#FUCK THIS DRAWING! IT BEAT ME! I GIVE UP! I CONCEDE!

[seaworthee]

tall child

[sluttyhollow]

Who you think you talking to?

Sanemi x Black GN! Reader

Warnings: smut, switch(?) sanemi & reader, degredation (both give and receive), canon levels of violence, mentions of blood, swearing, fighting, aggressive sex, oral sex, reader wears chest bindings and has vagina but I think I managed to not use any vagina specific terms except for “wet” so this might be safe for more than nb and fem folk, fluffy ending, no condoms, let me know if I missed anything

“Concede” you force out your throat. Your wooden blade pressed up against his throat as His hand wrapped tight around your airway trying to force you to do the same.

“Fuck you” he spits back, kicking knee between the two of you and pushing up forcing you to flip over the top of his head, slamming you flat on your back before you had a chance to regain your footing. Knees on either side of your body with your wooden blade pressed securely to the underside of your neck “you give up yet” gravely voice filling your ears

“don’t be stupid Shinazugawa-Sensei,” the sarcasm dripping like acid from your tongue, a silly smile plastered across your face.

“As if I’d give you the satisfaction of a tap out”

It had been about six months since you and the wind hashira started training together. Oyakata-Sama requested that you train with each other after he heard how quickly your skills were developing. You had only been a corps member for six months, joining after coming to Japan from abroad. You had met the man after being found wandering close to his estate, one that should have been invisible to many peoples' senses except for the hashira. After speaking with him and being regarded with nothing but love and reverence in his words, you accepted his offer to join the corps. That’s how you ended up living in the butterfly estate with the insect hashira you had grown to adore and the rest of the girls that lived there.

When you first met the hell-spawned demon slayer himself, you were excited to learn from someone so strong. However, It didn’t last long; the second he opened his mouth to speak that you looked weak, you’d fixed him with the nastiest glare you could find and told him to fuck himself. Being the kind and patient man that he is, Oyakata-Sama told you two to behave and find peace for the greater. Fixing you both with a gentle smile and requesting that you all train and battle on missions together. Though he has not witnessed the two of you in combat, he could feel the energies the two of you radiated when nearby. The two of you, too volatile in your hatred for one another, fought In battles as if trying to outdo each other, not noticing how flawlessly your techniques aligned. Movements flowed together like well-choreographed routines. The fluid teamwork and subsequent positive emotions towards each other “disappear " with your opponent's defeat.

You and Sanemi understood early on that speaking to each other wasn’t worthwhile. Both of you are fixed with equally explosive personalities. Just the sound of the voice of the other would have each of you ready to draw your blades on each other. Though you couldn’t stand his nasty personality, you’d be lying to yourself if you said he wasn’t attractive. And the fact that he parades himself around half-naked like a common whore you’d be silly to have ignored his muscular frame, adorned with scars that matched his persona. Yeah, he was attractive when his fucking mouth was shut, which brought you back to your current situation.

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“I have your sword at your fucking throat, and you still think you can beat me in a fight. You’re still as naïve as you’ve been since we started. Still as fucking useless as ever,” the man in front of you never knew when to shut his fucking mouth. Always took it a step too far to grind at your nerves, always trying to set you off. You’d had enough of his constant bullshit and trying to make you feel inferior to him. Knocking the wooden thing out of the way and pulling your fist back, you aimed a quick jab at his balls. Dropping to his knee, catching himself directly above you, you leaned your head back, cracking your skull against his. The force of the impact sent you both falling back toward the ground, him landing on top of you. After a second of catching your breath, you groaned out, “get off me, you big fucker��� Letting out a grunt of pain, Sanemi rolled off and onto the grass next to you.

“You’re a fucking bitch you know that” he finally let fall from his mouth after a few minutes passed

“and you’re a narcissist who thinks he’s better than everybody, you never know when to shut the fuck up. I’m fucking better than you. Think cause you threw a tantrum and tossed me around I’d let you win fuck you”

Giving yourself a few more seconds for your vision to stabilize, you rocked your body back into a seated position and dropped your head into your hands on your lap. Seeing as Sanemi’s mouth had been quiet for more than a few minutes, and you had hit a solid blow to his head, you turned slightly to peek over your shoulder to ensure he wasn’t dead. Laying flat on his back with his left arm draped over his flushed face and one knee bent, you did a once-over scan of his person. Noting the new bruises forming across his abdomen, a smile forming as they served as friendly reminders that you had, in fact, inflicted damage on his body whether he acknowledged it or not. Continuing your assessment down to where his now dirty pants hung against his legs, falling in just the perfect way from the muscles in his legs. Apparently, ALL the muscles in his lower half, to be exact, since there was an extra one pressed firmly against the lower half of his stomach.

“You're fucking disgusting, Shinazugawa,” a smirk making its way on your face “fucking sick actually, was it getting punched in the balls or me talking about you like the worthless little man you are that got your dick hard” finally dragging his arm to the ground to drag his body all the way up your eyes were met with blown pupils and his signature feral smirk on his face. Dried blood on his head made its way into the snowy hair peaks. Surely you had a matching patch on yours. He looked like a wild animal, an attractive one, albeit

“I bet if I put my hand in those pants of yours, you’d be wet enough to keep me drunk for days. That smart ass mouth of yours is a cover; you want me to fuck you always have” by the time he finished his speech, he was in front of you, shoving your body back against the ground, slotting himself in between your legs and roughly rolling his lower half against yours as he leaned forward and bit the muscle between your neck and shoulder causing you to meet his hips in their rotation. “Lucky for you, I want you too” with that, his mouth met yours in a kiss just as rough as the both of you, hesitating just a second before meeting him back equally as desperate for his attention against your lips. Inevitability might be the word to use here; you two were bound to end up like this, but beating each other to bruises beforehand was on brand for your relationship.

Reaching his hand behind your head gripping the roots of your twisted up hair and pulling back so he could see your face. Purple darkened to its deepest shade stared back at you with no less fire than during training but something else was written within them now. something so intense that it sent heat through your body and had you unconsciously shifting back to escape it.

“scared” a tilt of his stupid mouth upwards

“Finally, realize your place with me,” he was goading you into a response, one he wasn’t going to get the luxury of experiencing right now. Without breaking contact with his eyes, your hands quickly pulled his pants to his knees before breaking his hold to drop to your knees and throat his entire length in one go. The satisfaction you received from watching his large frame cave in over you as his knees buckled from the rapid sensation of being shoved in your mouth gave. Making him hit the back of your throat once, twice, before pulling back off of him and running your tongue along the underside of his shaft and finally regaining the eye contact you two were making. The man was beautiful, flushed red face, eyes half hooded, muscles through his chest, and stomach flexing beneath your hand. The sights before you made you wonder why you’d never given in to your desires. Now, with him shoved into the depths of your throat, the only sounds coming from his mouth were grunts and poorly hidden moans. Pulling yourself away from him with an unconcealed smirk across your face, you couldn’t help the following words that slipped out

“you know.. you look so fucking good when the only noises you make are the ones I’m forcing from your mouth, sooo much better than that god awful voice of yours” not bothering to wait for a response you began inching back towards his waiting length, before you could connect however, two calloused hands grabbed your head and forced himsef all the way in your mouth and began roughly fucking your face the way he wanted to.

“And you look good with my dick shoved down your throat” a few more rough thrust to your mouth before he pulled himself out, tucking himself back into his pants and brought your body back up to its full height. Grabbing either side of your face and bringing you in for another meeting of your lips together. This one far softer than it should have been. Grabbing your hand and he began dragging you towards the doors to his home that you two had been training behind and into his room.

His estate wasn’t huge, considering it was just him living there, but there was more than enough space for both of you on his futon in the middle of the room. Dropping your hand, he finally turned to face you, looking very bit the predator that he was.

“I let you have your fun, strip and get on fours now”

Not willing to be so obedient to his request, you went to open your mouth in protest before five calloused fingers wrapped themselves around your throat forcing you to pay attention to him

“quickly and quietly, forgot about that part”

You were going to make another retort but thought better of it before moving to peel your bindings off and then quickly discard the standard corps pants you’d been wearing. Remembering your earlier words about not giving him the satisfaction of tapping out a dry laugh falling from your mouth at how you basically ended up doing it anyways. Moving to make your way towards the soft fabrics laid out across the floor, you began dropping to your knees, albeit not fast enough for Sanemi, as you felt the after-effects of the smack he landed on your bare ass before you could even register what happened. Falling unceremoniously against the bed, you propped yourself on your hands and turned to fix him with a nasty glare before the sight of his naked body flittered into view. Stiff, red, and standing at perfect attention between his hips was his waiting length. Though it had just been in your mouth not even 10 minutes ago, you still couldn’t help but marvel at how perfect it was. In the midst of your being lost in your thoughts, Sanemi had planted himself behind you and licked a fat strip through the center of your legs before sloppily sucking and licking his way through them. With a wet pop, he pulled himself away, just barely, before opening his mouth to mumble.

“Like I said, drunk. for. days” And then latched himself back on to you. The coil deep in your gut had already been forming before he pulled away, but his renewed vigor and intensity increased since his return pushed you over the edge, a sobbed moan launching itself out your lungs, breathe getting caught in your throat. The rest of your body shuddering behind it. Satisfied with your response, he pulled himself up on his knees to meet his pelvis against the roundness of your ass. Rubbing through the wetness, collecting it against his shaft before slowly beginning his slow entry inside you. Two moans, one breathy and broken and the other deep and uncontrolled, filtered through the air as the rhythm of colliding hips intertwined with them. It wasn’t long before he draped himself over your back, whispering little mumbles of nothing in your ear until you both peaked soon thereafter.

Rolling you both to the side before falling flat on the futon, still stuffed inside you. Fingers trailing the sides of your body before wrapping around your middle to pull you back flush against him.

“you’re not useless” gruff voice filling the air breaking the silence “nothing of mine is useless or weak” the implications behind his words not lost on you but instead of responding with words, you slowly rocked your hips against his, eyes finally wandering over your shoulder before smirking at him, your voice filling the air sounding far more hoarse than it had before

“You know… a little praise might’ve got you this treatment earlier Sanemi” followed by slow giggles as you felt him grow back to full mast within you. Chin placed on your shoulder beginning to meet you thrust for thrust he whispered

“let’s see where it gets me now then yeah…” leading into Your bodies introducing themselves to each other over and over throughout the night.

Bonus

You both kneeled heads bowed in respect to your master waiting for his next instructions. After being formally dismissed with your next mission assignment you two began to rise from your positions only to hear his soft voice

“My children a moment…” pausing your movements and looking towards the man whose amusement was now scarcely hidden behind his calm smile and unseeing eyes

“Yes, Oyakata-Sama”

“I sense you two have found a way to put your aggression towards each other to better usage, I hope it continues to fair well for you both”

Heat rising through your body, as you peaked to look at your partner. The physical representation of what you were feeling appear across his face and tips of his ears as you both quickly bowed your respects to master before making a quick exit from his grounds. His gentle laughter along side that of Amane-Samas could be heard in the background.

[jaws-and-canines]

"Do you think you conducted yourself in an appropriate manner?"

"No, sir, I do not."

"How fucking drunk were you?"

At the 7th annual Albion First conference, Haveter took to the stage drunk, in full dress uniform, and gave a speech generally regarded as one of his best, advocating for violence from European soldiers to be met with greater punishment.

However, not everyone was happy to hear of this, much less his commanding officer, General Alistair Davies. Following the speech, Haskell was detained by the Military Police, and Davies had him confined until he sobered up, to prevent him from disgracing himself further. Haskell was charged with Conduct Unbecoming for giving the speech without permission and whilst drunk and in uniform, which he conceded to and received minimal punishment.

Later, this Conduct Unbecoming charge would be used by the Court Martial as basis to discharge him when he faced a second count of the same for his conduct on the night of Jacob Kay’s murder.

Don't you see what they did to me? What they will do to you? What they will do to your wives? Your children? I can defend myself, I can stand up for myself. Imagine what they will do to the defenseless among us.

There is no honour amongst these people. And yet we allow them to take. I say no more. I say no more, enough- one son, one daughter coming home in a wooden box should have been enough and yet my colleagues in the Council here- they lack the spine to say no. They lack the spine to draw the line which the European filth are drenching with the blood of our children, our parents and our friends.

And yet we are told to hold back, we are told we must treat the war criminals with better regard than they treat us- so they can live out their natural lives on the taxpayer pound, in comfort better than the most vulnerable among us often do. Enough, I say, of this madness. Our people come first. You come first. And I will stand for that until I die- the prospect of a comfortable life behind bars does not deter these utter degenerates.

This is not enough.

I would beat their presidents to death on the steps of their capitol buildings with my own two hands if it meant no more death. I would cripple their men, sterilise their women, raise their children as our own- if it meant they would inflict no more death upon us. Like must pay like. But there is no use in expounding such things, however truthful, if I do nothing.

So today I will do something. The Council will not sit in session again until they table a motion to stop this madness. Because I say we put our people first, as we should. I say that simply calling these atrocities awful is not and has never been enough.

I say deeds, not words. I say- no more.

- CGen. Haskell Haveter, at the 7th annual Albion First conference

[yelena-bellova]

Instinct: Din Djarin x F!Reader - Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: Protection

Plot: Mando and Y/n land on Tatooine in need of repairs and work. After meeting the young and ambitious Toro Calican, they accept a job to hunt down Fennec Shand.

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings: language, violence, the slow burn beginning to burn brighter...

A/N: Do you know how fucking hard it is to not rush a slow burn? I've never done it and I hate it! But I'm trying haha. Hope you enjoy this one!

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“Oof!” My back slammed into the floor of the Razor Crest before I could even engage. I flipped back onto my feet and came at Mando with a new fire lit inside me. Thinking that I was going to go for his core, he took the proper stance to block. Wanting to catch him by surprise, I slid across the floor and swept one leg out from under him. He dropped to one knee and I spun around on mine to take the second one out. As he tried to rise, I saddled him like a blurg and sat on his back, bringing him down. To his advantage, he threw his arms back, grabbed hold of my legs and flipped me onto my back. Now using his feet as a pillow, he flipped us over so that I went onto my stomach. No matter how much my muscles ached, I was not going to concede and allow him the satisfaction of beating me.

As he bent down to take hold of my legs, I bent my knees into the air as soon as they made contact with his armor. Balancing him on my feet, I flipped to the side and savored the loud grunt of pain that came through his vocoder. I crawled over to straddle him, grabbing both his wrists as his hands reached out to me. We struggled against one another, grunting and groaning as we both tried to take the upper hand. Still connected, he flipped me over onto my back so that he was looming over me, our chests practically meeting as they rose and fell rapidly.

Suddenly, the ship shook. Mine and Mando’s grip held firm as we moved along with the jerking. Someone was attacking us.

“Call it a draw,” I breathed. “I think this qualifies as a win,” he replied confidently.

“It’s a draw.”

We separated and made our way up to the cockpit, Mando jetting over to the pilot’s seat and me taking the chair behind him. We were, indeed, under attack by a starfighter I could only assume belonged to another bounty hunter. It had been days since we’d left Sorgan due to the Guild finding us but Mando and I were under no illusions that we were home free. Roaming the galaxy in search of work, we were bound to run into a few former colleagues. “Sorry, pal,” I apologized to the child as I strapped his pod to the seat adjacent to me, “Nap time’s over.”

The child cooed and rubbed his eyes, he’d been sleeping and giving Mando and I the freedom to have some time off. I should know by now that time off is an illusion…

The Crest shook as it took another shot, Mando did his best to avoid the fire. “Hand over the child, Mando,” our attacker came through the comms.

“Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath as I took my seat, the ship shook violently, “We just lost something.” “No kidding,” Mando replied, annoyed and steering us rapidly from one side to the other.

“I might let you two live,” the hunter’s voice taunted, there was no way someone would let anyone like us go. The bounties resting on our heads were probably enough to not have to work for a good year. Any hunter would be stupid not to try and capture all three of us…

As the ship rocked again, alarms began to blare inside the cockpit. “What was that?” I yelled over the noise.

“We lost an engine,” Mando reported, “I’d hold on if I were you.” I grabbed onto the side of the control board and tried not to scream as Mando looped upside down, dipping down in order to try and lose the fighter. No such use, the Crest was slow compared to such a new model.

“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.”

“You wanna actually do something?” I shouted, “Before we’re scattered all over, whoa-“ Having not strapped myself in, I went flying forward towards Mando’s seat as he threw on the engine reversal system, stopping us from going any further. I dug my nails into the pilot’s seat and threw out a hand in front of the child to make sure he didn’t go slamming into the window. The ship shook as the starlight flew over us, scraping the top of it. Our enemy was now dead ahead of us, giving Mando the perfect opportunity. “That’s my line,” he growled into the comms, lining up the cannons and taking the shot. We floated through the wreckage with our one working engine propelling us.

“Was that enough ‘something’ for you?” Mando looked up at me, still clutching the sides of his seat as if my life depended on it. Which it sort of had…

“Why are all pilots showoffs?” I grumbled, checking on the child and returning to my own chair, “We’re not out of the woods yet, Tin Can.” The alarms were still singing and Mando was pressing plenty of buttons trying to make them stop. “Losing fuel,” he muttered to himself, but the cockpit was small enough that anything he told himself was basically telling all of us.

“Does this thing have emergency power or did they not have that feature in the Dark Ages?” I quipped, sitting back and watching him scurry. I’d already tried to help fly the ship days before, having been met with a firm ‘no.’

The child giggled from beside me, blissfully unaware of the danger we were in. “At least someone’s having fun,” I reached over and tucked a corner of the blanket coming out of his pod back in.

Mando rose from his seat, moving around me and flicking a switch that kicked on the emergency power, turning the cockpit a bright red. He sat back down and began to fly us towards the closest planet. “Tatooine,” he announced, “Ever been?” “Plenty,” I chortled, “Depending on the part, it can be a scum hole. Perfect for us.”

“Well, let’s pick the right spot, then.”

The comm system gave out some static before a voice filled the cockpit, “This is Mos Eisley Tower. We are tracking you. Head for bay three-five, over.” “Copy that,” Mando answered as he set our course, “Locked in for three-five.”

“Oh good,” I said from my seat, “Mos Eisley’s the scummiest part.”

We flew over the canyons of Tatooine, the city portion of Mos Eisley coming into view. By the time we were landing in the bay, the child had fallen back asleep in its pod. By no means were we going to take him with us on whatever job we found, but I didn’t feel good about leaving him in the ship by himself. Mando swaddled him in his blanket and placed him in a storage hold, locking it after.

The two of us came down the ramp, three pit droids coming forward to begin working on the ship. Mando whipped his blaster out and fired a warning shot at their feet, causing me to duck. Now that I knew about his problem with droids, the urge to berate him had lessened.

“Hey! Hey!” a female voice shouted from somewhere, “You damage one of my droids, you’ll pay for it!”

A short, curly haired woman emerged from the landing station, stalking towards us.

“Just keep them away from my ship,” Mando ordered, glaring over at the pit droids scrambling away from the Crest. “Yeah?” the woman took a look at the ship, “You think that’s a good idea, do ya? Let’s take a look at your ship,” she began to circle the Crest, examining each point of damage, “Oof! Look at that. Ugh, you got a lot of carbon scorin’ building up too. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were in a shootout.” I kept my hands behind my back as I tried not to glance over at Mando, it was better if nobody knew exactly why we were here and what we did. There were people everywhere who kept track of current bounties in hopes they’d get a chance to cash in on the reward. Mando and I watched in silence as she talked to herself about all the repairs that would need to be done. “How did you even land?” she asked, “That’s gonna set you back.” “We’ve got 500 Imperial credits,” Mando replied, leaving out the fact that I still had a small amount stashed away in the ship. Most of my pay had been spent on fuel. The woman took the small pouch Mando offered her and weighed the decision, “That’s all you got? Well, what do you guys think?” she turned to her droids, listening to their reply but not taking it into consideration, “That should at least cover the hanger.” “We’ll get you the rest of it,” I assured her. “Hmm,” she eyed us suspiciously, “I’ve heard that before.”

Seemingly accepting our promise of further pay, she didn’t fight back any. “Just remember…” Mando began.

“Yeah, no droids, I heard you,” she held her hands up to the Mandalorian, “You don’t have to say it twice. You must be a fun one to travel with…” “He’s a hoot,” I said, ignoring the beskar encased glare I earned myself.

As Mando and I headed up the stairs to enter the whole of Mos Eisley, I couldn’t help but feel a tug to stay with the child. I knew that locked in the Crest, he was safer than he’d be out in the thick of it with us, but after having one eye on him practically the entire time we were in Sorgan, I was nervous to be away from him.

“He’ll be fine,” Mando gruffly assured me, as if he could read my thoughts. “I know that,” I shot back, acting as if he was completely off by thinking I was worried.

Our relationship was…it was a work in progress. Better than it had been when we’d met, definitely miles away from being any sort of friendship. But it was bearable now. We sparred in the Crest, we alternated who took care of the child each day and he was learning to take my opinion into consideration when making decisions. Since there was no end in side to our time together in sight, it was good that any homicidal urges had been purged.

It wasn’t possible to take a casual stroll through someplace like Mos Eisley, but Mando and I moved through it as comfortably as we could. We passed by a bevy of pikes stabbed through Stormtrooper helmets, a shrine to the death of the Empire. I paused in front of it, taking a satisfied look at the display. Mando waited a few steps ahead of me, allowing me time to process the sight. Any sign of the Empire was an instant trip back to growing up in the cold, bleak, dark bases on planets devoid of any true sign of living. I took the chance to spit on the sand in front of the pikes, the only strike I could make against my dark past, before rejoining Mando.

“Any ideas on where to find something?” I asked, “Anytime I’ve been here, I’ve already been on a job.”

“I’ve got one,” he replied, leading me towards a building and heading inside without any hesitations. Cautiously, I followed him with my hand hovering over my blaster.

Mando had brought us to a cantina, one that was less than populated. It was mid-day and there were few patrons, meaning there was a lesser chance that have any luck finding work.

“Hey droid,” Mando leaned on the counter and addressed the bartender, “We’re hunters. We’re looking for some work.” “Unfortunately, the Bounty Guild no longer operates from Tatooine,” the droid answered.

I shifted to stand next to Mando, “We’re not looking for Guild work.” “I am afraid that does not improve your situation, at least by my calculation.”

I dropped my head, “Fan-fucking-tastic.”

“Think again, tin can,” a voice from behind us called out. Mando and I looked over our shoulders to see it belonged to a young man sitting in one of the booths, feet kicked up on the table. “If you’re looking for work, have a seat, my friends. Name’s Toro, Toro Calican. Come on, relax.”

Mando and I shared a look, I think we both felt confidant that if he was trying to pull anything, we could draw our weapons before he even knew what hit him. We came to the table and slid into the opposite side of the booth. As we sat down, Calican pulled out a puck that displayed a holoprojected image of a woman with dark hair.

“Picked up this bounty puck before I left the Mid Rim,” he explained, “Fennec Shand, an assassin. Heard she’s been on the run ever since the New Republic put all her employers in lockdown.” “I know the name,” Mando interjected.

“I followed this tracking fob here. Now the positional data suggests she’s headed out beyond the Dune Sea. Should be an easy job.”

Calican had made one fatal flaw in his explanation…well, he’d made several. Fennec Shand was so much more than an assassin and it showed that he was young enough and inexperienced enough to believe anything he was told. There was no discussion to be had between me and Mando, we were silently unanimous.

“Well, good luck with that,” Mando said before scooting out, myself following. “Wait, wait, wait, hey” Calican stumbled, “I thought you two needed work?” I spun back around, “How long have you been with the Guild? Not long I’m assuming, hmm?”

“Long enough,” Calican fired back, trying to hold our gaze and continue to appear how he thought confidant looked.

I scoffed and chuckled to myself, while Mando stepped forward. “Clearly not. Fennec Shan’s an elite mercenary. She made her name killing for all the top crime syndicates, including the Hutts. If you go after her, you won’t make it past sunrise.” “Good luck, junior,” I eyed Calican one last time before joining Mando at his side and heading towards the exit. “This is my first job,” Calican called, chasing after us, “You can keep the money, all of it. I just need this job to get into the Guild. I can’t do it alone.”

One thing the young wannabe had yet to learn was to never show weakness, not when it came to hunting. Another hunter would swoop in and steal your lead like it was nothing. With the offer of the full bounty in our pockets, it was hard to give no as an answer. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” I asked Mando, he reluctantly followed me to the side of the cantina doorway, “I think the pay out is worth the risk.” “You’re kidding, right?” I rolled my eyes, “It’s not like we have a lot of other options. We need a job just to get off this planet and I don’t exactly see a lot of people sitting in this scum hole ready to hire us,” I took a step closer and lowered my voice, “Fennec Shand may be good but there’s two of us…with or without Skippy over there, we can take her.”

Mando stood silent, weighing the pros and cons. “Fine,” he turned to go before looking back at me and pointing his finger towards my chest, “But if this goes wrong, it’s on you.”

Fine, I thought, whatever he has to do to get through the day…

We walked back to Calican’s table, ready to accept the offer, though I knew Mando would do it on his terms and his terms alone. “Meet us at hanger three-five in a half an hour. Bring three speeder bikes and give one of us the tracking fob.”

Calican nodded confidently until Mando mentioned the fob, which he proceeded to smash against the wall. “Don’t worry,” he smiled and pointed to his head, “Got it all memorized.” I scrunched my nose, “That’s not the reassurance you think it is,” Mando and I made our way towards to door, “Half an hour.”

