?” Billy froze next to you, but Madani spoke before he could.

“You mean the lawyers didn’t tell you?” She was outright grinning, one hand reaching up to rub against the scar at her temple. “They might not know yet, the decision came through this morning, along with Billy’s last test results.”

“How do you know about this before I do?” He sounded skeptical, but not totally surprised. He’s fit for trial, they must have… this is happening too fast. I just… You swallowed, feeling your throat tighten. I just got him back. “Murdock would have told me.”

“Friends in high places, Billy.” You could hear the glee in her voice at having caught you off guard, but your heart was beating too quickly for you to say anything to her. Shit. Shit. “That’s why I followed you here. I wanted to be the first to tell you that your little vacation is almost over.” She stepped closer, ignoring you and speaking directly to Billy, venom dripping from each word she spat out. “You’ll be rotting in prison soon, Russo. Exactly where you belong. Everything you did will be for nothing.” Madani’s hand reached out, toward Billy and paused a few inches from his shoulder. She knows what she’s doing, she’s taunting him. “No more playing house. No more happiness, no more… freedom.” You watched as Madani pressed her lips together tightly, thinking. “Plenty of new memories, though. I’m sure you’ll…” She lowered her hand, stepping back. “I’m sure you’ll make a ton of those.”

None of you spoke until you finally forced yourself into action, pulling your phone out of your pocket as you looked down. We still have time but she doesn’t know that. “Hey, Billy.” He turned his head to look at you immediately, staring at your phone’s screen. “We should head back, it’s almost…” You still had nearly two hours before Billy had to be back in your apartment, but he didn’t hesitate in answering.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Pulling his arm away from you, he stepped back, nodding as he raised the hood back up. “Guess I’ll see you in court, Dinah.” Without another word, he turned and began walking away, leaving you to face the other woman. Follow him, don’t engage with her, don’t…

“I understand.” Her tone softened. “Believe me, I -”

“Fuck you, Madani.” You reached up with one hand, rubbing the back of your neck. “Don’t even try.” Go. Without saying anything else, you turned and followed Billy, quickly catching up to him. “Billy, wait.” You caught his elbow, but he didn’t stop moving, long legs quickly carrying him back toward your apartment. “Billy, stop.”

“No. Not here, she can still…” He didn’t say anything else until you’d reached your building, Billy nearly dragging you through the lobby and into the elevator. “I need to call Matt and let him know, this is…” He sounded worried, leaning against the elevator railing and shaking his head. “How does she know, she -”

“Billy, calm down.” You leaned in, reaching up to run your fingers over his cheek, knuckles brushing against the material of his hood. “She’s literally in the government, she’d know the status of things before Matt and Foggy and Karen.” You took a breath. “If anything, she did you some good, because now you know. We know, and we can…” The door opened behind you, and without answering, Billy pushed past you, heading for your door. This isn’t good. He needs to… “Billy, wait.” But he didn’t, unlocking your door and striding inside, pausing only to kick his boots off. “W-”

“How are you so calm about this?” He turned to face you, unzipping his hoodie and tossing it over the back of the couch. “This isn’t-”

“Because I trust Matt and Foggy. I trust Karen. It’s your case, but it’s also Frank’s.” You stepped closer, wanting to reach for him but forcing yourself not to. “You’re ready. We have evidence, we have proof that they were involved, that you guys…” You felt tears welling in your eyes. “We knew this was going to start at some point, Billy. Now we know when.” His hands were stuffed into his pockets, thumbs hooked over the edges. “We can take the next couple of days, and -”

“What if she’s right and I have to go to -”

“Stop.” You won’t. There’s no way. But you knew that there was always a possibility of Billy’s case not going the way you hoped it would, that he could end up in prison for the remainder of his life. “One thing at a time, Billy. No reason to ….”

He moved forward, pulling his hands from his pockets and bringing them up to the sides of your face, pulling you close and kissing you. Your hands went to his hips, fingers curling into his belt loops, and until Billy pulled away, taking a deep breath, you stopped thinking - stopped worrying. “You really believe that?” His voice was low, but you nodded, pressing your chest against his. I have to. “Even though you know what could happen, what you’re gonna have to hear about me an’ what I did, you -”

“I’m right here, Billy.” You looked up at him, swallowing hard. “You… I’ve been on your side for years, and that’s not going to change now… or ever.” You watched as his jaw worked, his eyes focused. “I love you. I know what you did, and I still love you.” Believe it. You have to.

