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bqstqnbruin · 3 years

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Always be my plus one

Here we go, y'all. We're ignoring that it's 3:30 in the morning but I'm just yeeting the first part of this into the wild and hoping it goes well. Ignore typos, we all know that everything I post is a first draft.

I need to thank @hockeywocs, @chara-hugs, and @zinka8 (WHY CAN't I TAG YOU) and all the anons who have come into my ask box to help me with this! ily all!

WARNING: some description of child birth

Hope you like it!

Series masterlist

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Part 1: Christmas Day and the day after Christmas

The name for Christmas comes from the shortening of “Christ’s Mass,” a traditionally Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary and Joseph in a manger in Bethlehem. Although the exact date of his birthday is unknown, around the fourth century the Catholic church fixed the date of this celebration to be December 25th. Other religions and belief systems have similar celebrations around the same time, such as the Winter Solstice, or Midwinter. Celebrations include a mixture of pre-Christian, Christian, and non-secular traditions, such as gift giving, completing an Advent Calendar or Advent Wreath, Christmas music, church services, a special meal with family and loved ones, Christmas trees, lights, nativity scenes, and Santa Claus to name a few.

The day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day in some European countries, is traditionally known as a shopping holiday. In America, this is typically the day when people start to return any unwanted Christmas gifts, stock up for next Christmas on items that are marked down on sale, or see friends that they hadn’t been able to see before Christmas.

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December 21, 2021

“One fifteen means fifteen minutes before I have to clock in. Fifteen minutes before a twelve-hour shift that I’m not ready for and don’t have enough caffeine for,” Anne muttered to herself, staring at her reflection through her car's rearview mirror. “But, fifteen minutes before getting to do something that I thankfully love, something that I enjoy doing.” No matter how long the shift in front of her, Anne had developed a habit of giving herself a pep talk before she got out of her car. “Whatever happens, you’ve helped someone.”

The last part wasn’t always true, knowing that there was the possibility that something could go wrong that she and the other nurses and doctors wouldn’t be able to fix. Lying to herself that everything was going to be ok was the only want to convince herself to go into the hospital every day. Finally mustering up enough courage to get out of her car, she grabs her bag from the backseat, heading in for yet another long day right before the Christmas holiday.

The maternity ward where Anne worked never ceased to be hectic, the miracle of life happening at least once an hour. No matter how much Anne had studied in nursing school, nothing could have prepared her for the stress that could come from the job, the long hours, the potential for something so right to turn so wrong in a minute, the way nothing can go planned since the baby dictated all, the mess that comes with every birth, or the joy that results from a former patient sending her the occasional picture of a baby she helped deliver as they’re growing up.

“Hey, Tyson, come on!” comes from inside the open doors of the building, Anne not paying attention to who it was coming from, causing her to collide with a stranger, spilling her much-needed coffee all over the both of them.

“Shit,” she says, not looking up from the brown splatter on what should be mint green scrubs. “I am so sorry.”

Standing in front of her was a curly-haired boy, about her age, wearing what she was sure was a Colorado hockey jersey. Beyond that, she had no idea. “No, no, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Let me buy you another,” he offers, ignoring the persistent calls from his friends to hurry up.

Anne checks her watch: 1:19. “It’s ok. I don’t really have the time, I have to clock in in eleven minutes, and knowing the cafeteria or the vending machines, it would take a lot longer,” she says, trying to get by him. Before he can protest, she gets to the elevator that would bring her to her floor, thankful that it was ready to get her there without her having to wait. The doors start to close, only to be stopped by a hand stuck through them, the curly-haired boy with the coffee stain down the front of him getting on the elevator with her. Anne gives him a confused look, begging him to explain why he was trying to make her late for her shift.

“If you aren’t going to let me buy you one now to make up for it, at least let me see where you work so I can drop one off for you.”

Anne rolls her eyes, unamused by the man in front of her as he attempts to flirt with her. “That would be nice, but the chances of me getting it before it goes cold are slim to none, so you need to suggest something else if you really want to buy me a coffee.”

“Let me get your number so I can buy you one when you aren’t working?” he asks, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. 1:25. “I’m Tyson, by the way.”

The elevator dings, signaling that they were on Anne’s floor, opening the door to nurses and doctors running around, expectant fathers who were probably kicked out of the delivery room for making the mom too nervous pacing the halls, grandparents trying to control younger children who had little to no idea what was going on as they waited in the strange building. Anne walks to the backroom to drop her stuff off and clock in, typing her information into the stranger’s phone as he followed her like a puppy, his friend’s texts coming across the top of his screen asking where he went so they could leave.

“I’m Anne, and I’ve got to go,” she tells him, handing back his phone. There was no way he was going to text her, and it’s not like the coffee was that big of a deal to him. She could go to the vending machine down the hall and grab one during her break, or have someone else on their break do it for her if she needed it sooner.

“Can’t wait for our coffee date, Anne,” he says, winking at her before shoving his hands in his pockets and sauntering back down the hallway.

“Who is he?” her coworker, Jess asked, popping up out of nowhere. “He’s hot.”

“In more ways than one, apparently,” Anne jokes, “he’s also wearing my hot coffee on his shirt.”

“You didn’t,” Jess scolds her, turning her around to see the coffee that was spilled down Anne’s own outfit, knowing Anne’s tendency to be a little absent-minded as she gets wrapped up in her own thoughts. “Anne, you did.”

“Not on purpose!”

“DeFormicola?” Anne’s supervisor, Jackson, pops his head into the room just as she was clocking in, “We need you in room 414.”

“Saved by the bell,” Anne teases, walking down the hall to where all the noise was coming from, trying to throw on the appropriate clothing before she went into the room, struggling to get the gloves on as she entered.

“Ok, Erin, we’re going to need you to push,” one of the doctors says, Anne standing behind him as she watched the baby’s head crowning.

This was her favorite part of the job, helping the mother stay calm and trying to make sure that despite the child coming out of her, she was as comfortable as possible. Normally, she would be with the mom as soon as she came in, Erin clearly nervous as to what was going on. They had to be first-time parents, the dad going back and forth to Erin’s side and behind the doctor, looking mortified each time and clearly regretting what he was seeing.

“It’s a boy!” the doctor says, handing the new baby to a breathless Erin.

“A boy! A boy!” the dad yells, going out to the hallway, Erin clearly unamused by whatever antics he was going about.

“Don’t worry, he’s not the first one to do that,” Anne reassures her, knowing that something like that would happen at least five more times during her shift, hearing the father’s voice repeating the phrase. “I’m going to get him cleaned up and then get him right back to you, ok?” Anne asks, reaching for the baby as everyone else around her tries to clean everything else up.

“Be careful with him,” Erin warns, not meaning anything bad by it. She was definitely a first time mother.

“I will be,” Anne tells her, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket as she does. “So you have a name picked out yet?”

“We were thinking Matthew.”

Anne turns her head, smiling at Erin. “That’s a good name. My older brother is named Matthew.”

Erin smiles at her, the father finally coming back in, clearly overjoyed by the birth of their new baby. Anne hands him back to his parents, Matthew screaming his head off as they get wheeled into another room.

Anne goes over to the desk, sitting down where she was supposed to be for the start of her shift to do paperwork, but the uncertainty in the hour by hour of the schedule was not surprising. She pulls out her phone, ‘Maybe: Tyson’ coming up across her screen.

“He’s already texting me,” she alerts Jess whose head whips away from her computer to look over Anne’s shoulder at what message the mystery man could have sent her.

“He’s horny.”

“Jessica!” she squeals, wishing she was more shocked by what her friend had said. “Why is that always your first reaction to a boy sending a message?”

She shrugs, swiveling back to her own computer, “I’m normally right. What’s he saying?”

“He wants to know when he can buy me coffee.”

“Horny.”

“Enough.”

“You should date him.”

Anne turns to her, clearly unamused by Jess’s need to continue the conversation. “I don’t have to date anyone.”

Jess lets out a long sigh, Anne knowing that she was rolling her eyes. “I’m not saying you have to, I’m saying you should.”

“Ok, I don’t want to date anyone.”

“Oh, come on Anne,” Jess says, getting up and plopping herself on the desk in front of Anne, fiddling with the wire connecting the mouse to the rest of the computer. “You work in a maternity ward where people become parents every day, and you haven’t even thought of finding a man?”

“You don’t have a point,” Anne tells her, not making eye contact with her.

“My point,” Jess says, leaning over to block Anne’s view of her computer screen, “is that you can’t be single forever.”

“Says who?”

“Didn’t you tell me that you were named after the patron saint of the town your grandmothers were from?”

Anne rolls her eyes, knowing where this was going. It was going in the same direction that this conversation always went in when she had it with her mom every single holiday. “All four of us are named after the patron saints of the towns our grandparents are from.”

“St. Anne is the patron saint of child care, grandparents and mothers.”

“She’s also that patron saint of unmarried women, so your argument is invalid, as usual.”

Jess takes in a breath to say something, cut off by Jackson calling for Jess to go into one of the delivery rooms. “Just don’t say no because you think you have to be single,” she advises as she walks away.

Anne leans back in the chair, rubbing her hands over her face. “This is how Christmas is going to go, isn’t it?” she asks herself.

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December 25, 2021

The number of cars lining her parent's driveway meant that she was one of the last ones there, but knowing her aunts and uncles, she wasn’t the last one there. Her parents were the ones who did Christmas Day for her dad’s family, Christmas Eve being the anniversary of her mom’s mom’s death, and, on top of that, Teresa doesn’t talk to her family over some argument and grudge being held over their parent's house.

Scanning the cars, she didn’t see the one belonging to her brother Matthew, or his wife, Stephanie. “I’ll just leave Harper’s gifts in the car,” Anne mutters to herself, trying to juggle as many gifts as she could while also balancing the box of pastries her mom asked her to pick up for dessert.

Without a free hand to open the door, Anne did everything she could to ring the doorbell with her elbow, praying that someone would come to open the door before she dropped anything.

Her younger brother, Sebastian, opens the door, a disappointed look on his face. “What the fuck is all this for?” he asks, taking some of the bags from her arms to lighten her load.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” she remarks, “Yours is still in my car if you’re wondering.”

“Did you have to get gifts for everyone?” he asks, Anne greeting her aunts and uncles on the way to the tree to put everything down for later.

“Well, it’s Hazel’s first Christmas," she explains, referencing their sister's youngest daughter, "So getting her something and not getting the other children something seemed wrong, and then Jessica took me shopping and kept saying things like ‘oh this would be perfect for Lucy,’ or ‘oh don’t have you an aunt who likes mystery novels?’ And everything went downhill from there.”

Sebby groans, walking with Anne back out to her car to retrieve the rest of the gifts, Anne still holding the box of pastries since they hadn’t made it to the kitchen yet. “Please tell me you didn’t get Aunt Lisa that Agatha Christie illustrated novel that the bookstore was selling.”

“Please tell me you didn’t get Aunt Lisa that Agatha Christie illustrated novel the bookstore was selling,” Anne laughs, Sebby nodding his head. “I got a gift receipt.”

“What did you end up getting Matthew?” he asks her. Anne had texted Sebby in panic on Black Friday, coming home from a day of shopping with Lucy that left her without a gift for Lucy’s twin brother.

Grabbing the rest of the gifts and handing them to Sebby, she closes the door to her car and starts to go back inside. “I found this ‘make your own wine’ kit that I think he would like. That way Steph doesn’t have to listen to him complaining about how the stuff she drinks is ‘too sweet.’”

“What about for me?” Sebby asks, nudging Anne with his elbow as they arrange the rest of the gifts in the already mountainous pile under the tree.

“Oh, I knew there was someone I forgot,” she says sarcastically, Sebby ripping the bow off one of her carefully wrapped presents and throwing it at her. “Ok, now I’m never getting you a gift again.”

Sebby laughs, helping his older sister off the ground. The two of them wander into the kitchen, slipping in unnoticed due to the sheer number of family members and noise that was filling the room. “Aunt Anne! Aunt Anne!” Harper and Skylar squeal in unison when her nieces spot her, hoping that either she or Sebby had grabbed Harper, Matthew, and Stephanie’s gifts. She didn’t think there was anything left in her trunk.

“Hey there, fireflies,” Anne greets them, bending down as they both kiss her on the cheek. “Guess what? Santa stopped by my place and left some gifts for you, but he made me promise that you two were really good today if you want to open them after dessert, ok?”

The two girls nod excitedly, bouncing up and down at Anne’s words. To still be young and believe in Santa, that must be nice.

“Hey, ma,” Anne finally finds her mother, putting down the box of pastries in front of her and kissing her on the cheek. “Upstairs or downstairs fridge?”

“It goes downstairs. Come on, I have someone I want you to meet,” her mother says, dragging you away from your aunts that had aggregated around her. They all had excited looks on their faces, something that instantly worried Anne as she followed her mother down the stairs with the box. She could hear Matthew and Lucy’s voices, knowing that her brother and sister’s wife and husband had to be down there with them, too. “Matthew told me about this friend of his who couldn’t make it home for Christmas,” her mother whispers before she got to the last step.

“Mom, no,” Anne says, already knowing where this was heading. “I told you: I don’t need a boyfriend.”

“But I don’t have a grandson,” her mom whines, shaking Anne’s hand in her own against her chest.

“How is that my fault?”

“If you just find a nice boy, and get married, I just know you’re going to be my child that has a boy.”

“Oh my god,” Anne groans, pushing past her to get to the fridge.

Teresa pulls Anne over to the couches where her siblings were, Lucy sitting on one with her feet in Jason’s lap, Jason’s hand lazily rubbing his wife’s shins. Matthew was on the other, Stephanie nuzzled against his shoulder, all four of them with a glass of wine and three bottles open. Next to Matthew was a guy sitting there awkwardly, straightening his back when he saw you while Sebby tried to contain his laughter as he sat on the floor. “Jeremy, this is my youngest daughter, Anne. Anne, this is Jeremy,” she introduces the two of them before running up the stairs.

“I do have a girlfriend, actually,” Jeremy says, “So I’m sorry.”

Anne and her siblings burst out laughing, Lucy pouring her sister a glass of wine. “If only this were the first time Ma tried to set Anne up with a guy who was seeing someone.”

“I even tried to tell her that but she didn’t listen,” Matthew adds. “It’s better than when she tried to set you up with Adam,” he says, referencing Lucy’s partner at their optometry practice.

“Yeah, his husband wasn’t too thrilled by that potential match,” Sebby says.

They all keep talking, Anne just sitting and listening to them reminisce about all the people their parents had tried to set her up within their desperate attempt for her to no longer be single. It didn’t help that the last time she listened to them about dating was Andy, the boy who cheated on her when they got to college. Apparently going to school half an hour from each other wasn’t enough for him to keep up their two-year relationship instead of shoving his tongue down multiple girls throats before doing god only knows what else.

“When do you think they’ll stop trying to set me up with someone?” Anne finally pips in, accidentally cutting off something Jeremy was saying as she stared at the wine she was swirling in the glass.

“When you get a boyfriend,” her siblings say in unison.

“I hate all of you for doing that,” she laughs. “But, seriously, why is it so important that I have a boyfriend?”

“Oh, you know your mother,” Jason says, putting his glass down on the floor. “She saw what Lucy and I had and then wanted that for all her children.”

Lucy playfully shoves him, kissing him as Anne and Sebby groan. “She just wants you to be happy, and to her and dad, happiness is marriage and a family.”

“Where am I going to meet someone if I go to work or here where they try to bring in non-single non-potential suitors?” she asks, looking over at Jeremy. “Sorry.”

He shrugs, not able to get a word in before Matthew starts, “What if you met someone at work like how Steph and I met?”

“Yeah because there are so many single men walking around the maternity ward,” she says, her phone buzzing in front of her. “What about you, though, Seb, how’s Collins?” Anne asks, changing the subject.

“Eh,” he shrugs, his eyes wandering to Anne’s phone screen, “I’m not sure we’re going to last to graduation.”

“What?” Lucy squeals, causing Jason to jump as she threw her legs out of his lap. “I thought you said she was ‘the one’?”

Sebby looks down at his glass, a stupid smirk on his face. “Nah, that changed. She doesn’t want me to go to law school in Boston, she wants me to stay here or move to California with her.”

“But the adventure of moving with your girlfriend to another state!” Matthew offers, Stephanie rolling her eyes.

“Matthew, not everyone needs adventure like you do, hon.”

Anne’s phone buzzes again, a reminder that she had a text waiting for her. Picking it up before Sebby can see who it is, ever the nosy little brother, she sees a message from Tyson popping up as they continue their conversation about Sebby’s love life and Anne’s lack thereof. . They had only been texting for a few days since their encounter at the hospital, but every time his name came up she couldn’t help but smile, lifting the wine glass to her lips to cover it in hopes of her siblings not noticing.

How’s your Christmas been so far?

A simple ‘eh’ as a response was all that she needed to send. It could be worse, but her mom trying to set her up with a guy with a girlfriend was definitely not something that made for a good Christmas. The only thing that could be worse is if their dad came home early from the flight he was on with a guy he picked up in whatever country he had to go to that prompted him to miss the holiday. Normal dads who had to travel would bring their kids back little trinkets or a postcard, but Anne wouldn’t put it past Tony to borderline kidnap someone from the plane he was flying and bring them home for Anne.

Tyson’s contact comes up again, an incoming call that prompted Anne to step away so she could answer it. “What’s up?”

“You said your Christmas was ‘eh.’ What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story,” she groans, pressing her back up against the fridge.

“Well, what if I have something that might make it better?” he flirts.

“Oh? Like what”

“What if I said I’m 100% free to buy you that coffee any time tomorrow, since I know you said you didn’t have work, and you can tell me about Christmas then?”

Anne hears her siblings laugh not ten feet away, praying that they couldn’t hear her conversation. Taking in a deep breath, she knew that her cheeks were turning pink at his words. “Sure, that sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asks, walking back over to join her siblings.

“I’ll text you details,” he tells her, hanging up.

“Oh, my god,” Lucy yells, interrupting their conversation. “Anne was talking to a boy.”

“What the hell? What makes you think that?” she asks.

“Your cheeks are red," Lucy says, prompting Anne to raise her hand to feel the heat radiating from her face, "Who else would you be seeing tomorrow?” her sister eggs on, her eyebrow raised since she knew she was right.

Anne tries to find her words, unable to think of a name that wasn’t a guy's name to blurt out.

“Is it Tyson?” Sebby asks, Anne’s unlocked phone in his hand.

“You jackass!” she yells, lunging at her brother to try to get her phone back.

Teresa’s footsteps sound down the stairs, her poking her head between the gap in the stair rail and the steps themselves, Anne and Sebby looking like a deer in headlights when they see their mom. “I was coming to say that dinner was ready, but what’s going on here?”

“Anne has a boy she wasn’t telling us about,” Sebby blabs, earning an ‘I’ll kill you’ look from Anne.

“Oh! Annie!” their mom squeals, running down the stairs to pick her up off the ground and hug her. “Why didn’t you tell us about him?”

“I, uh,” Anne starts, still not sure what to say.

“You have to bring him to New Year’s Day at Uncle Vince’s house,” she tells her, the rest of the siblings following Anne being dragged back up the stairs for dinner, her mom announcing that Anne had a boyfriend when she, in fact, didn’t.

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December 26, 2021

“So, are you going to tell me why your Christmas was only ‘eh,’ or am I going to have to guess?” Tyson asks, setting down two cups of coffee in front of them. Tyson had asked Anne to meet him at a small coffee shop that was within walking distance of her apartment, thankful that she didn’t have to drive through Denver on the day where everyone was returning anything unwanted, like her Aunt Lisa returning one of the copies of the Agatha Christie novel that her and Sebby each got her.

Anne groans, the images of last night’s dinner flashing through her mind. “Can we talk about something else, first?”

“Fine,” Tyson says, taking a long sip of the coffee, “What did you get for gifts?”

She raises her eyebrow at him, Tyson mirroring her expression except with a goofy grin on his face. Rolling her eyes, she starts listing off the stuff she got: “My parents got me a new attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer since my younger brother, Sebby, broke it last time he was over and a voucher for a flight anywhere in the country like they do every year, um, some gift cards from my aunts and uncles, my nieces all did their best attempts at drawing a portrait of me, Sebby told me he was going to come over and make dinner for me, which scares me because he can’t cook, Matthew and his wife got me some books they thought I would like, and Lucy and her husband got me this bracelet,” Anne tells him, extending her arm out to show him.

“I have so many questions,” Tyson starts.

“I might have answers,” Anne tells him, raising her cup to him.

“How big is your family?”

“I’m the third of four, Lucy and Matthew are twins and are about five years older than me, then Sebby is a year younger than me. Lucy has two daughters and Matthew has one. My dad has two brothers; one older, one younger. The older one has three kids, the younger has two and then three grandchildren.”

“Mom’s family?”

Anne looks down at her coffee. “I’m the only one who talks to anyone on that side of the family. My mom and her brother got into a fight when their parents died over what was left to them. My uncle has two daughters and two granddaughters.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, looking between the coffee and Anne.

She shrugs, not really bothered by it at this point. “It’s whatever. I talk to them because I want to, so it’s fine. What other questions do you have, though?”

“The ticket voucher?”

“Yeah,” Anne laughs, “Our dad is a pilot with Southwest Airlines, so every Christmas they give us a voucher to fly anywhere we want. They say they want to make sure that we take time for ourselves, but I think Dad gets some sort of bonus for every voucher he buys.”

Tyson throws his head back laughing. It wasn’t that funny, but seeing him so happy, Anne couldn’t help but smile back at him. “What about you, what did you get for Christmas?”

“My mom and sister flew down and basically restocked my kitchen for me.”

“Ok, that’s a great present, though,” she says. “Where was your dad?”

The smile from Tyson’s face fades, not looking up at Anne. “I never knew him. My mom and grandmother raised me.”

“Oh, Tyson,” she says, reaching out for his hand. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

He shrugs, a forced smile on his face. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything, I don’t think. My mom and my grandmother are the reason I am who I am. I wouldn’t give that up or change it.”

The two of them sit there, Anne trying to think about how many times she helped deliver a baby when the father was nowhere to be found. She normally figured they were busy or just not in the delivery room, not being there all together was something she couldn’t even begin to imagine. “But enough about me. Why was your Christmas ‘eh’?”

“My family has it in their heads that I need a boyfriend,” she admits, Tyson smirking at her words. “And my brother saw your texts coming up on my phone and being the asshole that he is, announced that I was texting a boy, so now, I need to find someone to bring with me to my uncle’s house on New Year’s Day that I can pass off as you.”

Tyson gives her a confused look. “Why wouldn’t you just bring me?”

Anne sits there, a shocked look on her face. “Because they think ‘Tyson’ is my boyfriend, and you aren’t?”

“So we pretend. They don’t need to know,” he shrugs, acting like it was no big deal.

“That would never work,” Anne dismisses him.

“Why not? You don’t think I’m a good actor?” Tyson whines, acting insulted at Anne’s words.