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now, huh, partners?” Calican called out as we exited the cantina.

“Still feel good about this?” Mando asked. “I’d feel better about it if you stopped talking,” I walked through the sleepy town at his side, trying to ignore every alarm going off in my head.

——————

We promptly returned to the hanger, eager to grab whatever weapons and supplies were needed for the job. I went to retrieve a pair of goggles from my bag for the journey across the desert when Mando shouted for me. “Hey...” I turned around to see him frantically looking at where we’d left the child, the cot empty and his blanket cold. We shared a look before racing down the ramp. “Hey!” I called out for the woman who ran the hanger.

“Oh! I’m awake! I’m awake!” she cried from her spot in the landing station, cradling none other than the kid in her arms.

“Mando,” I brushed his arm and turned his attention to her.

“Quiet!” the woman emerged, speaking to both the child and us, “Oh, it’s okay. You woke it up! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get it to sleep?” “Yes!” I stepped forward, “I do! Now give him back!” She withheld the child, “Not so fast. You can’t just leave a child all alone like that. You both have an awful lot to learn about raisin’ a young one.”

I sighed in relief, confidant in the fact that she wasn’t going to harm him. “All of that’s true,” I agreed, Mando and I were making it up as went…

“Anyway,” she continued, after the child’s cooing seemingly calmed everyone’s flared tempers, “I started the repair on the fuel leak,” she banged her fist against a piece of machinery nearby that would tell her where the repairs were at, “I had a couple of setbacks I want to talk to you two about. You know, I didn’t use any droids, as requested, so it took me a lot longer than I expected. But I figured you were good for the money since you have an extra mouth to feed.”

Mando had gone ahead and gone on board the Crest and retrieved what we needed. He came down, paused in front of the woman and gave a simple “Thank you.”

As he headed for the stairs up into the town, I stayed. “Look…” I stopped once I realized I didn’t know the woman’s name. “Peli,” she answered. “Peli,” I nodded, “We would really appreciate it if you watched him while we’re gone. There’s extra credits in it for you that I already have.” She pretended to think it over for a moment as the child cooed, a noise that could melt even the hardest of hearts. “Well, I suppose since he’s not bad company…” she looked down and smiled at him.

“Thank you,” I said, reaching out and taking the kid’s hand, “We’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, so you did find a job,” Peli called out as I went to follow Mando, “Make sure your partner remembers that it’s costing me a lot of money to keep these droids even powered up.” “He’s not my partner,” I quickly corrected her, “But I’ll make sure you get paid in full.”

With one final glance at the kid, secured in Peli’s arms, I took the stairs up to find Mando standing between two speeder bikes. Calican stood at the front of one. “Not too shabby, huh?” he gestured.

“Not great,” I tilted my head, “Considering we asked for three.” “Hey, I did my best,” he defended, “What’d you expect? This ain’t Corellia.” I chuckled under my breath, thinking of my former home, “You have no idea…”

While Calican climbed onto his speeder, Mando and I stood in front of ours with an unfortunate predicament before us. “I’m not hugging you across the Dune Sea,” I shook my head, “I’ll drive.” “Do I need to remind you of the blurrgs?” Mando asked, no doubt raising an eyebrow under the helmet, “I’ll be driving this time.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes, remembering just a few months ago when Kuiil had taught us how to ride. Was he male ego so ginormous that he felt he had to recover from letting a woman be in charge? Regardless of my thoughts, he was already climbing aboard the bike and allowing me my space behind him. The prospect of being so close to him was exactly as attractive as it had been when we’d just met, but any protests would fall on deaf ears. I reluctantly swung my leg over the bike, put my goggles on and and kept my hands at my side in defiance. “Might want to hold on,” Mando said, a hint of smugness in his voice. “I’ll take my chance-whoa!” Mando interrupted my reply by revving the bike and taking off, causing my hands to instinctively grab onto the nearest steady thing…which was him.

Given no choice but to cling to him for the duration of our journey, I settled in. The bike wasn’t very big, certainly not designed to seat two people comfortably. Perhaps if the two people liked each other and didn’t mind being pressed against one another, but that wasn’t the case. I kept my arms slipped around Mando’s waist, the beskar warmed by the sun pressing into my chest. It made me wonder what the closeness would feel like with someone I liked. It had been a long time since I’d let anyone close enough to touch me, and the proximity to Mando’s figure was…doing something to me. It was easing my tense shoulders, lowering them and loosening the tension I felt throughout my body. Was this what comfort felt like? Was I actually…happy to be close to Mando? And we’re going to take that thought and dump it into the lava pits of Mustafar, I thought.

I loosened my hold as much as I could without falling off the bike as we traveled further. The Dune Sea was long enough for me to hope that the job would be short and we’d be back on the Crest before sundown. After forty five minutes or so of riding, Mando held his fist up to signal a halt. He and Calican both slowed to a stop while I stayed confused, “What’s up?” “Look,” he pointed to the path in front of us, “Up ahead.”

A fair distance away from us, I could make out the silhouettes of two banthas. Calican clearly hadn’t recognized them yet and got off his bike to use his binocs to check out the scene. Mando stood to the side of our bike while I stayed on it. “Tusken Raiders,” Calican reported, “I heard the locals talking about this filth.”

“Tuskens think they’re the locals, everyone else is just trespassing,” Mando replied, turning to me, “Ever had a run-in?” I furrowed my brows and widened my eyes, “Are you kidding? Who would be stupid enough to pick a fight with a Tusken?”

“Well, whatever they call themselves, they best keep their distance,” Calican said, his chest puffed out and his voice confidant.

As Calican continued to look out the binocs, oblivious to anything around him, Mando and I watched as two of them came from the side and stood waiting for our associate. Mando held out a hand in front of me, signaling me not to attack. My stomach was in my throat, though I tried not to show it. “Yeah?” Mando replied to Calican, “Why don’t you tell them yourself?”

Calican turned and came face to face with them, the Tuskens letting out a cry and holding up their weapons. Mando walked towards them, holding up a hand to Calican, “Relax.”

Mando proceeded to sign to them, a language I desperately hoped they spoke. “What are you doing?” I asked, my heart pounding and my hand resting on one of my blasters. “Negotiating,” he replied, “Blaster down.” He was beginning to know me far too well if he knew my go-to defense…I wasn’t a fan.

The Tuskens signed back to Mando and whatever they said made him turn to Calican, “Let me see the binocs.” “Why?”

Mando didn’t reply, he only left his hand outstretched until Calican relented and handed him the object. Mando proceeded to toss them to one of the Tuskens, to Calican’s dismay. “Hey! What? Those were brand new!” “Yeah,” Mando climbed back onto our speeder bike, “They were.”

Without warning, he took off and I was scrambling to hold onto him. “Stop doing that,” I yelled over the engine of the bike. I could have sworn I heard a chuckle come out of the vocorder.

Calican caught up to us and we continued making our way across the Dune Sea, me trying to hold onto Mando as loosely as possible. With each moment that passed, I prayed that we’d arrive at the coordinates soon and I could separate from him as quickly as possible. I was less than thrilled when the journey stretched on another half hour.

Mando called for a halt suddenly, telling us we’d arrived, “Get down.”

We jumped off the bikes, me already with my blasters in hand. Mando led us behind a dune, giving us a good view of a creature slowly making its way through the sand. “All right, tell me what you see,” Mando instructed Calican.

“A dewback,” he answered, “Looks like the rider’s still attached. Is that her? Is that the target?” Mando took a look, “I don’t know.” “I doubt Fennec Shand could be taken down so easily,” I commented, “Plus, she’s pissed off so many people in the galaxy, someone would definitely want her head served on a silver platter.” “I’ll go check,” Mando said, “You two cover me. Stay down.” Calican and I drew our weapons and steadied ourselves, watching as Mando ran down the hill to examine the dewback and its dead rider. “Well?” Calican called, “Is it her? Is she dead?” “It’s another bounty hunter,” Mando answered. “Hey, I hope you don’t plan on keeping that all for yourself and your girl,” Calican shouted, referring to the dead man’s possessions, “Can I at least have that blaster?” “You can have this one,” I held up my blaster and hit him in the head with the barrel of it, “I’m nobody’s girl.” “Message received,” he groaned, rubbing the side of his head.

“Anything else?” I called to Mando, wondering why he was still crouched over the dead body. “Get down!” he yelled suddenly, running towards us only to be knocked down with a single shot seemingly form nowhere. “Mando!” I yelled, activating the shield on my gauntlet and sliding down the hill to help protect him.

“What are you doing?” he shouted at me, “Get back up there!” He took hold of my arm and we ran up the hill of sand, “I’m trying to save you, you dumbass!”

Our conversation was cut short by another shot ricocheting off of Mando’s armor, the impact so hard that he fell forward and took me down with him. The two of us rolled down the other side of the dune, Mando wrapping both arms around me as we descended. As we came to a stop, the two of us panting against one another, I slapped my hand against his beskar clad chest. “Get off me!” I groaned, his arms dropping from my middle as I climbed off of him. “What happened?” Calican asked. “Sniper bolt,” I answered, resuming my position beside him, “If I had to take a guess.” “Only an MK-modified rifle could make that shot,” Mando added. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Mando pointed to his armor, “Hit me in the beskar and at that range, beskar held up.” In my hurry to separate form him, I hadn’t even checked to see if his injuries were serious. What was this strange combination of wanting to protect him but also wanting to get as far away from him as possible?

“Wait, I don’t wear any beskar,” Calican realized.

Mando looked over to him and tilted his head, “Nope.”

For the first time in my career as a hunter, I questioned whether or not I was truly as protected as I could be. My gauntlets, one with a shield projection and one with a concealed vibroblade, and two blasters strapped to my legs suddenly didn’t seem like enough.

“Well, so what do we do?” Calican asked, sounding more naive than ever.

I rolled my eyes and crawled up a little higher, “You saw where the shot came from, right?”

“Yeah,” he pointed ahead, “It came from that ridge.”

“It’s pointless to try and make our way over now, we’d be dead in a minute. We have to wait until dark.”

“Well, what if she escapes?” “She’s got the high ground,” Mando interjected, “She’ll wait for us to make the first move. We’re gonna rest,” he slid off the hill and to his feet, offering me a hand, “You take the first watch. Stay low!”

I looked up confusedly at Mando, he simply tilted his head towards the speeder bikes. I took his hand and allowed him to help me to my feet, protected by the dune there was no way we were in Fennec Shand’s range. Mando and I made our way to the speeder bikes and sat down, leaning up against ours. There was a strange tension filled silence that we were sitting in, things were being held back on both sides. “Why’d you do that?” he asked suddenly.

“Do what?” I asked, attempting to sound clueless.

“Don’t. We both know you’re smarter than that.” Fuck. He really is starting to know me… “Against my better judgement,” I exhaled, “I wanted to make sure you didn’t die.”

A different type of silence fell over us, the tension easing and some sort of emotion coming in like a fog. Blinding us both. “You shouldn’t have jumped out,” Mando finally said, quietly, “You’re not protected.” “Yeah,” I scoffed, “I’m well aware of that. That also might be the shittiest thank you I’ve ever heard.” “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.” I didn’t dare look over at him, my face would betray me and I’d end up looking like a dumbstruck idiot. But it was the first time that Mando and I had even gotten close to admitting that we…cared about each other? That didn’t seem right. We may have been on better terms after getting to know one another, but we were by no means friends. I still wasn’t sure what the right word for our relationship was. Yet here we were, trying to protect each other in a way that people who truly disliked each other wouldn’t. Mando was frustrating, but what was more frustrating was my feelings about him morphing from unadulterated hate to something far more complicated.

“Well, I’m fine,” I awkwardly shifted in the sand, trying to get comfortable.

A few moments passed, I was nearing that blissful state of sleep where the world begins to fade around you when I was snapped back to reality. “Thank you.” Two words, so uncharacteristic of him, uttered low through his vocoder. If my senses hadn’t been so highly tuned, I may not have heard it. I turned my head slightly to look him over, his helmet staring dead ahead of us and not daring to look my way. To say it was unsettling was an understatement.

“You’re welcome,” I replied, so quiet I wasn’t sure if the sound would pierce through the thick beskar.

Me and the Mandalorain sat there in the Tatooine sands, caught somewhere between the desire to be free from one another and the burgeoning connection that neither of us could stop from growing…

------------

A/N: I can't resist a good slow burn...Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought or if you'd like to be tagged!

Instinct taglist: @toribentleyvq @pan-ini @simp-for-corpse @thefandomzoneisdangerous @never-no-locomotive @cozyballofanxiety @miraculousreader @welcomethepedroverse @damerondala @x-judyjude-x @dindjarinsspouse @fishthemenace

Din Djarin taglist: @damerondala @x-judyjude-x @dindjarinsspouse

[yourheartonfire]

A continuation of this poor rebel x royal pair from here, though I do think this snippet stands on it's own. Thanks to @gingerly-writing for the original prompt!

After the stuff the enemy medics had forced down the protagonist's throat, there was no clear line between sleeping and waking. But eventually the ache in their muscles and bruises cut through the fog of the sleeping draught. The protagonist swam sluggishly to the awareness that they were slumped on the cold ground, feet bound together and hands tied tightly to the tent pole. No mystery whose tent it was.

"Back with us at last?" The antagonist's voice seemed to float in the heady, hazy atmosphere. "You were out a long time."

"'S'it smokey in here?" the protagonist groaned. "Or izzat the drugs and the, mm, concussion?"

There was a dry hmph. The protagonist's vision was clearing slowly, and they could just see a lean streak of black standing over them, dark against the gleaming reds and golds of the imperial tent. The antagonist. Their old childhood friend and their new crown prince - thanks to the protagonist's removal of the prior occupant from that position. And from the earth. 

The protagonist carefully rolled their neck, loosening the muscles and grounding themselves. The tent was not spinning. Their heart was not pounding. Their friend was not their friend. Not anymore. "Is the part where I'm oh-so-grateful you've placed me in your personal custody?" the protagonist drawled. "For my own protection, I'm sure - "

There was a flash of dark and the crack of a palm across the protagonist's face. Again. They swallowed and breathed through the new pain.

"You're getting good at that, your highness," they said, and spit out red flecked saliva on the��carpet. "But may I suggest, for next time, a backhand? With a couple big rings, you can really do some damage-"

The antagonist made a strangled scream. "Stop telling me what to do!" they yelled. "Gods! I used to wonder what would make you shut up. Now I know: literally nothing short of death."

They flopped into a chair, and glared at the protagonist. The protagonist could see their face more or less clearly now, making the expression they always did when they wanted to look cold and foreboding and definitely not scared shitless. Despite the wardrobe, it was a shock how little the antagonist had changed when everything was so different. 

"What am I supposed to do with you, [protagonist]?" said the spare-turned-heir miserably.

The protagonist shrugged. Their throat burned with thirst, their shoulders screamed with ache. They pushed it away. Never show weakness. The antagonist had taught them that. "Take me to your father to stand trial for treason, revolt, etcetera. How is the old man these days?"

The antagonist propped their chin on their fist, twisted their mouth. "Not great," they drawled back with vicious understatement. "Better than my lady mother, though. She hasn't left her bed since you had my brother assassinated."

The protagonist flinched. It was a bad habit, a weakness. Of course the antagonist recognized it and twisted the knife. "She took you in," they said, sliding out of their chair to loom over the protagonist. "You were starving in the gutter and she took you into our household, gave you a royal education, treated you like her own child-"

"Her child? Your mother took me in to be your pet," the protagonist spat. "Your own personal peasant for you and your brother to practice ruling on. I guess she thought you were too big for a puppy."

"I- what?!" the antagonist sputtered. For a moment they were genuinely struck dumb. "No! You say what you want about the rest of us, but my mother-"

"She saw which way the wind was blowing with your brother," the protagonist said, rolling their shoulders and subtly testing their bonds. "Maybe she thought putting a face on the faceless masses could turn him around."

"Too bad she picked you then," the antagonist snapped.

The protagonist smiled sourly and the antagonist bit their lip and flushed, realizing they'd conceded the point.

"The irony hasn't escaped me," the protagonist said, hitching themselves up a little higher. "If all of this, all the blood and death as you put, if all I accomplished was removing your brother from the line of succession, I'll have done the empire and your family a greater service than your mother ever dreamed-"

"She thinks I put you up to it," the antagonist blurted out. The protagonist's mouth opened, and then shut again. The antagonist dropped down into their camp chair, somehow making despair look regal and elegant. "The rebellion, the overthrow of the Southern lords, the disruption of the sea trade, my..." They swallowed, reached for another bottle of wine on an overladen table. "The former crown prince's death. Then you just... walk straight into an ambush a day from my camp. She hasn't said, but her letters are... She thinks I..." They made a face, yanked the cork loose. "Father thinks the same, but he actually has more respect for me now," the antagonist added bitterly. "He wasn't so blind to my brother's faults as he pretended to be."

The protagonist let out a low whistle across their split lip. "Well. Now you definitely can't give me a merciful death."

The antagonist put the bottle of wine back down with a shaking hand. "Did you?" they whispered, so quiet the protagonist had to lean forward.

"Did I what?" they asked.

The antagonist started down at their hand pressed flat on the folding table. "Did you do this for me?" they said under their breath.

The protagonist rocked back, hard enough to thunk their head against the pole. They barely felt it, overwhelmed as the antagonist handed themselves over, heart and soul. "Oh, my," the protagonist breathed out. "Oh, your highness. Is that why I'm in your tent? You want me to pat you on the head before you hand me off to be tortured to death and tell you not to worry, that you're one of the good ones?"

"Stop it. Stop talking," the antagonist hissed, face going an angry, ugly red. "I should have known you weren't capable of any loyalty at all."

"Do you remember when your brother beat that housemaid to death?" the protagonist asked, settling themselves more comfortably. 

"That was an accident," the antagonist said automatically.

The protagonist shrugged. "Fine then. You remember when your brother accidentally hit a housemaid hard enough that she smashed her skull open on the nursery fireplace? For what, for being nice to us? For slipping us sweeties after he had me whipped again?"

"Stop it, I'm sorry I asked!" the antagonist yelled.

"And I sobbed and sobbed and you comforted me, you remember what you said?"

It was the antagonist's turn to flinch. "Damn you, I was a child. I didn't know better!"

But the protagonist wasn't going to stop. They couldn't now. "You held me in your arms and you said, 'Don't cry. She was only a housemaid. We have more.' Over and over. I still hear that in my sleep."

"So that's it?" The antagonist wrapped their arms around themselves, turned away. "I was a scared, fucked-up nine-year-old who said a bad thing so now none of the rest of it matters? I'm going to die with everyone else?"

"Die?" The protagonist cocked their head and sneered. Their heart was not pounding in their chest, the room was not spinning, their friend was not their friend. "I'm your prisoner. You're taking me to the capitol, to your father for trial."

"Bullshit." The antagonist turned pleading eyes down on the protagonist, bound and bloody. "What are you planning? Why do you want me to bring you to my father? What are you going to do to us?"

The protagonist breathed in and out, reached within themselves for the stone walls the antagonist had taught them to build, oh so many years ago. 

"I'm doing what I was taught," they said evenly. "By your mother, your brother, by your father, by you. To serve my empire, even unto death. Difference is, I draw a distinction between the empire and the fucked-up, inbred family that for some reason thinks they were sent by the gods to rule everyone else."

In the silence that followed, the protagonist could hear the distant shouts of the commanders, the jingle of horse bridles and the sounds of hammers and waxed linens flapping to the ground. They were breaking camp. Thirteen days to the capitol. 

"All right then," the antagonist said softly, face bloodless against the stark black of their jacket. They put down their untouched wine cup and turned away, never meeting the protagonist's eyes. "Let's play this out. Can't wait to see your endgame."

They walked out and the protagonist sagged limp against the tentpole. Thirteen days. They could stay alive that long. They just weren't sure they could stay unbreakable when they felt so very, very close to breaking.

[gaiuswrites]

King of Cups || Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Fool

Archive: ao3 | masterlist | six

Pairing: Din Djarin x fem!Reader

Summary: It all spills over.

Word count: 8.8k~

Rating: Explicit

Warnings/tags: SMUT (WE MADE IT FOLKS), thigh riding, fingering/hand job, very brief breathplay/choking, cum eating¿? Angst/emo shit (I'm so sorry i have no self control)

Notes: HI FRIENDS, wow it's been a minute. Sorry for the massive delay. For anyone wishing to start KOC, now would be the perfectly spicy chapter to do so! This chapter was Herculean. idk why. Love you guys, enjoy! x (gif credit : @djarinsgf)

“Maker,” you bemoan, shielding your face from the heavy beat of the suns.

You’ve known warmth—you were raised in warmth. This is beyond it.

It’s not just warm, it’s sweltering. The heat is oppressive, congealing the air to mist; you can barely see through it what with the sweat running into your eyes. Tall, craggy dunes line the valley of desert, trapping the planet’s hot pulse within their walls. Your steps crunch along the dry, pebbled earth as you swat at the gnats buzzing in ribbons around your head.

A muffled gurgle sounds from behind you and you slow to a halt, boots gritting into the cracked top soil.

“You doing alright back there, Munch?” you ask, craning your head to the child nestled into the carrier fashioned onto your back. A green ear pokes free from the top, and you can see the jewel of his black eyes peering at you through the gauzy cloth you draped over it. He grunts, and you give a small shrug—shifting the pack by the straps, eliciting a giggle out of him. “We can always turn back, okay? I’m not going to be mad.” Another noise, a happy coo this time, and you shimmy your shoulders again, jostling the bag playfully.

“Well, you just let me know.”

Your conversations usually unfold this way. They leave much to be desired, but you’d like to think you understand one another—in fact, you probably understand the kid more than you understand his dad.

You’ve grown close with him, you’ll be the first to admit it. You’re attached to each other. The little one has been your constant companion for these months and in some ways, you suppose he takes care of you just the same as you take care of him. The chamber of space can be lonely; it’s cold and unkindly reflective, stranding you to the echoed chain of your thoughts—but when he tugs at your hair or slobbers spittle down the front of him or crawls up into your lap to nestle into your tunic, it feels like you belong there—there on the Crest, streaming through the galaxy.

And maybe, simply, it feels good to do right by a child—as if you could make up for it somehow, within yourself. To do better than you were given.

Squinting, you raise your wrist to check the coordinates on your comm and shade a hand over the screen, blocking the glare cast onto the display. “Almost there,” you mumble, resuming your stride as you begin the last leg of the trek to the settlement you and Mando discussed that morning.

“What?” he asked, planted some paces away from you.

You hummed a curious note, glancing to him.

“What is it?”

You were trying to be small all morning—shrunken and shy, avoiding the thought and avoiding him all together. You quieted yourself, as if to not take up space, but the attempt was fruitless; of course he picked up on it – you get good at reading people on the job, he’d said – and of course he called you out on your behavior. You took a big gulp of your caf, gaze flickering down—increasingly more and more invested in the scuffs marked into the table you sat at.

“Dala,” he said pointedly, arms folding over the breadth of his chest.

Shit. Who did you think you were fooling? Playing possum with a Mandalorian?

Worrying your lip, you stood. You couldn’t bear to look up at him, just looming there across the table from you, so you paced around the deck as you rambled. “Okay, so you know how I’m still connected to the RRM channels? Well, I’ve been checking the message boards and I—there’s a settlement here out in the Wastes. It’s small and new and they’re looking for volunteers and—”

You whistled in a breath. Fuck it.

“And I want to help.”

Like the toggle of a switch, you went from having a career—having a purpose—to having nothing. And all your gratitude for the transport he’s offering couldn’t fill that empty lull that’s settled inside you.

“Would you be comfortable with letting me take the kid? I know I’m probably asking a lot—and I will fully respect whatever you decide—but I can keep him by me the whole time, I swear, I just—” You shook your head, pinching your eyes shut before sighing, “I need to be doing something. Anything.”

There was a long pause. You scratched at the torn skin around your cuticle, nervously searching the pitch of his wordless visor. He didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t even twitch.

“That’s fine,” he finally remarked, graveled.

You blinked, taken aback at his agreement, and all at once your fidgeting ceased and a bright grin broke out over your features in its place.

It nearly brought him to his knees.

“Wait, seriously?” you asked, bouncing on the balls of your feet and he nodded, a subtle tilt to his helm. “Maker, thank you,” you exclaimed, and without thinking you flew towards him, flinging your arms around his neck and sealing yourself to his armored frame. His arms escaped out from his chest in surprise, suspended and stiff, before falling measuredly to his sides. You could’ve been imagining it, but you swore you heard the distinct grit of his teeth grinding together under his helmet.

“Really Mando,” you beamed, pulling back to lay your eyes on him, to let him see the earnest there: you have no idea how much this means to me. “Thank you.”

You gave his shoulders a squeeze, thumbs brushing along the scratchy fabric of his cape before tearing yourself away. Swiping up your mug of caf, you wound down the corridor - airy, buoyant - back to your makeshift quarters to prepare for your outing. It took him another minute just to get his damn feet to move from the spot on the durasteel you welded him to.

Din told you to be safe.

You smiled, and promised you would.

You left the Crest before him and it was strange, surreal. For the first time, you stood in each other’s shoes, leaving Din there on his own while you set off into the world. He watched you go—you and his boy—watched you walk away into some great unknown without him.

And he didn’t like it.

He soured, somewhere in the deep of him—within that pit he called a gut, he twisted sick.

Your feet hit the ramp, dull and tinny, and it sounded like goodbye—it sounded like you leaving. It’s what it will look like when time and fate touch, and inevitability catches up with him. It’s what it will look like when he takes you home. You’ll walk out of his life, down that same ramp, and your steps will echo those same beats. You won’t look back.