“We had such a good weekend, and now…” He sighed, dropping his hands to your shoulders. “Now it’s all…” We did. We still can. This changes nothing.

“Call Matt. I’ll text Karen.” You sighed. “Call him and find out, and…” You rose onto your toes, pressing your lips to his again. “And then we can finish this weekend the way we started it.”

“What? We need to -” You shook your head, stepping back. Something to eat and then back to bed. We can watch TV or something, and then…

“There’s nothing we can do tonight, Billy. One more night of… this.” You gestured between the two of you, and then closed your eyes, thinking. “And then tomorrow, it’s all hands on deck.” He watched you for a few seconds and then nodded, a look of determination crossing his features. I like that look.

“Yes, ma’am.” Billy bit his lower lip, still staring at you, his eyes brightening slightly at your intake of breath at his address. Oh, Billy. “Hey.” You nodded, waiting. “I love you.” Your felt your chest tighten - as you knew that you would each time he repeated the words to you. “You -”

“I know you do, Billy.” Speaking over the thumping of your heart, you smiled at him, feeling marginally better. “And that’s all that matters to me.”

---

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quackinquack · 3 years

Text

Recap and Theories of Quackity’s Second Lore Stream

1. Sam (72 hours before the visit)

So after the first cutscene which basically shows us that Quackity has been visiting Dream daily, we get to find out what was going on with Sam in the time between Tommy's death and revival. So we find Sam on an island in the middle of nowhere, where he's been overcome by grief and guilt over Tommy's death. Quackity and Sam talk, and eventually it gets to Quackity telling Sam it wasn't his fault that Tommy died, it's entirely Dream's fault. He continually escalates the situation in order to convince Sam to kill Dream with him, and in this conversation you can interpret Quackity as being sometimes genuine and caring or continuously manipulative (Although personally, I think it’s both).

They leave the island in a rage, ready to kill Dream. Only for Sam to back out once they get to the prison. Sam says Tommy would want him to keep Dream locked up, and that if someone else dies, Dream is the only one who can do anything about it. At this point, Quackity lashes out at Sam for backing out, and claims that Sam can redeem himself by killing Dream. Sam, in my opinion, does want to kill Dream, and does hold a great amount of resentment and malice towards him, but is holding back mainly to respect Tommy’s wishes.

An important exchange to end this conversation is:

"It's okay if you don't want to do it Sam. But at one point or another, someone's gonna have to teach that guy a fucking thing or two. And if it's not you Sam, it's gonna be me.”

"Okay, but we can't kill him."

So this is obviously a prelude to Quackity and Sam in the first lore stream. Now that Tommy has been brought back and Quackity has seen him, he has confirmation that Dream can revive people, making him valuable. Quackity manipulates Sam into letting him torture Dream by playing into his guilt over Tommy's death, as well as exacerbating his anxiety over something similar happening again in the future. He has already convinced Sam that Dream's death will be the only way to his own mental peace, even if he simultaneously feels it's his responsibility to keep him alive in order to abide by Tommy’s wishes. This also explains why during the exchange, Quackity reassures Sam multiple times that he won’t kill Dream.

Along with Tommy’s wishes, they still have another hangup: Dream is the only one capable of revival. So it makes sense that Sam is so willing to help and allow Quackity to torture Dream daily. Once he learns how to revive, Dream no longer holds any value or power. Not saying Quackity is gonna kill him after, butttt....remember that Quackity didn't actually sign any of the papers Sam gave to him when he first visited the prison...kind of indicates that when something goes wrong, Sam won't be able to hold Quackity responsible because Quackity never actually agreed to his terms. And whatever happens to Dream will fall on Sam’s shoulder.

(Sidenote: This also brings up a few questions and theories about revival. Depending on the rules of revival and what it requires, is it possible to revive oneself? Because I do have some theories about Dream visiting Schlatt in the afterlife after killing and reviving himself...)