She scoffs, “Ok, one, hockey players are never good actors, and two, Sebby or Lucy are bound to figure out that you are not my boyfriend. Sebby wants to be a lawyer so he analyzes everything and Lucy is just this perfect anomaly of a human who would be bound to figure it out.”

“I think I can play your boyfriend for New Year’s Day,” he says, confidence dripping in his voice.

“No, I can’t have you do that.”

The maternity ward where Anne worked never ceased to be hectic, the miracle of life happening at least once an hour. No matter how much Anne had studied in nursing school, nothing could have prepared her for the stress that could come from thhe job, the long hours, the potential for something so right to turn so wrong in a minute, the way nothing can go planned since the baby dictated all, the mess that comes with every birth, or the joy that results from a former patient sending her the occasional picture of a baby she helped deliver as they’re growing up.

#tyson jost #tyson jost imagines #tyson jost fic #tyson jost oc fic #colorado avalanche #avalanche #nhl #colorado avalanche imagine #avalanche imagine #nhl imagine #hockey #hockey imagines #tyson and anne

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yukipri · 4 years

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On Deuce, Part 1 - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story

Alrighty, here's a story thing on Deuce!

My goal for this story? series? thing, is to not just give everyone a better idea of who Deuce is, but also bring up other Novel A characters and events that are relevant to the Mermaid AU (and there are several), especially for those who have not read the novels. Also want to give some info on what the hell Ace was doing in his Three Years between when he first left Dawn at 17, and him restarting his journey together with Lu.

I am defs in no way going to retell Novel A (if you wanna read them, the official English translations are out through Viz), but there are defs some major changes that occur in Ace's past as a result of Lu being a mermaid, that I feel are relevant and will tie in to some future decisions.

WARNINGS for this section:

＊I have not read the English translation of Novel A, only the original Japanese, and as such names etc. may be inconsistent.

＊This section contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Novel A volume 2, specifically about the identity of one of the novel only charas. If you want to read the novel without being spoiled, you may want to hold off on this, but if you don't care, go ahead!

＊Just a lotta Deuce being introspective, he's just that kind of guy.

＊Hint of implied AceLu

Three years ago, Deuce met Ace on a deserted island, and they formed the Spade pirates together. Deuce was Ace's first crew mate on his first adventure, and he finds it poetic that he's also his first on his next, a journey all the way back to the starting point.

Deuce, in many ways, is Ace’s opposite. While Ace was the Spades' fire, their Sun, the charismatic leader who drew them together and whose flames fueled them forward, Deuce was the voice of reason and responsibility. Deuce was their strategist, their navigator, and their doctor all in one, a true First Mate who gave more orders than the captain to keep their crew functioning. If Ace was their beating heart, Deuce was their backbone.

Ace loved the Spades, and the Spades loved their captain, love him still, even after joining the Whitebeards. But Ace also carries darkness, and secrets that he decided he didn't want to burden his crew with, both for his benefit and theirs.

Ace has two major secrets: one, that he’s the Pirate King’s son, and two, that his “little brother” is a female mermaid.

The first, only Deuce knew among the Spades. He found out on accident, back on that deserted island where they first met.

Deuce likes to think that the rest of their crew would have accepted Ace regardless, that their faith wouldn't be so easily shaken by their captain's heritage. But at the same time, he both understands and sees wisdom in Ace choosing to remain silent. Knowledge of even the mere existence of the continuation of the Pirate King's bloodline is something that the World Government would and has killed for. Ace doesn't want to subject his crew to that, and to be honest, Deuce doesn't either.

But one other on their crew knew Ace's second secret, regarding the identity of his younger brother.

When Banshee, the lone woman on their crew, revealed that she was a mermaid, Ace's reaction wasn't that of a typical pirate. Their other crew members were a mix of awe at her tail, and rude disappointment that their mermaid crew mate was a plump older woman and not a sexy young babe.

But Deuce watched Ace, and saw his eyes widen, glued to the shimmering rich green of the mermaid's tail, and Deuce knew that he was being reminded of a specific person.

Deuce was already in the room when Ace asks Banshee to join them to talk in private. Deuce makes to leave, but Ace gestures for him to stay--after all, Deuce already knows what they're going to talk about.

"Auntie, sorry for calling you in here all of a sudden," Ace begins, using the nickname the crew had adopted for her.

"This is about me being a mermaid, isn't it," she says bluntly. "Is that going to be a problem, or...?"

"No, no, not at all!" Ace quickly holds out his hands placatingly, eyes wide.

Deuce doesn't blame Banshee for her wariness; he's heard more than enough about the dangers of mermaids out at sea, especially around pirates. Which, is probably what Ace wants to talk about anyway.

"It's...well, this is less me wanting to ask you questions, and more me wanting to let you know something," Ace begins, and Banshee frowns. The crew knows the basics of their captain's origins, and has had their ears chatted off about his love for his brother--but he doesn't talk much about himself much.

"It's about my little brother--"

Banshee heaves a huge sigh, all tension leaving her shoulders, and she throws an are you fucking kidding me glance at Deuce, who also sighs but minutely shakes his head to redirect her incredulous gaze back to Ace. Because well yeah, it is about Luffy, but it's actually serious this time.

"Well, you know my little brother Luffy," Ace begins again. "I don't tell a lot of people this, and actually other than you, only Deuce here knows. But...he, is actually a she, and she's, well, a mermaid."

Deuce watches the information sink in, because it clearly wasn't what Banshee was expecting.

"Is that why you caller her 'younger brother'?" she finally asks.

"Well that...that's a bit complicated, actually. That's not the reason why she's my younger brother. But I realized it's convenient, so I've just been going with it."

"I was going to say, if it's intentional, that's awfully clever of you, captain," she smiles teasingly, and Ace sputters while Deuce snorts. Banshee has a point, because Deuce actually had been the one who'd mentioned the convenience of the title 'little brother' in protecting Luffy's identity. But, he keeps quiet for now.

"So, yeah, I just wanted to let you know that well, that's where I stand regarding mermaids." Ace shrugs, then scritches his cheek, looking away. He's always awkward about Feelings talk, but it needed to be said, and Deuce feels proud of him.

Because mermaids are so incredibly vulnerable above sea level, surrounded by humans. While young maidens are the most targeted, coveted by slavers as a free ticket to wealth, power, and connections to even the Celestial Dragons, even an older woman like Banshee might face discrimination and danger. Ace had wanted to make Banshee feel safe and secure on his ship, and revealed his own familial connections to give his words weight.

The woman smiles fondly at Ace, much like she might a son, and ruffles his hair as Ace blinks dumbly. "Thank you, captain," she says. "I knew I had a good feeling about you, before I asked to join this crew. It's not often a mermaid joins a pirate crew, you know?"

"You surprised me, I didn't know mermaids could have legs," Ace says honestly, eyes brimming with blatant innocent curiosity as they flick shyly to her feet, and Banshee ruffles Ace's hair harder. "It's my first time meeting a mermaid other than Lu."

"Mmm, well, she seems to be in good hands, with an older brother who knows how to be discreet about her, even if it's only by following Deuce's plans," she says, and Deuce guffaws while Ace buries his face in his hands, because of course she'd already guessed. "But well, I know now. So you can ask me anything you'd like, and tell me about her, if you want."

With Banshee's invitation, Ace pounces on the opportunity, and Deuce listens in even as he continues writing in his journal, occasionally taking notes in the margins when their their conversation gets interesting. Banshee tells them how merfolk tails split when they reach thirty, allowing them to live as humans on land. She tries to convince Ace to keep his brother hidden until that age, when mermaids are far safer and less attractive to slavers, but Ace shakes his head. It was hard enough convincing her to stay behind this time. She'll be leaping off that island at seventeen, no matter what I say.

Eventually, someone comes banging on the door to pitifully beg Banshee for food.

"Thank you, Auntie," Ace says as they get up to rejoin the crew outside.

"You talk to me again whenever you want, captain. And I'm always ears to hear more about your darling Luffy." She says the last part with a knowing little wink, before stepping out, leaving Ace blinking with confusion.

Deuce sighs, because Ace can be oblivious at times, and clearly doesn't know how he looks when he talks about Luffy. And Banshee just found out that said Luffy's a girl, a mermaid, and unrelated to Ace by blood.

To be fair, Deuce's pretty confident that Ace's feelings wouldn't be any different even if Luffy was a guy and human, but he gets where Banshee's coming from. Even if it still seems far too early for Ace to come to any realizations about himself.

Bc YEAH, Ace had a mermaid on his crew, so of course that is Majorly Relevant to AU.

Prolly jumping right to Whitebeards next update for this series, whee~

As always, thank you so much for reading, and an extra thank you so much to anyone who can spare me a few words of thoughts! ;A;

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

#Masked Deuce #OnePieceMermaidAU #One Piece Mermaid AU #One Piece #text headcanons #long post #longpost #AceLu #future DeuceLu #yes today is apparently Deuce night bc I said so

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volturi-stuff · 4 years

Text

My Love

Part one

Alec Volturi x Fem!Reader

_________________________________________

Running, running as fast as you possibly could. From what? You had absolutely no idea. You had a killer headache. You finally came across a giant castle looking building.

"This way, everyone stay together." A woman said. You felt an urgent pull towards it. So you followed the group.

You walked into the building looking around. It looked old, but beautiful. You trailed away from the group and to the receptionist desk.

"Can you tell me where I am?" You asked. Your throat burned like you had been screaming.

"Volterra Italy of course!" She said handing you a brochure. When all of a sudden screams filled the building. You flinched and looked around. "What the hell is happening." You mumbled.

"One got away!" She yelled.

"What the hell." You said before a giant man with bright red eyes approached you.

You've seen those eyes before.

"You're coming with us." He said trying to grab you. Your heart dropped into your stomach and your legs felt weak.

"Get the hell off me!" You yelled trying to push him away,

"That's fine. I like fast food." The man said. When all of a sudden a shorter man appeared in front of you.

"Felix, no!" He growled.

What was happening? You thought.

"Looks like you caught feelings for the human." Felix said sarcastically.

"You're one to talk, should I tell Beth, what you were about to do to my mate?"

"You wouldn't!" Felix yelled.

"Try me!"

"I think we should go see, Aro." Another man said.

"Hell no, she is not going in that room." The guy in front of you said.

"You are gonna be in big trouble, Alec." Felix said

"I'll deal with it." The guy if front of you said. You were now completely hidden behind him.

Your legs got heavier and you felt dizzy all of a sudden.

You were gonna fall when two arms caught you. "I've got you, Mi Amor." He said. When all of a sudden, black.

****

You woke up later that day in a room you didn't recognize. You were laying on a very comfortable bed. "You're awake." Someone said making you jump.

"Who the hell are you? And where am I?" You yelled.

"Okay, I understand your frustration. I'm Alec, you are in Volterra Italy. But, who do I have the pleasure of meeting?" He asked coming closer.

You thought for a second. But there was nothing to think about, everything was blank.

"I don't know." You said getting teary eyed.

"That's okay." He said coming closer to your bed. "Don't touch me." You yelled. Alec sighed and ran a hand threw his hair.

"What... Are... You." You said timidly.

"Don't be scared, alright. I'd never hurt you." Alec said stepping into the light he started shimmering, like diamonds...

You finally saw him. He had brown hair, piercing red eyes, and full lips. With that shimmering skin which you immediately recognized.

"You're a vampire..." You said calmly.

"How did you?" Alec asked.

"I don't know, I've seen it before." You said. You sat up and clutching your head.

"Are you remembering something?" Alec said sitting on the edge of the bed. You kicked his leg. "Get away from me." You said continuing to kick him.

"You're gonna break your foot." He said getting off the bed.

"It's my bed you know." He said glaring at you. "God, every human is the same."

"What's that supposed to mean?" You said glaring back.

"I can't believe I'm mated to someone so annoying!" He yelled.

You gasped. "Mated?"

"Yes, we are like soulmates. But it's clear you don't want anything to do with me!" Alec said sitting on the tiny red loveseat in the corner of his room.

"I'm sorry, I'm just kinda scared." You said sighing.

"Of me?" Alec mumbled.

"No, of my memories. Do I even want to remember?" You asked getting teary eyed.

"Don't cry, Mi Amor." Alec said. The name he used gave you butterflies.

"What does that mean?" You asked looking over at his beautiful face.

"My love." Alec said smirking.

You started blushing like crazy.

"Are you blushing?" Alec asked full on smiling. His smile was even more beautiful.

"No!" You said ducking your head between your hands.

"And I'm sorry for calling you annoying." Alec said smirking at you.

"Sorry for kicking you." You apologize. But you broke out laughing at your childish behavior.

Alec chuckled. "Come on, Love. We gotta go see, Aro." Alec said standing up.

"Who?" You asked getting off his bed.

"My master. Maybe he can help with your memory problem." Alec said opening the door for you.

You walked down the steps. And into the throne room.

"Alec, is this the girl, Felix told me about?" Aro said.

"Yes, master." Alec said leading you over to him. He held his hand out and gestured for you to put your hand into his. You felt uneasy about it. But you knew Alec was right there. You felt safer with him there.

"I see, nothing." Aro said pulling away. You sighed and looked over at Alec. You couldn't trust yourself to speak.

"She has no memorie." Alec answered for you. You walked behind, Alec. Feeling discomfort about the whole situation.

"Are you going to turn her?" Aro asked.

"No, not unless she wants it." Alec said nudging you more behind him.

"Don't touch me." You whispered.

Alec rolled his eyes at your comment but couldn't help the smirk that formed on his lips from your cockiness.

"Very well, I guess I can make an exception just this once." Aro said. Alec let out an unnecessary sigh.

"Where will she be staying?" Aro asked.

"My room. I hope that's fine." Alec said.

"That's fine."

"Thank you master." Alec said.

"But one more thing. Marcus, is it a true connection?" Aro asked.

"You already know it is." Marcus sighed.

"Very well, you are dismissed." Aro said. You got another uneasy feeling so you grabbed the back of Alec's coat.

"Are you okay, Mi Amor?" Alec asked closing the door to the throne room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I think. I just don't feel right." You said trailing behind him. You felt connected to him. You didn't want to, but you did.

"Are you hungry? I can go get you something to eat." Alec said turning around to face you.

"Um, sure." You said not meeting his eyes.

"Something is wrong, I can feel it." Alec said.

"I just feel weird. Is there a bathroom somewhere?" You asked.

"It's right over there." Alec said pointing to a dark hallway. You gulped.

"Would you walk me?" You asked looking into his ruby eyes.

"Are you scared, Mi Amor." Alec asked smirking at you.

"No, I just, never mind." You said walking into the dark hallway and into the bathroom.

"Cocky asshole." You mumbled closing and locking the door.

You looked into the mirror seeing a wound right under your hairline. It looked like it had been cleaned.

You started seeing flashes of a pale girl with fire colored hair. You got dizzy and fell to the floor. You saw her throw you into a tree. You took a deep breath to calm yourself, but it didn't work. You covered your mouth and started sobbing.

"Mi Amor!" Alec said knocking on the door. You leaned up and unlocked it. Alec entered and saw you on the floor. He fell to his knees and brought you into his arms.

"What happened?" He asked rubbing your head.

"I remember something, I was attacked by another vampire." You said hyperventilating.

"Sh, it's okay." Alec said holding you closer to his chest.

"Alec." You said wrapping your arms around his neck. This is the closest you have ever been to him.

"What if she comes back." You whispered.

"Whoever the hell this person is. You are the most protected human right now. Nothing will ever happen to you while I'm here." Alec said looking into your pink puffy eyes.

"Promise." You said.

Alec wiped the tears off your cheek with his gloved hand. "Promise." He whispered.

You laid your head on his shoulder and closed your eyes.

"Are you going to sleep, Mi Amor?" Alec asked. But you never responded. He picked you up and carried you into his bedroom and laid you on the bed.

"Goodnight, Mi Amor." Alec whispered. He placed a kiss on your head and sat on the red loveseat. Just to make sure you didn't need him again.

@prettyinblack231 @wolfpackgirlss @rexburn12 @kuro-chara

#alec volturi x reader #alec volturi imagine #alec volturi #the volturi #twilight imagine #twilight #for yall #thanks for sending!#foryou #for you #follow

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ancientstone · 3 years

Note

Rambly anon again! I loved your lil fic! It was soooo good! Thank you so much! This AU is giving me life. I was just thinking about how the different siblings would react to Sebastian and thinking does this guy?? Have powers?? Too?? Because honestly Sebastian has super speed/strength and is hella accurate with throwing knives. Would Sebastian even use knives in this AU? I know that he uses cutlery in Kuroshitsuji, but he’s not technically a butler so.... if he does use knives that opens itself up to some delicious interactions between him and Diego. Also is Lila in this? I know this is centered more on season 1, but it’d be interesting to know what she’s up to. Maybe she tried to copy Sebastian’s powers before... Going back to grim reapers are they still supernatural-ish? And is the undertaker around? He’s one of my fav charas and I can’t just imagine his interactions with Five and Sebastian. Five interacting with any of the Kuroshitsuji charas would be really interesting, like Grell or William. Or five watching Sebastian interact with other Kuroshitsuji characters would also be entertaining. Do they know he’s a demon? I wonder how they would react when a random demon shows up to their place of work... Also the Handler and Sebastian interactions would be suuuuper interesting too. Both of them are really manipulative and I would love to be a fly on the wall during their interactions. Them constantly trying to undermine and manipulate the other... I just love the way you describe Five and Sebastian’s interactions! They’re so funny yet also angsty. Their relationship in the apocalypse would also be interesting to explore. Sorry for the rambling ask again, this AU is just filling my head! Thanks so much for sharing and making it!

Ahh thank you!! ❤❤❤😊

YES, WAIT, Five and Sebastian’s cover story is that he’s one of the 43, and they met through “work” (though they never disclose what “work” is) which is how they explain away Sebastian’s supernatural abilities!

Sebastian taking the cutlery is a funny image but I imagine he’d try only to have Grace appear out of thin air like, “Now, now, we best not take things that don’t belong to us.” so he makes do with whatever he finds. It’s not like the Academy is lacking in terms of random weaponry scattered around!

Diego doesn’t do a triple take when Sebastian’s accuracy rivals his.

Nope.

Not him.

It’s absolutely fine. He’s *clenches fists* dealing with it.

I’m not sure where Lila would fit in this, or the Undertaker for that matter. I’ll have to muse on that.

Oh yeah, the grim reapers are still supernatural as heck! And they probably all have a field day when the Handler turns up like “Look at the new recruits I hired!” and Sebastian is stood behind her like 😈 The fact that he’s tied to Five and under his control is probably the only reason they let him hang around. After a while, they all start to find it amusing that this demon is assisting in their work with the Commission.

I’m sorry I don’t have time to answer everything else, but I’m definitely going to keep thinking about this, so there’ll be more to come!

#asked #book of the apocalypse #tua #kuroshitsuji

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iced-insomnia · 3 years

Text

Steamtale Written Story

PART 1: THE FALLEN

Gaster, Sans and Alphys all sprinted full speed down the hallway to the throne room where King Asgore sat with Queen Toriel, Prince Asriel and Princess Chara, waiting, the king trying to comfort the children.

“Your majesty!” Gaster shouted as the three entered.

“Gaster! What is happening?!” Asgore hurried over, putting an arm on Gaster’s shoulder.

“Sire, a human has fallen! And is slaughtering monsters!” Gaster huffed, trying to catch his breath.

“W��we have sent Undyne and Papyrus to intercept them, b…but who knows how long they will hold the human off for!” Alphys chimed in.

“Let me go! Let me help them!” Sans pleaded, his orange eye glowing brightly.

“Sans you are still unwell from the toxins! We do not know enough about your condition to assume you will be alright! Especially with THIS human!” Gaster gave Sans a pitying look, knowing that if Sans were to fight the human he would die.

“I am better now! The medicine you have been giving me has improved my condition! Not to mention, strengthened my attack!” Sans, in that moment, was filled with COURAGE. Gaster could see it, everyone could.

“Let me come too.” Princess Chara spoke up.

“As this kingdoms Princess I have to protect my people against this human! Against their DETERMINATION.” Sans shared a moment with Chara, then nodded.

“Alright kid… then let’s go!” Sans and Chara sprinted past everyone, taking Chara’s hand, Sans teleported them to the site of the fight.

Sans and Chara, appearing at the site, were in shock. Lying unconscious and almost dead was Undyne, spears broken here and there, along with an array of bones.

“Pap…”Sans choked on his words as Chara went to assist Undyne.

“PAP?!” Sans called. But there was no response.

“PAPYRUS!” Sans started running in the direction he thought they would have went. Papyrus was strong, he and Undyne were the top guardsmen of the underground but… for Undyne to be in this state… what state could Papyrus be in? Sans skirted to a halt. In front of him was Papyrus, injured but standing strong, across from him was the human. Draped in a cloak to hide their face. Bearing a knife and wearing gear armor from the surface.

“Human! You shall come no further!” Papyrus shouted, eyes glowing a bright yellow. The human said nothing, only smiled.

“Say something human! Why do you do this?!” Papyrus was about to summon his next attack when the human raised his hand, stopping him.

“I… am FRISK… and I want to take what is rightfully MINE! Isn’t that right BRAVERY? JUSTICE?” the human, FRISK, laughed. Sans stood beside Papyrus, startling him.

“Sans?! What are you doing here?! You should be resting!” Papyrus lectured, almost completely forgetting about the fight with the human.

“I’m here to lend a hand Paps, plus… I got a BONE to pick with the kid.” Sans smiled, Papyrus fell to his knees sighing.

“Brother, why!” Pap shouted, defeated. Sans chuckled.

“So kiddo, will you tell me why you need BRAVERY and JUSTICE if I defeat you?” Sans asked calmly. FRISK thought, then nodded.

“Alright you bag of bones, if you win I will tell you why I need the SOULS that were stolen, but if I win…” FRISK grew DETERMINED.

“I WILL TAKE THE SOULS AND DESTROY THE FABRICS OF THIS REALITY FOR MAKING ME SUFFER!” FRISK then unclipped his cloak, revealing his face. Scars laced across his skin, mechanical implements replacing certain parts of his face, but his eyes… a deep red that shone through the dust and decay of their world.

“Alright kid. Then let’s get this started shall we?” Sans teased. FRISK charged at Sans only to be easily avoided, Sans summoned bones to intercept the kid only for them to cut them away with one simple stroke of their knife.

“You have to do better than that!” FRISK taunted. Sans, smiled, summoning more bones that broke the ground underneath them, he teleported. Watching from above his smile started fading at the sight of the human barley injured. Sans summoned his BRAVERY Gaster Blasters and aimed them at the kid, only to find them gone.

“W…wha-“Sans was shocked for a moment.

“To slow!” FRISK said behind Sans. Quickly Sans grabbed the kids SOUL and threw them to the ground, the blasters firing at the spot where the kid landed. Sans huffed and coughed, he pulled his mask over his mouth and nose, hiding the blood that leaked from his mouth. The blasters had successfully hit the kid, they didn’t move. Sans teleported to the ground, eye ablaze.