And Din, with all his strength, all his unshakeable resolve—Din will let you go.

///

The encampment is settled into the shadow of a cliffside, seeking respite there from the blazing suns, the taupe of the canvas shanties camouflaging into the arid landscape. Some crawl their gaze up as you enter the village, and you offer them smiles they do not return. Others do not acknowledge your presence at all— unstirred as your footsteps sound past, their heads bound heavy towards the earth. It’s not long before a decisive voice cuts through the hush that’s claimed the settlement.

“Are you with the RRM?”

You turn and are greeted by a woman ducking out of a tent—the grey of her woven tunic browned with sand, heat collecting in her black, coiled hair.

“Yes, I’m with the Movement.” It’s not a total lie. Sure, you’re on leave, but that doesn’t discount you completely. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

With a sharp exhale like a prayer of relief, she makes her way towards you. “Where’s the rest of your division?” Her eyes narrow discerningly, flitting behind you as if expecting to spot the rear of your party trickling in.

“It’s, uh—it’s just me,” you confess, pressing your lips together in a thin smile.

She rakes a hand over her hair, over her face. The skin around her knuckles is split, the beds of her nails chalked with days of unwashed grime. “Alright,” she concedes begrudgingly, without any better option presented. “And who is this?” She nods to the child, emerging from the pack and staring curiously at her.

“This is—” You take a moment to consider it—consider the secrecy around the child, the bounties, the life on the lam. Less is more, you decide. Again, it’s not a total lie. “I’m babysitting.”

The kid grunts an emphatic patu.

You both share a look—a quirk of her dark brow, an apologetic heft of your shoulder—and she sighs. “Well, I’ll take all the help I can get,” she quips dryly with a wave of her hand, leading you into the settlement.

///

She’s coarse, this woman—Arlaani, she told you—matronly and effective. She has a calculating gaze and powerful shoulders that she holds steady as she shows you through the camp. There are lines around her eyes, carved into the curves of her mouth. She knows what you know—what all women learn: sometimes you must be hard in order to keep others soft.

You walk shoulder to shoulder, matching her long strides with your own.

“The Black Sun has taken the southern hemisphere; their numbers have only grown since the Battle of Yavin. Pirates, mercenaries, spice runners—they’ve ransacked one half of the planet and have the officials of the other half in their pocket,” she scowls. “They have stolen our land, our homes—we’re moisture farmers, mechanics, mothers and fathers. We are simple people and we have been forgotten by our government—by those who vowed to represent us, protect us.” Arlaani draws in a long breath. “We’re on our own out here in the Wastes.”

You survey the area; the lifeless ocean of rock and sand, the few scattered trees that have died on their feet—roots withering bone dry in the suns. “Why settle here if it’s so uninhabitable?”

She huffs a humorless laugh. “Because, it’s uninhabitable,” Arlaani explains. “No one robs a beggar. There is nothing in the Wastes the Black Sun wants.”

There are no buildings, no structures; the whole area is undeveloped and raw. Tents are dotted sporadically in clusters, crates of supplies and water canteens stationed every other one. Children dawdle idly, tired and overheated, leaning against boxes and posts—their bellies distended and skin parched taut. Flies land on their shins, on their cheeks. They do not go to shoo them away.

“The Movement supplied those for us when we landed,” she comments, nodding to the crates. “That was two months ago.”

“No one has come back to check on you since?” you ask, brows notching together.

She shakes her head solemnly, jaw set rigid. “Our little ones go hungry, our elders are sick with red fever. We will run out of water before the week is through,” Arlaani says before she turns to you, holding your gaze—the seriousness evident in the stone of her eyes. “I thank the gods you are here.” She presses a palm to your shoulder. You feel the weight of it, the weight of her—of the lives she carries on her back.

“I thank the gods.”

///

You stop by each tent delivering what little food and medicine you brought with you from the Crest, and after each encounter—the people so grateful, so weary—your mind strays further and further to Mando.

Din, you scold yourself. Not Mando, Din. Din Djarin.

You still can’t bring yourself to say it.

He spent that whole fateful day nearly two weeks ago bristling at the very sight of you, going out of his way to limp to the other side of the ship just to ignore you better, only to do you in for one final head spin and give you his name.

Two weeks, and you still haven’t said it. There’s no other excuse: plainly - pitifully - you’re scared. You’re scared he regrets it.

Because how horrible of a truth would it be? To be offered something out of carelessness or guilt; to be the product of pity, or even worse, a mistake that cannot be unmade, cannot be rectified. He can’t take his name back, can’t unspeak it any more than you can unhear it, and this fear, picking at you like an old scab—it’s so painfully human, so terribly universal:

what if I’m not worth it?

And isn’t it easier to neglect the answer, then it is to ask the question.

So you’ve buried his name for both of your sakes, keeping it somewhere secret and private, there to garner dust in the quiet of your mind.

You’re brushing through the draped entrance of a tent when you spot him: a small boy hiding behind a supply crate, the top of his dusted head poking out over the ledge. You catch him peering at you, and he ducks down shyly. A honeyed grin blooms across your face.

“I think we’re being watched Munch,” you coo. The little ball of robes blinks up at you from your arms, earning his nickname tenfold as he crams his mouth with a flakey cracker. “You want to say hi?” He hums in response and you crouch, letting him wiggle free from you to toddle over to the other child. With small steps, he eventually makes it over to the other and immediately, without hesitation or provocation, extends one of his crackers to him.

Your heart swells until it bursts, proud and beautiful in your chest.

Munch leads him out from behind the box, the two boys shuffling slowly through the dirt back to you. He can’t quite meet your eyes—his gaze lands somewhere around your chin, your collarbone, and you fold forward, bent at the knees to meet his height.

“Do you have a name, sweetheart?” you ask kindly.

He nods, nibbling quietly on the cracker, and you breathe out a chuckle. “Not much of a talker, huh? I can respect that,” you say, eyes crinkling fondly with a smile. “Well if you want to tell me, you can—or not. That’s okay, too.”

He nods again, and you fish out more salty treats from the sleeve in your pack, gently handing them to the other—a gesture he nervously accepts, dirty fingers trembling as he plucks them from your open palm. This boy is precious—sweet faced and cherubic, he must not be a cycle over the age of seven.

And the realization comes so suddenly that it blindsides you—struck by it, there between your lungs: Din was his age when it happened—when life happened to him. When this could have happened to him.

You can’t help but think of it—think of him and everything he told you that night he came bleeding through the Razor Crest. You can’t stop imagining him; Din as a little boy tucked away, his people—his parents—decimated overhead. He is a Mandalorian by proxy. Displaced from his home, from his past, saved by a sect with an affinity for orphans—to protect those who cannot protect themselves. The irony of it all is not lost on you:

Din is a refugee too.

You see him in this boy, and in all the faces here—in every set of eyes, young and old alike. Each are individual - idiosyncratic - but they each wear the same qualifiers. The same exhaustion. They each fight the same tired battle, leaving them with identical sets of marks.

Does Din? If you were to see him, truly see him, would you find them there? You’ve seen the scars he’s earned from being a Mandalorian.

You wonder if he has any from simply being a man.

Pushing yourself to stand upright, you cradle Munch back into your chest, his teensy claws riddling your shirt, and offer the boy your hand—outstretched in front of you.

He’s cautious. Too cautious for a boy so young, for a child who should know nothing but abundant love and fearless imagination. He shouldn’t have had to learn this lesson: that some hands should not be taken, that some people should not be trusted. He studies you, hesitant but hopeful, and you smile softly—cycles of hard-won patience and empathy curving the corners of your lips.

He lays his small hand in your own. You walk on together.

///

The day blows by like hot desert wind, chafing at your skin. Minutes have ripened to hours—morning has crawled to midday.

The three of you finish your rounds— distributing rations throughout the camp, pitching tents, taking stock of the dwindling supplies for you to relay to the Movement once you return to the Crest and have access to your holopad.

It’s then that you notice Arlaani again. She’s speaking in hushed tones with another man, the both of them hunched over a large carton. You see the concern ticked clearly along the man’s jaw, the dread grooved into her brow, her crossed arms. With a frown, you plop the child down onto a nearby petrified log and the other boy joins, hopping up next to him, all too happy to get off his feet. You tell them not to wander off— a kiss to Munch’s forehead, a ruffle of the boy’s hair— before making your way to the couple.

“Hey,” you call, jogging over. “Is everything alright?”

Arlaani wheels around as you approach. It hasn’t been long since you’ve seen her, but somehow she looks older. Hollowed, drained— like there’s less and less in her. “It’s the water,” she grits out, “sand mites have gotten to the crates, to the canteens.” She tosses you one of the flasks. It’s littered with holes, porous and leaking— the remnants of water splashing out of the orifices bitten into the sides.

Arlaani dives through the crate, rifling through the supplies. She’s tense, upset, her voice is rife with it. “They’re all like this. Ruined, fucking—” She heaves out a hissed exhale and props herself up on the edge of the box, neck bowed between her shoulder blades. “This was the last of it, and now—now…”

The man tries his best - how do you comfort marble? - as he places an arm around her, his thumb drawing patterns there, reassuring and calm but she wants nothing of it; she gruffly shrugs it off as if stung, weaseling out of his hold. “I can’t— I need to think,” Arlaani bristles, as she paces away from the settlement, receding deeper into the Wastes.

“I’m sorry,” he stutters, “I have- I have to—” His eyes follow her shrinking form, worry apparent in the shape of them. It’s so obvious. He’s terrified of that woman—probably loves her, too.

“Go,” you say, and with a knowing expression, he turns and trots after her.

Heavy footed, heavy hearted, you trudge back to find the children exactly where you left them. Once there, you collapse to the hard ground, dust and dirt puffing up as you recline onto the log. Your palms run over the earth—scooping up sand and rock and letting it slip through the cracks of your fingers, gaze trained out onto the encampment—the people milling about, the miasma of helplessness stifling the air.

This isn’t enough. You’re not doing enough— these impermanent little nothings, your measly good deeds. It’s not going to matter. They’ll be bones by the time the next wave of volunteers rolls through. They’ll be grain.

You need to do something that lasts, that outlives you when you leave.

You glance over to the kid and his new friend, their little legs swinging off the edge of the trunk, heels thumping against the old wood. They look to you, two pairs of big eyes—crackers in their tiny fists.

“You boys ever dig a well?”

///|||///

The suns roast into his beskar, blistering him from the inside out.

The day has been long and it’s only half over. It took him longer than it should have to gather himself— his fob, his rifle, his fucking head—and depart the Crest. Longer than it should have to hunt the bounty here—some marauder scum who’s number is up and luck has run out. Longer than it should have to set up his sniper’s nest, sculpted into the mountainside.

Din is distracted, has been all day— has been since you left.

He can’t stop feeling you. Your warmth pushing against his chest, your arms looping around his neck, the heat of your palms searing through his flight suit. Din can smell you on him still— like citrus and moss, you cling to his cowl from where you buried your head.

It’s intolerable. It feels like an infection with how it’s been building, how this has spread— slowly but surely rearing to an unignorable head. Serpentine and insidious as it crept through him, this growing affliction— this morbid curiosity that spoiled like rotting stonefruit into infatuation— slipping along his bones and organs, blemishing Din in faint little licks— imperceptible to the naked eye but there all the same.

How did this happen? How did he become this?

You’ve been more relaxed now, bolder in some ways. Transparent. Sometimes, you’ll touch his arm as you walk by him or sweep your hair from your neck when you sit by his side in the cockpit, star shine on your jaw. You’re quick with a laugh, lips pulling back into a pretty grin. He’s even caught you staring at him, there out of the corner of his eye—from where he steals those same glances under the safety of his helm.

He spied you once, just a glimpse of your backside, padding quietly away from the shower with only your underwear on, drops of water tracking down your spine. It was brief, you were fast—you must have forgotten your shirt in your bunk—but he had to lock himself in his quarters and fuck his hand before he could even think about piloting the Crest into the stratosphere.

Din is a lot of things, but he isn’t daft. A part of him knows. A part of him is aware that you are two very human people with very human needs—and that you’ve been ignoring these primal aches with premeditated dereliction for months now.

And you can only dance around each other so long before one of you snaps.

And Maker, he’s so desperate to be rid of you—to get you out of his fucking system; to let him sleep without dreaming of you, to let him wake without plunging into his briefs and jerking himself off. You are everywhere. In his ship, in his galley, in his thoughts. He has no privacy, he has no sanctity— he has no idea how you have managed to worm yourself so deep into every living part of him. Others have tried and they have failed, and you— you did it in your sleep. From that very first fucking night, curled up in his chair, gore and ash stained tunic rising with your slumbered breathing. You snored.

You fucking snored.

And now you’re killing him— just as the suns above, you are blistering him from the inside out.

His level-headedness has all but evaporated. He’s peeved. Not only is Din distracted, but he's angry— has been since he plodded up this damn hill, waiting for his quarry to pass through the ravine between the valley of mountains—because instead of performing his job, he’s consumed with you. All of you.

He kneels, flattening himself against the rocky sand— your hands, so small and soft against him— and unclips the rifle from the strap on his back—how good you’d feel on his skin—he aligns his sights— the weight of your breasts in his palms—

His helmeted head clunks to the ground and he loses his aim, a frustrated growl emanating out from him. Focus, Mando. Fucking focus.

Din reorients his crosshair, training it on the gang of pirates in the gorge below. They lean haphazardly over their speeders, their cargo nets packed full with different wares and spices, jeering loudly and chugging from the jugs of spotchka they undoubtedly looted earlier that afternoon. He inspects the rabble, searching for his target and—those pretty lips that smile so easy for him, stretched around his length.

Fuck. He pinches his eyes shut.

You whispering husky into his ear as you ride him, you bent over the pilot’s chair begging for his cock, you sprawled out over the deck while he laps at your sweet cunt.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck— he can’t do this. He can’t fucking do this. You’re everywhere everywhere everywhere— you buffer his vision, his senses, his sight. He’s blinded with you. You’re blinding him.

With an infuriated heave he shoves himself off the ridge of the dune, bounty-less, and reverses his course back to the Crest—heart beating furious and bloody against his ribs.

///

The settlers surround the trench, peering down at you as you work. Hours ago, when you originally proposed this idea to Arlaani, they insisted on helping— to which of course, you insisted they didn’t. And so they watch— the refugees, Din’s foundling, the nameless boy— mangling their hands restlessly, animated with an inkling of that all too lethal substance long sought after by those of all species and creeds: hope.

You sink the shovel into the dry earth and your muscles burn with the effort—the skin on your palms stings from the rough grate of the wooden dowel and the yawn of your back strains as you pitch forward.

You’ve missed this.

You’ve been so distracted. You’ve grown comfortable in your routines, you’ve let yourself go listless—living in blissful ignorance—all because of a metal man in his metal ship with the most impossible and darling child you’ve ever known. All because your body reacts at the very sight of him, all because your belly flips when he speaks, that modulated purr rumbling loose from his beskar, all because, because—

You like him.

You wish you didn’t—you hardly know why you do—but you’ve soaked your fingers enough times in your rack to realize that this thing residing within you burns.

You can’t even see his face, and you don’t have to. His presence alone— that raw, vacuous energy that surges from him—it’s addicting. It's engulfing. It makes you whimper into the night, massaging your pearled clit as your other hand muffles your moans and you come over and over and over again, chasing after the fantasy you so dangerously harbor for this man. The man who’s piloting you back to Coruscant—the man who sleeps just down the hall.

But that isn’t real. That’s not real life— that’s not your life. This is real—the fuchsia of the setting suns blazing through the horizon, the sweat on your brow. You’ve missed this— Maker, you need this. Working with your hands, making an impact. You’re wanted here and kriff, does that not feel so unabashedly right. To be wanted. To be important.

Your back groans, the sinew woven over your spine aching in protest and you know, without a doubt, you’ll feel this for the next week. Half of you dreads it—being cooped up and sore, lactic acid compacting your joints— while the other excites at the prospect; the memory of a good deed lasting long after it’s finished. That reminder always there, always present: see, there’s still hope in the galaxy. We can still do good. There’s goodness where you look for it.

You fling dirt over your shoulder as you burrow lower and lower. With each shove, the soil changes hue, changes density—the striations darker, more definitive. It’s less dry now, thicker too—turning from sand to clay the deeper you dig. Again, you drive the spade into the sod with a taxed grunt, when you hear a distinct, wet squish.

You pause, stilling your shovel in the dirt. Everything - everyone - freezes.

Adrenaline thrums through you as you drop to your knees, using your hands to brush away loose silt piled atop the loamy floor, excavating what lies beneath.

Prayers and hollers erupt above you and you lurch your focus up to the sound, a feverish grin plastered to your face. The little boy jostles the child excitedly, and his green talons rumple the other’s tattered tunic. Your head falls back, cushioned by the dirt wall and you laugh - gargled, relieved - as water begins to seep through the tired ground.

Bubbling up, bubbling up—unearthing.

///

The promise of ridding yourself of your soiled clothes was the singular thought that fueled your trek back to the Crest. Every inch of you was filthy, caked in dried mud and gritty sand and you wanted nothing more than to strip from those dirty layers and melt into your bedroll. The kid, that lucky little bugger, had passed right out; sun drunk from his long day, he’d slept the entirety of the return trip—stirring only once when you placed him in the hover pram and sealed it shut.

Your bones are worn. Your tissue, your tendons— every little scrap that keeps you stitched together craves sleep. You reckon you should feel miserable, what with the tell-tale stiffness already burdening your spine and the fresh callus from the shovel’s handle reddening your palm.

But you’re not miserable, not even close. No, you’re happy—you’re glowing; fulfilled and serene, humming as you wash your pants in the basin, kneading at the sopping fabric. You wring out the article, shaking free the excess droplets before draping it on a metal rung overhead. You peel off your shirt and bra band next, leaving you only in your underwear as you plop them into the bowl and begin to scrub at the stains, concentrating on a particularly dirty patch at the sleeve.

The grating mechanics of the Crest’s great jaw unhinging sends your stomach bounding frantic to your lungs.

Kriff—shit shit shit, he’s back early.

Clutching onto your modesty, you cover your breasts and scramble to your quarters, quickly shimming a loose tunic over your head. Its hem barely covers the curve of your ass and you tug long at the cloth before peeking cautiously from the doorway and tiptoeing out of your room.

“Hey,” you warble, rounding a corner as solid feet pound up the ramp—you can feel their reverberations in the floor under your own. You pad into the galley, pulling at your shirt as you go, to tidy up the washing you left unattended. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you so—”

You falter.

He’s there at the mouth of the ship, the ramp drawing slowly up behind him and he’s fuming; you can practically see the steam lifting from his armor and his breathing is labored—chest rising, plummeting violently. You both stand immobilized on opposite sides of the hull—you, bare-legged and exposed and Din, all but anonymous under the steeled fury of his armor. Finally, the sound dampens, ship shuddering as she seals shut—sealing you in—and the leather of his fist creaks in the silence hanging dense like smoke around you.

“Mando...?”

He doesn’t grace you with a response. Instead he begins to stalk forward, stripping weapon after weapon from himself with every thundering step—rifle, blaster, vibroblade—he sloughs it all, metal clanging against metal as they clatter to the deck.

“Hey, what’s wrong-”

He’s not stopping. Fuck, he’s getting closer and closer and instinctually you back up—staggering until you’re pressed against the bulkhead—his broad frame crowding you until all you see is the silver polish of his beskar. You jolt when his hands fly up and slam into the wall behind you, framing either side of your head, fencing you between his forearms. Your lips part, wide-eyed and confused, and you gulp around the nervous lump threatening your voice.

“Do you have any idea,” he seethes, “what you do to me?”

“W-What-” Your stammering is cut short as he slots his thigh between your legs and you have to tilt your chin to meet his visor, a gasp finding itself on your tongue.

“Strutting around my ship, putting your hands on me, that kriffing smile…” Din ruts his knee into your heat, and you’re practically hoisted onto your toes. Your core pulses against the blunt pressure, blood racing to the throb at your center.

Maker, you could fucking faint.

“Do you know how long I’ve thought about this—about you?” His voice is tar black—smooth like obsidian—and you succumb to it. You can’t speak; any and all language evaporating from the forefront of your mind, because he’s everywhere. He’s inescapable and smothering and his scent floods over you, intoxicatingly wild—like iron and sand and something dangerous. Something heady, carnal.

“Is this what you want?” he hisses.

You’ve gone dumb. You’ve imagined this, you’ve dreamt of this, but now it’s actually happening—here, in the flesh, it’s finally happening and you’re trembling with the reality of it. All you can muster is a shaky nod, tongue darting out over your lip.

“Tell me,” he orders, scanning your face behind the guise of his helm. You feel his gaze rove over your eyes, your cheek—fanning across your lips.

Your breath hitches.

“Yes,” you whisper, “yes I want this.“

It’s all it takes.

Din is rougher than he means to be. He wears this as he wears his armor, plating the soft parts of himself he doesn’t want anyone touching. He doesn’t know anything else. He doesn’t know how to be anyone else but this.

He grabs a handful of your waist, rooting you still as he rolls his thigh against you. You inhale an airy noise, grappling onto his other arm stationed by your head and you bite your lip, sucking it into your mouth. Your cunt spasms for him as he presses up into your mound, fightless against the groan that seeps through you.

“You like that?” he pants. ”You like fucking my thigh?”

Din manhandles your hips, his hold on you vicious as he rocks you back and forth on his plated leg, your clit catching on the cold edge of his thigh guard with each motion. It sends hot sparks down your spine and you trap a moan behind your teeth, letting the sound rumble there before you swallow it. His hand weaves up from your waist, the drag of his glove setting fire to your skin as he passes over the swell of your clothed breast, and you arch into his palm as he swipes a thumb over a nipple. “You want more?”

He splays his large hand, groping at your plump flesh, and pinches your nipple hard until it pebbles through your shirt. With each sharp twist, his intention becomes clearer: it won’t be enough to skate by on moans alone.

“I asked you a question.”

Din slides his other hand to the small of your back, drawing you flush to his front, and you can feel him— the outline of his firm length twitching under his flight suit against your hip. He cranes over you, intimidating and menacing and achingly devious. The panel of his visor has never looked darker.

“Use your words, dala,” he husks.

You should be embarrassed by this—by your need made evident through the soaked lining of your underwear—but you aren’t. The heat that stipples your cheeks isn’t born from shame, it’s sprung from lust—pure and primal—and you can’t afford to give it any further consideration because all there is is this man wrenching sounds from you like an animal— and he’s scarcely even touched you yet.

“Your fingers,” you whimper, “I want your hands."

He learned this lesson within those first weeks—relearns it every fucking day. You could ask him for anything - everything - and he would oblige.

He can’t say no to you.

He shifts out from between you, hooking into the elastic of your panties and tears them down your thighs to rest just above your knees, the spread of your legs keeping them from dropping to your ankles.

Patiently - tortuously - he scrapes up your legs, leaving embers in his wake as he trails higher  higher  higher to where you need him most. You’re shivering—nerve endings fried and frayed—and every atom inside you hums with anticipation, with unbridled impulse.

The orange tips of his gloves dimple your inner thighs - squeezing, massaging - before he tilts his helmet, angling himself to see you better, and paws your swollen lips apart.

Your pussy is drooling for him.

He moans something indecipherable— a curse in Mando’a—at the sight of you glistening for him under the dimmed lights like this, and immediately you buck your pelvis to him, hungry for his touch—and the pathetic noises babbling out of you prove too much for him to bear.

“Fuck this,” he snarls, ripping a glove off and tossing it aside, “I need to feel you.”

Your eyes have dilated with want, blackened as you watch Din retrace his bare hand—that gorgeous thing you’ve never seen, only ever fantasized about—back to your heat and slowly - so fucking slowly - pass a finger through your slit.

You throw your head back, knocking against the durasteel. The mewl that escapes you is inhuman.

He’s so warm. His tan skin is molten—it’s like he brought the sun in with him, as if he’s burning that star straight into your sex. You’re slippery with arousal; you can feel how glossed you are, you don’t have to look. You can hear it—hear the obscene squelches he’s stroking from your seam.

“Maker, you’re - shit - you’re wet,” he groans loudly, reveling in the way you pitch your hips—seeking his warmth, his friction. He’s been toying with you, drawing patterns along your pussy and playing with your puffy folds, but he hasn’t even come close to your clit. You know it’s no accident. Din is methodical in all things, he doesn’t make mistakes. This is a decision—it’s intentional. You think, perhaps, he’s looking to break you—some sort of retribution for these months you’ve spent swimming in circles around each other—and you think, perhaps, you’d let him.

That you’d like it.

When Din grants you mercy, finally gliding his index along your neglected bundle of nerves, reflexively you fist into his cowl, knuckles going pale.

“Stars-” you exclaim—just like that.

He handles your body like he does one of his pistols - practiced, unparalleled - encircling your clit with precision, his finger on your trigger—blinding, perfect agony swiveled into your sweet cleft.

When he pushes himself inside you, all the oxygen gets punched out of your lungs.

“Fuck, and so tight,” Din growls, bending at the knuckle to curl over that spongy spot of your walls that makes you gape, makes your brain go slack. Your arms scamper around his pauldrons, nails scraping sharp over beskar. The heel of his hand presses into your clit and you grind against him, each roll of your hips pleading a filthy please please please as you chase after the orgasm he’s baiting you with.

He responds to that, bourboned praise dripping smug from his smirk. “Fuck, look at you, so desperate—gonna cum for me already?”