So mainly for this chapter we get to understand their motives a bit better, we get a greater insight into Sam's character and his guilt, and we learn more about Sam and Quackity's relationship. Personally, I think Sam trusts and cares for Quackity, as exemplified by him worrying over Quackity being in a cell with Dream, as well as not checking that he signed the books. And I think Quackity does care somewhat for Sam...but not enough to not guilt him over Tommy's death so he can torture Dream. (More confirmation that Quackity is an 'ends justify the means' type of character now!)

2. Badboyhalo (42 hours before the visit)

Okay this chapter revealed the most about potential future plots imo! Quackity digs down to the egg and places a bunch of TNT everywhere, only to be interrupted by Bad and Punz. We learn that Quackity wants the egg gone because of how it's affecting Bad - I believe Quackity wants Bad on the side of Las Nevadas, but only once the egg is gone. From their conversation a bit ago on Bad's stream, we know that Quackity thinks of Bad highly, but is also fully prepared to 'get in his way' if need be. In the end, Quackity does set off the TNT, and then we get a cutscene of him hazily walking through the area with the egg speaking to him. It says "how dare you try to take this one from me, you will suffer for this".

Also, apparently during his conversation with George, he says 'what the egg', so some are theorizing that he's already been taken by the egg (throwback to Karl distracting Quackity away from the egg in the past, indicating in some future he was taken).

And another thing, Quackity has been shown the egg before (not sure if it was /rp though), but he went through the usual entrance. Which has led some to wonder how Quackity knew where to dig down to reach the egg, and if there's someone who leaked that info to him? I've also seen people say that the TNT near Punz seemed to go off first, so some are theorizing that Punz is maybe a traitor(?) though I don't know too much about Punz's character so take that with a grain of salt. I would also like to theorize that the traitor may actually be Fundy, considering one of his lore streams where he is chased down by a black figure, and once he sleeps there is Quackity's smile and casino sounds. Plus him being warned against Quackity in a book.

Additionally: we've seen Puffy accidentally blow up a creeper on the egg, and all it did was turn obsidian for a couple seconds. I have a feeling that all that TNT didn't really do anything but upset the egg. That said, we also know Tubbo recently lost a nuke. I wonder if Quackity is attempting to blow up the egg again...

This is all, of course, a prelude to Quackity and Bad's conversation in the first lore stream, so now we know why Bad seemed pretty hostile to Quackity, and why he essentially said Quackity was 'getting in his way'. (Although he did still visit Las Nevadas with him...) Potential allyship between Las Nevadas and the egg question mark?

3. George (24 hours before the visit)

Quackity sees George standing outside the prison, and the two have a sweet and happy greeting, as it's been a while since the two talked. Quackity begins talking about Las Nevadas and the casinos (which we learn he built for each member of El Rapids) only to be interrupted by George asking 'what about Kinoko Kingdom?'. We learn that while George, Sapnap, and Karl have moved on from El Rapids already and created Kinoko Kingdom, Quackity has believed it to still be a country, going as far as to create Las Nevadas and casinos for them, and had no idea of even the existence of Kinoko Kingdom. George insists that Karl told him, but we quickly learn he didn't. The meeting ends with Quackity somberly agreeing to maybe visit one day.

Quackity and Sapnap/George/Karl's relationship is now soured a bit on Quackity's end. He doesn't seem angry or hateful to them, but instead unsurprised and saddened at their leaving him behind. (Also, on the wiki, Quackity's relationship sign towards Sapnap and Karl has changed while theirs hasn't towards him.) It seems likely that Karl may have forgotten to tell Quackity due to his memory issues which are a result of his time traveling. Whether that be him just forgetting to tell Quackity, maybe telling a past/future person similar to Quackity, or maybe he has completely forgotten who Quackity even is, is unknown at this point. On the side of him having completely forgotten Quackity though, we do have the fact that Karl has distracted/saved Quackity from the egg in the past, but didn't do so this time…It's also hinted at that Quackity created Las Nevadas as a place for the trio to get married (similar to Las Vegas!) so :( sad face.

Also, I have no theories on why George was waiting outside the prison, but I'm sure you NotFounders have a couple ideas ;) In terms of Quackity's character, this chapter is him at his most vulnerable and emotional, and therefore provides us with the most insight to his character so far. In the previous lore stream, we saw him somberly take down El Rapids, piece by piece, then jarringly interrupted by his plans to torture dream daily. That cutscene seemed, to me, to be him moving on from El Rapids completely (although he does still seem to care for the El Rapids members). An attempt to both confront and let go of his past.