“So kid, about time you told me what I wanna know-“Sans looked into the eyes of death as FRISK swung his blade at Sans. In that moment Sans knew he was going to die, but, something had stopped the blade from hitting him. Sans looked to see Chara in between them, holding FRISK’s wrist tightly.

“Greetings friend…”Chara said with an even tone. FRISK started to panic.

“What’s wrong? Do you feel your SINS crawling on your BACK?” Chara smiled with DETERMINATION, the two humans, decent and corrupt, were about to unleash the full power of DETERMINATION.

“Sans, could you please tend to Papyrus and Undyne? After that you can assist me with finishing off this human, if you aren’t too slow.” Chara chuckled, FRISK tried to break his arm free. Sans shrugged.

“Alright your majesty. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Sans teleported away, leaving Chara and FRISK alone.

“So, FRISK… I’m guessing you are wanting to HAVE A BAD TIME huh?” Chara swung the human by the wrist, throwing him into a nearby tree with little effort.

“You have made LOVE… haven’t you…”Chara’s face became angry at seeing the LOVE of FRISK. The human jumped down from the tree, enraged.

“So tell me… WHO DID YOU KILL?” Chara charged FRISK, summoning a weapon that FRISK hadn’t expected as it slammed them all the way to Snowdin. Chara ran to Snowdin with unbelievable speed. Her weapon tight in hand. As the fog cleared FRISK could clearly see the princess swinging her chain weapon, the chain glowing a white color.

“What’s the matter? Haven’t seen a weapon like this on the surface?” Chara charged again, but this time FRISK blocked, the dead trees and windows of every building in Snowdin being blown away.

“You are indeed strong human… BUT YOU WILL REGRET GAINING LOVE!” Chara pushed down harder, the force breaking the ground. FRISK smiled, releasing one hand from Chara’s attack at using it to slice at her stomach. Chara saw this coming and quickly dodged.

“WHAT DO YOU GAIN FROM THIS?!” Chara yelled, sweating. They said nothing for a while.

“I…”FRISK started, eyes growing sad.

“All I wanted was to be myself again… I wanted to be with my family… the one YOU STOLE!” FRISK cried, running at Chara. Chara was about to block when FRISK’s soul turned blue, was lifted up and thrown right through Grillby’s bar.

“Sorry I’m late kid.” Sans joked, they turned to face Grillby’s. Waiting for the kid to enter the battle once more. But he did not. Chara and Sans exchanged a glance before entering. And there, lying unconscious is the human FRISK. Sans summoned a Gaster blaster, preparing to finish the human off when Chara raised her hand to stop him.

“Chara?” Sans asked, unsummoning the blaster. Chara sighed and put her own weapons away.

“I wish to interrogate the human before we execute him. It is only wise to find out what they know so we can prepare for humanity’s next attack, is it not?” Chara looked at Sans. He only nodded.

FRISK woke up to a dark dungeon, chained to the wall, Chara sitting on a stool across from him.

“You have some nerve.” FRISK spat, glaring at Chara.

“What do you mean?” Chara asked, arms crossed. FRISK grew enraged.

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! YOU STOLE ALL THIS FROM ME! THIS LIFE SHOULD BE MINE AND YOU STOLE IT ALL AWAY! HOW CAN YOU NOT EVEN FEEL THE LITTLIST BIT OF REGRET?! HOW CAN YOU SIT THERE LIKE WHAT YOU DID WAS NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT?!” FRISK screamed, tears running down his face. The two grew silent for a long time until Chara leaned forward and let out a small chuckle.

“You want to know why I did it. I did it because I was tired of being the bad guy… tired of always getting malevolent looks even if I help you take down the barrier and do the whole pacifist thing… I wanted a life like you had… and when I was given the opportunity… I had to take it! I couldn’t live like that anymore! Relying on you to reset and try to make peace even when, every time, I would lose… so… I met someone and they gave me the life you had, and the power you possessed.” Chara had an evil look in her eye at that moment, a hidden camera zoomed in.

“Who gave you this power?” FRISK asked… teeth grinding. Chara didn’t answer.

“WHO GAVE YOU THIS POWER?! YOU DIRTY BROTHER KILLER!” FRISK yelled, Chara was unfazed by FRISK’s outburst.

“Wow… quoting Sans are we? Is that supposed to faze me? But if you MUST know… I obtained this power from a demon that rests inside this world, one that has mutated to extreme lengths thanks to the toxins humanity has spread. It is thanks to it that we are here right now.” Chara sat back, smiling smugly.

“It didn’t happen to take the form of a talking flower, did it?” FRISK said in a deadly voice, making Chara freeze.

“How did you know that?!” Chara stood, fuming.

“Because I made a deal with him as well.” FRISK chuckled, Chara took a step back.

“W…what did you do?!” Chara growled, preparing to summon her weapon.

“I made a deal with Flowey that if I got it the six souls and DETERMINATION, that I would get my life back… and ultimate power!” FRISK smiled, watching Chara’s dismayed expression.

“Well you can’t do much from here! So there’s nothing to worry about!” Chara put her hands on her hips, raining in confidence.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” FRISK continued, Chara gained a look of pure dread as she watched FRISK glitch out of the chains that bound him, he stood.

“Because the demon also gave me another power! The power you left behind!” and at that FRISK was gone.

“Shit…” Chara mumbled.

“Kid…” Sans spoke up from behind Chara who didn’t move.

“What did FRISK mean by ‘THIS LIFE SHOULD BE MINE AND YOU STOLE IT ALL AWAY’?” Sans’s eye was glowing, and Chara had her weapon in hand, eyes murderous.

PART 2: CORRUPT FILES

Sans, in the judgement hall during the first run, stood ready to fight the genocidal human. He waited and waited, then the silhouette of a human approached, Frisk, eyes blood thirsty and knife ready to kill more innocents. Sans fixed Papyrus’s scarf that he wore, eyes ablaze. If he didn’t stop the human here, then the king would be next and then the rest of the monsters who are hiding in the LABs.

“You have come back to fight me fifteen times kid… when will you just GIVE UP!” Sans had tears forming in his eyes. He thought of Papyrus. Frisk smiled.

“You will have to do BETTER THAN THAT!” Frisk laughed wickedly. Sans was the first to attack, teleporting right beside Frisk as he sent a bone through the child’s abdomen. Frisk died instantly.

“Heh… Get Dunked On… You dirty brother killer…” And Sans waited again for the human to return… sixteen times…

Sans and Chara didn’t speak for a long while.

“So… when FRISK quoted you… it was just something to let you know that it was them who did the first run… who eventually became your friend… and that it wasn’t me…” Chara stood proud, weapons at the ready in case Sans attacked. Sans pulled down his mask, old blood staining his face.

“Yeah, I knew something was off when I first spotted the kid… they seemed so familiar… and by quoting me, it proved my hypothesis…” Sans approached.

“It proved that YOU aren’t supposed to be here, that you manipulated the files somehow and switched spots with FRISK. That you sent an innocent child to suffer eternally in the coding of this world!” Sans shouted, Chara recoiled out of reflex, but her composure maintained.

“S…so what! Why dose FRISK get to live a good life and I don’t! It just isn’t fair!” Chara screamed back.

“You’re right! It isn’t fair!” Sans hesitated, then continued.

“But what you did… was wicked and selfish… and I… can’t believe that I considered you as my friend…” Sans summoned his blasters, Chara took a few steps back.

“Sans I’m sorry! I had no other option! B… but, I know how to fix it! I swear!” Chara was against the wall, she didn’t want to fight Sans, but she wasn’t going to die at his hands either. Sans thought for a moment, then unsummoned his blasters.

“Then how do we fix it?” Sans asked, showing little emotion. Chara let out a sigh of relief. She smiled and said in a whisper

“Alright… here is what you must do…”

Sans walked through what use to be Waterfall, but with all the toxins from the surface it has turned this beautiful spot into a marsh of decay. This is where FRISK would be hiding, at least that is what Chara told him… He would be where the old statue was, waiting. Sans didn’t waste any time. He teleported over to where the old statue was, and there was FRISK. The human was placing an old umbrella in the arm of the statue to keep it dry, it didn’t play music anymore but…

“FRISK?” Sans spoke up, FRISK wasn’t startled, it was almost like he expected Sans to show up.

“So… you came…” FRISK spoke lightly and nonthreatening. Sans approached cautiously.

“I’m… so sorry… about starting off with the genocide run… and about… killing those monsters…” FRISK was about to cry, which Sans thought was a bit suspicious.

“I… I wanted my life back… and when I killed those monsters… I… wanted to reset… but…” FRISK went quiet, the sound of the wind the only noise in Waterfall.

“I… couldn’t reset… I didn’t want to gain LOVE… but… I did…” FRISK continued. Sans put a hand on FRISK, he glitched out a bit.

“Kid?” Sans took his hand off in surprise. FRISK calmed down, taking deep breaths.

“Sorry… Chara’s power… affects my coding… this power allows me to jump into different timelines and through the time span of a single timeline. An example would be… I can go into a timeline like this one… and I can go back or forward in time… I actually have been here before… in the past… but me being there wouldn’t help me so I didn’t bother messing with it and creating a separate timeline because I changed everything…” FRISK looked at Sans. Sans had some confusion on his face but understood most of what FRISK said. FRISK rolled his eyes and let out a small sigh.

“So… what will you do now?” FRISK asked, Sans remained quiet, remembering what Chara had told him. FRISK chuckled, got to his feet and started walking. He motioned Sans to follow him, and Sans did.

“So Sans, I am guessing you have a lot of questions?” FRISK looked to his companion, his hands resting behind his back. Sans nodded.

“If you don’t mind indulging me kid, some information would be great.” Sans pulled out a notepad and a pen, FRISK smiled.

“Alright… where to begin?” FRISK thought for a moment.

“Ah yes, that would be a good place. Alright so you know about this power Chara had? That I now have?” FRISK looked to Sans who nodded.

“But do you know what it REALLY is?” FRISK pressed. Sans hesitated, then shook his head.

“I thought so. Well Sans, this power Chara had gave her, now gives me, the ability to manipulate the files, travel into different timelines and forward and backward in time.” FRISK let his eyes wander a bit before continuing.

“You see Sans, Chara isn’t your ORIGIONAL Chara. She is from a different timeline and, by using her ability, was able to jump to this timeline.”

“Wait a second!” Sans stopped FRISK for a minute.

“What do you mean Chara isn’t our original Chara?!” Sans was flabbergasted at the concept of different Chara’s that can all mess with the files and switch places whenever.

“The Chara you know is from a timeline where she was always ridiculed and hated, so she jumped timelines until she came here. Usually a Chara won’t go to another timeline with a Chara already there, so they won’t fight for dominance over that timeline, so they just go find timelines without a Chara…” FRISK choked out those last three words as if they hurt to say.

“So… what happened to our Chara?” Sans asked, taking notes. There was hesitation, then sadness as FRISK spoke.

“Your Chara… killed herself… she… deleted her own file from the coding… it was awful too… she was even a pacifist Chara… and I…” Frisk didn’t finish his sentence, he just went quiet. Sans was in turmoil at hearing his Chara…

“Why did she do it?” Sans asked, hoping to lift some of the tension and sadness.

“I’m not sure… one day she was gone… she left a note explaining what happened but didn’t leave a reason why she would have felt the way she did in order to…” FRISK and Sans stopped walking.

“Kid?” Sans spoke up, confused.

“Sans how much do you trust Chara?” FRISK asked suddenly. Sans was about to answer, then stopped. Dose he really know Chara as well as he believed? She had already lied to him and everyone else about herself and FRISK… so why should he trust her? Maybe… it is because of what she said when she was younger…

‘I wanna be just like you Sans!” she had innocence then… and she did kind of become a judge when Sans wasn’t around, she even started quoting him, which he finds annoying.

“Sans you have two options… in one timeline we make it to the surface and help humanity restore the earth to its former glory, in the other… we all die accept for you… so choose your allies wisely Sans… because only you can bring us a TRUE happy ending.” FRISK smiled dejectedly, he put a hand on Sans’s shoulder for a moment, then disappeared again. Sans just stood there, thinking about Chara and FRISK… about the original Chara of this timeline… and of what FRISK said about a TRUE happy ending…

“Welp… I guess I should start making my way to Chara’s meeting spot… wish the kid was more specific about why I had to meet her by an old door…” and Sans teleported to a hidden door which hides what shouldn’t be seen.

PART 3: DID YOU PICK RIGHT SANS?

The door was easy to find, it was old and rustic and imbedded into decaying stones of Waterfall. Sans was about to open the door, when he spotted a note placed on the ground, a dumb place to put a note but it’s not like he was the one who put it there. He picked it up and read it:

Dear Sans,

I understand that you want the best for everyone… but the best for everyone won’t give us a happy ending… before I stole this power from FRISK… I had considered him as a brother and would do anything to protect him… well… let me just get to the point, inside you will be greeted by some horrific things that you will hope can be changed via reset… but just remember what I told you and you will give EVERYONE a happy ending. This I can promise you.

Love, Chara

Sans threw open the door, it wasn’t like anything he has seen before in any timeline, and it made his heart stop. The ashes of all his dead friends and family scattered throughout this room, it seemed to stretch on for infinity, but among the ashes were two human bodies, FRISK lay dead with tears running down his pale face, while Chara was still alive, she injected the last bit of FRISK’s soul into a syringe, only filling it halfway. Sans entered the room, his mind a haze of chaos. Chara looked at Sans, her eyes red with tears.

“Sans… remember what I told you… my friend…” Chara took the syringe and jabbed it into her own soul, she sucked out every part of her DETERMINATION, her power, and in her last breaths threw the syringe to Sans. Sans couldn’t control his movements, he was just moving as he ran and grabbed the syringe midair. The ground shook beneath him as he cradled the syringe in his hands. It didn’t take long for the demon to appear, it took the form of a flower, its leaves decayed and bones sticking out of the decaying leaves. A cybernetic eye implanted in the most painful way possible. And the vines it controlled, they reeked of radiation.

“WELL, WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?” it cackled, its very voice shaking the earth.

“You… are you the one they call Flowey?” Sans held the syringe close, remembering what Chara had told him.

“INDEED I AM! AND I SEE THAT YOU HAVE WHAT I WANT, SO GIVE IT TO ME!!” The vines moved swiftly as they went for Sans, but it was too late. Sans took the syringe and injected FRISK and Chara’s DETERMINATION into his own soul. Sans dodged the vines with ease as the DETERMINATION pulsated through him, mixing and meshing with his BRAVERY.

“NO! NO! NO! NO!” the flower shrieked as he sent a militia of bullets after Sans. He couldn’t dodge, he couldn’t run, he was trapped in a corner, a direct attack from the demon covering any space he could find safety in. Sans did the next best thing other than dodging, a quick counter attack! He summoned two dozen bones that circled him, one dozen near his arms spinning clockwise and the other dozen a foot below that spinning counterclockwise. The tips of the bones pointed and as sharp as knives. He didn’t hesitate anymore, he sent the bones to disrupt Flowey’s attack in order to protect himself and get through to blast this demon back to hell! While the bones and bullets countered each other, Sans took the opportunity to dive in between the madness and summon his blaster. The blaster was three times bigger than normal, its horns, teeth and any other pointed bone on it razor sharp and laced in titanium. Its left eye a deep orange and the right a blazing red, the eye and left side of the nose cracked almost like how San’s eye is. Sans aimed the blaster at the demon flower and blasted it with explosion of BRAVERY and DETERMINATION. Sans landed on top of his blaster, vision blurry. He sat down, coughing up blood, his left eye cracking more.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The echoes of the demons laugh bouncing off the wall, Sans tried to stand, but didn’t get far in his progress.

“YOU MAY HAVE DESTROYED THIS BODY, BUT I HAVE MORE! I WILL KEEP KILLING TIMELINES! I WILL KEEP STEALING DETERMINATION! UNTIL I CAN RULE THIS UNIVERSE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” and he was gone. Sans hoped down from the top of his blaster, wobbling slightly. He looked down at the remains of his dead family… friends. And in a thought of desperation, Sans grabbed a piece of clothing from the ashes that belonged to each of his friends. He grabbed Papyrus’s golden gear gauntlet, Undyne’s heart necklace, Alphys’s utility belt, Gaster’s cloak, Asgore’s boots, Toriel’s ring, and Asriel’s goggles. Putting them all on, Sans used FRISK’s power and jumped back in time.

PART 4: DEAD END

Sans was not sure how to exactly jump through timelines like how FRISK did or Chara but jumping back in time, was almost like teleporting. All it took was a thought, a memory, and he was there. The first thing the thought of was him, Alphys and Gaster running down the Judgement hall to warn the royal family, and there he was, watching it happen right before his eyes. He knew he couldn’t stop here, he had to keep going, to go deeper in. So he thought and thought of a time when he saved Chara and Asriel from an assassin, the day Chara dedicated herself to become like Sans. Sans smiled at seeing Chara so young again, it was a year after she fell, and already she fit right in… or so they all thought. But it wasn’t enough, he had to go back, back to the beginning… the first run. It took a few tries, ending up in different runs occasionally, but through it all, he made it.

He ended up at the barrier, right before everyone got there. He coughed into his hand, blood trickling down the side of his face.

“Sans?” a familiar voice called, Sans looked up to see everyone, all his friends, family, the original Chara… and FRISK, right where he should be. Sans smiled at them, he looked at Papyrus, then at the other timeline him.

“Heh, hey guys.” Sans joked, looking at everyone, trying not to break down in joyful tears.

“Brother! You’re bleeding!” Papyrus instinctively rushed over to help, but was caught off guard when he looked at HIS Sans.

“I can’t stay long Paps, I just needed to talk to Chara and FRISK for a moment.” Everyone exchanged a glance. Sans walked over to the two humans and knelt in front of them.

“Heya kids, listen I won’t do the niceties, in the future you make a deal with a demon named Flowey and he ends up killing everyone, so if you don’t want that to happen then don’t reset or mess with the files.” Sans wasn’t in a joking matter anymore, he had been through too much to feel the joy he once had. Chara and FRISK exchanged a glance, then smiled innocently.

“Then take the reset.” Frisk held out the reset, Chara did the same thing with her file glitch. Sans was in shock, he didn’t expect them to just hand over power like that. But he also knew… what these powers can lead to. Sans took them, thanks to his DETERMINATION, the process of adding these to strengthen his powers increased slightly.

“Thanks kids, you won’t regret doing this. I promise.”

The children smiled, they believed in him, trusted him.

“Sans.” Papyrus spoke up suddenly, both Sanses turned to look at him.

“O…Oh, right… um…” Papyrus, unsure how to address one Sans from the other, stood stumped.

“Fuhahahaha! Hey Techno looking Time Travel Sans! We need a nickname for you! So others don’t confuse you with their Sans!” Undyne wrapped an arm around Papyrus. Sans shrugged, he looked at the younger version of himself, or should he say, the alternate version of himself. The alternate versions of his friends, his family, chatted amongst themselves. Sans has never felt more alone.

“So Techno Sans! How about the nickname Techno Warrior!” Undyne suggested.

“N…no, no! H…his nickname should be Time Traveler!” Alphys suggested. Sans didn’t like either of those, if he had to have a nickname, than it should at least be something cool, and something that means something.

“Why don’t we call him Dead End Sans?” Chara suggested, everyone thought for a moment.

“He is from a doomed timeline.” Gaster attributed.

“Well other Sans, what do you think?” Papyrus smiled genially, it made Sans’s stomach turn.

“Sure Bro- uh I mean, Papyrus.” Dead End, Sans, looked from each face, remembering the ashes of the ones he grew to love dearly. He knew he could never bring them back, even if he did reset. And no matter who was in front of him, they could never replace the one he has lost.

“Sans, why don’t you come to the surface with us?” Asgore asked, Toriel and Asriel nodding next to him.

“Sorry, but I have to hunt down Flowey. He’s probably tormenting another timeline as we speak.” Dead End coughed, a little bit of blood spattering onto his hand.

“SANS!” Papyrus rushed to him unconsciously. Dead End took a step back, avoiding Papyrus’s grasp.

“I’m fine Papyrus… I’m fine…” Dead End Sans looked to his other self, then to Papyrus and then Gaster. His family.

“Sans… err… um, Dead End Sans.” Gaster approached.

“Why don’t you come with us, we can treat your sickness when we get up there. Then you can hunt down this flower demon.” Sans shook his head.

“Sorry, but if I wait any longer, Flowey will cause so much unfixable damage. I… have to be there to stop him.” Sans coughed more, off balance. Papyrus steadied him.

“Bro- um… Dead End? You are not well, at least come with us to find out what this illness really is. The humans must know!” he sounded as enthusiastic as he was way back when… a lot has changed…

“Alright… but just to get evaluated, nothing more.” Dead End gave everyone a convincing fake smile, little do they know… that they are tearing him up inside.

A FEW WEEKS LATER

“D…Dead End, the results came back f… from the evaluation.” Alphys was holding a vanilla folder and loose papers, this Alphys is so unorganized compared to his Alphys.

“What are the results?” Gaster was checking Dead End’s soul and his condition based off his physical appearance and reaction time.

“W…well…” She hesitated.

“Just spit it out Alphys.” Dead End barked, clearly annoyed. Alphys jumped a bit. They have been around Dead End for a few weeks, and yet they aren’t use to his lack of patience.

“You see… b…based off what I could get from the information the humans gathered, s…some human doctors help and my own e…evaluations… Dead End… Sans… you have bone cancer…” silence filled the air, no one spoke, or dared to.

“Thank you Alphys. I appreciate the fact that you spent all this time to help me… but I still cannot stay…” Dead End jumped down from the examination table he sat on, wobbling slightly.

“Sans you need to take care of this!” Gaster held Dead End by the wrist, preventing him from leaving.

“I can’t stay! I have to hunt for Flowey! Who knows what kind of chaos it’s causing throughout the timelines!” Sans glared at them. They were nothing to him, they were only a cruel reminder.

“Please, l…let’s work something out! I…if you fight Flowey like this, you won’t survive!” Alphys pleaded, holding the file close.

“How about this…” Dead End started, Gaster and Alphys became curious.

“How about I go through one dose of treatment, go to a timeline, destroy Flowey in that timeline, come back for another dose, and repeat the cycle until I’m cured.” Gaster and Alphys exchanged a look. Gaster sighed.

“A…alright Dead End… w…we can work with that.” Alphys had a look of defeat, Gaster wanted nothing more than to be rid of him. And Dead End… he wanted to leave this timeline for good.

“Alright Flowey… I’m coming for you!” Dead End’s eye glowed a red orange, DETERMINATION written on his face.

#undertale au #undertale #steamtale

2 notes · View notes

zora-moyashi · 4 years

Text

<---- Prev

Core

“No I am not, just working on this Wolfbane file.”