You don’t have the wherewithal to formulate a response. He’s fit another finger into you, fucking up into you hard—fucking you exactly how you need him to. It feels like you are about to shatter right there on your feet. It’s almost unbearable, this mounting tension that’s climbing within you. You’ve been so starved for this, so deprived of a kind touch and a good fuck, and within no time at all he’s coaxing you to the ledge of your release.

“Mando,” you sob, entwining your fingers into his cape, grinding grinding grinding into his palm when suddenly, without warning, his ministrations cease—that burning coil abating to a simmer. You let out a rasped pant, collapsing forward onto his shoulder— your climax ripped away from you at the last, pivotal second.

Your eyes are screwed shut, you don’t see the movement—you can only feel it once it’s already there: the bounty hunter’s glove grating over your neck. You sputter out a gasp as he forces your jaw up to align with the chill of his visor, trapped in the unrelenting strength of his grasp. Your eyes clamber around the chrome boxing you in, gulping back the fear coalescing in your mouth.

“You say my name,” he gravels. “You say my name when I’m inside you.”

Your cunt spasms around the fingers still seated within you—aching for movement, aching to cum—and your lower lip quivers as he leers. “I gave it to you—say it,” he commands.

For a fleeting moment, in the remaining rational corner of your brain, it occurs to you that you’re terrified—that there may be no going back once you speak it. There’s no unmaking this choice. Like a door—a door that swings both ways—once it is cracked ajar, it cannot be closed again. Because you know yourself, you loathe to admit it, but you know his name will crumble you; that you will bend—that you will want to give and give and give to him— and still, despite, you lay onto the handle and fling that door wide open.

“Din.”

“Fuck,” he seethes. His reaction is visceral—the whole of him stiffens, leathered pads of his fingertips searing into your throat. “Again.”

“Din,” you whine as he rocks his fingers into your walls.

He moans, wanton and guttural, at the way his name tumbles from you like velvet. “Good girl—fuck, that’s good.”

He vanishes from your neck, bringing his hand down to cup his cock bulging painfully against the fabric there and your gaze snaps to it, saliva pooling in the well of your mouth. You slither your hand down his breast plate, over the paneling of his flight suit, trailing south until it lands on the hide of his glove. You stop, waiting there - breathless - until he nods curtly.

His hand falls away. You mold your palm to his length.

“Din,” you give freely, high-pitched and girly, and his cock brays under your hand. Fuck, he’s big—you can feel his mass through his pants and your pussy flutters around his fingers moving deliciously lazy inside you. Your eyes latch onto his, the brown of them hidden somewhere under the helm, and you can feel his own bore into you, weighing leaden there—

before you both simultaneously rupture.

Din’s fingers slip out of you to fiddle with the hem of his pants, unbuttoning in a clumsy flourish until he springs free with a groan of relief.

Maker.

He’s fucking divine—long and veined, with a patch of dark curls padding around the base of him. Din weeps for you already, frustrated and pent up from the confines of his restraints, beads of arousal dappling his head. He hisses as you swipe a digit over his cock, smearing his precum down the silken slope of him. You’re transfixed—the both of you staring as you wrap your hand around his shaft and he shudders, keening in to your touch.

“Mm, fuck you’re soft- kriff-”

Din dwarfs you—you barely fit around his girth—and he can’t help but buck into your palm as you begin to move in tandem. Din flicks at your clit, mirroring your pace as you get each other off. It’s awkward and lewd and perfect—both of you, a tapestry of woven limbs and sweat and you pump him harder and harder, choking his cock with your fist. You fuck him raw, the dry drag of your satin hand ripping curses from his mouth.

“Fuck, dala,” he pants, “I-I’m not—” I’m not gonna last. His words are snuffed out as you circle your wrist and brush a thumb over his leaking tip, forcing him to shiver. He doesn’t have to finish his thought, you understand plenty well. You’re dancing along that same precipice, flirting with the fall.

“Stars, yes,” you plead. Fuck, you want him to cum— you need him to. You need to make him feel good, to let him know that you’re here - you’re right here - and that he means more to you than you care to admit; that you want him—have since you first laid eyes on him, since he rescued you, since he took you back to the Crest and gave you the last of his bacta to heal all your splintered bits. That he deserves this—with all that he’s done for you, all that he’s doing for you—

with all that he his.

“Din—please.” Fuck, you don’t even know what you’re asking for—more of him, all of him—and a groan tears through his modulator at the sound of you begging his name—like he’s wounded, like it pains him to hear you say it.

It’s a race now—the two of you hurdling headlong towards this terrible, messy collision. You’re both sloppy—wet sounds and slaps of skin—as you stumble closer to the brink of release. He’s been rendered incoherent, chiseled down to the basest of grunts and broken words you don’t recognize. His thumb finds a devastating pressure on your swollen nub and your legs begin to vibrate, nearly unable to stand on your own two feet with how fucking perfectly he’s working your pussy.

This thing inside you feels giant - monstrous - and that slow wave that’s been building and building and cresting is here, upon you. You’re trapped in the barrel of it, and it’s going to crash at any moment and sweep you out to sea. Drown you—happily, gladly. “I’m - oh fuck—"

“That’s it, good girl,” he praises, tightening his circles on your clit. “Cum for me, cum on my hand-”

A crack of lightening streaks up your middle, the whole of you shaking as your orgasm rushes through, a sputtering cry let loose into the ship. You feel yourself gush, dripping past his thickness stuffing you full, dripping down your inner thighs. Din pulls out from you and you whimper at the loss—his absence leaving you gaping, leaving you bereft. You’re siphoning down air, dizzy from your release, when he raises his hand, glistening with your fluids, and traces your bottom lip—asking for entrance.

Fuck.

You part for him, eager and pliant, and he snakes two fingers inside—tasting your own tang and the leather residue left there, stamped into the whirls of his fingerprints. Your tongue swirls around them, laving him clean, and you drag over the ridges of his shaft— still hard and throbbing and waiting in your grasp. He bobs his fingers in your mouth, matching you thrust for thrust, and you let out a depraved little moan, humming around him, and all Din can do is watch.

Watch as he disappears between your lips—his skin pulling and catching on your plush flesh— watch as you suck on them, watch as he practically fucks your throat. And Maker, you take him so fucking well, letting him do what he pleases with your all too supple body.

He can’t even begin to imagine what his cock would look like—what it would feel like nestled in the hot cavern of your mouth, hollowing your cheeks to suck him like hard candy. Din doesn’t let himself—can’t. If he did, fuck, that’d be it. He’d be done for. He knows he’d cum in a flash and he wants to make this last—to hold on to this - onto you - for as long as he can, allow himself this singular concession. The only time, he convinces himself, the last time.

He won’t think about you again.

He won’t think about you again.

He won’t think about you again.

You quicken your rhythm and Din bucks wildly into your palm, his seizing and twitching alerting you to how close he is. He slides from your mouth, a string of saliva trailing along after as he clasps onto the back of your neck.

“I’m gonna cum, I’m—” Din knots into your hair, gripping you rough, panting frantic. “Fuck. Fuck, dala— cyare-”

With a hoarse shout, he slams his gloved fist into the durasteel and spills over himself in hot, thick pumps, spurts shooting out to splatter on your tunic, on his flight suit, on your knuckles. You ease him through it, his cum glazing down his cock before you slow to a languid stroke, his seed sticky under your palm. You’re panting, the both of you, spent noises reverberating ugly and loud against the metal sidings.

Din sinks his helmet to your forehead while you catch your breath, his cold beskar kissing your flushed skin—the density of it comforting, grounding. Your eyes teeter shut and you let yourself lean into him, a dazed grin tugging at your wet lips. This is— nice; so much gentler than the pace he drove not minutes before. Head to head, his hand buried in your hair, your arm slung over his hulking shoulders; your fingers thread into the askew fabric behind his neck to discover a sliver of skin treasured away underneath. You trace there - lightly, whispered - earning a fizzle of static sent whirring through his vocoder.

“Fuck,” Din mumbles, before unweaving himself and separating from you. Your legs have gone useless and rubbery—you almost face plant forward without him there— and by the time you blink open, he’s already tucked himself into his pants and picked up his glove, slotting it over those skilled fingers that had just filled you to the brim. He turns back round to find you staring at him through the haze of your afterglow, eyes glassy and fucked out; your fluids dribbling down towards your underwear still bunched above your knees, hair tangled with sweat and saliva and cum—his and yours.

You look wrecked—disheveled. You’re so fucking pretty it makes Din want to scream.

He picks up a stray rag from a crate and offers it to you, before silently sliding your panties back up to your hips in one dexterous swipe. He lingers there but for a moment, savoring the touch of you—grazing a digit into the crease of your hip. You’re rendered mute— your brain can hardly string a sentence together— but finally you manage, your voice weak when you find it again.

“Thank you,” you croak, wiping away the traces of him off your knuckles, and you smile coquettish, delirious. “That was… that was, uhm—I really enjoyed that.”

A quiet beat slogs by.

And then, everything  shifts.

Din’s hand descends from your waist, holstering it to his side, and he moves away. He moves away from you.

You can feel it immediately—like a gust of chilled wind, the change in the air nips at you. Din’s armor is anything but warm—his presence, his aura, anything but inviting—but now, he seems farther from you than ever before, his visor tempered and steely.

You know him. You know this man. You’ve travelled with him, you’ve mended his ills, you’ve taken care of his son, you’ve spoken his name, you’ve laid prints on his skin and deeper still—

And here, before you, Din is white noise. Indiscernible. Unreadable.

Nervously, you twiddle with the frayed edge of the stained cloth, worrying your cheek. You swear, just for a second, that you see him inch towards you— you think you sense him, some part of him, breaching the chasm that’s formed between you. But it’s only a trick of the lowlight—a trick of your cruel heart, winged and errant beneath your ribs, misconstruing your thoughts to fancy.

Because he doesn’t. He doesn’t come to you like you want. He doesn’t touch you again, he doesn’t hold you like you need.

It feels like you’re withering—your legs too bare, your tunic too short, hair too mussed, eyes too bleary—everything feels wrong now, misplaced. “Din,” you start, you try—you try to keep attached to this tether, to this thin strand you’ve sewn between your bodies, but he shrinks back. He severs it. He is as you first met him. Rigid. Distant. A Mandalorian bounty hunter— the best in the parsec. He is as he was months ago, when you were strangers.

When you were nothing.

“I—” He silences himself, teeth clenching shut around the unspoken sentiment you so long to hear, and instead takes another step backwards. Farther away. Farther from you.

He stands straighter, impossibly taller, and you feel

small.

“Goodnight,” Din gives, his voice shrouded and cloaked by his modulator. He pivots on his heel, retreating into the depths of the Crest and leaves you there, the ghost of his hands on your neck, on your breasts, in your heat— still tingling from where they haunt you. Exhausted, you thud back into the bulkhead, unfocused and unseeing.

“Goodnight Din,” you murmur, but it falls upon deaf ears. He’s gone, and the empty hull swallows your words—burying them.

taggies:

@girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @pedros-mustache @miranhas-art @djarrex @bookloverfilmoholic @keeper0fthestars @misguidedandbeguiled @bookishofalder @helmet-comes-off @grumpymuffinmama @niiight-dreamerrrr @spideysimpossiblegirl @janebby @greatcircle79 @djarinsbeskar @sammysdaisy @whataperfectwasteoftime @mandobloggin @silver-streaked-wings

[ladyfogg]

Let Me Comfort You

Let Me Comfort You

Fic Summary: After leaving your first date to chase a lead, Colin loses the chance to question their informant. Frustrated and feeling useless, Colin returns to your place hoping for some comfort. And you’re more than happy to provide it. Love Exists Masterpost. The Evans Fics Masterpost.

Fic Rating: 18+

Pairing: Colin Zabel/Female Reader

Warnings: Language, Rough Sex, Oral (F receiving), Angst, Light Dom!Colin

Colin is in relatively good spirits when he gets to the meeting place. Your kisses are still on his mind and he hopes whatever work that needs to get done will happen quickly so he can get back to you.

As he pulls into a parking spot outside a local club, Mare climbs into the passenger seat.

“Hey,” she says. “Thanks for meeting me.” Her eyes take in his jacket and tie. “Did I interrupt something…again?”

“First date,” Colin admits.

Mare gives him a soft smile. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. She understands.”

Mare nods, turning her attention to the club. “Found out that one of our informants hasn’t been checking in. He’s said to frequent this club.”

“Let’s hope he still does.” Colin puts the car in park but doesn’t turn it off, letting the heat run. The temperature has dropped significantly and all he can think about is your warm bed and body waiting for him.

Time slowly ticks by and while numerous people come and go, Mare doesn’t react so Colin assumes the informant hasn’t been seen. By now he knows Mare well enough to try not to push conversation, so they sit in silence. To his surprise, his partner is the one to speak next.

“How did the date go?” Mare asks.

He’s surprised by her interest and excited to talk about you. “A little rocky in the beginning. We were both nervous. But, after that…” He smiles, remembering how stunning you looked sitting across from him in the restaurant. “Um, yeah, after that, things went well.”

“You gonna see her again?”

Hopefully right after this if it doesn’t go too late…

Colin nods. “Definitely.”

Mare nods along with him. He can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking and how she feels about him getting closer to you. It’s strange to think these things, to want some kind of validation from your boss. But Mare has the energy about her and Colin is a people pleaser.

“You two really like each other,” Mare notes.

He smiles, though her words do sting a little. “Should I be insulted that you sound surprised?”

Mare smirks as she shrugs. “You can if you want to be. I didn’t mean it as an insult or anything. I’ve just never seen my girl take a liking to someone so fast.”

Colin feels his cheeks redden and he smiles. “That’s nice to hear.”

Mare looks him over, studying him like she does a piece of evidence or a suspect. “You two will be good together.”

Colin opens his mouth to thank her, but her expression hardens and she motions towards the club.

“That’s him!” she says, nodding towards the guy headed their way.

Colin barely has a chance to look at the informant before Mare is getting out of the car. The second the man sees her he turns around and books it.

“Shit!” Mare exclaims giving chase.

Colin swears and jumps out of the car himself. He takes off running after them, doing his best to catch up. The freezing night air steals his breath away but he pushes through it, weaving between cars. The informant does the same, trying to trip them up. Colin dodges around the cars on his left in an attempt to swing around and cut him off.

He’s gaining in the man but suddenly, the informant turns unexpectedly then barrels right into Colin, sending him flying back into a car. The next thing he knows, he’s on the ground, his palm on fire from scraping against the asphalt in his attempt to catch himself.

“Zabel?!”

“I’m fine! Keep going!” He barely gets the words out after having the wind knocked out of him.

He hears Mare’s footsteps run past as he takes a moment to catch his breath. By the time he pushes himself to his feet, Mare is coming his way, looking annoyed.

“Lost him,” she sighs heavily.

Colin feels the bile rise in his throat and anger courses through his veins. “Fuck! I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Zabel.”

“But I had him!”

“Don’t beat yourself about it. If anything, I’m the one to blame. He ran when he recognized me.”

Her words don’t make Colin feel better. His already shaky confidence is shattered. Resting against the parked car, he yanks his tie off, using it to wrap his injured hand.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine,” Colin says, terser than he means to. “So, what should we do now?”

“I’ll call it in. Let them know that he was spotted. At least this means he’s in the area. If they don’t find him on the streets, they’ll get him at his place. Someone will pick him up.”

“Should we do a quick drive around?”

“Nah. It’s late. You should head home.”

Mare walks with him to his car. Colin’s knee is killing him and his pants are covered in mud. What had started as such a great evening went downhill fast.

“Go home and get some rest,” Mare says as he eases himself into his car. “I’ll let you know when he’s picked up.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Colin sits in his car for a moment, watching Mare get into her SUV. A small part of him wants to just go home and wallow in his self-pity. But a larger, more vocal side tells him to go to your place. Picking up his phone, he pauses for a second of contemplation before shooting you a quick text to see if you’re still awake.

Awake and waiting ;) comes your response only seconds later.

He’s twitchy and fidgety the entire drive, his throbbing hand just reminding him of his latest failure. It seems like every time he’s finally going to prove himself, he only manages to prove himself wrong.

When he pulls up to your apartment, he doesn’t hesitate getting out of the car. This time the cold barely registers.

You’ve left the door unlocked so he lets himself in, making sure to lock it behind him. The warmth of your place makes him feel a tiny bit better. He calls your name when you don’t come to greet him.

“In here, Detective Zabel.”

Colin’s heart nearly stops when he walks into your room to find you lounging on your bed in the sexiest panties and bra he’s ever seen. The only source of light is the dimmed lamp on your nightstand. It’s just enough to cast everything in a warm yellow glow.

The second you see his muddy pants and his tie wrapped around his hand, you sit up, face etched with concern.

“What happened?” you ask, getting off the bed.

Colin looks down at his hand. “Oh, you know, doing big shot detective work.”

“Does it hurt?”

“A little.”

“Here, sit down. I think I have a first aid kit stashed somewhere around here.”

You gently lead him to the bed, having him sit before you rummage around your room. Colin kicks out of his shoes as he carefully takes off his coat and suit jacket. His body is already sore and he knows tomorrow he’s going to be in a lot of pain.

When you come back to his side, you gently take his hand in yours. He watches you delicately unwind the tie before examining the scrape on his palm. It doesn’t look as bad as he thought it was. You grab a wipe from your kit and clean out his wound.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Colin debates not saying anything, but one look in your eyes makes him sigh. “I let an informant get away.”

“I’m sure you didn’t let them get away.”

“No, I guess not,” Colin concedes, seeing your point. “But I didn’t stop him or catch him like I was supposed to.”

You fall silent as you finish cleaning his palm and put a Band-Aid on it. “Well,” you say in a quiet tone. “You tried and that’s all that matters. You guys will get him next time.”

Colin stares at you, eyes raking down your body, just casually sitting there in the underwear you planned to seduce him with. It sparked the fire inside his already antsy body. He cups your cheek and pulls you into a kiss. It’s harsher, with more tongue and teeth than he usually uses yet feels appropriate considering the storm of emotions inside of him.

Your mouth falls open in surprise and he takes advantage, licking deep inside as he crushes you against his chest.

There’s so much he knows he can’t do. So much of his job that he knows he’s not qualified for. He’s reminded of it every fucking day.

But this. You. Making you feel good. He knows that he can do. It’s the first time in a long time that he’s felt truly sure of himself.

Your hands come up to his shoulders and you push him back to break the kiss. “Colin, baby…”

You’re, breathless and hearing his name in that tone only fuels his lust.

“Please,” he whispers against your lips as he draws you closer. “Please, I just need…” He can’t finish his thought.

You study him for a moment, before running your hand through his hair, peppering him with kisses. “What do you need, baby?” you ask. “How can I help?”

Dominance washes over him and he gets his voice back. “Lay down on the bed.”

As you do as he says, he stands up and strips. Despite the heat of your room, he still feels chilled to the bone. All he can think about is getting his hands on you and making you moan. Planning ahead, he drops his wallet on the nightstand so the condoms will be just within reach when he needs them.

Naked, Colin kneels on the bed, eyes raking up and down your frame as he leans over you. He swoops down for a kiss, losing himself in the taste of your lips while his hand cups your breast, giving it an appreciative squeeze.

You gasp and shudder. “Your hands are freezing!”

“Then let me warm them up.”

He tugs the flimsy material down so your breast is exposed, fondling it just as roughly as he had a moment before. The heat of your skin sears into his palm and you gasp again, writhing underneath him until the temperatures balance out.

Colin doesn’t stop kissing you, drunk on your lips just as he has been every single time they touch his. You bury one hand in his hair and the other falls to his hip, urging him on with a gentle squeeze. His thumb rubs circles around your nipple before he breaks your kiss so he can take the bud in his mouth.

You bow your back when he does, pressing your breasts into his face even more. Colin moans, lavishing your nipple with constant attention until he decides the other has been ignored for far too long.

Both your hands cradle his head now, keeping him pressed against your chest until he decides he needs to taste more. He needs your legs over his shoulders and your thighs clamped over his ears. He needs you moaning his name as he makes you come undone.

Your panties are yanked down without much preamble or ceremony. As nice as they are, they only serve as an obstacle between Colin and what he wants. He’s rough when he throws your legs over his shoulders before tugging you down the bed towards him. With a strangled moan, he buries himself between your thighs.

God, you’re already wet. He tastes your arousal with a thorough swipe of his tongue, relishing in the notion that he’s the one who made you like this. He’s the one who has you moaning and squirming underneath him. Emboldened by your reaction, Colin sucks on your clit, grunting as you squeeze his head with your thighs. He can sense you clenching at nothing, feel your hips attempt to jerk upward for more friction. But he pins them down, doesn’t do what you’re silently begging for.

Instead, he keeps doing what he’s doing, alternating between sucking and flicking with his tongue. He’s just as warm as you are now, beads of sweat trickling down his neck and making your legs slip on his shoulders. He only holds you tighter.

When he finally eases two fingers into you, he receives a harsh hair pull for his efforts. It makes him grin, his cock pressing eagerly against the bed. He’s not ready yet, doesn’t want to stop pleasuring you for even a moment because it’s the surest of himself he’s been in years.

This time when you come, he feels your body clench around his fingers. He lets your pelvis rocks against his face and he loses all train of thought other than the feeling of you coming all around him.

The second you relax, he sits up, gasping for air and taking in the gorgeous sight of you, bra tucked under your breasts and legs spread wide.

He reaches for a condom before you even have a chance to catch your breath. You see him roll it on and wiggle out of your bra, tossing it somewhere off to the side.

Colin grabs your legs, wrapping them around his waist before pushing into you with one smooth thrust.

You throw your head back with a gasp, “Colin!”

With his hands on either side of your hips, he fucks into you. His eyes never leave your face, taking in every expression. The way your eyebrows knit together when you shut your eyes or how your teeth dig into your bottom lip…it’s intoxicating.

Your hands cling onto his arms, tugging as though you’re trying to pull him closer. He doesn’t follow through, not yet. He wants to keep watching.

You open your bleary eyes and he loses himself in them.

How did he get so fucking lucky to have someone like you look at him this way? To see him for who he is? Even though you don’t know. You don’t know what he did. If you did, he doubts you’d look at him the way you are now.

He kisses you harshly, pressing his body against yours and, grinding himself into your heat.

It’s his turn to moan your name, his lips unable to leave yours for more than a second.

“You feel so good,” he moans. “I love the way you squeeze me. It’s like you’ll never let go.”

One of your hands buries into his hair while the other reaches blindly for his hand. When you find it, you twine your fingers with his and he presses your joined hands to the bed.

His mouth seeks your throat and moves down until he finds your breasts again. harsh kisses turn to him sucking on the flesh, desperate to leave his mark on you.

He comes not long after, throwing his head back with a guttural moan. You twitch and spasm underneath him, coming again but he’s too lost in his own pleasure to notice until he collapses on top of you and feels the aftershocks of your orgasm.

Colin can’t help but hold you close, even though your bodies are pressing so tight makes it hard to catch his breath.

You stroke his cheek, looking at him with concern. “Tonight really got to you, didn’t it?” you pant.

Colin nods, his forehead pressed to yours. “I’m sorry. So sorry for—”

“Don’t apologize.” You take his face between your hands and force him to look at you. “You have nothing to apologize for. That was actually really hot.”

Colin gives a breathless laugh before pulling you into another kiss. This time he’s gentler, carefully easing out of you so he can slide onto the bed. His movements allow you to finally take a deep breath and you slowly exhale. With shaking hands, Colin rids himself of the condom. He’s not one to be so rough and he’s worried he’s overstepped. But then you curl against his side, your arm thrown over his chest and your face buried in his neck.

“Hope you weren’t planning on going anywhere,” you say through a yawn.

Colin yawns himself, running a hand through his hair before tucking it behind his head. His other arm pulls you in close.

“Why? There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

He can feel your smile against his skin before you place a gentle peck on his throat. “Get some sleep, babe. We can talk more about it tomorrow if you want, okay?”

“I’d like that.”

You fall asleep almost instantly, but Colin stays awake, gently running his hand up and down your arm. Even after fantastic sex and being in your arms, he only feels marginally better. That little anxious voice in his head won’t quiet down and it takes a long time before he’s able to fall asleep.

---

Series Taglist: @lejardinfleur @spidergirlmcu @anonymushhy @samsassinparvismagna​ @kitwalker64​ @tatestripedsweater​ @xmaximoffic​ @marshmallow--3​ @stellarbound​ @kais-messiahbaby​ @margaretboothsear​ @slightlyvicked​ @nia-s-not-so-secret-diary​ @liandav​ @billyhxrgrove​ @TheOriginalDoll87 @tatesimper​ @sanni333​ @spider-starry​

[fruitcoops]

Hi, I love your blog so much! I recently got ankle lateral ligament reconstruction done, and as an athlete, it sucks so bad. I watched my basketball team play yesterday, and it felt really horrible to watch them lose by one point in overtime when I know I would have made a difference if I were on the court... I know you have lots of asks and prompts, but if you have the time and want to, could you possibly hurt me more than I’m already hurting with some angsty ankle injury stuff😩 like maybe Cap watching the Lions lose without him.

Thank you for all the awesome fics you write! Your blog is amazing!

Anon, this ask really struck a chord with me and I wanted to do it justice as best I could--going through a sports injury like that is the worst feeling in the world, and watching your teammates play without you just adds salt to the wound. Sending all the love and healing vibes your way, okay? Please keep me updated on how you're feeling if you feel comfortable <3

Combined with an ask for pre-Coops and Sirius' photo of Remus! SW credit goes to @lumosinlove

TW for canonical injury and mentioned scars (Remus)

Sirius felt a nudge at his arm and his irritation flared, but he did not take his eyes off the game. “Fucking hell,” he muttered as James missed yet another blatant pass. There’s three.