And the tone change makes me feel that this was very much the last straw for Quackity, and the 'new man' he's become is far less...friendly than he's been in the past. So we saw his moment of acceptance, but now we get to see his heartbreak. And it really is sad, the way he reacts to what is a betrayal in his eyes. He's unsurprised that he was unwanted and forgotten, even by his own fiancés. And I believe that's very much related to Quackity choosing to see Schlatt in the previous lore stream. For a quick recap, basically Quackity and Schlatt had a toxic/abusive relationship during the whole Manberg era. Quackity has, understandably, been very resentful towards Schlatt since. So it makes sense that only in light of being left behind by the people he valued most, does he agree to go and see Schlatt in the first place. Especially since Schlatt is the only person who has reached out first and wanted to see Quackity.

4. Wilbur (During the Elections)

We get a flashback to the election times, where Quackity and Wilbur have a conversation.

Quackity asks to genuinely talk with Wilbur, who initially says no, then says he'll try. Quackity says that he understands that Wilbur is trying to protect his people, trying to save his nation, and that he doesn’t hate him or want to overthrow him. He states that none of this is about fighting to him, and that he just believes there is a major difference between him and Wilbur. He states that he likes to see the good in people, and believes that there’s a side to everyone that wants to see a better future, and that’s what’s different between him and Wilbur. He retells his story of coming to L’Manberg, how he felt unwelcome, and that he’ll become president himself just to make sure no one else ever feels unwelcome.

Wilbur responds with an interesting line, “Your aspirations of optimism are not going to be subject to my nation's security. I'm afraid.” Wilbur claims that everyone has a good side, but that side is only there to help themselves, and if you want to really help people, you're going to need power. He continues to make a speech about how one could make a movement or resistance, and they would be celebrated, but it will change nothing. During this portion of the speech, we see flashbacks of Quackity interacting with Technoblade and Dream.

Wilbur continues to say, that “if you have a revolution, everyone will hate you. You will sacrifice everything, and you will lose everything you've ever had. But you will come back and everything will be changed.” This portion of his speech is aided by flashbacks to Wilbur blowing up Manberg, with Philza in sight. Wilbur continues by saying that power is only gained through swords, steel, violence. Not diplomacy or bureaucracy.

He continues to say that even if everyone has the good side Quackity claims they have, the only way to prove it is by showing their dark side first, presumably to gain power. He ends with another interesting line, “When I look at you, as a fellow outsider, you're not ready for that.”

There have already been a lot of fantastic takes on what this says about Wilbur’s character, so I’m not going to talk too much about that. I would, however, like to acknowledge that Wilbur was a lot more jaded than I’d noticed, even before the elections. He refers to Quackity as a ‘fellow outsider’, and it seems to me like he sees himself in Quackity, at least when he was younger and more naive. Wilbur, by this point, seems to have already had the revelation that the only way to have any influence on the server, even a positive one, is by first gaining power through violence. Quackity, as we see him now, jaded and hurt so many times, seems to finally agree with Wilbur. And so we end with him leaving a note to Wilbur, calling him a ‘dearest friend’ and saying that he won’t make the same mistake again.

I thoroughly believe that Quackity didn’t actually lose his bet with Schlatt. One reason being that if he did, there is literally nothing forcing him to make good on his word, especially to this extent. And I don’t think Quackity, as he is now, would try nearly as hard as he is to get information on revival just to save Schlatt, of all people. It seems to me that Quackity is actually trying so hard so that he can revive Wilbur. There are only a few people dead at the moment: Schlatt, Mexican Dream, and Wilbur. Quackity does not have a good relationship with Schlatt, he literally didn’t know who Mexican Dream was, and he referred to Wilbur as a ‘dearest friend’. As for why he left the note in that spot, I’m not sure. I mean, it is where Wilbur died, but I wonder if Wilbur, as a ghost, can actually receive the note?