"Ooo~ cool. Can we check out that book we were looking at before? Or does this place not work like a library."

Core

“I trust Shatter to bring it back, so yes you may borrow the folder.”

"Sweet thank you" She sits on the floor crosslegged flipping through the folder. "Which do you wanna get next tonic?" "Oh, um orion?" She flips to that.

Core

It was in the ‘adventure time’ au.

she looks to shatter who said that. "Ah, alright. Wonder if we'll meet fin. Its so weird meeting fictional characters haha! "

Core

“Well we just need to find this hunter.” Shatter said.

"Maybe its fin." She jokes. "Shatter would you do the honers of taking us there?"

Core

Shatter made a portal. “Says here ‘hunter princess’”

"Bubble gum! Kidding, is hunter princess what they call her?" She goes through.

Core

“It literally just says hunter princess, forest, adventure time au.”

"So helpful." She slides down a little hill in the forest. "Hunter princes! Wherever you are come here"

Core

“What do you want?” A voice sais

"oh uh, you have a gem?"

Core

“Yes I have the jewel you seek, but it’ll cost ya.”

"yeah, and what's that."

Core

“The feather of a cockatrice, get me that, and the jewel is yours.”

"Random. Why?"

Core

“It can heal cancer, and also be used as a spell ingredient.”

"what's this spell than?"

Core

“Turn people into stone.”

"sure.... whatever yeah we'll get that for you." chara waves her hand. "were can we find it?"

Core

“On a cockatrice, it lives in the desert.”

"k" she turns and they go to the desert "how big do you think this chicken is?" she asks shatter

Core

“18 to 50 feet, but my form is 25.” Shatter said

"that is a big chicken. we should bring it back for horror."

Core

“She would eat it, but watch out for it’s eyes.”

"yee i know sis, medusa chicken, i'm ready."

Core

“I have an idea, when we find it, I’ll turn into a mole and kick sand in it’s eyes.”

"sounds good. it is freaking me out a little that it lives in the desert."

Core

“Why?”

"well there's nothing here. it's not like it burrows, does it?"

Core

“Cockatrice are cold blooded, so it is perfect.”

"hmm, they must be pretty hardy." chara points "hey is that it?" in the distance there's a figure.

Core

Shatter looked and saw familiar plumage. “Yep.” She turned into a mole and dug underground

Chara laid low and watched

Core

She appeared in front of the bird and kicked sand

The bird shook it's head and glared at the mole relizing there were no eyes it got mad and looked for another victim

Core

Shatter assumed she got both eyes and turned back to normal.

The creature turned to their good eye, luckily shatter turned into a cockatrice just in time, the twos ability balancing out

(Stare down of the cockatrice.) Chara had been trying to sneak to the back of it and pluck a fether. She was close

Core

Shatter kept the cockatrice’s attention, though that wasn’t very hard since it turned out the wild one was male. (Sorry not sorry but he is trying to flirt)

(Lol) Chara gets ready to jump and right after she pluck it she did, right over the two of them and started to run to tonic.

Core

Shatter then attacked the male, showing she was NOT interested

"Woooo!" Chara runs and grabs tonics paw while waving the feather in the other hand.

Core

Shatter nodded and started to run off, noticing the male following.

Chara didn't look back so she didn't notice until she wondered what was making shatter as far back as she was.. "hurry up shatter?" She calls.

Core

Shatter used her wings to jump up and kick the male,

Chara heard the male cry out as shatter gouged his chest

Chara's curiosity wins and she looks back making sure to look low.

Core

Shatter killed the male, turning back. “He wouldn’t take a hint!”

"Oh I think he took it shatter haha!" She goes back and gets a couple more feathers for fun. "Alright let's get back."

Core

Shatter nodded, following

When they got there chara waves the feathers at the princess. "There you go. Why do you even have the gem if you're willing to give it up that fast?"

Core

“Getting the feathers is not that easy.” The woman said, tossing the blue gem to Chara

"OK better question, where did you get the gem?"

Core

“This lady with floating hair and glowing eyes gave it to me.”

"Didn't she tell you not ta give it away? Cause dang."

Core

“She told me find someone worthy.”

"Cool. Guess we win~" she sets the gem in, bright red color slowly dies down as it settles in. Chara spins the outside ring.

Core

It landed on pegasus

She showed shatter with a smile it glowed yellow.

" pegasus huh." Chara says "wonder what it'll be like"

Core

“Says Dracopedia AU, so more feathers.”

"well a'ight. not sure exactly what that means but i like surprises. let's go" chara says.

Core

“Also be careful, this au has my most dangerous forms

"eh, we're fine. we've got you."

Core

“True.” Shatter shrugged, making a portal to the mountains.

the three of them enter, it's late at night with a new moon making it pretty dark. the three of them made their own light for each of them. "okay, so, where is this thing?"

Core

“Well it lives in the mountains, so somewhere here”

"do these kinds of pegasuses... like, make nests?" chara asks

Core

“Kinda?” Shatter started, turning into an eight legged lizard large enough for Chara and Tonic to ride up the steep slopes. “They make large areas of flat stone to roost.”

"huh." chara hops on with tonic. "you have good night vision in this form shatter?"

Core

‘Actually it’s pretty decent, this is a Saharan Basilisk by the way’ she said, climbing up the slopes

they climb until they hit the top where it flatten out. there is a cliff in front of them they'd have to climb to get higher.

Core

Shatter looked around, sniffing the ground

the watch starts to glow indigo again. tonic holds it in a certain direction and it gets brighter.

Core

“I got a scent” Shatter said, turning the same direction. And bolting

tonic looses there balance almost falling off shatter's back. chara leans forward holding tight. "weeee! hahah " chara squeels.

Core

Shatter used her tail to help Tonic stay on as she climbed

shatter climbs up some of the cliff but than the sent is to the right. she can't see anything that way but the sent clearly leads that way.

Core

She turned to follow the sent, the basilisk’s eyes were small so this form mainly relied on scent anyway.

the cliff ended there, the mountain side dropping drastically. the sent came from inside the wall they climbed on, there was a spell of some sort on it it seemed as shatter touched it, the wall quivered.

Core

Shatter used her tail to snake the wall, again and again.

*smack

the harder she hit it the more it pushed back, like counter.

Core

Shatter growled at this. ‘You two get off for a second

there was a small ledge that they were able to stand on, though it was very thin they both did as they were told, tonic's light helping a lot.

Core

Shatter went over and started digging, something this form was great at

she could see that the spell was a bubble and went all around the protected area, even in the rock.

Core

Shatter bit at it, trying to tear

that was the most effective as the bubble's crease she made with the bite turned a light green

Core

She shook her head as she continued to bite

she eventually got through that, a bit more rock in her way before she could go into the grotto. shatter could hear sounds coming from in there. tonic inches their way over to where shatter was watching.

Core

Shatter dug through the rock with ease, once she made a big enough hole she went and got Tonic and Chara

the inside of this little hide away was quite nice. very cozy. there was a young looking Pegasus on the ground under some kind of animal pelt.

tonic and chara go in, chara looking around and finding gems. "oooo" she bends down to them and sees a little dragon there. much younger than the Pegasus. it was garding the gems

Core

“Dragonettes?’ Shatter questioned, confused. ‘They are domesticated so that must mean-‘ Shatter said before screeching as an arrow went through one of this form’s small eyes.

tonic jumped in surprise before bolting to where the arrow came from intending to rip up who ever did that's arm or whatever.

Core

He saw a male human. “Watch our you two! Basilisks are deadly, I’ve never seen one this far from the desert...” Shatter scratched the arrow out, blue blood stained that side of her face.

tonic bit into this guy's arm and pulled him to the ground.

Core

The guy had on armor. “What are you doing imp?! I saved you!” The man said, throwing Tonic into the dirt. Shatter heard this and hissed, raising her spines. She now could just barely see anything

tonic shook their head. "No! don't hurt her!" tonic growl/whines.

Core

“And why not?! They are dangerous!” The man yelled

Core

(He’s so cute argh!!! Shatter you better protect the bean!!)

"She wasn't hurting anyone." They say firmly. "Who are you?" Tonic asks sitting up. (Yee shatter, tonics gonna get in all kinds of trouble.)

Core

“It is after my steed! And I am Orion, rider of the winged horse.” He said.

"Funny that, we just met the representative of orion somewhere else." Tonic says quietly. "Do you mean that filly? It's hardly a steed."

Core

The horse seemed to hear this and charged at Tonic. Shatter heard the galloping and quickly got over Tonic, using herself as a shield.

Tonic being the skittish thing that he is jumped again. tonic tries to reason with the man saying they didn't know what they were doing and they were just looking for something. Chara saunters out of the cave thing holding the small dragon in her arms petting it as it purred watching the spectacle.

Core

It was a hatchling, fire red and covered in black spots, The man calmed down the horse, who and a golden collar with an indigo gem in the center. Shatter stayed over Tonic.

Tonic looked to shatter as if questioning if they should ask for the stone.

Core

Shatter nodded softly( Night)

"um... sir? That is actually what we're looking for." Tonic points to the horses neck. Chara steps over to them.

Core

“The gem? Do you have the ring?” He asked.

"Yes." Tonic nods as chara fishes it out of her pocket and shows him.

Core

“I see, well...” he took the gem out of the collar. “This is yours then.”

Chara's hands are full or else she would have taken it it, tonic takes it instead. "Why are you giving it up so easily?" Tonic asks

Core

“That barrier is not easy to get through, not to find it in the first place. You passed the test.” He said

Tonic looks unsure but thanks him anyway. Chara pats the dragons head until it hears the filly make a sound and flies over to it.

Core

Shatter turned back to her normal form, holding a hand over her left eye.

Tonic motioned for shatter to go down to their level

Core

Shatter was sitting down. “Oh, you are a shapeshifter.” Orion said “No shit Sherlock.” Shatter hissed, salty because eyes took forever to heal.

Chara giggles and goes up to pet the pegasus. Tonic heals shatter's eye with a drop of magic form their claw.

Core

“It needs to heal naturally, otherwise it may miss details.” Shatter explained to Tonic The Pegasus stomped a foot.

Tonic pouts and cuddles next to shatter instead. Chara copies the pegasus.

Core

Shatter sighed. “You two okay if we stay here until my eye heals?” The Pegasus snorted

"Fine with me" Chara says. Tonic shrugs

Core

Shatter laid down, closing her eyes. “You know, my core is blind.”

"Yeah? Why do you bring this up?" Chara asks while inspecting it's wings

Core

“Well, the first thing I ever saw was death, made me not want to see any more, but, I’m glad I can see you and Tonic.” Shatter said with a slight smile

"Awwwww~ break my heart, shatter!" Chara grins pulling at the wing to see how it bends. Tonic placed their head on shatter's belly resting with her.

Core

The Pegasus smacked Chara with its wing. Shatter continued to just chat. “Remember that other Nightmare? I think that’s because the Norse au shares the same creator as ours.”

"That so? Guess that'd make sense hm?" Chara shakes her head from the hit. Surprised by how soft the feathers are.

Core

“Yeah, in some of the aus with actual stars are limited, but rather interesting. One is where everyone is like opposite, then one where Dream and Nightmare swapped, one were the apocalypse happened, one with medieval kingdoms, and one where Geno and Dream made this deal.”

"What kinda deal?" Chara leaves the horse alone.

Core

“Not sure, but that au is a lot different from the others because of it.” Shatter explained

"Hm." Chara sits by shatter and starts to play with the loose rocks nearby. Orion and his pegasus head back to the hideaway

Core

“And one au, stars are bio weapons.” Shatter added

"Like you?"

Core

“No, no. Like robots with a soul stone core, you know, made by humans. Let me tell you that the one with the blades is ridiculously fast.” Shatter explained

"I'd bet. A star made only for fighting would really be something scary. So shatter, I'm a little foggy on bioweapons, it means using living things like germs or whatever to fight other living things? So even though they are made by humans they're still alive. Right?"

Core

“Well, it literally means ‘living weapon’ so anything alive, and they are.” Shatter said

"Uh-huh, how did they make them?"

Core

“Don’t know, I left fairly quickly.”

"Aw, that's too bad."

Core

“You would leave too if you were getting your ass kicked by something too fast to hit.” Shatter defended herself

"Not blaming ya, but it's still a shame. What was this star's name? Cause it's reminding me a lot of shadow lol"

Core

“C-5.”

Tonic fell asleep, "i'ma call her carma with a C. I hate the stupid code names. Anyway, what was your favorite place you've visited shatter?" Chara checks her soul with the small peice of gradients core sticking out of it still. The spread of the green seems to have stopped though. Lv 15.

Core

“Hmmm the jelly shroom forest.”

"sounds squishy."

Core

Shatter opened her eyes, the left one now healed. “So, ready for the next one?”

"i am but looks like tonic passed out."

Core

Shatter looked and chuckled, picking up the sleeping boy. “Well, next is dragon, so chances are it’s going to be here.”

draco's color glowed a silvery white with a tint of red. chara looks at it "i'll take your word for it, but i'd find it strange she'd hide two in the same world." tonic shifted in shatter's arms getting more comfortable.

Core

“Well, I told you before, this world is one of the most dangerous.” She reminded. “We should really stay here until Tonic Wales up....”

The watch's brightness stayed steady. "I say we go into their little cave if they'll let us."

Core

“We’re fine right here.” Shatter said, setting Tonic down.

"whatever. you know that thing could be out for hours. why don't you just wake them up?"

Core

“Because that is rude.” Shatter said.

"pfff, fine. maybe the dragon will come to us."

Core

“Not likely...” Shatter said

chara lays down with a huff.

Core

“Sorry, I know you are excited.”

she grunts as a reply.

Core

“Look, how about truth or dare in the meantime?”

"sure, how's that work? i made up shit when i played that with asy."

08/13/2019

"I never got to play with other humans. I just watched them sometimes."

Core

“Well, I say truth or dare, then you choose to answer something with only the truth or do a dare.”

"Uhhhh okay truth"

Core

“Are you using me?” Shatter asked, rather seriously

Chara was instantly shocked. She opened and closed her mouth unsure what to say.

"....uh.." she laughs it off. "I thought this was supposed to be fun?"

Core

“Yes that is the general purpose, But it is also good excuse to get answers,” Shatter said

She blinks. "And if I refuse to answer?"

Core

“You get punched in the arm.”

Chara groans. "Shatter! Come on! I don't even think I know the answer to that!"Tonic stirs from the noise before falling back asleep.

Core

“Then you accept the punch?”

"....I guess."

Core

Shatter punched her in the air hard enough for it to sting. “Your turn

She rubs her arm disheartened with a sigh. "Truth or dare?"

Core

“Dare.” Shatter said

"I dare you to wake tonic up so we can fucking leave."

Core

“Fine, Fine.” Shatter said, gently shaking Tonic. “Come on, wake up sleepy head.”

Tonic slowly shakes their head and blinks at shatter half alseep.

"Yes shatter?" He asks yawning.

"Shatter's being mean to me so I made her wake you up."

Core

“Sorry, “Shatter apologized, I promise you can rest on the way.

"Mmm, okay." Tonic wraps their arms around shatter's neck closing their eyes again.

Core

Shatter carried Tonic like a backpack. “You got the ring?” Shatter asked Chara

"Sure do." She holds it up as it shines brightly to the north.

Core

“Well, the sea orc’s lair is north..” Shatter said

"Alright." She walks that way. Unnaturally silent for her

Core

“Hey, Sorry if I made you upset.” Shatter said

She shrugs. "...It made me mad that I don't know the answer. Not your fault."

Core

“Oh, I see, well do tell me when you figure it out.”

"...fine." They see the orc's lair ahead of them. Murmuring can be found in that direction.

Core

It was a cave surrounded by water, Shatter turned into a lapras. ‘We have to be careful of rocs.’

"Yeah I'd assume seeing the name. Think they captured the dragon?"

Core

“No, rocs are giant birds, they might They to eat me in this form.’

"Well then get out of that form stupid?"

Core

‘What else do you expect me to use? Rocs will eat anything I do!’

"Try a laprass? How big are these things?" She looks around to see one.

Core

There was what looked like a cliff, at least 1500 feee tall, it opened an eye and stretched out it’s wings. ‘Shit!’

"WOOOW!" Chara squeals. "SO PRETTY!!!"

Core

The roc looked over, seeing shatter. ‘Shit! Shit! Shit!” Shatter hissed, diving down

"Shatter! Look how cool it is!"

Core

‘It’s not cool!’ Shatter said as the roc flew into the air, watching the water.

The roc blocked all light out from the sun that was coming up. "Shouldn't we just leave??? Why the hell are you diving?"

"I feel tree cover would be better!"

Core

The roc dove its talons into the water and caught a whale, easily lifting the giant mammal into the air.

"Yeah, like that." Chara dunks her head under trying to find shatter but she sees nothing untill she notices a faint light that she assumes was tonic on shatter's back.

Core

‘Wasn’t me!’ Shatter cheered as she surfaced, letting Chara on her back so they could head to the lair

Tonic shakes off like a dog and chara gets on with them. "How fast did you dive?"

Core

‘Fast enough apparently.’

"Yeah sure." They get to the shore of the cave. Chara hops off into the black sand.

muttering is much louder on the shore. Chara sneaks around to the edge of the cave.

Chara sees a big gathering of orcs circling something, chara's not sure what it is. She quietly relays that info to shatter.

(These are sea orcs)

"perhaps. If the gem's in there that'll make this difficult. How strong do ya think these are?"

Core

“Well, a freybug won’t work... but a naga will.” Shatter said before turning into a cobra with four arms and a scorpion stinger at the tail

"so we're just gonna crash that party?"

Core

‘Hell Yeah’ Shatter hissed slithering over

Chara follows, they notice them right as they enter the cave and start making screaming like sounds at shatter and chara.

Core

Shatter was highly venomous in this form and would paralyze her victims

One of the orc's came over (Wait so, the orcs are in the water in a cave on the island right?) Jumping out of the water and whipping their tail at shatter's torso knocking her of balance.

Core

The cave is like the one kyogre is in)) Shatter hissed as she used her four arms to spin back around

some of the orcs go on the land to attack, biting at shatter's legs. Another snaps at chara as she hops on it back

Core

Shatter quickly nabbed the one that was going to attack Chara.

It slams against shatter as the others do something similar as back up. Chara desides to go check what they were circling while they're destracted. Chara manages to get around most of them as they attack shatter. There's a big pool of blood fogging the area making it hard to see what's inside.

Core

There was a red gem in the water. Shatter’s teeth weren’t for tearing to she had to resort to her claws and stinger.

Chara darted into the fog grabbing for the gem she saw a glimpse of. As she waved her arms in the blood she hit chunks of flesh and bone. She eventually got what she wanted though it was covered in fleash. She swims up unharmed and calls "shatter! I got it let's leave!"

Core

Shatter turned back and teleported to Chara before teleporting to Tonic

they get out and the orc's aren't happy about that as they search for them, shatter and the others are on the other side of the lake, pretty safe from being found. "wooo! that was fun!" chara says as she wipes the gore off of the gem.

Core

“Sure, for you.”

"don't be like that. it's not like you got very hurt!"

Core

“True, but I was more worried about you.”

"yeah well you shouldn't be..... shatter? would you hate me if i was only using you?"

Core

“No, I don’t think I would, I don’t think I could at this point.”

"tch. well you should."

Core

Shatter shrugged, “it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last, I’m just glad you are actually a great friend.”

( there's the color list, i got rid of the dog and bull cause they're too similar to wolf and touros. )

Core

Shatter started to say something and sighed, before looking at what was next; (file above)

(so that's the dog? or what?)

Core

(Greater dog)

Core

“Yeah but this is a different kind.”

"Right. I guess we'll just have to see when we get there." Tonic says nuzzling into her shoulder.

Core

Shatter nodded and turned into a lapras again. ‘Come on Chara’

She makes not a sound and gets on the lapras's back.

Core

Shatter swam across the shore

Chara stands on her shell looking into the water

Core

‘Truth or dare’

Chara shakes with anger 'shut up.' Though tonic couldn't hear them they could see the tension between them.

"Ummm. Did something happen while I was asleep?"

Chara rolls her eyes. "No, it's none of your concern "

Core

‘I’m just trying to lighten the mood.’ Shatter said

'Because that worked so well before.'

Core

‘Ok, how about I make you something? Like chocolate?’

'Not hungry shatter. Like i said before, just forget it.'

Core

Shatter sighed as they reached the next shore

Tonic and chara get off, this shore is very muddy. The watch calls for the next stone with a pure red color. Tonic looks around "which way shatter?"

Core

“There are some plains nearby, drakes normally live there.”

"Oh, so there's many of them?"

Core

“Well there are tons of drakes, hydras are rarer.”

Tonic nods and starts trotting through the plains.

Core

They saw some creature’s run past

Tonic looks back to make sure shatter's there before they go close to the animals.

Core

Shatter was trying to make up with Chara

"Shatter! I'm serious, forget about it!" The drakes land near the group seemingly curious of them and the light.

Core

(Drakes can’t fly, they run)

( dheidbdksbd, kk. I was thinking of a different critter. Want to send me a pic.)

Shatter growled at the pack.

They sniffed and snarled at shatter's hostility

Core

Shatter turned into a war Drake, different from these Common Drakes, she had her tail down, a sign she wasn’t interested in a fight

They weren't wanting a fight either, but they did seem interested in shatter's transformation and tonic in general. One nudged against tonics head with its snout.

Core

Shatter raised her tail and growled, lowering her body, showing she was defensive about Tonic like he was a pup

It didn't listen to shatter as it pushed tonic to the ground starting to lick them. Tonic giggled pushing it away.

Core

Shatter growled at this, showing her disapproval to the pack

They back off, as this isn't their territory and they were just looking for food to bring back to their group leader (the hydra)

They start to leave and drag the prey they already had.

Core

Shatter growled softly. Before sniffing the ground

Tonic shakes off the slobber and joins shatter attempting to smell for the gem as well though they can't smell anything

Core

‘Got the scent, come on.’ Shatter said, running towards the source

They both follow quickly

Core

One of the packs look outs saw shatter enter their territory

It made a howl like sound and instantly a a new group of drakes came after the group.

(meet pickett)

august 14 leo

Core

Shatter growled and kept herself in between the pack and the others

08/15/2019

The pack reached them, nipping at shatter and roaring, telling them to get lost.

Core

Shatter had more armor and sharper teeth, but she was outnumbered.

One rammed into shatter knocking her over, the drake climbed on her and started ripping st her neck.

Core

Shatter used her strong back legs to tear at her attacker’s stomach, her long claws meant for traction on land, thinking quickly she turned into a Shedu, or a winged lion, the natural predators of drakes. ‘Ok, I’m done playing fair

The drake's belly was pretty ripped up and it backed away as much as it could looking up at the shedu. The other drakes still had a job to do, no matter what, so even though they hesitate they attack her again anyway. One got a good grip on one of her wings.