The next nudge was more insistent.

“What?” he snapped, sparing half a glance to his left and feeling his stomach swoop.

Remus raised his eyebrows and held the mouthguard out further. “Either put this in or unclench your jaw.”

You’re not my mother, Sirius almost snarked back, just to be even more of an asshole. He was cold from being at the rink without his gear, severely pissed off by the general bullshit happening on the ice, and the itch in the boot locked around his stupid fucked-up ankle was slowly driving him mad.

Remus offered the mouthguard again, and Sirius’ temper cooled by a few degrees at the soft encouragement on his face. Pretty, his brain supplied. He swallowed hard around his sudden dry mouth and shoved the plastic between his teeth, beating back the unruly emotions with a mental baseball bat. Nope. Not tonight. Focus on being angry.

Logan got distracted, and Finn paid the price as an enforcer slammed him against the boards; he bounced back immediately, but Sirius ground the mouthguard so hard it squeaked. “Tabarnak—”

“Come with me for a sec,” Remus said, raising his voice just enough to be heard over the angry shouts of Lions fans.

Sirius shook his head. What he wouldn’t give to be in the heart of the fight, letting off some of the steam that had been building with no outlet for weeks. “Game’s not over.”

Remus pressed his lips together, but said nothing; Sirius’ throat constricted as he looked at the scoreboard. There may have been three full minutes left on the clock, but the Lions had already lost—unless they pulled a miracle out of their asses, this game would be a stain on their record. Or if they just let me play.

Sirius sighed through his nose. The urge had been growing stronger the longer he stayed cooped up and restless, banging at the walls of his brain and bringing headache after headache.

“Cap.” The hand on the back of his bicep was surprisingly gentle and he closed his eyes as Remus gave him a light tug. “Come on. We can at least be productive instead of sitting here and stewing.”

He smells nice. How does he always smell so nice? Sirius stood and followed Remus down the tunnel, not even bothering to force smiles for the people pounding on the glass partitions. Don’t focus on the game.

Focus on his shoulders, something close to his heart suggested. You like his shoulders.

He scrunched his nose up at the thought—if he dwelled on the smooth, strong curve of Remus’ upper back for any longer, he would start remembering the one time he saw them bare, covered in sweat with scars that shone like moonlight and—

“Are you okay?” Remus asked, snapping him back to reality. Sirius jumped and concern flickered over the golden planes of his face. “You’re twitchy tonight.”

“Just…” He made a vague, aborted motion toward the ice before continuing toward the PT room, though he did not miss the worried look Remus shot him. Fantastic, now I look like a dick and an idiot.

“What’s going on, Sirius?” The door clicked closed behind them and Remus leaned against it with his arms crossed loosely as Sirius limped over to the table and sat down, pulling the mouthguard out. He stared at the floor and the hunk of plastic—don’t think about how nice his voice sounds around your name. Don’t.

He shook his head; through the door, the sounds of the game were faint. “They’re better than this.”

“Yep.”

“They’re all going to be angry tomorrow, which makes them sloppy.”

“Probably.”

“Coach will be upset.”

“No question.”

“It’s the Badgers.”

Remus made a face. “I know, right?”

“They’re a good team, but—” He tightened his jaw again and looked away.

“But we’re better,” Remus finished for him.

“Yeah.” Silence fell between them for a few moments, though it wasn’t uncomfortable. Being quiet around Remus was never uncomfortable, and Sirius was pathetically grateful for every scrap of it he could get. “I—the game would be different if I was out there.”

“Would it?”

“It would.” He had been going over every mistake for two and a half hours, placing himself in like a chess piece to stop the missed passes, fumbled pucks, and thoughtless plays. “They need me with them.”

The paper crinkled as Remus sat down next to him, and every one of Sirius’ senses went on high alert. “They need to you get better,” he said simply, those caramel-apple eyes making Sirius’ knees go weak. “Have you been doing your exercises?”

“Of course,” he scoffed.

“Good.” There was no defensiveness or indignation in Remus’ voice—guilt snapped, a firecracker behind his teeth.

“Sorry.”

Remus smiled wryly. “When you’re around injured hockey players all day long, you get used to a little bit of bitchiness.”

“I’m not bitchy!” Sirius spluttered. The poorly-concealed amusement on Remus’ face made mortification heat his cheeks. “I’m not!”

“Uh-huh.” The note of smug disbelief should not have been as attractive as it was. “Alright, lay down.”

Sirius swore he heard a few crackling noises as his brain short-circuited. “Quoi?”

“I’m not kneeling on freezing linoleum to check out your ankle, Cinderella,” Remus snorted. “Now get a wiggle on.”

“You have the strangest sayings,” he said as he laid back and stretched his leg out, bewildered and yet somehow relieved.

“And you—” Remus pulled the top buckle free. “—have no appreciation for the great American north.”

“I can take it off,” Sirius mumbled, feeling redness rise once again.

He cocked an eyebrow. “The boot? I might not be a muscle-bound athlete, but I’m pretty sure I can manage a couple strips of Velcro.”

“No, it’s—doesn’t touching people’s feet freak you out? Like, the sweat and everything?”

“If it did, I’d have to find another profession, because I’m damp all the time from you fuckers and you all seem to have a habit of breaking things below the knee. Bend.”

Sirius complied, drawing his knee toward his chest. His bare foot looked weird in the bright lights, pale and still swollen, but Remus was as golden as ever. You can watch from afar, he conceded when the cute little furrow appeared on Remus’ forehead while he felt around the bone. Just for a little while. “Your hands are warm,” he said before he could stop himself.

Remus glanced up, and his small smile caused a flood of butterflies in Sirius’ stomach. “Thanks. They’re usually pretty cold, so I’m glad I’m not accidentally giving you foot hypothermia.”

“Is that real?”

“No,” Remus laughed. Sirius wished he could keep that sound forever. “How’s that feel?”

“Uh, fine.” He blinked a couple times to come back to himself as Remus put light pressure on the sole of his foot. “Still fine.”

“You’re a lot more flexible than before. Things are healing well.”

A loud buzzer went off outside—Sirius closed his eyes as disappointment and frustration fired up once more. The crowd wasn’t cheering. The windows weren’t shaking. He didn’t even want to look at the TV to check the score. I should be out there, he thought for the umpteenth time. I’m letting them down.

“I’m sorry,” Remus said quietly as he worked through a few more exercises.

“Not your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either.”

Sirius wanted to believe him. “I’m the captain.”

“And you’re being responsible by doing this with me so you can heal faster.” People rushed past the door outside, but the PT room remained peaceful. Sirius stared at the plain ceiling and wished for a miracle. “They miss you.”

“Y’know, that’s not exactly making me feel better.”

“Sorry.” They lapsed back into silence. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Cool.”

Sirius chewed the inside of his lip for a solid two minutes, following Remus’ simple instructions without looking at him. He should have been out there with them, ankle be damned. It was basically healed anyway; they were just tying up loose ends, and maybe Remus needed to be a little less careful. “Is this really necessary?”

“I’m gonna give you five seconds to ask a different question.”

“I’m just saying, it feels fine and—”

“Time’s up.” Remus let go of his foot and Sirius only spared a moment to mourn the loss of his comforting touch before he caught the stormy, mulish stubbornness that took the place of Remus’ concentration. “Sit.”

“I am.”

He narrowed his eyes, and Sirius dragged himself upright with a huff. Arguing with Remus Lupin was about as useful as arguing with a brick wall, and that was coming from someone who won the ‘Most Stubborn’ superlative at their last end-of-year party. “First of all, ankles are annoying and the soft tissue will still be damaged even if the bone is healed. Second, it’s my job to fix you up so your boys stop whining to me about healing you faster. And third, I’m not giving up on you.”

Sirius paused for a long moment. “What?”

“I’m not giving up,” Remus repeated. His jaw set and he made direct eye contact. “I would love nothing more than to kick Snape in the kneecaps and let you go out there as soon as you can stand on your own, but that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to make sure you’re ready to kick ass and take names no matter what that little shit was trying to do. So don’t you dare sit there and try to chicken out at the finish line, because I know you want this even more than I do.”

In his chest, Sirius heart was hammering like he had just run five miles. I’m not giving up on you. Sirius had never wanted to kiss him more. “Thank you.”

Remus softened with a slow breath. “We’re in this together, Sirius. You and me.”

“I know.”

“Then let’s get to work. Next time you play the Badgers, make ‘em regret this game.”

--------------------------------

Sirius walked back toward the locker room feeling rather nauseous. The whole team leaked their bad moods into the air—Arthur had barely looked at them before sending them home with a quiet “we’ll talk more tomorrow”, the equivalent of an arrow through Sirius’ heart. I need a pick-me-up, he thought as the rest of the guys trooped out in a melancholy raincloud. He fist-bumped each of them, per tradition, but their responses were weak at best.

Ice cream sounded good. Maybe a milkshake. Oh, who was he kidding, he needed a solid hug and something other than ice to look at. Not for the first time, he contemplated getting a dog, just so the house wouldn’t be empty and dark when he returned.

Laughter rang out ahead and Sirius inhaled sharply, letting the sound roll over him. “I’m not kidding!” Moody chuckled.

“Bullshit,” Remus countered, still snickering. “There is no way—”

“I’ve been around here longer than you’ve been alive, kid.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Remus groaned, though Sirius could hear the smile in his voice even from around the corner. “You only bring it up every goddamn day.”

“Brat.”

Sirius entered the room just in time to see Remus playfully knock the side of his foot against Moody’s; both were grinning. “Isn’t it past your bedtime, old man?”

Moody nodded to him. “Night, twelve.”

“A demain,” Sirius called, offering a slight smile as his eyes lingered on Remus. He was leaning back against the wall with stick tape in his hands—his hands, which never failed to make Sirius throw caution to the wind—and raised it in farewell. “See you, Loops. Thanks again.”

“No problem, Cap.”

He grabbed his duffel off the floor and slid his keys, wallet, and phone into his pockets as Moody and Remus resumed their conversation. He wondered how long they usually stuck around, and if they would oppose him staying—he wouldn’t interrupt, but being around people who weren’t going through the five stages of grief already felt nice.

An idea struck as Remus’ laugh raised goosebumps on his arms once again. With a careful glance over his shoulder, he slipped his phone out and snapped a picture before hurrying off toward his car. His breaths were shallow; that was such a creepy move, and surely one of them noticed—

No voices chased him. Nobody gave him strange looks. He waited until he was safely in the front seat of the car before unlocking his phone, and all the air in his lungs left in a rush.

The photo was perfect. It caught the lopsided tilt to Remus’ mouth, his slender-but-strong fingers, his long legs, the scrunch of his nose mid-laugh. Everything Sirius never let himself look at for long. He didn’t have much space left among the collection of paper memories on his dresser, but maybe if he put it in the back where nobody would see it unless they knew where to look…

He turned the car on. Later. He would print it out and deal with the taut rubber-band-ball of feelings later. Until then, he could settle for the imprint of Remus’ warmth taking away the pain in his ankle and the determination on his face as he promised to bring Sirius back from the personal hell he was living in. You and me, he had said, and Sirius wanted nothing more than to believe it.

[lewis-winters]

Hi but I actually really want your detailed character analysis for each guy in the Craver interrogation scene 👀

Oh anon, the monster you have unleashed.

Ok so like. This is only one of many of my (often contradicting, bc if I am anything I am a flip-flopping bitch #taurus-gemini cusp) readings of this scene. But it certainly is the most interesting:

Ok, so let's start with the three boys outside of the beating room. Namely, Floyd Talbert, Ron Speirs, and George Luz.

There is only one agitated fella in this frame, and it's not George Luz. George is very secure in himself here-- there's tension lining him and making him stiff and his attempts at humor fall flat, but the fact that he is making attempts at all is a sign that he knows who he is in this moment and he knows what he is being called to do. And that's to distract Tab.

Tab, on the other hand, is struggling with two sides of him. One is the vindictive side that wants to be in the room with the other guys. But that side is largely trumped by his very rational, very Company 1st Sergeant side. He isn't agitated because he wants to join in. He's agitated because he knows he should stop them, and he's right. He should. Though the beating is "justified", the Military Police will most likely not think so. He's 1st Sergeant, he's in charge of most, if not all of the men in there. If the MPs investigate this incident, he will have to be the one to answer for them. And also I just think he doesn't want to see anybody get into trouble. Except he can't go in there and stop them because they have a point, or at least, they think they do. Craver hurt one of their own, and now there is no reasoning with them. Look at who's inside: Bull and Martin and Malarkey. NCOs, just like Tab. None of them outrank him, but they are still leaders in their own right. And if Tab were to go in there and stop them, they'd chew him out for it.

Tab is waiting for someone like Ron to come in and stop it. Because Tab knows he himself can't.

Except. Except. Except.

Ron doesn't stop it. Ron, in fact, enables it.

And this is where we also see Tab start to lose respect for Speirs.

IRL, Winters said that Tab resigned as 1st Sergeant because he kept comparing Speirs' leadership to Winters' leadership, and though the show itself doesn't actually make that the official reason for Tab's resignation in the next scene ("I miss being back amongst the men"), there are traces of it in this scene.

When Ron enters the room, the first thing Tab asks him is "How's Grant? Is he dead?" Speirs bypasses that question entirely for the sake of joining in on the beating, gun drawn.

From Tab's point of view, that means Ron has every intention to kill Craver.

And, of course, if we apply what we know from what IRL Winters told us, that means Tab is also thinking, in that moment; "No, Dick would never do this. Dick would never let it get this far."

And you can actually see that moment of clarity + subsequent disappointment (as well as relief at finding out Grant will live and disbelief that this just fucking happened) on his face here:

Furthermore, this is also the moment Tab (and, by extension, every body else in the room) finds out that Grant is going to make it after Ron tells them.

So not only is Tab thinking; "Dick would never do this. Dick would never let it get this far," he is also thinking "Why the fuck didn't he tell us that in the first place?! If Dick had been handling the situation, we would have gotten the news immediately! He wouldn't have allowed something as risky as this happen!"

And he's right.

But in fairness to Ron, this is probably the first time any of Easy has seen him lose his cool.

Because Ron is actually losing his cool here. This is his "it's my dog!" moment. He let the anger get to him, and therefore he made a terrible miscalculation.

I've already talked about this in this Grant/Speirs ask, but let me reiterate it here:

We (and Easy Company) are very used to thinking that Ron acts without compassion, mercy, or remorse, therefore when we first view this scene, we think that what is out of character for him is not shooting the replacement. We (and Easy, but especially Tab) are wrong. That is probably the most in character thing about Ron in this scene. What is truly out of character for him here is him drawing out the gun with the intention of shooting this motherfucker in the face.

See, one of the reasons why we think he doesn’t act with compassion, mercy, or remorse is because in the first half of the series, we don’t see him outside of the glimpses Easy company gets or the stories they exchange. But after episode 7, he’s suddenly with us all the time, and we see that his advice to Blithe was more of a… miscommunication, in a way.

Act with no compassion, no mercy, and no remorse toward the people you want to protect your men from. But this is where this scene gets complicated. At first glance, we think "ah, yes, he's protecting his men from this replacement."

Except-- there is literally 1 replacement vs. at least 1 squad of men (roughly 9 to 11 men). Why the fuck does a squad of soldiers (veterans too!) need protection against 1 replacement who has not had the same training and combat experience as them? They don't need protection here, they can handle themselves.

Oh, and another thing that adds to this predicament: Ron knows that Chuck is going to live.

Out of everyone in that room, Ron is the only one who knows that Chuck is actually going to live. So his internal struggle isn’t so much “oh I should act with no compassion, mercy, or remorse– but easy company has ~changed~ me.” In my opinion, his internal struggle in this moment, the reason why his hand trembles as he's preparing to shoot Craver, is this: “If I shoot him, I'm not protecting my men. I'm taking revenge.”

Which isn’t in his moral code.

Ron acts with no compassion, no mercy, and no remorse, yes, but there’s a certain level-headedness to him that keeps him in line at all times: only against those he's protecting his men from. Sure, he’s prone to bouts of petty anger sometimes (see in the next scene: More and his photo album), but he never lets that get in the way of his judgement (see: More didn’t back down, but neither did he do so in a disrespectful way and Ron recognized that, therefore he conceded his own defeat and didn’t punish More). He does what is necessary in the moment and never takes it beyond that.

But Chuck’s shooting drives him to the point of wanting to take revenge. He enters that room, gun drawn, with all the intention of shooting this motherfucker in the face. He knows it's a bad move. But he does it anyway. And him entering the room with his gun drawn enables everybody else. We, as an audience, have to remember that what they are doing is illegal and is very, very punishable by military law. Also: beating someone up like this, no matter how fucking vile, isn't the right thing to do, either. But sure, the MPs might be gracious enough (or if a certain Nixon is generous enough to tip them to look the other way), to let them probably get away with it on account of saying that the replacement tried to fight them and they simply fought back (yes, that does sound like rhetoric used to excuse police brutality; isn't that what this is in a way?). But if Ron pulled the trigger? If Ron had actually killed him? That would have been fucking bad.

It's not a Captain's job to enable his soldiers to do something illegal that'll most likely get them court martialled and/or killed. It's a Captain's job to protect his men. From their opponents, as well as from themselves.

In this moment, Ron is not doing that.

I know we like to get all vindictive and be all like "yeah that's what he deserves, this is justice!" but this isn't justice. This is revenge. And, again, revenge is not part of Ron's moral code. If only because revenge, more often than not, gets people killed instead of keeping them protected. If he shoots Craver, that will not only implicate him. It will implicate everyone else in the room.

He realizes it here:

Ron only comes to his senses when he already has the gun trained on Craver's face. Portrayed beautifully by Settle, might I add.

... This is a reach on my part, but I think his next movement is very powerful-- idk if it was written into the script or if this is just something Settle decided to do, but after he wipes the blood off and he turns away, Ron then takes his hat off. Which to me invokes in me the image of a king taking off his crown, or an executioner taking off his hood. It's almost as if he's relinquishing his authority in this moment-- not over Easy (since he does give them an order literally seconds after he takes it off), but over the right to be judge, jury, and executioner.

He recognizes that he did a whoopsie.

You know who I think also recognizes it?

George fucking Luz.

Look at his face. Look at his fucking expression here:

This is the face of a man who knows the what ifs and the could haves. He's put two and two together and he's pissed.

That's why I think another layer of him staying outside isn't just to comfort Tab. It was self-preservation. He still had his wits around him at this time-- arguably he and Tab are the only ones thinking straight in this moment; it's no coincidence that it looks like he's looking at Tab here-- and a part of him believed that Ron would, too. Except, he didn't. That's why he's angry. Ron came up short.

Or idk, I could be projecting, I mean I would be pretty pissed off in his position. Pissed at Craver, but also pissed at Speirs-- if my Captain, my leader, the guy I trusted decided to do something reckless like that and put all the lives of my fellow soldiers on the line simply because he wanted revenge or simply because he wanted to scare people and therefore get a grip over the situation, I would be angry, too. Remember, Speirs has a layer of protection, somewhat. Probably wealthy family, some wealth squirreled away. Not to mention he's a commissioned officer less likely to be used as a scapegoat. These men, everyone in that room, are enlisted working class men. Most likely, they don't get the luxury of a scapegoat or a tip off or bail. Had Speirs gone through with it, they'd have a body on their hands. And if the family of this replacement pushed, the MPs will no doubt pick someone in this room and pin it on them. Or hell, they'll take everyone, punish all of them, and then execute several. They were just lucky this replacement didn't actually have anybody on his side.

This was dangerous. But Ron let it happen. He didn't protect them like he promised he would. And to some degree, George and Tab know that.

Although, I can argue, everybody in this room realizes that. Except, they realize it too late.

They realize it the second Ron pulls the gun.

I've said it before, in this ask right here, that Liebgott flinches in this scene. Which is funny, considering when Ron enters the room, he's the one who's most in Craver's face. Him and Babe. Which is understandable, considering the three of them were close, as can be gleaned from the Last Patrol. Of course Lieb and Babe would get dibs on Carver's face. Of course they're the ones who get to bloody them up good. Carver shot their best friend-- of course they're angry. Liebgott especially-- I feel like this is the episode where he lets all his anger out. For ep 1 - 9, he's fine. He's funny and jovial-- a little irritable, especially in the Last Patrol, but only at Web, really. And not even by that much. What he mostly is, is tired. And that's it.

But this is after Landsberg and after the mountain top, too. He's angry and he has no outlet. So of course he's the one getting the most hits on Craver. And when Speirs enters the picture, he's delighted in some way. But it doesn't last.

At first he's watching Speirs (as beautifully depicted in this gif set), he is the only one watching Speirs. Then, Craver is pistol whipped and held at gun point and what does Joe do?

He flinches. Babe also flinches. And then they, and the rest of the room, look away. They all look away. From Bull to Babe to Johnny to even Pat and Popeye. Frank physically steps back. Malarkey literally closes his eyes. The only one looking is More. It's almost like the weight of what they have done has finally sunk in for all of them.

But, it's not enough to spur them to stop Speirs. In fact, except for Malarkey, they turn back to look.

Because, like Speirs, the need for revenge is pulling them toward this need to see this replacement die. But unlike Speirs, they don't know if Chuck is alive or not.

And that's where it gets Yikes. And in a way, maybe Tab is right. If Dick had been in Ron's position, 1) this replacement would have been given to the MPs immediately, and; 2) Grant's safety and the news of Grant's safety would have been the top priority. And though that would have not quelled their anger, they would have at least been comforted by the knowledge that Grant was going to live.

Listen, Ron abides by the same code of honor Dick and all the other officers abide by, and he has held up that same code of honor many times. In different ways and through different methods, yes, but always with the same goal in mind: protect. Always protect.

But not here.

Ron did not give them the comfort of knowing Grant's status and he put them in a dangerous situation. He did not think of them first. No doubt spurred on by his own trauma and his own simmering anger and lack of a proper outlet, a proper enemy to take it out on, he was blinded by his rage and simply thought of himself and his revenge. Not his men.

Ron slipped up. They're just lucky he caught himself before it got any worse.

[seychellse]

Hey y'all! I'm trying to get a bit more familiar with writing smut so I'm trying out a few more suggestive pieces with some prompts! I'm starting with Nanami too bc gawd. I don't submit to ANY man but he would turn me into a 50s housewife I swear to god. Plz I wanna bear this man's children SO BAD

warnings: nsfw, overuse of the word 'dominance' and 'control', power struggle, shameless manhandling of male titties

pairing: Nanami x fem!reader, Gojo at first too but fuck that guy it ain't about him right now

wc: <1k

Prompt: Who's really on top?

Satoru Gojo may be the strongest sorcerer in the world, but he’s still just Satoru to you - goofy and annoying. You bet once you could easily beat the cockiness out of him if he ever turned off that damned Infinity, and knock him down a peg to force him into remembering his place below you; exactly where he belonged. It's pretty easy to get him to that point, actually; a bet won in your favour had him do exactly that, and you relished the opportunity to get one over him. Red-faced and sweaty, he gasped and whined underneath you, begging for release while you rode him to exhaustion and brought him to the edge of climax over and over again until he learned his place, begged you oh-so sweetly and conceded to you in a manner that was satisfactory before you let him cum all over himself in disgrace.

Nanami, on the other hand? He never needed raw power to be powerful or prove his authority, and you'd find that out the hard way. Trying the same song and dance on him hadn't worked out entirely in your favour, but you couldn't pretend you weren't enjoying yourself. In trying to assert your dominance over him, you found that even on the bottom, Kento would always be on top - and that was never going to change.

“Nanami…” You whine, one hand resting on the flat plane of his belly and the other stuck to your pebbled nipple.

“What is it? Use your words.”

You can barely remember to stay upright, let alone form a sentence that would make sense to your addled mind. Stuck between wanting to lay down and grind on him, and working through your pride to its inevitable end, you let your limbs decide for you and sag just a tiny amount, leaning back on your heels and spreading yourself open for his eyes to drink you in. All the while you flex around the solid length inside you, persistent even after two separate rounds, and try to return his aquiline stare. More than anything, you want to draw out some kind of emotion that would validate his deference to your domination.

But again and again, all you're met with is his solid demeanour. Nanami's expression underneath you changes only slightly, as if to mock your lofty desire to have him under your thumb, and your inability to materialise his submission despite every attempt you've made to ensure it.

Trying a different tactic, you bring your fingers up to his chest, circling the pink nipples with a feather-light touch and tapping the buds in interest. When that doesn't arouse any movement or noise from the impassive sorcerer, you risk your own position and bend towards him, aligning your own buds with his and sliding up against him to generate some friction on your sensitive spots. The action has you choking back your own groan, losing yourself in the feeling of his chest against yours as you rub him up and down with your own body and shamelessly build up the heat between the two of you.

In response, he just rolls his hips, eyebrows raised. Challenging you. He makes a pleased noise, but as soon as it leaves his throat it's swallowed up by your own throaty whines as the shift sets off his own movement, and accidentally-on-purpose causes his happy trail to grind delicately up and down your clit, already oversensitised from the first pop. The sensation forces your to screw your eyes shut and keen in longing, considering giving up the charade but your pride refuses to allow it. You press on despite the numbness, needing more than anything for Nanami to just drop the act, place his hands firmly on your tush and just have him squeeze, give back the control he already knows he has whenever the two of you engage in this dance. He's not so easily swayed, however; more than enjoying the show of you trying to remain in control and how easily you slip with only the most simple of touches. His hands remain firmly at his sides despite your insistence on bringing them to where you want them to be.