Additionally: In the very first cutscene of the stream, we see three figures, entirely black, riding on horses. We know that one of those figures chased down Fundy, as well, and Fundy was also warned against Quackity. When Quackity leaves the note for Wilbur, we see him, as a completely black figure, leave on his horse. So we know who one of the figures is, but I wonder who the others are? And what exactly they’re doing that they need to be disguised for?

++ Random tidbits that I don't know what to do with!

The Red Banquet apparently only needs one more lore stream before it happens, do with this what you will.

Charlie Slimecicle apparently said he's gonna be 'doing some gambling' so. Hm.

Three months ago Techno and Philza arrived on Sam's island, where there was only the cross at the time, and said 'its foreshadowing!' sooo its safe to say they've been planning this for a while.

#awesamdude #quackity #badboyhalo #wilbur soot #dsmp #georgenotfound #i promise they're discussed in depth i'm not just clogging their tags!#quackinquack #yes i've lost my mind. but i'm okay with that #please rb if u enjoy lol i'm not above begging for rbs #i tried very hard to write nicely and break up blocks of words with italics/spaces/bolding

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jobean12-blog · 4 years

Text

Top Shelf: Chapter 10- Recipe for Love

Pairing: Bucky x reader (Bookshop/Bartender AU)

Word Count: 2,064

Summary: You and Bucky decide to host dinner for your friends and afterwards you get the best idea ever...

Author’s Note: Thank you all so very much for sticking with me and continuing to read! This has really been such an escape for me and I can never thank you enough for reading and being so kind and supportive. Thank you all for reading and much love always ❤❤❤

Warnings: sweet fluff, soft smut, fluffersmut, fun with friends :)

Previous Chapters

Chapter 1: Enchantment

Chapter 2: Cookie Crumble

Chapter 3: Sweet Anticipation

Chapter 4: Read Between the Limes

Chapter 5: Secrets on the Shelf

Chapter 6: Love Between the Covers

Chapter 7: Love Lines & Soul Finds

Chapter 8: Drunk in Love

Chapter 9: Pour in onto the Page

The rest of the night goes on in a blur of soft touches, heated kisses and whispered, “I love yous.” Now that the words are out it’s as if neither of you have anything else to say. The uber ride back to Manhattan is as sugary sweet as the cotton candy you’re licking off your fingers. “Oh my god, Bucky! I forgot how good this stuff is!” you exclaim as you pull off another chunk of the spun sugar. “I know!” Bucky replies, kissing some melting pink sugar off your lips.

You giggle, trying to refrain from poking him with your sticky fingers. “Sweetheart, if you get that sticky crap stuck in my hair, we’re gonna have a problem.” Your fingers reach toward him as you hold back laughter. Bucky quickly grabs your wrist and brings your hand to his mouth, slowly sucking the sugar off the tip of each finger. “I wish we were home already,” you breathe out.

When you finally fall through the door of your apartment, you’re surprised you’re still dressed, Bucky’s hands groping you from the moment you got out of the uber. He walks you backward until you bump the small island in your kitchen, his arms lifting you up and sitting you on the countertop. Your hands card through his hair as he kneels between your legs, pushing up the skirt of your dress.

His eyes watch you as he trails kisses up your thigh, his soft hair slipping through your fingers as you try to find a hold on something. With the languid movements of his tongue he takes you apart, your body completely sated as he stands to unzip his jeans. You waste no time, helping him get them to the floor.

He enters you slowly and you feel every inch, his forehead pressed to yours while you relish in the feeling of each other. The lights from the city cast a soft glow on your skin as Bucky’s hands and mouth explore every inch with a newfound reverence. It isn’t long before you come undone, his name a quiet plea falling from your lips.

The next morning you find the other side of the bed empty, but the smell of freshly brewed coffee permeates the air. With a satisfied hum you throw off the covers, covering your nakedness with Bucky’s shirt. “Do you always walk around shirtless?” you ask as you enter the kitchen, Bucky’s back to you as he stands over the coffee pot.

“Are you complaining,” he croons, throwing you a look over his shoulder. “Not at all,” you say, walking over and wrapping your arms around his waist. “That smells so good! I’m so glad someone is finally using the coffee pot. I usually just get it from the café down the street.” He turns and hands you a steaming cup, asking, “you mean the little spot on West 22nd and 9th Ave?” You nod as you take your first sip, moaning at the taste.