Core

Shatter spun around and attacked the Drake, swatting it.

the cerberus noticing the trouble it's pack was in, grabbed the gem hiding it in its mouth, and sprinted towards the group. It seemed to be able to talk through telepathy. It clearly wasn't it's power, but given to it by someone else. 'Get out of home' it growled like an angry child.

‘Not until we talk!’ Shatter hissed, roaring at some of the drakes

One of the cerberus' heads ordered the pack to back up. The head on the right said 'there nothing to say! Trespass!'

Core

‘Only to find you!’ Shatter hissed,

they relax except the head on the right. The one on the left asks 'what want stranger?'

Core

‘We are after the gem’s of Singularity.’

'Can't have, it master's' says the middle 'important to master.'

Core

(So far the highest points is 20 with the exorcist) ‘Yes, But we found her ring, and wish to restore it.’ Shatter said.

The heads talk amungst eachother before looking at the group silently. Chara grows sick of it. "Well??? Make up your damn mind! Can we have it or not?" The head on the left says 'must check worthiness' 'Destroy shedu nest.' The heads all nod in agreement.

‘You want me to destroy a Shedu nest? They are an endangered species, how about I do you one better? A bull hydra nest.’

(That tail tho) 'hydra's don't bother pack. Must be shedu.'

Core

‘Fine, But only one cub, I do not want to be responsible for the extinction of a species’

'Than no deal.' They nod and turntail.

Core

‘Ugh Fine, I’ll destroy the nest!’

'Good' head on right than says ' back before sundown or test failed.'

Core

‘Fine...’ Shatter huffed, letting Chara and Tonic on her back

They climb on and chara sticks her tounge out at the beast as they run in the direction of the nest.

Shatter flew up to the nest. ‘They didn’t say we had to kill the cubs...’ Shatter told herself as she tore up the fur padding that made the nest. (This is a white Shedu)

(A roc☝️)

There were four cubs shivering covered in their moms shed fur watching shatter confused. The Cubs had little fur and if they were to leave they would certainly freeze.

Core

Shatter changed the nest, destroying the old one.

One of the cubs grew more curious and went up to shatter, they'd never seen a non artic of their kind. It made a little cub sound as if questioning her.

Core

Shatter chuffed nudging the cub back before flying away

"...shatter?" Tonic asks. "I don't think... that'll be good enough for the cerberus."

Core

‘They said destroy the nest, and I did.’

‘They never said I couldn’t fix it later’

tonic shrugs and enjoys the ride, not sure about that.

When they get back the cerberus is instantly unpleased. 'Didn't do as asked!'

Core

Shatter landed. ‘Yes I did, you never said I couldn’t rebuild it, nor did you say I had to kill the cubs.’

The cerberus is angry about the miscommunication. 'You know what ment! No gem until what asked is done! Whole nest! We watch, do it right.' The one who game them telepathy also gave sight sharing.

( *gave them)

Core

‘Fine!’ Shatter hissed, flying back. ‘Chara, can you keep the cubs warm?’

"Yeah."

Core

‘Ok, Shatter landed by the nest. There were three cubs

'Where is the other one?" Tonic asks.

Core

Shatter looked around and saw it fell off the cliff. ‘Poor thing.’

"more like dumb thing." chara says getting off her back and gathering the other cubs.

Core

‘The wind up here is bad’ Shatter explained, waiting for Chara to get the cubs before tearing up the nest

"shouldn't have been so close to the edge." after shatter's done chara makes a bubble and puts them in it. than she puts a fire around it to keep them warm. the babies can't break the bubble but a mom surly could.

Core

Shatter made her work quick. ‘Can you leave them here in the bubble?’

"yeah, they'll be fine."

the cubs scratch at the walls of the bubble.

Core

Shatter felt deep guilt leaving, but got herself to do it

when they get back once again the Cerberus just glares at them. it spits out the gem onto the ground. it's given up on it's communication and considers them strong enough for the gem anyway. if the cerberus could have told them better it would have meant 'kill all the cubs available. but it didn't so pff'

Core

Shatter took the gem.

"alright then." chara holds out the watch to shatter.

Core

Shatter placed the gem.

it fit into place and started to call for the golden quezlequatle.

it was clear that that gem wasn't in this world.

Core

Shatter looked at the file, ‘I’ve never heard of this au’

shatter opens a portal to a very dark space similar to the void. in the distance there is flashing lights changing colors. "weird place" chara says.

Core

Shatter walked through, cautious

the other two follow and the portal instantly disappears as if it didn't ever exist. as shatter tries to make another portal she's unable to. she can still shapeshift though.

Core

Shatter paused

this place echos like crazy and chara's having way too much fun with it. she starts by stomping on the 'ground' and than starts yelling nonsense. "SHATERR! THIS IS AN AMAZING ECHO!"

Core

‘I can hear that.’ Shatter smiled

chara walks to the flashing lights and they emit a song per each structure. she taps one and it blinks off.

"Hm.. I bet we need to recreate a song. The question is what is the song." Tonic steps on a tile that makes a 'bloop' sound

Core

Shatter turned into a Chatot and repeated the sound

Core

(Crazy Idea: T.G. Au Dream and Nightmare would always fly at night together because it made them feel like all the pain of having to hide was gone, but one night Dream kept her jacket on and said she wasn’t in the mood, Nightmare shrugged it off and flew, Dream watching from the rooftops. The next night, Dream told Nightmare she was tired and it was overcast. This time her sister was concerned and asked if anything was wrong. Dream forced a smile and told Nightmare that everyone was ok. Later that night as the two slept, Dream had a nightmare where she was flying during the early morning and a wire net tore up her wing, she crashed down, exposed to humans who tore off the wing. Dream woke up in a cold sweat, pulling the blanket closer to her as she looked at her sister. The third night came and Dream still didn’t want to fly with Nightmare. “What’s with you recently?” Nightmare asked. “It’s nothing, I promise, you just enjoy yourself.” Dream replied. “Stop lying to me Dream! You haven’t been able to sleep, and haven’t been eating either!” Nightmare said to her sibling who tugged on her own jacket sleeve. “Why won’t you fly?” “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to tonight.” Nightmare went to Dream, picking her sister in the air. “Why are you continuing to lie to me?!” “I’m sorry!” Dream said as her jacket fell off, revealing her left wing was gone. Nightmare in shock landed, Dream quickly hid her bloody back with her jacket, looking down. “I’m sorry Nightmare...” It’s based on a new song I added ‘Two birds on a wire’)

As chara pushed more buttons something was chamging. The area they were in seemed to get smaller everytime something was pushed.

Core

‘Hold on...we might get squished’

Chara stops. "Have a better idea genius?"

Core

Shatter looked at the floor, before turning into Ironhide. Then stepping in the correct pattern. “Simple key puzzle, typical of Nintendo games.”

( look at this new boi I got.) Chara cocks her head as a way is opened. "How'd you know the melody though???"

Core

“The height of the plates, it’s minimal but enough that I noticed.”

Chara then noticed and huffs. "Fiiiiine" she goes through the gateway and is transported to a forest area with ghost like creatchers. Also there's a frog just sitting there. Chara goes over and pokes the frog. It makes a croak but doesn't move

Core

(The creature is Bioweapon!Killer) “An echo forest?” Ironhide asked

One of the ghosts came up to iron hide looking down at her.

Ironhide sat down. “Hey buddy

it made gurgling sounds and shrunk down seemingly sitting aswell. Tonic went off on their own to try to find clues to the gem. The watch doesn't glow in this au. Tonic comes appon a street with a bunch of traffic cones blocking the way.

Core

Ironhide turned into Plasma, her ghost type form.

A bunch of other ghosts that look similar with different colors gather around shatter. Chara picks up the frog and it turns into a small egg. If she puts it back down it turns back. "Hehe. Cool."

Core

“They are wisps....” Plasma whispered

#rp chain #ignore me #long

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letting-them-take-liberties · 4 years

Text

VolFes 2020 Shop Event Report

That got intense so fast.

Crossposted at Wanderlust.

Because of the current situation and the company probably not wanting to risk it, VolFes 2020 got cancelled and instead was turned into a pop-up shop so that they can sell the goods meant for the event.

Around an estimate of 99.5% of Japan events are mostly all about buying merch, so it felt like a bloodbath of sorts as everyone around me was spending money like it grew on trees (someone I know spent at least USD2,000 for merch alone). I’ve been attending Voltage events for three years now and it always amazes me how far the fangirls will go to spend for their favorite character (I’ll be calling them ‘oshi’ [推し]) from this point forward.

As mentioned in this post, it is always good to go to an event on the very first day to avoid disappointment and loathing when the merch you’re eyeing gets sold out.

I took a leave from work for Day 1 of VolFes 2020 Shop as I knew that it would get crazy; the last few merch buying events I’ve been to left me exhausted, even if all I did was buy. It can get pretty intense at times since the people I hang out with can really get wild with the buying spree.

It was announced in the website that they would allow a free-for-all-entry to anyone wanting to buy goods after 2PM. My friend Y and I took this opportunity to eat lunch and relax since it’ll take time; between her and I, she was more tense and kept checking Twitter for any announcements. As for me, I was a bit more chill, knowing that if they run out of goods, I could still buy online.

If you’ve read my past entry, Y is a huge Saizo fan, so she’s more into this merch buying than I since she has to compete with a lot of fangirls for Saizo goods. I’m happy that with Masamune and Ieyasu, the competition for merch for the both of them isn’t as tense as Saizo’s.

The Chara announced on Twitter that the free-for-all entry would be delayed by an hour, so we took our time to have some dessert, then head off to Ikebukuro Marui. While waiting for the distribution of the designated timeslot tickets, Y and I decided to go to the nearby bank so that I could get some money (thought to pay in cash to keep the expenses lower), and on our way back, Y met an acquaintance who was just on their way out as they were done buying merch.

The acquaintance started asking Y what she would be buying this time around, and Y confessed to not buying anything related to Ouji/Be My Princess series as she had gotten disappointed before with her merch pick.

(Spoiler alert: her oshi is Ivan Chernenkov, she tried to get can badges of him by buying up to the maximum number of can badges allowed in one transaction (20 for that event), and ended up with no Ivan. That traumatized her that she swore off buying merchandise from that series.)

Acquaintance was with a friend, who then started asking Y if she could buy 20 (!!!) can badges from Ouji-sama no Propose EK (Be My Princess 2) 10th Anniversary art plus a bromide from MiraPuri (Kagami no Naka no Princess Love Palace), with 20 being the limit for can badge purchases.

At that point, Y turned to me, who was simply listening to the conversation, and said, “Kiyo isn’t buying any Ouji trading can badge merch, right?”

I gave her a confused look. “Yeah, I’m sticking to KoiRan and Ouji, with hardly any trading merch on my list.”

The acquaintance’s friend then straight-up asked me, “If you don’t mind, would you buy me 20 more can badges for Ouji EK 10th Anniversary art? I’ll give you some money to cover for the expense.”

I then took out my list (in Google Sheets); the acquaintance’s friend started dictating to me her wishlist. Upon seeing my list written in English, she gave me a look and then said, “Oh… uh, I can’t read English–”

“No worries, I got you covered and I wrote it down. So you want 20 can badges for Ouji EK…”

“Yeah, the ones with the grandsons! 20 of those, and one bromide from MiraPuri!”

Total cost of the merch was JPY9,020, enough for her to get three bonus postcards from MiraPuri.

We then promised to meet up after the buying so that we could hand over the goods, then off we went inside the building to wait for the ticket distribution.

This is the part when my friends and their other friends (at that point, I didn’t know them) got really disappointed and pissed at the free-for-all entry system that had a designated timeslot entry ticket.

If you didn’t know by now, if there’s one thing that sets off a local in this country, it’s the horrible queue/entry ticket system. It’s no exaggeration when someone says that queuing is a national sport/pastime, so if an event is crowded but has a good queue management system, a lot of people would be willing to put up with that.

However, if there are fewer people but the management is horrible, people would really criticize the hell out of it.

Which brings us to Day 1 of VolFes 2020: the website states that the entry ticket they will be handing out will be given at random, which means that even if you arrive late during the distribution of the entry ticket, there is still a chance for you to be able to secure an early timeslot.

Ex. Person A arrives at the venue at 1:30PM and has been waiting for the entry ticket distribution to start, which is an hour away. There’s a chance that they’d be given an entry ticket for the last time slot, which is at 7:40PM ~ 8:00PM.

Person B arrives at the venue at 2:30PM, the designated start of the distirbution of the numbered tickets. There’s a chance that they could get the earliest time slot to buy goods, which is at 3:00PM ~ 3:20PM.

What upset my friends was that when it was time to distribute the tickets, everyone made a run for it as soon as we were asked to queue, and when they gave us the entry ticket, we got a really late timeslot since we were positioned at nearly the end of the line.

In other words, the entry tickets they gave us was based on how "late" we got to the line; the ones that got ahead of us got an earlier slot, despite the fact that the website mentioned that the time slot on the entry ticket would be shuffled and handed out at random.

Everyone around me was ranting about how half-assed (they all kept throwing the word 中途半端 [chuu’to han’pa]) the whole system was (they could have stuck with a full online timeslot reservation system for Day 1 and Day 2), and how they didn’t go through with the promise of giving out the entry tickets that shuffled the entry time of the attendees in the spirit of equality and fairness, while I figured out the loophole of the system.

No matter how early you arrive, if you’re not fast enough to queue for the entry tickets as soon as they ask you to, high chance of you being given the last timeslot.

Since we had two hours and twenty minutes to kill, we all headed for dessert at a nearby cheap restaurant and just chatted with one another until it was time to go in.

Unlike last year, VolFes 2020 is smaller, more compact, and you had less time to have fun and enjoy.

Admittedly, the merch line up is better and much more gorgeous, but goodness, there’s just too many of them that it was difficult for me to decide which one I should purchase.

In the end, I decided to skip out on buying the maximum number allowed for buying random merch and stuck it out with getting 3 ~ 4 can badges.

To prevemt the spread of the virus, anyone who enters Ikebukuro Marui and the building had to wear a mask, sanitize their hands, and had 20 minutes to complete their shopping, from picking out the merch to paying at the checkout counter. They only allowed up to 8 people at a time at the shop so you had to plan your purchases. All of us shopping had a list that we referred to while searching for the goods because entry to the venue was controlled and you are not allowed to go back in anymore after paying.

If you missed out on an item, you’ll have to ask someone whose timeslot to buy the goods is different from yours to buy your merch, you go back the next day, or you order online, which means there’s a three-month waiting period before you receive the item.

Day 1 of the shop was on a Friday so I still had another day to think about any additional purchases, so even if I missed out buying merch, it’s not really a big deal.

[I’m chill that way]

With the buying done, my friends and I headed to another cheap restaurant across the street. Just like last year, the majority of them used that time in the restaurant not to eat, but to open their merch in blind packaging to check and see who they got. If it’s their oshi, they keep it, but for the ones that are not their oshi, they carefully place both the item and the shining packaging inside a ziplock back so that they could trade it with the others.

After we ordered dinner, Y got a message that her acquaintance was at the restaurant we were at, which meant it was time for me to hand over the merch. The girl who asked me to buy for her was so thankful that I think I actually got really shy over it haha.

When I got back to my table, the food was there, so I ate dinner and continued chatting with Y, who also took the time to multitask by eating and opening the merchandise she got. Sad part was, not one of the items she bought for Day 1 contained Saizo, which made me feel sad for her. It’s really rough when you spend so much and end up with no oshi; it’s really the worst feeling in the world.

Y had an early day for Day 2 of VolFes 2020 Shop so we all parted ways early as everyone was exhausted from stressing out whether merch would get sold out on Day 1 and from simply buying goods.

Day 2 wasn’t that eventful, aside from us buying more goods (I bought Ivan’s goods this time around as my priority was Yakov’s), and I ended up trading all my Saizo goods with Y for other characters. Nothing against Saizo, but I know that someone who isn’t me would actually cherish him more than I will ever do.

———-

Not sure if anyone’s interested to see what I bought, but let me know if you’d want me to post photos of my haul.

———-

More event photos:

#volfes2020 #volfes 2020 #personal #voltage inc

9 notes · View notes

meltsyoutodeath · 4 years

Text

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

I actually did this

Enjoy... I think?

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"F@ck you, mom!" - a voice screamed, followed by a strong, shiny black flash of light, apparently concentrated around something. The void was completely blank, so not noticing something so attractive was almost impossible. They ran in it's direction, sure that would find a strong opponent to fight and raise their abilities as a strong, undefeatable anime-like fighter. Each fight was an opportunity of having their own anime plot!

They approached the light, that got slightly less strong as with each step. They stopped when they saw the source of the light. A... girl? What? What the heck is that? They couldn't understand if it was a human or a skeleton. They saw a portal closing behind her, with angry human noises coming from it. They ignored the fact that they've never seen her before, and shouted:

- YOU! FIGHT MEH! NOW!

She stared at them, confused. The weird light disappeared as she started laughing, becoming a weak, yellow light. Turns out the light came from a ring on her finger.

- You- you wanna- f-fight me?! - she almost srceamed while saying that, laughing more harder each past second. Ignoring this, they continued:

- Yeah! I will show you the power of a true hero!

-Hahahaha! Gosh, you're funny! You almost act like a shounen protagonist! You know that, right?

- JUST FIGHT ME ALREADY!

They yelled, summoning two fount/ain pens and creating shurikens with their ink. They throw three of them at her, who easily dodged the attack. The weapons lost strenght, hitting the ground and stantly becoming ink again.

- I expected nothing else of such an opponent. OUR BATTLE WILL BE LEGENDARY!!!

They created more 10 shurikens, holding 8 of them between his fingers, and quickly throwing the other 2 at the girl. She jumped, and once more the shurikens hit the ground and became ink. With her eyes closed, she said, poiting a finger at them:

- Ok, so you really do want to fight me, uh? Very well, I will only dodge, if you are able to hit me, I will start taking this more seriously, k?

They nodded, mad at the fact that she wouldn’t take’em seriously.

- Hehe. This isn’t even a bit of my true power! I wil prove my worth to you, and in the end, the power of friendship shall prevail!!

They throw the remaining shurikens at her, who dodged again, with eyes closed. Even if they were getting irritated, they were really pumped, and determined to win.

They kept attacking, drawing more and more shurikens, kunais, anime-like swords, if you doubt he summoned a Kahehameha of pure ink. But it didn't matter, she would always keep dodging, until the moment she summoned a book. Yes, a book. And started reading, trying to make a reference to Kakashi in classic Naruto. Always saying their attacks were doing nothing, and he had to try harder or theh would never be taken seriuosly by anyone.

- Hehe. You underestimate me! I've been revising Naruto lately, and I'm becoming a genius!

They made a random hand sign, along with their best effort to make it look like a super cool thing, and it seemed to get them really excited.

- Go on, buddy. Give me your best shot then. - She winked with the... human eye? What... is she again? Anyway. Suddenly, she felt something moving behind her. Unsummoning her book, the girl sighed, right before jumping high up, to see that their hand movements (at least the ones they were doing NOW) weren’t useless, he was actually controling the ink from all the previously failed attacks againt the enemy.

Suprised with the fact that they could think, the girl carefully dodged his attacks, that finally, in a ‘last effort’, almost wrapped around her leg. Quickly, she teleported out of there, appearing behind the skeleton (the one that really is a skeleton).

-Hi. Are you with the idea of giving up already? This is getting kinda boring, ya know?

The ring on that thing’s finger stopped with the solid, normal moss green coloration it had the hole battle, becoming a pale, boring blue. Sadly, the skeleton couldn’t see colors, and even if they could, they wouldn’t notice something like a rings color.

They turned around, surprised by her sudden appearence behind them. By instinct, they summoned one of their fountain pens again, and slashed the enemy’s right side of the face. She laid the her bone hand over the new born scratch. The ring on her finger became fully blank, and suddenly it was a lively green.

- Did... did I hurt you? OH MY GOD, I’M SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO-

- Hey, that’s fine! I know healing magic, don’t worry.

The hand over the scratch started to glow in the same color of the ring. Suddenly, her skull was clear as new, no scratches, no injuries, nothing.

- Hey, this last attack... I told ya to hit me so I would fight you seriously, right?

- Yes! And as I said, the power of friendship (and protagonism) always wins! With my friends by my side, I will achieve all my goals, and reach my dream!

- Okay then, congrats. But... - in the middle of the sentence, the opponent made a creepy, scary smile. Her ring turned reddish grey, and a kind of black, gross fluid started falling from her eyes and mouth, the right side of the head turned only bones too. Three red knives appeared between her left hand fingers, in an attempt to make it scarier . - DOES THAT MEANS YOU STILL WANNA PLAY, BUDDY?

She did a strong, mean voice, that scared the skeleton a little, but their shounen protagonist personality wouldn’t let them show it. Pulling theirself togheter, they shouted:

-No, I am not fighting you again today! I could hurt you!

The girl’s head went back to normal, just like her face. The ring turned into a lively orange.

- Aw, worried with the enemy? You should be fighting me, not giving me free mercy. - she replied, attempting to make them mad.

- Only because I’m sparing you this time, doesn’t mean our battle is over! My name is Domino, and you better remember it, beacause that’s the name of the one who will defeat you!

She left a grin out, that made Domino kinda mad. Truth be said, she was also a real weeb, and wanted her own anime cool story. That was the chance of a lifetime, who would waste that? She never had a rule about being the hero, has she. Even if she’s the kind of person who makes justice in a Death Note like way. Joining the show, she smartly replied.

- But- you were way too strong... during your battle, I was finally able to notice, I can’t reach my full potentail all alone! I don’t want to be your enemy anymore... instead, could we be... friends? We have more chances against the forces of evil if we are working togheter, right?

Actually... she will never admit it, but she really, really did a good choice by playing along. Proud that they had finally turned an enemy into an ally, like in almost all animes, Domino proudly accepted the request, using the opportunity to make another speech about the power of friendship.

Both talked for a while. They asked which kind of monster she was, so it was explained that she was the result of the love of a random Sans and a random Chara. And so she had the magic of both of them. After a good, long talk, the girl said she had to go, and got up from the ink chair she asked the new friend to make... poor soul, unaware that the ink still left stains...

The mid-mid oppened a portal, with a really unorganized room on the other side. With one foot already on the other side, Domino couldn’t help but intervein.

-Hey, before you go, I still don’t know your name, and that’s against all anime rules I know.

She turned around, staring at him.

- Oh, yeah, that. Actually... I forgot my name..

-What... wait, HOW? Are one of these guys who had a really traumatizing experience and doesn’t remember anything? Or maybe you fell from somewhere, and- NO, NO, it’s probably the crack on your skull that-

-Nah. - she stopped them, before the situation got out of control. - You wish it was something like this. Actually, no one ever called my name, only mom, but one day she just started calling me “daughter”, or “little demon”, things like that. My friends don’t know my name neither.

- So, how do your friends call you?

- As I have no name, I just gave me one. They call me Knia.

- UUU... weird name. IS IT JAPANESE?