Clenching around him once more, both your hands stop their movement to fall to either side of him as you do your best to remain on top through your third orgasm of the night. You had asked for this, after all. All he was doing was obliging you, ever watchful from below as you tried and failed to assert your own dominance.

He smiles then; a sight rare enough to see from your stoic lover, and it sends an aftershock straight through you, travelling from the centre of your chest and settling in the place where the two of you are joined together. A long, lewd noise escapes your lips and you lean back, trying to catch your breath and move off him to stop the pulsating feeling making your mind incapable of functioning. He stops you full in your tracks, pulling you down to his side but keeping you connected at the hip. Bastard - he knows exactly what he's done to you and he revels in your dishevelled appearance on top of him, never truly in control despite your hubrid belief that you ever could be. Warmth blooms inside you as he makes himself comfortable beside you and he fixes you with an imposing stare, hazel eyes for once not veiled by his little goggles. The intensity of his eyes on you makes you simultaneously curl up on yourself and arch up into him, cowed but still needing his reassurance that you did well.

“Do you understand who’s in charge here, now?”

“Ye-yes.” You lower your gaze in submission, both embarrassed and horny in equal amounts.

“Good. Know your place, girl.”

[nugnthopkns]

Congrats on 500 followers!! If it’s still available, how about prompt 15 with elias pettersson? 😊

anything for you!! 🥰 tried something a little different with this — hope you enjoy!

i can look good in a certain light so don’t look too close at me tonight // my honest face by inhaler

Elias didn’t want to be there.

Packed nightclubs do nothing for him, but some of his teammates dragged him out under the guise of team bonding. He’d rather be at home reading the book his mom mailed him nearly a month ago.

Despite his lack of enthusiasm, Elias is paraded around the club with the rest of the guys. The franchise core of the Vancouver Canucks are a big deal, even in a place such as this one. It’s less university students and more young professionals, but Elias can’t help feeling out of place. He’s been neither of those things, and it becomes abundantly clear as the night goes on.

“Come on man,” Brock sighs, upset his friend isn’t enjoying himself like everyone else. “Lighten up.”

“Fuck off,” Elias snaps in response, still upset he’s even in the building. Brock backs off then, fading into the mass of dancing bodies and leaving the Swede to his own devices.

A beer is in his hand, his fifth of the night, when Elias sees her. She’s beautiful, all smiles and laughter as she dances with her friends. The way she sways to the beat draws him in, and Elias knows it’s rude to stare but he can’t help it. There’s just something about her. At some point they make eye contact, and when she winks Elias flushes a deep red before turning away. It’s embarrassing to be caught red handed so he slinks away from the edge of the dance floor and into an empty booth to nurse both his drink and pride.

She finds him later in the night, still sequestered away from the rest of the crowd. Brock and the others have given up on trying to get him to engage in the night and have let him sulk. The girl approaches Elias with an air of confidence that pulls him in further.

“Are you much of a dancer?”

The question hangs in the air for a second before Elias responds with a coy remark that surprises himself. “I can be if that’s what you want.”

She seems pleased with the answer, and offers her hand. Elias takes it gingerly, not wanting her to think he’s a creep, and follows behind until they’re planted squarely in the middle of the open area. Bodies crowd around them, but neither of them move until the song changes. With a bright smile she wraps her arms around Elias’s neck, and he follows her lead, resting his hands on her hips.

Elias is unfamiliar with that the DJ is playing, but she seems to know it, singing along and moving purposefully. He’s mesmerized by her — the way her body moves and how her mind seems to work. When he tries to speak she places a finger against his lips in protest.

“Talk later. Kiss me now,” she whispers in his ear, and Elias would be foolish not to oblige.

It’s messy, almost all teeth and tongue, but neither participant minds. The kids fits the atmosphere and Elias is breathless when she pulls away. They don’t kiss again, but he becomes bolder in his movements, letting a hand slip to the curvature of her ass. The song changes but they remain close to each other.

When it’s clear that her feet are beginning to hurt, Elias suggests finding a place to sit down. She shakes her head, saying it’s time she get going, and thanks him for the night.

Elias is a little hurt she doesn’t want to continue whatever it was they were engaged in, but concedes. “Can i at least get your name?” he asks, praying that by some miracle she’ll take pity and give it to him.

She shakes her head again, but pulls a tube of red lipstick out of the strap of her dress. Elias notices it’s the same shade that paints her lips. He cocks his head in confusion when she gestures for his arm, but does as instructed. The lipstick is uncapped and she goes to work, writing digits on Elias's forearm.

“You can get my name when you call."

He closes his eyes for a split second, not quite believing this is real. A beautiful girl has written her number on his arm in lipstick. It's something that happens in a movie. When Elias open his eyes she's gone, and he's left standing on the middle of the dance floor with a dopey smile on his face.

☼☼☼☼

celebrating 500 followers!

[boneswriteswords]

Just A Little Longer - Michelangelo

A/N: Here is my self indulgent Mikey goodtime lime. Let me live. (It isn’t a lime. Its a lemon. But lime rhymes with time.)

Unbeta’d because no one has the time for editing.

Also I have no idea if any of it makes sense so.....

~~~~~~

The bright neon LED lights of the alarm clock on your nightstand stood guard over you as you blinked awake. 2:04am. Awareness came slowly, your eyes dripping sleep even as the rest of you came online. You shifted, extending your body into a stretch, grinning when a muffled groan erupted from behind you.

A thick leg forced its way between yours. A heavy arm landed across your abdomen. A hard chest molded into your back.

Beyond your apartment walls, sounds of the city rage on. Waves of muted color trickle through the crack in your black-out curtains. Lines of yellow light bleed over the room. There are police sirens passing by as the house party three doors down blasts the newest Ariana Grande album. Someone honks their car horn in vicious repetition. If you strain, you can hear an muffled fighting and the shuffling of clothes as it turns physical.

All the noises harmonize and fade into nothing as you flip over, encouraging the limbs of your bed partner to stay entangled with yours. You’ve lived in the city long enough that the noises and the people and the lights don’t register much to you unless you focus on them. You know the sounds of danger from the sounds of the loud and that’s all you really need to know. Rainbow noise guided you, filtering through all the memories that you have access to you, and anything less has no space in your life.

Quiet nights are eerie after years of noise and you are more than happy having Mikey hold you in bed while the world keeps going around you.

REM does not return after closing your eyes again and you concede to being awake. It isn’t awful, not with the way Mikey clutches onto you as he shuffles - head nuzzling into whatever crevice he can reach. You can tell he is waking.

He can never remain asleep if he feels you are awake. He struggles to remain in a plan of existence where you aren’t. He fights himself awake and you never know if you need to be concerned or flattered by it.

You watch the lights as they bounce off objects in your room before looking back at him. Blurry lines. Soft shapes. Calming motions as they dance back and forth. They are beautiful but you’d much rather look at Mikey.

He has an arm curled loosely over your side while the other is resting under the pillow you both were using. You both liked long thick pillows that went from one side of the bed to the other. A small commonality made sweeter by your domesticity. His hand is curled limply and you remember that he had been stroking your head when you had fallen asleep earlier.

The muted light makes his green skin lighter. Shadows dip into the crevices of his skin and scars, revealing texture you usually only can feel. There is a darkness under his jaw and around his eyebrow ridge. You find yourself tracing the lines of shadow and light with your eyes, hurling the idea that anything could be more captivating out of the window. His breath is steady but his eyes are twitching behind his eyelids.

You see his eyes open. Three blinks and he is awake. You are jealous of how easy it is for him to go from one state of being to the next. He falls asleep quickly and he awakens even quicker. Deep blue eyes find yours and he smiles, moving his arm to drag you the tiniest bit closer. His lips twitch as he draws slow circles in the space between your shoulder blades.

There is an ache in your body, a reminder of the way he had rushed into your apartment as soon as the sun was down. The impact into the wall. Manic energy. Breathless laughter as pent-up passion bubbled over.

Your fingers trace down the side of his face, dipping down from the line of his throat to the pools of his collarbones below his plastron. He churrs the tiniest bit in response and it sounds a lot like the noise he makes when you tease the skin of his neck between your teeth.

You can’t leave marks on him. His skin just doesn’t color the ways a human’s might. Its thicker. Denser. Darker. Scalier. You can’t leave scratches either. It was a bit disappointing to find this out but knowing that he’d enjoy your marks if he was able to have them seizes you in ways you have never experienced. You imagine lining little rouge starbursts down his next and across the broadness of his shoulders and the way he would walk around with them proudly. Red lines connecting red flowers like vines.

His eyes scan over you. He is visual.

Its not always like this. You and him alone. Some nights its you and Mikey and the ghosts that follow you both. There are eyes in the shadows and they have many names and you never know who you are speaking to. They lurk while he cleans his weapons in the living room. They boldly take a seat next to you while you watch a movie tucked under his arm. Some nights, you pull up a seat at the table and serve them as Mikey makes a joke about something that happened during your day.

They exist and they try to make their home in your spaces and they take a toll on the nights when you are too weary to kick them out. A mix-match of traumas that spiral and float and smother and linger.

Mikey doesn’t just wear his heart on his sleeve. He rips open his chest and holds the organ up into the light directly. Makes you watch as it beats and pulses and moves his lifeblood through his body. There are no questions about what he does, how he feels. He is on display by choice, flitting about vulnerable as if there are no monsters in the world he lives in.

But there are days where he wraps himself up behind a glass wall to separate himself from the rest of the world. Deep-rooted hopelessness drains his light, his strength a house of cards edging towards collapse. His voice cracks and wavers. Its never his fault. No one asks for trauma. No one asks to be too late. No one asks for the life he’s lived.

Only recently has a door appeared in the glass. He always tells you where the key is so you can open it. You make sure to crack open the door and wait for him to invite you in further. If he does, you sit inside with him. If he doesn’t, you sit outside and wait for the wall to come down.

And then there are the days where you are translucent. You look down at your body and see through it, faintly incorporeal. A ghost. Light bleeds through you as you walk under the sun. Intangible and lost. You don’t feel real even as your ribs ache and the steady stream of your heartbeat remains. All that exists is quiet breathing.

All your worst nightmares are of you reaching out to hold Mikey’s hand but it goes through him. You can’t grip onto him and he walks away because he can’t see you.

Mikey tells you that he sees you. He grips your hand and squeezes and pulls you in close on the off chance that you feel like your floating away. He won’t let you but he doesn’t begrudge your fear. No one asks for the life you’ve lived.

Jeers erupt from outside but neither of you flinch. You just lean closer into each other. Mikey runs his hand up and down your spine, eyes wet, and you are astounded once more how stubbornly he loves you. How intensely he feels for you. How he believes so much that you both are it. The endgame.

You wish you could take the shadows that live behind his eyes and demand they leave. “You can’t have him,” you imagine you’d say, “He is mine. And I’m not scared of you. I love him too much.” If that meant pulling a seat up for them in the living room and offering them a whiskey laced with intention, you’d do it.

Mikey’s hand slips under your night shirt, his palm flat against the skin of your back and you melt against him. You have studied those hands and all the ways they make you feel things and you exhale harshly and slowly so as to not disturb the rays of muted light.

“You doing okay?” Mikey asks, voice dripping with drowsiness despite the awareness present in his baby blues. “Its late. Or early. Whatever. Was it a nightmare?”

“No baby,” you respond, pressing your mouth against his beak, “No nightmares tonight.”

“Good.”

You press another kiss to his beak before ducking down a little and pressing another one to the side of his mouth. The arm under the blanket shifts. His fingers stroke your head.

There is a lull.

“I love you.”

Its comes out unexpectedly but you aren’t ashamed of it. He already knows. That relationship milestone has long since passed. Even so, the words are splintered, cracked around the edges and easy to be drowned out by the sounds of screeching tires on the road and idiots on the street.

But the impact is till the same. The look he gives you is blue fire and he guides you closer for a kiss. It starts off light, gentle, a nudge against your mouth but his fingers cradled the back of your head as he deepens it. “Love you too. So much” is mumbled as he presses further into you.

Arousal simmers on the back-burner as an afterthought. You had fucked hard earlier - a frenzy, a reconnection after a week of only facetime calls and voice memos that left you worked up and over. You know you will fuck again when the sun is up because Mikey loves starting the days off right when you are both in the same place.

Right now is the time to relearn the shape of his mouth as he kisses you lazily. You pull back slowly. You stare at him and he stares at you, movements slow.  

A beat.

Two.

Three.

“You remember the talks we had?” you whisper before you could stop, brushing your nose over his, “when we had just met? The ones that lasted days at time?”

“Yeah,” he responds, his voice low, “That was a long time ago but I do. I don’t think I could ever forget.” There are flashes of light behind his eyes and you know he remembers each call. Each text thread that was either memes or philosophical questions that had you trying to unearth the truth of the universe. Each conversation that spanned days because real life creates lulls between responses.

“I fell in love with you there,” you whisper back, “Somewhere in those calls, I turned over to look into the phone and realized that you were mine and there would never be anyone else for me.”

“Yeah?” its a soft question that, from the look on his face, doesn’t require an answer, “You too?” You nod anyway. He deserves to see it.

He grins.

“I’m glad that we took our time,” you continue, wiggling as his hand scratches at your back the tiniest bit, “I like that we are friends. I like that I can say “Mikey is my best friend” when they ask me about my boyfriend. I’m glad that I got the chance to like you.”

“I like you too angel,” he whispers, his voice getting softer, warmth bleeding in the spaces between words. Heat singes around his eyes, “I like you so much.”

You hold him tighter, “no one knows my soul like you do.”

Mikey surges forward to kiss you again, his hand running down from your back to the side of your thigh. He rolls you both so he is half on top of you, maneuvering a thigh between your legs and pressing your chests touch as he slips his tongue between your waiting lips. You arms reach up to rest along the broadness of his shoulders, fingers dancing along the lip of his shell.

When he pulls back, his breathing is harsh, “you know mine angel.”

There is a sense of peace with knowing that all your exposed parts are being kept safe. The storms pass. Smoke is cleared. Petrichor sweetens the air. The dead are laid to rest so flowers can grow on their remains. The sun is bright.

Between you, pleasure kindles slowly. Hands roam and tug and cup. Kisses are scattered like constellations. There are murmurs of praise and whispers of awe. Time blurs as you sink down into it.

Mikey brushes his lips along the side of your face as he glances as the clock, the sun peeking its head above the skyline from the window, “Do you want me now?”

“Now.” You punctuate the word with a roll of your hips against his thigh. “I want to feel you.”

He sighs under his breath, hands shifting you until you are where he wants you. Your night clothes are removed and dropped by the side of your bed. His shorts follow, landing right on top of yours. He nestles firmly between your open thighs. “Okay angel. You can have me. You can have everything.”

The vulnerability in his voice shakes you. The slide of his cock into you has you gripping onto him. He draws it out, indulgent in the way you stutter and writhe against him. Its a seamless fit, despite his size. You are still prepped from earlier, wet and accommodating, and he drips like a faucet.

Mikey had never known sex could be like this. He always expected that sex would be purely physically, a thing that couples did to feel good and sate any hormonal urges. No one ever told him about how it feels when hands grip onto him, leaving trails of sparks and comets and tingles across his body that linger for days. No one ever told him that his lovers moans could vibrate along his vertebrate and resonate in the parts of his unknown. The void in his chest fills with liquid gold when he hears his named sobbed against his skin.

You hadn’t known either.

And even though you both do now, even though you crave each other more fiercely than you crave air, it always feels new when you collide. Every sensation has been redefined. Vulnerability has never felt so powerful.

You cry as you feel his cock pulse inside of you as he bottoms out and grinds forward. He grunts, his arms keeping your hips flush against his.

“How do you always feel so good?” Words emphasized with deep thrusts. Hard, slow, tapering into a grind before pulling back out. ”Always so good for me. Meant for me. Made for me to love. Made to take me.”

“Yes,” you hiss back, breath hot against his neck. Mikey adjusts, one of his hands remaining on your hip while the other slides to grip your arms behind your back. He presses you flush against his plastron, back arched off the bed and supported by the strength in his arms as he holds you. “Meant for you. And you found me.”

The casual, effortless show of strength spreads a warm haziness across your mind. You lean into it.

“Fuck - Mi...I-” There are tears in your eyes as you gasp and shudder as Mikey picks up the pace. Without warning, your mouth is covered by his and you can feel his smile against yours. A laugh bubbles up from somewhere and tapers off as the kiss turns hungry.

“Shh I have you,” he gasps between his own pleasured noises, “I have you. You are safe here. What do you need?” His hand strokes along your face as he rocks into you. His voice is breathless but full of intent. “Tell me what you want.”

“Everything,” you babble as he grind right up against your good spot, “I want everything with you.”

He groans, breathing deep as the colors blur into shapes. He tucks his arm back under you, grinding harder, your clit catching along the hardness of his plastron. Your legs tremble around his hips. Mikey kisses you again before he ducks down to your neck and shoulder, his mouth hungry and burning. Ravenous.

Something about romance ignites a wildfire inside of Mikey. You exploit it as often as you can and he lets you because you both know that nothing is said without intent, without meaning. Honesty burns under your skin and shines through your eyes every time you press words of love into his skin like galaxies in a telescope. He basks in the attention. He worships under it.

In return, Mikey spills filth into your ears. The kind that shouldn’t be as sexy as it is but god does he know what you need to hear.

(”You feel perfect, hot and tight.”/ “I’m yours.”/ “I can feel you. You are real.”/ “I know, angel, I know. You’ve been wanting me so much. You need me. I need you too.”/ “I’m going to show you I love you. You’ll never doubt it. You’ll never doubt that I love you.”/ “Angel I’m not scared of your ghosts. They are scared of me.”/)

Mikey’s voice is serrated in ways no one but you have heard. Raw and carnal and deeper than most would expect, flashing dark around the edges the more passionate he gets, the more he reaches down inside of you to pull out the parts of you only he sees. 

You fall apart from the inside and can do nothing as the bottom drops out. You aren’t scared, not with the way Mikey holds you and chases away anything that could ruin this. His “I loves yous” bleed into your skin and you take hold of his pain and strangle it. There is no room for the grief and emptiness as violent tremors rack your bodies and hands cradle exposed hearts. The lights flash and dance as the decrescendo halts everything around you.

Heavy breathing fill the room. Whispered praise is soft and there is shuffling. You wipe each other down as best you can with the wet wipes you keep by the bed before pulling each other closer. The morning light is higher, peeking between the blinds and under the edges of the curtains. 

Eventually you’ll get out of bed. Clean up properly. Make food and spend time together with your clothes on. Relax in the knowledge that the day is a good one with no dark figures hanging in the corners, waiting to come in. But, thats for later.

For now, you lay close, breathing each other in. Hands are still roaming. No one has faded and there is no cold glass protecting warm skin. Mikey murmurs something and you smile. Your smile meets his smile and laughter joins in, glimmering in the light. You peck at his mouth and his fingers dig into the skin of your flesh before he grabs the comforter and hides you both underneath it.

Everything can wait. Just for a little longer. 

~~~~~

[lovecolibri]

Things that did NOT Spark Joy-4x04

Ooooooh besties it’s salty bench rant time!! If you want to know what I liked, you can find that here, but this is aaaaaall salt mine!

So, after forgetting Mimi exists for a whole season, never brining up her role in Alex’s season 2 kidnapping, why she went to talk to the bootmaker who went crazy after working on the Lockhart Machine/what she learned from him, or what all she knew about what Jesse and Jim were up to at Caulfield and HOW she knew it (logical answer would be her mom told her, but in season 1 she just vaguely alludes to something changing them and it being alien in nature but sounding like she was always on the outside of the information so who knows! Not fucking us, that’s for damn sure), Mimi dies with zero fanfare in the opening with zero clue as to why/what she’s dying of, zero attempts at resuscitation made, and while giving us zero answers to what her purpose has been this whole time. Awesome. 

To top it all off, the only thing the death accomplished was getting m*ria to dig through her mom’s wedding photos where she finds a drawing of an alien tree. Which....easily could have been something she found and kept out when going through old stuff last week. There is literally zero reason for this death except to give m*ria something to do because she continues to be superfluous, and a reason to make everyone feel sorry for her and fall all over themselves for her/beat themselves up about not being there for her more. It’s yet another emotional beat that doesn’t land because we haven’t seen Mimi in ages, and it didn’t actually do anything or truly affect anyone the rest of the episode! Liz has a whole moment like “m*ria’s not talking to me so I must have said something wrong”, like, HER MOM DIED! Maybe that’s why she’s not answering people because it’s too much right now! And Liz has a little trouble focusing, which a) doesn’t entirely track with her because every other time she’s upset she escapes into the science, and b) we easily could have had her being vaguely distracted and worried because Alex is missing but that would require everyone to actually care about him. They don’t ever really commit to grief/mourning, they just have everyone making vague mentions about being concerned for m*ria while doing their own things, and have her being mean to/about everyone for not being there for her even as she’s actively pushing them away. Waste. Of. TIme.

Speaking of, after seeing everyone basically begging her to let them help, we get m*ria rebuffing everyone then complaining about being alone, and lashing out at Dallas specifically while making snide comments about Isobel and Michael’s powers, and Liz and what she’s doing which is *checks notes* teaching a GED class, taking a break after killing herself trying to save Max AND m*ria (who purposefully and selfishly allowed her condition to get worse forcing Liz and Kyle to work even harder resulting in the predicament she’s in now where the cure they gave her couldn’t be fully tested and is now interfering with her powers), plus also now working for Shivani and helping with the new alien stuff going down. But sure, she’s on an “eat, pray, Liz” journey, just screwing around with no cares for anyone or anything at all. Say you resent your supposed bff without saying it 🙄 (Yes, that line from Liz about m*ria’s powers DID feel incredibly out of place, but since the writers just used it to give m*ria an excuse to hate on Liz, it’s even more pointless and dumb. Her visions were of zero help last season, why is everyone so concerned about them now?)  AND THEN, we had to put up with the writers having Dallas concede and say that she’s right!! For yelling at him and trashing her friends when all any of them have tried to do is help! Someone PLEASE free him from this trap! I cannot believe we’re going to waste him this season propping her up instead of doing LITERALLY anything else. Stop. Ruining. Fan. Favorites. To. Prop. Up. m*ria.

Also, MAYBE the first mention of Alex and people being worried about him answering his phone should NOT be days later and all about m*ria? Just a thought. Also, it’s...pretty darn gross to force Michael to be bending over backwards to help m*ria with that ILY he gave her still hanging out there because the writers refused to let the characters discuss season 2, and Malex still aren’t allowed to say it to each other, so it still feels like a dangling “if I could have her...”, while his ACTUAL soulmate is eating dirt in a hole and no one has noticed or cared that he’s not in contact. Until he fails to show up for THEM, and then people notice. Anytime the writers want to stop kissing m*ria’s ass about everything and forcing every single character to do it too, that would be just great.

Oh, but she’s her “own savior”. Right. Definitely has not spent the entire series doing things she should not be doing and forcing other people to rescue her at great danger to themselves. 🙄 Do the writers even WATCH this show? Also, pushing away everyone who is genuinely concerned and refusing help so you can prove you can “save yourself” is....not the serve the writers apparently think it is.

Loooove how Jenna gets to be in all the alien meetings when we can’t even get Alex showing up to the strategic planning meetings to take down the big bad, or actually help take down the big bad, or even be shown seeing his boyfriend who was stabbed and left for dead, stapled together, and specifically went to Alex to get something from him after Alex was threated by the big bad for being close to Michael 🙃🙃🙃 I enjoy Jenna and all but her being more involved in the main plot and in more group scenes, and scenes with other characters than Alex has ever been allowed to be is my villain origin story.

But speaking of Jenna, I was SO weirded out with her saying she still wonders what would have happened if she had made a move and told Max she loved him, like??? Girl, you know how that man looks at Liz! How it has always been her! And you DID make a move! And he stood you up for Liz more than once! Just a bad choice on the writers part because you know she’s not the type to waste time pining over someone who doesn’t appreciate her value. Also I was loving her friendship with Max, but now it’s going to feel all weird and awkward because she apparently still loves him? 🙄 whatever, let her and Dallas hook up and free him from m*ria and her from Max.  

I want to care more about Anatsa and Isobel but we have used up almost HALF of Trevino’s episodes (unless they extended his contract this season) on Isobel being with someone else and I am tired. And once again, we have the alien saying ILY and getting broken up with leaving ANOTHER soulmate being made to look like second choice. Jail for the writers! Jail for one thousand years! Stop. Undermining. Your. Own. Narrative.

Just....A+ writing there with the “Clyde is like my brother” after naming the duo after a very famous romantic couple. Also not digging the Creepy Religious Cult vibes with Clyde, and how Bonnie talks about him too which is giving me very Noah/Isobel grooming vibes. (Jones was more fun to me personally when he was doing Just Vaguely Unhinged Beardy Man things, instead of Space Dictator things, but that’s more just a “me” thing. That said I am SO ready for him to come back because they made him Too Evil and then killed him off too quickly instead of letting him be the bad guy they have to call when they need help with other bad guys. I NEED the Michael/Jones banter!)