“It’s going out of business!” You nearly spit out the delicious coffee, “WHAT?” Bucky frowns, holding you against his chest, “yeah, the new Starbucks that opened nearby is killing them.” Now it’s your turn to frown, the realization you may have to start brewing your own coffee or paying way too much for one making you angry. You take another sip, eyeing Bucky over the mug, “that’s awful. I really liked that place!”

Kissing the top of your head he says assuredly, “you have me and since you seem to approve of my coffee making skills, I think you’ll manage.” With a contented smile you reach behind him for your cookie tin, picking it up and noticing it feels way too light. “Bucky. Did you eat the last of the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies?”

Hanging his head, he doesn’t answer but it’s all the confirmation you need. “I can’t believe you didn’t even leave me one!” He tries to look sheepish but fails terribly as he checks for crumbs along his mouth. “Well, they were amazing! And I was hungry this morning!” he says in defense. “You’re lucky I love you, you know that” you say. He takes your unfinished coffee from your hands and places in on the counter. “Actually, I’m the lucky one and I love you too,” he says, before stopping any further conversation with his lips on yours.

You spend Sunday afternoon at the bookshop with Bucky, organizing some shelves and just enjoying each other’s company. As per her usual Sunday visit, Grandma Betty strolls in shortly after lunch, her smile bright at the sight of you both. “Look at you two. You’re practically glowing today! I knew a night out would be good for my boy. Was it as fun as you remembered?”

Bucky sends a heart stopping smile your way before launching into a full recap of your night and how perfect it was. Grandma leaves with a smile that matches yours and a promise of some of your now famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

After the visit you can tell that Bucky’s mood has dampened slightly, his teeth working over his bottom lip and his forehead creased in thought. “Hey baby, you think Steve, Peggy, Nat and Sam would want to come over for dinner next weekend? Maybe we can do it early before you guys have to be at the bar?” His spirits seem to lift at the idea, and he sends out a text to see if everyone is available.

Once your plans are made and you all settle on a time you ask him, “what do I make for dessert?” He laughs, raising his brow before he speaks. You cut him off, “I’m not making you any more of those cookies. In fact, I’m going to make a whole batch, give them all to your grandma and you can’t have any!” He pretends to pout which makes you laugh, his antics hard to resist. “I’ll bake something new! A surprise!” you exclaim, winking his way.

You spend almost every weeknight at Bucky’s apartment, except for Wednesday night because Nat insists she needs some girl time. “So. Does it feel different now that you guys said I love you?” she asks, sitting on the couch with her legs stretched out over yours while sipping her wine. “It just feels right. I can’t really explain it. It all seems so cliché when I really think about it, but I’ve also not felt surer about anything before.”

Nat tilts her head in understanding, her hand reaching over to squeeze yours. “I get it. I’m so happy for you.” With another sip of your wine you reply, “thanks, I love you. Now stop stalling and tell me about your weekend with Sam!” She giggles and you squeal when you see a light blush creep over her cheeks. “OH MY GOD! WELL??” She kicks you with her foot, scowling before she says, “it’s the wine! I swear!” You laugh, knowing full well she’s full of shit. “Yea right. You can’t fool me. SPILL IT!”

Saturday morning rolls around and you and Bucky leave his apartment together, you’re heading out for baking supplies and Bucky heading to the bookshop to open and prepare for his early departure. “If you need me to pick anything up on my way back just let me know, doll. I can easily make a stop.” You pepper his cheek with kisses, saying thank you in between before planting a good one on his lips. “I love you,” he murmurs, watching you walk down the street until you’re out of his sight.

You decide on making a coconut cream pie for dessert, checking beforehand that everyone is a fan of the fruit. It’s the first time you’re making it and you’re both excited and nervous. Once you have everything you need you head back to Bucky’s and start preparing, making sure to send him plenty of silly texts as you bake. Thankfully the two of you had made a sauce and breaded chicken cutlets the night before so all that had to be done other than the pie was frying up the cutlets and cooking the pasta.

Bucky arrives home right on time. “Wow. It smells amazing in here baby.” He gives you a tight hug, picking you up off your feet and kissing you soundly before running off to take a quick shower. Once he’s clean and ready you finish up the cooking and put the pie in the oven. Bucky sets the table and you prepare some small appetizers.