- Sorry bud, but no. Well, gtg now.

She fully entered the portal, and Domino was leaving when a head appeared from it.

- By the way, it was really KNIfe to meet yA.

Domino smiled, He said bye again, and then the portal closed.

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OH GOSH I DID IT!

I DID IT IN ONLY A DAY! YESH!

GEEZ! I’m so happy right now!

Domino belongs to - @lollzida

Knia bleongs to - me

(post about Knia without her name because yes)

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BONUS

“It was a big day” - they tought, sitting on the voids ground. - But at least I made a friend! And had an amazing battle!

Suddenly, they heard a weird sound, followed by a strong, shiny dark blue colored light.

- Hey, Domi?

They turned around, surprised by the unexpected visit.

- Did you come for another round?!

- Not really...- she replied, with a sad look on her eyes.

- Are you okay?

Silence made it’s presence in the room. Finally, Knia managed to speak.

- Can I stay the night? Mom and dad are fighting with some weird guys of the government...

- Of course! - he replied, without hesitating - we are friends after all, right?

- Thanks, Domi...

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plumeofacat · 3 years

Text

Chapter 1

Error growls as he checks the state of Lanna who left her t-shirt on her knees so she can get the treatment. As for Ink, he stores the groceries that his sister brought kindly.

Error : ̷W̷h̷a̷t̷ ̷w̷a̷s̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷t̷ ̷i̷d̷e̷a̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷d̷e̷f̷y̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷s̷o̷u̷n̷d̷ ̷b̷a̷r̷r̷i̷e̷r̷ ̷o̷n̷ ̷a̷ ̷c̷a̷r̷t̷ ̷a̷n̷d̷ ̷a̷g̷a̷i̷n̷s̷t̷ ̷a̷ ̷s̷h̷e̷l̷f̷?̷

Lanna: It wasn't my idea!! It was Blueberry!!

Ink: I'll talk about it with Swapy... he needs to teach a lesson to his brother...

Lanna: Sure... But this transformed pollen stealer might be proud of what his brother did...

Error : ̷Y̷o̷u̷r̷ ̷c̷u̷r̷s̷e̷ ̷d̷o̷e̷s̷n̷'̷t̷ ̷t̷o̷u̷c̷h̷ ̷a̷n̷y̷o̷n̷e̷ ̷w̷h̷e̷n̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷ ̷a̷r̷e̷ ̷f̷a̷r̷ ̷a̷w̷a̷y̷ ̷f̷r̷o̷m̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷m̷.̷.̷.̷

The red one sighs and looks at her mask on the ground. She feels the âin leaving completely, which gives her the signal to cover her scar on her back and front with her usual t-shirt.

Ink: Hey, Lanna, how much time passed since you visited Sans?

Lanna: Which one?

Ink: Classique...

Lanna: ho... It's been a while... I should go see him a little...

Error: ̷A̷v̷o̷i̷d̷ ̷s̷h̷o̷w̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷h̷i̷m̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷r̷ ̷s̷c̷a̷r̷s̷ ̷a̷g̷a̷i̷n̷.̷.̷.̷ ̷L̷a̷s̷t̷ ̷t̷i̷m̷e̷ ̷h̷e̷ ̷a̷c̷c̷u̷s̷e̷d̷ ̷u̷s̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷n̷o̷t̷ ̷p̷r̷o̷t̷e̷c̷t̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷.̷.̷.̷

Lanna: And with my bruises, he will scold you again...

She giggles, knowing very well that the two skeleton pests about the fact that Lanna's body can't be totally healed, they can only lessen the pain. The human smiles to her brother and to the one who makes her brother's soul beat faster, before she gets up slowly, checking if her bracelets still stand in place.

Lanna: I'm going to see Sans! Clean up after using Error's strings in the kitchen!

Ink and Error: LA̷N̷N̷A̷ ̷!̷!̷!̷!!!

She giggles and runs outside, taking absently her pen so she can quickly do her portal to Undertale. She walks in the spring street, putting her mask on correctly, then she looks at the monsters around her, smiling. A lot of her childhood friends and childhood enemies enjoy their Sunday to have fun or simply to walk. She sees a rabbit lady, Cassy. She sees Sparkles, a flame monster the same age as her. She sees Frisk, a teenager who helped her save the monsters, almost 10 years ago.

Frisk has semi-long brown hair and golden eyes. Instead of her old striped t-shirt, she wears a jeans jacket on a purple t-shirt with jeans and boots. In her hands, three heavy books are tired of her, but Chara helps her carry three other books. Chara is a teenager in the same age as Frisk with short and messed up brown hair and her eyes are aggressively red, but they hide the kindness towards the monsters that she always has. Before Chara was only a ghost who was hunting Frisk since she was a human dead long ago, but for 10 years, Lanna has succeeded in giving a body to the ghostly child.

An enormous desire to take off her mask itches the creator's sister, while she gets closer to the first of the Sanses' house. Nervously playing with her pen, Lanna stops in front of her friend's door, remembering some bad memories, before she shakes her head to focus on the good ones. The fingers almost as white as a bone put away the pen while the other hand forms a fist to knock twice on the door.

Sans: who's there?

Lanna: Anold.

Sans: Anold who?

Lanna: an old friend!

Lanna smiles as she removes her mask, while the door opens on a skeleton that looks like Blueberry but wearing an old dark blue jacket on a white t-shirt with black shorts and pink slippers. He gestures for the young women to get in, then he walks nonchalantly to the couch. The red one closes the door behind her, then she throws her mask on the living room table while sitting next to her friend.

Lanna: What's new? Is life on the surface as good as before or do I need to teach some lessons to humans?

Sans: don't worry yourself to the bone, your brother does it enough for all of us...

Lanna : *giggle* I see! ... *sighs* otherwise... Do you have any news about... HIM?

Sans: Hmm? ... You won't like what I'll say about it...

Lanna: Say it anyway... I need to know...

Sans: He got released from jail for good behavior

Lanna : *sighs* shit...

Sans: Do you think it's gonna be okay for you or do you prefer that we visit you in the multiverse?

Lanna: ... It's okay, I know how to protect myself, don't worry *nonchalant* Bye the way, where is papyrus?

Sans: In training with Undyne... they should get back any minutes now...

Exactly when Sans finishes his sentence, the door is smashed by a kick from Undyne, and the window is broken by Papyrus who goes through it. Undyne is a blue fish-woman with red hair and an eyepatch on her right eye. She wears a pair of jeans with a pale blue shirt, her black ankle boots leave a wet dirt trail behind her. Papyrus is like Swapy, but he wears a white top of an armor with yellow rims and black sleeves that ends on his red gloves. As for the down part of his body, he wears a red swimming trunk or something that looks like it and boots as Blue's and in red. A scarf in the same color decorates his neck.

Papyrus: LANNA!! You're back!!

Lanna : *giggle* I came to visit you...

Undyne: Big Punk! We missed you!

Lanna: sorry, I had a lot of work!

Papyrus : *hug strongly Lanna* NYHE HE HE HE! How are you, dear?!

Lanna : *giggle* I'm good... if you could let me go to not kill me, par contre...

Undyne : * hugs Lanna and Papyrus super-strongly* You should find more time to come and see us!!

Lanna : *lose all her air in a painly moan* les gars...

Sans: I don't wanna eat some Lanna-ghetti tonight, so if you could avoid transforming her into minced meat...

The two monsters let go of the human who ends up crawling into a ball on the ground, moaning in pain and swearing against heal magic that ''doesn't freaking do shit''. The one laying on the couch looks at his brother and at the fish-woman who panicked. He ends up sighing and raising up the t-shirt of the young woman, his ordinarily white pupils vanishing under his anger.

Sans: Lanna ... What did you do again?

Lanna: ... Groceries...

Sans: without lying?

Lanna: *gown* Really... I went buying some magic paint and milk bottle, and Blue rushed over me with his cart, and I ended up against a shelf that falls on me... So I really just did the groceries... Promise!

papyrus: S-so it's not my fault?

Lanna: Not at all, Paps...

Sans suddenly gets up and walks towards the door in the back of the room, while Papyrus and Undyne help the red hair to get to her feet. As she notices what the shortest skeleton is doing, the injured one looks at him, worried, while the brother does the same.

Papyrus: Where are you going, Sans?

Sans: Saying a couple of things to Blueberry

Lanna: No, Sans! It's okay!!! He apologized, promise!

Sans: You already are about to break with any hit...

Lanna: No, Sans, I'm not THAT fragile! You know it very well! It's kind of you to want to protect me, but I promise you that everything is okay! It's only some bruises!

Sans: Last time you said that you were bleeding in my living room...

Lanna: I just suck at volley-ball!

Sans : *stare at Lanna* You know which last time I'm talking about...

Lanna : *shrugs* I know, Sans... But I promise it's just some bruises, nothing more! And besides, it was an accident, I wasn't the target!

Sans: Promise?

Lanna: on your life...

Sans: ... Ok.

He lay against the door, crossing his arms, but he can't get rid of his annoyed expression against the reassuring and amused smile of the red one. These acts reassure the two other monsters who end up offering some spaghetti. They don't wait for any answer, running into the kitchen.

Lanna: ... Is it just me or he faked innocent?

Sans: What are you talking about?

Lanna: He was here when... Last time I told you that it was just some bruises and that it was nothing... Though, he acts like it was nothing and we both know that he is innocent in the naïf type, but not stupid...

Sans: He does everything he can to make you happy and comfortable with us, that's why... He didn't even want me to tell you about Him getting out of jell...

Lanna: I see... Thank you for letting me know anyway, I'll be able to be careful now...

Sans: You will have to Mask your presence?

He does his joking smile while pointing at the mask on the table with his eyes, making Lanna giggle while nodding, then she closes her eyes and lays down on her friend, surprising him. He takes a few seconds to understand, then he sighs.

Sans: Wanna sleep on me like when you were a kid?

Lanna: I'm not a kid anymore, Sans... And a Boney pillow isn't always comfortable!

Sans: *snigger* Though, I'm Coccyx-fortable

Lanna: *laugh* Bone-head!

Sans: Come on! You know I'm a good pillow!

Lanna laughs and yawns before she closes her eyes and suddenly falls asleep on Sans' shoulder. The pillow gently smiles before using his telekinetic powers to bring an old jacket that was on the floor, so he could put it on the sleep head's shoulder. She moves a little to be more comfortable while the bone hand starts to stroke the ruby hairs, combing them unintentionally.

Sometime later, Papyrus gets back in the living room and finds the two sleeping beauties on the couch, which makes him sigh gently. He decides to eat alone with Undyne, and this, despite that a portal leading to a universe in flames appears in Classic Sans' house. The young women's brother gets loudly in through it, wearing his normal attire, AKA: a brown parero close on the upper part of the torso who's edge are golden on a ¾ sleeves white shirt, with graphic tablet's gloves that the pinky and just under it is green on the brown that finishes the weird glove. To cover his legs, il wears an Edo era in Japan's inspired brown pants with socks that don't cover the heels, nor the toes. Some green overalls suspenders lay behind him, while his belt passing from his left shoulder to his right waist and keeping some mini paint bottles come restraining the suspenders to come in the front. The forms and colors changings eyes lay on his sister while he holds on his giant paintbrush as he breathes erratically.

Ink: Must wake up Lanna immediately!

Papyrus: What's going on?

Ink: someone decided to attack horrortale's inhabitant...

Lanna : *wake up slowly* hmm? is there a problem, Inky?

Ink: YES! Come immediately and don't forget the mask!

Lanna: Yes inky!

The red hair jumps and grabs her pen that she immediately transforms into a sword, then she runs into the portal. Around her, the houses that still stand more or less are in flames and the monsters that were already in so bad condition that they were mistaken with zombies panic, and some of them try to run away, while others try to eat the human who is holding two. This human has black mess up hair like his starting beard that almost blends into his long sleeves that tied on his middle finger shirt... at least as they can see from that afar. A Night blue jacket is tied on his waist and his blue pants are covered in soot, as his black boots. As soon as his eyes find Lanna, a sardonic smile appears on his lips.

??: Ho <3 Lanna <3

Lanna : *shiver in disgust* Stop what you are doing and go home!

??: Don't you want to get to know me? <3 Though, I'm doing this for you <3

As soon as the name crossed thetha man's lips, a disgust's shiver shared between everyone one who heard it, without anyone knowing why. The man approaches Lanna while letting his flame's sword create a trace on the ground that melts the snow. Ink uses his brush to create a wall in front of the threat, then he grabs his sister's arm.

Ink: I didn't think that he was after you in particular...

Lanna: Don't worry, he's not the first that is after my life... And he won'T be the last.

?? : Ho <3 Un simple magic wall? How stupid... <3

The wall ignites in two seconds and transforms into ashes. Under the shock, the siblings struggle to move, but their instincts being stronger than their mind, the red hair ends up quickly between the skeleton and the other human.

Lanna: Ink, go home! You don't have to get hurt for me!

Ink: and leaving you against someone who wants to kill you?!

Lanna: That thing is only after me! I'll avoid that he destroys anything more or hurts anyone else!

Ink: Lanna...

Ink tries to move to protect his sister, but she pushes him behind her, not even noticing the fact that the human dangerously approaches her.

??: that thing has a name, dear Lanna <3

Lanna: If you tell me what it is, you go home and leave the universes alone?

??: No!

Lanna: Then I don't want to know it...

??: Sans cœur!! I will still do you a favor of knowing who will destroy you so much that you will wish that I killed you today <3 Call me Loucas <3

Ink: Lanna, come with me!

Lanna: I know how to defend myself Inky... Go back to Error...

Ink hesitates, but Lanna pushes him far away while she turns towards the aforementioned Loucas. Her sword in her hand, the red hair try to disarm the one with two blades, but he doesn't let her any time to move an inch that one of his swords comes to cut deeply the unarmed arm. A little scream escapes the woman's lips, while the ankle boots that keep the scar-covered feet warm step back. A second doesn't have time to pass when the masked one hits the left hand of her opponent. He steps back in a jump, his sword falling on the ground, then he targets Lanna's head without losing his sadistic smile.

Ink disappeared, he probably left for home, while the red try to force her opponent to retreat, in vain. He almost cut in a half Lanna's leg as well as her back, yet, the miss stand still, panting and holding weakly her weapon. However, Lanna doesn't stop to attack Loucas, almost in vain. He only have some scratches and bruises, but nothing else.

Loucas: You're pretty strong for an anomaly, Lanna <3

Lanna: Can you stop saying my name? It discusted me!

Loucas: Never, Lanna <3

while saying his last sentence, Loucas use his fire swords to burn a house from where a kid was watching the fight. The red notice this fact and run towards the house. Sadly, Loucas doesn't agree, since he stab the non-injured leg. Noticing that her injured bleed when he pull off the sword, Lanna raise an eyebrow, then she clenchs her theeths while standing up trhough adrenaline. Surprised, the man's smile grows as he take two steps back. He start to miss some magic and he know that she noticed it.

Lanna: You freacking shitty human! Leave!

Loucas: I don't want to, but work call me in an other univers... Why not Underswap?

Lanna : You ...

A terrified scream cut the creator's sister's sentence. A child scream. Lanna doesn't listen to anything around her and the difficultly hobble to the burning house, searching for the child. Since she hear the cries, the read hair search the source while avoiding the flames as much as she can. She see a crying child surrounding by fire. The panic taking over her, the young women run withouth noticing that her mask is somewhere in the snow outside, getting crushed into pieces by Loucas' blades. This one make sure to completely destroy the face-covering before he cut the air, creating a portal that lead to a house into a forest into the multiverse. As soon as he cross the opening, he hear the burning house's beams falling followed by a scream of pain.

Louca: Try to not die yet or it won't be funny, Lanna <3

Summary : https://plumeofacat.tumblr.com/post/644284784841031680/summary

Next : https://plumeofacat.tumblr.com/post/645213650674761728/chapter-2

#ink sis #ink Sans #Error Sans #EV

1 note · View note

cerberusisspot · 4 years

Text

Friendship Bond

Characters: Janus, Roman, Remus, Virgil, Logan (mention), Chara!Thomas, Remy, Patton (mention)

Relationships: Platonic Roceit, Familial Anxceit, Platonic Demus, Background Romantic Analogical, Eventual Romantic Analomus.

TW: Poison mention (let me know if I missed something)

Warning(?): Deceit is Trans MtF AroAce, Roman is Non-Binary AroAce, Sympathetic-Moraly Grey Deceit, Sympathetic Remus

Summary: Edna and Roman have been friends for so long, they have gotten closer than ever now. It’s fluffy I swear.

——————————————

Janus sighed as she folded the blankets and set them down before hearing the front door open

“Welcome back,” Janus calls as Remus, her friend and housemate, came in, Janus took one glance at Remus and sighed

“Why do I have a feeling you are about to tell me to help you with something?” Janus asked as she placed a hand on her hips and sighed again

“... Experience?” Remus asked before sitting on the couch that Janus just cleaned

“Hey, how dare y- just tell me what you want” Janus said as Remus looked at her pouting

“Please set me up with Virgil!” He said as Janus looks at him with a surprised

“... I’m not about to be you wingwoman with my brother who- might I remind you, has a boyfriend” Janus said sighing “My AroAce ass isn’t ready for this” she mumbled

“I’m home!” They both heard as both turned their heads to see Roman

“Yo,” Janus says with a smile as Roman smiles and returns the greeting

“What are you guys doing?” Roman asked as Janus eyes her friend for permission “just tell them” he says with a pout

“Well Remus wants me to set him up with Virgil who already has a boyfriend” Janus says as Roman looks at their brother confused as they throw their bag near the the door and come to sit down

“So how is he planning to do that?” Roman asks as Janus sighs “you think I’ll actually do it?” She asks to get Remus on his knees

“PLEASE!” He pleads as she takes a step back

“Remus, raises your head, I would if he was single-” Remus cuts her off “but isn’t he ok with polyamorous relationships!” He asks as Roman eyes Janus who also looks at Roman in worry

“... I can try” she says slightly troubled, but Remus didn’t realize as he grins “THANK YOU! Thank you so much Janus!” He said excited running to his room

“Are you going to do it?” Roman asks seriously as Janus just sighs as she picks up her phone and gave a slight broken smile

“Even if he says no... I can at least try-” “Janus.” Roman cuts her off as she freezes and looks at them

“Are you sure? My brother can be persistent, but you aren’t forced” they say as she looks at them for a moment before a sigh escapes her lips

“Listen, I just started talking to Virge again... I... I’m scared to ruin our relationship again” she confesses as Roman smiles at her

“It’s ok I can convince him to talk to Virge him self” they propose as Janus sits down

“No I’ll do it... I’m sure Virge won’t be too angry” she smiles a bit but Roman just says before getting up

“Tell me if you need help” they smile at her while ruffling her hair as she smiles softly “alright, don’t overwork, Ro” she says as they chuckle and leave to their room

“...” the ring of the phone was heard around the living room

“Hey? Janus, what’s up?” Virgil’s voice could be heard as she softly takes a breathe

“Hey Virge,-” she stops her self “-wanna meet tomorrow at uncle Thomas’s? At around 2pm?” She asks as She hears discussion

“Can Lo come?” He asks timidly as she smiles “of course, as long as I can bring my friends” she says as he laughs “of course”

“Ok then-” “hey Janus!” Virgil says as she stops and hums

“I’m... im sorry...” he says as Janus smiles to her self

“Are you talking about 15 years ago? Get over it, it’s fine, I don’t care anymore” she said as she can hear him grunt to stop himself from saying anything

“...I’m still sorry, I was an ass” he muttered as she chuckles “yea, you absolutely were, but that’s in the past” she reassured as Virgil sighs

“Ok... we can continue tomorrow, get permission from uncle Thomas!” He says before hanging up

“See~ I told you it won’t be too bad” Roman says smirking as they enter, Janus laughs a bit before getting up and stretching

“So, wanna help with dinner? Otherwise imma put poison~” she says entering the kitchen

“... I don’t know how much of that was truth” they say with a shiver

———————————————

“Hey! Virgil!” Janus calls as Virgil’s eyes gleam as he runs up to hug her

“I missed you! How have you been? Is anyone messing with my sister?!” He asks angrily as she chuckles and pushes him away

“I’m fine, how are you!” She asks as he shrugs

“Ok?” He says more like a question

“Janus, are we- oh Virgil, good to meet you again” Roman greets “oh Roman, as bright as ever huh?” Virgil said less excited

“... why do I get the feeling you don’t like me?” Roman pouts, “haha, because I don’t.” Virgil said

“Hey hey, come on now, I said I’ll respect your boyfriend if you respect mine” Janus said as Virgil chuckles

“Yea but I didn’t know you were bringing a...” Virgil stopped trying to find a suitable insult

“...?” Roman looked at him confused “is he ok?” They whispered to Janus who just laughed at her brother before dragging them all in

“Remus! Come on!” She called as Remus hurried in with a blush on his face

“... well I need to take pictures, this is the last time I’ll see my bro pinning on someone” Roman says with a smirk

“Hey you ok? Sorry about Virgil” Edna said with a sigh, but Roman just laughed

“Don’t worry about it, it’s ok,” they says as the two friends smile at each other before scoffing softly

“You’re an idiot, if you are troubled at least try to hide it better,” she said softly as Roman’s facade slightly fell

“I mean it hurts that your brother doesn’t like me, but hey I’ve been through worse” they laugh nervously, Janus just gave them a knowing smile

“Don’t worry, Virgil is like that with almost all my friends, he’ll warm up eventually though, he did with Patton, remember? How much he did not like them, now those two are inseparable” she said taking Roman’s hands

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he doesn’t actually care, if he did... well I wouldn’t be talking to you” she said a little nervous at the end

“Your a great friend Janus,” Roman says with a smile as they rest their hand on her head

“Hey, we are friends, I’d even say best friends but that doesn’t give you any right to ridicule my height” she says with a scary smile, but Roman just smiled and pat her head

“Yes yes, let’s go in and become Cupid, shall we?” They ask as she laughs and nods

“You’re a cool guy Remus” the two hear as they enter, they both look at each other before laughing a bit

“And cute” Logan muttered but they all heard, Virgil smirked before laughing “that’s my boyfriend, straightforward as ever” Virgil says

“I don’t understand how you can like someone so quickly” Edna sighs shaking her head

“JANUS!!!!” Thomas came to hug his niece “I miss you! How are you!” He asked happily as as Edna chuckled

“I’m fine Tommy, now get off before you embarrass me” she said with a pout before Thomas gives her a slight sad look as his thumb glosses over her burns as she winces

“Thomas, don’t...” she says removing his hand from her face before he pouts

“Hah... Janus, you resemble my sister so much” he sighs before stifling a laugh

“Cute and serious and always ready to beat ass” he laughs as she pouts

“Hey hey, I should be offended, mom isn’t that serious anyway” she says before Thomas chuckled

“Yea Yea, say what you want but you didn’t know her before she gave birth to you” he said with a smirk

“I have an overwhelming urge to punch that smirk off your face” Janus radiated with a joking murderous aura

“Ok ok, let’s go to your brother now” Roman laughs as they grab Janus and pull her into the living room

“Nooo Roman... I don’t wanna be with the lovebirds!” She whines playfully as Roman sighs and hits her head

“Stop complaining and look at that face my brother is making, we are making fun of him later 100% so grab your phone and snap the pics” they said with an evil smirk painted on their face which made Janus chuckle

“Yea we are definitely making fun of him... later though for now let him enjoy it” she said with a soft smile as she sees Remus blushing as her brother laughs

“... I’m kind of jealous” she says with a smile as Roman chuckles with her

“Yea I kind of get it, even I never got to have that much of a fun convo with my bro” they said as Janus nods “yea...”