For someone who is banging on about "excess" and "extravagant living" Clyde a) sure is casual about trashing that very expensive phone for no reason when they could have just...left it behind, and b) wearing some pretty pricey looking snakeskin boots which are for sure more expensive than just some casual shoes or even some regular ol' work boots. Just saying 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

The weird juxtaposition of the aliens being "new" and therefore unsure about earth stuff, with them also being super aware of earth stuff and earth's issues, and what all the aliens names were on earth and choosing to go by earth names even when talking to each other is all just....very weird and makes it hard to really get into things. They have supposedly only been out of their pods for 6 months while chilling in the NM desert and we see Clyde cooking them a snake over a fire but they both look waaaay too clean to be roughing it so where have they been staying? Where were their pods hidden? Tezca seems to have come from Mexico, but Clyde said they were on the ship with Jones that crashed in NM. Why do they have all this knowledge about both the Oasis and earth but the pod squad had nothing? I’m hoping we will get answers to these questions, but knowing this show, I’m not holding my breath. It’s just jarring when the aliens go from “oooh, we’re sooo unsure of these strange earth things! What are “burgers”?” to spouting off about economic disparity and knowing all about Jones when he barely had a chance to get a message out. It’s jarring because I can’t land on how much they are supposed to know.

I already talked about it in some asks but Liz just...destroying full samples of alien...tissue? (IDK the first one was supposed to be skin cells but the second one looked exactly the same but was from tears?) TWICE without bothering to save part of the sample back is just 🙄🙄🙄 The woman has multiple degrees and has been headhunted by multiple people looking for the best of the best when it comes to science. Stop making her look stupid because you’re not smart enough to write around her brilliance! (the same trap Alex falls into honestly, which why they just... don’t include him) Also, how did they explain where/how they found that lady’s truck? Also also, do we even know why they needed her or that truck or was that just Tezca’s ride she hitched to NM? Which circles back to my question above about if/why her pod was in Mexico if the others were supposedly in NM and their triad were on the ship with Jones?

I’m also confused why an entire lab crew investigating an area where they found a suspiciously alien looking skin sample, would just pack up and leave without scouring the area for more samples. I don’t know why Liz thought the area would a) be free of the scientists that were just working there, and b) still have additional samples they didn’t find before they left. Aaaaaall of this just so they could find the truck and question the driver about her blue eyes? Even though they could just...be told that? I’m sure it was in the report she made about the Weird Things That Happened? Whyyyyy is the show like this?! 

THEY FOUND SOMETHING BURRIED IN THE DESERT BUT IT WASN’T ALEX! 0/10.

Speaking of Alex, can we STOP USING MALEX THINGS FOR EVERYONE ELSE?! The turquoise has zero significance to Max and Liz, but was a big thing for Malex last season. We’ve already had to deal with Bonnie and the music thing and Echo using “cosmic”.  Stop it

They have like, 10 people in on the alien secret at this point, who TF let Kyle run off to Mexico ALONE?! Have we learned nothing?! (This would have been a nice time for Rosa to come back, just saying. Her being there to spend time with her brother, and then crashing his time with Isobel when she shows up and they’re looking into things? Delightful. But we have to have another new character added I guess 🙄)

Probably my biggest gripe which I have already expounded on quite a bit, is that all these pieces of alien glass and whatever this is that Nora supposedly built that is supposedly going to take the aliens home is stuff we should have been finding pieces of in previous seasons and had our mains trying to figure out what they did and had that simmering in the background until they find the base. These pieces should have been things Alex found in his dad’s bunker, and Kyle was left by his dad because Jim smuggled it out of Caulfield, and something Eduardo had a Deep Sky. These things should have been centered on our main characters to tie them into the story instead of inventing two characters to do bank robberies just to steal these things we’ve never seen or heard of!

Tied into that and also something I’ve discussed in some of my asks, why is Liz getting pep-talks from some stranger instead of someone who knows her? Why are all our mains so scattered and having scenes with needless outside characters instead of each other? It wouldn’t be so bad for this one conversation if it wasn’t a constant issue the show has constantly struggled with and I’m tiiiiiired. 

I feel like the kiss has been talked to death so I’m not gong to go on too much about it. I didn’t hate it since I pretty much saw it coming and it definitely could have been worse, but it was also so unnecessary. We could have had a million other ways for Michael to bring up his love for Alex. Like, every time he and Bonnie have talked about music and the guitar he has that Alex gave him. Or she could have noticed he was worried and has been checking his phone and he mentions his boyfriend is out of town and he thought he’d have heard from him by now. There were other ways to let Bonnie know about Alex (because I feel like that’s ultimately the reason, they needed her to know about him so she can connect the dots on who they are holding hostage), without it having to be a kiss as a way for Michael to “prove” he’s staying true to Alex even when he has the opportunity not to. 

We been knew that wasn’t Eduardo Jenna ran into but like, she’s never met him before? How would she know if he had a “suspicious” tattoo or not or anything about him really? I get they needed to have someone Max would follow over to where Jones was but it just once again feels like poor planning and ending up using characters for scenes where a different character would have worked better. Like Alex, but he’s stuck in a fucking hole still, or Rosa working on her alien tracking skills and also getting to see her uncle and notice it’s not really him, but she’s god knows where doing god knows what and I’m pretty sure she was never allowed to meet Eduardo last season even though he’s...her uncle. 🙄

And finally, this post about how time doesn’t work in Roswell. Maybe my theory about it actually being Night Vale is true!

Soooo, this ended up being longer than intended. I think knowing it’s the last season is killing my patience for pointless/unnecessary scenes and characters taking time away from scenes/characters I’d rather be seeing than being told about. And after getting to the end of season 3 only to find out they really did waste so much time on that vision plot and expected us to believe THAT was actually Kyle’s funeral, I’m having a hard time putting any stock or faith in the show that most of this was actually needed and not some convoluted set up that wasn’t needed resulting in ultimately, a waste of multiple scenes. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m hoping we get answers and find out the reason for all some of the loooong pointless setups to get information but it just doesn’t seem likely since this show has continually had pacing issues and issues wasting time to show us unimportant things, while telling us about important things that just happen off screen.

Link to previous episode posts: 4x01, 4x02, 4x03

[delimeful]

not always what they seem (2)

warnings: inappropriate jokes, remus being remus, mild panic attack, fear, miscommunication

long overdue commission for @legendsgates​! thank you for your patience and support 💚

Chapter 1

-

Janus watched the giant creatures around them devolve into more of that buzzing, clicking language as Remus waved his arm around enthusiastically in response to them.

“What are you-- Stop that,” the emo kid hissed, his whole body going tense, and Janus leaned back slightly just in time to avoid getting caught in the half-tackle that Remus was subjected to. “What if they just asked who wants to be first to be dissected, huh?”

“Oooh, kinky,” Remus cackled from where the kid had pinned his wrists to the floor. “Do you think they’ll probe me first?”

Janus rolled his eyes, and then stiffened as a shadow fell over them. “Kid—!”

He could see the moment the red alien’s hand made contact, the kid’s face immediately draining of all color as those strange talons wrapped around him and started to lift.

Almost instantly, Remus surged to his feet, grabbing the kid’s arm before he could be lifted out of range. The hold was so tight it almost looked painful, but the kid clung back desperately. He looked smaller than ever without the bulky hoodie around him, his frame barely concealed by a worn, slightly oversized band shirt.

Remus’s face twisted into a snarl. “Hey, hands to yourself, you shitty Mothra rip-off!”

Janus quickly rose to his feet as well, looking up past the kid’s terrified gaze to see the alien had paused, it’s strange antenna protrusions twitching. The facial features didn’t give him much to work with, so he attempted to see what the creature was seeing, contextless: the kid tackling Remus for big showy arm movements, Remus coming after him. Was it trying to seperate them like a pet owner with a pair of squabbling dogs?

He shifted forwards, setting a hand on Remus’ shoulder and expertly drawing all attention to himself. Remus glanced at him and then reluctantly cut off his litany of extremely descriptive curses, though his grip on the kid didn’t falter. Janus tilted his head back to carefully lock eyes with the alien.

“No. Stop,” he spoke with a stern emphasis. “Put him down.”

He reached up to grab the kid’s arm as well, tugging lightly, and then repeated himself slowly.

“Double D, buddy, I’d bet all three of my balls that they don’t understand English,” Remus said, “no matter how slow you say it.”

Janus didn’t break eye contact with the giant, moving to point at the kid and then the floor of their enclosure emphatically. “That doesn’t mean we can’t communicate with them.”

At the perfect moment to dramatically accentuate his point, the alien seemed to concede, lowering the kid down until his feet were touching the floor. The guy tore out of the oversized grip as soon as it loosened, nearly tumbling head over heels. Janus caught him by the arm, and Remus took the opportunity to jump forwards and click his teeth menacingly at the giant hand. The alien recoiled immediately, looking much like an elephant shying away from a mouse.

“I volunteer to get probed and this is how you fucks repay me? Just grabbing kids all willy-nilly? Have some respect!”

The kid muttered something, half-lost under his panicked breaths, and Remus turned to look at him. “What was that, short stack?”

“Virgil,” he repeated irritably. “It’s Virgil, not ‘kid’, definitely not ‘short stack’. I’m twenty years old, for fuck’s sake.”

Janus and Remus shared a glance over the newly-named Virgil’s head, and that was enough to set the man off into another fit of cackling laughter.

---

Roman watched, enthralled, as the little creature bedecked in green threw its head back and made a hair-raising clamor.

Intriguingly enough, the other two didn’t seem to react too strongly to such a loud outburst. The yellow one turned its face to the side as its tiny features pinched into an expression that Roman couldn’t quite decode, and the shaky purple one’s pale face seemed to shift color as it made an emphatic hand gesture of some sort. Patton would be taking plenty of notes later.

The motions, the expressions, they were all intentional and full of meaning, just like the pointing and sounds Yellow had made when Roman had tried to separate Purple from the group. He still didn’t quite grasp why the other specimens had responded so strongly; Purple had clearly been attacking, though thankfully no serious harm had occurred thanks to Roman swiftly jumping into action.

“This is incredible,” Logan murmured from beside him, and Roman couldn’t help but agree.

“There’s so much to analyze here,” he mumbled. “Any small animal would flee from a predator’s grasp, but they recognized that we’re sapient, and Yellow even approached instead to mediate!”

“Yellow?” Patton asked, a bit of teasing in his voice. “I thought your nicknames were always a bit wordier?”

“I can’t properly nickname someone unless I have their self-presentation and personality, Pat!” Roman defended. “It’s more of a… designation. After all, I can’t very well ask their names, can I?”

“I mean, we could certainly try!” Patton suggested with an optimistic lilt to his voice. “I’m not a linguist for nothing, y’know!”

“It might take some time to communicate intent, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Patton.” Logan’s ears flicked at the pleading look the Nihl sent him. “Still, I’ll admit there’s… no harm in a first attempt.”

Roman unsubtly chittered a laugh at his coworker’s expense, and Patton brightened immediately.

“Glad that you agree it’s… wordth a try!”

---

Janus was drawn away from the amusing argument going on between his fellow captives (the topic being how old one had to be to be an actual ‘for-realsies’ adult, federal law be damned) by two of the aliens simultaneously making odd, dragged out noises almost like stuttering groans.

“They sound like fucking zombies,” Virgil muttered from where he’d appeared at Janus’s shoulder. He’d snapped back to watching the three with blatant paranoia the moment they were loud enough to catch his notice.

The kid wasn’t subtle at all, but it wasn’t like he was wrong to be on guard. They were still abducted, regardless of how fantastical or impossible their captors seemed. Seeing how significant the size difference was, they’d have to work on escaping through… more cunning means.

Janus carefully held his position as the three giants crowded around the enclosure again, ignoring the way Virgil reached out to grip the back of his hoodie, either for comfort or in preparation to pull Janus from danger. This time, the three chattered amongst themselves for a long moment before going quiet and turning to the multiple-armed one.

Automatically, the humans mirrored the gesture, and the recipient of their attention met their gazes carefully one by one before placing a rigid, vertical hand under their chin and holding it there.

“Patton,” the alien said, slow and clear. It looked at them expectantly, and then repeated the phrase. “Patton.”

It was definitely some kind of word, that was clear enough. When not caught up in the rapid-fire chittering nature of the alien language, it was much easier to decipher.

“Patton?” Virgil muttered, and then squeaked when the alien stared at him with sudden intensity, hands flicking up and down erratically. Except for, Janus noted, the one still under its chin.

“Patton,” it said again, and then lowered the hand. Next to it, the insect-like one put a much bonier hand under its own angular chin.

“Roman,” it said, with a few subtle clicks that probably couldn’t be replicated by human mouths. Janus nodded, the pieces clicking into place. “Roman.”

Sure enough, next to make the hand gesture was the last alien, who introduced itself with a note of rippling bass overlapping with something like Logan. It was probably a bit mangled as he echoed it back, but different vocal chords made things difficult.

“You communing with them, Dee?” Remus asked from where he was crowding over his other shoulder. “That’s no sign language I’ve ever used. You speak alien and you’re not even going to share with the class?”

Janus elbowed him off, and then stepped forwards, and placed his own hand under his chin vertically, studying the ripple of reaction that got from the aliens.

“Dee,” he said, choosing to use his nickname as he had with the other humans.

The aliens immediately dissolved into excited chattering, which Janus patiently waited out. His fellow earthlings were similarly surprised.

“Wait, they’re doing introductions right now?” Virgil’s head whipped back and forth rapidly. Remus was gleefully attempting to mimic the weird, echoey quality of the voice of ‘Logan’ and getting concerningly close.

The one with all the arms-- Patton, it was Patton, he needed to remember if he wanted to make any progress at all here-- let out a string of syllables, slowed down but still nonsensical to them, and reached out.

Virgil jumped back and Remus started forwards, but Janus cut off all movement with a quickly snapped “Stop!”

Including the alien’s motion. He resisted the urge to smile at the success, instead looking up at Patton and tilting his head slightly. “What is it?”

Patton didn’t understand his words, but the questioning tone seemed to carry over, and after a beat, they moved their hand forward again just slightly before pausing, as though asking permission.

Janus weighed his options for a moment, before stepping forward. Virgil, who was still latched onto the back of him, came along with only a single sound of half-panicked protest. Patton correctly assumed that this was Janus giving his assent, and moved their hand closer, much slower this time.

With delicate, careful motions, they pushed Janus’s left hand out from under his chin, and then carefully curled a finger around his right arm, tugging that one up instead. Janus realized his mistake after a moment, and placed the right hand under his chin instead. Patton withdrew with a bright hum.

“What is happening,” Virgil hissed, and Janus glanced over his shoulder at him. The color had drained from his face, and his hand was white-knuckled where it was holding onto Janus’s borrowed outfit.

“I was mirroring their… introductory gesture, I suppose, and it seems that the meaning changes if I don’t use the correct hand. In this case, my right one,” he explained. “They’re going to want to know your name. Do you want me to assist?”    

Before he could answer, Remus was bouncing forwards, placing a hand under his own chin to gain the aliens’ attention.

“Call me I-Am-A-Buttface,” he half-shouted, grinning wildly.

---

“Did… did anyone else catch that one’s name?”

Roman watched as ‘D’ reached over and tugged the other tiny alien back by the collar roughly before they could speak again, astonished by how the other only let out what might be a cackle at the rough handling.

Not more astonished than he’d been by the alien catching on so quickly, though. Logan had been rendered completely speechless for a record amount of time, and Patton was still happily waving his hands back and forth at the success.

D visibly let out a long breath, and turned back to them, placing the correct hand under their chin this time. “D,” they repeated, and then switched things up.

They pulled the rambunctious one closer and placed their hand under that one’s chin, too. “Remus.”

“Are they-- introducing the other one as well?” Roman asked, and none of them could answer. ‘Remus’ didn’t seem to object, though they continued to speak in that rounded language. “That’s certainly a bit... unorthodox.”

D looked over at the only unnamed alien, the angry one that was standing at D’s shoulder, and after a moment, they jerked their head strangely. D seemed to understand, and held a hand palm-up in that one’s direction.

The unnamed alien put their hand in the proper introductory position, and had a few false starts before finally getting their name out. “Virgil.”

“Virgil,” Patton echoed excitedly. “That’s Virgil! Virgil, D, and Remus!”  

“Stars above,” Logan said faintly, “they really are just people but smaller.”

Roman couldn’t help but agree with the astounded sentiment. It hadn’t really sunk in before, but knowing the personal names of individual members of the unfamiliar species… “This could have been a disaster. Why were they labeled as primitive? Did the recorders even actually observe the planet they’re from? This seems a little hard to miss!”

“Easy, Roman,” Patton reached over to run a couple of gentle hands over his agitated wings. “You’re scaring the little guys.”

Sure enough, when he looked over, he could see all three of the tiny aliens were staring at him. He clicked an apology, and then echoed it in Common. “My apologies, small friends.”

“I agree with you, though… We can’t treat them as anything less, not like the tests would have us do. I’m not sure what our next step should be,” Patton admitted, and they turned as one to look at Logan. The Glanrim had a recognizably enthusiastic glint to his eyes.

“We’ll have to present our case to the Council. If we want them to believe us, we’ll need sufficient evidence that our specimens are sentient, sapient, and deserving of the standard rights,” he told them, tail swishing. “Our next step is to obtain that proof, through whatever means we can.”

Roman and Patton shared a glance before nodding in agreement. They turned towards the aliens with determination, and then stopped completely short.

“We’re… going to have to find some method of communicating our intentions,” Logan said, tapping his fingers on his shoulder in thought. “I believe the lack of such communication is what caused Virgil to behave so timidly in the first place.”

“Yeah, just reaching in and grabbing them probably isn’t a good idea,” Roman admitted. “What’s the plan, then?”

“Well, this can be a test in itself. Assuming that they can discuss amongst themselves what tests each of us did on the first run-through…”

---

Janus stared blankly at the three hands that had been set down along the floor of their enclosure, palms-up, each corresponding to one of the aliens. He turned to look at Virgil and Remus, just to ascertain that he was seeing the same thing they were.

Remus tilted his head to a painful-looking angle, and then nodded to himself. “It’s just like those choose-your-own-adventure books, except with huge aliens that we don’t know the intentions of! Fun!”  

“Oh, so they’re insane? They’re out of their skulls?” Virgil asked, his voice upping an octave in disbelief. “They really think we’re going to just literally put our lives in their hands, after they abducted and tormented us?”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to have to do,” Janus muttered, and held his hands up when Virgil turned to him with a glare. “Just listen for a moment. What are they doing right now?”

“Trying to trick us,” Virgil shot back immediately.

“Getting handsy!” Remus offered.

Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “No and definitely no. They’re offering us a choice,” he clarified, “because we’ve done something to shift their opinions of us.”

“Some choice,” Virgil muttered. Janus pointed at him, making him jerk back slightly.

“Exactly. What do you think they’re going to do if we refuse to engage with them at all?”

“... Grab us anyways?”

Janus nodded, casting another look over at the waiting aliens. “If that happens, we’ve relinquished any and all control over the situation, no matter how small. Instead, we need to take advantage of this while we can. We’ll be putting our lives in their hands regardless, so it’s best to act strategically here.”

“Well, I know what I want.” Remus sidled a step away from them and towards the aliens. “Dibs on the hot one.”

“The what one?” Virgil gaped, and Remus ignored him in favor of getting a running start and then throwing himself directly onto Logan’s hand. Unsurprisingly, Logan seemed unsure how to react to a human sprawling over him like Rose from Titanic. Janus was too professional to slap a hand onto his forehead, but the urge was there. He grabbed Virgil’s shoulder when the kid started towards them.

“Forget it. He’s made his choice, and he doesn’t seem like the type to be swayed by common sense,” Janus said, rolling eyes and choosing very emphatically to not question his fellow human’s apparent qualifiers for someone being considered ‘hot’. “You need to make a decision of your own.”

Virgil shook him off, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “This is crazy. All of it. Forever. You know that, right?”

“I’m aware,” Janus replied, voice dry. Virgil shot him another look, and then seemed to actually consider the options, though grumpily. With his shoulders still up around his ears, he looked vaguely like a very angry turtle. Janus kept this observation to himself.

“Remus called the one with all the arms-- uh, Patton? He called them boring and said all they did was talk at him,” he finally offered, glancing over at the alien.

Janus nodded, keeping his own feelings on the matter off his face. “You want that one, then?”

“What?” Virgil looked at him, confused. “No, I mean you should go with them. You’ll probably have an easier time figuring out what they want from Patton.”

Janus paused, thrown off. “Hold on, that-- that leaves you with Roman. I… don’t think you’ll have the best time, considering.”

“And you will?” Virgil took Janus’s silence as the admittance it was, and nodded to himself. “I can do it. I’m tougher than you think. And anyways, if I let you go with him, he’d probably try to swipe my hoodie. Not happening.”

Janus huffed with exasperation, and Virgil gave him the closest expression he’d gotten to a smile yet before shoving his shoulder slightly and stomping up to Roman’s hand. The alien looked just as unhappy as Virgil about the decision.

---

“Well, that was an… interesting selection process,” Logan said, lifting up his hand slightly and finding that Remus seemed content to be toted around.

It was more than he could say about his own matchup. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” he grumbled as ‘Virgil’ continued to stand there, tiny arms bundled around themself, tiny eyes staring up at Roman aggressively.

The little creature didn’t seem intent on even touching Roman, let alone actually being picked up and taken anywhere. Roman looked over to where D was seating themself on the edge of Patton’s hand like a king upon their throne, and then back to Virgil, who didn’t move.

Maybe they expected Roman to do all the heavy lifting? He carefully lifted his hand, curling it around Virgil’s tiny frame, and received a vicious hiss for his efforts. He recoiled, antennae flattening. He hadn’t even known these creatures could hiss!

“You alright, kiddo?” Patton appeared next to him, one hand hovering as a safety net for D. Roman pasted on a smile immediately.

“Of course! Just working out methods of transport with… Virgil. They seem a bit less charismatic than D when it comes to conveying intent, unfortunately.” The tiny creature continued to stare at him, gaze only dipping away to meet D’s briefly.

Patton studied Virgil for a moment, gaze moving between their hunched form and Roman’s fidgeting hands. “They might be a little touch shy. The transport containers are still usable, if you need them!”

“Ah, that’s right! Patton, you’re a genius.” Roman exchanged good luck hums with the Nihl and waited until he departed to grab the transport container and present it to Virgil. “Is this what you want to use, you picky creature?”  

As though to spite him, Virgil’s skin shifted to a paler shade, and they went so far as to step back slightly. Roman allowed himself a few frustrated clickswears, and then stopped as he noticed the creature stumble slightly.

“Virgil…?” he attempted the alien’s name, but there was no response beyond their rapid air intake increasing. They didn’t look so good.

Feeling oddly off-balance, he quickly stowed the transport container away, and kept his hands out of sight to give the poor guy some more space. “Easy, easy. Please for the love of all that is good, don’t die of shock on me.”

Virgil didn’t seem to improve at first, but after a moment, they started muttering to themself, and slowly but surely, began to return to baseline. Roman felt as though years had been taken off his lifespan.

“Alright, if you feel so strongly about it, there’s no reason I can’t improvise and simply work from here,” he rambled, moving a seat and a tray of tools to the side of the wide-low enclosure. “Logan wasn’t kidding when he called you easily startled, was he?”

Virgil eyed the tray with wide eyes, and when Roman picked up the thermometer, they skittered back out of easy reach, arms lifted in what must have been a defensive gesture. Like a frightened Arkbit, but less fluffy, and Roman had to actually try to coax them over rather than just holding them still for the process.

“It’s just a thermometer! It won’t prick you or anything, on my honor,” Roman swore, and when that didn’t do the trick, he used the device on himself instead. “See, I just place it against my skin for a few moments, and… there! A perfectly healthy me!”

He extended the sensor end of the thermometer in Virgil’s direction, but didn’t advance. “C’mon, just give it a shot. We’re going to need your baseline in case you get sick, and it’ll make it easier to get the others’ temps if you can tell them I’m not going to electrocute them or anything.”

Virgil dithered for a long moment, but Roman’s patience was rewarded when the alien finally stalked closer and smacked his hand against the sensor like a challenge. Luckily, it was precise enough to work accurately even with such a small specimen, and soon enough Roman has a temperature.

“Huh… you’re warmer than me and Patton, that’s for sure,” Roman mumbled. “Logan probably already has all sorts of classification theories about you guys, but I think it’s at least safe to say you’re mammalian.”

Virgil tilted their head slightly at him, and Roman shook his head. “We’ll have more to talk about once we actually manage to make a breakthrough on language. For now,” he held up a small scale, normally used for weighing precise chemical measurements, “back to the boring stuff!”

The tiny alien made a strange drawn out noise, and placed their hands over their face, but they didn’t get all tense and breathy again, and that was progress in Roman’s book.

So long as they kept making progress, things would probably turn out okay.

[avengerscompound]

The Surrogate - Chapter 1

The Surrogate:  A Clintasha Fanfic

Masterlist

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Clint Barton x Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Word Count:  3305

Rating:  E

Warnings: Injuries, smut (M\F, oral sex, vaginal sex, public sex)

Synopsis:  A freak end of the world incident leads to meeting your two best friends, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff.  While your friendship with the two Avengers is anything but conventional, they are your all-time favorite people.  When you find out that Clint and Natasha want to start a family but have exhausted all their options, you realize your powerset might allow you to give them what they want.  Having your best friends’ baby might seem like a good idea on paper, but when you are as close as you, Clint, and Natasha are, will doing something so intimate mean feelings get a little mixed up?

A/N:  Just a reminder as this is a new series you must tell me (preferably by ask) that you want to be tagged or continue to be tagged.