Steve and Peggy arrive first, and Peggy joins you in the kitchen for some gossiping and wine. You look over her shoulder to see Bucky and Steve on the couch plowing through the snacks. “Hey boys! Can you please try to save some for Nat and Sam??” They both look up guiltily, trying to hide their mouthfuls of food. “Sorry,” they mumble simultaneously.

Luckily, Sam and Nat show up only moments later and Sam can snag a few bites. Dinner goes off without a hitch and everyone sits with their glass of wine while they wait for dessert. “Nat has been going on and on about y/n’s baking all week! I can’t wait to eat this pie!” Sam shouts. “I know, Bucky said her cookies are better than my mom’s!” Steve chimes in, raising his eyebrows.

Everyone looks at Steve in shock, their mouths hanging open. “What the heck guys?” you say as you walk to the table holding the pie. “What happened?” Steve quickly speaks up, “nothing y/n! We were just talking about how good your baking is. That looks amazing!” You throw them a knowing smirk and put the pie on the table, serving a slice to everyone.

Sam shovels in a giant bite, moaning around the fork. “Holy cow, this is incredible y/n!” Steve follows suit, closing his eyes and mumbling something about heaven while he chews. Bucky looks up and gives you a wide smile, his eyes twinkling as he mouths “I love you.”

Before you can answer him Sam snorts, pulling your attention away as you watch him point and laugh. “Jeez, you two are sweeter than this pie.” You scowl at him and try to hold back your laughter but fail miserably when Nat chimes in and says, “that’s the best you could do. Really?” Everyone starts laughing and Bucky pulls you into his lap, feeding you a piece of the pie. “Wow. It really did come good,” you say, only loud enough for him to hear.

While everyone continues to eat Bucky makes some coffee, the smell drifting through the small apartment and perking everyone up. The rest of the evening goes by fast and before you know it, Bucky and Sam must leave for the bar. Bucky tries to help you clean up, but you shoo him out, looking forward to a little alone time with Peggy and Nat. “It’s fine Buck, don’t worry! We can definitely handle this!”

It doesn’t take the three of you long to clean up, afterwards getting comfy on the couch with a glass of wine. You hang out for another couple of hours before the yawning starts, the wine and good food catching up to all of you. “Thank you so much for coming, this was so fun!” They enthusiastically agree, telling you for the hundredth time how delicious the pie was.

An hour later you’re in the bath, relaxing under the bubbles and teasing Bucky by sending him sexy pictures. ‘Doll, this is so unfair…I know what’s under those bubbles and I want some.’ You giggle, placing your phone safely on the towel next to the tub. Grabbing the plate of pie you brought into the bath you take a bite, savoring every flavor as it swirls over your tongue. You mentally give yourself props, loving how much everyone praised your baking abilities.

Finishing the last bite, your eyes suddenly go wide, and you blurt out, “that’s it!!!” You drop the empty dish to the floor and grab your phone, trying to text Bucky as quickly as possible. “Shit, shit, shit!” you curse at your slippery fingers, wiping them off on the towel. ‘BUCKY! I KNOW HOW TO SAVE THE BOOKSHOP!’ The text goes through and you smile to yourself, excitement coursing through you while you wait for his reply.

@aesthetical-bucky @auro-ora @azurika-writes @bucky-on-my-mind @buckys-broody-muffin @bugsbucky @book-dragon-13 @devynsdiary @eurynome827 @hailmary-yramliah @godofplumsandthunder @hawksmagnolia @hiddles-rose @imgaril-lindru @ikaris-whore @itsunclebucky @jhangelface0523 @jewelofwinter @jewels2876 @loricameback @littledarlinhavefaithinme @littleredstarfish @mushyjellybeans @marvelgirl7 @marvelandotherfandomimagines @metal-armed-cuddly-dork @nano--raptor @randomfandompenguin @sallycanwait68 @softpeachbarnes @scarletsoldierrr @the-wayward-robot @when-the-hell-is-bucky @throwmyheartawayagain @flyawaybay @amandatar-06 @nd1998sc @captainchrisstan @vherriepie @fire-flv @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @irishflutiegirl @rinthehufflepuff @moonybarnes @nordlysinthewoods @inflxmes

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