“Mama!” Janus looked back and a grin etched her face “Remy!! Hello sweetheart!” She cooed carrying her nephew

“I’m not mama tho, I’m just your aunt” she said with a chuckle to Remy who played with her hair while laughing

“Virgil! Can you help, he’s pulling too much” Edna calls as Virgil comes to help her

“Are you ok?” Roman asks, stealing the question from Virgil who glared at them

“Yea, my hair’s a bit ruined though” Janus said with a pout as Roman smiled and left for a bit

“... aren’t you two too close?” Virgil asked with a pout as Janus raised her brows

“They’re just my friend, we’re both Aro Ace” she pointed out as Virgil just sulked

“But you don’t seem like it” he said, Edna just raised a brow and hit his back

“Yea well that’s what makes us a great duo, the leeches disappear, also I genuinely enjoy their company and personality” she said with a smile

“Awww I’m honestly honored” Roman said coming back with a Beanie in hand

“... how long have you been listening?” She asked as Roman just smiles “don’t worry just that last part about you genuinely liking me- platonically of course” they said as they slipped on the beanie on to Janus’s head

“Here now you look less like a disaster and more cute~” they said with a smile

“...” the two could feel the stares of Thomas

“Um... tommy?” Janus calls nervously as Thomas snaps out of his trance

“Oh sorry, I was just wondering, wouldn’t it be great for there to be a wedding like thing but for friends, just good happy Friends and no deeper feelings” he said as Edna and Roman look at each other in surprise before laughing

“Yea they have been together for as long as I remember” Remus said as Janus just laughs

“Yea I mean, at least our life wasn’t too cliche and we didn’t become some childhood friend lovers” that just made Roman and Janus both laugh more

“Omg I cant imagine us anything more than friends, really good probably close friends, but nothing more” Roman said as Janus nods

“Yea I have no desire or any feeling to want to get together, despite them being so handsome, alas we are both happily single” Janus said

“... you two...” Virgil interrupted as the two look at him “... are really similar in extraness and how dramatic you guys are”

“... I’m kind of jealous in a way” Virgil said with a small chuckle

“It’s just... Roman has been there for her all her life while... I was being an asshole to her... and to Roman, despite them taking such good care of my sister, so I guess I owe you a thanks Roman, and a Sorry Janus” Virgil said with a frown as Janus just looked away

“Yea well that’s in the past, you were young and stupid but what else do we do, we just have to accept it I mean thanks to you being such an asshole that I met and got so close to Roman” Janus says scratching the back of her neck

“And... I’m also guilty of being horrible to you, so I think we are even in some way” she said

“Aww that’s cute and all but you two are the least people to be cheesy so this is giving my goosebumps” Remus said, Janus turned to him with a smile

“I will happily add poison into your food tonight, I have some just in case you two start getting-” “IM SORRY!” Remus said a little of fear but mostly knowing that this will turn into a lecture

“... I don’t know if I should be worried for Roman and Remus’s health in anyway” Virgil said as Edna chuckle

“I’m not going to actually kill them~”

——————————

Thank you for reading~, This is not edited (please tell me if there are any mistakes or I accidentally misgendered anyone,)

#virgil sanders #sanders sides #sander sides #remus sanders #logan sanders (mention)#deceit sanders #trans deceit #fem!deceit #nonbinary Roman #aroace #platonic roceit #familial anxceit #analomus #patton sanders (mention)#tw poison #roceit #Janus Sanders

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bqstqnbruin · 3 years

Text

Always be my plus one - part 2

Ok I know that I should use a different gif for each part but I'm not going to. But here's part 2! It's longer than the first part so have fun.

People to thank who are amazing and I owe my whole life to even though I'm probably forgetting someone because I'm the worst: @zinka8 (I CAN FINALLY TAG YOU) @hockeywocs @calgarycanuck @chara-hugs @justjosty anyone who sent in an anon and again I'm forgetting someone so if you helped me with this and I forgot, yell at me.

But here we go! This is about 9k words, and, fun fact, this is also my 5,000th post on this blog, so that's exciting!

Hope you like it!

Read part 1 here!

Series masterlist --------------------------------

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

New Year’s Eve is the last day of the Georgian calendar year, marked with celebrations that last well into the next day. Huge parties take place around the world, one of the most notable being the ball dropping in Times Square in New York City, marking the new year for the eastern coast of the United States, televised with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest. This special each year includes a packed Times Square, performances, interviews, and general excitement to put whatever happened in the past year behind them. Likewise, in Canada, the CBC has hosted a similar countdown special since 2017, including live music and coverage of festivities in each of the provinces and timezones the country spans.

New Year’s Day is the first day of the Georgian calendar year, again marked with celebrations. In the United States, various parades take place, including the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, or the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, various sporting events take place as well, including the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida, the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California, and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, all post-season college football games, and the National Hockey League's outdoor game, the Winter Classic, typical showcasing a major regional rivalry. The day typically includes people already failing at keeping up with their New Year’s resolutions, whatever it was they promised to do every day of the year (such as working out, flossing, getting more sleep) already not going well.

=============

December 27, 2021

Lucy had insisted Anne go with her to the mall to go shopping when she found out that she was going to a New Year’s Eve party with Tyson’s teammates. Once her older sister found out that Anne’s ‘mystery man’ was a professional hockey player, she went practically bat shit trying to figure out more information about the two of them since Anne had yet to tell her anything.

If only she knew there was nothing to tell.

“Come on, what about this?” Lucy asks, holding up a dress. Anne wasn't sure that it would go past her butt, not to mention the open back and the plunging neckline. Lucy had to know that Anne would never, on any occasion, wear a dress like that. It would look good on Lucy, and Lucy would be comfortable in it, but not Anne.

“No,” Anne tells her, continuing to look through the rack for anything that had more fabric to it than what Lucy was offering her. There was nothing wrong with the dresses, really, and Lucy was normally pretty good about picking things out that Anne would actually like, but something about this being a dress for what sort of was, sort of wasn’t a date with a guy she spilled her coffee all over was making her more nervous than she needed to me.

“But it’s for your man. On New Year’s Eve. It doesn’t hurt to look a little sexy,” Lucy begs, making sure to add a little shoulder shimmy at the word ‘sexy’ for emphasis.

‘He’s not my man,’ Anne wanted to say. But she wasn’t about to spill that secret before Lucy even met him. It would be easier to just tell them they broke up by Valentine’s Day. “Tyson wouldn’t want me to wear anything that would make me uncomfortable,” she lets out instead.

Lucy sighs, pulling out dress after dress to show to Anne. “Ok, how about this: what color do you want to wear and how long do you want it to be?” Anne shrugs, not having thought about it in the slightest. “Well what’s Tyson wearing? Are you matching with him?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Annie!” Lucy practically screams the nickname her family decided they were going to call her, a few of the other store patrons turning to glare at Lucy’s outburst. “How do you not know what your boyfriend is wearing to a Colorado Avalanche New Year’s Eve party?”

'Not my boyfriend' she thought. “I don’t dress him. Do you know what Jason is going to wear for every party?”

Rolling her eyes, she holds up another dress that Anne turns down. “Well, since I’ve known my man since we were in diapers, I know his style, and therefore, know what he could potentially wear before I tell him what he’s going to wear.”

Anne lets out a sigh, wandering away from her sister while she continues to go through what seemed to be endless rows of dresses. Part of Anne wished she was like her sister: lucky enough to find a man that she would love forever when she was young, never having to worry about anything. The other part of Anne wished her family wasn’t so annoying about her finding a man, wishing that Sebby didn’t steal her phone and see Tyson’s name, and that their mom hadn’t come down and jumped to conclusions before she had a chance to defend herself.

“Hey,” Lucy comes up to Anne, “Why don’t we grab some food and then try a different store.” Anne nods, Lucy linking her arm in her sisters before taking her out of the store. “Have you met any of Tyson’s teammates before? I mean, you have to mean a lot to him if he’s bringing around the guys he spends the most time with.”

“He’s told me a little bit about all of them, but I haven’t met them yet.”

“You know this is big, then, right?” Lucy says, finding a line at the food court for them to order from.

Even if Lucy hadn’t picked a place that Anne wasn’t too fond of, her words made Anne lose her appetite. As far as she knew, Anne’s family thought they were dating, which they weren’t, while Tyson’s teammates thought they were friends, which they were. That’s what they had agreed to. They just needed to make it to New Year’s Day and then this would all be over.

Lucy keeps talking, rattling off information about Tyson’s teammates that Anne was sure she had found on their Wikipedia pages, Lucy’s ‘top of her class,’ ‘photographic memory’ coming out while Anne stayed silent.

“Look, Anne,” Lucy says once she gets the food she ordered for both of them, “if he likes you enough to bring you around his teammates, that’s a good thing. Think of it like Jason asking me to go to his soccer games when we were freshmen. He wants you to be at something important for him.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Anne shrugs, “I’m worried about bringing him into the belly of the beast the next afternoon.”

“Why, because you’ll be hungover and Ma and Dad haven’t seen you that way yet?” Lucy asks, smiling with her fork between her teeth.

Throwing her head back and groaning, Anne starts, “No. Ideally, we’ll still be drunk and calling you or Matthew to come to pick us up. Remember what Mom was like when I introduced you all to Andy?”

“Well, yeah, it was hate at first sight. And she was right to feel that way, obviously. If you think Tyson is the ‘one,’ then you’ll be fine.”

Anne chokes on the fries she was picking at when Lucy says that. “The ‘one’? Please. I wouldn’t know if he was the ‘one’ at this point. Right now, he’s my ‘plus one' at best.”

Lucy shrugs, a sly smile on her face as the two of them continue to eat in silence.

The two of them venture to another store, Anne not having high hopes in finding a dress, knowing that she was going to have to resort to wearing something old that probably wouldn’t be very ‘New Year’s Eve’ themed, or borrow something from Lucy, who, albeit having great style, definitely didn’t have anything that she would want to wear. Maybe she could call Stephanie or her cousin Lauren and see if they could pity her enough to let her borrow something.

Lucy went to the dress rack, Anne just wandered around the store. At this point, she didn’t even care if she found a dress; a long shirt would be just fine. She was nowhere near her sister or the dresses, but she saw something out of place, a skirt and sleeves peeking out in the middle of pant legs. She picked up the dress, solid black, which would probably fit her like a glove, off the shoulder. A black choker, which she had, and a nice pair of heels would make the dress perfect. And it was even on sale. Someone had probably put it there in order to hide it, but Anne didn’t know that for a fact, so could she really feel bad about wearing it?

She practically ran through the store to find her sister, grabbing her by the arm to the dressing room despite the stack of dresses on Lucy’s arm that were probably going to end up back on the rack or in Lucy’s own closet.

Anne looked at herself in the mirror, excited for the first time for Tyson to see her on New Year’s Eve wearing something like that. The two had been talking nonstop, but Anne had made it clear they were friends and that she wasn’t looking for anything. If something came along, she would know it, and honestly, she didn’t know it with Tyson.

But picturing him seeing her in the dress gave her a glimmer of hope that it was Tyson, even if he wasn’t the ‘one’ like Lucy had been badgering her about earlier.

“Hey, Annie, come on!” Lucy snaps Anne out of her fantasy, banging on the door to show her, “Jason texted me that he and the girls are going to be home in an hour with dinner so you can’t take all day.”

“You really think putting on this dress is going to take an hour?” Anne huffs, opening the door from the dressing room stall.

“Well, it depends on how many dresses you try,” Lucy starts, cutting herself off when she sees her sister in the dress. “Oh, Anne.”

“You like it?” she asks, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks. It was a simple dress, knit and insignificant. She had no idea why she was so excited about it.

“I do,” Lucy says, coming up behind Anne and resting her chin on her sister’s shoulder as the two of them admire Anne in the mirror. “And you know who else is going to love it? Tyson.”

Anne took in a deep breath, Lucy rubbing her back between her shoulders before she let her get changed back into her clothes. ‘Tyson was going to love it.’ Anne hoped so.

=============

December 31, 2021

Tyson said he was going to be at Anne’s place at 9:15 to pick her up and drop off stuff at her place to stay over. Since they were going to be together all night, it was easier if Tyson stayed with Anne after the party before needing to drive to Anne’s uncle’s house the next afternoon.

But it was 9:30, and Anne was sitting on her couch, waiting for the boy who was supposed to fake being her boyfriend tomorrow to show up to take her to a party with a bunch of people who had no idea who she was or that this scenario was going to be happening the next day.

How did Anne end up like this? What if he didn’t show up? Why did she let her mom and siblings take over the conversation about her life and let them believe that Tyson was her boyfriend? And why did he agree to it?

Anne gets snapped out of her downward spiral of thoughts by her phone ringing, Tyson calling to hopefully tell her that he was waiting to be let in. “You said you were going to be here at 9:15,” she answers, not letting Tyson say anything.

“Well, traffic,” he explains, “It’s New Year’s Eve and I didn’t want to speed, either, and end up getting pulled over for that. Can you come let me in? It’s cold.”

Anne gets up from her couch, venturing downstairs in the slippers she was keeping on until the last minute. The heels Lucy had let her borrow weren’t uncomfortable, but she wasn’t about to wear them around her apartment building if she didn’t have to. She spots Tyson sitting on the couches in the lobby, going up to him. He was looking down at his phone, but seeing him made her heart race. He had on a white button-down with the top two buttons undone, a black jacket, and black pants on. She goes up to him, resting her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

Tyson looks up, unable to find the words when he sees Anne. He stands up, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Anne sees this and lets out a small laugh. “Are you ok?” she asks, her nerves of seeing him dissipate while he acts like this.

“You’re,” he starts, letting out a breath as he looks her up and down. He shakes his head, a lazy smile on his face. “You’re beautiful.”

Anne laughs, grabbing his bag for him and leading him back upstairs to her apartment. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

“You know,” Tyson starts when the two of them get to her door, “pretending to be your boyfriend really isn’t going to be that difficult.”

“Yeah,” Anne scoffs, putting down Tyson’s bag with a thud by the couch, “and if you keep flirting with me like you mean it, then they’ll really believe you.” Anne’s back was turned to Tyson, so she didn’t see the look on his face, him biting his lip at her words that she thought he was just pretending. “You’re staying over for a night, what the hell could you have brought with you?” she asks him.

Tyson clears his throat, still not over Anne’s little dig about him pretending to flirt with her. He’s been flirting with her since they met, has she really not noticed? “Uh, you didn’t tell me how formal or casual this is at your uncle’s so I just packed a few options.”

“Huh, I never pegged you for a fashionista,” Anne teases, putting on her shoes and coat as Tyson orders the Uber to take them to the venue.

“Apparently you’re never going to peg me at all,” Tyson mumbles, not loud enough for Anne to hear.

“Sorry?”

“Uh, the Uber will be here in a few minutes so we should get downstairs,” he tries to save himself.

“But,” Anne says, locking her door and following Tyson back down to the lobby, “You can pretty much wear anything to Uncle Vince’s house as long as it isn’t a Juventus shirt.”

“Juventus?”

“That’s Napoli’s biggest rival. It would be like me wearing, I don’t know,” Anne says as they both get into the car that had pulled up, “a Red Wings or a Wild shirt to something for you guys.”

Tyson can’t help but smile, even though he knows it’s probably meaningless. Anne had made it clear that the two of them were just friends. But what if, “you like hockey?”

Anne shrugs, looking out the window as they drove into the city. “I don’t hate it, but I couldn’t tell you much about it. I’m more of a basketball girl, honestly.” Tyson scoffs, Anne turning to him. She had a smile on her face, trying to hide the slight insult she felt by the noise he made. “What?”

“Hockey is clearly better.”

“You’re just biased.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” he teases her, reaching over and nudging her arm. His hand lingers on her arm for a little bit, not really thinking about Anne’s noticeable settling into his touch. “Um,” he clears his throat, taking his arm back and praying that it was dark enough that Anne couldn’t see the red on his face, “What are your teams?”

“Men’s are the Nuggets, of course, women are the Seattle Storm, and college I go for UConn.”

“Did you go there?”

Anne shakes her head, Tyson admiring the way her hair framed her face, thankful that she was looking out the window instead of at him. “Nope, I went to CU Denver. My dad’s other brother, Johnny, went to UConn, and when I was born, that was around the start of the women’s dynasty that they have. When my dad was away on trips and mom was working, he and Aunt Lisa would watch the four of us and always have the UConn games on. I fell in love with Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Stephanie Dolson. I grew up wanting to play basketball and be like them, so I played basketball.”

“Did you in college?”

“No,” Anne laughs, looking at the building they were pulling up to. “I played until high school, and was definitely not good enough to play in college. I still love it, though.”

Tyson smiles at her, getting out of the car and rushing to the other side to help her out, linking his arm in hers to escort her in. “I love that,” he whispers to her, walking in and thankful that he had Anne on his arm that night.

The guys weren’t necessarily on his case about finding someone the way it seemed like Anne’s parents were, but that didn’t stop the chirping about him never having a girlfriend for as long as he was on the team. They knew she was his friend, but, hey, it was better than nothing.

Anne had no idea where Tyson took her, not recognizing the building they had walked into, but she was speechless at the sight of the grand ballroom, the lighting just dim enough that she couldn’t help but feel at peace, the noise from Tyson’s teammates and their families taking that away and leaving her overwhelmed. Tyson had slipped away to hang up their coats and grab drinks, leaving Anne to fend for herself for the time being.

She knew they weren’t late by any means but based on the sobriety, or lack thereof, that everyone was displaying, an outsider would think that Tyson and Anne had shown up hours late, everyone seemingly on at least their third drink of the night, if not more. Anne worked her way to the side of the room, giving herself a good view of the bar where Tyson was, hoping that he could find her after he was done chatting with whoever it was that had his attention.

“You look almost too comfortable for someone just watching everyone on the side. Who are you here with?” someone interrupts her thoughts. She snaps her attention to the mystery man standing next to her, leaning against the wall and looking out at the crowd as they danced and sang, drank and had fun. He was the same height as Tyson, just about, probably not that much younger but the rosiness on his cheeks made him look years younger than both her and Tyson.

“I’m here with Tyson,” she tells him, waving to the guy who was supposed to be by her side that night.

“You’re the girl who spilled her coffee on him when we went to the hospital for the charity event,” Rosy Boy laughs.

Anne scoffs, “I wish that wasn’t my legacy, but here we are.”

The two of them stand and watch everyone, laughing as some of the kids pretend to chase around the adults, one of them catching someone by the leg as the man pretended to fall down. “That’s our captain, Gabe,” Rosy Boy tells her, “being chased by Naylah, Nazem’s daughter.”

“So, Gabe, Nazem, Tyson,” Anne says, pointing at the only three men of the Avalanche that she knew, “You?”

“Cale Makar.”

“Anne DeFormicola.”

Cale smiles at her, turning his body so he was facing her directly. “A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” Anne could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks, thankful that her hair was down to cover the red that she knew had appeared on her ears. “Uh, are you and Tyson together?” Cale asks, his voice shaking as he prayed he didn’t make the mistake of flirting with one of his teammate’s girls.

“No,” Anne tells him, “We’re just friends.”

Cale lets out a sigh of relief. “Good, I, uh,” he stammers, Anne’s confused look making him nervous despite the smile that was on her face, “I mean, good, good for me. You? Us? I don’t know what I’m saying.”

The two of them laugh together, Anne seeing Tyson out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t look particularly thrilled as he watched her and Cale talking, the distance between them shrinking as the conversation proceeded.

Before she knew it, Tyson was by her side, a glass of wine in hand for her that he practically thrust in her hand. “So, how’s Cale treating you?” Tyson asks, not hiding the discontent he felt seeing Anne and Cale so obviously flirting.

Anne watches Tyson down his drink, a little too fast for her liking, especially considering Cale was obviously uncomfortable by what his teammate was doing in that moment. “Very well, we were having a good conversation.” Anne sips her wine, Cale mumbling something and slipping away. “What was that about?”

“I want you to be careful?” Tyson says as if it were obvious, even though he was lying. He didn’t want to have to see Anne flirting with his teammate all night.

“Of who, Cale? Didn’t you tell me he was the human equivalent of a puppy?” Tyson rolls his eyes, looking over to the bar and already wishing he had more to drink before having this conversation. “What’s the worst he’s going to do? Bite my ankles? Bark when he wants to go play outside?”

“Ok, you’re being mean.”

“And you’re being ridiculous.” Anne studies his face, the way he bit his lip as he tried to find his words. “You remind me of Sebby.”

“Your little brother?” Tyson asks, not really wanting to be compared to him.

“He’s really protective of me. We’re all protective of each other, but he’s especially protective of me. You’re probably the same way with Kacey, right?”

Tyson swallows hard, nodding. “Yeah.” He wasn’t even just friend-zoned: he was sibling-zoned.

“You just don’t want me to get hurt,” Anne reasons, already finishing her wine. It’s not like it was that much in the glass. “I think if anyone was going to hurt me, it wouldn’t be Cale.”

The two of them stand there, watching Tyson’s teammates dancing as the music changed to something more upbeat. On the nearest table, Tyson put down his and Anne’s empty glasses, extending his hand out to Anne in a bid to lead her to the dance floor. Anne hesitates, not really too fond of dancing, but then Tyson smiled at her, raising his eyebrows, and for whatever reason, she felt like she had to go with him.

His hand found the small of her back, holding her close enough that they could still talk over the blaring from the music, his other hand in hers as he tried to get her to move to the rhythm of the song. It’s not that Anne was uncoordinated, but she just wasn’t that great with dancing. “I would have thought you were better at this,” Tyson teases her, looking down at their feet as Anne steps on for what he thought was the fourth time.

“I will gladly go back to my place against the wall and watch you make a fool out of yourself by yourself instead,” she jokes, rolling her eyes as Tyson spins her around.

He pulls her in closer than before, the music changing to a slower song. “I don’t think you want to do that,” Tyson tells her, his forehead pressed against hers. He could kiss her right now if she let him. This was technically their second date, if they considered the coffee place their first. And Tyson did. He didn’t know why he wanted this girl in front of him so badly so fast, but there was just something about her that he had to be with her.