Chapter 1

The sky was on fire.  Everything around you was chaos.  People running for their lives and parts of buildings crashing to the ground.  You were trying to not let the crowd drag you along with them because all you could think was there was nowhere you could go right now that would be safe and if you were going to die, you didn’t want it to be at the bottom of a pile of corpses.

You ducked down a side alley that stunk of trash but was blessedly empty of people.  As you took a moment to decide what you would do next, there was a cry from above you and a figure rocketed down from the side of the building, managed to grab hold of the fire escape just long enough to dislocate his shoulder and slow his fall, before landing on top of a dumpster with a loud crash and rolling onto the ground.  You rushed over to the figure that seemed to be trying to struggle to its feet.

“You probably shouldn’t move,” you said, crouching down and pushing him back a little.  It wasn’t until that moment that you realized this was an actual Avenger.  Not just any Avenger either, Hawkeye, one of the original ones.  You wondered what he was doing in your town and if there were any other Avengers here.  If there were, maybe you weren’t as doomed as you’d originally thought.

“Gotta,” Clint groaned trying to push you back off him.  “Need to get back.”

“You’re an archer and at the very least you’ve dislocated your arm,” you reasoned.

“Not dislocated,” Clint groaned, rolling onto his side.  “Broken.  And some ribs.  Might have bruised my spine.”

You helped him to sit up and furrowed your brow.  “I might be able to help you,” you said.  “A little anyway.  Help you get back.”

“What?  You a drug dealer?”  Clint asked, pulling his arm in against his side.

“No,” you said. “I’m enhanced.  I need you to kiss me.  And not like a peck.  With your injuries, it’s gonna need a full-on make-out session just to get you up.”

Clint’s face did not hide his emotions at all.  He furrowed his brow in confusion, then widened his eyes in surprise.  His lips pursed together as he considered if you were telling the truth and then a large smile broke out on it.  “If you wanted to make-out you just had to ask.”

You leaned in and licked your lips, wetting them well before bringing them to the archer’s.  The spark happened immediately as your powers engaged.  People often thought it was that spark that happens in stories where two people who are meant for each other finally kiss and fall in love.  The first time it happened you’d even fallen for that and you and the guy had ended up dating for a year too long before you realized that maybe there was no such thing as fate, and if there was it could go fuck itself because you weren’t spending another day with that jackass, destiny be damned.

Clint made a soft choked sound and his hand went to your hair drawing you in closer and deepening the kiss.  It was good really.  Even if he was caught up in the feel of your lips against his, and that spark that ran between you it would help with the process.  You teased your tongue into his mouth and he let out a moan as they started to actually do their job.

You were a healer.  Your powers worked perfectly in your own body.  You never got sick, if you cut yourself it would heal instantly.  One time you had been riding a bike and hit a rock.  It sent you sprawling and you heard a loud crack in your shoulder and a flare of white-hot pain.  People had come running to help but when you got back up, there had been absolutely nothing wrong.  Not even a scrape.

They didn’t work so perfectly on other people.  You’d figured out through some accidental trial and error that it worked through bodily fluid exchange.  Kissing could work on cuts and scrapes, but you’d normally need to donate blood to get to the level of healing Clint Barton currently needed, and that only worked if they were a compatible blood type.  There were other ways that worked better than kissing of course.  None you wanted to do right here in the street with a complete stranger even if you could talk him into it.

You swirled your tongue with his and licked over the corner of his mouth, dragging the kiss out as long as possible.  When you finally pulled back, his bruises were gone and most of his cuts.  The arm was definitely still broken but he seemed to be holding it a little better.

“Holy shit,” Clint said.  “I - uh -”

“You aren’t in love with me,” you assured him.  “Don’t worry.  Go save the world.”

He pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his bow from where it had fallen a few feet away.  “I wanna talk to you when all this is done.”

“If you save the world, I’ll meet you back here,” you agreed reluctantly.  You didn’t know if you'd just plunged yourself into deep water by outing your abilities to an actual Avenger or if he was stuck the ‘true love’s kiss’ groove and you were going to have to knock him out of it, but either way, you were dreading it, even if it did mean the world was safe.

You left the alley not long after Clint and ended up sheltering in a tunnel while you waited out the battle.  As the sounds of fighting and explosions died down and the sky began to return to its usual blue, you dared to set back out again.  Clean up crews and emergency services had arrived and it was a little difficult evading them, but you eventually made your way to the alley.

Clint was waiting for you alone.  It looked like he'd seen a medic.  His arm was now in a sling and he had stitches in his cheek.  “Was starting to think you weren't gonna show,” Clint said.

“They aren't letting people back into the hub of the damage,” you explained.  “Had to sneak past a bunch of barricades.”

“Well, aren't you resourceful?” Clint said playfully.  “You got anywhere we could talk?  Preferably where I could also get very, very drunk?”

“I doubt anything is gonna be open around here,” you said.  “Might have to go further out.”

Clint nodded and the two of you walked out looking for a bar together.  He was limping a little and you considered offering your services again, but the looming conversation held you back. You didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.

By the time you did find a bar that was open you had hyped up the conversation so much in your head, you were fairly sure he was going to either propose or send you to the raft for being unregistered and breaking the Sokovia Accords.

“Shots?”  Clint asked as you went into the busy bar.

“Yeah.  Definitely,” you agreed.  “And get food.  I’m starving.  I’ll find a table.”

It took a while to find anywhere to sit.  It was like half the city had decided to drink after the events of the day and this was the only bar open.  You ended up having to share a table with a group of women who seemed to already be halfway to fully drunk.

“So,” Clint said, placing a tray of shots on the table and sliding into the booth beside you.  “Enhanced, huh?”

 “Yeah,” you said and took your first shot.  He’d gotten Kaluah of all things, though you were grateful for the soft warmth of the coffee liqueur over a harsh burn of something like whiskey.

Clint chuckled and took his own shot. “Gonna make me beat it out of you, are you?”  He teased.  When you didn’t answer he shook his head and continued.  “How’d it happen?”

You shrugged.  “Don’t really know exactly,” you say. “I got sick as a kid, and they put me on this drug trial.  I got better and I don’t think I’ve been sick since, but it was such a long time between the trail ending and me noticing that I could actually heal myself that I can’t say for sure it was that or something else.”

You both took another shot and Clint scratched at his arm like it was annoying him. “So just healing?” He asked.

“That’s not enough?”  You shot back.

He laughed loudly, throwing his head back.  “No, that’s plenty.  More than I’ve got,” he conceded.  “You’re pretty defensive you know?”

You sighed and sunk back into the chair.  The alcohol was already making your head feel fuzzy and you were worried you were going to get into a fight with Hawkeye right in the middle of the bar.  “I can just see how this conversation goes.  You’re either gonna convince me to join the Avengers or you’re thinking about the kiss and that spark and you wanna ask me out.”

“That kiss was pretty great,” Clint teased.

“I know, it’s the powers,” you said.  “People think it’s some kind of soulmate thing.  I’ve had stalkers because of it.”

Clint waited as you took another shot.  One of the bar staff came over and put a plate of sliders and curly fries down and you both started to eat.  “God, I needed that,” Clint said with his mouth full.

“You did do a lot today,” you said.

“Yeah, I saved your ass and you won’t even date me,” he teased.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t date you,” you argued.  “I just don’t want an Avengers stalker.”

“Don’t worry,” he said.  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, if you wanted to kiss me again, I wouldn’t fight you off, but I get it.  It was something to do with the healing.”

“Yeah,” you said.  “Energy transference I think it is.”

There was another pause and you both took another shot.  You were drunk now, you knew it.  Normally you would be more careful about drinking this much with a strange man but there had been so much today, and he was an avenger.

“Why don’t you want to be an Avenger?” He asked.

You sighed.  “I’d be useless.  What am I gonna do, follow you all around and make-out every time someone gets a scratch?”

He laughed.  “That’s the only way it works?”

“It’s a bodily fluid exchange.  I could have spit in your mouth, but I thought that would be hard to talk you into,” you explained.

Clint laughed and held his side.  “You kidding? I normally have to pay people to do that.”

You completely lost it laughing.  “Oh my god!”

“Alright, alright, don’t make me laugh,” Clint said.  “My ribs are still busted.”

“Want me to help with that?” You offered.

He looked you up and down and chewed his bottom lip.  “Dunno.  Next time we make out, I want it to be because you want to make out with me.”

You giggled and heat rushed to your face.  It was not a reaction you were used to but then you weren’t used to good looking superheroes hitting on you either.

“So, if it’s bodily fluids, would blood work?” He asked.

“Blood works best,” you said.  “But I can’t keep myself bleeding long enough to do a bleed into their wound thing, and if it’s a blood transfusion, they still have to match my blood type.”

“Well that could still be useful,” he said.  “Maybe you are the same blood type as some of us?  You could come and see?”

You sighed and picked up the last shot on the tray.  Since you got your powers you had wanted to help, but they were so limited you hadn’t been able to find a way to do that and have it actually work.  You gave blood regularly and hoped that might have led to some of the miracle recoveries some people go through, but apart from that, there wasn’t much you could do.  At least agreeing to go with Clint to see if you might be able to help was something you could do.

“Fine,” you sighed.  “I’ll go with you, but I warn you, my powers are so limited.  I doubt it’ll come to anything.”

“Great,” Clint grinned and put his arm around your shoulders.  “Now, to trying to get you to want to kiss me for real.”

You laughed and drank the shot.  Clint went up and got more drinks.  This time just a pitcher of beer for the two of you to share.  Whether it was the alcohol, the stress, the thrill that he was an Avenger or maybe that he seemed to be a completely likable dumbass, you weren’t sure but it didn’t take long until you were locked together, kissing passionately and finding yourself getting more than a little bit turned on.

You were practically sitting on his lap as his hands slid up under your skirt.  The spark that ran from you to him, was like a hot current, pulling you to him.  He moaned into your lips, completely uncaring that there were people around you.  It was likely that part of that was due to the fact you’d been at it for so long his bones were knitting, but he was definitely as turned on as you were, you could feel his erection every time he pulled you closer to him.

You gripped his thigh and he broke the kiss and began sucking on the pulse point under your ear.  “I want to fuck you so fucking bad.”

“My place was in the fall zone,” you whined.

He gripped your thigh and pulled you so you were almost straddling him.  “Bathroom,” he growled against your ear.

You nodded and he pulled you to your feet.  The two of you stumbled to the bathrooms, making out against the wall as you waited for one to become free.  As soon as it did, Clint pushed you inside, locking the door behind you.  He was still sore you could tell, but even with the broken arm and ribs, he managed to lift you up onto the sink.  You spread your legs and he dragged your panties down.  You were already soaking for him, and he dropped to his knees and ran his tongue up your cunt.  The spark you felt as your powers engaged ran hard through your cunt, making you jerk your hips.  You braced your arm against the mirror and gripped the side of the sink as Clint held your legs apart and greedily sucking on your folds.  He moaned loudly and his tongue pushed inside of you like he was trying to drink you up from the source.  You rocked your hips against his face and he began to focus on your clit, sucking and biting at it.  He thrust two fingers inside you and fucked you hard with them.  With the current that was running through you, you were barely holding it together.  You panted, your head resting back on the grimy glass of the mirror above the sink.  Clint’s fingers moved inside you, dragging over your g-spot again and again.  You weren’t sure you were going to be able to hold yourself up and your legs kept wanting to snap night around his head.  He held them apart and kept going and with a loud cry, you came, gushing on his face.  He let out a moan to match your cry and lapped up what he could.  He stood and began to fish around in his pocket.

“Jesus, I think my ribs have healed.  Should have eaten you out in the field,” Clint teased.

“What kind of girl do you think I am?”  You laughed.

“Fucking filthy one,” he growled.

You grabbed him by the belt and began to unfasten his pants.  “Clint,” you said, still breathing heavily.  “I’m on birth control and I’m a healer.”

A slow smile played over his lips and he pulled his cock out.  “Well, then,” he said and thrust deep inside of you.

You both moaned, the spark returning again.  There was a banging on the door and you buried your face in his neck.  “Fuck,” you giggled.  “Gonna need to be quick.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Clint teased, playfully.  “I can do ‘quick’.”

You burst out laughing and let your head fall back, he held you close and started fucking you hard and deep.  He shoved you up against the wall with every thrust and you bit into his shoulder, moaning into his skin.  Your fingers dug into his back and you braced a foot on the wall.  Everything came together perfectly, the place, the person, your powers, how deep and hard he penetrated you, you lost yourself to it.  Your body spasmed and clenched and you came again, holding yourself as close to Clint as you could as it shuddered though you.  He thrust hard into you, holding you in place as he came.  “Fuck,” he groaned as his cock pulsed with it’s released.  “That was…”

“Mm-hmm…” you hummed and he slipped from within you.  “The healing thing always makes it more intense.”

“How come it’s done nothing for my ears?”  Clint asked as he tucked his cock back away.  “I mean, everything it’s been working on, but I still have my hearing aids on?”

You shook your head as you straightened yourself back up and pulled up your underwear.  “Don’t know.  The worse the injury or illness the more exchange has to happen.  I can’t do things like regrow body parts.  It does nothing for scar tissue.  And the older the injury the less likely it is to work at all.”

“Huh,” Clint said and there was another banging on the door.  “You ready?”

You nodded.  “Yeah, better let the people pee.”

The two of you walked back into the crowded bar.  “You coming home with me?”  Clint asked as he took out his phone and tapped around on it.

You shrugged.  “I guess.  I mean, I don’t even think they’ll let me near my place.”

“Cool,” Clint said casually.  “To the roof.”

You furrowed your brow and looked at him.  He just pointed the way so you followed after him.  As you reached the roof a large black military jet approached and then hovered above you both.  The back end of it opened up and it began to lower itself down, when it was within reach, Clint jumped up into the back and leaned over, holding his hand out to you and helping you scramble inside.

You followed him up to the cockpit as the back end closed again.  “Thanks for coming to get me, Nat,” Clint said, kissing the redhead at the cockpit on the cheek.

She scrunched up her nose and ruffled his hair.  “What was I supposed to do?  Leave you here?”

You watched them as you took your seat and buckled yourself in.  There was an easy affection between them and you realized, they were together.  Together-together.  You’d just helped Hawkeye cheat on Black Widow.

Bile started to bubble up from your stomach and you weren’t sure what to do.  You could keep it secret and let it eat at you forever, or you could tell her and she’d probably stab you.  It wouldn’t kill you, but being stabbed still hurt and you didn’t want it to happen.

Your conscience seemed to be in control though.  The words bubbled up and burst out of your mouth completely out of your control.  With a yelp and covering your mouth with your hands, you shouted; “Clint and I just had sex!”

// NEXT

[lifeofkaze]

When Stars Ignite - Chapter 2

HPHM Rockstar AU

A/N:

General Warning: This whole fic has a general warning of being NSFW / 18+. We will give specific warnings for every chapter in itself, but several adult themes will be more or less present in every chapter, may it be explicitly or in mention. These include sexual topics, drug abuse, (ab)use of alcohol, smoking and a whole lot of cursing.

Specific Warning: Mentions of alcohol, mentions of drug abuse, swearing, suggestive NSFW content

~~~

Find the masterpost here, the previous chapter here and the next one here. The songs featured before every chapter can be found on this pretty badass playlist here.

~~~

This work is a collaboration with @the-al-chemist

Taglist: @slytherindisaster

No, we won't tell a soul where we gone to

Girl, we do whatever we want to

Ah, I love the way that you do me

Cherry, babe, you really get to me

~ Neil Diamond - Cherry, Cherry ~

It had already been pretty late when they had finally left the O2 arena and made their way into the heart of the city. They’d just had enough time to order something to eat at one of their favourite restaurants at the still bustling Heron Tower before last orders were called.

None of them being in the mood to go home just yet, they had taken a cab to Mayfair for an opportunity to wind down from the high of their show. Ethan had wanted to join them, but had waved them away after checking his phone, mumbling something about a lot of work waiting for him in the morning.

No one was particularly sad about Skye’s dad opting out, however; they were currently making their way past the line of people queuing up in front of the nightclub they had chosen for the evening. Orion wasn’t a fan of crowded dancefloors and music he didn’t like blaring so loudly he couldn’t hear his own thoughts, but had bowed to the will of the others.

Many people considered the glitz and glamour that came with being famous as a perk; he just found it shallow and irritating. However, he was still too wound up to just return to his flat; he hadn’t seen his friends in weeks and was looking forward to properly catching up with them. Even if it wasn’t his preferred location for sharing talk and laughter, nothing was perfect after all.

As expected, music washed over them the moment they entered the building and the air grew increasingly warmer as they were led deeper into the bowels of the club. He could see Everett checking out the women on the dancefloor as they walked past, while Lizzie was slightly nodding her head to the music; naturally, she wasn’t able to resist a compelling beat.

The uncomfortably loud volume lessened to a more agreeable level when they arrived at their designated table in the private area. Their first round of drinks hadn’t even arrived yet, when Everett rose from his seat again and left for the dancefloor; none of them had any desire to join him. Lizzie had been considering it for a moment, but Orion knew how exhausted she must be from their performance. His own muscles were burning with fatigue, he could only imagine how she must feel.

Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of stories to tell; before their break, they had spent every day together for months on end, making a span of four weeks feel like an eternity and a blink of an eye at the same time. Skye was telling them about the side project she had started with her brothers while Merula spoke about her dabbling into poetry. Lizzie had spent the whole four weeks in the States with her brother and had brought back quite an assortment of stories to tell.

Orion himself had travelled a fair bit as well; there was nothing sparking his creativity like visiting new places with a clean and open mind. Thanks to a surge of inspiration, the songs for their next album were coming along greatly. Although they were still far from what Orion considered good enough to openly share them, he was satisfied with the progress.

When Everett returned after some time, the atmosphere cooled noticeably. Hanging from his arm was a girl with long brown hair, who was looking at Everett as if he was Keith Richards and Kurt Cobain combined. She was dolled up to a ridiculous degree, with heels as high as her dress was short.

Glancing down at her simple dark jeans and top, Lizzie chuckled to herself. “Now I feel underdressed.”

“If anyone is underdressed, that would be her,” Merula muttered, eyeing the hem of the girl’s dress, which barely covered her bum, with an arched eyebrow.

As she and Everett sat down next to Lizzie, the contrast between the girl’s artificial look and Lizzie’s more natural beauty couldn’t have been greater. Orion would probably never stop wondering why women felt the need to distort their looks in such a way.

Real beauty was not something to be put on and worn on display, forced about with flashy jewellery and an absurd amount of makeup; it was like light shining from the inside. It illuminated everything around it, drawing eyes without even trying to.

Their conversations all but ceased as Everett started boasting about their band’s success, his impact on their music and the solo career he had been fantasising about ever since Orion could remember.

Orion had to bite back a laugh as he saw Skye mimicking Everett’s expression when he didn’t look her way. Granted, he was a passable guitarist and talented singer. None of the other band members had the way of enticing the crowd and holding their attention like Everett did; nor did any one of them want to. He was about show and performance, the way he liked to celebrate himself all smoke and mirrors, but this didn’t stop his act increasingly getting on all of their nerves.

Everett didn’t use to be that way back when he had joined Equinox; while he had always been a charismatic guy, their continuous success had started getting to his head. Judging by his erratic gestures and slurred speech, Orion wouldn’t bet on alcohol being the only thing he had coursing through his system and clouding his view on things at the moment.

It wasn’t long, however, before Everett eventually decided he'd had enough of them.

Ignoring the annoyed looks of his friends, he and his girl had started making out right next to them. After a while she giggled, pulled on his sleeve and whispered something into his ear. Without sparing them so much as another glance, Everett got up and pulled her along towards the exit. There was a collective sigh going through the group after they had left.

“Fuck it, a few more minutes and she’d taken her bra off,” Merula muttered.

Lizzie shuddered. “No need, it’s not like she was wearing one.”

Skye shook her head. “I don’t get it, what do they all see in him? He’s not even that good looking.”

“You don’t find any man good looking,” Lizzie answered wryly while taking a sip of her almost empty drink.

“Fair enough,” Skye shot back, blowing her a kiss over the table. Lizzie rolled her eyes, but had to laugh anyway.

“I see what you mean, though,” she continued a moment later. “He’s been getting downright nasty lately. The way he was talking to Charlie during the feedback round? That was so unnecessary; a little more and Charlie might have hit him.”

“He’d never,” Skye chuckled. “It takes more than Ev to rile someone like Charlie up. That would be like Orion punching someone.”

They laughed at the ridiculousness of that idea. Skye was right though, Lizzie thought. While Charlie had been offended at suggesting his work wasn’t absolutely flawless and up to his own standard, it wasn’t like him to lose his cool over something like that.

“Like anyone pursuing what they love with a passion, Charlie does care about his work deeply,” Orion picked the conversation up again, “it is only natural to feel defensive when attacked. When you pour your heart and soul into something, it doesn’t matter if the results or yourself are doubted; it comes down to the same thing.”

“Maybe, but Charlie’s attitude is causing problems,” Merula said glumly. “As much as I hate to admit it, Ev is right; the pyros are a joke since Charlie’s doing two jobs at the same time.”

Lizzie immediately jumped to her friend’s defence. “It’s only temporary; he’ll concentrate on sound as soon as a proper replacement is found.”

Merula snorted in response. “I’m not sure there is anyone Charlie would be happy with who’s not himself.”

“Giving up something you love to the care of someone else is no easy feat,” Orion conceded, “but Murphy said it himself, they have a new applicant in for an interview tomorrow. If they meet him with an open mind, maybe we’ll have the newest member of our crew faster than we think.”

Merula’s answer was cut short by the waitress approaching their table carrying a fresh round of drinks. She handed them out and was about to leave, when she turned around again. Hesitating for a moment, she blushed a little, the change in her skin colour barely visible in the dimmed lights of the nightclub.

“Excuse me if I’m rude or anything, I really don’t want to disturb you,” she mumbled, looking visibly flustered, “but you are the guys from Equinox, aren’t you? The rock band?”

Skye grinned. “Right you are. You a fan?”

The waitress’s eyes lit up. “A fan? Are you kidding? I adore your music! I’ve got tickets for your show tomorrow and can’t wait! It’s such an honour to have you here tonight.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” Lizzie smiled, idly stirring her cherry margarita with the cherry that had come as decoration.

The eyes of the waitress followed the swirls she was creating in the dark liquid. She was visibly gathering her courage before blurting out, “Is it true what’s written on your website? On your character profile?”

Lizzie raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Pardon me?”

The girl started blushing again. “In the misc-section, you know. They’ve written you could tie a cherry stem with your tongue; I’ve never met anyone who can do that.”

Now it was Lizzie’s turn to blush and hide her face behind her hand; sitting directly next to her, Orion could see that she was laughing behind her fingers.

“I knew I should have never told anyone about this,” she sighed, “I had no idea Ethan had them put this on my damn profile.”

“Shut up, you can’t really do that,” Skye exclaimed incredulously. “No way that’s true.”

Lizzie furrowed her brow. “Of course it is.”

“You never told me about that.”

“Why would I?”

“Then why did you tell dad?”

“He asked,” Lizzie shrugged.

Now it was Merula’s turn to look incredulous. “Ethan asked you if you could tie a cherry stem?”

Lizzie snorted. “He asked if I could do a party trick.”

Skye crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned back in her seat. She nodded at the cherry between Lizzie’s fingers. “Prove it.”

Amused, Lizzie tilted her head. “What, right now?”

“Scared I’ll call you out, Jameson?”

Her eyes sparkling in prospect of a challenge, Lizzie plucked the stem off the cherry and twirled it between her fingers. “Watch it, Parkin.”

She flashed the still sceptical looking Skye a mischievous grin before she let the cherry stem disappear behind her lips. She knew everyone was watching her intently and Orion could see she was trying not to smirk.

He himself was so concentrated on whether she would succeed or not, he was caught completely off guard when he suddenly felt Lizzie’s hand coming to rest on his knee beneath the table. His breath hitched as she was squeezing it lightly. He had to bite his cheek as her fingers started grazing the inside of his thigh in slow circles, her hand steadily dancing higher and higher. All the while, she was keeping a straight face, her blue eyes fixed on Skye.

Orion couldn’t believe what she was doing; he took a deep breath that came out a lot shakier than he had meant it to.

Just before he had to stop her wandering fingers, she retracted her hand abruptly. Her eyes flickering towards him for the briefest of moments, she pursed her lips and pulled the now doubly tied cherry stem from between them in a deliberately slow motion. With a confident smile, she flicked it at Skye, whose jaw had dropped open.

“Teach me,” was all she managed to say before Lizzie broke into laughter.

“That’s my secret technique, Parkin; I’m not sharing.”

Lizzie leaned back in her seat, visibly satisfied with herself. Judging by the devilish smile playing around her lips, it was not only because she had proven Skye wrong.

Orion closed his eyes for a moment and brushed his hair out of his face to give his fingers something to do. While Lizzie and Skye were bantering back and forth, Orion was counting to fifty in his head in an attempt to reign his thoughts in again.

Just when he thought he had himself back under control again, Lizzie leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand while appearing to listen to Merula attentively. What the others could not see was her using her shift in position to press her leg against his. The cheeky smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth was hidden by her hand, only visible to him.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Orion moved himself out of her reach. “As much as I would love to stay with you, my friends, I’m afraid tonight’s show has taken more of a toll on me than I thought,” he explained at Merula’s and Skye’s confused expressions; Lizzie was merely blinking at him innocently. “If you don’t mind, I’ll head back home to get some well deserved rest.”

Without waiting for any of them to reply, Orion quickly turned around and left for the exit, all the while feeling Lizzie’s eyes on his back.