Before Anne could say anything, she feels someone tapping on her shoulder. Pulling away from Tyson, she sees Cale standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet. His entire face was red, clearly nervous, as he started, “Uh, sorry, but I was wondering if I could dance with Anne?”

Anne smiles at him, looking over at Tyson to signal that she wanted to. Cale was adorable, and something about him left Anne unable to say no to him. Tyson gives a sad smile, releasing Anne from his grasp. “I’m going to go get another drink,” he says, leaving his date and teammate alone to be closer than they were before. He couldn’t be with a girl that didn’t want to be with him, he thought, downing the drink he got probably too fast. At least tomorrow he could pretend that the two of them were together, pretending that he was hers and she was his.

But for now, he had to watch Anne smiling and staring at Cale, his teammate holding her so close that Tyson wanted nothing more than to be Cale.

Tyson had his back against the bar, watching Cale and Anne dance and have fun when JT came up to him. “Didn’t you bring a date?” JT was the only one Tyson had told about the fake dating plan between him and Anne.

“Yep.”

“She in the bathroom?”

“She’s dancing with Cale,” Tyson says, raising what he thinks was his third drink in their direction. He was praying that they couldn’t get any closer than they were now, but the way Anne was smiling, he knew that was what she wanted.

JT looks between Anne and Cale together and Tyson’s near angry expression as he took another sip of his drink. “Oh, I get it,” JT realizes, Tyson side-eyeing his friend. “You like her, and now you’re seeing her with Cale and you’re jealous.”

Tyson could feel himself start to panic. He did like her, but he wasn’t about to let everyone know that. “No,” he lies, JT scoffing at him. He hated that he knew him so well. “Maybe.”

“Well, then why aren’t you the one dancing with her?” JT asks, Tyson watching Anne throw her head back laughing, Cale burying his head in her shoulder, a smile just as big as hers on his face.

“She wanted to dance with him. What was I going to do, say ‘no?’

“Yes.”

“No,” he rebuts, signaling the bartender for yet another drink. “At least I can pretend to date her around her family,” he shrugs.

“Yeah, until she pretends to dump you because she’s really dating Cale.”

“Maybe in the new year you should try to be more helpful instead of whatever you are now,” Tyson snaps. “Sorry,” he mumbles into the fresh drink he was bringing to his lips, planning on downing it as fast as he got it. If he had to watch Anne dancing with Cale, he might as well be drunk so he can’t remember it in the morning.

“It’s almost midnight,” Cale whispers to Anne.

“Yeah,” she smirks, having a feeling she knew where this was going, especially judging by the way his grip tightened around her waist.

“Uh,” he clears his throat, getting nervous about what he wanted to ask her. “Who are you kissing at midnight?"

Anne can’t help but smile, his innocence endearing to her. Tyson and JT were still watching the two of them dance even though Anne and Cale were too focused on each other to notice. “I think it depends on your answer,” she flirts.

“I was kind of hoping it would be you,” he tells her.

Anne laughs, “Yeah, I got that,” she tells him, running her hand through his hair at the nape of his neck, sending a chill down his spine. “I was hoping it would be you, too,” she tells him, closing her eyes with their foreheads pressed against each other. She almost wished she had spilled her coffee on Cale instead of Tyson, not needing to pretend to date him tomorrow and instead just date Cale and date him for real. It might have been the alcohol or the night that was making her feel this way, but Cale was not a hard guy to like.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Tyson mumbles, not wanting to see Anne and Cale anymore, setting his drink down and leaving the room before JT could protest.

Soon after, everyone began their countdown to midnight, chanting while Anne and Cale stayed silent.

Anne knew Cale wanted to kiss her before the countdown was over. He was hovering against her lips as soon as someone yelled ‘ten!’ She didn’t know what it was about him, but she was ready to kiss him, not waiting for everyone to get past ‘five’ before she connected with him for a second, already wanting more as soon as they started.

Cale pulled away fast, smiling, moving his hands from her waist to cup her face, kissing her as soon as everyone around them was screaming ‘Happy New Year!’ When they finally pulled away, Cale’s entire face was red, and Anne knew that there was some color on her cheeks, too. Kissing Cale was something else, but something was missing. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

=============

January 1, 2022

Anne and Cale danced a little longer, some of the guys and their families starting to leave.

“I think I have to go find Tyson,” Anne tells Cale, realizing she hadn’t seen the boy she came with for the better part of an hour.

“Uh, wait,” Cale says as Anne starts to pull away, Anne stopping as Cale smiles at her. He puts on her jaw, tilting her head up to kiss her again. “Can I see you again?”

Anne smiles, biting her lip. “I’d like that. But I really have to find Tyson.”

The two of them start walking around, trying to locate their lost boy. “Are you coming back with us?”

“Us?”

“Tys and I live in the same building,” Cale explains, part of him wanting to ask Anne to go home with him.

Before he can, Anne starts, “No, Tyson is staying at my place tonight. We have something tomorrow. Today,” she corrects herself.

“Oh, ok. Well, then, can I get your number?”

“When we find Tyson because he has the ticket for our coats and my phone is in my coat,” she explains, regretting giving everything to Tyson.

“Anne!” they hear someone yell, turning around to see Tyson stumbling over despite JT trying to help him up. Anne hadn’t told him not to get very drunk out of caution for having to deal with her family in a few hours, but now she was regretting forgetting.

“How much did he drink?” Anne panics, slinging Tyson's free arm around her shoulder.

“When I got to him he was already on four and I think he had at least three more while I was with him. I couldn’t tell you what he had on his own,” JT explains, the four of them getting their stuff and trying to get out while Tyson could barely walk.

Tyson mumbles something, trying to lean his head against Anne’s shoulder while they walked, despite the three-inch height difference that would have been bigger had Anne not been wearing heels. JT asks him to repeat it while he orders and Uber to get Tyson and Anne home. “Anne’s so pretty,” Tyson says, practically screaming it in Anne’s ear.

“Thank you, Tyson,” she says, trying to be as sweet as she could despite her anger she felt for him getting this drunk.

Tyson keeps babbling incoherently, none of them wanting to try to figure out what he was saying while they were waiting in their Ubers.

“Hey, Anne, hand me your phone,” JT asks, trying to reach out to her with his free hand while also making sure Tyson didn’t fall over or fall on Anne. She does as he asks, Cale standing there wondering why he didn’t just do that in the first place. “Text me when you two get back to your place and let me know how he is before you leave for your Uncle’s.”

“Yeah, of course,” Anne says, not even thinking about how he would have known where the two of you were going later.

Before Cale can ask for Anne’s phone, the Uber for her and Tyson pulls up. “Are you sure you’re good to get him back?” Cale asks her while JT gets Tyson in the car safely.

Anne nods, putting her hand on Cale’s bicep to reassure him. “Yeah, he should sober up enough to walk with just me during the drive back. Thank you, though,” she says, giving him a quick kiss before climbing into the car.

“I wish it was me,” Tyson slurs, his head on Anne’s shoulder as the Uber pulls away.

“What’s that, Tyson?” Anne asks.

“I wish it was me that was kissing you.”

Anne looks at him, his eyes closed as he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. “When?”

“At midnight. I wanted to kiss you at midnight. I just hope you didn’t kiss Cale. That would make me sad,” he says, letting out a yawn.

Before Anne could say anything to respond, Tyson was asleep, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and the Uber driver probably hoping they remembered this to tell their friends in the morning. Why would he have wanted to kiss her? They were just friends. They had both made it very clear that everything they were doing was just out of friendship because they both needed someone to be there for the other and just pretend they were something they were not.

This wasn’t going to be like one of those ‘fake dating’ tropes that Anne had read in books when she was a teenager or in rom coms. Those weren’t real life. That didn’t happen.

Anne gets Tyson up to her apartment, surprised that she was able to drag him out of the Uber and balance him long enough that he didn’t fall over and take her with him to the ground. She practically threw him onto her bed, getting him in position so no matter what happened he would be fine. He was asleep almost immediately, a soft snore coming from his lips.

Anne pulls out her phone to text JT that his teammate was asleep, getting herself ready to go sleep on the couch.

The next morning, Anne woke up to Tyson sitting at her kitchen table, already having helped himself to a cup of coffee. “You look like you’re feeling great,” Anne commented, Tyson clearly hungover from the night before.

“Why did I wake up in your bed and not your couch?” Tyson asked.

Anne shrugs, fixing herself a cup of coffee to join him. “You’re my guest and the couch isn’t the most comfortable thing to fall asleep on if you aren’t used to it.”

“You are?”

“I’ve fallen asleep plenty of times while I was reading on that couch,” Anne tells him, wishing she had something to offer him to eat. “Uh, when we get to my uncle’s house, there’s going to be a ton of food so if we didn’t eat now, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

Tyson nods, looking down at his coffee. He wished that he didn’t have to pretend to be Anne’s boyfriend. He already wanted to be more, but Cale was already closer to that in one night than Tyson was in how many weeks. “What do I need to know about your family before I meet them?”

Anne starts rambling about her family: her grandparents moved back to New York which was where they grew up so she hasn’t seen them in a while because they’re too old to make the trip out here and she hasn’t had time to make the trip to see them. They were going to her Uncle Vince’s house, her dad’s older brother. He has three kids, Michael, Emily, and Spencer, all of them dating someone. Then there’s Uncle Johnny, her dad’s younger brother, who has two kids, Lauren and Landon, and three grandkids from Lauren: Christopher, Lydia, and Henry.

Tyson didn’t even know if he was going to remember everything she was saying; from the food that Johnny brings just for Landon because of allergies, or the food that was designated as ‘the kid's food’ which was absolutely off-limits unless you were under the age of five years old. The Sam Adams’ beer is only meant for Aunt Lisa and Aunt Laura unless they offer it to you, but the wine is a free for all because it’s guaranteed that everyone of age brought their own bottle anyway, including Anne.

“Wait, but I don’t have a bottle,” Tyson asks, both of them getting up to get ready.

Anne smiles at him, going into one of her cabinets. “You want white or red?” she asks, holding up two bottles. “Because, as you know, I’m partial to red.”

Tyson laughs, taking the bottle of white wine from her, not even sure if he should be drinking anything given the night before. He was just lucky he somehow didn't feel worse despite how much he had. “I knew you were my kind of girl.”

They stand there for a second, neither of them sure how to react or what to do. “We should go get ready,” Anne says, bringing the bottles over to where she kept her keys so she wouldn’t forget them.

She retreats to her room, leaving Tyson to get ready out in the open of the rest of her apartment. That wasn’t a moment they just had in her kitchen, she tells herself. She puts on a pair of jeans, trying to find a shirt suitable enough for her mom to not nag her about, finally settling on a sweater that she was almost sure was Lucy’s that she stole a few months ago.

“Hey, Anne,” she hears Tyson calling her. “Someone’s calling you.”

An unknown number flashed on her screen in Tyson's hand, her forgetting she left the phone by the couch. Normally an unsaved contact was something that she wouldn’t answer, but the Calgary area code, for no reason whatsoever, told her that she had to answer it. “Hello?”

“Anne? It’s Cale. Sorry, I got your number from JT.”

Anne smiles, looking at Tyson who could hear his teammate's voice just loud enough that it made him upset. Tyson’s words from the night before rang through Anne’s mind as she finally answered him back, “Hey, no, it’s fine. What’s up?” Anne goes back into her room to finish getting ready, putting Cale on speaker as she does.

“I just wanted to check on you. And Tyson, I mean, that you were ok with him last night.”

Anne laughs at his nerves, the same ones that came through when they were first talking last night that she was thankful had faded as time went on. “Yeah, we’re fine. We’re getting ready to head out, though.”

“Any idea what time you would be done? I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner tonight?”

She could hear his voice shaking, wishing that she could say yes. “I can’t tonight, but maybe another time?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he says, both of them saying goodbye as Anne grabs what she needs to head out.

“You ready?” she asks Tyson. He looked good, a simple black button-down he had paired with jeans. Why did he have to look good? Tyson nods, grabbing the wine while Anne grabbed her keys.

The two of them drive in silence, her phone plugged into her car with Cale and JT’s contacts popping up on the screen on her center console as they were texting her. “I’m glad you got along with some of the guys last night,” Tyson tells her, finally breaking the silence between them.

“Yeah, me too. Especially since someone seemed to enjoy the bar more than anything else,” she teases.

“Hey, the bartender was attractive, and giving free drinks, what was I supposed to do?”

Anne laughs, knowing that wasn’t the real reason he was there the entire night. She didn’t know what that reason was, but it wasn’t because of the looks of the person giving Tyson drinks. “What do you remember from last night?”

Tyson hesitates, really not sure what to answer. “I remember the drinks and you were dancing with Cale at some point.”

“You remember none of the Uber drive back?”

He almost did. He knew he had fallen on Anne’s shoulder, but he didn’t remember getting into the car with her. He wasn’t even sure that Anne was the one that got him in the car. “Not really, no.”

“Ok,” Anne says, partially thankful for that. She wasn’t sure she would want to relive the part of the night, nor did she think Tyson would either.

She pulls up to her uncle’s house, already seeing Lucy’s car and her cousin Spencer's sitting in the driveway. “Ready to enter the belly of the beast?” she asks him, patting his thigh as a sign of encouragement.

Tyson looks out to the house, seeing someone standing in the doorway waiting for them to get out of the car. “We’ve gotta start acting like a couple, now, don’t we?” he says, leaning closer to her across the center console.

Anne rolls her eyes, knowing that he wanted a kiss or something, anything to show Aunt Laura that Tyson was actually her boyfriend. She does kiss him, sweet and slow. Tyson was sure if they weren’t being watched, he would have gone for more, but knowing he couldn’t was killing him. He had to make the most of the time he had with Anne’s family.

When Anne pulled away, she reached up to Tysons face, grazing her thumb along his beard as his hand connected with hers. She didn’t know why, but she kissed him again, their foreheads pressed together as they sat there in her car. It was different kissing him compared to Cale. A good different, and like last night, she couldn't put her finger on why. She almost forgot where they were, startled by Aunt Laura knocking on her window.

Anne’s face had to be bright red, embarrassed that her aunt saw whatever moment, real or fake or whatever that was, while sitting in the driveway of her house. She greets her aunt as she gets out of the car, handing her the two bottles of wine.

“You must be Tyson!” she says, more excited than Anne thought she would be. “Teresa’s told us so much about you, come in, come in,” she gestures. Anne was sure that she would have dragged him in by the collar of his shirt if she didn’t have the wine in her hands already.

Tyson looks at Anne, confused. “I have no idea what my mom could have said to her,” Anne says. Tyson shrugs, grabbing Anne’s hand as she leads him into the house.

Lucy comes running up as soon as Anne steps through the door, a baby that couldn’t be more than a year old in her arms. “Hey there, Hazel,” Anne coos, taking her goddaughter from her sister. Hazel reaches out, grabbing Anne’s hair as Anne winces at the slight pain from the baby’s pull. “This is Tyson.”

“Hi, pretty girl,” Tyson says, Hazel reaching out, squirming to get away from Anne and into Tyson’s arms. “Is it ok if I hold her?” he asks Lucy, waiting for her to nod before Anne passes her off to him.

Lucy pulls her sister aside, a silly grin on her face. “He’s perfect,” she gushes, “Look at him!” Tyson was bouncing Hazel up and down, Hazel shrieking with glee with him.

“He’s not perfect,” Anne says, “but he might be close.” The sisters laugh, Lucy hugging Anne from behind while they continue to watch Anne’s ‘boyfriend’ interact with Lucy’s youngest daughter. Anne wasn’t even sure if she was really pretending as the rest of her family came into her uncle’s house.

Teresa was practically attached to Tyson the entire time, as were Skylar and Harper once Tyson started playing with them. Literally, Tyson was walking around Uncle Vince’s house with Skylar and Harper clinging to each of his legs. Tyson was the center of attention, Anne wishing that it wasn’t because everyone was just finally excited that Anne found a man.

“What do you think of him?” Anne asks Sebby, the two of them watching Tyson and Matthew talking as if there was no one else was in the room. She had heard ‘touchdown’ and ‘linebacker’ come up in conversation, meaning Matthew was going on a rant about the Broncos, something that he did way too often.

Sebby looks him up and down, pursing his lips while he thought about it. “I’m not sure I trust him.”

“Oh, come on,” Anne whines.

“He’s an athlete. And a professional one, at that,” Sebby throws his hands up in defense. Growing up, Sebby was the only one who didn’t really like sports, feeling they were a waste of time when he could be doing something like reading or studying. Sports were only relevant when his siblings were involved, otherwise, he hated them.

“Give him a chance. Please?” Anne begs, not even sure if it were necessary. “He’s not Andy.”

Sebby narrows his eyes at his sister, jumping slightly as Tyson and Matthew start laughing. “Why didn’t you mention him before Christmas?”

“If you remember, I didn’t mention him at Christmas, you did,” Anne scolds him, trying to figure out what story to tell her brother. “And, it was still new. I didn’t want to say anything if it wasn’t going to be something.”

“Is it?”

“Maybe. I think so,” Anne lies. At least, she thought she was lying.

Tyson comes over to Anne while she was talking with Sebby about his upcoming semester, his last one before he graduated from college and hopefully entered law school. He wraps his arms around her, kissing her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. “You think I could steal her for a second?” he asks.

Sebby narrows his eyes, Tyson a little thrown off by her brother’s reaction. “Sure.”

Tyson brings Anne into another room, praying that no one would walk in on them. “We didn’t talk about anything we could say to your family about how we met,” he brings up.

“I was planning on deferring that to you since I normally can’t get a word in otherwise,” she admits, even though she hadn’t thought about it before.

“That’s not fair,” Tyson says, looking over Anne’s shoulder to see someone in her family looking at the two of them. “Your family is watching.”

Anne follows Tyson’s gaze, turning and waving at Landon and Lauren. She reaches up and puts her hand on Tyson’s cheek, Tyson taking it with his own and kissing the palm of her hand. “When you see how I get pushed aside at dinner, you’ll understand why it’s fair.”

The two of them continue talking about how they were going to go on with the rest of the day, Anne telling Tyson she was fine with everything he had done so far and really didn’t care if he kept doing it. Anne, not wanting to tell Tyson, liked what he was doing. It felt right for some reason. Was Tyson right that it should have been the two of them kissing at midnight and not her and Cale?

Tyson’s drunken confession from the night before was still ringing in her mind when everyone got called to sit down for dinner. Tyson was still, unsurprisingly, the center of attention. His hand was on Anne’s thigh for most of dinner, Lucy’s eyes never leaving as Anne rested her’s in his. The usual rounds of conversation started, asking Lucy about her medical practice, Jason about Andersen’s, his restaurant that bore his family’s name, Matthew and Steph about work at United, Sebby about how he was feeling going into this last semester of college.

Then the conversation was supposed to turn to Anne, normally swamped with questions about Anne’s lack of love life. Instead, of course, the conversation turned to Tyson.

“How did you two meet?” Teresa asks, giving a smug look to her daughter, “Anne hasn’t told us anything about you.”

Tyson hesitates, figuring Anne wouldn’t want her family knowing they met when she spilled her coffee on him. “I was out with some of my teammates after practice one day,” he starts, hoping that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was good enough. “We were at a coffee shop, and I saw Anne there grabbing something before her shift at the hospital. I saw her smile at the barista when she thanked him for taking her order and,” he looks at her, taking Anne and putting it on the table for her family to see. “Something about that smile of hers I just knew I had to talk to her. I needed her in my life and I’m happy she’s in it.”

He kisses the side of her head, whispering, “we have to remember that story now,” against her skin. When he pulls away, Anne smiles at him, signaling that she would. There was no way she could forget that honestly. Why was pretending to like him so easy?

The conversation stays on him for a little longer, Anne never being asked anything. Finally, Emily stands up with Jimmy, saying they had an announcement. “We’re engaged!” she squeals, holding up her left hand with the ring that she either just put on, or no one noticed as the family congratulated her. Jimmy had proposed at midnight, down on one knee right as whoever they were with said ‘Happy New Year!’

“Another wedding!” Teresa yells, Tony rolling his eyes next to her. He didn’t hate weddings, he hated his wife’s need to spend an extravagant amount of money on a new dress and presents for the couple every time. “And then maybe we’ll have one for Anne in the next year, too, oh Tony we’ll get to plan another wedding.”

“Mom!” Anne scolds, Tyson’s face getting bright red. “That ringing in your ears is not wedding bells.”

The rest of the dinner goes on fine, Anne and her siblings off in one of the rooms while their spouses and Tyson were nowhere to be found.

“I think Tyson’s scared of me,” Lucy says, examining her nails.

“He might just be intimidated by you, Signoria Perfezione,” Anne teases her with the nickname Lucy got when she was little, her need for order prevalent from a young age.

“Yeah, he said that Anne told him how smart you were and he didn’t want to feel stupid around you,” Matthew points out.

“Well, shouldn’t he be intimidated by Anne?” Sebby asks.

“I know you’re trying to compliment me, but your tone says otherwise,” Anne says. “Why don’t you like him?”

The three of them look at their youngest siblings. “There’s something off,” he starts, Anne feeling her heart start to race. “He’s like borderline pretending to be with you.”

“Come on, man, you’re paranoid,” Matthew scoffs, Lucy agreeing.

“I mean,” Sebby explains, “He looks at Anne like he wants to be with her, not like he actually is with her.”

“You’re just over analyzing. We’re together. Probably more together than you and Collins are,” Anne fires back, part of her hating that she was lying to her siblings, the other part of her wondering how much of it was a lie.

Sebby shrugs, “Well yeah, because we broke up.” Anne’s jaw drops, Matthew raises his eyebrows in shock, Lucy the only one to scream and actually make a verbal acknowledgment of what he just said. “Yeah, the other night. She finally blew up over the whole, ‘I don’t want to move to Boston or California,’ thing and said if I wasn’t willing to move to be with her then I wasn’t good enough for her.”

“Oh, I don’t like that,” Anne says.

"Why didn't you tell us," Lucy asks.

"I see how they act about Anne never being with someone," he says, Anne glaring at him. "I'll just find someone in law school and not say anything unless they ask. Plus, I don’t want to be that far away from you guys. Why would I stay with someone who wants me to do that?” he admits.

“Aw, you do like us!” Lucy teases him, her and Matthew tackling him in a hug while Sebby yells for them to get off, yelling louder when Anne joins in.

“Hey, um,” Tyson interrupts, “Sorry, you’re having a moment.”

“No, no, what’s up?” Anne breaks off, going over to him.

“Your aunt said dessert is out,” he tells them, or, rather, tells Anne with her siblings in earshot.

“See, you’re delusional,” Lucy tells Sebby as they walk past Anne and Tyson into the next room.

Tyson looks at her confused, waiting for an explanation. “I think Sebby’s catching on to us pretending,” she shrugs, really not that worried. She and Tyson could talk later about how long this would go on, and if anyone in the family were to find out that it was fake, Sebby would be the one to keep it quiet.

She goes into the next room, leaving Tyson there by himself. “Yeah, pretending,” he says to himself.

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